monday music: fleet foxes

With the title track from Fleet Foxes new album available to listen to, is there really anything else I could post about this Monday? I think not. I so closely associate Fleet Foxes' soaring harmonies with warm days, picnics, and sunshine that it's the perfect thing to see me through this last day of January. This song made me happy and I hope it does the same for you.

eat. your. greens.

Do you crave bright green in the dead of winter? Lately it's all I can think of. Rather than getting my greens in boring old salads, I much prefer to hide them in smoothies. Spinach is my favorite since the mild flavor blends especially well with fruit. I love starting my morning with a glass full of green.

Yes, I realize it looks like something out of a swamp monster movie, but it tastes delicious. Here's my recipe of choice at the moment.

Spinach (I use roughly 2 cups)

1 Banana

1 TBS ground flax seed

Frozen strawberries

Frozen raspberries

Almond milk (I don't use a precise measurement, just use a bit at a time until the consistency is right.)

Combine in blender and enjoy!

Sadly, my stash of strawberries from the summer is all used up as of this morning, but there are so many other combos to try! Some of my fast favorites included blueberries and melons. For more ideas check out this site.

monday music (on a tuesday): hercules and love affair

I'm running a bit late with the music post, but I thought I'd go ahead and share this one instead of waiting until next week. The new album from Hercules & Love Affair is being streamed HERE and I've been having a blast listening to it. "Blue Songs" is an awesome blend of disco infused beats with a whole lot of soul thrown in. Fun, funky and undeniably danceable, I highly recommend giving it a listen. I'm finding it a lovely way of distracting myself from the latest snow storm!

snowbound

(Check out our monster icicle!)

This morning we awoke to yet more snow. Light and fluffy stuff this time, but when I tried to go to work the roads were filled with so much slush that I had to turn around and come home. So I found myself snowbound... again. I'm started to feel a bit cooped up, spending all my days indoors. It's far too cold to actually enjoy being outside, but I miss the fresh air. I'm pouring over seed catalogs and dreaming of warm places. Yes, it's that time of year. Winter has started to grow old.

Here are some things that brightened my day.

These pictures made me want to run to the nearest greenhouse and buy a bouquet of freesia.

This show is keeping me entertained.

I am hoping that someday I'll be able to crochet this blanket.

Today's tea of choice.

These pictures remind me of how much I want to visit New Zealand (via Gala Darling).

Happy weekend!

makings

I have been busy with paper, thread and glue, making new cards to sell at the Co-op. I thought of February drawing near and decided hearts were quite appropriate for this shipment. I'm thinking of putting a few in the Etsy shop, but haven't quite decided yet...

the long weekend

The boy had yesterday off, which meant we got to enjoy a long weekend. I feel that I've been spoiled lately. With all the holidays and snow days we've been able to spend more time together instead of heading off to work. We didn't have that many plans, but it ended up being a busy and fun few days.

On Sunday morning we headed off to the Farmer's Market for the first time since before Christmas. Can you imagine what we found there?

Fresh tomatoes! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these bright spots of red at one of the tables. They're grown inside a greenhouse, of course, but they are tasty as can be. It made me happy to know that these tomatoes came from close by, carefully tended by the very person we bought them from.

Yesterday we went to the movies for the first time in ages. I have a long list of films I'd like to catch before they leave theaters, but we decided on True Grit. I definitely enjoyed it, despite the bloody bits. The storyline and acting are just as good as every one's saying, but I was also struck by how beautiful the scenery and props were.

On Sunday a friend and I took a beginners crochet class! It's something I've wanted to learn for a while and now I am practicing the three stitches we were taught over and over. It's confusing, but I find it to be a bit more relaxing than knitting and can't wait to try out a pattern.

As the sun peeked out, we watched the icicles hanging from our roof grow longer and longer. This picture is of a spot near our gutter where the ice comes all the way down past our window. I know it's not good for the house... but it's magical to look at.

The highlight of our weekend was taking a trip with to Northampton to see John McCauley and Ian O'Neil of Deer Tick play at the Iron Horse. It was a late show so we made a night of it, stopping here first to get dinner and coffee. And then it was off to stand in line in the cold. Fortunately we had brought Joe and Matt with us and they kept us entertained while we waited. It was an amazing show, one of my favorites I've seen lately. Lot's of Deer Tick songs and also a bunch of tunes that were brand new to me. John McCauley played a few from a new band he's in called Middle Brother. You can listen to a song and read a bit about them here. It's definitely one I'm looking forward to hearing when it comes out.

