Fabulous weekend

Hope everyone had as good of a weekend as I did. Thanks to mom, dad,
tallulah, Selene and max for making me smile and feel so relaxed.

More pictures to come tomorrow.

Till then: mom and dad, great end of day dance - the final spill was
grace unlike any I've ever seen before. Love you both so much. Big hugs.

Flowers, in pink, for miss Selene

The roof of the met on this beautiful evening

I have an important announcement

Something I've been waiting a long time to say: my heart is repaired. It's whole again. I realized it today when I was writing someone an email. And it's the best feeling in the whole world. It took a long ass time, but finally. 

My new weapon of choice

A water gun.
It's on my desk and I'm utterly stoked to use it.

THE spelling bee

About 7 years ago Johan took me to see Spellbound in the movie theatre. I was, for lack of a better word, spellbound.

This award-winning movie jump started my obsessing with spelling bees, or more accurately students that partake in spelling bees across our tweaked out nation.

Last night I unfortunately missed the 2009 competition. Sad. Depressing actually. 

So if anyone, anyone at all, recorded it, can you please share it with me? I will pay big bucks.  

I really want it

beautiful weekend

The forecast here in NYC is fabulous. 

Dear lord of sunshine and bikinis above, I thank you. So much.

my weekend playlist

Susie used to send me daily songs she was obsessing over. I miss it. There's nothing like a playlist to keep you going - through a run or workout, during a romantic dinner, cleaning the house, shooting  in the studio, driving, dancing, even reading a book.

Here, my weekend playlist, for whatever it is you have planned. Enjoy.

Last Tango in Paris by Gotan Project

Ooh Yeah by Moby

L.S.F. by Mark Ronson and Kasabian

Don't You Evah by Spoon

Beast of Burden by the Rolling Stones

Everybody Knows by John Legend

Hey Love by Stevie Wonder

M79 by Vampire Weekend

Tell Me In the Morning by Cold War Kids

Oh Shooter by Thicke

Castles Made of Sand by Jimi Hendrix

kids story

I've been wanting to style a kids story for a while now. I came across some of these photos and was totally inspired. I'm hoping the great Amanda Pratt will work with me and a bunch of adorable little ones at some point this summer to do a hippie-esque story like the one above.  

Shelter Island. Kids. Gorgeous clothing...Amanda? Please?

This child is my new muse.

My amazing friend Evan and his incredible company, Night Agency, just launched a great collaboration with Purex and Hanes and their respective charity partners, Kiva.Org and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. 

Click below to see the work they did:
www.purex.com/change
www.hanespink.com

I cannot wait to be alarm-less tomorrow morning. To be able to wake up without anything to do, anyone waiting for me, no stress. Just time to stretch, think and smile. 

Am I the very last to learn about this site?

http://www.theauteurs.com/nostalgia

Clean cleaners

Since coming down with a severe case of allergies for the first time in my whole time, I've become kinda obsessed with figuring out how to clean the air and everything around me. What I've read and heard from my doctor is that the best way to take control is to keep everything dust free in the most non-toxic way. Since everyone knows how bad cleaning supplies are for both the environment and for you to be breathing from day to day, here, a few great ways to replace those nasty products with natural and non-toxic ones and hopefully keep your allergies at a low...at least in your home or office.

Cleaning wipes, to use on everything from windows to sinks to well, anything...
What to do:
• Peel the skin from the orange
• Put the peel in a bowl and mix in two cups boiling water. Let sit for a couple of minutes, till you can really smell theorange and can comfortably put your fingers in the water to twist the oils out of the peels. Twist the pieces to extrude as much oil from the rinds as possible. Remove rinds and set one piece aside.
• Add in 2 cups White Distilled Vinegar.
• Add a couple drops of Olive Oil.
• Add in the rags and let them soak a couple of minutes.
• Remove and wring cloths thoroughly - removing as much moisture as possible.
• Fold in thirds and roll up into what should look like a finger towel and is a size that will fit easily through the mouth of your jar.
• Add a piece of the orange rind to the jar for fragrance and store for up to a week. You can also use the towels immediately after wringing without storing, but the Orange essence won't be as strong and pleasant.

