Be Mine

Posted on February 14, 2013 by Kylie

Love is in the Air from Wriggles & Robins on Vimeo.

Happy Valentine’s Day! Can I just say that I have the most wonderful guy in the world? He bought me a cheese grater for Valentine’s Day, because he knows me better than anyone else in the world, and I love him for it. If he were here today, we would go see the (sure to be terrible) new Die Hard movie and eat some grilled cheese… or mac and cheese… or both… with my new grater. Unfortunately he’s a little too far away for that, but in just two(ish) weeks he’ll be right here next to me in our new tiny home, and our real life together can finally start. I hope you guys have someone to kiss today, and if not you might consider just kissing someone new. Hope you enjoy the sweet video above, and here are some Valentine’s links from around the web:

Vinegar Valentine’s say “I hate you.”

Married couples dance to their wedding songs.

My favorite love story ever.

I bought the first one for my parents, who have been married for nearly thirty years and continually inspire me with their love.

A love poem for girls who read.

Wes Anderson Valentine’s cards are delightful. Also: Arrested Development.

A literary love story map of the United States.

A love story in milk with a tragic ending.

Ladle Love (+ News!)

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Kylie

Would you guys judge me if I spent 30$ on a ladle? Look at it. It’s a nice ladle. But then, of course, the madness wouldn’t stop there; I’d need the matching colander and slotted spoon, too. I guess I can assume that if you read this blog then you already had a pretty good sense that my priorities are not always in order re: useless objects.

Anyway, this ladle obsession is not completely random. As of last night, The Boy and I have a new apartment! It’s a teeny tiny cottage with dark hardwood floors, and the cutest little retro stove, and THREE yards (front, back, side), plus a covered patio, and room to plant in the quietest, most charming neighborhood in Los Angeles, right up the road from the most amazing store in the world (the first time I went there I nearly asked the counter people if I could move in). Basically, it’s my dream. Well, my for-now dream, anyway. So thus far I’ve spent the entire day reading about how to grow tomatoes and sunflowers and making lists of things we need to buy. The cottage is very small, less than 500 square feet, and it doesn’t have a lot of storage space, so The Boy and I are doing some serious thinking about simplicity and paring down on the number of things we own. But obviously there are necessities we’ll need to buy, and I feel like in such a teensy house all of our objects will have to be beautiful and well-crafted. But then while I was searching for nice-looking housewares, I found this ladle. And fell in love. And realized that when it comes to simplicity… I’ve got a long ways to go.

JOINERY soup ladle/28$

UPDATE: This has rapidly degenerated into a full-blown sickness. Also, I found the cheese grater of my dreams.

Friday Time!

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Kylie

Well hey there! Haven’t done one of these in awhile… The weekend is upon us, once again, and I’ve got some links to share with you fine folks. This weekend I’ll be shooting a short film and looking at LOTS of apartments. The Boy is just about done with school, and we’ll be moving into our new place in a few weeks. I’m very excited, because it’ll be our very first grown up home for just the two of us. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve loved all our roommates, but a quiet little home with a garden just for him and me is all I really want right now. A place where he can wake me up with fresh coffee, and I can make him breakfast, and we can stay in every single night like the senior citizen couple we secretly are. We’ve seen a few really promising places so far, and I have high hopes that this weekend we’ll seal the deal. Wish me luck! Until Monday…

Ok so this is the most amazing thing ever. I watched it three times. And if you haven’t seen the profile in the New Yorker, you need to check it out.

I just want JGL to sing to me always.

Whoa, South African wedding.

Speaking of weddings, The Boy and I are finally getting started with real planning! This venue is a real contender, and I just love this bride’s sweet write-up.

Is this one of those things that everyone else knew about already?

Love the new Tattly tool set.

Japanese manhole covers: who knew!?

This exhibit sounds fantastic.

And this one is coming to my hood soon!

Those black tongues!

Well this is just about the most heart-warming thing I’ve seen in awhile. Yes, better than the marmots.

Top image via.

Our Many Homes: The Brownstone

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Kylie

Another home, another city. I must be honest (and I know I’m going to catch a lot of flack for this): I hate New York. I know, I know, greatest city in the world, blah blah blah. But I’m skeptical. This Onion article kind of speaks to my heart. I mean, I know that New York is home to all kinds of amazing food, and hidden gems, and bizarre secrets. But somehow, whenever I visit, I get so distracted by the sheer number of people all in such close proximity to me. New York is not an ideal destination for someone with severe crowd anxiety, such as myself.