So, in summary, long weekends are fun and there should be more of them.

snow day!

Yesterday when we woke up, the world looked like this.

Snow everywhere! We found ourselves quite unable to leave the house and settled in to watch the snow collect and drink hot chocolate. When we finally ventured outside to start shoveling it was up past my knees in most spots, and past my waist where it's drifted! I may not be a particularly tall person, but this is still impressive. We're still trying to shovel our cars out this morning.

I was too flabbergasted to take many pictures, but the boy took a few polaroids that captured our snow day beautifully.

tuesday breakfast

The baby chicks I took pictures of in the spring are all grown up now. Recently they've started laying the prettiest little eggs that we enjoy very much for breakfast. Seeing them all lined up in the carton this morning reminded me of spring, and how it's slowly coming closer.

monday music: the decemberists

After getting sick yet AGAIN, listening to the new album from The Decemberists was just the thing to cheer me up this Monday. Just as their last album was completely different from anything we'd heard from them, The King is Dead has a sound that's all its own. This album delves into a distinctly Americana sound, with help on vocals from Gillian Welch. I haven't had time to listen to it all the way through yet, but so far I'm liking what I hear. But then, I've always loved Colin Meloy's voice and this band's unique take on storytelling.

NPR is streaming the album until it's release date on the 18th. Listen to it here. My favorite song so far is Rox in the Box. And how cool is the deluxe book full of polaroids they're selling here? Such a neat idea.

paper and print

(photo by Momota.M)

Since ringing in the New Year I've basically been lazing around on the couch, watching far too much TV and battling a cold. It's hardly how I envisioned beginning 2011, but at least it's given me plenty of time to think about my resolutions and goals for the year. Towards the top of my list is what I consider to be a fun one; read 100 books.

There was a time when this goal would have been easy for me. I'm a fast reader, and for many years I didn't go anywhere without a book in hand. I have a deep love for fantasy, and I tore through our library's YA section at an amazing rate. But these past few years have been busy and it's taken a toll on my book count. Seeing as, for the most part, my time has been taken up by things that are new and exciting I can hardly complain. But still, there's a big part of me that misses how much time I spent being completely lost in a good book. So this year I'm going to make more time for the written word.

And I must say I'm off to a great start, with a book that combines my love of food with my fondness of France, and a series that kept me up until 3 am.

The first book is Julia Child's My Life in France. Perhaps I shouldn't count this one yet since I haven't actually finished it, but I'm enjoying it immensely so far. Her descriptions of food are so loving that I find myself drooling over dishes I'd never actually be tempted to try if they were set before me. I remember watching reruns of her cooking shows when I was little, but I never knew much about her life. It's wonderful to read this book and learn what an adventurous, passionate and funny women was behind all those recipes.

I've been hearing the buzz about The Hunger Games for months, but still didn't know very much about the plot when I started reading the first book. So I really had no idea what I was getting myself into! This trilogy is one of the best things I've read recently and officially made it onto my favorites shelf the moment I was finished. They are intense, brutal, believable and completely addicting. When I love something very much I tend to lose my abilities of description in favor of hand gestures and words like "Gah!" Not that that's actually a word, but you get my point. For a good plot description don't listen to me, instead go here. I will say that Katniss is a believable and brilliantly flawed protagonist who's view of the world around her ensnares you completely from start to finish. And it doesn't end there, the characters around her are just as fleshed out and interesting as she is. If I sound like I'm gushing, well, it's probably because I am. I may spend a lot of time around here posting polaroids and wish lists, but my true love is a good read. And these books were certainly that.

So, 4 down, 96 to go!

new year

Happy New Year! The holidays have kept things quite around this blog. We had a lovely, relaxing Christmas day followed by a lazy week filled with food and friends. Sadly I came down with a nasty sort of cold/flu thing on New Year's Eve, but we had fun playing cards anyway. Here are a few polaroids from our New Year's celebration and a beach walk we took on the first day of the new year. Happy 2011!