Link Love : June

The Porniest Food Porn of All Time : ROSE by Carte Noire from ))) datafone on Vimeo.

I noticed a Target commercial airing this month describing their "direct trade" coffee program. As the marketing-skeptic I am, I wondered if "direct trade" was just some meaningless advertising lingo trying to pass as Fair Trade. But I found this article that helped illuminate the pros/cons of both Fair Trade and Direct Trade. Coffee drinkers, both of these are terms worth paying attention to if you care about ethically-sourced coffee (which you should!).

Speaking of coffee, here's your complete guide to iced coffee and every method to procure it. I had no idea there were so many iced coffee styles!

Chuck Palahniuk has some wise advice for writers about avoiding "thought" verbs. Show, don't tell.

How millenials are changing travel. HECK YES. Mark and I have been very intentional about living in a way that allows us to travel now—as opposed to when we retire—and we are very grateful (and privileged) that working and traveling abroad have not been mutually exclusive.

FitBit addicts, you'll love this one: David Sedaris on living the FitBit life. I'm not a user, but this article did seriously make me miss living in Ireland where we had the space and trails to roam endlessly, something sorely lacking in my urban environment.

The reason we keep saying ‘I don’t know’ is because we’re afraid of making decisions. YUP.

Food & Wine shows us the easiest way to peel a hard-boiled egg. I don't know why I never thought of this myself.

This article understands me: The cult following of Tiny Beautiful Things.

I was a bit of an odd duck for being so bookish growing up; I'm so glad to see how Book Girls today are able to find fandom, community, and connection online and off. I really I wish I would have had resources like Tavi/Rookie magazine, the Nerdfighter community, Tumblr and YouTube, etc. when I was young!

15 Cities for Creative 20-Somethings That Aren't NY or LA (h/t to Cassie of Witty Title Here)

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BONUS TIME... I've decided to start including a few favorite podcast episodes that I've listened to over the course of each month. As I mentioned in my podcast roundup post, I very much pick and choose podcast episodes to listen to (especially with interview-based podcasts) so it seemed like this was a good place to include some of my recent favorites.

Podcast Love:
• Lena Dunham on WTF with Marc Maron: I cringed every time he pronounced her name "Lay-na" instead of "Lee-na" in the intro, but her interview was delightful, per usual. She is such a smart cookie, and shared some interesting personal info that varied from her frequent vomiting tendencies to how she views Woody Allen's work vs. the man himself.

• RuPaul on WTF with Marc Maron: Of course RuPaul is fascinating; who would have expected otherwise? I listened to this one twice, and I particularly liked when he discussed social expectations and the Matrix-y "red pill vs. blue pill" concept. I had all these thoughts afterwards about not taking life so seriously and treating it more like a performance.

• Anthony Bourdain on The Nerdist: I can see how some think Bourdain is a bit dickish, but I find him fascinating. I was most interested in the talk about "foodie culture" co-opting traditional dishes and ingredients from lower classes (and charging a premium, of course). It made me think about the implications of this practice.

• Kyla Roma on the Sarah R. Bagley Podcast: I so appreciated Kyla's open and honest discussion of her generalized anxiety disorder, and I saw a lot of myself in her experiences.

• Loving a 9-to-5 Job with Mr. Lively on the Lively Show: I often think the blog world puts entrepreneurship on a pedestal, but I don't think that's the reality (or the assumed objective) for a lot of people. I enjoyed Jess's podcast with her husband, who works a traditional job. He shares about finding the right job fit and discusses having an entrepreneur for a partner.

June Rewind.