The best of the best green products for all your needs:
Dishes - Caldrea Lavender Pine Dish Soap
Laundry - 7th Generation
Wood floor - 50/50 hot water and vinegar, sometimes I add a few drops of lemon oil for fragrance.
Dishwasher - Ecover
Glass - 7th Generation
General Cleaner - Mrs. Meyers
Toilet - 7th Generation
Bath & Tile Scrubbing - Bon Ami
Whitening - OXO Brite Non-Chlorine Bleach
Also - Vinegar & Water

Mom, this is for you. 

Saw all these pics & thought you'd be inspired and love them.xx

e

sweet

I randomly (or not so randomly, depending how you look at it) walked into the best baby store in the world on Tuesday. I found myself having the desire to try on newborn onesies and tempted to buy teething rings and rattles all for my own personal entertainment. I did refrain, thankfully. 

But during my childhood regression I began to chat with the adorable man working there. Long conversation short, I showed him the stationary that I recently made and he fell in love. Squeeling, screaming, jumping up and down in love. Usually I'm the overly excited one, but not this time. Anyway, he took my info and gave me some advice on how to go around and market it. More or less he got me stupidly thrilled for something I thought was nothing. 

Fingers crossed that more nothings turn into somethings.

yum

Biscuits
1c unbleached all-purpose flour
1c cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbl turbinado sugar
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp kosher salt
8 tbl cold butter
¾ c cold buttermilk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a food processor, combine all dry ingredients. Pulse to aerate. Cut cold butter into ½ inch cubes and scatter over the flour mixture. Pulse 12 times. The mixture should look like cornmeal. You should still be able to see pea sized pieces of butter. Dump the mixture into a medium sized bowl and add buttermilk. Mix swiftly until just combined. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop biscuits onto a baking sheet. Do this quickly so as to keep the mixture as cold as possible. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve warm with jam butters.

Butters

3 sticks of room temperature unsalted butter (8oz each)
4-5 tbl each: strawberry, apricot, blueberry jams

Mix one stick of butter with one type of jam. You can do this by hand or with an electric mixer. Put in a ramekin or place in wax paper and roll to a log. These will keep for a week.

I found this list of things that make me happy in an old journal from when I was living in Spain.

1. Exploring cities on foot, every once in a while hopping on a bus and falling asleep on a random persons shoulder.  2. Dancing with gypsies in their caves up in Sacramonte [in Granada].  3. Spanish movies with no subtitles, not knowing what's happening but pretending I get it all because of the story I create in my loco cabezzzzzzza.  4. boys named Nacho that bullfight and are persistent  5. Dinners with my senora and the boys and the long walks through the city that follow   6. Thursday's after class when my friends all beep the horn outside my apartment to pick me up for the next journey (this week we are off to Moracco!!!!)  7. Listening to my friends with all their accents debate over who has a better home country  8. Nikki's new haircut  9. sleeping on the beach with dancin' davey, nikki, harper, miguelito mas, ben and kelly then heading to the mountains to ski the next day.  10. being here all by myself, finding myself 

 “No matter how careful you are, there’s going to be the sense you missed something, the collapsed feeling under your skin that you didn’t experience it all. There’s that fallen heart feeling that you rushed right through the moments where you should’ve been paying attention."

— Chuck Palahniuk (via meggashh) (via vitam-eternum) (via refrainfrom) 

Thank you. I think that's the highest form of flattery. 

Yes, I know I'm bull-headed and can be slightly over the top with my point of view at times. And although I know some people (hmm...) find it to be too much, I'd prefer an opinionated conflict to a passive, thoughtless conversation any day. 

No harm in difference of judgement. I promise.

Hey cancer! Fuck you!

*artwork by alan's inner 6 year old*

Georgia (after Stieglitz 1918)

This Elizabeth Peyton print has always reminded me of my great
grandmother, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting.
But there used to be a photograph of her that would appear around the
house every so often and this is so similar to my memory of it.
Fiercely strong, utterly unstoppable looking. Fully aware.

a little bit for selene

"All is and will be okay. Not only with our connection in this World but with so much to come. Breathe. Fate will show you an easy path to

happiness." -alan

"When you don’t create things, you become defined by your tastes rather than ability. Your tastes only narrow & exclude people—so create" 

I really want to learn how to play the piano. Specifically I'd like to learn how to play Lost, By Coldplay. 

