nashville

A few weeks ago, I went to Tennessee with three of my oldest friends. We spent half the time in Nashville, and half in Eastern Tennessee visiting Dollywood. We had a blast - we ate too much, listened to more country music than I ever have in my life, and seriously considered buying cowboy boots. Nashville is a great town, and I felt like I only scratched the surface of it in the few days we were there. Nonetheless, I thought I'd share my favorite spots for those that might be considering a trip to Music City. Read my recommendations after the jump:

monday links

Happy Monday! Have you snapped up any $6.99 peonies from Trader Joes yet? Better hurry before they're all gone! The ones I bought hadn't quite opened yet, but I got them to start opening by leaving them in warm water for a couple hours. I was inspired by Little Green Notebook's trick for grocery store roses. After about 2 hours all but one little bugger had opened beautifully! I'm not 100% sure if this affects their longevity yet, but as of day 5 they're still looking good and opening more each day! 

Speaking of flowers, or 8 million flower petals that is, have you seen this insane Sony commercial? They flooded a Costa Rican town with 3 tons of flower petals to demonstrate the detail of their new TV screen and the images are absolutely incredible! Prettiest. Explosions. Ever.

If you enjoy a good pun, you're sure to love these illustrations from Jaco Haasbroek. For even more of his work, check out his site here.

Do you love Beyonce....and Dunkin' Donuts? Well here's just the parody video to get your week off to a good start! I apologize in advance if watching this will make you want donuts (it will).


[flower volcano photo via Lost at E Minor, Wolf in sheep's clothing illustration by Jaco Haasbroek via Mashable, Dunkin love photo via the blot]

monday links

Happy Monday! How was your weekend? I helped throw a graduation party for my friend Kait (photos to come!), and I've been working on organizing our spare bedroom to make it more of a functional office. I still have a ways to go before it can really be called anything other than "the room where we stash all our crap and close the door" though. 

Fashionable Selby is my new favorite coffee table book. Like the other books in his series, Todd Selby gives you a behind-the-scenes peak into the studios and lives of a really interesting mix of fashion designers, stylists, shoemakers, and more. This book is like an explosion of inspiration- I feel like I could look at the photos over and over and still notice something new each time. 

How rad is this banana-themed birthday party from The Alison Show?! I love her creative use of relatively simple paper decorations (the Arrested Development banana stand reference might be my favorite part!). She really knows how to take a theme and run with it- even if she does spell Allison wrong ;)

The Songza playlist Good Ol' Timey Eatin' is full of fun and hilarious old songs about food. Great for a listen while you're making dinner. Plus, it features this gem from Doris Day, a.k.a my new theme song. Lyrics don't get much better than, "Must admit your kisses would be missed, but how in the world could I exist without tacos, enchiladas, and beans", amiright??

[top two photos from the Fashionable Selby, banana party photo from The Alison Show, taco photo from Chow]

monday links

Happy Monday! It's rainy and cold here today, but I've got Spring on the mind thanks to this genius project from Jenny Komenda- DIY concrete planters. Big, outdoor planters can be so expensive and ugly, but they don't have to be if you can make them yourself! I'm thinking about trying to make some of these for our outdoor driveway, er, patio. 

Have you ever tried contouring your makeup? There seems to be a ton of dramatic before-and-afters going around the web these days. As someone who is lucky to get out the door with a little eyeshadow and mascara most mornings, I can't imagine wearing that much makeup - unless maybe I had to assume a new identity and needed to look completely different? Check out this round-up of dramatic transformations, and a how-to from The Beauty Department for a less extreme technique. 

Should you go out tonight? Let Morrissey help you decide with this awesome flow chart (spoiler alert: don't go looking for an optimistic answer).

Did you watch the season finale of The Walking Dead last night? Are you thoroughly terrified of the zombie apocalypse? Refinery29 has put together a Zombie Survivial Guide to help you get prepared. I don't think I'm going to bother stocking up on supplies though- I know I'll be too scared to survive if the zombies ever really come!

[Concrete planters photo from Little Green Notebook, Makeup photo from Loulou's Star Fashions, Morrissey photo via American Songwriter, The Walking Dead photo via Collider]

monday links

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Celebrating the holiday with a little green tea? Or green beer? Stay tuned this week, I'll be talking tea with a special guest blogger! 

Until then, here's a few links for your Monday:

My friends at Oakland Bakes just posted an awesome video showing the steps of making a cake. I helped a bit with the styling, and I'm so thrilled with how fun the video turned out! Watch it here. 

Do you know how strong the caffeine is in your morning coffee or tea? According to this article from NPR, a tablespoon of straight caffeine can kill you! Read the full article here. 

If you're looking to justify your daydreaming or people-watching habits, check out this article from the Huffington Post about characteristics of highly creative people. 

Have you tried Songza online music streaming? I'm officially in love- it's like a friend with great taste has made a playlist of just what you want to hear. The site asks you what kind of music you feel like listening to, and then offers you a choice of categories. Right now, I'm listening to "coffee shop indie". They just changed it so now you have to listen to one ad before the music starts, but that's not a bad deal for free music! 

[top tea photo by Michael Pieracci, video photo from Oakland Bakes, coffee photo from NPR, color disc photo by Andy Ryan via the Huffington Post, radio photo via Apartment Therapy]

arcade fire

Did you hear Arcade Fire is streaming their entire new album Reflektor on YouTube? The album wasn't supposed to be released until October 29th, but the band released a lyric video today as what's being called a "full length preview". According to this article, the band decided to release the stream after a record store in Ireland started selling the album early and it flooded the internet. The video features the album streamed over the 1959 movie Black Orpheus.

You can watch it below, or on their website:

You can also check out the crazy interactive music video for "Just a Reflektor" here.


[top image from justareflektor.com]