June in Photos

5 Things that Happened in June

1. Mark came home from Israel, was home for three days, and then got shipped off to Phoenix for another business trip. And, as I mentioned a few days ago, he got official word that he'll be sent to Israel for three months and leaves in a week.
2. We attended a Food Truck Rally hosted in our town, which was so fun! I'd never visited a food truck before, and it was super fun to try a bunch of different trucks at once. We had a perogi sampler; empanadas filled with sweet corn and Malbec beef; grilled cheese with raspberry jam, avocado, and poblano peppers; Asian dumplings; kim chi and cheese fried rice balls; and a mango lassi. We were about as full as you'd expect after all that food.
3. Our friends Emily and Tim got married! It was a great day overall. Just before the reception, it started pouring buckets of rain, but it turns out that Emily and Tim had a special deal with their jewelry store that if it rained an inch or more on their wedding day, the cost of their rings would be refunded. Just as dinner was starting, the DJ ran in with a piece of paper and said he had an official announcement that there was more than an inch of rain, and everyone cheered for them. So that was a nice $$$$ bonus to start off their marriage!
4. We began receiving our CSA share, and I've been quite successful at using everything we've received so far. Granted, I get the feeling we're getting less produce in our boxes than we were in year's past, but at least it's not going to waste?
5. I read a lot (see below). I guess that's what happens when I'm left all by my lonesome a lot :)

Read in June

• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss: I really enjoyed this book. The writing is solid, and the story and the characters were touching and tragic. A few specific passages made my heart hurt.
• It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini: I'm conflicted about how I feel about this one. On one hand, I admire how the main character was able see how he needed to seek help for his depression, but I feel like his depression was handled very "neatly," which came across as too simple and unrealistic. Since it is a YA book, maybe it was supposed to be an inspiration for teens going through hard times, but then that message is made quite complicated since the author tragically took his own life recently. So my feelings are complicated. 
• The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan: This is a posthumous collection of essays published after the 22-year-old writer was killed in a car crash. It's not hard to see why so many people thought she showed so much promise and talent. Many stories seemed a bit unfinished and the language was loose in some passages, but in a way this adds to the reader's sense of loss over the author's life. I don't read a lot of short stories, and I didn't quite understand the deeper meaning of some of the stories, but I really liked this collection overall.
• Ghost World by Daniel Clowes: This is a short, well-known graphic novel. The two main characters are insufferable, but I somehow felt that the depiction of these two teen hipster girls and their friendship was somehow more accurate than a lot of portrayals of adolescence. I liked the end of the graphic novel and how the story wrapped up.
• Fun Home by Allison Bechdel: Another graphic novel. I picked it up after a Booktuber recommended it and then saw all the accolades on its cover, including being named Time magazine's #1 book for 2006. It is a graphic memoir depicting Bechdel's life from childhood through her college years. It largely centers around the death of her father, which occurred a few weeks after Bechdel came out to her parents and it is revealed to Bechdel that her father was gay. The book chronicles her memories and experiences as they are re-filtered through this new knowledge about her father. The novel is subtle, calculated, and very smart, and the artwork is really worth examining as you read.

Favorite Song from June

I'm such a Lana fangirl, and I love the entire new album, Ultraviolence, from start to finish. I can't pick just one song, so here's the album trailer/sampler:
 
 

What I'm Looking Forward to in July

Lots of projects! Honestly, I'm a wee bit nervous to embrace the solo life again for the next few months while Mark is gone, so I'm planning on throwing myself into a few solid projects to keep myself busy at home. I want to work on 1 or 2 short stories (with the intention of seeing if the ideas are strong enough to be expanded into a novel); get my YT book channel up and running in the next few weeks; work through Blogilates' month-long beginner workout; and finally finish my Ireland photo album design. Aside from that, I'm sure I'll read a ton and I have some ideas for a sewing project. If Misfit's health is doing okay and she recovers from surgery quickly, maybe I can squeeze in a trip to the lake house in Wisconsin, or a trip to Minneapolis or Ann Arbor to see friends. We shall see!

Minimalist Style : The Capsule Wardrobe, Summer Edition

Since my transition to natural makeup is complete and has been checked off my 2014 project list, I want to blog a little bit about Project #2—refining and minimizing my wardrobe (and, to a greater extent, my possessions as a whole). This process has been in progress for several months now, and I've already made numerous dropoffs at Goodwill and have a corner piled high with items reserved for a garage sale or Craigslist/eBay.

