New Songs for the New Year 2013

It's time for the annual New Songs for the New Year mix! Molly and I started making these mixes years ago, but this is only the third that we've shared online.

Once again, I've ignored music in favor of podcasts the past several months so it wasn't the easiest list for me to compile. Luckily, I think I dug up some good ones. Molly's choices are pretty top notch too. It's a great mix this year!

Molly selected tracks 1-6, I chose 7-12.
Take a listen here.

And if you'd like to check out our previous mixes...
2012 / 2011*


*Something went wrong and some tracks have disappeared off each of these playlists. I'll have to do a little detective work to piece them back together.

New Songs for the New Year: Last Year

I also posted our New Songs for the New Year 2011 mix online.

Photo from the Library of Congress

You can listen to it here.

I selected songs 1-6, Molly 7-12.

We hope you like it!

New Songs for the New Year

A few months ago I was forced to admit that I don't really listen to much music these days. I've been won over by podcasts and I'm kind of obsessed. I even have specific podcasts I listen to when doing certain activities.

Driving to work = Stuff You Should Know, Stuff You Missed in History Class
Cooking = This American Life
Dishes = NPR Pop Culture
Sewing = To The Best of Our Knowledge

It's not all set in stone but I would never waste TAL on doing the dishes. The water is much too noisy to hear my Ira.

So when it came time to assemble the annual mix cd that Molly and I make, I had a little digging to do. Luckily, it wasn't too hard to pick out 6 amazing tracks.

Every year Molly and I make a mix of new songs for the new year. It started four years ago with just me choosing the tracks. Last year we settled into a new routine where we each choose 6 songs and put them together to make a 12 track mix.

What first began as "New Songs for the New Year" has now become "New Songs for the New New New New Year." To make it a bit easier, I'll just call it "New Songs for the New Year 2012."

Photo from the Library of Congress

This year we've decided to share our mix so you can listen along with us. I selected songs 1-6, Molly 7-12. You can listen online here.

We hope you enjoy it!

(And even though I just admitted my podcast addiction, anyone have any new recommendations?)

Happy Fourth of July

Last night Mike was kind enough to host a little barbecue to celebrate Independence Day. We did our best with the grill on his mini balcony which later served as the fireworks site. We all laughed when we realized the Americans were the minorities in the room. So thanks to the Canadians and Lebanese for helping us celebrate.

Like always, delicious food was on the table, decorations were up, and fun was had.

Of course we needed face paint.

And the sparklers finished off the evening quite nicely.

Hope you enjoyed the holiday!

Yes, that is a bald eagle waving a flag across my face.

xo, jill

Giveaway!

Don't miss the giveaway happening on my travel blog. There's still a day left to enter.

You could win a small tote bag from Sri Lanka and a few novelty snacks!

The Klinskidorn Wedding One More Time

photo by Ben Blood

This is the last of my gushing (for now) about Jenny and Kevin... but I just found out they were also featured a few weeks ago on 100 Layer Cake!

The Klinskidorn Wedding

photo by Ben Blood

Last July I was lucky enough to be in the wedding of my very good friends, Jenny and Kevin. The day was perfect with so many special little touches. Today their wedding was featured on Green Wedding Shoes! Go check it out here. Their photographer, Ben Blood, shared more wedding photos and their engagement set on his blog recently. Take a peek at those too!

Spring Top Sewalong

The Spring Top Sewalong (previously Spring Top Week) is starting again over at Made by Rae.

Last year my top was a finalist (Hello, most exciting thing that happened all spring!!!) but I haven't decided if I'll enter this year or not. I have a few sewing projects that take precedent over a new shirt for myself and not too much spare time on my hands.

Whether or not I participate, I hope you will consider giving it a try!

More Yellow

I brought these tulips home from the market today. I had to.

I miss having easy access to fresh flowers. Buying them from the shop will never be as satisfying as opening my back door, pair of scissors in hand. Nonetheless, I needed something fresh in my apartment after two days of feeling sickly.

Other fresh items include the new layout on my travel blog. I hope you'll check it out!

