Link Love : November

True Detective // Landscapes from Louisiana from Jaume R. Lloret on Vimeo.
I think my favorite thing about True Detective was the art direction and cinematography.
I'm excited to see how they visualize and stylize California for season 2!

***

It's been quiet here around these parts, stemming from some hard personal times and my heavy heart over the current events of world. Honestly, I'm not sure the future of this blog, at least in its current iteration. Other projects have my attention, and I'm not sure that the desire is there to keep up with my blog when it is so personal and self-focused; I feel like my time would be better spent contributing to something that matters, ya know? But while I'm quietly trying to figure things out, here is my usual monthly roundup, which has been a constant staple in my blogging for years now.

***

♥ A great post from Erin of Design for Mankind about following our hearts instead of external expectations.
♥  In a similar vein, Analiese wrote about how perfectionism shields and blocks us from fully living.
♥ I enjoyed reading the breakdown of how Megan and Mike of The Fresh Exchange bought their first home, especially navigating the world of mortgages and home loans as two entrepreneurs. (Though I couldn't help but *eyeroll* at the idea that blogging an unstyled, unfinished home is "blogger suicide." C'MON, the place still looks flawless. Lifestyle bloggers are a ridiculous bunch sometimes.)
♥ Improve your Instagram game with more mobile photography tips from Artifact Uprising.

♥ Fact: I adore Grace Helbig, and as a long-time fan, I almost get a little misty-eyed seeing her hard work pay off as she becomes more of a household name. Here's her recent New York Times profile.
♥ Thoughts on maintaining a blog for the long haul from one of my favorite food bloggers, Heidi of 101 Cookbooks.
♥ What to do when someone else has your brilliant idea.
♥ Elise Blaha Cripe's speech from the World Domination Summit {video}.

♥ This image, and the young man behind it, brought tears to my eyes. Love is louder.
♥ Two articles from Mark Manson: 7 Strange Questions That Can Help You Find Your Life Purpose and No, You Can't Have It All.
♥ And a similarly titled post from Hannah Brencher: You can't be all the things, which has some lovely thoughts about what we're communicating to others when we try and handle it all on our own.
♥ Amazon's picks for the best books of 2014, and some wonderful young debut writers you should be reading.
♥ I enjoyed watching Toni Morrison on The Colbert Report.  {video}

♥ Interesting: Why sad songs make us feel better—and spark our creativity. I'm a big fan of sad songs myself.
♥ Becoming You by Troye Sivan on Youtube {video}. "Don't let people stiffle you because you're doing the shit that they've always been to scared to do. Love your body. Let your mind wander. And let yourself be the person that you've secretly always wanted to be." 
♥ Two amazing sounding recipes: Chicken in Coconut Milk with Lemongrass and Shawarma nachos with hummus, labneh, and israeli salad.

***

Goodbye, Sweet Kitty.

We said our goodbyes to our cat Misfit late last week, and it was one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make. It's a special kind of torture to love someone so much that you don't want them to suffer but also to be the one to sign the papers that end their life. Awful.

The details of her illness don't matter at this point (and you really don't want to hear the specifics), but she had dealt with a growth since last November, which we discovered was cancerous when she had surgery to remove it in January. It was a very rare type of cancer, in fact, which none of the veterinarians we spoke to—even the oncology specialists—had seen more than a handful of times in their careers. $10,000 radiology treatments were obviously out of the question, so we hoped that the surgery would slow the tumor's spread and return, but by July, she needed a second surgery. And by October, it was back again, along with clusters of what felt like grapes in her abdomen. The cancer was spreading.

The most difficult part of last week for Mark and I was that Misfit wasn't acting any differently. She was her same spazzy, loveable, loudmouthed self. Still watching the birds and attempting to chase falling leaves from the window sill. She still ate like the 12 lb. cat that she was. She still cuddled and purred and begged for treats. She was only ten years old, which isn't all that old for a cat.

But the cancer was going to get worse; we didn't know when, but we knew it would. And although it felt like too early for us to say goodbye, I have to remind myself that to have waited for a physical sign from her would have been to have waited too long.

I know some people won't understand what we went through. She's just a cat, they'll say. But she wasn't. Misfit was a part of our family. The three of us were a little family. For all of the nine years Mark and I have lived together, she's been there with us. She was the most dog-like cat I've known, and she won over the affection of almost everyone who she came in contact with. She was truly hilarious—fetching milk rings that we'd throw for her over and over, performing tricks for treats, begging at the door to go outside, meowing to say "bless you" whenever we'd sneeze.