The why's behind this minimizing effort are pretty simple. At some point, I became quite uncomfortable with consumer culture, likely due in part to my academic studies and experiences working in the advertising industry. Once I started questioning the norm, I couldn't stop. What is the point of being "in fashion?" To whom does it matter if you have the latest and greatest gadget? Does "stuff" make you happy? (No. Numerous studies have shown that happiness resulting from the acquisition of material items is temporary and part of an ongoing consumer cycle.) If not, then why do we care so much about clothes and belongings? Why do we crave newness and change through the stuff we own? Why is shopping such a common pastime, especially for women? What are the environmental costs of always trying to keep up with the Joneses—what happens to all the outdated and discarded stuff?

These questions only got louder as I realized I was not happy with my career. Once I put it together that I could change my lifestyle and spending habits (which were not all that out-of-control to begin with) and allow myself the flexibility and freedom to explore new paths, travel, and do more of what I actually want to be doing, I saw no reason not to give it a try. The story of the Businessman and the Fisherman and Alan Watt's "What if money was no object?" definitely resonated with me at this point.

I got to put my ideas into practice when we lived in Ireland in 2012, and I wrote about the lessons I learned from living with less in a post on my previous blog. At its core, a simpler lifestyle allows for more freedom. I'm very privileged to be able to say that, as some people live frugally or have a smaller income not by any choice of their own. But for us it is a welcome choice to have one car, live in a 700 square foot condo, to walk almost everywhere, and to spend discriminately, primarily choosing experiences over material items.

The paring-down process is an ongoing effort though, and I certainly do not call myself a minimalist, at least not yet. This year I've been focusing on the idea of a capsule wardrobe to make dealing with clothes even easier. The concept is to first determine your signature style and then to pare your wardrobe down to a reasonable collection of basics that you can use in countless combinations. If you've heard of Project 333 before—where you limit yourself to 33 pieces for three months, capsule wardrobes follow the same general idea.

Above you can see a representation of my summer capsule wardrobe. I first took a look at my style and celebrity fashion boards on Pinterest and compared them with the clothes I own and wear regularly. I created this collage from internet images (totally easier than taking a photo of every item for this post myself), but each of these pieces can already be found in my closet. I didn't depict every single item, as I do have some pieces in a range of colors, like the tanks, t-shirts, skinny jeans, and shorts. But I'm essentially working with a neutrals + blue color scheme, and going for a classic, relaxed vibe with a few bohemian touches.

Here are the biggest benefits I find in a simpler wardrobe (many of which are also applied towards home decor and other lifestyle areas):
• Less investment: Knowing that I have a defined capsule wardrobe eliminates impulse (and often regrettable) clothing purchases and saves a great deal of money. If you want to change your look a little bit, you can do that through smaller pieces like jewelry and scarves (I personally won't change up my accessories very much, however). 
• More flexibility: The clothes work together in several different combinations, giving my wardrobe more versatility than when I had specific outfits or items that needed to be worn together.
• Less time/brain power: With fewer options, less time is needed to get ready in the morning. I also save a considerable amount of time because shopping for fun is not something I do anymore, ever. Shopping has never been that fun for me, so I happily avoid stores and malls unless I need to replace an item or need to add something specific to my capsule, which can usually be a quick in-and-out trip.  
• A better-defined style: Creating a capsule has given me a clear picture of what I like, and feels like it represents me much better than the random collection of items that I liked and purchased in the past. When I think about celebrities or people I know with a very defined look, it's usually because they are known for sporting the same kinds of items all the time. It's not boring, it's a signature. Creating a capsule wardrobe is helping to start to establish this signature look for myself.
• Realistic: This wardrobe works for the life I have. It removes the need for those aspirational pieces that I may or may not fit into "someday," and embraces the fact that I am: 1) not very fancy and 2) mostly boring. Aside from one nicer wedding-appropriate dress, I don't need formal or evening attire because I rarely attend events requiring this kind of clothing. I'm all for embracing what is real—and comfortable ; )    
• Quality over quantity: Since the capsule wardrobe pares down your clothing to the basics which are worn quite often, the quality of the clothes does matter. This often means you might need to skip Target and Forever 21 and spend a little more to get something that lasts, but I believe that is better for your wallet and the environment in the long run. Fast fashion is an awful industry; I hope to do a book review on Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion in the next few weeks. When it comes time to replace some of my clothes, I will be looking into companies like Everlane and Seamly.co, or even some higher-end brands for everyday items requiring significant longevity (like shoes).

