Screen Style: Modern Family

I've been watching a bunch of re-runs of Modern Family on Netflix lately over lunch. Seriously, I love that show. And so when I was casting my mind about for ideas for the next Screen Style post, this was definitely at the forefront of my mind.

The Husband and I have watched this together for ages, ever since we were introduced to it by our friend Katherine. It's become a staple of our TV watching roster and so on nights where we need to keep dinner brief to get E to bed, if we're not watching The Office, we're usually watching Modern Family.

-Gloria dress
Though it's not always occasion-appropriate, Gloria's dresses do look fabulous. I'd definitely love more occasions to dress up like that.

-Cameron's button-downs (in men's and women's options)
Cameron's button-down shirts are so much fun. They're bright and colourful, and full of patterns. The two men's options come from JCrew and Boden; the women's options are the Kingston and Maywell shirts from Joules. If you want to be a curvy, spicy diva like Cameron, this is a good place to start.

-DVD boxset
I absolutely recommend the box set or buying the episodes on iTunes for this one. That way you don't have to miss any of the BB gun-shooting, hot tub-crashing, Spiderman costume-wearing, front lawn-serinading action!

- The blue paint from Phil & Claire's entryway
I went looking on the Benjamin Moore website to try and find a colour that approximated the shade of blue in Phil & Claire Dunphy's stairway. Surprisingly, when I Googled Benjamin Moore's Colonial Blue paint, a picture of the set of Phil & Claire's place from Modern Family did show up as one of the search results. Looks like I was pretty spot-on! And this slightly chalky, almost powder blue is a fun colour in its own right. Actually, I've been thinking of painting the living room...

-Kitchy animal decor
Useful, cute, and animal-themed, this happens to have one leg up on Barkley the butler dog. I know I could use a good place to keep important or urgent reminders for the family.

-Woven hat
Andy & Evan made their first appearance on the blog in the Stylish Little Men series. Their tagline is 'for little gentlemen' and that feels so appropriate since this piece was included to get a bit of the Manny Delgado look.

- Staircase carpet runner
Pottery Barn's Enzo Medallion Dhurrie Rug comes in a 2.5'×9' version that could make a great runner on stairs or in an entryway.  If it goes on the stairs, you could get enough traction to avoid even that one slippery tread on Phil & Claire's staircase!

A Very Sarah & Duck Sideboard

At some point I will wax eloquent about how much I love the new episodes of this show (I've been known to walk around the house singing, 'Tennis, tennis, tennis'...), but for now I have to confess that I've watched this cartoon enough to start pulling design inspiration from it for the house. Not only is that the mark of a well-designed cartoon, it's the mark of letting your toddler indulge his tolerance for repetition way too much! The Husband now laughs at me when I can quote along with various episodes. (Cough, cough - Cake Bake!)

In some ways I love the idea of mirrored furniture, and in others, not so much. I don't dislike Art Deco, but it doesn't feel as 'me' as some other styles. So when I see completely mirrored bedside tables and things, I just think that a little wood would warm them up nicely.

Cue Sarah & Duck's living room! Right behind that fun teal wingback chair there's a thin tall sideboard (or chest of drawers) holding a cute little pot and a globe.

via, Sarah & Duck on Facebook

If this NYVOLL chest of drawers from IKEA had mirrored drawers with round pulls, it would match the drawers/sideboard in Sarah & Duck's living room. If you're more keen on the mirrors than the simple lines, the Laura Ashley Charlston and the Uttermost are other options. Personally, I'd love this 1938 Italian find from Christie's...just in a deeper stain.

However, for the sake of accuracy, you could go with the NYVOLL and follow the instructions on this DIY mirrored dresser tutorial. Yes, it would cost to get either acryllic or glass mirror cut to size with holes, but what a fun project that would be, huh?

Oh, and to go the whole hog and try to snag something like the little ceramic pot and the globe, try these:

Replogle Globes: Livingston
Alas, the globe doesn't have a nice tiny moon and sun orbiting it on the mounting.

White Ceramic Jar, from JD Wolfe Pottery

Seriously...I wish I had room to put a chest of drawers in the nursery. I'd make it look just like this, just with a changing table on top. I may have to consider Craigslisting one of those Billy bookcases now...

Anyone else ready to get their DIY on?

Fleet Half Marathon: The Walking Running Dead

I know I've been woefully late in posting my recap of the half marathon we ran back on Sunday. Honestly, it's just taken me ages to remember to edit this post and get it up...it's been written since Monday when I meant to put it up! Anyway, this is a long one since it's my first race postmortem. I'm still figuring out which details I want most to touch on.

