And So I'm Offering This Simple Phrase...

To you!!

It's Christmas time again (I can't believe it) and one of my favorite things about the season is the music.  I'm sort of a snob when it comes to Christmas music in that I love my classics.  A lot.  As you can tell my the title of this post, The Christmas Song by Mr. Nat King Cole is my favorite Christmas song ever.  I also love a little Andy Williams, Ella Fitzgerald and Bing Crosby but there are plenty of new songs that have been catching my attention.

Here is a playlist of my favorite Christmas songs for 2011.  It has all my favorite classics like It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year, Sleigh Ride, Rockin Around The Christmas Tree, and Holly Jolly Christmas.  I've also spent some time gathering some new songs.  Sufjan Stevens is one of my favorite artists right now and he has some great songs that aren't covers.  They're original lyrics!  The fabulous She And Him have a new Christmas album out this year and I've included one of their songs.  I've also put in some fun covers from Rogue Wave (another fav), Jimmy Eat World and Sleeping at Last (new fav).

 

I hope you enjoy the songs and maybe find some new favorites!  You can download my playlist here!

Is everyone gearing up for a busy holiday season yet?  I haven't decorated yet (or even tried) but I have plans to do so tomorrow.  I expect I'll be taking lots of photos and will try to post them here at some point.  Until then, Enjoy your holidays with your families and friends.

All my warmest holiday wishes!

With love,
Marina

A Breaking Dawn Soundtrack Education...

Hi there!

Long time no chat!  There's been a lot going on around here lately but I wanted to share some new music with you by way of the Breaking Dawn Soundtrack.  The track list was released today and I was happy to see that I didn't know many (if any) of the artists.  One of the things I enjoy most about the Twilight films is how they integrate little-known music artists into their soundtracks.

Take Florence + The Machine for example.  She had a following, sure, but after the soundtrack? HUGE.  Had you heard of Bon Iver before? (I had, but I won't judge ;) )  How about Beach House, Sea Wolf, St. Vincent or Sia?  I LOVE getting to know the artists before the soundtrack is released and the Breaking Dawn soundtrack is no different.

There are quite a few artists on here who are new to me and a little different style than we've seen before.  The original Twilight soundtrack was pretty "rock and roll," New Moon was relatively "indie" and Eclipse had more of a "pop" feel.  I can't quite place Breaking Dawn but I like it.

I put together a playlist that you can download at the bottom of this post, but if you want to check out some of the individual artists, I've posted some soundcloud links below.  I hope you guys enjoy the music!

What I've Been Up To...

It's become very apparent that I don't really blog much anymore. That doesn't mean I don't want to, it just means that I forget most of the time.

I have been up to lots of fun things this summer that I want to share with you to give you a summary of June-August. (Is August really almost over?) I've even knocked out a couple of things on my list!

My recent Pleasanton discovery. How have I lived here a year and not known there was a local dairy that sells soft serve from 8am to 8pm??

#2 Host a dinner party. Done and done. :) Happy Birthday Eleanor!


Impenetrable Lego fortress with booby-traps.


New TOMS shoes :)


Pre Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 premiere. :) So bittersweet. Also, HP marathon sort of happened. Whatever, I'm checking it off the list.


Meet a friend from far away? Does Australia count :) <3<3 my "mindsistah" from the other hemisphere!

I was here.


Oh man, I wish these weren't $200.


On my way to reading 10 books thanks to Eugene, my Nook. So far we're at 4!


Made a new animal friend. Angel also enjoys watching the Giants :) (No, she's not my pup.)


Authentic gumbo. So amazing. Thanks Eleanor!


My boys <3<3



The Weepies and Florence + The Machine. Parts 1 and 2 of our summer concert series. Both amazing. And by amazing, I mean WAYMAZING. Next up? Ray LaMontagne and Bon Iver. So. Excited.


And me. And Fernando.

Things are good. Things are busy. More than ever I know how blessed I am to have the people around me that I do.

In unrelated news, I've been working with two other lovely ladies on a blog for David Cronenberg's upcoming film Cosmopolis (based on the book by Don DeLillo). Check it out!

If I'm blogging anywhere lately...that's where it is. We have some fun stuff going on so take a look! :)

I'm spending the day in San Francisco with an old friend. What are YOU doing today? Happy Saturday all!

Love,
Marina

26 While 26...

1. go to 5 new wineries
2. host a dinner party
3. make an article of clothing
4. finish my cross stitch and start a new one
5. buy a piece of art


6. exercise once a week
7. travel somewhere new
8. adopt a cat
9. meet Buster Posey
10. attend a horse race across the street
11. go on a date


12. hang all my art
13. attend a midnight premiere of a movie
14. find a new band
15. go to the Ferry Building farmer's market
16. bake Christmas cookies
17. cook something from each continent
18. see 10 live shows
19. spend a day in San Francisco


20. have a Harry Potter movie marathon
21. sew a duvet cover
22. meet a friend from far away
23. go to a spring training game
24. make an investment
25. buy a camera and take pictures
26. read 10 books


Here's to 26! Wish me luck!!

Love,
Me

15 While 25... (updated!)

Last year around this time I made my 25 While 25 list. While I'm still working on my 26 While 26 list, I thought I'd take the time to go through my existing to-do's and see how well I did.

Turns out, not bad! There's a few I might be able to squeak in the next couple of weeks, but for now we're going with 14 out of 25. I'll take it!

To recap:



1. Bake a cake - Cake. Baked. Fear not, I only made half a cake, hehe. I made my favorite, yellow cake with chocolate frosting.