But maybe if I had my own home, my own respite from the strange smells and the hard pavement and the throngs of people, maybe New York and I could finally start the love affair I’ve always known we deserve. I’m thinking a spacious brownstone in Brooklyn, or perhaps this delightful neighborhood. It place would be all eclectic glamour, but nothing stuffy: a gorgeous but cozy place with a loft for reading and a giant kitchen where everyone could hang out and drink wine and laugh. Because the most alluring part of New York, for me anyway, is the fact that most of my friends live there. Living on the other side of the country, I miss them all terribly, and my imaginary Brownstone would be the perfect place setting for wild dinner parties and games of apples to apples and oh, the cheeseplates we would have.

More homes to come next week, but in the mean time be sure to check out my Pinterest for more dream pads.

Sources: 1, 2, 3

Our Many Homes: The Vermont Retreat

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Kylie

Part two! Today I’m all about the woodland retreat. Some converted barn up in Vermont with an open floor plan, 200 year old wood beams, and wide windows to look out across all our rolling acres of farm and forest. There will be a little writer’s shed in the back (like Roald Dahl!), where I can get away from The Boy for a couple of minutes. For whatever reason he seems to think that the two best times to start a conversation with me are 1) when I am reading or, 2) when I am writing.

We’ll come visit in fall, when the whole landscape is soaked with the blood of trees and the apples are ripe for picking. We’ll tap for maple syrup and eat pancakes until we burst. We’ll come visit in winter, and The Boy can go skiing while I curl up with my sheepskin blanket, my book, and my boozy hot cider. But my favorite season of all is summer. Summer in New England is magic. Sure, it’s oppressively hot and the humidity clings to your skin in a wet film. But the blackberries grow wild in the yard, the tomatoes hang heavy on the vine, and the fireflies flicker against the stars.

PS: How freaking rad is that pantry?

More homes tomorrow, but if you can’t wait until then you can always take a peek at my Pinterest.

Image sources, clockwise from left: 1, 2, 3

Our Many Homes: The LA Pad

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Kylie

I want so many things. I want to grow my own tomatoes. I want an entire closet for just my shoes. I want enough shoes to fit in said closet. I want my own land, land so big that I can stand on the back porch and hoot and holler and no one but the pigs will hear me. I want a home filled with love, and magic, and hidden nooks for curling up with books, and secrets waiting to be discovered. I want my purple house.

But here’s the thing: I have too many tastes, and ideas, and personalities just to fit in one home. I want a thousand homes, a million homes, a home in every port, a home for every mood. So this week, every day I’ll do a new post for each of my imaginary, one-day homes.

Today’s post is all about my dream pad in LA. Los Angeles is my home right now, but I think The Boy and I would eventually like to move north where there are more trees and fewer cockroaches. There are lots of things about LA that I could happily live without: the traffic, the trash and grime, and at least some of the people (the ones who gladly live up to every LA stereotype). But there’s plenty of stuff I love about LA, too: the sunshine, the funky neighborhoods, the thrift shopping, the tacos. I could never say goodbye to all that, not completely.

In my fantasies, my LA home is a bungalow up in the hills around Griffith Park. On warm summer nights, The Boy and I walk to concerts at the Greek Theatre. Inside is all mid-century glamour: lots of white with gold accents and pops of bright color. We’ll put on Motown records and dance around in front of our huge windows that look out across the city below while we drink whisky out of these moroccan lowball glasses.

Tune in tomorrow for more housing dreams, or check out my Pinterest for inspiration!

Image sources, clockwise from top left: 1, 2, 3

PAPERMAN

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Kylie

Oh dear, how have I gone so long without seeing this? This Oscar-nominated Disney short was screened prior to Wreck-It Ralph, and I promise it will melt even the coldest of hearts. Disney’s still got it, guys.

Courtesy of Disney, first seen here.

Home Is Wherever Your Books Are

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Kylie

When I was a little kid, my favorite movie was Beauty and the Beast. I could quote the entire movie from beginning to end, but my favorite part was when Beast gives Belle the library. When she opens her eyes and sees all the books she has never read, and all the books she will re-read, sprawling out before her. And I knew at that moment that that was true love. When somebody gave you a library. I wish I could say my expectations have changed since then, but I was very impressionable. So as I make my schemes and dreams for my purple home, there’s one thing I know my house will have…

I can’t decide if my library should be a quiet and crowded nook, with sloppy stacks so high that they loom overhead and sagging armchairs, or something more baroque and ornate, with shelves and shelves stretching way up into the stratosphere so that every time I walk in I am overwhelmed by the number of words that are in my possession. Either way, it’s going to need one of those rolling ladders.