The Night Before:

The Husband and I checked directions for parking online as well as reading through the race packet to see what the schedule for the day would be like. While we did the grocery shopping, I texted the friends who would be watching Ethan just to finalise our arrangements.

After watching The Walking Dead all day, we put on an episode of The Office to watch over a dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. E decided he wasn't so keen on the whole thing and refused to eat unless bribed or otherwise talked into it. Just before going to bed, I fished out the safety pins, race bibs, timing chips, and iPods and set them all on the desk in the living room. After that, I got out the clothes I wanted to wear and set them in a pile in the room so that everything would be easy to find.

The Big Day:

I woke up just before 7:00. The Husband brought me 2 pieces of toast with Nutella for breakfast. This was the first thing I was worried about for the day: I still wasn't quite sure how my fueling routine would go, and nothing would make the day worse than having to stop and ruin my time for a 5-minute potty break on the route. I forget whether I had milk or herbal tea with my toast (my throat had been swollen and sore for a few days), but I did try not to drink too much before we left.

We got ourselves dressed, then got E ready, and packed his bag to take to Tom and Kerri's place. We'd initially planned on bringing them and both of the kids along to run around the start and finish lines, and maybe to stand in the crowds and cheer us on. Of course, when we saw the grey and rainy day it was shaping up to be, we figured it was best for everyone to stay home if they could.

We got phones and iPods ready for the wet weather, and I snagged one of the gels that needed finishing and put it in the pocket of my running tights. The Husband and I both tied a set of keys to the drawstrings of our trousers as well. We planned to bring his old backpack to hold any after-race clothing or extra odds and ends, but we wanted to avoid putting too much important or valuable stuff in there if we could. The runners' tent was supervised, but still, it was better safe than sorry.

By 8:30 we were out the door and dropping E off with our friends. He quite happily let me leave once we put on an episode of Sarah & Duck. Then, we were off to Fleet to go get ready to run. By this point, we'd fielded plenty of supportive texts from the family and were feeling pretty good about the prospect of the race.

The weather had been drizzling a bit all morning, and it was still okay as we parked the car and walked the mile or so to Calthorpe Park where the start was. Once we got to the park, though, that was a different story. The rain picked up and the runners' tent quickly crowded to bursting with people trying to stay as dry and warm as they could. Then, the sleet started. Getting hit in the face with tiny bits of ice isn't how you want to start any activity, let alone running 13.1 miles outside.

I had a bag of salted crisps and we made one last 'just-to-be-sure' stop in the porta-johns before making our way to the starting line. There may or may not have been lots of sullen complaining going on with regards to the rubbish weather. But then the start came, and we were running in a huge crowd of people (and I was checking out everyone's running shoes), and the spectators were cheering, and people were coming out of their houses to watch us all run by, and the mood improved quite a bit.

In the end, the Husband ran with his backpack on. What with the cold and the rain and the sleet, we couldn't face stripping off our hoodies and things before the start of the running, so we kept the bag with us to be able to shed layers as we ran and warmed up.

The first mile felt a bit longer than I'd expected, but not in a tiring way. I started taking blurry pictures on my phone and chatted on and off with the Husband about the niceness of the route and the crowds. We high-fived a lot of little kids along the way. By the end of the first 5 miles, I was feeling really good and settling into my stride.

At 6 miles, I finally put in my headphones. Technically, they suggested in the strongest language possible that iPods and headphones were NOT a good idea and were dangerous, and they really preferred that you not bring them along. As we observed at the start line, no one was really listening to that. Plus, by the 6-mile mark, we were out on country roads, and so you could still easily keep the volume at a manageable level to hear instructions or hold conversations without straining to make out your music. It was nice and quiet as we ran on roads through the fields and farms, and even on a rainy day, the scenery was quaint and relaxing.

I took a bit of water on board at every water station and popped a bit of energy gel just before. This meant taking on a little bit of fuel just over every half hour. It seemed to serve me in good stead, because I never felt fatigued until near the very end of the race. Luckily, there were some kids on the sidelines with Gummi Bears, which was a nice pick-me-up.

By mile 10, things started feeling as if they were slowing down again. I was keeping pace, but by this point my knees were getting quite achy, and I was having twinges of discomfort along my hips and the outside of my thighs. It was nothing too bad, but I was getting focused on it. My music was doing me good, though, and I had the Husband right there to talk to and check in on. His shin had been giving him trouble after helping his brother pace a half the weekend before, and by this point in the race it was barking. We'd made it this far, though and were determined to keep going with no walking breaks.