2. Sew a duvet cover - Found lots of fabric I liked...all too expensive. I'm going to carry this over to my 26 list :)

3. Go away for a weekend - Winter Wineland in Sonoma county, CA. Such a WONDERFUL weekend with friends. Unfortunately all my purchases from that weekend have been consumed. Let's go next year!!



4. Plant herbs out back - Yeah, that never happened.

5. Make a desktop background - Needless to say, I've made many. ;)



6. Go to the new library - When I wrote this I was living at my old house where they had just built a brand new library. Here the library is right down the street and I have STILL not visited. Hoping to rectify this within the next couple of weeks!

7. Apply for a fantasy job - During my job hunt last summer, I applied for a position with DeviantArt where I've been posting my art for the past 6 years. It didn't work out but I was proud of myself for accepting the challenge.



8. Invent a cocktail - I still have 2 weeks!

9. Read a Jane Austen novel - When I wrote this list I semi cheated because I had Emma already started. Would you believe my bookmark has not moved all year? Me neither...

10. Get something professionally printed - For Christmas this year I made my Dad a poster to commemorate one of the most exciting moments of our year.



11. Coin a catch phrase - Waymazing. Get on board. It's waymazing. ;)



12. Draw and complete a picture - Finished! As of 6/27...just in time! It's Merida from the new Pixar movie Brave. Check out the trailer here!

13. Go to Disneyland - Epic family vacation!! Was a total blast to go away with my 3 favorite people and have the most amazing time. I'm so blessed to be able to spend this time with my family and I treasure every moment.



14. Make my Christmas cards - Notice I said make not send. So...sorry about that.



15. Have a Harry Potter marathon [with Eleanor] - Do you know how hard it is to find the time to watch 7 movies? Also moving to 26 list.

16. Update my website - I did at one point...but I should probably do that again soon.



17. Buy a fish or keep mine alive - Had a fish. Loved my fish. Miss my fish. RIP Molson.



18. Bake a peach pie - Well, it is peach season now, isn't it? We'll put this on the 26 list.

19. Buy a new sofa - I'm sitting on it right now. It's quite possibly one of my favorite things.



20. Self-host my blog - This was actually a really good goal, but seeing as my blogging sort of faded away after I moved, I didn't feel the need. This is something I really should do and I'd like to this year. Hopefully...

21. Make coq au vin - Delicious.



22. Take a nice photo... - It happened. That's enough.

23. Buy a new font - Man, fonts are expensive. But, pending a good deal, this could be remedied by the 27th!!

24. Write thank you notes for all gifts - Honorable goal and I failed miserably.

25. Move - YES!! One of my first goals that I completed :) It's been a fanTASTic year because of that. I love Pleasanton to pieces.



So there you have it. Roughly 14 out of 25. I'm proud of myself for doing this list, for hanging this list in my home and for trying new things because of it. This year has been all sorts of crazy but so many WONDERFUL things have happened. I've met friends of all sorts, found a new job, traveled and grown a lot. Although my birthday has crept up on me once again, I feel ready for it this time. I feel like I've aged a year and I mean that in the best way.

Bring it 26!!

26 list coming soon!

Sending lots and lots of love to you all! Thank you for reading my little blog!

Love,
Marina

Pretty Links...

As promised, I have QUITE a few links to share with you that I've been hoarding over the holiday season. Some of these will be finding their way to me very soon....:}

First off, House of Harlow has recently updated their shop with the new spring pieces. I've always been a fan of the "not too expensive" jewelry, but this season's items are stunning. Right now my favorite is this set of Art Decco inspired earrings. Yummy.



I was looking for a poster for my brother for Christmas on Threadless and I came across this GORGEOUS poster. I have a thing for red foxes and I adore the color palette of this piece. DO WANT.



I found this brooch in an Etsy showcase a while back. I love jewelry that has both silver and gold in it and this pin is no exception. The delicate etching is lovely as well.



I saw this artist in a Storque article a couple of months ago and fell in love with her edgy designs. Her shop is currently closed for vacation but you can view her past work in her sold section. This is my favorite that she's done.



I have plenty of purses, but I'm always on the lookout for more. I LOVE silk dupioni and this clutch makes perfect use of it. This is a custom listing but i LOVE the color combo in the photo.



I have no idea where I could ever wear a necklace like this one but I think it's stunning. 'Nuff said.



My pal Eleanor decided that I need to have this skirt. I agree too. It's even cool from the back! LUUUUHVE!



Well that's all I got for you his time! I'm always bookmarking pretty things so I'll have more soon. Have a super week!

Love,
Marina

Slam Bang Finish...

Once upon a time I had a blog...

And I updated frequently...

Then life got hard (in the best way) and I stopped for a while...

Now I'm back to show you some pictures of what I've been up to!


I practiced my paparazzi skills on the race horses across the street.


I stocked up on Christmas supplies at Trader Joe's.


I decorated for Christmas.


Pleasanton got foggy. :}


I dressed up for Christmas.


Twice.


My brother gave me the best Christmas present EVAR.


I got some new shoes.


I made some new friends, quite literally.


There was wine tasting.


Sassy outfits.


And this. Quite possibly the MOST important thing of 2010. :) Giants winning the world series and all...

Sending all my love and best wishes to your 2011! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! I've missed all of you and I hope to be back regularly soon. I've got a lot of fun Etsy finds to show you and will be posting those VERY soon.

With Love,
Marina