Even though I'm happy with my summer capsule wardrobe, I already can see that there are some holes that I need to fill in, so it's not like I've eliminated shopping or spending completely. At home, I mostly wear loungewear, which currently means old holey yoga pants and faded, grungy, cotton t-shirts. Since I wear these items everyday, it's time for an upgrade. I started a Wunderlist on my iPhone with a small list of items that I need to buy and I'll be sticking to this list when I go into any stores.

Other than the book review I mentioned and sharing my fall/winter capsule later in the year, I'm not yet sure how this project and series will play out on my blog. If you have any particular questions about my capsule wardrobe experience or the process of minimizing, please let me know! 

P.S. - A huge motivation for me in finally embracing the capsule wardrobe idea was recently finding the YouTube channel Light by Coco. Coco vlogs about living light, capsule wardrobes, fitness, and traveling, and her fashion videos are edited beautifully. Plus she's tall and gorgeous and basically a model. Check out her channel! Here's her most recent video:

 

P.P.S.- I also found this video last night from YouTube user Carrie LeighAnna, and when she showed how you can wear some dresses BACKWARDS to play with the neckline and increase their versatility, my mind was BLOWN. I think it works better with some of her dresses over others, but it's an amazing idea nonetheless. I checked out my closet and this trick totally works with two of my dresses, and also looked awesome when paired with a cardigan or jacket over the dress. So cool.

Coffee Chat // June 25, 2014

1. Here we go again... Remember how I announced that Mark was going to be sent to Israel for a few months for work and then told you I was just kidding about that because his company nixed that part of the project? Well, I was just kidding about just kidding! The project is back on, and Mark was given a three-week notice that he'll be leaving for Israel for three months. Welcome to my life, where I have literally no idea where my husband will be two weeks from any given date. Over the course of May and June, he's been on business trips to Portland, Israel, and Phoenix, and we've seen each other for a total of three days over a three-week period. We're not sure yet whether or not I'll be visiting Israel while he's there. {UPDATE: Have you seen the news lately? Ugh, awful. I will not be visiting, and I will be hoping and wishing with all the bones in my body that Mark's company will call him back home given the violence and unrest. Otherwise, it will be a very long and stressful three months.}

2. Israel-travel aside, I am super excited because my mom has booked a two-week family vacation to visit Austria, Germany, and Switzerland in September! As a family, we've never traveled much farther than northern Wisconsin together, and my mom has been talking about wanting to go to Europe with us since my brother and I graduated college. It only took us about five years to coordinate our schedules. I've been to a few of the cities before, but I'm excited to see more of these countries and to be able to celebrate Mark's and my sixth wedding anniversary in another country! As I think about the trip, I'm contemplating filming a travel vlog on my DSLR in lieu of taking pictures (especially since my mom will already be taking a ton of photos and is a pretty good photographer).

3. Speaking of vlogs, some of you might remember that I mentioned a while back about starting a book-focused YouTube channel. I haven't abandoned this idea at all, but getting the project rolling has not been without challenges. My camera fell off my tripod and broke the lens while I was filming the intro, and then I discovered my in-camera audio is pretty piss-poor, so I'm on the hunt for a microphone. But we're getting closer, people! I'm not being a total perfectionist about this whole thing, but I do want it to not totally suck, ya know? I did create a cute little banner this week, so at least that's something :)

4. My poor Cancer Cat is going in for a second surgery next week, so keep us in your thoughts! She's basically fine aside from an awful tumor that keeps growing back, and the only way to (potentially) make it go away permanently would be a 30-day course of daily radiation at a clinic an hour away from home costing an estimated $10,000-12,000. Misfit, I'm sorry and I love you, but no. So the best we can do is surgically remove the mass again and hope that the cancer is slow to spread into the rest of her body. We likely don't have too many more months left with her :(