This is also the point in a long run where I tend to hit The Zone. I don't care about any pain or who's with me or where I am and how fast the scenery is going by. I don't even really pay attention to anything I've got on the iPod: I just hit this hypnotic rhythm of feeling my body move. It isn't even necessarily about the pace of my stride, just the overall sense of movement and how I could keep repeating it for ages. Of course, by the time mile 12 is coming up, this is wearing off and I'm getting tired and scowling. I'm suddenly frustrated with everything, but I'm determined to see this thing out to the end and to do it well. Then, I start feeling sorry for myself in all of my discomfort, but I keep running because the finish line is nearly in sight.

Just before the last 200 metres, there had been a hill. The Husband rushed down it, but I couldn't with my knees hurting me like they were. At the bottom of the hill, though, as we re-entered the park, he turned around and held out his hand to me. We would end the race hand-in-hand and push each other across the finish line.

It felt so good to be done that I could hardly make myself keep moving to get past the inflatable gate and turn in my timing chip! We hobbled back to the car looking like zombies from The Walking Dead. Honestly, that was the hardest mile I ever walked. But we finally made it to the car, picked up E, got ourselves some much deserved McDonald's for lunch, and settled down to eat, lounge, and have hot hot baths for the rest of the day.

via, NewsOK

The Morning After:

I've been feeling slightly less sore. Not sure how my right flank is doing, but my knees aren't quite as stiff and achy. The arches of my feet, though, are a different story. I need to find some way to really rest them. Maybe a good foot rub to help the soreness, or just a long soak in a hot tub of water again.

The sense of accomplishment at running my first half marathon has also finally settled in. Being so cold and sore and tired at the end of the race, it took a while to really look back and enjoy the experience. Sort of like when you get past how tiring and painful labour was and decide you want another baby.

(Several Mornings After...)
After about 2 days, everything was back to normal. I could walk like a normal human being, my quads and knees and ankles weren't aching, and I had a healthy sense of having accomplished something by running 13.1 miles in the freezing rain. I could even pat myself on the back for having run the whole course without any walking breaks: a first for me over that sort of distance.

Screen Style: Sarah & Duck

I know that I just can't stop gushing. This really is such a cute show. The animation, the patterns, the colours, the kitschy music, the talking shallots and rainbows and handbags. I've just said to the Husband that I want this show on DVD so that all of our kids can enjoy the glorious adorableness that is Sarah & Duck. (Not to mention that when we have little girls, Sarah is the perfect companion costume opportunity to Oliver Jeffers's Boy and his Penguin.)

I have to admit that I never thought I'd do a screen style post based on a cartoon, but here we are. It was so cute and easy to put together that it's even hopped the queue a little bit in terms of what I've been meaning to finish drafting and get up here! So, let's take a look at a few stills and then jump right into the goodies I've sussed round the interweb to get the Sarah & Duck look going on.

1) If you check that shot of Sarah and Duck's living room, you'll see some adorable faux-Victorian tiles in fireplace. If you look closer, there are duck silhouettes in the pattern! If you had a mantle or fireplace to dress up, these 1885 Josiah Wedgwood re-printed tiles would do the trick nicely.

2) The Scarf Lady in this show is adorable. However, she's also basically an octagenerian, and I don't know many people who aspire to dress that way...even if they're 80 themselves. So I've vamped up the Scarf Lady's basic look on Polyvore. The Forever 21 dress was a fun place to start.

3)This Spoonflower fabric from Mayabella can also be bought as a wallpaper. It definitely reminds me of the gorgeous and intricate patterns in Sarah and Duck's house. Plus, I managed to find something in that cute lavender colour.

4) Sarah sure does love her lemons. Want to show your lemon love without having to drink enough lemon water to permanently pucker your mouth? I think these lemon ornaments by Wintergreen Design on Etsy do the trick.

5) In the 'technology room' (where the computer lives), Sarah has a pretty sweet brown egg chair. Really, I love all the chairs in this house. But the Fritz Hansen leather egg chair from Made in Design is gorgeous. If only I had a room where this chair would work. Oh yeah...and the money to buy it...

6) Want to get closer to the lemon love than just some ornaments? Rock the lemon soap! This stuff from LoveLee Soaps on Etsy looks pretty fun. If you don't care about whether your soap looks like a lemon, you could also try Treacle Moon's Those Lemonade Days hand soap or bath and shower gel. I've actually tried the latter and it smells great: not too sweet or too bitter, and not overwhelming...but it still smells like real lemons.

