Gift Guide Part II: For Your Father Who Tuned Into ALL Of Your College Radio Shows No Matter What, Buys CDs From Local Musicians In Every Country He Travels To, And Somehow Knows Everything About Everything.

1. Random House "Rise and Fall of Apartheid" by Okwui Enwezor and Rory Bester $75 Just seems like one of those poignant and thought-provoking gifts in lieu of recent events (RIP).

2. Jonathan Adler Brass Devil Pencil Sharpener $95 It's gold and would look lovely on his desk.

3. Are Naturals Fresh Organic Bay Leaf Wreaths with Rosemary $40 Hang it up on the kitchen door for the holidays and continue to use it in your cooking for the rest of the year!

4. Blue Tree 14kt Gold-Plated Slinky $150 For that inner child.

5. J. Crew Marled Socks $17 Isn't it funny how when you're young socks are the worst gift ever and now they are literally the best?

6. This is Ground Cord Tacos $25 for five These leather pouches will stop all his chords from getting tangled. Also they're called tacos. ha ha.

7. Jawbone Mini Jambox $180 Upgrade his old Jambox to these brighter and shinier ones.

8. Mike's Hot Honey $10 Chili-infused honey made in Brooklyn. So whenever he eats it he'll think of his daughter and start crying.

9. We See Beauty Aphrodite of Milos Candle $190 Because why not.

10. MistoBox Case Coffee Roasters- Decaf Marvailla $16 "Fig, Raisin, Comforting" from Guatamala. For the man who only ever drinks decaf, which I will never understand.

11. Boutiques de Musées Leonardo Da Vinci Luggage Label $10 He'll look sophisticated and intellectual as he travels the world.

12. Fantastic Man Magazine $33 for two The older brother to The Gentlewoman (see Gift Guide Part I).

13. Two Tickets to the Monty Python 2014 Reunion Tour $300 Because this man taught you the importance of British comedy. 

14. Lone Flag Bradley Mountain Traveler's Mug $20 For when he visits me in Brooklyn. To fit in with the locals. And be hip.

15. Alexander Wang Black Croc Embossed Coaster Set $55 Feel swanky with designers' more cost-effective luxury items. 

And today is a SPECIAL Gift Guide post because it's also my father's Birthday! So gotta double up on the presents. Happy birthday to the best father I've ever had!! 

Gift Guide Part I: For Your Omniscient Mother Who Is Queen Of Style, Keeps You Up-to-Date On Exhibits At The Met and Daydreams With You About Moving To India

1. Terrain Block-Printed Tablecloth $348 Because you can never go wrong with block printing.

2. Free People Sleeve Shelter Armwarmer $98 Free People is perfect for that bohemian winter look.

3. The Riads of Marrakech by Elan Fleisher $43 Always a good idea to read up on cities before you go there (and we will go there).

4. Knuckle Case The Original $125 Perfect for a woman whose number one accessories are her phone cases.

5. Anthropologie Maharaja Men Pillow $78 One can never have too many pillows, amiright?

6. Ruan Hoffman Plates These aren't actually for sale but he's a phenomenal artist and one can dream.

7. Della Vintage Coral iPad Case $39 A beautiful print handmade in Hohoe, Ghana.

8. Of a Kind Brass Rivet Bangle $119 Of a Kind is a wonderful website- check it out. Expect a post about them soon. 

9. Blade's Natural Beauty Mountain Woman Tea $15 Notes of lemon balm, oats, nettle, damiana, chamomile and peppermint? Sold.

10. Heidi Klein Coconut Beach Candle $36 Because if you can't actually be at the beach, the next best thing would be smelling it, right? But the romanticized version of a beach. Not like dead fish and seaweed. That would be gross. 

11. The Gentlewoman $15 One of my favorite publications. Perfect for the most gentle woman in your life. Which would be your mother. 

12. Tom Ford Sahara Noir $150 Because Tom Ford is her favorite perfumer and because I can then steal it because he is now also mine.

