Over Popped!

I need some new music and I need it bad. I spend a lot of time in the car these days. I haven't bought a CD in ages and never got around to getting that little ipod car hook up thingy.

Why? 'Cause baby I gots da radio! Except da radio just isn't doing any more.

I nearly reached they end of my rope today.

I was sitting there, driving along rt. 76, singing along with a chick that brushes her teeth with hard alcohol (gross!!!) and I stopped bopping around in my seat. And I said No. I don't have to do this anymore. 

No Lady Gaga...I don't want your love love love and Rhianna, I don't know where my lighter is at (where it's at, where it's at, where it's at). I'm sorry. I just don't. And finally, Kesha, Jack Daniels is not an appropriate product with which to brush your teeth. Just because it rhymes doesn't mean it's sexy and it is definitely not ADA approved.

 *Please see provided links if you don't know which songs I am talking about. I'll admit these songs are catchy. Don't say I didn't warn you.

My pretty steady pop-starlet diet of late, had made me ready

For something slow. 

Something sad. 

I was ready,

for Iron and Wine. 

Meet Sam Beam the leading man.

Look at his shirt, his vest---that beard.

Move over Lady Gaga. Don't mess. I'm ready to move to the mountains with Sam Beam and learn how to compost and work the land. 

Thank you to whatever college station was playing Boy with Coin in my moment of desperation. 

Now for your listening pleasure, I leave you with a little bit of mellow music which will be perfect for a weekend full of tea and good books and cuddly blankets.

Really, how beautiful are those dancers? And not a sequin in sight!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Weekly Bunch: Dahlia Dreams

I dream of dahlias,

of dahlias I dream.

Please pick me a pink one,

or even mint green.

I'd take a peach one so feathery light,

Or a bright starburst flower

In sugary white!

January winter doldrums have made me spring starved so I am arms wide open for a bunch of these bursts of warm color!

I dream of Dahlias. I really really do.

photo credits: country living, valentino, martha stewart, emerson made

2009 My Year Without {Purchasing} Magazines: A Memoir

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. 2009 was my year without purchasing a single fashion magazine. Now that oh-nine is oh-ver, I am trying to determine whether I will continue my record.

First let me tell you why this was quite an accomplishment and why I decided to make such a deal with myself.

I am a sucker for pretty pictures, pretty things (as most bloggers of this sort are) and pretty clothes, and since my job made me into a pretty frequent traveler I would often buy more magazines than I could read. I created quite a pile of mags by my bed (I rarely throw them out) and also encouraged the insatiable need inside myself for more stuff.

Though I would hardly call myself a clothes horse, I do have to admit, I was spending more on clothes than I should so I had to do something about it. This meant for me, less trips to the mall, less "I'll get it 'cause it's such a deal" purchases at TJs and Marshalls, and NO MORE MAGAZINES.

I like a variety of mags, so I never subscribed to one, but purchased at random so it seemed silly to be spending 4-6 dollars on something that only encouraged me to spend when I really need to save.

And so my magazine-less months came and went...and through the spring of 09 I did pretty well. Nooooo fashion mags. Just Cooking Light and Real Simple (which was kind of cheating because they have fashion features). Nonetheless, I did not purchase a single Elle, Vogue, or InStyle.

And then "LUCKY" started randomly coming to my house spontaneously. I got one issue...and then a few days later I got three (the months I had missed)...and then another and another. It was a bloody Lucky downpour.

AHHHHH! People, Lucky is the magazine about shopping! I felt like someone was playing a nasty trick on me! You fast from magazines and then the magazine about shopping starts falling from the sky!!!!! Do you know how hard it is to resist those Lucky Breaks?

I am happy to say that I stayed strong. I gave most of them away threw the rest out. Good job me.

September was so busy that I didn't have time to think much about what was missing....

The holidays were tough...but I found I had enough festive frocks to get me through without checking a magazine to see what was new.

So here I am and it's 2010. New year....and I was faced with the big decision today while at CVS---and you know which one I am talking about.

I was waiting for pictures to be developed and casually made my way to the magazine rack.

