The Holiday Mood

I got a small record player for my birthday last month and, with the holiday season in mind, one of the first records I bought was the soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, which just happens to be made out of a festive green vinyl.

There is something so cozy and festive about lighting the Christmas decorations, burning a candle, and having this slightly jazzy music quietly playing in the background. It's fast becoming my nightly routine.

Hope to be back around these parts at least a few more times before the end of the year. In the meantime, tell me what holiday routines you're enjoying lately.

Liking Lately

 Since I'm still working my way through my Classics Club Spin pick, I thought I'd take a little break from books today and share a few other things that I've found myself enjoying lately.

Watching: The Americans

(image via here)

I watched the first episode of The Americans simply because it stars Keri Russell, whom I've been a fan of since her Felicity days, and became instantly hooked on the show. Set in 1981, it follows two deep cover KGB operatives living in Washington DC and spying against the US government. Matched together as a married couple by the KGB, they live an average, nondescript life working as travel agents and raising their two American-born children, who have no idea about their parents' double lives. Of course, their new neighbor just so happens to be an FBI counterintelligence agent. It's a really well done show, filled with suspense, complex characters, and blurred lines between good guys and bad guys, plus period costumes and details that make the 80's seem cool instead of cheesy.

Listening to: Alabama Shakes

(image via here)

I'm late joining the bandwagon on this one, but I started listening to Alabama Shakes a couple of weeks ago and love their unique sound--southern rock meets 60's folk meets Janice Joplin meets Motown? Something like that?

Doing: yoga

(image via here)

Over the years I've made sporadic attempts at doing yoga, but frankly, never liked it all that much. I could usually keep up with whatever random class I stumbled into, but certainly never got the whole mind/ body connection (probably because I was always nervously hoping the class wouldn't break into crazy handstands). But on a whim I signed up for a six week yoga fundamentals class at a local studio.  The teacher has been going through one or two poses in minute detail each class and something just clicked for me.  Suddenly, I can't get enough yoga! I've noticed a real improvement in the way I feel as a result of it, too.

Eating: cookies

(image via here)

And finally, I never thought this day would come, but cookies may have eclipsed cupcakes as my sweet of choice. I knew a fundamental shift had occurred when, finding myself on the Upper West Side and in need of a treat, I chose a cookie from Levain over a cupcake from nearby Magnolia. Granted, Levain's cookies are a big, gooey, scone-sized breed unto themselves, but the batches of  homemade cookies I've been making on a nearly weekly basis (with single serving microwave cookies in between) are further signs that cupcakes may have slipped into the number two spot!


What new discoveries have you been watching, eating, doing, or listening to lately?



Mundane Music Moments

It's pretty much conventional wisdom that music is tied to memory. I'm sure almost everyone has experienced the uncanny ability of a particular song to evoke a particular event from the past. What I've come to realize is that this is true not only for important moments, but also for really mundane ones. Sure, I can tell you that it was Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" that was playing before one of the last football games of senior year while I stood crammed in a huge group, jumping and singing along, yet simultaneously thinking about the fact that it was one of the last tailgates my college friends and I would have together. That makes sense...it's kind of poetic, right? But I can tell you in equally vivid detail that REM's "Nightswimming" was playing on the radio one random weeknight when my three roommates and I drove to the Arsenal Mall outside of Boston during a rare car trip for some suburban shopping. I have no idea why that particular moment has stuck with me, but I think of it every time I hear that song.

Even more puzzling is when this happens with a song I don't even particularly like. You know that Kid Rock song from a few years ago? The one that's a take off on "Sweet Home Alabama"? Every time I hear it I'm reminded of one time that I ate at an Applebees with my family. The song came on in the restaurant and I had what probably was a three second conversation (likely disparaging) with my cousin about it. Now I'll forever think of Applebees when I hear that song. Bizarre!

Do you have any random, mundane music associations? I'd love to know.

(image via Pinterest)

Just Like Buddy Holly

My current music obsession is Rave On, a Buddy Holly tribute that just came out. I bought the CD for my dad and took it back almost immediately after giving it to put the songs onto my ipod. Each song is better than the next, with some really great covers by She & Him, Florence & The Machine, Karen Elson, Cee Lo, and The Black Keys.

I think it would be the perfect soundtrack for a summer cookout. Highly, highly recommended.

Have you discovered any great music lately?

New Music

Get ready readers, today I'm boldly experimenting with embedding videos in my post to share some of my favorite new (or at least new to me) music!

