So I'm sitting here right now, finishing a re-watch of Star Trek, contemplating baking pumpkin muffins before we leave for the in-laws' house for the holiday, and getting ready to turn my Christmas playlist back on in iTunes. And I've just realised that I haven't shared some of my favourite Christmas songs this year! Highly remiss of me. Anyway: let's take a look at my top 10 picks for this year...because with the end of the working week, it's officially Christmastime, people.
1) Fun. Sleigh Ride. I freaking love this song. The ascending baseline after the second line of the second verse is possibly my favourite part. It makes the music nerd in me get all giddy everytime. Plus, it's a lovely updating of this song. To be honest, for me it's right up there with Ella Fitzgerald's version of the tune. Seriously: get on that.
2) Jona Lewie. Stop the Cavalry. Yes, this song is weird. And very 80s. But I only discovered it after moving to the UK, and so now, it doesn't feel like Christmas over here without this song. Plus, I defy you to get that 'dubba dubba dum dum dubba dubba dum' lick out of your head after listening to it.
3) Pentatonix. Carol of the Bells. Having sung in an a cappella group in university, I'm definitely something of a fangirl for awesome part harmony, sans instruments. Plus, I love anything that showcases an awesome bass singer. It's the deep voice that does it for me, people: it's just too awesome to hear someone drop the other shoe like that. And these guys do an impressive job with only 5 people. Props.
4) The Lower Lights. I Saw Three Ships. Really, I recommend the whole of their album, Come Let Us Adore Him. It's awesome. Yes, it feels a bit hipster to go in for something so folksy, but I do love this. The feel of it captures all the warm, rustic, sheepskin, flannel plaid, straw goat, wooden ornament decorating that is how I do Christmas. I mean, the angel on my tree wears a beanie, for crying out loud! I have to own my hipster tendencies.
5) Michael Buble. It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas. This just feels slick. Like, minimalist studio flat, mid-century modern cocktail dress, martinis under the mistletoe kind of slick. Or snazzy office Christmas party slick. It's just effortless and chill and ought to be on in the background while you bake dozens of Christmas cookies in a black angora jumper without breaking a sweat or getting flour on your sleeves.
6) Bing Crosby & David Bowie. Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy. It IS NOT Christmas without some Bing Crosby on. I'm sure that's somewhere in the Nicean Creed. I simply repeat: it IS NOT Christmas unless you listen to Bing Crosby. So make that happen.
7) Maroon 5. Happy Xmas (War Is Over). Usually, I'm a purist and generally detest most covers of anything originally written or performed by The Beatles: either as a group or individually. That said, Adam Levine works this minimalist recording of John & Yoko's original. And to be honest, I think the track benefits from the exclusion of Yoko and the warbling children. This song is one of my faves, and I think the update definitely serves it well.
8) The Fray. Oh Come All Ye Faithful. I've been digging my acoustic Christmas songs this year, and The Fray really deliver on their version of this traditional carol. Sometimes it's just nice to hear the usual carols and hymns without a 500-voice choir, clanging tubular bells, and a pounding pipe organ. This way, you really get to hear the music and the lyrics without getting overwhelmed.
9) Folk Angel. Deck the Halls. I had to hunt this one down on Grooveshark, but it's well worth the extra search. This carol gets a more relaxed feel and let me tell you, the 'fa la la la las' really benefit from it. The whole song still feels very Christmasy, but without the need to wonder how seriously you ought to take it if you're singing along. I recommend putting this on a playlist if you have a ways to travel to visit family this weekend.
10) I had some serious internal debate going on as to which song needed to make it onto this list in the #10 spot. There were two heavyweight contenders, and they both have a special place in my heart as Christmas songs whose loveliness is entirely contingent upon their cheesiness. But, in the end, the 'Bad Grandpa of Christmas' as Marcus Bridgestock's character named him, won out, and #10 simply had to be:
Bill Nighy as Billy Mack. Christmas Is All Around from Love Actually. Can you feel it in your fingers? Can you feel it in your toes? If not, I suggest listening to this on repeat...or just go and watch Love Actually: there's never a bad time to do that. Maybe then, Christmas really will feel like it's all around.
Have a wonderful and fun-filled holiday everybody! Oh! And if you're not music'd out by my post already, I highly suggest wasting some time on this lovely corner of the interwebz:
Ah! Love it! Definitely just wasted 10 minutes with my toddler jamming on this thing.
MOO | Festive Funk Machine http://t.co/gUEb0LYi7u
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) December 18, 2013
E and I had loads of fun making our own Christmas jam on this interactive player. It's definitely worth 5 minutes of your day if you're looking for time to kill.
For a plethora of reasons, today is a lazy day for me. It's one of those days where I really had to cast about for some motivation to get dressed. Luckily, E has been happy to roll with my lazy attitude today. We watched some Sarah & Duck in bed, let him run around the house and play with his toys, made some more granola bars, and read books in bed until nap time. Now I'm back in bed and catching up on my blogs in Feedly. If I didn't feel guilty depriving him of the company of other children, I'd stay home from playgroup today and continue to veg out with some pizza and a movie.
