amber black

The Country

It’s officially a pattern: We come back to the states for the summer and the blog lays dormant. There are remedies for this, of course, but none that I’ve used with any success.

Obviously.

But it’s part circumstances (having a full schedule and trying to knock out lots of tasks that can only be accomplished stateside) and part personal choice. Because for now, I see my friends and family in the flesh only once or twice a year. And I can’t help but squeeze in every last second I can with them while I’m here.

161 The Country - Aug.11.2013Last weekend our schedule slowed to a much needed crawl as we headed out to the country for a few days to celebrate our anniversary. Anniversaries, actually. Thirteen years ago this month, some of our closest friends in the universe married the week before we did. Our lives have intertwined more deeply in the years since, and we try to celebrate our years together whenever possible.

This year we did that by escaping the buzz and heading out into the quiet.

I’m not sure when I last let days and evenings blur by way of books and long conversations, but this weekend of birds and beer and friends and floating and a few shockingly fantastic meteors was a homecoming for the soul.

Here’s to 13 years, peeps.

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Surprising (and Killer) Justin Bieber Cover

Last week my friend Lauren went to see Justin Bieber in San Jose. As she rolled out a series of concert images on instagram, the song “Baby” began worming in my ear. Not Bieber’s version of Baby, but a cover I’d heard a few years ago.

Backing up a little further, though…

I kind of missed the whole Justin Bieber thing. As he was becoming a something, I was headed a somewhere. Which turned out to be a no-where. A nowhere insulated from Bieber mania.

I remember friends posting videos on facebook of their kids dancing to “Justin Bieber,” and my fellow I-like-teen-pop-and-don’t-care-who-knows-it peeps would throw out tweets and status updates about listening to the “the whole album”, but I wouldn’t have recognized a Justin Bieber song if it gnawed on my earlobe.

So in 2011, when the dude and I saw a young teenager perform a self-styled cover of “Baby” as her audition for the first season of X-Factor, I had never actually heard the original version of the song. But this, this I couldn’t get enough of.

Oh my gosh, this kid! Her smokey jazzy voice. Her genuine enjoyment of the swirling notes. Her freshness and youth and unguardedness. Her voice is everything that characterizes my favorite female vocal style: effortless and soulful with a smoothness that drinks like sorrow on a rainy day.

Nagged by the concert-photo implanted earworm, I tunneled the iTunes galaxies (tough work when you’re searching for the song “Baby” by an artist who has dropped her last name) and finally found it.

Earworm slaughtered!

In the process, I found her Youtube channel (this cover of “Sweet Escape”  is pretty fun) and discovered she’s working on an album that she hopes will be out this year.

I’ve now been listening to her Baby cover alongside my favorite Clare Bowen and Sam Palladio tracks from Nashville (namely this one and this one). Which may mean I’ve had an extra glass (or two?) of wine this week.

What other little-knowns have I missed? The desert has seriously dried up my playlist.

Other fun: Lauren’s defense that Bieber can sing and my favorite album review of all time (worth the read, I promise).

June Book Picks from Amazon

(Affiliate Disclosure: If you use one of these links and complete a purchase through Amazon, I get a small commission that helps support this blog.)

Every month Amazon puts a small group of books on sale for the entire month. And just as regularly, I scour each category looking for titles of interest.

Many of them are outliers, of course, but there are always a few that catch my interest with an intriguing description and/or high reader ratings. I love discovering new books and, for that matter, new topics, so the whole process is pretty fun.

This month I thought I’d share a few of the titles I found interesting and purchased. I’d love to know if you’ve read any of them or plan to. Maybe we can discuss! (Prices should last through June 30.)

Fiction:

The Birth House (P.S.) by Ami McKay ($1.99)

I’m not much into birthing stuff. I’ll listen to your birth story if you insist, but I really don’t care. I’m sorry.  Really. I love you. And I love your little poof of alien flesh. But I can live without the vajayjay chronicles, thankyouverymuch.