5. I came very close to deleting my blog this month. It almost feels like a cliche at this point to talk about this as a personal blogger (and I've already discussed it in the past), but the feelings are real, however unoriginal. On an individual level, I'm not sure if the energy it takes is worth it. What's the purpose of it for me, what am I building? If it is merely a creative outlet, is that the best use of my time? (Creative expression feels oddly selfish and pointless to me lately.) If it's just a journal or place to practice writing, why not keep it private? On a more social level, I'm just not that into the blog world lately. So much of what I see online is either aspirational (lifestyle blogs that are so focused on outward appearances, aesthetics, and consumption/consumerism that they feel materialistic and staged) or motivational (life-coach-y, "ten tips to be a better human!" type of blogs, which I just find  impersonal and reductive). I crave realness, stories, emotion, and getting beyond the surface-level, even if it isn't always picture perfect or wrapped up as a neat little life lesson—and how do I find more of this? For now, I will keep on keeping on—I recognize that often what we seek and desire is something to be found within, pointing to action that we need to take on our own rather than pointing fingers at external forces. I will try to write more from the heart myself, and work a little harder to find more personal bloggers to connect with. I'll admit—it's a challenge for me to both focus on creating my own honest content (blog writing or otherwise) and carve my own path, while still wanting to be a part of something larger and foster community. They feel like opposing forces sometimes.

On My Nightstand : Summer Reads

Now that vacations are on the calendar and visits to the park are a weekly occurrence, I've been scanning my bookshelves and picking out a few new releases that sound like perfect summer reads. Anyone who has read this blog—or my previous one—probably knows that I have a wee issue with commitment, so it's best if you do not assume that I will read exactly these five books this summer. If I check two off of this list along (along with one or two spontaneous picks), I'll be happy—each one sounds fantastic. (Descriptions via Goodreads.) 

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The Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan: “An affecting and hope-filled posthumous collection of essays and stories from the talented young Yale graduate whose title essay captured the world's attention in 2012 and turned her into an icon for her generation."

Honestly, it had me at the title. While “Icon for her generation" brings to mind Hannah Horvath and her grand proclamations, I've heard nothing but amazing things about this collection of short stories and it is so tragic that the author was killed in a car accident given her promising future as a writer. 

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Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche: “... a story of love and race centered around a young man and woman from Nigeria who face difficult choices and challenges in the countries they come to call home."

After breaking down my reading statistics from last year in true nerd fashion (ex. YA vs. Adult, fiction vs. non-fiction, male vs. female authors, etc.), I realized that I read embarrassingly few non-American, non-white authors. One of the Booktubers I follow spoke of the importance of reading diversely, and I've been looking for ways to do that myself. Americanah gets high praise from the Book Riot podcast, so it jumped to the top of my list. Plus, Lupita Nyong'o just optioned the film rights, and I ADORE HER, so I'm getting a jump start on reading the book before the movie gets made. (Question for anyone who might be familiar with this author: Do you recommend I read Half of a Yellow Sun before Americanah?)  

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Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback by Robyn Davidson: “Davidson emerges as an extraordinarily courageous heroine driven by a love of Australia's landscape, an empathy for its indigenous people, and a willingness to cast away the trappings of her former identity. Tracks is the compelling, candid story of her odyssey of discovery and transformation."

This is an older book, but after loving Cheryl Strayed's Wild, I am down for another story about a woman on a solo journey through remote lands. The movie adaptation of the book will be released later this year, starring Mia Wasikowska and Adam Driver.

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All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: “... a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II."

I am not a huge historical fiction fan, but when I do read the genre, the books I pick almost always center around World War II. I heard someone absolutely rave about this book (though for the life of me, I cannot remember who), and knew I had to read it. I hear the writing is exquisite.

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Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver: “Part memoir, part journalistic investigation, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle makes a passionate case for putting the kitchen back at the center of family life and diversified farms at the center of the American diet."

This one has been lingering on my bookshelf for ages, and it's time to give it a read. Since our CSA just started back up, I think it's a perfect time to read about the value of local, sustainable food.

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So tell me—what's on your summer reading list? I really wish that Amy Poehler's Yes Please and Lena Dunham's Not That Kind of Girl were coming out before the fall. Is there someone in publishing we can bribe for an earlier release date?! I guess I'll have to settle for pre-ordering them!