So, in lieu of anything interesting going on with me, I thought I'd share some interesting things I've found from other people. Enjoy!
Swoop bags. If you had any idea how much Lego there is in our house, you would understand why this appealed to me straight away. I knew what I was getting into, though. This is what comes of marrying a man whose Wikipedia mention centres around his Lego gun building skills. (Also, how proud am I that my husband is on Wikipedia!?)
A cheesy joke is always fun. A drunken cheesy joke can be even better. And finally, a drunken cheesy joke, animated lovingly by your spouse has got to be the ultimate winner of the cheesy joke competition. This made me giggle.
Kim over at Day with KT is brilliant...I know I've said this before. How much do I appreciate her corn salad recipe? Tonnes. Let's just say that there will need to be stake burritos going on in this house very soon to give me an excuse to make some of this stuff.
Teal's post on getting your act together and making what you pin on Pinterest has me inspired. Those taquitos look awesome, plus, I always love being able to do the projects that inspire me. (Hopefully, once I'm over my bout of laziness, I'll have a Pinterest project to share with you soon!)
People: I. Love. Steven. Pinker. I highly recommend listening to his TED talk above, though you should know that it does the topic no justice. To really get the feel of it, I strongly suggest getting the book that this TED talk was based off of: The Better Angels of Our Nature. The Husband and I are each working our slow way through it now, but it makes an amazing case for the fact that far from needing to be nostalgic for the 'good old days' when the world was so much better, we're actually living in the most peaceful period of human existence that time has yet seen. Even just the first chapter of his book will blow your tiny mind...it certainly did mine.
Another Friday, another chance to recap the week in interesting pictures, videos, and articles. In between enjoying the year's first real sunshine here in England, I've been spending some time having fun on the Interwebs. Here are the highlights of what I've seen this week:
Dove Real Beauty Sketches. Whatever you want to say about Dove using this to sell a product they tell you will make you look/feel better about yourself, I think this does bring up a good point. We are generally our own worst critics. I wonder how negatively I would have described myself? That said, this critique of the ad raises a very fair point as well: our outer beauty shouldn't be so narrowly defined or make up a disproportionate amount of our self-worth. (Thanks to my cousin, Jen, for that second link!)
Wallpaper Wednesday at Love Chic Living. Looking for a fun new wallpaper for that room you've been meaning to redecorate? Or just want some more Pinterest fodder for that dream house you'll one day DIY to death? I high recommend taking a look at Love Chic Living's Wallpaper Wednesday column: she manages to hunt down some amazing finds. From the gorgeous and classic to the artsy or absolutely out-there, I haven't seen anything run-of-the-mill yet!
YHL's Ten Tips for Smoother Travel
I love John and Sherry at Young House Love for lots of things, but as someone who's seen her fair share of planes, I have to agree with their tips for airline travel. It's all practical stuff to think about if you're travelling a lot. Also, it makes me think of my sister's post on airports she's known. I think I could easily write a companion post to that.
Marillenbaum's review of Life After Life
Speaking of my sister, go read her review of this book...like, now. And then, go read the book, too, because it sounds awesome. Also, I'd suggest that you cry because you'll never write about another person's book as well as she did. I substituted the crying for some expletive-filled praise, and I think it worked just as well.
The Mountain Range pillow. From Three Bad Seeds, on Etsy, for those cute outdoor spaces, populated with Adirondack chairs and plaid flannel blankets that are just asking for that little something extra. (I now not only want this pillow, but to fulfill my dream of a plaid-blanketed Adirondack chair!)
A Gift Stash. The lovely blog You Are My Fave has such cute ideas: and this one is practical to boot. Though I don't know that I wouldn't snag Fantastic Mr. Fox and that game of Bananagrams for myself...
This ASOS midi skirt with pockets looks so stupidly fun to wear. I even have the 3/4-sleeve striped shirt to pair with it. I'm a sucker for dresses and skirts with pockets. It means I don't have to carry a purse just to keep my mobile phone and Burt's Bees on me! (Seriously; aside from the occasion bits of change, tissue, or E's binky, that's all I ever have in my pockets.)
Boyish, manly, well-drawn, hilarious, and occasionally wildly inappropriate. That's what I love about the prints in Sharp Writer's Epic Art Store on Etsy. My personal favourite? Bill Clinton The Lady Killer. It's all about the details...Ronald McDonald with a rocket launcher!? A crocodile with a bomb strapped to it!? Bill's fly is undone and everything...he even worked in the saxophone! I believe this deserves the hashtag #sowrongitsright.
Looking for a few more interesting things to have a look at on the internet? No worries, here are a few bits and bobs that have sparked my interest over the week:
I'm intrigued by all the arrangements by Studio Choo flowers. Sort of makes me wish that all those hours arranging the fake flowers in craft stores as a kid had translated to a career... (via Design*Sponge)
Farrahsit porcelin hanging planters- (via Design*Sponge) The whole shape and aesthetic of these is gorgeous. I just love how simple and clean they feel.
