mittens! inspired by mittens!

ok. bear with me while i dork out real bad for a sec. awhile back when i was thrifting with stef up in syracuse, i scored the entire little house on the prairie book set for dirt cheap. and just before christmas i decided it was high-time to re-read them. needless to say i've been completely immersed, first in a little house in the big woods. then in a little house on the prairie. then in a farm in upstate new york. then in a dugout on the banks of plum creek. and i still have several books to go! my favorite parts are always the winter chapters, when laura and mary and carrie get all cozy in front of the hearth eating maple sugar candy while ma knits and pa plays the fiddle and the snow falls magically outside the little house. so, when i saw these awesome red, knit, string-attached mittens:
on eka the other day, my first thought was, "omg!! those are totally like the mittens ma made for laura that she found in her stocking on christmas day in the little house on the prairie! or maybe the big woods, whatever, they are totally laura's mittens!" and that is what makes me want them. nerd alert? yeah. ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming. (and daydreams about sleighrides, barn dances, and freshly baked pies.)

nailed it.

when I spotted this new chem-free polish collection from the u.k. on n.e.e.t., it set my lacquer-addicted heart aflutter. and since I tend to choose my colors based on the awesomeness of their names (seriously, who has that job?! nail-polish namer is totally on my list of back-up careers), i’m loving the brit slang of these bottles. check out these beauties: crumpet (a caramel-y nude), dolly bird (cotton candy pink), and artful dodger (that teal is fo' real!).

a hair affair.

maybe it's all the "new year, new you" bs infiltrating my subconscious (seriously, women's magazines, knock it off), but i've been feeling a little blah about my hair. i'm too attached to the length to chop it all off, but i wish i could just like, twinkle my nose (i don't know how else to describe the magical bewitched maneuver?) and add five more inches, some natural, large roller-looking curls, and a few deep shades of wicked red. cause when it comes to mane envy, i hold no head of hair in higher esteem than that of jenny lewis. behold.



it even looks good from behind! of course, the adorable face and thrifty cool wardrobe don't hurt either. i'll take em all.

keyed in.

after just lamenting the loss of one super girl group, i got to catch another in action: au revoir simone pretty much killed it at the highline last night. Not only did they harmonize their hearts out under winter wonderland high school-dance style decorations and fake snow flurries, they did it while wearing erin fetherston ice princess tutu dresses. whaaaat. it was all so charming i could overlook the, like, 45 minute wait for them to start their set. and when they brought out the gal from class actress and opener alexa wilding for an a cappella version of kylie minogue's "can't get you out of my head," well, all was forgiven. j'adore!

got milk?

what with the traveling and the holiday hubbub and the settling back into work and all that, the internet has become a total stranger. i feel like there are so many amazing things happening out there in blogland and all i want to do is catch up! well, i finally did a leeetle bit of browsing tonight and thanks to sally jane vintage who alerted me to papercup who introduced me to australian label milk from a thistle, i came across these super bold prints that make me long for the bare-legged loveliness of spring. i also dig this girl's fishbone side braid (if i made new year's resolutions "learn to fishbone braid" would be one of em) and am even kinda partial to the weird sock/clog styling. maybe it's just late? maybe the adult beverage i had at dinner is clouding my judgement? maybe this girl could make a trash bag look pretty? i don't know, but i'm feelin' it.

dance all night.

there are some things i don't mind saying good-bye to (disrupted service on the L train, too-long bangs, the final days of winter), but mika miko is not one of them. all-girl bands (ok, ok, TRUE, their latest drummer was a dude but still) are way too rare and these awesome ladies have been rocking the rotary phone mic since they were just babes. when i found out they were playing their last shows, as in EVER, at the smell on dec. 31 and jan. 1, i think even my ipod shed a tear. so here's a little taste of mika miko*. in homage. in remembrance. in the hope that they will each go off and start another equally rad band in time for summer night bike rides, beach blanket bbqs, and dirty, sweaty dance parties.

*this candy-colored genius was directed by my uber-talented friend, lana kim! (she's kinda irresistable, you can see for yourself right here.)

thread head.

whew. i ain't gonna lie, it was hard to go back to work today, not to mention braving the frigid winds that welcomed me back to new york after a week and a half of t-shirt weather and tangerine dreams. i *almost* forgot it was winter. but now that i've been so brutally reminded, i'm pretty sure i need one of these awesome customizable necklaces from michele outland to keep my chest warm (yeah, i know, just humor me). i first spotted the return to me line at martha's craft fair before the holidays and think this holey bib would be a great addition to my jewelry collection which, between my love for kate's necklaces and my obsession with friendship bracelets, is becoming strangely heavy on the cotton thread tip. something i am totally ok with.