7) Sarah's look, compiled on Polyvore: complete with H&M leggings and River Island dip-dye earrings.

I had fun with this! I have to admit, I'm looking forward to when the next 10 episodes of Sarah & Duck will come out later in the month. I'll try to keep the fangirl mommy talk to a minimum.

Favourites (Books and TV)

Yup, this time I not only have tooth-achingly adorable children's books to share, but a fun new show; courtesy of my sister-in-law, Rachel.

So the show, Sarah & Duck, is another lovely production by the BBC. From the perfectly digestible 3-minute episodes of Small Potatoes, to 5-minute educational-if-sometimes-mildly-annoying romps of the Alphablocks, and now to the 7-minute adventures of Sarah & Duck, I've been enjoying what the Beeb has to offer by way of children's programming. Not to mention that I can always pop on an 11-minute episode of Charlie and Lola if we're having a difficult time over lunch.

Plus: how cute is the illustration style in Sarah & Duck!? I can't get over the number of fun textures and patterns on display in the background. Plus, Sarah and Duck themselves are pretty fun and (unlike some cartoons) are easily recognizable as a little girl and a duck. (Seriously: I considered getting another book starring a penguin the other day, but the illustrations looked nothing like any penguin I've ever seen...)

So, to recap: Fun animation style, short enough to keep a toddler's attention, cute and quirky music, and an animal that makes its appropriate noise. Nope: Duck doesn't talk. He quacks. Like a duck should. Seriously...check out this show.

Now: on to the books!

When a Monster is Born by Sean Taylor and Nick Sharratt is a brilliantly structured book. For kids still at the age where lots of repetition makes a story easier to follow, this is definitely the book to read. As they tell you at the start: 'When a monster is born there are two possibilities: either it's a faraway in the forests monster, or it's an under-your-bed monster.' This formula is how the rest of the monster's story is told. And if your kid is a budding typography fiend, the authors play around with the fonts for emphasis quite a bit...and I think it works to good effect.

What Small Rabbit Heard, by Sheryl Webster and Tim Warnes is published by none other than the ridiculously prestigious OUP (or Oxford University Press, for those of you not in the know). I don't know why this surprises me so much, other than that I usually associate OUP with editions of Charles Dickens or Sylvia Plath or Richard Dawkins...not children's books.

But this is good fun: Small Rabbit is supposed to head out on a walk with Big Rabbit (we're never sure if this is his mum or sister or some unrelated older female), but he protests that it's too windy outside. Too bad. Fresh air is good for you. As the walk progresses, Small Rabbit has all sorts of adventures as he mishears Big Rabbits instructions thanks to the gusting, biting wind. E especially loves the windy sound effect that comes along every other page: 'Whooooo!' Honestly, I think that's his favourite part of the book.

So there you have it: two fun new books for your toddler. No foreign language entries this week: we're quickly pacing through the library's offering of fun French-language kids' books. I'll have to start taking suggestions elsewhere.

Screen Style...and a bit of a gripe

I suppose having raved so much about Sherlock before, I do owe at least a head-nod to the controversy about Steven Moffat's portrayal of Irene Adler in the season 2 opener before doing a run down of the lovely looks that the costume & prop teams put together.

Really, I don't have much to add to this review from the Guardian and this slightly more scathing summary by Stavvers. I hate to let myself be swayed by every new thing that I read, but having gone through those two articles, it's far too easy to see the point they're making as I sit and re-watch Scandal in Belgravia.

Mrs. Hudson is the scolding motherly type: constantly badgering the boys about the mess they leave in their flat and bemoaning the provocation of Sherlock's sexy new text alert seeing as how she is, after all, of a post-menopausal age. Apparently to Moffat, this clearly means that "at [her] stage of life" Mrs. Hudson has so little libido or even emotional interest in sex that any mention of the subject is an annoyance at best.

Molly Hooper comes off slightly better. Sure, she's the forlorn and desperate puppy whom Sherlock constantly kicks, but at least her quiet disappointment provokes him to some semblance of human sympathy: arguably a moment of growth for his character. "You always say such horrible things," she tells him. And to the surprise of all present, Sherlock offers a sincere apology. Not to mention that, come the season finale, Molly is the only person Sherlock trusts to help him overcome Moriarty.

