Music Monday : Jessie J in the Subway

Boombox Series // Jessie J from Arcade44.tv on Vimeo.


When singers share their voice with people passing by on the street it is so cool and 22-year-old British sensation Jessie J singing in the subway in New York City is brilliant. She has some serious pipes! With only a tiny boombox to accompany her you can really see how her voice shines. What have you seen/heard while walking around on the street? Some of my favorites were awesome break dancers in France and a violin quartet in New York. Do you think popular artists should do more of this, who would you want to see/hear?

Read more about this here.

The only cool thing about being sick is the awesome get well cards my little V makes for me.
I have a really bad case of strep the doctor told me today, I will see you on the flip side when I am feeling better.

Have a great weekend!

Working on turning my sad face around ... (because of this) This photo made me instantly smile from Kate Spade's tumblr.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Another Gorgeous White Kitchen...

I don't know why I never tire of white kitchens! I especially like the stainless steel counters sand white marble, oh and those lights are pretty unique and neat too. See more of this space over here.

(photos by Donna Griffith from Style at Home)

Pretty Dresses from Fashion Week

1. Diane von Furstenberg
2. Jason Wu
3. Oscar de la Renta
4. Carolina Herrera

(All photos from Style.com)

Live the Language

These fantastic video clips for the EF Live the Language campaign have been making the blog rounds, I absolutely adore them! The typography, cinematography, message is perfection! Have you seen them yet? It makes me want to get away to Paris right away! See more clips for other countries here. More advertisers should take their lead don't you think?

Directed by Gustav Johansson // D.O.P. : Niklas Johansson // Typography by Albin Holmqvist

Dots for Fall 2011

What do I love as equally as stripes? Polka-dots, so I was thrilled to see photos of Marc Jacob's new Fall 2011 collection. Go Dots! According to Style.com Jacobs himself said the new collection was a reaction against the loose, fluid feeling of his Spring outing. "I wanted something strict and severe," he said. What do you think?

(photos from Style.com)

The Rainbow House

 

The Rainbow House designed by AB Rogers Design in London looks like a cheerful and brilliant place to hang out, the house itself is a beautiful work of art! How much fun would this place be to explore? Check out this clip to see the whole place on a magical tour, oh and the floors in every room are incredible. What do you think?

Music Monday : 10 songs about love

For Music Monday I'm doing a little something different to celebrate Feb. 14th. I'm sharing 10 love centered songs that I really like -- some you may have heard, some maybe not...( in no particular order).



1. Adele's cover of 'Make You Feel My Love' gives me the chills. Her voice is incredible. (above)
2. Be My Man: Love ASA's modern yet classic sounding voice and the quirky dancers in the video.
3. Home : beware... this song gets really, really stuck in your head!
4. Addicted to Love cover : I heart Florence & the Machine.
5. Inside Out : Holy cow this song/cover is amazing live!
6. Had to throw this one in, haha.
7. A classic : go guitar fingers, go.
8. No words to describe this guy and song...no words, one of my ultimate favs.
9. Real Love : Again, another great live performance.
10. This has remained one of my favorite love songs, I sang it to my husband on our wedding day, I can't believe we are coming up on ten years in a few months, wow-wee!

What about your favorite songs about love... Shout 'em out!

Happy Music Monday!

Romantic Press...

Being Valentine's Day, I thought it was appropriate to share my recent magazine press in the February issue of Romantic Homes. They asked me to talk about what I believe Romance is and I am very honored to be included in their annual "The Romantics" roundup with such amazing ladies, wow ... thank you Romantic Homes!

Since it was tricky to get a good readable shot, you can read what I wrote below if you are interested... What about you, what does romance mean to you?




"Romance to me is often about experiencing unexpected surprises. Some of the more memorable and romantic times of my life have included these serendipitous moments while traveling. Exploring new and interesting ingredients in a farmer’s market, seeking out vide-greniers (flea markets) throughout the French countryside, and discovering a new city with my camera and journal in hand are all experiences that have greatly enriched my life.

Although these grand experiences and surprises don’t occur as often as I would like, by pausing each day for what I call ‘beautiful moments’ I have found my life instantly fill up with more meaning and ‘joie de vivre’. Some of these simple moments include sipping a cup of hot herbal tea while flipping through a gorgeous book, bringing home freshly cut flowers, lighting candles while listening to a lovely piece of music, taking a nice long hot bubble bath, hand-writing letters to loved ones, and enjoying a nice meal with my husband.

