Did you guys catch this hilarious SNL skit a couple weeks ago?
It made me laugh so hard.
The back story is that it was the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address and in honor of the occasion, a Pennsylvania newspaper, Patriot News, issued a 150-year-old apology to President Abraham Lincoln for calling his Gettysburg Address “silly remarks.”
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Did you guys read the article "The Best Nanny Money Can Buy" in the NY Times Sunday Magazine last week? Being a former nanny of a zillion years, plus a huge fan of illustrator Jillian Tamaki, who illustrated the piece, I was intrigued to say the least.
Turns out these nannies were way outta my league:
A nanny can increase her marketability if she can help manage an art collection, draft correspondence, wash and fold 50 linens a day and help set up philanthropic events. Bonus points if she can do it all in Mandarin.
I suppose I could figure out how to do all of those things, but almost definitely not in Mandarin.
Isn't that illustration great? (Remember when I illustrated nannies for Time Out magazine?)
Happy weekend everybody!
PS. Oh yes, this is happening tomorrow. Do you ever participate? I'm usually not up for grand symbolic gestures that ultimately feel a bit empty (--and have large corporate sponsors.) But the thought of everything going dark is just so wonderful...
Happy Valentine's Day everybody!
Do you have fun plans for tonight? As G's birthday is on the 12th and we usually go out for that, we skip the restaurant Valentine's craziness and stay in. And make meatballs. I'm not totally sure why, but that's our V-Day tradition.
Unfortunately, I'm totally sick, which is kind of sad. G made surprised me with a sweet breakfast though, and I'm hoping to rally for board games and meatball-making later. Wish me luck.
Hope everyone has fun!
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs played a surprise benefit show in Brooklyn the other day--complete with Karen O dressed as Santa Claus himself-- and my brother Sam was there to capture it for work.
Have you ever seen them live? They put on a fantastic show.
Click here for the rest of the pics.
Have you heard about 5 minute cake? It sounds pretend, and/or maybe a little gross when you hear it's "baked" in a microwave. We don't actually use our microwave that much. I tried it a few weeks ago and it was awful. It was super dry and flavorless and parts of it were actually burnt. However, it a fit of desperation last week, (yes: cake desperation,) I tried again. I adapted Babble's recipe, "5 Minute Nutella Mug Cake."
Instead of Nutella*, which I didn't have, I used chocolate syrup. And instead of flour, I used gluten-free cake mix. I substituted almond milk, for milk. All the same measurements.
Ingredients
4 tablespoons self rising flour 4 tablespoons white granulated sugar 1 egg 3 tablespoons cocoa powder 3 tablespoons Nutella 3 tablespoons milk 3 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
Method
1. Combine all ingredients in a large coffee mug. Whisk well with a fork until smooth. Microwave on high for 1 1/2 – 3 minutes. (Time depends on microwave wattage. Mine took 1 1 /2 minutes.) Top with whipped cream and a little chocolate sauce if desired.
2. Top with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Enjoy!
Note: Depending on the wattage of your microwave, you may have to increase cooking time.
Makes 1 very large serving.
My only regret is that I couldn't get a more flattering picture of it. You don't photo well, Mug-Cake. Anyways, G and I agreed it was pretty awesome for practically no effort. And I think you could split the above into two coffee cups, for two servings. Have you tried recipes like this?
*Has anyone else seen the latest commercials for Nutella, pitching it as a breakfast food? Wha??
1st, Nutella has commercials?
2nd "...a hazlenut spread...with a hint of cocoa!"? C'mon guys.
Oh that's right, you have us figured out.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TpWSNT5QhE]
Ok apparently, I can't stop talking about this stupid movie, but I thought you should know, I finally brought myself to watch the trailer for the original. It's not it. Darn.
Any horror-film buffs out there? Remember any mid-80s movies featuring little grey people, possibly in a fancy house of some sort, who were really mean?
On another note, the puppets in this version are pretty sweet, no?
After a very long radio silence, we are back! And we are married! And, certainly most exciting for this neck of the woods, we have a proper working camera!