There's not much more to say on the subject of The Woman that hasn't already been said. It is a bit pathetic that she's brought down by her incongruous girl-crush on Sherlock...and then has to be rescued by him on top of it all. Sure, if you don't think about it she comes off fine: she did work through that accident with the boomerang and managed to stump Sherlock's usual methods of deduction at their first meeting; even getting the drop on him to steal her phone back. But he rumbles her faked death, unlocks her phone, and even plots her rescue and does an even better job of faking her demise than she did. That said, a mind like that of the brilliant Mr. Holmes should have been able to deduce more from the naked Ms. Adler than he did. There were still her well-manicured hands (and other bits), elaborately coiffed hair, make-up, wrinkles, expressions, and gestures to consider. And he still closes out the episode by saying to himself in an admiring tone, "the Woman...the Woman." If Moffat wrote out any chance for Sherlock to admire her for her mind, then what's left is the obvious - if again incongruous - sexual attraction or emotional connection. At least, in that case, the tone has been lowered for all parties involved, regardless of sex.

All of these complaints taken into account, I still love me some Sherlock. And A Scandal in Belgravia has brilliant music, gorgeous costuming, and an engaging - if unfortunately sexist - story line. Let's get on to this episode's look:

1) The Alexander McQueen dress that Irene wears at the episode's start is gorgeous, sleek, and sophisticated. And I have a special place in my heart for the pencil skirt silhouette.
2) The cashmere turtleneck, Karen Millen gloves, and Christian Loboutin pumps all evoke or copy bits of Ms. Adler's wardrobe. The whole set is on my Pinterest page.
3) This Sephora by OPI polish isn't the exact shade from the show, but it's an affordable alternative.
4) I wouldn't suggest pulling a Sherlock, but these bed sheets from MUJI are probably comfy enough to wear in public!
5) I wouldn't keep human ash in it (remember the guy who was convinced his dead aunt had been replaced?), but this Raku urn from Dodero Studio Ceramics would look gorgeous on a shelf. And it comes in lots of lovely colours.

Screen Style: BBC's Sherlock

Let me get it all out of the way up front: I love Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman. As Sherlock Holmes and John Watson they're like pepperoni & pineapple: so different, but so good together. Not to mention that as the characters they portray, I could eat them both up. Sure one's so self-absorbed as to be practically asexual and the other is an inattentive boyfriend at best, but if they were real I'd be the biggest fangirl to ever sport a deerstalker. As it is, I sort of wish I had a reason to wear a deerstalker...or a fedora...I'm big on hats despite only owning two of them.

When my sister was here over the break, we three gleefully made our way through a Sherlock marathon. We rewatched all 6 episodes in 2 days and loved every minute of it. I couldn't help but think that I loved the whole style of the show and wanted to work some of that feeling into my own home and clothes. Hey: I take my inspiration where I can get it. And let's be honest: painting "I heart Sherlock" in bright yellow on the walls with some artistic bullet holes really isn't an option. (Aside from being entirely devoid of subtlety.) So, for those of us not so inclined to wear our hearts on our sleeves, how would we pay a little homage to the latest incarnation of Conan Doyle's famous detective and his mild-mannered assistant? Perhaps, with a few carefully curated picks from around the internet:

1) This sort of pink iPhone case makes a reappearance in a later episode. This version is from John Lewis, £24.95 
2) If you've seen the episode, then you'll know that the iconic Hackney cabs play a huge part in the plot. This cute Hackney cab stamp comes from skullandcrossbones on Etsy, $4.50
3) If you're looking for another way to work in the Hackney cab, try this adorable print from South London Prints on Etsy, £15.00
4) The bold wallpaper in the sitting room of 221B is pretty hard to miss. If you're brave enough, the actual pattern is available from a manufacturer called Zoffany. £104 per roll.
5) If you're not feeling obsessed brave enough to plaster your house in Sherlock's fleur-de-lis brocade wallpaper, you can always commit to this desktop wallpaper - complete with yellow smiley face - free from fanpop.

1) The waving Lucky Cat is cute in a cheesy, kiztchy sort of way: it also appears as part of a huge plot point. You can find this brooch from Laser Jewlery LaCanica on Etsy, £8.27
2) Although the snazzily simple blue-on-white, sans-serifed packaging is nowhere to be found on Floris's website, their Cefiro hand lotion is still available to buy. Floris London, £22.00 
3) This teapot reminds me of the ones Soo Lin Yao is restoring in the opening sequence (which was obviously shot in part of the British Museum. I used to hang out there a lot). You can find it at John Lewis: £9-12.50 Also: Check these super cute mugs you could find to match! From Little Wren Pottery on Etsy.
4) The iconic red paper lanterns from Chinatown make a brief, but memorable appearance in this episode. This print by Myan Soffia would be great way to evoke that. From society6, $39.00 framed.