He and I surprise each other with thoughtful gifts at unexpected times. Once he gave me a journal full of letters that he had written to me each day. This is one of those gifts I thumb through often and will forever cherish. It is a secret to him, but I am currently working on a response to those daily love letters he wrote me.

The most romantic thing I've ever done is blindfold my husband and take him on an adventure up in the mountains that included a personalized music soundtrack and picnic."

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you are having a LOVE-ly morning! Happy Valentine's Day!

1: Jonathan Adler Needlepoint Pillow

2: Elephants in Love 

3: Heart Cross Stitch Earrings

4: Heart Romper

5: Quotes Heart Measuring Spoons

6: Chalkboard Heart

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday! Here are some brilliant things that made me smile this week...

1: Goggle Umbrellas -- awesome! (via fubiz)
2: Minibar for the mind -- how cool are these? Genius! (via designworklife)
3: Music Philosophy Posters -- See the entire rad collection here. Maybe your favorite band is in the mix?

I hope that you will all have a most beautiful weekend!

Salad Toppings

My last suggestion for how to use Weight Watchers new cheeses (see previous posts here) is in a yummy salads. Do you ever come up with different salad combos? My husband thinks I'm hilarious for sometimes putting everything but the kitchen sink in them, but salads are great place to put in some power veggies and fun ingredients. Unless I am going with a particular recipe, the salads I make are usually different every time. This one has cucumbers, pinto beans, tomatoes, carrots, arugula, baby spinach, and some Weight Watchers cheese. I like how you can add flavor with their cheese without the extra fat and calories and it is nice to throw a little more calcium in there too.

What do you put in your salads?

Paper Twins

Check out this fun street art by the Paper Twins that is just awesome. See more of their work on flickr -- couldn't find a website. What type of street art do you like?

(Spotted on Unruth)

photos: Paper Twins flickr stream

Clear Baby Cribs

This may one of the coolest slices of baby crib/bed design I've ever seen since this  ... How rad is it that a child would be able to see the world around them without bars?! They also have another selection which is nifty and is less pod-like but equally as cool. Some great designers have their thinking cap on over at Ubabub in Australia.

In case you are wondering, which I did at first they are safe too.

Lovey, Dovey...

Inspired by all of the red lovey dovey things around...

1: This Is for You* by Rob Ryan (on my wish list)
2: Kiss Stamp -- how great is this?! (via Eat Drink Chic)
3: Pretty Heart Scarf
4: Foxy Valentines Tutorial : How cute!
5: Volcano Candle in red!
6: Butter London Nail Polish*
7: Heart Hot Water Bottle Cover
8: Cute converse red heart sneakers: that heart face is adorable!
9: Mon Oncle* awesome movie if you haven't seen it, I want to watch it again soon. Not really love related but on here just because.


*FYI : purchases made from the asterisk links support B*E

Cave Hotel

There is something quite surreal and mysterious about people who used to live in caves and places carved out of rocks back in the day. I've always been fascinated by them especially after seeing caves while traveling to Petra in Jordan. Three cheers for the Yunak Evleri Cave Hotel in Turkey, so quirky and interesting, this is going into my travel files. Would you stay here?

(photos from Yunak Evleri)

Striped Ribbon Necklaces

Inspired by these military ribbon inspired necklaces created by Michelle Hartney aren't they pretty darn cool? Each color represents a a different human characteristic with a legend to tell you about it.

Music Monday : Oh Land

The adorable Kelsey sent me over a gem of a band that I've never heard of before that is perfect for Music Monday today! Have you listened to Oh Land? The Danish singer Nanna Øland Fabricius is super creative and on her website it says she grew up in a incredibly stimulating envoirnment with an almost 'circus-like' upbringing with an opera singer for a mother and a theater organist for a father.

She is a trained ballet dancer and her performance style is 'a soundscape of dreams'. She is enchanting and has a unique and eclectic style that is refreshing, I want to hear more of her electropop music. She stated that her goals is "to sound like I'm from 2050, but still feel really classic, like the music is an old friend." Since I like her so much, today I am sharing two videos ....

First up her Fleet Foxes cover which is pretty great showcasing her pretty voice...



and then White Nights Live which shares more of the playful side of her spirit...





Oh Land- White Nights (Live) from Oh Land Music on Vimeo.

Her other clips are also amazing... see them here. I purchased her EP, you can get it from itunes here or Amazon here for $3.96. (purchases made from these links support B*E Music Mondays.)

