Hi, friends. Like a terrible editor, I got sucked into a hole of moving, traveling, and singing “Just Like Heaven” more times than you can imagine. ABOVE IS AN ALMOST-COMPLETELY-ENCOMPASSING-AGGLOMERATION OF WHAT I HAVE DONE DURING OUR SEPARATION.
1. When we last met, I confessed a profound desire to throw a Johnny Weir party. My adoration has not dissipated, and has unquestionably intensified. Especially since I discovered that we get Sundance channel at home! Therefore, I can watch as much Be Good Johnny Weir as I want (until a certain roommate wants to watch Say Yes to the Dress). The show chronicles Johnny’s skating adventures leading up to the Winter Olympics, and will provoke you to shed tears of sorrow over not being best friends with Johnny Weir. Prancing around in fur hats?! Bubble baths with wigs?! If I haven’t convinced you yet, below is a teaser:
Oh, and PS. I am currently watching Pop Star on Ice, an hour and a half documentary on Johnny Weir, AND, I’m going to see him perform Bad Romance live this week. WIN-WIN.
2. Titus Andronicus recently released an epic second album, The Monitor, a cohesive collection of jangly, danceable punk songs with clever references and battle cries. I love battle cries, and the album makes me wish I was from Jersey. Furthermore, I have the attention span of a chipmunk. Despite this, I gleefully consume The Monitor (whose songs mostly exceed 5 minutes). They’re really nice guys who deserve all the album praise they’ve been getting (an unrelated fact that acknowledges I am biased). ANOTHER VIDEO:
A More Perfect Union
Titus Andronicus | MySpace Music Videos
3. While in NYC, I ate the most delicious cookie I had ever eaten. I’ve ingested many cookies, but all of them are now inferior to the magical Levain cookies. Various fortuitous events led to my introduction to Levain. My sister and brother in law saw Rocco DiSpirito mention his love for Levain on the Food Network + I was a block away from the bakery. The cookies are perfection: they are warm and gooey inside, but slightly crispy on the outside. It’s unfortunate that I don’t live in NYC, and cannot afford to have them FedEx’d to Chicago. This copycat recipe for the chocolate chocolate peanut butter chip cookies, however, is pretty good.
4. Have you ever eaten a sour patch kid, and thought, “self. I wish this was a vitamin.” I have trouble remembering to eat my vitamins, but not when I have One-A-Day VitaCraves Sour Gummies.
5. A couple of weeks ago, She & Him released Volume 2, a breezy follow-up to Volume 1. I have mostly positive feelings towards She & Him. Zooey always wears nice frocks, a fact that should have no influence on whether I like She & Him, but…it is a factor. Beyond the frocks, my greatest criticism regarding Volume 1 is Zooey’s chalkboard screeching voice pings. Example: the high notes in “Sentimental Heart.” Not cute Joanna Newsom screeches. Volume 2 is much stronger, and a great way to herald the arrival of Spring (sort of…it’s still cold in Chicago). I especially enjoy their cover of “Gonna Get Along Without You Now.”ALSO THERE IS THIS CUTE VIDEO, WHICH MAKES ME EXTRA EXCITED FOR MY FUTURE BALTIMORE BAND AND DANCE NUMBERS:
6. I’ve been watching a few excellent TV dramas, oddly all related to drug trafficking. Whereas watching The Wire is partly educational for my future move to Baltimore, Breaking Bad satisfies my curiosity regarding what it would be like if an accomplished science teacher cooked meth. This curiosity stems from college organic chemistry lab, where the teacher schooled us in lab technique, and our fate depended on purity and yield. Breaking Bad is amazingly engaging and well-written. It’s intriguing to witness the character progression of Walt, the science teacher who cooks meth (and has lung cancer…and has a son with cerebal paulsy…and he’s poor because he’s a middle school teacher). His thirst for power consumes his initial apprehension, and meth cooking grants him courage that he had never been bold enough to exercise prior to cooking meth.
There’s only one more day until the premiere of the final season of LOST. My Chicago friends are behemothic LOST fans (one is even in a LOST novelty band, Sonic Weapon Fence). Consequently, my life has been bombarded with LOST anticipation. Gmail user images changed to both JACKFACE and Frank Lapidus a few days ago. But even before that, discussions in regards to a LOST party occurred. Well, “party” = “gathering to watch Lost,” because it’s a week night, and we are old kids with 9 to 5 jobs. I offered (via a Gmail chain of emails, and in broken English now that I’m rereading my email) to contribute beer, with possible “little dharma labels.”
Possible = Scared to commit to something I might not follow through with. OH but fear not, a day before the big PREMIERE, I have created my own Dharma Beer labels using this Dharma Initiative Logos font on dafont. And I am sharing it with you today, so you can create your own Dharma Beer.
Simply cut, and tape (or if you are well-stocked in office supplies, perhaps print a page on sticker paper?). There’s two labels per page, because there wasn’t enough room on a regular letter sized page for three labels. So, I guess you’ll have the bottom strip to doodle- hooray! Finally, I conceded that the labels aren’t authentic. There are some letters and numbers at the bottom of the label, but I have spent too long squinting at this screen capture, trying to figure out what the numbers are. While I’m confessing things, if you were wondering why I’d be drinking such unsightly beer, or, you know, were perceptive to notice the text “ALL NATURAL PURE FRUIT JUICE & SPARKLING WATER” at the top, IT’S NOT BEER. It’s Izze. I haven’t bought beer for tomorrow night’s festivities yet.
PS- Rabbit, rabbit! Happy February!
As I promised earlier this week, here is an extended ode to CAKESPY. Cakespy is a blog dedicated to all things SWEET. Headed by Jessie Oleson, a freelance writer and illustrator from Portland, Cakespy is especially delightful entertainment during droning afternoon work hours (close rival: finding pictures of cute puppies with my friend, Taylor). HERE ARE FIVE REASON WHY I LOVE CAKESPY:
1. Jessie is a fantastic illustrator.
Cakespy has a glorious shop, filled with Cuppie (that’s the cupcake’s name!)-plastered items. No situation is too scary for dear Cuppie- an incredible adventurer.
He is sometimes chased by zombies…
…or with his cupcake special friend in Chicago.
2. Cakespy is funny.
Cakespy’s posts are always wildly funny, including my favorite on 50 ways to destroy a twinkie. When I think of twinkie destruction, I always think about Michael Pollan’s reoccuring twinkie story that he mentions in interviews: he kept a twinkie in his office for years, and it always remained perfectly perky. Boring story, no? Cakespy’s twinkie saga is much more entertaining. Michael Pollan didn’t subject his twinkie to teddy graham death:
3. Cakespy shares yummy recipes.
Along with being a contributor to Serious Eats (this week she wrote about velveeta fudge!), Jessie shares enough recipes to keep your stomach content for eternity. My favorite section is the “unusual” recipes, which forces me to reevaluate things that I had previously deemed “gross”…like this corn dog dessert.
4. Cakespy has an appetite that spans the country. Yes, I am jealous.
5. Cakespy designed a mug/t-shirt/card for Bleeding Heart, my favorite bakery.
At this very moment, while I am spitting out all my love for cakespy, I am drinking out of my new Bleeding Heart mug. My second cup of polish camomile honey tea, to be exact. When I noticed Bleeding Heart’s twitter debut of the mug, I instantly longed to teleport to Roscoe Village and obtain my very cakespy own donuts vs. cupcakes mug. Why? Because I love cute things wielding weapons, Bleeding Heart (supplier of many vegan and non-vegan treats AND they have a Clash poster AND their tables are neon cupcakes), and cakespy.
If you’re curious what the entire image looks like, here’s a picture of a card that I bought for one lucky recipient.
Happy weekend!
1) For one of the world’s major cities London has a lot of green space! There is over 5,000 acres of parkland within central-ish London that makes up the eight Royal Parks! Although I love the parks in the summer months: picnics in Green Park, paddle boats on the Serpentine (a massive lake in of Hyde Park) and horse riding in Regent’s Park, they are way awesome in winter! Right now there is a massive Winter Wonderland fair in Hyde Park, with an outdoor ice skating rink, Ferris wheel, a German style Christmas Market and loads of other attractions. Its a GREAT day out!
2) Hampstead, a pretty posh area in North-West London, has an awesome High street with loads of lively bars, cafes and restaurants, but my favourite place is ‘La Crêperie de Hampstead’ - a small crepe stand that is open 365 days a year. Whatever time you go, there is always a massive queue waiting for thin, crispy crepes that are made for you on the spot (I like mine with the Banana and Honey fillings) by a friendly Frenchwoman/man.
Whenever you are in London, be sure to make your way to 77 Hampstead High Street, Hampstead, NW7 1RE for the best crepes in the world!
3) London has some of the best shopping districts in the world! There was no way for me to decide which is my favourite but right now I’m loving Carnaby Street which could not be in a better location: its only a couple of minutes walk from the world famous Oxford, Regent and Piccadilly Streets. I love the eclectic mix of cafe’s, nightclubs, vintage shops, with some of the cutest jewellery shops I’ve ever been to and of course Liberty, the famous Luxury store.
This year Carnaby also has in my opinion the best Christmas lights in all of London, in a homage to the 1960’s (when Carnaby Street become an iconic fashion destination) hanging above the street are huge, inflatable decorations singing the themes of peace, joy and love. (There are also HUGE inflatable pink unicorns!) These are definitely the most creative decorations in London and its worth visiting just to see them!
Some of my favourite shops to visit are: Muji, David and Goliath, Lazy Oaf (which is INCREDIBLE) and Playlounge!
4) Here in London we call the Subway the Tube or the Underground and to me thaticonic tube map represents London so well! I love the simplistic topological design that everyone can understand, I love how you can get pretty much anywhere in London within an hour by tube and I love people-watching on the tube. Its awesome, and it is most convenient way to travel around London.
Did I mention how well designed I think the map is?
5) London is a beautiful city with a rich history, you have to walk around the South Bank, Westminster, Embankment. Doing all the fun touristy stuff is fun! Visit Buckingham Palace, try to make on of the guards smile, tour the tower of London and clamber onto all the huge Lion statues in Trafalgar Square. And, take lots of photos! The museums are all worth a visit too, most of them are located in South Kensington and my favourite is definitely the Science Museum!
6) Call me crazy but I love have an ice cream in the snow as much as I love having it on a hot, summer’s day! Marine Ices is where you get the very best ice cream in London (trust me on this!). The restaurant, still run by the same family that opened it in 1947, sells home made ice cream in awesome flavours. I love their Honey and Ginger combination or the Ferrero Rocher ice cream which is just heavenly!
This list could be never ending, but I had to stop somewhere! Above are just a few things I love about winter in London! This time of year, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else in the World!
1. Chicken Skittles from MUJI, £5.95 (football is to soccer as skittles is to bowling)
2. The Africa swimsuit by We Are Handsome, $163
3. Miso Soup Ring by SouZou Creations on etsy, $8.50
4. Candy Bar Bracelet from Dylan’s Candy Bar, $50 (Wish 1.5: That Dylan offered international shipping.)
5. MacBook Pro 17-inch from Apple, $2500 (although a plain old MacBook is much more realistic!)
6. Colour In Dress by Michiel Schuurman, €250
7. Bubble Wrap Calendar from Perpetual Kid, $20
8. ASAP/OMFG Totable from Knock Knock,$10.50
9. PostSecret: Confessions on Life, Death and God from Barnes & Noble, $14.94
10. Kron by Kron Shoes (Amirah also requests the ability to walk properly in heels!)
Yay! It’s my very first Currently Obsessed post! I have a serious sweet tooth – as you will probably find out after subsequent posts – so I thought it fitting to relate all these items to mouth-watering sweet stuff!
1) Cupcake Car: When I saw these incredible “cars” capable of going a whopping 7mph, I actually screamed, in a pretty high-pitched voice: “Ohmygosh! They are soooo CUTE!” Because they so are. If any of you have $25,000 to spare you can get yourself the best Christmas present ever: a vehicle slower than a bike – but probably faster than your normal walking speed – that is fully customisable so you can get a car that resembles your favourite cupcake! I’m dreaming of the day that I arrive to school in one of these…The only question that remains: Do I need a driving license for one of these?!!
2) Oreo Cupcakes: I got pretty obsessed with cupcakes this week, and these look SO delicious! I mean pink panda cupcakes that are made from Strawberry Milkshake flavoured Oreos! Can you get more mouth-watering then that?
3) Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain (Or just Amélie): I’ve just started my A-Level French course at school and my teacher said that we needed to expose ourselves to more French culture; movies, music, book etc. So I decided to watch a French movie – I’m so glad I picked Amelie! It has actually become one of my favourite movies of all time! Its about a kooky waitress in Paris who leads a simple life and decides to devote her life to bringing strangers happiness. It is the cutest movie ever – I know I overuse the word cute, but there is no other way to describe this movie! You don’t even need to speak French – watch it with the English subtitles!
4) Carmex Cherry Lip Balm: Cherry Carmex is the best lip balm ever! I have really chapped lips but this lip balm makes them feel all moisturised and smooth! Your lips actually tingle when you put it on AND it smells so good! Every time I reapply it people will go: Are you eating a sweet? What smells so good? It only costs £2 as well, I can’t find any downsides!
5) Nymph Costume: So Halloween isn’t as huge a deal here in The UK as it is in the US, but I still think it is a great excuse for fancy dress! How beautiful is this handmade, leaf-adorned tunic? I think dressing up as Greek Forest Nymph would make the perfect Halloween costume! It is obviously dressing up, it is a unique idea and its just really pretty and feminine! Too bad it’s not exactly scary!
6) Irregular Choice Shoes: Irregular Choice makes the wackiest most original shoes that I have ever seen! You need to check out their website! I love all the colours and prints and the different structures – can you use the word structures when describing shoes? – that all the shoes have, but, my favourite pair by far are the ones covered with little ice creams! I went and tried them on in the store and everything, but unfortunately I am completely incapable of walking in 6inch heels!
I hope this isn’t getting too tiresome for you non-New-Yorkers, but if so, no worries. I’m leaving here on Tuesday, and promise to be located in a much more boring town for the next two years!
In the meantime… remember when I went to Economy Candy (and then somehow ended up writing a blog post all about food in Children’s Books)? Well, a reader named Stephanie told me I must visit Dylan’s Candy Bar. Which I did, in combination with my trip to Serendipity 3 (two blocks away!).
Even though it’s a little tourist-trappy, it’s a most fabulous and wondrous place for someone with an affinity for candy + bright colors + pretending to still be a child. It’s almost like a little candy art museum: there are tubs of gumballs, stairs with candy stuck inside them!, candy murals, and even a portrait made of Jelly Bellys:
My favorite favorite part, though, was a display downstairs in which famous people filled little boxes with their favorite candies and then signed them. Such a cool idea!
If you want to visit: Dylan’s Candy Bar in NYC is located at 1011 Third Ave. (E 60th and 3rd). You can take the 4, 5, 6, N, R, W to the Lexington Ave stop. (You can take a combined trip to Serendipity 3 which is on 60th between 2nd and 3rd.)
There are also other locations in in East Hampton and Garden City (New York), as well as Houston and Orlando (but I cannot attest to their awesomeness).
After the jump, Steven Spielberg’s favorite candies!:
You might have seen Serendipity 3 a few weeks ago when Steven Colbert ordered the $1,000 gold-wrapped ice cream sundae. Little did I know I’d end up there a week later ordering only $8.50 worth of food (the minimum, per person). I also didn’t know that it would be cute as hell (a fashionable place for Manhattanites to visit) or have the largest, kitchiest menus I have ever seen.
If you want to visit, Serendipity 3 is at 225 East 60th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues). While you’re in the neighborhood, ensure your teeth rot by stopping by Dylan’s Candy Bar (which I should do a post about later) at 1011 Third Ave.
Finally, if you’re at a loss for what to order from their massive menu, Serendipity 3 is known for its frozen hot chocolate (though my friend and I split a $15 brownie sundae).
1. DIY Recycled Plate Cake Stand; 2. Tea’s Me Tea Set, from Rosana (which has more yummy yummy cups & things); 3. The Sweet Tooth Tunic from Mod Cloth (on sale!); 4. Kesera Tablecloth from Anthropolgie; 5. Girly Girl Gloves in Peach (not even $15! though you can only wear these types of gloves to: weddings, proms, tea parties) from Mod Cloth; 6. Alice & Friends All Dressed in Red & Ready to Mail, 10 folded notecards w/handmade envelopes from Time2Cr8 on Etsy; 7. Gourmet Tea from Tea Forte
Ah, I could not resist my cutsie title, I apologize! I love tea parties. You can have scones, cupcakes, little sandwiches without crusts, and at the same time wear ridiculously frilly dresses. As Napoleon said, “From the sublime to the ridiculous is only a step” and thanks to Alice in Wonderland, I think you can take that step while drinking tea.
To highlight two of my faves from the group above:
Why I like: Vintage Alice & Wonderland! Each card is different! Space for your thoughts, such as: “COME TO MY TEA PARTY OR I’LL CHOP OFF YOUR HEAD!”
WHY I LIKE: Vintage-y; contains cupcakes; has sleeves for those of us worried about the visual attractiveness of our upper arms; on sale; unquie; sweeeet!