1) I love that this is the episode where we get our first proper introduction to arch-nemesis Jim Moriarty. These bright-coloured pants would be a great tribute to his first moments on screen. Next, £19
2) These two prints by Matt Waring and Denny Armstrong are great shots of bit of Thamesfront London. It's a less artistic photo than these that clues Sherlock in to the next crime in Moriarty's puzzle. Matt Waring & Denny Armstrong from society6, £15.
3) This episode features a great fight scene in a planetarium. Not knowing too much about decent star projectors, it did take a bit of searching to find something that wasn't quickly discovered to be crap. The twilight turtle is definitely for kids, but it looks to be one of the better projectors out there. On Amazon, $32.95
4) Granted, Carl Powers's shoes in the show were 80s originals, but these Lebron X iDs by Nike do a pretty good job of approximating the old high-top 80s & 90s look. From Nike, £190
5) Though the Vermeer in the episode turns out to be a fake, you could still snag a coffee table book of the artist's work (or some postcards or prints) from London's National Gallery. Shop Art, the National Gallery, £6.99 

Also, a big help for this post was the Sherlockology website. It was great for tracking down some of the props and costume pieces in the show. Want to see any other shows or films show up like this? I'd love to do this sort of thing more often, so do let me know!

Know Thyself, or Jeez, Gilmore!

In my fine tradition of over-analyzing the TV I watch and the books I read, I need to have a moment to obsess over my turn-of-the-century TV crush: Gilmore Girls.

via, Wikipedia

I wanted Rory's corduroy jacket when I was in high school. I wanted her cute pyjamas with the cakes on them that she wears when the Chilton Puffs abduct her in the night to join their sorority. I wouldn't have minded her flawless skin and shiny hair, either, come to that. And Jess. I could have done with a Jess in my high school days. And here, dear reader, is where the critique begins.

When it comes to TV shows, I always have strong opinions on who should end up with whom. For Loralei, I would have been happy with either Christopher or Luke. For Rory, though, I was most definitely Team Jess. Sure, maybe they needed to break up for a while, but once he got his act together and wrote his book, he was even more perfect for her than he was when he was stealing her copy of Howl to make notes in the margins for her, or clandestinely sabotaging the Dickensian snowman so that Rory and Loralei's Bjork look-alike would win.

So let me start off with my, possibly damning, opinion. I hated Dean. Never liked him. Snobbish reason first? He was nowhere near her level intellectually, and for someone as smart as her, whose intelligence was such a big part of her sense of self, that should have been more of an issue. (Let me say, I'm more lenient because they did also bond over saving the world together, but this is the crux of my beef with Ron & Hermione as well.) Practical reason second? He was waaay too moody and jealous and demanding.

Dean never trusted Rory. Yes, I get that having any guy - let alone guys like Logan and Jess - hit on your girlfriend is annoying. You're all dogs and their pissing all over your fire hydrant: I get it. But honestly! He always insisted that he loved Rory, but part of loving her is trusting her. She needs to be able to have her own friends and her own life without you hovering at the edges all the time like a conspicuous bodyguard. That means you don't actually need to sit in on that Shakespeare rehearsal for her school project just because Logan will be there. Especially when it was painfully obvious that she didn't want you there waiting to throw down like a deleted scene from West Side Story when she was trying to perfect a project that was a huge part of her overall grade.

Now, I need to go back and address the "tell me you love me" beef. To mix my TV references, it's a bit like Callie & George back in the good old days of Grey's Anatomy. He said to her, "If I say it now, you'll know I'm just saying it because you did...when I do say it, I want to mean it." Unfortunately, Rory being the bumbling wordsmith she is under pressure, there was no hope of something so succinct and to-the-point coming out of her mouth when Dean was having his pouty hissy-fit in the front seat of that scrap pile of a car. However, even barring a good explanation, "I need to think about it" was a decent starting point. But, yet again, Dean's refusal to use his little grey cells (as Poirot would put it) got in the way. No, my dear, you don't just know you're in love with someone all the time. Sometimes, you have to sift through all of the complicated emotions that person conjures up in you to decide: do I like him? Do I just want to get in his pants? Do I care about him? Does he make me happy? What does it all mean!?