Our condo seems strangely quiet. Over the weekend we cleared out a lot of her belongings, but I still find reminders of her everywhere. Out of habit I left the window blinds raised a foot at the bottom last night, only to remember that there was no cat who would need to peer outside.  

We've been asked a dozen times if we're going to get another cat. The question surprised me the first few times. How could I possibly even think about another cat? It's only been three days! A new cat right away would simply be an attempt at band-aiding my grief instead of feeling it. Part of me wants to swear off pet ownership altogether—it's just voluntary and inevitable heartbreak. But I know that reaction is coming from the fresh pain of losing her. We have a lot of love to give, and I'm sure someday we'll find a new furry family member. But for now, I grieve for my sweet Misfit, Miss Fittlestein, Fitter-Fatter Pitter-Patter ♥

PS - A big thank you goes out to all the supportive and wonderful people I'm surrounded by. So many people reached out to me on social media when all of this was happening to offer condolences and words of comfort, and my sweet neighbor and fellow cat lady Renee even dropped off some muffins for us. You all are wonderful, and made me feel loved during this sad time. xo.

Link Love : October

Buckwheat Porridge / Common Comfort for Design*Sponge by Izzy Rael.

Can you believe the blogger who created this video is 14 years old? What a creative force!

Read more about Izzy here on Design*Sponge.

If any of you are long-time readers, you might remember when my monthly favorites link round-up looked similar to this, where I picked links that were in line with my values and interests. I decided to return to this format to give myself a little more structure and also to make it easier for you the reader to find the kind of links you're interested in, since I tend to cover such a wide variety of topics on my blog.

BE INSPIRED will include articles that sparked my creativity or just brought a smile to my face. The BE MOTIVATED section will most often feature topics related to pursuing your life's work, getting shit done, and other lifehack or productivity tips. Then in BE THOUGHTFUL, I will link to any literary or book-related posts, and any other particularly thought-provoking articles. BE WELL will focus on links about living well in body, mind, and spirit and anything related to simplicity or the environment. I hope you enjoy!

♥ Clearly, I did my wedding entirely wrong: NYC Bookstore Wedding.
♥ Ali Edwards reminds us how Our Days Are Built With Stories, and encourages us to look for and share these stories.
♥ Three ways to start making your life an adventure.

♥ There's no such thing as work/life balance (thanks to Sarah for the link!). I generally agree, though my personal vision of balance has less to do with trying to do it all at the same time, and more to do with making sure I'm paying attention to all the areas of life important to me on a Big Picture level. So I personally don't vilify the term "balance," but I still agree with the points in the article.
♥ A few unconventional thoughts on passion from The Minimalists and Elizabeth Gilbert that I happen to agree with wholeheartedly. If you have it, live it, but if you don't, pursue your curiosity instead.
♥ For some dumb reason, Evernote overwhelms me, so I appreciate seeing how others use Evernote.
♥ I often do this: The Guilty, Crazy Secret that Helps Me Write (via Amy's writing resources)

♥ The Literary United States: A Map of the Best Book for Every State. I don't think it's a perfect representation of books set in each of the 50 states, but there are some good picks.
♥ An Articles Club is an interesting twist on the traditional book club, and I imagine the discussions would be quite engaging.
♥ For the self help/personal development junkies out there, Nicole of Life Less Bullshit did a crowdsourcing type of post to create a No BS Bookshelf.
♥ Roxane Gay interviews Lena Dunham.
♥ This is important: How to be a fan of problematic things. You can like what books/movies you like without feeling guilty, but it's important to be aware and consume critically.
♥ A revealing look at the truth behind outlet stores.

♥ I was really grateful this post came to me at the most needed time: "If Everything Sucks for You Right Now."
♥ 5 Questions to Ask Yourself When Decluttering.
♥ The next level of capsule wardrobes: The Uniform. It may be a little too redundant for many of us, but I love the points she brings up.
♥ In a digital world, who are we without our social media outlets? I Left Social Media For A Week. This is What Happened. 
♥ Wholy Goodness.

***

 Have a happy and safe Halloween, everyone!

October Rewind.

