Wes Anderson movies

Our friends saw Wes Anderson's new movie Moonrise Kingdom this week and said it was wonderful. (It has also been getting rave reviews.) Have you seen it yet? But my favorite Wes Anderson film was...
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Motherhood Mondays: Doo-wop group

Toby and I were on our way to the playground on Saturday, when we passed this AMAZING doo-wop group. Toby was transfixed! It was one of those awesome New York experiences. They play every Saturday (except when it rains) on Bleecker Street right outside Murray's Cheese. Man, those voices.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! xoxo

On Repeat: First Aid Kit

My dear friend Alex first turned me onto First Aid Kit, and since that bright day he showed me one of their videos I've had these lovely ladies on repeat, all day, everyday. Sweet Kelly Ann posted about them last month, and I've seen them and their amazing music all over the internet- and for good reason. To me, their music is incredibly inspiring and is somehow suitable for every mood, occasion and season. I'm fairly certain you'll agree. I'm including videos of two of my favorite songs, but be sure to check them out on iTunes or Spotify and listen to everything including live recordings; trust me, you'll want to.

Thank you Johanna and Klara for making such beautiful music. You inspire me every single day!

a Saturday playlist

I thought I'd share a playlist this morning, full of pretty music and happy sounds. I hope all of you make the most of your day and take a little time out to do something special for you! Enjoy! xo

Nothing but music - the endless post?

This is an ever changing and (hopefully) expanding list of some of the songs I have mentioned before in this blog or simply stuff I have found somewhere on the web that I find interesting, but have no time to write about. All files have been found somewhere in cyberspace (and NONE of them have uploaded by me, so I cannot help you with any requests you might have - just keep returning and something new might pop up), so they will be available until the artists, record labels, fans, whatever decide to remove them. Thanks to a few readers, I've just finished yet another round of cleaning up (actually I'm doing this more or less all the time). But please leave a comment if some of the links are no longer working, and I will do my best to remove them as quickly as possible...

If you are interested in finding even more songs than the ones I have listed below, these links will provide you with lots and lots of free AND legal mp3's - I really hope you'll enjoy the list!!

* Badman Recording
* Bad Taste Records
* Barsuk Records
* Beggars Group USA
* Better Looking Records
* betterPropaganda
* Cityslang
* Cloudberry Records
* Eenie Meenie Records
* Force Field PR
* Friendly Fire Recordings
* Go, Jukebox!
* Hush Records
* Indiecater
* Indiepages
* Insound.com
* Jade Tree
* Jagjaguwar
* Joyful Noise Recordings
* killbeat music
* Killrockstars
* Labrador
* Last.fm
* Lefse Records
* Lujo Records
* Magic Marker
* Matador Records
* Matinée Sounds
* Merge Records
* Misra
* Music From Denmark
* Music Is My Girlfriend
* Parasol
* Plastilina Records!
* Pox World Empire
* Radarmaker
* Secretly Canadian
* Series Two Records
* Shelflife
* Sick Room Records
* Slumberland Records
* Songs I Wish I Had Written
* Subpop
* Supertroels
* We Are Free
* What Are Records?
* White Whale Records
* Wonderland Records
* Yellow Mica Recordings
* To be continued......

Have decided to remove all links and instead start rebuilding the list...this is just the beginning...

