Dressing Your "Age"

I used to live for the makeover shows that dominated in the early aughts.  What Not to Wear and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy were a weekly ritual that would usually find we weeping and wiping my stuffy nose brought on by the sheer glory of a great sartorial transformation. 

I also remember just ticking over into my twenties and being very struck by the opening credits of WNTW where one fashion caution was "NO MINI SKIRTS OVER 35!"  At 20, this was no bigs...but into my 30s, it's another story.

Studytime!

Goldteef seems to be getting quieter and quieter these days.  I am blaming my insane-o school schedule and the fact that finals are right around the corner.  (Eeep!)  The next two weeks are going to be totally cray-cray for me, so I'll have to check in after all my studying and finals are taken and papers turned in.  I hope you all get to enjoy the holiday season and take a few minutes to do something you love (I really like to watch the old Rudolph and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town!).

See you in a couple of weeks!  Wish me luck and super-extra brain cells!
(And if you really want to keep tabs on the exciting life of a grad student, you can always check out my tweets and Instagram!)

P. to the S.!  It's Mummateef's birthday today!  I hope she has a great one!

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Straw Hats

There's some type of allure that straw hats have held for me for a long time.

I don't know if it's because I was obsessed with Ann of Green Gables when I was little

or I had found a perfect straw hat that my American Girl wore often,

but I love them!

 They are so sweet looking and functional!  Save that skin from a sunburn!

I'm pretty sure this is Anne, herself!

Lovely!

Music Monday: Explosions in the Sky

 

Do you remember 

when you heard a song for the first time 

and it gave you shivers it was SO GOOD?

That's what happened when I heard Explosions in the Sky 

for the first time almost ten years ago.

They have a new album out, 

but this is a song from one of their earlier releases.

Yep, it's the shiver song.

Have a good week!

xo.

A movie to watch: La Chamade

 

If you know me you know I am enamored with French cinema.

Yesterday I had the treat of catching La Chamade while I was playing hooky from work!

(Shhhh, don't tell!  

I had to work until almost midnight last night, anyway, 

so not really feeling too guilty over here;)!)

I love this scene and it really made me laugh at how anti-AMERICAN

it is!

All the talk about relaxing and enjoying and living!  

In a bar full of people at midday, no less!

I was listening to a radio show on NPR the other day with a yoga specialist and he called

stress the "American disease!"  I couldn't agree more with that!

We work, work, work and stress, stress, stress!

We (the lucky folks) get 2 weeks paid vacay a year and Germany, well, they get 6 weeks!

Most of Latin America still takes a 3 hour siesta each day.

Enjoying a break in France means a leisurely cup of coffee with a friend,

not scarfing an energy bar at your desk.

All I can say is,

WE ARE DOING IT WRONG.

Solutions, anyone?

Likes

 

 It was brought to my attention, 

that while very good at opining about what I DON'T like,

I am a little quiet when it comes to things that I like.

I'm even quieter about things I LOVE.

I am going to start with a movie that, 

whenever I feel the need for a pickmeup,

watching just 10 minutes will get me dreaming again for the day!

I first saw Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (or just Amelie *winks*)

when I had returned from a summer abroad in Chile.

I was still readjusting to American life and angularity.

I realized the adventure I'd been looking forward to for almost a year

was already complete.

I needed something to get me out of my 

post-amazing-life-experiences-

back-to-the-drudgery-of-living-with-seven-roommates funk.

This movie was just the thing I needed!

It's colorful, beautiful, and sweet.

It's romantic and heartbreaking.

It's quirky and unique.

And 10 years later, 

it's still one of my favorites.

Do you have any favorite movies that will ALWAYS be that way?

Music Monday: Radiohead

 

This album has been on repeat in the 'Teef household for weeks!

I am always amazed by the level of beauty, intricacy, and innovation 

Radiohead delivers with every new album.

When I was in Chile, for my study abroad, I braved the bustle of 

downtown Valparaiso and bought the just-released Amnesiac album.
It was the first time out of the U.S. and I didn't speak a word of Spanish.

That album was all this homesick and lonely girl needed.

I used to fall asleep, night after night, to Pyramid Song.
It was just the familiarity I craved.

 

I hope you have a lovely week!

xo.

In which I find embarrassment is a constant state of being.