October in Photos
@cait_lindsey_

5 Things That Happened in October

1. Mark came home from Israel! He's still working on the project though, which means he's getting up at 4 or 5 am to get on web meetings with the team in Israel. Oof. And just this week he got word that he might be sent back over, eliciting a few choice expletives from both of us, but he's going to try and avoid going at all costs.
2. We thought we were moving to Boulder in the very near future, then suddenly we weren't. Read more about that here.
3. We had one super nice fall weekend where we ended up taking three separate walks in one day because it was just too pretty to be indoors. I think we totaled around 7 or 8 miles by the end of the day, and it was fabulous.
4. I went to the Lena Dunham book tour event in Chicago, got to hear her read 2 pieces from the book, enjoyed her conversation with her BFF/GIRLS co-writer Jenni Konner, and got a signed copy of Not That Kind of Girl.
5. My favorite moment was a quiet Sunday morning in our favorite cafe, chatting about life plans and goals and dreams. This was when we thought the Boulder opportunity was about to be official, and we were so hopeful and happy.

Read/Still Reading in October

- Girls in White Dresses by Jennifer Close: Read a few chapters here and there, but I'm still not finished. I continue to find the writing detached.
- I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson: This is Jandy Nelson's second book, and I had super high expectations for this one after loving The Sky is Everywhere. It took me some time to adjust to the narrative time jumps and alternating narrators, but as expected, I was sobbing by the end and really enjoyed it. 
- The Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison: This is a non-fiction short story collection all on the topic of empathy and how we relate to one another. I'm only a few stories in so far, but it is interesting and thought-provoking. I had to put it down for the moment though, because there are some disturbing medical issues discussed at one point and due to some personal issues I'm finding myself particularly squeamish at the moment. I needed a breather from it.
- The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls: This comes so highly recommended by so many people, and I'm not too far in but it is totally engrossing.

The Book Wanderer in October

- My three travel vlogs for Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, which I posted here
- Belated Top 5 Wednesday - Books I didn't expect to like / Favorite book titles
- An autumn book haul

Favorite Song from October
Chet Faker - 1998

What I'm Looking Forward to in November

STUFFING! I mean, Thanksgiving. But mostly stuffing.

Loving Lately : Autumn 2014

I'M LOVING THIS... 

LADY: The Alison Show! Especially her Instagram, where she posts the most amazingly rad IG videos of her solo dance parties (check the hashtag #thealisondanceshow). She dresses pink yard flamingos as mummies for Halloween, wears t-shirts that say "I'm a unicorn," throws theme parties, and encourages people to be awesome. So basically, she's the coolest.

FONT: Salome, especially for headline and display uses. It's gorgeous and I'm obsessed. As a designer, I've come to vastly prefer serif fonts over the past few years, and it's giving me a sort of graphic designer existential crisis. What does it say about me that I now like serif fonts so much?!

ALBUM: Ben Howard's new album, I Forgot Where We Were. He's so great, and it's a perfect fall album. Just go listen.

***

WEBSITE: Skillshare. I've mentioned this learning site for creators previously as a good way to learn the basics of InDesign for Project Life, but they have since changed their payment structure, and I hadn't explored the new options until now. Instead of buying individual classes at $15-20 a piece, you now purchase a monthly membership for $9.95 (and the first week is free). I LOVE this, because I can take part in as many classes as I want for an even lower cost. There are classes for everything from design programs to small business marketing to calligraphy to iPhone photography. I've taken part in several over the past few weeks, and I'm loving the ability to dabble in a lot of topics. Disclosure: the link above is my affiliate link, meaning I do get a small credit if you sign up through it. Thank you if you choose to do that! :)

BLOG: The Mindy Project Style. I don't watch the show regularly, but every time I do, I admire Mindy's outfits. They're not at all my style, but I love how she pulls them off nonetheless. I think I read somewhere that Mindy Kaling herself picks out the clothes she wears on the show. This blog gathers all of the outfits from the show with sources and links, and I have a feeling that a few of you readers might find that useful! :)

***

ACCESSORY: Square-patterned Zara scarf. This was one of my pre-travel purchases. I originally saw it on the Youtuber HelloOctoberxo, and I fell in love with the pattern and its neutral color scheme, which goes with my capsule wardrobe. It's huge, but sometimes that's just what you need. It doubled as a blanket for me on the airplane.

APP: SKRWT. I think this app is pronounced "screw it," and it is a iPhone photo editing app that helps fix lens distortion and bad angles. This is particularly useful if you like to take pictures of architecture and other outdoor shots because you can fix the distortion that occurs if you camera isn't parallel to your subject. I downloaded a different one while we were in Europe to fix this kind of skewering, and it wasn't nearly as good as this app, which I just discovered recently.

PODCAST: Serial! Do I even need to recommend this? Based on my informal observation of social media, it seems like everyone and their brother and their brother's mom is already hooked. So, if you're not listening yet, jump on it. It's addicting. And fascinating.

***

What are you loving this season?