I really wanted to do it. I really wanted to buy and take home the copy of InStyle I picked up. In Style is my absolute favorite. Heidi Klum is on the cover. And I love Heidi. And I saw this little page on Lady Gaga and all her strange looks...and I could read that over and over about a dozen times and still be delightfully confused/intrigued/weirded out. And then there was the bit on on how to wear leggings, and the outfits they put together were so cute...and provided advice on how I could pretty much wear them anywhere including shopping, date night and brunch!

But you know what, I didn't buy it. I have good reasons. 

First, I have gotten by for the past year coming up with my own way of wearing leggings and have done a half decent job of it I have to say.

As for pretty pictures...well I can get my fill from the blogs I read thanks to all you savvy bloggers out there.

And finally, the newstand price of InStyle at $3.99 is equal to 1/12 of this shirt at Anthropologie....

So if I save my $3.99 for the next twelve months, next December, I can buy it. :)

As you can see, 2009 really taught me a lot. Cheers to 2010!

Polar Bear Club

I would jump into the freezing cold Atlantic right now for the chance to wear one of these...

Though I'd take the Caribbean....

Or even the Aegean Sea...
Even the gulf of Mexico with all those little shrimp and what not....
I'm in love with Vintage style suites...

The trouble is, I don't know if they are in love with me. I'm not so sure the high granny briefs and low cut legs work with my figure. 

Tell me what kind of figure DO they work for (besides the Anthropologie models that so beautifully sport them on the website and Grace Kelly --check out that little red number she's wearingso cute!)???

 

Is it:

Pear Shape?

Apple?

Straight?

Athletic?

All of the above as long as you have the confidence to match???

These are the body types magazines always list...except they never list the latter. I think it's time they do!

Natural Grace...

For Christmas, my father in law gave me a biography about Grace Kelly called High Societysince he knows I love film and old Hollywood. It was really thoughtful of him, though I don't know if I have ever seen Grace Kelly in a film and didn't think she was much more than a pretty princess face. Darling, was I wrong!

She was often mistaken as snobby, but was really just very shy.

She always meant what she said and said what she meant.

She was a very smart business woman.

She couldn't see anything six feet away without her glasses on.

She loved theatre.

And she loathed Hollywood. 

Grace is often called a fashion icon, though in reality, off the set she often dressed simply and even plainly. She despised pretense and adored pure, unadulterated beauty in people. Beauty is as Beauty does.

The book inspired me to look up some of her photos on line, and my favorites I have posted below. Here is Grace on vacation in Jamaica, photographed candidly with no make up, no wardrobe suggestions, no lighting and no pin curls. All of these things were totally unheard of in her day. 

If I didn't know any better I'd think these photos were from the pages of an Anthropologie catalogue. But in this case, this little chick came first and we remain inspired by her simple beauty almost 50 years later. Now that is anthropology material.

Photos via Starbucks and Jane Austen

Cozy Winter Weekend Gifts!

Horry! It's almost here! This weekend is a little mini reunion with my college friends. In celebration of a spa weekend we took during college in the middle of a blizzard to freezing cold Vermont, we are meeting in Boston to relax-refresh-renew and have a blast!

We are all contributing in different ways---and I am spa coordinator! I booked the appointments at Exhale Boston, and have researched Mani/Pedis and yoga classes.

For a little spa weekend favor, I am continuing on the "New Year is a blank slate" theme and am literally giving gifts of, you guessed it! Blank Slates. Only these will be much more decorative and inspirational then the yucky green ones from elementary school streaked with dried yellow chalk water (ew!).

You can make this little craft too for less than $5!!! All you need are three simple items and three simple steps. They are so simple you may even be angry with me for bothering to go through them since it doesn't take a Martha Stewart to figure this craft out...but I am excited about them so thanks for letting me share!

1. Round up a frame you are no longer using or buy a cute/cheap one from the store. (I found silver ones and painted them white but don't worry they weren't the ones below. The photo is merely an example.)

photo by Vintage Love at Flickr

2. Get thee to a local craft store. If it's AC MOORE or MICHAELS feel free to ignore the majority of tacky goods they have up at the front. Head to the paint section and pick up a bottle of Chalkboard paint. If you don't like the color of the frame you are using, pick up a color you do like. Little bottles of Acrylic paint work well too but are much more hassle with the brushes and what not. We are going for a pretty stinkin' easy craft here.