I am, if nothing else, an opinionated person.  There are very few things that fall into a purgatory of indecision in my life: I know what I like and I'm even keener at what I do NOT like.  The one glaring caveat is that saves me from utter jerk-dom is that I allow myself to change my mind.

At a recent book club, which deserves multiple posts all its own, I brought up the subject of books I had read as a teenager that really affected me and after rereading them as an adult, how much they (and I) had changed.  One utterly embarrassing example was The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand. 

As a young woman, I identified with the protagonist, an architect named Howard Roark, who was true to his vision and creativity.  He would never be a part of "the collective" that stole the ideas of these creative few.  On the surface, I thought as a teenager, this book was a-maz-ing.  Be yourself!  Don't follow the crowd!  Middle finger to the man!  It was only after a reread as an adult, when the subtext of Rand's individualism and objectivism was fully realized by me, the reader. 

I was appalled that I had allowed this book into my favorites list as a kid!  The xenophobia and disgust with the "weak" in The Fountainhead really scared me.  I was utterly embarrassed to admit to my book club that this had been a book that I truly enjoyed the first time I read it.  Of course, my perspective and opinion of the book has changed, but it got me wondering: what other books (or movies) did I adore when I was younger only to be embarrassed or bored by now?

Do you have any books that you loved as a kid, but on the second read as an adult they just don't hold up?  I'd love to hear your opinions!  I promise I don't think all of my opinions are the right ones anymore! (Pinky-swear!)

Elizabeth Taylor

It was a sad week to say goodbye to Elizabeth Taylor.

She has played so many amazing characters, 

one of my favorites being Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

While that role was indeed "meatier" than Elizabeth's role in Cleopatra, I think I'll always remember her as the Queen of the Nile!  Her style and attitude may have been inspired by Cleopatra, but I can't help but think this is pure Elizabeth.  The eyeliner!  The bangs!  The color!  Perfection.

Do yourself a favor and watch this movie, you will be amazed at the artistic direction.  If you want extra credit, check out Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, too!  It's amazing to think these movies were filmed just three years apart.  It really speaks to Elizabeth's talent and commitment to her roles.

I hope you have a great weekend!

xo.

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Music Thursday: Iron and Wine

 

Sam Beam's, of Iron and Wine, voice truly gives me goosebumps.

I get all shivery whenever I have the chance to listen to any of his songs.

And I love that he plays this song under the stairs in a wine cellar!

My grandma and grandpa used to live in a creaky old house that had a vast, damp basement.  My little sister and I would spent our summer days playing down there with old, faded toys from the 1950s, dress up with my grandma's hats and purses, and cook pretend meals on the ancient cast iron stove.

I miss that basement and this song's setting was sweet enough to remind of it.

Pretty Sure I Belong in the 60s

Oh, and Europe, too.

GIF amazingness here, you won't be able to look away!

Via A Cup of Joe

Oh, P.S.

Spring and Fall are my favorite times of year in Utah.  I think there is something about the excitement of change and transition, with Spring especially...

The sun begins to peek over the mountaintops just a little earlier each morning.  The crocuses and tulips, most certainly frozen and fossilized in the botanical ice age also known as winter, stir.  The tiniest shards of yellow-green grass begin to pepper the brown thatch that is my front lawn.  And the birds, oh the birds!  Those little devils are back, pecking holes in my house, screeching at each other in excitement, but also making the shrubs and bare tree branches dance with their winter-leaned forms.

Spring has also been the harbinger of graduations.  With my master's degree so close to completion, this last semester has been the. longest. ever...!  I am excited, too, for Bestest Best to complete her graduate degree!  She had always been my partner in crime in the spring, where in high school, we couldn't manage the thought of being indoors alllllll day, so we'd wake early or skip the last class of the day to hike up into the foothills and rock climb, even if it was for just half-an-hour.  I miss being a kid with her: not having to check our bloated schedules to see if we could fit in a quick cup of coffee or a blessed glass of wine.  I am excited that we won't have school dictating our lives (or our budgets) any longer!

Spring also holds new importance in the 'Teef Household: readying ourselves for the planting and gardening season!  Our first year harvest was pretty successful, even as newbies to the gardening scene.  Shug and I are committed to sticking to the organic way of growing food in our little backyard.  We've even been toying with the idea of getting a couple of chickens to keep Ruby company...!

Even though it's not "officially" spring yet, what are your plans for the warmer, glorious weather?