  “We accept the love we think we deserve."  -The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky  

reblogged from http://nikilynn.tumblr.com/

“ Look, other bands, they want to make it about sex or pain, but you know, The Beatles, they had it all figured out, okay? “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The first single. It’s effing brilliant, right?… That’s what everybody wants, Nicky. They don’t want a twenty-four-hour hump sesh, they don’t want to be married to you for a hundred years. They just want to hold your hand."

— Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (via awkwardinnocence) (via catherinepowell) (via beccalader) (via dreamland33)

the day after a great weekend - painful.

I actually forgot how painful it can be to sit at my desk and work after an amazing weekend on the beach. Happy summer to all. I pray it lasts forever and the week days aren't nearly as impossible to deal with as today has been.

Blue heart.

And I spotted this one outside of Jenna's house on her soon-to-be-paved driveway. 

Thank you Molly for pointing out the best heart filled tree in all of NYC. So many leaves all over spreading their love.

wish I was here...

instead of being at work....

Freja!

It's clearly baby season.

Here, little miss Freja, at roughly two months old.

Johan, her daddy, is over the moon in love with his new life - despite having to travel back and forth from Paris (where he works & lives) to Stockholm (where Freja her mommy are currently holed up) each week to spend time with her.

Look at those mushy cheeks? Isn't she the most beautiful thing? Ahhh, amazing.

Couldn't be happier for him, it's incredible how life always works out in the end. As Jenny once told me, if everything isn't ok, it's not the end. 

Truer words have never been spoken.

The Kohn Kahn's

Got to spend some amazing time with Jenna, Jarrod, Ava and baby Liv over the weekend. Their new house puts any five star hotel to shame. And I'm not exaggerating. It's absurd.

Shockingly huge and well, huge.

They, all 4 of them, are so happy and at peace. I could have spent the whole summer there, just enjoying them all. Maybe I will...

mental vacation

Sorry for the lack of blogging these past 3 days, I took a much needed mental holiday and feel amazing again.

Being at the beach with the hot sun, riding my bike full speed as the flowers fly by, smelling suntan lotion. It was all what I needed to start living properly again.

I feel like I've been a really bad friend to some people lately, so to you, and you know who you are, I'm really sorry. I guess sometimes I need some time to myself to get back on track. But here I am. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful, peaceful, happy week.

happy long weekend!!

!

Here she is!

Baby Arianna, so new to the world!

So beautiful. xx

from Lori, "This is a friend of mine from college."

Dear Friends…

As most of you know, but some may not, Erica Murray, my girlfriend, passed away on December 4th of last year after a three-year fight with leukemia.   To honor her, I’ve designed a fundraising tribute that will take place over five months starting in June.  To find out about the tribute and follow its progress, you can go to my blog at http://www.ericatribute.com.   If you would like to contribute, whether through a donation, registering to donate bone marrow, giving me a hand in carrying out the tribute or just sheer moral support, any and all help is most welcome.   Please pass the website along to friends, family, colleagues, neighbors, strangers or anyone else you feel comfortable sharing this with.  This is very much appreciated.   I hope you’ll follow the blog and that this finds you all well.   Best, Josh

peace in the midst of the chaos

"My idea of heaven. But really central park around 95th street. This is where I should spend every Sunday." -jenny

If only....

I've been working on a big swim presentation this week. And it's killing me. Truth is I've been really bad about running lately - which never equals anything but disaster. For more reasons than one, my body is not what it once was. I'm headed out right now for a long ride and hopefully a run too.

If only I looked like these gals....I'd be showing up to work in a bikini and nothing more the entire summer long. 

Enjoy the photos. Ladies, hope they inspire you to run an extra mile or two. Dad, well, you're welcome. Love you too.

Actually, I take that back.

I'd rather be this. Live this. Love this. Kissing is soo much better than food.

I want to be this. Live this. Eat this. I love this.

daily dose of pink

For my Selene. 

good morning!

Hope your dose of caffeine filled you with love like this one did to it's owner.