MUSIC // Freckles + Flip Flops : A Summer Playlist

My musical choices are always affected by the shifting of the seasons. In the fall, nothing beats Fleet Foxes, Iron & Wine, Yo La Tengo and the like. That was the soundtrack to blustery grey days, my hands wrapped around a travel mug of tea and leaves crunching underfoot as I trekked across my college campus to class. 

But the summer requires a decidedly more upbeat selection of tunes, usually of the indie pop/electronic variety. I've put together my recent favorites for you today. Drive with the windows down, let the wind whip your hair, feel the sun coaxing out your freckles, stay up late, soak up those summer vibes. And let me know-- do you have a favorite summer jam?

Cayucas | East Coast Girl

Haim | Forever

Kishi Bashi | Bright Whites

St. Lucia | Before the Dive

Fickle Friends | Swim

Max Frost | White Lies

Cider Sky | Flames

Passion Pit | Take a Walk

Simon & Garfunkel | Cecilia

Cut Copy | Where I'm Going

Betty Who | Somebody Loves You

Step Rockets | Kisser

Rudimental ft. John Newman | Feel the Love

Play on Spotify or listen below:

Loving Lately : (Late) Spring 2014

This post was supposed to go up mid-May, but since I took an unplanned blogging break, you all get it today. It's now or never for these spring favorites, since it won't be spring for very much longer :)

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Purchased: Tunic tops— my new spring/summer uniform. In addition to the white one pictured above that I bought locally, I also have this one and this one from Modcloth that I'm enjoying as well.

Laughed at: Just the Tips series by Katy Katie on YouTube. These two best friends started a video series where they try out all the internet's advice and DIYs to often hilarious results. I'll warn you that the production quality is pretty webcam-y, but these girls are so funny that it's okay. Check out Dressing from Vogue Magazine, Kim Kardashian's Face Contouring, Anthropologie "Hack", or SWANTS to get you started.

Netflixed: Mortified Nation. SO FLIPPIN' GOOD. It's a show where people are invited to get on stage and read an excerpt from their childhood/teenage diaries. The premise alone is fantastic and so funny, but I loved how the documentary included the back-story of the show itself and profiled several participants. I came away from it with such a warm-fuzzy feeling at our entirely relatable painful and awkward moments of youth. Thank goodness we all made it through that :)

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Listened to: The new Call Your Girlfriend podcast, hosted by writer Ann Friedman and Tech Ladymafia founder Aminatou Sow. I've fallen out of favor with another popular podcast hosted by two best friends, and so far this is definitely filling that void and then some. The girls have a great rapport, and I appreciate that the content is quite smart and touches on current events, politics, and social issues in addition to girl-talk and a little bit of pop culture.   

Subscribed to: The Nife en L'air blog. In a nutshell, this blog is about minimalism as a process and living intentionally. The blogger, Kali, touches on a range of topics from simplicity, conscious consumerism, travel, habits, perfectionism, etc. I really like how she writes from an analytical and thoughtful perspective, rather than the aspirational lifestyle or simplistic coach-y approach of so many popular blogs.

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Watched: Anthony Bourdain's Parts Unknown (available on Netflix instant; new episodes air on CNN). I've enjoyed Bourdain's other shows, mostly because food and traveling are two of the five things I love most in life and I desperately want his job, but this show is distinctly different and my favorite of the bunch. He visits less commonly traveled destinations and often gets into the politics or history of a place in a really fascinating way. The food is almost secondary to the story of people who live in the places he travels.

Cooked: Aida Mollenkamp's Coconut red curry chicken wraps with spicy peanut sauce. This was a really good recipe and had a lot of different Thai-inspired flavors working together-- the coconut curry-marinated chicken, fresh and pickled vegetables, and the creamy peanut sauce (which I didn't think was very spicy at all). It had several steps but came together fairly easily. I recommend halving the marinade amount if you are only cooking for two people, and if you don't have access to lavash, Trader Joe's homemade flour tortillas held up really well and had a nice thickness to them.

Grooved to: MØ. Great summer music-- it is electronic indie pop with really good beats. If you're into artists like Banks, Haim, and MSMR, you might enjoy it.

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