Nostaligia Junkie

Where do I find these to hang in my bedroom?

Sebastiaan Bremer is a Dutch artist that manages to 

capture lightness in the most beautiful way.

Recipe Box

I am IN LOVE with these beautifully crafted recipe boxes.

Some of my most treasured heirlooms are recipe cards

in my grandma's or great-grandmother's handwriting.

The cards are warped and stained from multiple

seasons of canning or preserving.

My favorite recipe is my grandma's Idaho raspberry freezer jam.

I just might share it with you one day;)!

Which recipe box do you like better?

The floral or just the type?

I'm torn.

K.I.S.S...!

I had an art teacher in high school named Mr. Songer.

He was an accomplished local artist and tried to impart his 

pared-down aesthetic to his students.

"Keep it simple, stupid!" he'd laugh when he'd look over my projects in progress.

I can't help but agree with his mantra today in all aspects of life.

Have a lovely day!

Image courtesy of t spoon of sunshine.

Do. Work.

These pictures of America in the early 1940s are amazing. And beautiful.

Have a lovely weekend!

Wavves

Wavves - The Dregs from Bennett Cordon on Vimeo.

The editing on this is brilliant...!

Standing Up

This is Joan Trumpauer Mulholland.  She was nineteen when this mugshot was taken in 1961 for protesting segregation in a non-violent Freedom Rider protest in Mississippi.  She went on to go to college at Tougaloo, as one of five white students.  She graduated in 1964, went on to teach in Virginia  and raise five sons.

I'm looking to Ms. Trumpauer Mulholland for inspiration and fortification, since Utah is moving forward in drafting a bill similar to Arizona's.  I want to be able to tell my kids that I stood up for something when it was wrong.  How lucky are her sons to be raised by such an amazing woman?

From the Breach of Peace blog: She joined the Freedom Riders, she says, “because none of the things I was being taught in Sunday School were being applied in real life. ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ The children’s songs we all learned – ‘Jesus loves the little children … red and yellow, black and white.’ ”

A Movie to See: An Education

Being a seventeen-year old girl seems to never have been easy, in any walk of life or your global position on the planet.  It's the grey area between childhood and adulthood, where everything is fresh and lovely, but also terrifying.  Now think of being seventeen back in the early 60s in England, where getting "an education" at Oxford guarantees you, as a female, a position in teaching or social service...or as a wifeypoo.  Um, yeah.

An Education takes us on a journey with Jenny, an English schoolgirl, who is "very clever" and dreams in French.  I don't want to spoil this coming-of-age story, but I will say Carey Mulligan practically effervesces off the screen.  Listening to her talk about a new singer she discovered or art she likes made me think of the fervor and conviction I had as a teenager that seems to get burnished away with time.

I liked that this story also gave us examples of women toeing the lines of their "proper places" in society.  Miss Stubbs, Jenny's English teacher, seems textbook in her appearance and demeanor as a teacher, but we come to find out she is single by choice and a world traveler.  Helen, Jenny's compatriot on her jaunts with her new beau, doesn't test the waters of truth, but chooses to drink greedily from the seemingly bottomless glass of that in-between world of mistress and girlfriend.  Even Jenny's mother, who seems conventional in her role, shows a backbone and opinion, bending her husband sweetly to her decisions.

Jenny, herself, tests the waters of a non-conventional lifestyle and while she admits she "feels old," she doesn't "feel very wise."  This line embodies the spirit of the film: of growing up and growing in to the new roles allowed to women by society.  Do I agree with the definite lines drawn around the roles for women in this film? Of course not.  But, do I identify with the excitement and wonder discovery and growing up can entail?  Of course.

Earth Day Tribute to Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson was a woman way ahead of her time.  She studied to become a marine biologist in the 20s, a time when women in science was not only unexpected, but scoffed at.  Her love of writing and of nature helped her create some of the most beautifuly written works about nature, including Under the Sea Wind and The Edge of the Sea.

What Carson is known for is her book, Silent Spring, in which she attacks the use of petrochemicals in farming and agriculture.  Published in 1962, this book still rings true today about caring for our environment and the adverse effects of using pesticides and fertilizers.  Any environmentalist should read her books, it will renew your love of nature and reinvigorate your resolve to protect the precious resource we have.

Have a happy Earth Day!