Coffee Chat // October 24, 1014

1. *Sigh.* Mark and I had some exciting news in the works, and I really thought we were getting reading to announce to everyone that we were picking up and moving to Boulder, Colorado... until everything fell apart in a flash. Womp womp. The details aren't blog-worthy, and it wasn't up to us, but a move is not happening—even though we'd been given almost every positive sign just short of a green light. Think: "We'll send you an offer on Monday." Then, "Sorry, nevermind." We're both so disappointed, especially after spending last weekend looking online for apartments, dreaming about mountain life, and getting excited with Mark's sister (who actually will be moving to Colorado in 2016). Unfortunately, there aren't many alternative options that would bring us to Boulder/Denver at this point. So, it's time for the Plan B's, which are even less of a sure thing. I haven't felt this disappointed about something in a very long time.

2. I'm thinking ahead to Christmas, and I'm considering doing all homemade edible gifts for everyone this year (diet/allergy factors obviously taken into account). Think: jars of homemade jam, spiced granola, herbed nuts, a muffin or scone mix, maybe homemade crackers and/or flavored liquor, packaged up all cute in a basket with a tea towel. There are many reasons I'm considering this approach—we have 25 people on average to buy gifts for and the last few Christmases have been budget busters; I've become a manic-stress ball over past holidays trying to get gifts for everyone and this seems like one way to make it simpler (and I love to cook/bake); and many family members say each year that they don't need/want anything, yet it would be considered rude to forgo gifts for them. But are edibles too impersonal for gifts, especially for family? Is it rude to give everyone basically the same thing? Do other people like receiving edible gifts? I know I do, and I plan to avoid giving cookies/sweets because we all already get enough of that around the holidays.

3. Unpopular adult opinion: Homeownership is overrated. If I were to do my life over again, I would not buy, or at least not until I was sure I was settling into a home I planned to be in basically forever. Screw this condo business. My attitude isn't entirely do to the financial crisis, though we were certainly affected by it, having bought our condo in April of 2008 (and the crash happened that October). I won't blame our choices on anyone, but we were strongly pushed to buy instead of renting (and were told renting was "throwing your money away"). I think that advice was misguided. I've been thinking about this all lately, especially with the Colorado move we thought was about to happen. Who knows, maybe we will decide to list and sell our place and go back to renting, even if we are staying in Chicago for now. It's probably a smart approach anyways, since it will likely take months to sell the condo.

4. I bought a Moka pot! It's just one more way for me to pretend I'm European. Or just a coffee-styling Instagram hipster ;) The only problem is that I don't have any coffee in my house yet. According to my research, the Moka requires a specific grind of coffee—coarser than espresso but finer than drip-coffee. To make things easy on myself I might start out with the Illy Moka blend before branching out into grinding my own with beans from my favorite brands (currently Julius Meinl and Intelligensia). I decided to go with the Moka over any other method because I mostly drink single cups of cafe au lait/cafe con leche each day, and Mokas make a good strong coffee for the base. I don't think I'm enough of a purist for a Chemex, and I abhor Kuerigs and their wasteful, garbage-producing ways, so that was never an option. Fun Kuerig fact: If you use K-cups, you're paying upwards of $50 a pound for coffee.

5. I've been fighting through a reading slump lately. Funny enough, my reading has slowed down since starting a booktube channel. Filming, editing, and being involved with the community takes quite a bit of time. It's fun of course, but I have to manage my time a little bit better. When I sit down to read, I find myself so distracted lately. Ever since getting home from our Europe trip, I can't get through much more than a page before my mind wanders. And I haven't filmed any videos lately either, despite having a wall in my office literally covered with video ideas written on Post-its. But I've had a lot of personal things going on, and I'm reminding myself how important it is to carve out time for the activities that are important to me, even if it takes a while to get my mojo back. How do you get through reading slumps? Or, if you're not a big reader, how do you get back on track with anything you enjoy?

Europe 2014 : The Videos

When I came home from our trip to Europe, I had 36GB of video footage to sort through, which is why it took me three weeks to edit these videos! But here they all are, in case you haven't seen them already over on my YouTube channel. I think Switzerland is my favorite one :)

This is the first time I've documented an entire trip through video instead of photos only. I was initially disappointed in the quality of the clips because I didn't realize I'd changed the settings and reduced the video quality on my camera somehow. That did me no favors when it came to camera shake, and I was bummed over the number of blurry and jumpy clips. But I reminded myself that I am still a newbie to video, and that the main purpose of these videos was to capture my trip in a unique way and try something new. I still think I achieved that, even if I still recognize what I could have done better.