As a kid, I loved Beauty and the Beast because Belle was so like me. She was a little awkward, a little lonely, and she never went anywhere without a book. Back then, I used to keep ten books stuffed underneath my mattress for easy access when I couldn’t sleep at night. I always brought a book with me when I went out to dinner, and my nose would remain stuck inside until the food arrived. In fact, it was always a big deal when my grandparents came to town because I wasn’t allowed to read books at the dinner table, which inevitably led to sulking. Lending books was my greatest joy back then, and I was forever making recommendations to friends. My mother had to constantly remind me, “We are not a library!” But I didn’t care.

By the time I went to college, nothing had changed. I was the girl with the books. The girl you asked for a suggestion or a borrowed copy. Huge stacks of them on the floor, arranged in no particular order with Dahl and Nabokov and Lovecraft and Austen and Rand all rubbing shoulders. They teetered precariously on uneven piles, and occasionally they would give way and crash to the floor, waking me in the middle of the night. The stacks grew taller each year, much to the chagrin of both my father and The Boy, who were inevitably charged with moving my collection in and out of the dorm room each year. When I moved, I had to leave most of my books with my parents because there were just too many to ship. They’re collecting dust in my basement as we speak, but one day they’ll have a home.

For more home inspiration, check out my Pinterest!

Images linked to sources. And yes, the fifth one done is from Harry Potter.

A Bit of Sparkle

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Kylie

I have a problem. I’ve been engaged for over a year, but I can’t stop looking at engagement rings. Don’t get me wrong, I have the most beautiful ring in the history of rings and I wouldn’t trade it for anything. But I almost feel like I need to check every once in awhile to make sure that mine is still the prettiest. It is. But still, who doesn’t like looking at a little bit of sparkle every once in awhile? Since I’m officially no longer in the market for a ring, I thought I’d share some of my favorites with you folks. Perhaps you’ll store some ideas away for a rainy day?

1) Custom Mociun: Mociun does beautiful custom rings. This one has coral, yellow sapphire, and moonstone. This bad boy is also lovely.

2) Erica Weiner Five Opal and Pearl Ring: Originally, The Boy and I wanted to get a custom ring that had both diamonds and opals, my favorite stone, but we ultimately decided against it. Opals aren’t quite as hard as diamonds, and I’m a major spaz, so we wanted to go for durability. But for someone else…

3) Erie Basin Vintage Cluster Ring: SO MUCH SPARKLEZ. It’s like a mini constellation on your hand.

4) Vintage Sapphire Cluster: You know what’s awesome about this ring? It’s like a flower made out of sapphires and diamonds. Yeah.

5) Erstwhile Vintage Ring: Anyone got 9,000$ to spend? Incidentally, this one’s The Boy’s favorite.

The Boy and I picked out my ring together, which a lot of people think is tacky or lacking in romance. But we had so much fun doing it, and we have such different tastes that it was really necessary. Ultimately, we both ended up with a ring that we love, and I got two proposals out of the deal: one impromptu and ringless on a beach at 4 in the morning, and another on top of a mountain after we’d spent weeks hunting for the right ring and waiting for it to get resized in the middle of Hurricane Irene. Both proposals were heart-stopping and wonderful, and knowing they were coming did nothing to dampen that.

Incidentally, here’s a bit of fascinating history on the engagement ring.

A Very Purple New Year!

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Kylie

Welcome to 2013, dears! It feels like a good year already. The Boy and I spent a quiet new year at home together, listening to a live stream of this year’s Furthur show (we couldn’t get tickets) and eating an obscene amount of food. I made three kinds of fritters, people. And then short ribs and risotto. The Boy had to roll me to bed.

Everybody’s talking about new years resolutions, so I guess I’ll chime in with my own. I find resolutions like “go to the gym” or “learn French” kind of silly and unrealistic. I was having trouble thinking of one until yesterday, while I was cooking. I turned the hot water tap on to wash meat off my hands, and then got distracted by something. When I turned back to the sink, The Boy had turned the cold water on so that I wouldn’t burn my hands. I was such a little thing to do, but it made me think.

This year, my resolution is to be the best partner I can be for The Boy. This is the last year in which we will not be married, and we’re both trying to figure out how to build a real life together, how to support each other, how to navigate the shared responsibility of family, and how to not kill each other every once in awhile. Obviously we’re doing pretty ok at this point since we’ve made it this far, but there’s plenty of work to do.

And hey, if I break my resolution this year, we have the rest of forever to figure it out. But then, I guess that’s true of all resolutions.

Image via.