So it surprises me that this book makes the list. But with 93 people reporting an average 4.5-star rating, I had to give it a look. Between promising cultural elements and the chances that I’ll learn something (v. high), I’m planning to pick it up.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare ($1.99)

Thirty-something isn’t too late to read a Newbery Award–winning novel I missed in childhood, right? Now filed away for when I’m easy-fiction-itching.

Also…

  • Kurt Vonnegut’s Galapagos and Mother Night are $2.99 each.
  • And Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World Revisited (Follow-up essays to BNW) is $2.99. (After reading and watching this this week, I intend to read both of these soon.

Non-Fiction

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements by Sam Kean ($2.99)

This was another title whose high ratings (4.5 stars) caught my attention when the subject matter didn’t. It sounds like a collection of true stories whose common thread is the periodic table. Don’t care about that last part very much but am intrigued by the first and how the author might have tied them together.

Some reviewers were disappointed in the communication of the science-y stuff, so if mis-statements on that front will bug you, check out the reader reviews before purchasing.

Shakespeare’s English Kings:History, Chronicle, and Drama by Peter Saccio ($2.99)

I’d been recently learning English history when the body of King Richard III was found this spring. The articles explained how Shakespeare’s plays (entertainment) have largely framed public thought, and said their veracity is questionable. So this book (currently with 4.5 stars) definitely caught my attention.

The Father of Us All by Victor Davis Hanson ($3.99)

I am endlessly fascinated with humanity. This book sounds like historical commentary on current events, with an intentional bend toward that which remains the same over time. Someone puh-lease read this with me.

I’m curious…

Do you scan Kindle’s monthly deals? Do you own a Kindle or read on a Kindle app?

On Digital Cookbooks & Two On-Sale Titles

Since parting with most of our belongings and moving overseas several years ago, the Dude and I have been aiming to live “lighter.” This is tricky, as places can feel lonely and un-home-like when they’re too sparse (well, to me, anyway). But transitioning a portion of our reference library to digital format has been an easy way to lighten the load.

We still keep plenty of true books around for their beauty (both visual and in reading), but I’m finding more and more that digital-versions of kitchen reference books are one of the easiest ways to abandon a LOT of weight without sacrificing much aesthetically. And with food tomes often setting my purse back $20-$50, the comparative cost of the digital version is certainly attractive.

I wouldn’t recommend planning to use digital food references or cookbooks on the traditional Kindle, but they work great on the (free) Kindle desktop app and on iPad, too.

Take the two barbecue helps How to Grill… and Barbecue! Bible, Sauces, Rubs, and Marinades…, for example. The both have rave reviews (in fact, I once gave one as a gift to a friend, and she thanked me repeatedly for it), but together would cost $27 and weigh sev-er-al pounds in their paperback forms. But they are currently just $2.99 each for Kindle. I’m always up for understanding the nitty gritty of cooking techniques and have purchased both. Hopefully I’ll have opportunity to fire up the grill while we’re home this summer!

What are your thoughts on digital food books? Have you tried them? Would you?

The “REAL” Pin It Button

Have you ever been on a website or blog, clicked a “Pin It” icon or button somewhere on the page, and not been able to pin the photo you wanted to pin?

This happens to me all the time. And this month, when working on the project I shared last week, I re-discovered something I thought worth sharing:

For pinning, nothing beats using the REAL Pin It button from the Pinterest Development Team.

Why? [Read more…]

The One Where I Share Where All My Time’s Been Going!

Wow. It’s been quiet around here for quite some time. I’ve alluded in (my few) recent posts that there are changes afoot in my world, and I can finally unveil the one that has been consuming my waking hours for these past 6 weeks. Huzzah!

“Serious Creatures” is a web store I’ve been creating that uses the Dude’s illustrations in fun ways for parents and kids. Currently this is expressed in “Creature Card Printables,” which have a hand-illustration and room to write a short note (or to/from or whatever) on the same side of the card. We have a lot more ideas up our sleeves for the future, but one. thing. at. a time.

Serious Creatures Homepage

Last year a friend of ours asked the Dude if he could create cards for her that she could use for the notes she puts in her kids lunch boxes, and since then [Read more…]