Tales of weddings, diy projects, run ins with scorpions, and travel ideas will commence on Monday. Huzzah!
Enjoy the weekend, folks.
Did you know it was Children's Book Week? Me either. But what fun! You can find events in your area right here. And the above poster of Lucy and her "pet" Squeaker, (from Children Make Terrible Pets fame,) by Peter Brown, is available here.
Yay books!
Just in case you missed it, the other day Jessika from Oh My! Handmade Goodness posted an interview with me.
Her questions were:
Click right here, to check out my answers!
I'm participating in the For Japan With Love blogger fundraiser organized by Utterly Engaged and Ever Ours. Please click on the image above to donate money to ShelterBox. (I'll be adding a badge to the sidebar with the link as well.)
ShelterBox provides emergency shelter and lifesaving supplies for families around the world who are affected by disasters at the time when they need it the most. Each large, green ShelterBox is tailored to a disaster but typically contains a disaster relief tent for an extended family, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.
In conjunction with the fundraiser, they've also organized a blogger day of silence, March 18th, in memory of the all the victims in Japan.
Please pass this on.
Like everyone else, I've been feeling sick about Japan.
Here are two prints for sale with proceeds going to relief efforts. The first from the wonderful Pikaland on the other side of the world , and the 2nd from Rhody's own Tiny Showcase. Click on the images for more info.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqB-Jue1oeA]
How cute does this book look??
I hesitate to mention this, as I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, but:
Did you see Google's header today? I think this is one of my favorites. I keep trying to figure out who made it, but can't find a credit. Anyone know?
Anyways, it's in honor of the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day! (--which I do not have mixed feelings about!) Here's a little bit more about the events they're co-sponsoring:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUF65dR08ic]
Ok Mardi Gras isn't until next Tuesday, but if you're celebrating this weekend check out this sweet mask tutorial from Twig and Toadstool.
The other day, while meandering through Anthropologie's site, I stumbled across these paper flower animations. Perhaps you've spotted them? The little blooms unfurl to reveal a perfume. So clever.
Check out Peter Chapman's incredible handmade animal puzzles featured over on Unruly Little Things blog. What a wonderful find!
Tomorrow morning we go to the hospital for G's last surgery. A year ago last summer, he found out the weird freckle on his ear was indeed Melanoma. I haven't mentioned this here, not only because I don't talk about personal drama too much, but really, at the time it was too scary to throw up on a blog. But more than a year later, it's occurred to me that just a bit of soapboxing is in order. Bear with me.
Now, compared to a lot of people's experience, this was a brush with cancer. There was no radiation, or months of chemo treatments, or the side-effects to deal with. In fact, we only met the radiologist in his "team" once and frankly, we were thrilled to see her leave the room.
That said, G's "brush" involved one excision surgery, (in which they basically cut off half his ear,) two rounds of Mohs and as of tomorrow, four plastic surgery procedures to reconstruct said ear.
Without getting too far into it, here are two things we've learned. 1. With Melanoma in particular, early detection is key. Unlike other cancers, things get bad quickly--ie Stage 2 Melanoma is not good at all. It can also develop in areas not generally exposed to the sun. So go get checked every year-- twenty-something or retiree, pale and freckly, or not.
2. Melanoma seems to stem from sunburns we got as a kid. (Other types of skin cancer can be from more recent sun exposure.) So if you have kids and they're going to be outside in the sun (which sometimes can include the car,) slather on the spf 30 (anything less is useless,) --"slather" meaning to use basically a shot-glass full. This pretty much means every day. Reapply it after swimming or any activity involving sweat. Hats and clothing with sunblock in it are also great additions especially if you're going to be at a beach all day.
You can learn more here:
Last but not least, if the thought of wearing sunscreen everyday makes you sad, Will Ferrel has just the thing to perk you up:
Yup.
It's real. Click on the photo to purchase.
Ok. That's it! (Though feel free to get in touch with questions.) Back to our regularly scheduled program of fun, mostly kid, stuff. I promise.