Mika's French-language single Elle Me Dit. I found this one via a post over at Design Mom. It's just fun. (And don't you just know I already have this song in my running playlist?)
This Craftyblossom quilt has given me serious ideas about my next DIY project for the house...
Just because it cracked me up: a Neil deGrasse Tyson paper doll. When you're this much of a boss, why shouldn't you be a paper doll?
So this Bee's Wrap stuff looks like it could be fun and useful. And it could save the cling wrap I use keeping E's half apples and half bananas fresh in the fridge. Come to that, it could keep my sandwiches fresh after the Husband makes them in the morning.
After helping my mother-in-law sort through her closet, I had to take a look at Toast, where she got a particularly cute sweater dress. This Judy shirt dress caught my eye.
These Esme Winter cards are actually a lovely find from real life. When picking up my mother's early Mothers' Day prezzies at Cashmere Goose in Hartley Wintney, I stumbled on these gorgeous patterned cards. I snagged the salmon-coloured one for my mother-in-law, but now I want to go back and get them all. (And possibly not give them to anyone, but frame them and hang them in my room!)
Thanks to my sister, I found a great way to waste half an hour today before taking E to the park. What did I do? I made myself into a Disney princess. Yup. Check it out:
I'm fairly pleased with the result, myself, but the best part came when E saw it up on the screen.
E: 'Ussat? (What's that?)
Me: That's me. It's a picture I made.
E: Issyou! (It's you!)
Me: That's right!
Oh yeah: my 16-month-old recognised a Disney cartoon of me. I'm officially impressed. I'm also impressed because it's the first honest-to-goodness conversation I've had with him that didn't involve sign language or playing 20 Questions. He spoke! With intelligible words!
Sure, in the past he's deigned to say things like 'penguin', 'upside-down', and 'clap'...and he knew what he meant. But each of those occasions were isolated incidents and he refused to repeat himself later on. He'll sign please when he wants things and thank you if he remembers, or is prompted, but real sentences are practically here! He even tried saying 'braces' yesterday when I snapped his braces onto his jeans.
His comprehension is great: he knows how to differentiate the zebra, monkey, elephant, and crocodile in his wooden Noah's Ark set. He can point out his eyes, teeth, hair, ears, tummy, feet, and little boy bits. When prompted, 'what do you say?' he knows to ask politely by signing please. He even knows that when I hear him mucking about in the kitchen, if I say, 'do you need to put that pasta back in the drawer?' that the bag of macaroni he's filched goes in the bottom drawer, and the drawer gets closed. I know kids are meant to understand much more than they repeat back, but I'm always impressed by how much he seems to get.
Oh, and if you, too, would like to waste some time getting Disney-fied, here's the link for you.
So I can't get a new look for myself so quickly (oh how I wish), but I can change up the look of the blog once again.
if only my figure would revamp so easily...
I'm sure it'll go through another several incarnations before I find a layout and theme I'm willing to settle upon. My big problem? I can't choose between the really bold colourful things and the sleek, elegant, subtly-coloured things. It's a cruel dichotomy: bold or subtle, loud or muted. The bigger problem is that I read most of the blogs from whence I'd take inspiration in Google Reader. And while Google Reader is great for collecting all my beloved reading material from Teh Interwebz into one conveniently organized place, it does take away all of the fun background and formatting that I'd like to consider for my own blog.
Other things that are changing their look? My living room. E was kind enough to let me take down the Christmas tree today, so my bay window can now house my stationary chest/bench again. Oh! And I got myself a lovely Christmas present from Etsy store, TheWordShop...
Mine won't be diner-mustard-and-ketchup coloured, but a lovely textured charcoal. I decided the kitchen needed some wall art love just as well as the rest of the house. Of course, I still have a huge blank wall in our bedroom to fill. Insert the devious finger drumming here...complete with smirk and patented Dreamworks Hero Eyebrows. (Just Google it.)
At the end of my tether tonight with the internet, I've decided that the best way to relieve the stress of web design is to blog. Creation of a web page with much less effort required. This above is really what drove me towards insanity: Dreamweaver. Designing a page is all fine and dandy; the only problem is when html-illiterate Yours Truly tries to publish the page to the internet. I will resume my battle with Adobe in the morning. Though at this point, the fight feels a bit like the Charge of the Light Brigade...
Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volley'd and thunder'd; Storm'd at with shot and shell, Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of Hell Rode the six hundred
The next project after this (aside from a research paper proposal) will be planning a fashion show with the IOC. (Yay!) Of course, even more fun was yesterday's weather. Just to even things out, after leaving the 4 or so odd feet of snow in Utah, and after everyone in London got to enjoy a few inches of snow, it decided to snow here as well. Of course, I'm quite excited, since it's only snowed about 4 times in my whole 3 years on campus...
...This one felt very "Chronicles of Narnia".
The view from my window. It was flurrying quite hard at this point.
Trees in the Q! (This was on the way to the faculty woodwind quintet concert...manditory, of course, but very good.)