13. Krochet Kids Intl. the Dixon Coinpurse $16 A company that empowers Ugandans to rise above poverty through the production of their hand-knit products. A gift that gives! Double karma!

14. Barneys Fornasetti Silenzio Candle $165 Because candles are perfect and so are sassy victorian women. 

Next Up: Daddy-o!

Postscript: Check out Gift Guides Part I, II, III, IV, V and VI from last year on my old blog Glitterature. 

The Good Parts of Being Alive

I wanted to share my friend Anna's Kickstarter with you all. It's an incredible project and she is one of the most talented choreographer/dancers that I know. I'm honored to have her guest post today. Enjoy and please contribute if you can!
...

My name is Anna Reyes, and I’m a professional dancer, choreographer, and teacher based in Boston, MA. I grew up in Austin, Texas, next door to Chantal and her sisters. We spent many hours together, dancing, playing tag, making plays, etc. My favorite memories prove that we were cool and hip beyond our years: we spent many hours dancing to the Eurythmics (Sweet Dreams are made of this...), jumping and shaking our thangs on the living room couch! {Editor's note: This was my favorite part of my childhood no joke)

My moves are just as sweet as a my former six year old self's moves (and hopefully a little more refined after years and years of studying dance). Yet as all artists have experienced, one can start to feel in a rut, no matter HOW cool her art is. About eight months ago, I was nursing a nagging, restless feeling; I knew I needed to make something, but what? Choreographing for the stage seemed like an obvious answer, but for some reason, I couldn’t get excited about it. I knew creating anything without the excitement behind it would be an arduous, unfulfilling task.

            In the interim, I had the opportunity to star in a short film, “Eighteen,” by acclaimed visual artists Teresa Hubbard and Alexander Birchler. (Check them out at hubbardbirchler.net)  Filmed in Austin, Alex and Teresa were generous enough to incorporate my dance improvisation into their film. Starring in the piece was extremely hard work (two of the three shoot days lasted from dinner time until sunrise!), but equally as exhilarating and fulfilling. Upon returning home from Austin, I had an answer to my restlessness – make my own film!

            I’m currently making a dance film entitled “the good parts of being alive.” The film explores the stages of romantic relationships. A relationship is extremely fluid, more like running water than ice, and is easily shifted by the time and space it inhabits. Time - how long you have known one another, how one feels at a specific moment, whether the time you have together is long or short, limited or unlimited. Space - the location of the relationship, if you share a home or are long-distance, whether the space between two bodies is large or small when you're together, how much mental space one has for his/her partner, etc. Around the same time I began to contemplate time and space in within relationships, a friend introduced me to the artwork of Egon Schiele. I fell in love with his portraits and was immediately drawn to the strange, evocative poses he painted. I was surprised that the poses he chose were so contemporary and dance-like. His work inspired me to choreograph, and to incorporate my ideas and experiences to the framework his art provided.

           “the good parts of being alive” is my most exciting project to date, but it’s not finished yet! I’m running a Kickstarter Campaign to raise the funds for finishing film, paying the artists involved, and submitting the film to dance festivals around the world. If it looks like something you want to be a part of, make a pledge! If nothing else, help spread the word! 

Check out the webpage here and the video below: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/483988747/the-good-parts-of-being-alive

If you need a little encouragement to make a contribution, just picture Chantal, her sisters, me and my sister Paulina, all jamming out in the living room. Make that former six year old's (second from the right) future dream come true! 

-Anna Reyes

A Pleasant Surprise

Okay, so I have to admit, it pains me to write about such a mainstream phenomenon as The Hunger Games (even if I do enjoy the movies. And maybe the books whatever it's fine) but I could NOT ignore this epic soundtrack. 

 Am I the only one who didn't know about this?? I haven't seen the second movie yet as I am loyally waiting to watch it with my fam when I go back home for Christmas (Lorelei, IT BETTER STILL BE IN THEATRES) but this soundtrack is incredible. It's doing what the Twilight franchise attempted to do, and gathered an incredible crew of muscians to write original songs for the movie (and a cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Lorde). I must say, they did well. The National, Sanitgold, Lorde, Coldplay, The Weeknd, Sia, Of Monsters and Men, Phantogram, The Lumineers, Ellie Goulding, Imagine Dragons etc etc. Kudos to THG for upping its cool factor. 