Perhaps I'm asking too much of a 16-year-old boy...but somehow I don't think I am. If you've taken the time to be in a relationship with someone to the extent that you're honestly friendly with their parents and you're building them a car, you should be having these sorts of conversations at least with yourself, if not with the person you're dating. And if you're having a whinge-fest because they didn't say "I love you" at your perfect moment...well, maybe you're not mature enough to have this relationship in the first place. See? This is why we can't have nice things.

via, Know Your Meme

That said, let us consider Rory and the shining example of how to function in a relationship that she has in her mother. The woman who managed to get to within a week of her wedding before she realised she didn't even love the man she was going to marry!

Now, while a 16-year-old might not be so self-aware, a 32-year-old woman who's raised a kid, had a decent education, and a startlingly robust sense of self-esteem ought to know better than to let matters get so out-of-hand. I mean, she apparently knew at 16 that marrying Christopher, despite being his best friend, knowing him her whole life, possibly even being in love with him, and - oh yeah! - having a baby with him, was a bad idea. In this case with Max Medina, she refused to acknowledge the reality of her own actions. She ran into Rory's room saying, "there's a boy in my bed" the first time Max spent the night. She refused to cut him a key to the house! She never discussed how he would fit into Rory's life once they married. And yet she felt like it was okay to marry the guy?

The moral of the story: know yourself before you get to know someone else. Biblically or otherwise. Learn to acknowledge your faults (at least to yourself if you must pretend to perfection in public), think about how - in an ideal world - you would handle certain situations. Then, when your boyfriend is throwing a tantrum at the end of your date in the scrap yard - you have a starting point from which to collect your thoughts and tell him, "It's not that I don't love you, but it's a complicated thing for me to say, and I don't want to ruin things by saying it when I'm not ready!" Or, when he's being unreasonable about you being friends with a guy he doesn't like, you could say, "Well, you don't have to like all of my friends. I appreciate that you don't like him, so I won't rub it in, but you can't tell me who I can and can't hang out with, okay?" Of course, if you then go and kiss this other delinquent bookworm at a wedding, you may have to take your moral high horse back to his stable, but the point remains. If you are such a stranger to yourself that you're surprised by your own actions, you really have no business making yourself part of a matched set.

via, Tumblr

Obliviousness, thy name is Gilmore. Of course, that might also be willful self-deception's name (or is that Collins...) but either way, I still love that show. Horribly dysfunctional relationships and all.

Mommy Mondays: Across the (Gender) Divide

Today was a bit of a gloomy, foggy, overcast day. But this past weekend was lovely! Pumpkin picking at Garson's was brilliant. We went with the Husband's parents and had a fantastic time showing them around, choosing a pumpkin to carve, picking out mutant squash to decorate the house with, and updating the Christmas ornament collection. Pictures will most definitely follow.

Since today wasn't terribly chilly as days in October go, I decided that just the one layer would suffice for our trip out to baby group. Ever since seeing this picture on one of my favourite blogs, exPress-O, I'd been dying to test out the oversized-men's-dress-shirt look again. Especially as I now have a comfy and wonderfully versatile pair of skinny jeans with which I can work.

Counter-intuitive though it may seem, there's something incredibly feminine to me about wearing oversized men's clothes. It's a bit like all the movies and TV shows I remember from growing up (like Friends) where you'd often see a girl - the morning after spending the night with a guy - wearing his pyjama top or dress shirt as a borrowed nightgown. So, to me, there's always something sexy and slightly naughty about stealing the Husband's clothes to wear like that.

via, Caffeine Mascara and an iPhone

via, Omiru

It actually reminds me of when we first started dating. S had this cozy and giant red, fleecy jumper with a short collar and a half zip. Once, staying at his place for the day, I borrowed it when I got cold and ended up taking it home. I wore it constantly for the next fortnight, and sometimes I'd turn the collar around slightly and I could still smell his cologne from where the fleece rubbed against the nape of his neck. I did the same thing when I stole his university hoodie and took it with me all over Italy and Denmark for my Spring Break holiday. That hoodie saved my life in Rome: it was freezing at night for most of the week I was there, and even after getting extra blankets from the campground staff, that hoodie did me a world of good.

Rocking the Husband's hoodie in a confessional booth in the Vatican.

Now that I've waxed lyrical about the man whose clothes I get to steal for the rest of my life, I think it's time for some lunch before I edit the weekend's pumpkin picking pictures. (Try saying that five times fast...) Besides; I need to catch up on watching Downton Abbey!

   

Vicarious Tourism: Highclere Castle

So last week I was staying with my in-laws up in West Berkshire whilst the Husband was away in California on business. One of the many perks of this? Being able to take a day with my sisters-in-law, mother-in-law, nephew, and son to go and see Highclere Castle; otherwise known to PBS costume drama nerds as Downton Abbey.

