Archive | September, 2012

have you heard of Songza?

September 21, 2012 at 11:30 am

One bummer of living overseas is you can’t use any of the major streaming services, like Hulu and Spotify and Pandora and Netflix Streaming (yes, Netflix, even though you pay for a subscription and everything!). Trust me, I’ve tried. Over and over. It’s because we have an Italian IP (internet) address and these services are not yet authorized to play in certain countries.

I guess one plus is that it does cut down on the amount of TV Elliott and I ~~might possibly~~ would definitely watch. But it’s just sad that we can’t stream free music in this day and age. How else is a new mama living on an island (hah) supposed to stay relevant, hip, and cool?

So when I come back to the States I indulge myself in streaming music services (and Starbucks and B&N and thrift stores and Chipotle). My favorite streaming music site is Songza, a totally hip site that helps narrow down my radio station to my mood. I took some screenshots to introduce you to it.

Here is what Songza looks like now, on Thursday night, while I am writing this post:

I chose “Unwind After a Long Day,” because I have a toddler and it was. Songza then said:

Because I wanted to prove to you how hip and cool I am (despite my earlier self-pitying proclamations otherwise), I chose “Atmospheric Indie.”

Because I was a little frightened when I got to this page and realized I was in over my head, I chose “Dream Pop.” I like nice dreams.

And here I am, with you, looking at this page and enjoying some mellow, chill tunes. Ahhh…!

Other reasons to love Songza:

Three words: No. Audio. Ads. Move over, Pandora.
A “Popular” tab where you can play popular playlists from this week, this year, or that are currently trending. For those of us who are really concerned about staying relevant.
The same rating system as we’re all used to from other music streaming services: skip this song, thumbs up (play more like this), thumbs down, pause.
Search and “browse all songs” features to find what you’re really looking for.
Apps for your iPhone, Android, and Kindle, too.

Now go check out Songza and enjoy along with me!

P.S. Songza obviously did not pay me to write this. I am not that cool.

Vintage vinyl image via here.

13 :: in Becoming a Stay-at-Home Mom Series, links I love

Rosebasket dresses and shaving cream

September 20, 2012 at 10:22 pm

You know those families that you’ve just known forever, the ones that are a part of childhood summers and teenage holidays and grown-up weddings, the ones that you know will be there forever into the future, too? The Roes are like that for our family. Aunt Leslie and Uncle Brian are some of my parents’ dearest friends, we visited them every summer growing up, we went skiing in France with their son Daniel this past March, and Aunt Leslie sewed an exquisite dress that Lena wore for her baptism.

Aunt Leslie has an online business called Rosebasket in which she makes heirloom christening gowns and baby clothing. Yesterday Aunt Leslie came over to my parents’ house to take pictures of Lena modeling some of her heirloom gowns. Doesn’t Lena look charming in the first photo?! But don’t be fooled…

Other parts of the photo shoot went like this, with tears and crazy antics:

Interspersed with moments like this (there’s my pretty girl… half-asleep and ready for a nap!):

And the photo shoot finished with this:

In a last-ditch attempt to get Lena to laugh for just one more dress, my mom put shaving cream all over her face and did a crazy dance. Despite all her efforts, Lena merely looked like a bemused princess (see the best photos here). And once the dress was off she made a beeline for my mom’s face and rubbed shaving cream alllll over her little body.

The photo shoot ended as do many fun photo shoots: in the bathtub!

4 :: in Lena, Rosebasket

Rosebasket dresses and shaving cream

September 20, 2012 at 9:22 pm

Other parts of the photo shoot went like this, with tears and crazy antics:

Interspersed with moments like this (there’s my pretty girl… half-asleep and ready for a nap!):

And the photo shoot finished with this:

The photo shoot ended as do many fun photo shoots: in the bathtub!

5 :: in Lena, Rosebasket

classic literature for my little one(s)

September 19, 2012 at 6:23 pm

Aren’t they beautiful? Can’t you just smell them? The well-loved covers and beloved pages of some of the best children’s books ever written. Ahhh… I could just stare at this photo and admire them for a good long time. In fact, I have.

The story behind these photos is the little shopping spree I went on before meeting Eden on Capitol Hill last Saturday. Don’t get too worried, sweet husband, because my shopping spree cost me a grand total of $9.50, and that was only because I went to the wrong place and spent too much at a yard sale ($7.50) before I headed to the library sale and wised up over a stack of books that cost me $2.

Here’s what I scored at the yard sale:

All those Madeline books (we already have the original) make me giddy! As does that lovely old volume of Shel Silverstein’s poetry. I’m still looking for a good copy of The Giving Tree, my favorite Silverstein story.

Here’s what I scored at the library sale:

The Story of Ferdinand, A Coat for Anna, Blueberries for Sal, and Lena’s first James Herriot book (she will have many, her dad’s a veterinarian) made me do a happy dance. These were some of my favorite books as a child! Do you see favorites of yours in there? I’m not familiar with all of them, but they looked good enough to snag.

Anyway, I thought the “scoring” was done and couldn’t wait to box these goodies up and ship them back to Sicily via media mail. But then I went to my brother-in-law David‘s popup library to benefit the return of librarians to D.C. schools. David had collaborated with a restaurant on H Street and filled the restaurant with donated books… all for free! I browsed the adult titles and then my eyes landed on the kids’ section. There were so so so many board books! I couldn’t believe it!

I made this stack, staring in disbelief at all the new Eric Carle, Sandra Boynton, DK, and Dr Seuss books. And that random, darling Melissa and Doug wooden puzzle, which Lena will undoubtedly enjoy and our little boy will undoubtedly love. Then I turned to David and said, “Are these really free? Should I leave some for other people?”

David said, “No! We want to leave here with less books than we brought. They will all be donated anyway. Please take them all!”

And so I did. And Lena and I have been loving them! We’ve spent hours (literally) since Saturday lying on my bed reading them all, some of them over and over and over. Her favorite yesterday was The Very Quiet Cricket; her favorite so far today is I Spy. Just like at home, we read when she wakes up in the morning and Mama is too tired to get out of bed, we read before her morning nap, we read before her afternoon “nap,” and we read before bed. We read when we need a break or have a bad attitude. We read when Lena needs snuggle time. We read when Mama needs snuggle time. We read because we love it.

I am always looking for good recommendations of good books, and now I can add “books for my kids” to that list along with “books for moi.” Which are your favorites in this post? Or that are not in this post? I’m currently on a hunt for books that have been awarded the Caldecott Medal… do you have any favorite winners?

15 :: in Baby Numero Due, good reads, Lena, motherhood