My faves? Sia's "Elastic Heart" featuring The Weeknd and Diplo. I think it's incredibly stunning. I also am in love with Matt Berninger so anything by The National is A+ in my book. Oh and the Mikky Ekko piece is quite nice. 

 If you're scoffing to yourself about how lame I am right now then 1) please leave, and 2) before you do, just give it a chance (maybe skip the Christina Aguilara track.. sorry xtina but, like, yawn) and tell me I'm wrong.

How To: Cinnamon Honey Almond Oatmeal Pancakes

This morning I woke up with a strong desire for pancakes. However, I do not allow pancake mix in my kitchen on pretenses of being healthy. DILEMMA. So I improvised. Instead of pancake mix, I used oatmeal (you can also add mashed bananas for added texture). I switched chocolate chips for carob chips (my new obsession), sugar for a drizzle of honey and almond milk instead of cow's milk. I also added a dash of chia seeds because they are the food of the future, and some almonds and walnuts to taste. The results ended up being extremely tasty and nutritionally satisfying (my roommate Ariella can testify! I'm not making it up!)

I apologize for the lack of picture for step two, but there was just absolutely no way to make the lump of eggs and oatmeal look even remotely appetizing on the frying pan. So I decided to tastefully leave it out. But you get the idea.

Let me know if you try it out, and what your thoughts are! Would YOU make the switch to oatmeal? Important life questions that need to be answered.

Have a delightful Sunday! 

xx

Step two (not pictured): Take it to the griddle!

Sit Back, Relax and Listen Up

I don't know if it's the cold (first day of snow in NYC!! 11/12/13 must be a sign for something right??) or the alarming amount of tea I'm consuming or the layers of sweaters I'm wearing, but something has me in the mood for Cabin Music. That's a term I just coined to reference music that is super cozy and makes you want to sit on a fur rug in front of a fire in a log cabin in the middle of nowhere and drink a glass of red wine. Preferably next to a loved one, otherwise this is a depressing scenario. If you've ever watched Alias (me) it would be that music they played every time Jennifer Garner got really sad and essentially re-enacted the scene I just described above minus the loved one plus annoyingly pathetic tears (love ya Syd!). So yes, it'ts a bitter sweet sadness/happiness (I tried to combine those two words but they just end up still being the same word) but there's something about it that makes me feel like I'm doing winter right.

Side note: I was in a boutique in Brooklyn last weekend that sold "Cabin Spray".  I want to buy a cabin so that I can buy this product. Then Ron Swanson and I will have a good laugh and dig into our freshly hunted venison.

Want a taste of what I'm talking about? Go to Pandora and play any of the following channels: Angus and Julia Stone, Great Lake Swimmers, Ray LaMontagne, Avett Brothers etc. etc. Nine times out of ten Mumford counts. OR *shameless plug* my boy Matt G. has a good amount of CM on his KWUR show every Tuesday at 7:00pm EST (kwur.com- check it out)

It usually involves some ethereal harmonization, several acoustic string instruments and a deep, baritone manly-man voice paired with a delicate, sickly-sweet female one. Yes, it's sappy, but it's the perfect soundtrack to listen to as frost consumes us. I really wanted to do a GoT reference but I think I've over used the phrase :( 

My Top Five Cabin Songs of the Moment (best when taken with a mug of Sleepy Time Tea):

BONUS TRACK;
Got it from this Sony commercial ha


Into the woods? Yay or nay? 

How To: Glitter Cards

I've had quite a few birthdays and house warming parties to attend recently (I'm so popular) and my go-to has been doing a little watercolor and ink illustration of the receiver (everyone loves a portrait of themselves). But if you want something a little more simple but with some sparkle factor, here's a great way to pull together a card when you remember last minute or just don't want to spend $10 on stationary.