I'm not sure if I'd choose video again for documenting a vacation in the future. Steadiness was the main issue, as I mentioned above. Also, my specific DSLR camera model makes it difficult to switch between video and manual photography (which is the way I shoot photos), so I found myself fumbling and wasting time whenever I wanted to grab a photo in addition to a video clip. I think a point-and-shoot camera would be much better for shooting video while traveling—it's no surprise that so many YouTube vloggers use point-and-shoot cameras when they are on the go. But I'd have to forgo creative control with settings and focus with a point-and-shoot camera, so every method has its pros/cons.

The other issue I had with video is that people see a DSLR and assume you're taking photos. So, I'd sometimes point the camera to take a video and people would freeze or try to stay out of my way, when all I wanted to do was capture the real mood and action of a scene. So that was frustrating. I don't really know how to be an inconspicuous video recorder yet.

I am glad to have these videos though, and I hope to put them all onto a CD to my family that I traveled with. It's a fun keepsake, even with its imperfections :)

Europe 2014 : Favorite Photos & Memories

♥ Seeing the footprints of my first trip to Vienna ten years ago during my study abroad tour in college. The hotel we stayed at. The United Nations building where we attended lectures. Familiar streets. And that led to a flood of gratitude—that I have already had such amazing travel experiences in my lifetime, and that I was lucky enough to experience it again with my family.

♥ A family-style welcome dinner on the first night of the tour, where we passed plates of schnitzel, spätzle, and sauerkraut while being serenaded by a violinist-accordion duo. Mark actually got a little misty eyed, as we were all so happy to be there together, and he was so happy to be out of Israel (it's been a loooong summer).

♥ A family dinner at Restaurant Weinbotschaft, one of the only certified organic restaurants in Vienna. They were very accommodating for my gluten-free mom, and I had the most delicious pan-fried sole over creamy Parmesan and leek gnocchi. The portion was far too small for my liking, but it was probably the most delicious dinner meal I had. I also sampled everyone's desserts, and they were amazing.

♥ Seeing inside the State Hall at the Austrian National Library, and spending an afternoon in a traditional Viennese cafe (as I wrote about here).

♥ This photo of my family.



♥ St. Rupert's Fair in Salzburg—amazing food options, music, adorable toddlers dressed in traditional Austrian attire, and great people watching. Salzburg wasn't a place I'd ever considered visiting, but I adored it.

♥ Going to have drinks at a cute little bar in Salzburg with my brother and Mark. I don't spend much time at all with my brother, and it was kind of nice to hang out together.

♥ The window boxes full of vines and geraniums EVERYWHERE, especially in the smaller Swiss and German towns.

♥ This art installation inside of a church in Munich, Germany.

♥ Shopping at the Christmas stores and wood-carving stores in Oberammergau, Germany, which gave me a teeny-tiny taste of what it must be like to shop the Christmas markets. I've always dreamed of doing that, and it was my first choice for which tour trip to do, but it sold out. Maybe someday...

♥ Our tour guide leaving us a bottle of local Swiss wine called dole and a note saying Happy 6th Anniversary. So sweet.

♥ Having a picnic on our balcony in Zermatt, Switzerland, with the most amazing view of the valley.

♥ The most relaxing bath in the giant bathtub in our hotel in Zermatt.

♥ Several people on the bus attempting to sing "Edelweiss" together, and after the tour guide thanked them and called us her von Trapp family, a voice from the back of the bus piped up, "More like your von Crapp family!" I laughed SO HARD.

♥ When our von Crapp family sang us Happy Anniversary :)



♥ Taking the cog railway train up to Gornergrat to view the Matterhorn and Dufourspitze, the highest point in Switzerland. Stifling back tears at the sight of the massive mountains surrounding us on both sides.

♥ An anniversary dinner on the riverfront in Lucerne at Opus Bar and Vinothek. Wine, beef tartare, housemade pumpkin gnocchi with cabbage and dried cranberries in a parsley cream sauce (me), and sea bass and saffron spinach risotto (Mark).

♥ Cheese fondue in Switzerland! We had some as a lunch appetizer in Zermatt, which was a particularly stinky blend (it was overwhelming to breathe when we first walked into the restaurant) and again for dinner in Lucerne, a much milder blend. Regardless, I loved it and had trouble restraining myself.

♥ The amazing seeded bread and rolls in Germany, and the most delicious butter in all three countries. It was as good—if not better—than my beloved Kerrygold.

***

More photos are on Instagram, and I have two (of three) travel videos with footage of each country posted to my YouTube channel.