I've suddenly become a full-fledged She & Him fan. I never was before, even though I liked them well enough, but I had the urge to listen to them after watching (500)Days of Summer. I downloaded their new CD, Volume Two, last week and ever since then have literally been listening to it nonstop when I'm at my desk at work. And that's a lot of repeats, considering that it's only 45 minutes long. Their songs all have a mellow 50's/60's pop vibe that tends to invoke dancing around my apartment. How can this video not make you smile?



I heard "Home" by Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros randomly on the radio one day and instantly became obsessed with it. They're this crazy alternative/ folk/ gospel-ish band that has about a dozen members, including a singer that looks like Jesus and a trumpet player that looks like Pedro from Napoleon Dynamite. I think this song is one part June Carter & Johnny Cash, one part Sonny & Cher, and one part 60's commune. Inexplicably, I love it.

Christmas Music

This past week I've had my ipod on full-on Christmas music rotation. I especially like listening to it at the office, where it makes all of my work seem so much cheerier. Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorites:

A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi- probably some of the best Christmas music ever. Like those marathon showings of A Christmas Story, I could listen to this on a non-stop loop for 24 hours and never get tired of it.

Noel by Josh Groban- I bought this a couple of years ago for my mom and, at the time, never would have expected that it would become one of my favorites, but it has. Every song on it is great.


When My Heart Finds Christmas by Harry Connick- a modern classic, in my mind.

This Warm December by Jack Johnson and friends- this is filled with both old and new songs done by Jack Johnson, Rogue Wave, and other alternative and mellow-strumming types. It offers a nice change of pace when mixed in with other more traditional music.

I'd highly recommend buying or downloading all of these, plus as many versions as possible of my favorite Christmas song of all time, "Silver Bells". I love how it's all about shopping on bustling, decorated city streets. I always makes me picture Fifth Ave. in New York, right where that snowflake hangs over the street.

A brief weekend recap....

The weather was perfect for an outdoor fine arts and crafts festival held a few blocks from the beach. There was a lot of interesting art and jewelry for sale and I picked up two prints for myself.

This print by StudioManhattan is a Polaroid transfer of the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings. (It's actually matted and framed...the picture doesn't show that too well.) The artist explained that he takes a shot with a Polaroid camera and, before it has a chance to develop, peels away the negative and transfers it onto watercolor paper. The color saturation and effect comes out differently every time. The subject matter was mostly New York images, some very iconic and some more subtle. It was hard to choose which one to get.



I also got this bright, fun Boston print from artists specializing in what they describe as "Nostalgic Neighborhoods". It's kind of like a Where's Waldo painting of the major sites, landmarks, and stores for a given city.

On the cooking front, I baked a mushroom and spinach quiche with a potato crust, from this cookbook, which has a lot of interesting looking recipes. The quiche turned out well. It calls for just three eggs and a modest amount of cheese, so it doesn't taste like your traditional quiche, more like some kind of savory vegetable pie.


I also had the chance to watch a DVD that I would never have seen if it wasn't for the wonderful invention that is Netflix. This time it was the British film version of Cold Comfort Farm, starring Kate Beckinsale, Eileen Atkins, and Ian McKellan. So funny...It really captures the essence of the book, which I blogged about here. I thought that part of the reason why I liked it may have been because I had read and liked the book, but my co-watchers were also laughing by the end of the movie. Great clothes, hats, and bobbed haircuts to be seen as well.

And last, but not least, as a post-script to my last post, I would strongly recommend watching Charlie Rose's interview with Dave Matthews from last week. It offers some really interesting insights into the new CD.

Latest DMB

It’s been a little over a week since the new Dave Matthews Band album Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King came out and, as a longtime devoted fan, I feel obligated to give my thoughts on the subject.


I have to say, I’m kind of loving it. The fact that this comes as a surprise to me makes me realize that I may have gotten...not blasé about DMB, but let's just say that I may have been taking them for granted in the recent past. Big Whiskey is making me realize what I love about DMB all over again. Of all of their past albums, this feels most akin to Before These Crowded Streets to me. Both have an extreme variety of musical styles that really draw attention to the DMB’s unique sound. Both have this overall dramatic mood and seem to warrant listening to them from beginning to end. It almost seems that this CD could have come out right after Before These Crowded Streets, instead of with three others in between. And although there are gems that I love from each of those three -Stand Up, Busted Stuff, and yes, even Everyday (even though some fans won’t admit that)- this is the first of DMB’s “new” albums that I feel like I can really love. Of the entire album, I have a feeling that “Why I Am” will be the song that I won’t be able to stop playing all summer long. It's a great song, has a lot of potential for live versions, and the lyrics allude to the band’s history, pay tribute to LeRoi Moore (a.k.a. GrooGrux), and slyly refer back to older songs in a way that I think hardcore DMB fans should really like.