I've grown out of my rebellious youth (a bit) and decided to abide by the "NO PHOTOS IN THE HOUSE!" signs that cropped up everywhere. I seem to recall that in historic houses that sort of pedantry tends to have something to do with image copyrights and the like. So, alas, there are no photos of the stately rooms inhabited on-screen by the Earls of Grantham and off-screen by the Earls of Carnavon. As in the guy who helped discover Tutankamun's tomb.

The E-Monster and his cousin Henricus spent their time outside with Mimi and Auntie Felicity. After a brief picnic they weren't exactly in the mood to queue for minutes on end to peek into the rooms of someone else's house. Especially since they wouldn't be allowed to run amok and wreak a bit of mayhem all in the name of discovery and exploration. So it was off into pushchairs and around the grounds for the boys while Rachel and I breezed through the house enjoying its charms. Well...I say breezed, though really our pace through that house was to walking what blowing hair out of your face is to hurricane. It was chock-a-block in there with people packed into corners and down staircases to take their turn leaning precariously over a cordon to look into a swanky bedroom.

Let me pinch those cheeks!

 After our tour of the house, we decided to be reunited with our boys out in the gardens. Of course, we were quickly chivvied along to go get some more alone time touring the gardens before taking our rambunctious little guys back. So off we went.

This was part of the monks' garden. Apparently part of the site used to be a church and a monastery centuries before it became a stately home.

shhh! It's a secret.

As you can see, this is what the macro setting on your camera was made for.

At the end of the trip we came back having enjoyed a lovely day out. Don't get me wrong, I love a break, but sometimes when you have nothing else to do, you need to start making things to do: you know what I mean? Even if those things are strolling through someone else's house and gardens, perusing a gift shop, and watching your son scamper across the lawns of a manor you usually only see on TV.

Put on Your Dancing Shoes

I found this cover weeks ago and - this may sound terrible - I like it in spite of myself. Yes, it's a bit country-pop. Really, something about the feel of it vaguely reminds me of Provo and the mountain west in general...but in a good way. There's something quaint and charming about this guy and his one-man cover of some Whitney Houston.

Otherwise, this past week and a half, I've been keeping true to my New Year's goal to read new books despite being at home with Ethan all day. It keeps me from watching too many back episodes of random shows on Netflix. I'd been slowly picking my way through the Complete Illustrated Short Stories of Sherlock Holmes, but after about 5 cases in a row, I needed to give Dr. Watson a rest for a bit before diving back in. Thankfully, Sebastian had just made his way through 1/4 of one of his Christmas presents: the first four books of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. The first book, Game of Thrones, is brilliant. Martin has a huge and well-rounded cast of characters, and manages to keep up very well with nearly 10 or 11 character viewpoints to tell his tale. That scope of perspective only gets bigger in book two, A Clash of Kings.


I'll be honest, in my own small way, I'm a fantasy nerd. Don't expect me to dress up and play D&D or anything any time soon (or ever, for that matter), but I can appreciate the imagination that goes into creating worlds for series like Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings, or Mercedes Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series. So since the nerd stigma of the genre didn't turn me away, I had no qualms about diving into Martin's 900+-page opus. Nine days later and I'm nearly done with about 1800-pages of epic storytelling. If only my weight loss goals were as easy to keep on top of, I'd be back to pre-baby weight by now!

In the meantime, it's time to whip up some mac & cheese for dinner tonight. I have ingredients in my fridge to use up before the weekend comes...

6 Week Photo Shoot

Has it really been 6 whole weeks since I first got to hold my amazing baby boy? It's still weird every now and then to stop and remember, "Oh yeah: I'm a mom now! That's my son." Calling Ethan my son still hasn't lost its novelty. I know I spend every day with him pretty much non-stop, but that doesn't mean it's sunken in yet; the reality of having a child.

That said, I have gotten pretty used to basking in his above-average cuteness. I've got the whole indecently-proud-momma routine down pat. I can be nauseatingly infatuated with my child like the best of 'em. Just witness, for instance, the lovely photo shoot we staged after watching about 6 episodes of Up All Night. Which, I have to add, is most definitely my new TV jam. Line most true to life? When Christina Applegate tells her BFF that the only way she fit into her work clothes was because, "I'm wearing a girdle and two pairs of Spanx!" Preach, sistah girl; preach.

I see you...

Having a whale of a time (har har)

stretching

And now...Blue Steel!

Frank Sinatra's got nothing on these blue eyes

This is my serious face.