+ The Antique Toys - Joey
+ Arcade Fire - Keep The Car Running
+ Asobi Seksu - Walk on the Moon
+ The Ballet - In My Head
+ Beach House - Norway
+ Belle & Sebastian - Come Monday Night
+ The Big Pink - Dominos
+ Blonde Redhead - 23
+ Blue Foundation - Enemy
+ Bon Iver - Blood Bank
+ The Bridal Shop - For Seas
+ Brideshead - If The World Stopped Turning
+ Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
+ Celestial - Lake Como (Remix)
+ Champagne Riot - Scandinavian Warfare
+ Choir of Young Believers - Action Reaction
+ A Classic Education - I Lost Time
+ Club 8 - Western Hospitality
+ Dearling Physique - Discipline Your Hands
+ Death Kit - Devadasi
+ Easter Island - Proud
+ Elk City - Nine O'clock In France
+ Every Move A Picture - Signs of Life
+ Fanfarlo - Finish Line
+ Faunts - It Hurts Me All The Time
+ Gentle Touch - Smedby
+ Get Well Soon - 5 Steps / 7 Swords
+ Handsome Furs - What About Us
+ Houses - Soak It Up
+ [ingenting] - Halleluja!
+ Interpol - NYC
+ JJ - Let Go
+ Kisses - Bermuda
+ Mads Langer - You're Not Alone (Olive cover)
+ Jens Lekman - The Opposite of Hallelujah
+ Loch Lomond - Wax and Wire
+ Mariage Blanc - Whatever You Say I Am
+ Mikrofisch - The Kids Are All Shite
+ Mixtapes & Cellmates - Soon
+ moi Caprice - The Art of Kissing Properly
+ The Monday Photo - Alies (No Tomorrow)
+ Moto Boy - Blue Motorbike
+ My Favorite - Burning Hearts
+ The National - Bloodbuzz Ohio
+ OMD - If You Want It (Marsheaux Remix)
+ Otter Petter - Winter Days
+ The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher Than The Stars
+ The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Higher Than The Stars (other in conversation remix)
+ Phantograms - When I'm Small
+ Play People - Goes Out
+ The Poems - Ballad Of A Bitter End
+ The Radio Dept. - Never Follow Suit
+ The Raveonettes - Last Dance
+ Sad Day For Puppets - Again
+ Secret Shine - No More Inside
+ The Shape Of The Earth - Alone In This
+ The Sky Drops - Swimming With Fishes
+ Spoon - I Turn My Camera On
+ Stars - Fixed
+ TempEau - Mädchen aus Greifswald
+ Tetris = Therapy - Seasick
+ The Thermals - Now We Can See
+ Those Danicing Days - Toxic (Britney Spears cover)
+ Tower of Foil - Shaping The Sky
+ Twig - Helen of Troy
+ Ultrachorus - Words Kept Talking
+ John Vanderslice - They Won't Let Me Run
+ Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree
+ Viola - Neon Lightning
+ Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree
+ Voxtrot - The Start Of Something
+ Warm Morning - Disconnected
+ Windermere - Trailer Park
+ The xx - Basic Space
+ Yeasayer - 2080

A "Good Morning" Playlist

Happy Wednesday! Today is unfortunately a bit of a "sick day" at our house. Poor Henry has a cold and I'm starting to feel pretty under the weather myself. There's nothing worse than being sick right along side your baby, but I am thankful we made it through Christmas before feeling it. Send healthy thoughts our way please! But sickness aside, the week after a holiday is always a little slower than normal. I don't drink caffeine so when I need a little pick-me-up in the morning I turn to good music to get me going. Below are some of my current favorite songs to get my blood pumping and feet tapping. Trust me- wake up tomorrow, turn on this playlist, and start your day off with a smile (and some booty-shaking). I think you'll love it!

xoxo

Old friends & Spotify

Sometimes all you need is a night with one of your oldest and dearest friends, reminiscing about college and talking about how fast life goes by and how beautiful it all is. So thankful for this girl and so thankful for friends like her. Terra was my "little sis" in our Pi Phi days and we have the most special bond. You know those friends that have seen you in every stage of your life, seen you at your best (and worst), and love you all the same? That's this girl. Love her, and I love that we got to have a fun night together while she was in town from Denver.

Now I'm in bed, enjoying my (and Hank's) newest obsession...Spotify. I think we're a little behind on this, but seriously, I don't know how I survived without it. Okay, that's dramatic. But it is pretty great. My friends Alana, Nate and Shirley turned us onto it at a party last weekend and described it as being part Pandora, part Napster, part social networking beast. I was sold when they explained that there are no ads or breaks in music, and you can listen to ANYTHING your heart desires with no limit. Granted, the premium account is $10 a month but considering how much I listen to music it's a small price to pay. Today I've been on quite the 90s kick and my main music of choice this evening been TLC. Remember CrazySexyCool? So good. And so junior high. Next up is Aaliyah's "Back and Forth" and Blackstreet's "No Diggity." And I might even round it out with a little "My Boo" by Ghostown DJs ;)

With that said, I have a couple of questions for you. One, have you tried Spotify yet? What do you think? And two, do you have any must-listen-to bands you'd like to recommend to me? I love all sorts of music from rap to country, classical to metal.

Happy four days before Christmas!