Take it home and sssssspray that glass black! (or green if that's your thing). Let Dry.

3. Put the glass into the frame and girl, it is finished!

Told you that was easy! And oh so satisfying. Relaxing even. I love relaxing crafts much more then stressful crafts. And you can really make this little number in any size, any color, any style and for any purpose!

• Grocery Lists
  
• Inspiring words
• Love messages to your honey
• Dinner Party Menu
• How about your list of New Years Resolutions, hmmmm?

Of course there are many ways you could embellish the frame---- Like adding a pretty ribbon to hang it with, or painting a free hand design around the edge of the frame, or turning it into a calendar like Martha Stewart did in the January 2010 issue of Living. But if you want to make this more complicated...you are on your own! I'm leavin' it here.

I am off to pack for the weekend! Hope yours is wonderful!

Happy New Year (Twelve Days Late)

I like New Years Resolutions. I feel like every blog out there has someone confessing that they hate them....which is fine for you...but am I alone? Surely there is someone else out there that likes making them too.

I really do like New Years Resolutions. Not in the "I'm going to loose 10 pounds this year" and then gain ten pounds sort of way. But more in the "these are areas of my life that I would like to develop and hope I actually do it kind" of way. I find it very exciting to set new goals and think about the things in my life I would like to start, or change, or do differently. A new year is like a clean slate, an empty page (or 365 of them) and why not fill fill it up with ideas you'd like to see become reality on those pages? (BTW, I found the journal below AFTER I finished this post...had to add it. It was just too too...)

journal @ blanka.uk

For the past few Januaries I have written my thoughts about the coming year in my journal, make a mental note of them, and then go on my merry way into the year. Then, at the end of the year if I am really organized, I can look back and see if last years resolutions came true. (*note, this year, I did NOT look back at last years journal and I am ok with that. Sort of. Actually, maybe I will go find that journal when I am done with this post.)

Now you may be wondering, What's the point of going through the trouble of making resolutions if you are not even going to hold yourself accountable complete them?

Fair question.

I do it because life on earth goes by quickly and if I at least think about my goals at the beginning of the year....the most important ones will rise to the surface as each day passes...and the one's that aren't important can be tossed to the wayside or saved for another year.

So what types of "resolutions" am I talking about here?

Here is a mere sampling of things I'd like to accomplish this year:

1. Use my own Grocery Bags instead of the ones in the store.

2. Print my digital photos from the past two years and put them into albums (ahhh the one curse of digital! You really have to put in effort to do this regularly. If you have pointers I am all ears)

3. Do some type of exercise every day (even a ten minute walk...anything goes!)

I do have more but I'm still a little shy about spilling ALL my guts on line. But that wasn't so hard was it?

I think the main thing I'm going for is...living life intentionally. Doing things that I like to do or things that are good for me...and letting go of things that I do that really aren't that important to me. To my husbands chagrin, I am not giving up making the bed.

I hope you find something inspiring to shoot for this year----and if it's not the moon, who the heck cares? Stars shine brighter anyway. :)

Happy New Year!

January is a good time to start a new blog...

I have a confession to make. This is not my first blog. I have been blogging secretly for several years now. The thing is when I say "blogging" I mean I have started a blog, posted a few times and then let that little online journal settle into the wasteland of deserted blogs. It's sad and shameless, but, no more. This time it is for real.

My name is Lindsay and welcome to Salt and Sentiment...a place where I store and share little bits of inspirations that I find in life through friends, family, fashion, food and all my favorite things. I have kept a journal in a little book since second grade, but in this internet age a blog can serve as a home to an online scrap book for thoughts and ideas in a way that little lock and key number can not.

I don't know how often I will post with blog attempt number three...but I'd like to try anyway...and if there is anything cold blustery January is good for it's a good solid try.

So this is to my invitation to you:

Please join me as I revel in life, laugh in friendship, ooooogle at eye candy, craft with conviction, flirt with fashion, keep in touch with old pals, and enjoy the little things in life that make it both savory and sweet.

xo

Lindsay