(photos : Thomas-a & Elisabeth Heltoft for Soundvenue)

Happy Friday!

Wishing you a great and relaxing weekend! Here are some things around the web that made me happy this week....

1: Peggy scanned in some more beautiful photos from the Banana Republic Ads, they are so... gorgeous!

2: Merrilee from Mer Meg has it going on -- you've got to see this post of the valentine's she and her little ones did. She also has a free download.

3: Have you heard of the Google Art Project? For you all of you art lovers, it is a virtual tour into some of the best museums where you can see famous and beautiful works for art. You can pretend you are walking around, you can zoom in pretty tight to see detail, it is so amazing!

Happy Weekend!

Book I'm Reading : Cutting for Stone

Martha's book selection for the "Book's I'm Reading" Club this month is 'Cutting for Stone' by Abraham Verghese. Have any of you read it? It is an epic medical love story that gripped my attention right off; it is immensely interesting. The author who is also a doctor uses absolutely beautiful storytelling to share the life of twin boys that end up being orphaned by their mother's death and their father's disappearance. The story evolves and spans generations and continents and is about the journey of coming of age, love and family relationships. It is an excellent piece of contemporary literature that is topping reader charts (it has been on the New York Times' best seller list for a year -- currently number four) and there is even talk of a movie. I can't wait to finish it on my Sony Reader they provided me. As for the Sony Reader, I am a big fan -- it has exceeded my expectations in many ways with its simple pocket size, ease of use, and the ability to carry around with me thousands of books on one device.

What about you? What are you reading lately? Join Martha and us reading Cutting For Stone if you need a great novel.

*Enter to win a Sony Reader here - there is a winner each week!

(photo of Author : by Joanne Chan)

Spinach Artichoke Dip

 

As I've been playing around with Weight Watchers cheeses I experimented and came up with a recipe that I thought you might enjoy, a lower calorie spinach artichoke dip option. Instead of adding more cream cheese and mayo I substituted some Weight Watcher cheese wedges and it turned out pretty great. I will be making this again for special events as a lighter alternative. See the recipe below and check out other ideas I've mentioned here and here. What is your favorite Superbowl Sunday or hang out snack? What about a lighter snack, do you have a favorite?

Ingredients:
9 oz frozen spinach, chopped, thawed, and drained
14 oz jar of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
8 oz low fat cream cheese*
1/4 c low fat sour cream*
1/3 c parmasean cheese
3 Weight Watchers Garlic & Herb wedges
4 green onions minced
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 teaspoon of salt
other spices as desired... I added a touch of cayenne, garlic powder etc..

Directions:
Saute onions and garlic until soft.
Combine everything into a bowl and stir well.
Put in oven safe dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until bubbly.

Enjoy with crackers, veggies or anything you wish.

*You can easily substitute low fat for nonfat, I'm just not a biggest fan of nonfat.

Enjoy!

(photo + recipe by Rachel Jones - B*E)

Nature Moment: Transforming

Nature is amazing, today while driving I spotted and had to turn around the car to stop and capture these frozen waves that are part of a normally free flowing river. It made me think about transformation, do you ever have interesting thought-provoking moments with the forces of nature? What magical nature scenes or moments have you seen lately?

(photos by rachel jones -- blackeiffel)

Happy February

Wishing you a Happy February with colors of red and pink. What do you think about Punxsutawney Phil, will he see his shadow tomorrow? Has anyone been to the actual ceremony in Pennsylvania, I think it would be a riot. Read about it here.

1: Two Tone Satin Sash
2: Lacoste Watch
3: Spade Bon Shopper
4: XO I love you card
5: Je T'aime Sweatshirt
6: Heart Cake Tutorial via Oh Joy's Pin
7: Quince & Rose Candle

Colorful Stripes by Gene Davis

Today I am deeply inspired by the artist Gene Davis. He is known for his colorful vertical striped paintings and in 1972 he created 'Franklin's Footpath,' which was at the time the world's largest painting, in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. How sweet is that?! I wish more roads looked like that! I immediately thought of this post and the staircase from this post when I saw this. He also created the first solar painting called Sun Sonata located at William and Mary which you can see below... incredible. It definitely puts me in a colorful vertical stripe mood.

(1: photo by Henry Groskinsky for Life 2: Sun Sonata 3: Homage to Matisse //  via Ali - welcome back!)