Lucky Lady [part 2]

The birthday fun continued with a very yellow birthday picnic extravaganza.

I was delighted with all the special touches Molly and Frances put on the day.

Delicious food spread across a blanket, sweet music, and two great friends... it couldn't have been any better.

My only sadness is the absence of Molly in the photos! (How did we let that happen???) She's the one to thank for these very pretty images.

Other birthday highlights included my door at work, dinner on the Corniche, a Kiva loan, fancy Vietnamese, the best stop motion movie ever, and getting my family on the phone.

26, you've got a lot to live up to.

Lucky Lady [part 1]

I recently entered the realm of being 26. This year I was lucky enough to have several fantastic birthday celebrations. Being away from family at these special moments is definitely the downside to living abroad, but the efforts of my friends here did a lot to take my mind off that sadness and focus me on the fun!

First up was a very purple Hump Day Dinner Tea Party Birthday Edition! The girls did such an amazing job of preparing decorations and food that I didn't even mind being made to wait in the hallway while the final touches were being done.

How awesome/hilarious is this banner? It's a potato, tomato, cheese, carrot, and banana.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves but as you can see, every detail was perfect. Right down to the raspberry ice cubes and the sugared grapes.

More birthday celebrations next!

(Thanks to Hannah for the photos)

Happy V-Day

Happy V-Day!

Happy 2011!

It's a whole new year! How lucky we are!

2010 was not a very productive year for me in terms of crafting, baking, and cooking... but here's a look at a few favorite projects.

Snacks:

Crafts:

Hoping for more craftiness in the coming year!

Happy Halloween

I love homemade costumes. They're the best. Costumes that require minimal purchases? Those are great too. This year's costume required a piece of foam board, craft paper, yellow poster board, and a brown marker.

Et voila!

French toast! (Accompanied by that one ultra annoying backpacker at your hostel).

If I'm counting correctly this was my third food costume. The first was a candy bar in childhood and an ice cream cone the year before last.

World Go Vegan Week

This week, October 24-31, is World Go Vegan Week!

Curious to try out being a vegan but not ready for the commitment? Now's the time!

Check out some delicious vegan recipes at:
Vegalicious
VegWeb

And a few of my favorites:

Vegan Zucchini Brownies

Bean Dip Provencal

PS: I'm not vegan myself... just a vegetarian walking pretty close to the line.

New Masthead

Did you notice my pretty new masthead? Thank you Julia!

Spring Top Follow Up

Thanks to those of you who voted for my top! Nearing the end of voting I had about 12% of the votes... which put me in third for my batch of 12 finalists! Not bad for a very amateur seamstress!

The finalists are up now so pop over and vote for your favorite! (If you can choose... they are all quite impressive!)

Belated Belated V-Day Cards

At some point in my life a few years ago I realized I was no longer celebrating Valentine's Day in the traditional way. It's just always been a bit... archaic to me. Oh, and cliche.

It most certainly has something to do with the enduring notion that women expect red roses, chocolates, and fancy jewelry. Uck.

That's not to say I don't have fond memories of elementary school Valentine's Day parties. So maybe it's just the adult version of Valentine's Day I find annoying. And don't get me started on Singles Awareness Day. Blech.

I've always been of the mentality that I'd prefer to show people I love them by the way I treat them every day... and maybe something extra special out of the blue. Don't tell me what to do and when and how to do it.

Now, on Valentine's Day I perfer to celebrate V-Day. V-Day is a global movement started by Eve Ensler to end violence against women and girls.

And there's a whole lot of love in that.

This year my V-Day cards were a bit late to come about. I downloaded this very cute lady pirate from Mer Mag and stitched on their eye patches.

Happy V-Day! You know... a couple of weeks ago...

Bam!

It looks like a crafting bomb went off in my apartment...

LOVE IT!

Beautiful Things to Look At

While you sit and wait (because I know you do) for me to post something new here on the crafty blog... why not take a look at the photography of this fine fellow. Not only is he about to marry one of my most cherished friends... he's also quite skilled with a camera. These are a few of my favorites: