Perfectly Phony

What goes into photoshopping photos of attractive human beings into forms of unattainable perfection? Answer here.

Loving

It's Sunday, which is family day and computer-free for me. But while the family is napping I thought I would sneak away and let you in on two shows that I am currently in love with. I would even go as far as saying, I am obsessed with. Mad Men and Louie. Oh, swoon. Yeah, I know I am a little late to the Mad Men party. But that's okay because it is divine catching up on three seasons worth of radness. If you, like me, were trying to resist, do yourself a favor and stop right now. Give in.

As for Louie, man, it's just good. If you aren't familiar with Louis C.K. then go ahead and netflix his two comedy specials now. They are hilarious. Knee slapping, guffaw inducing. You might even pee your pants a little. And when you are done with those, I think, you will be as eager as I am to hang out with him for the measly 30 minutes we get with his new T.V. show. See, cause the show kinda feels like you are hanging out with him. Which I would love to do. I mean, seriously, can I please have plan a play date with Louis C.K.? That would be a dream come true. Because he is awesome and funny and normal and cool and wouldn't try and talk to me about how the tutu his 2 year old daughter is wearing in dance class "washes her out". (Ugh.)

You had me at Bill

This man makes me weak in the knees. Swwooooon!

Thank you, Sara, for sending this my way.

(via GQ)

At Long Last...

At long last, we finally have an answer...the chicken came first!

Summer List

I thought it would be a good idea to make a list of a few things I want to do this summer, so that I can fully enjoy the season. I know I will be adding more to the list but here is what I have so far:

Have a picnic

Ride bikes

Make popsicles

Knit

Make sun tea

Enjoy catching up on Mad Men

Go to the beach (weekly if possible)

Make peach cobbler

Make lemonade

Have 2 ladies dates

Have 2 adult dates

Finish reading the 3 books I am currently in the middle of reading

Have an energy free day (no stove, no lights, no TV) (The no fan part might be kinda tricky though)

What's on your list?

Dennis

I did not comment on the passing of Dennis Hopper here on the blog because I felt like there were plenty of people out there who could say what needed to be said far better than me. And because I never knew the man, I really didn't have much to add to the chorus. However, I will say I am a great admirer of Dennis Hopper. Yes, I know he was far from perfect and had a pretty tumultuous personal life. That really is of no concern to me. I think we was a tremendous actor and filmmaker. But what most gets me most about Mr. Hopper is his photographs. I couldn't possibly tell you how many hours I have spent pouring over his photos books. I own two of of his books and seriously covet this one. Oh boy, how I love these photographs! (This much to be exact.)

This past weekend we went to the MOCA exhibition of Dennis Hopper: Double Standard, in L.A. I was so excited for the exhibit. It was curated by Julian Schnabel and featured Hopper's artwork since 1961. To me, his photographs were definitely the highlight of the show and if you have never seen them I highly recommend you make the trip. The exhibition is not large, which I was a little disappointed by, but it is an interesting look at Hopper's creative output up until his death and worth seeing.

Now, after finally seeing the exhibition, I think it is a good time to say goodbye, Mr. Hopper. Thanks for sharing your memories and for inspiring mine.

Jessica's "Daily Affirmation"

This little girl is awesome. I want to know her. I want to be her.

I think we could all use a little bit of this and thought it was a good way to start the week.

Here is a little bit of what I love, things that I could stand on the sink and yell about...

I love my family, books, navy blue, holding hands, movies, to eat, music, holidays, the fall, dancing, chocolate and peanut butter, awesomely bad movies, halloween, bill murray, summer nights, sunday dinners, mid-century, heather grey, vacations, ruth gordon, fruits and vegetables, girl dates, museums, chocolate chip cookies, walking, dennis hopper, baking, everything french, singing loud with s.c., laughing, sunday mornings, joan didion, making lists, clothes, pottery, making great meals, geeking out and banana milkshakes.

July in July

I find Miranda July endlessly fascinating. No matter what, when I see her name I always stop to see what she is up to because she never ceases to surprise and amaze me.

I found this article saved in my bookmarks and thought I'd share.

Also, I love (!) this project that she did a while back which was also saved in my bookmarks. (Yeah, I have a lot of bookmarks.)

And for more on Miss July...see here.

Travel

Going anywhere fun this summer? Can I go with you? I can just stowaway in your bag. Sound like a plan? Here is a diagram of supposedly the best way to pack for saving space (for me) and for easy packing and unpacking. I tried this once but found it didn't really work for me. Instead I lay the clothes out and roll them up individually and I find this gives me lots of space and makes it easy, visually, to see what's in my bag. I don't have to pull everything out to look for something at the bottom. It worked great recently in Seattle. What's your packing method?

In a nustshell...

Things have been a bit busy and scattered around here and I am feeling all over the place. July usually does this to me. I feel underwhelmed and overwhelmed at the same time. I am trying to get back to center. Any suggestions how to do that? Am I even making any sense?

In the meantime, here is a quick update on recent happenings... We went to Seattle and visited with family. The visiting was fun. Traveling with our two year old was not. To put it mildly she was not in the best of spirits and any spirit I had to give was quickly depleted. I came home exhausted and feeling beat by the motherhood challenge.

I had my birthday. I turned 32. Although for a little while I was thinking I was turning 33 so it actually kinda felt like I gained a year somehow. :) We celebrated with a few friends and family by watching Awesomely Bad movies and eating bad for you food. A tradition. To be honest, after returning from Seattle feeling so beaten down I wasn't much in the mood for awesomely bad anything. Tad insisted it was tradition and just what we needed and he was right (but don't tell him that). I didn't do as much to prepare for the party but I think it was fun for all nonetheless. I hope so.

In addition to Awesomely Bad night, Tad took me to lunch to my favorite restaurant, The Ramos House. Oh my, it was so good. I hadn't been there since my birthday last year and this was my best meal yet. It was the perfect birthday meal and we had a lovely time. In addition, Anita and I started the day by making "Cinnamon Bun Muffins" for breakfast and it was such a nice way to start the day. It is so fun as Anita grows to be able to do more and more things with her and interact with her in more ways. I think that may have been the best part of my birthday.

And finally, 4th of July. We had plans for the holiday but they ended up falling through sorta last minute. We weren't terribly disappointed because we usually don't do too much on the 4th anyway because of the crowds, which I avoid like the plague. So we decided to celebrate with an all American meal of pulled chicken sandwiches, coleslaw, french fries, fruit salad and berry shortcake. This is pretty much Tad's dream meal. It all turned out pretty darn good. I am not a huge fan of pulled chicken (or pulled anything really) but I thought everything else was pretty tasty. I used Alice Water's Cream Biscuit recipe for the shortbread and it was perfection. Seriously, I don't know if I can ever eat shortcake again without them. One reason we had made plans on the 4th, which as I said we usually don't do, is that we wanted Anita to see some fireworks but she ended up missing out. They were cancelled near our house and she was pretty beat at the end of the day and I don't think we could have gotten her to stay up until 9 p.m. anyway. So not this year. But we have it to look forward to next year. I am making an effort to be less of a hermit, less anti-everything so that Anita can experience things, but circumstance and old habits seem to get in the way. But we'll keep trying and see what happens next year.

So that's the last few weeks in a nutshell. I am not sure it explains why I am feeling scattered and up and down and all over the place. If it did, if I knew, then I probably wouldn't be feeling like this. I guess I feel like I have no focus at the moment and that I need focus. Plus, I don't think this weather is helping me any. It's supposedly July but as I write this it is grey and drizzling outside. Which end is up?

*The photo above is of Anita learning to skateboard with her Dad on 4th of July. Once I figure out what is wrong with our scanner I have a great pic to show you from Seattle!

Happy 4th

Happiest of 4th's to you!