books on wheels...

I've been thinking a ton lately about ways to work around the transportation issue that after school programs in the Delta face. a whole new fleet of awesome book mobiles could be just the kind of solution kids and families need to help them stay connected...

anyway, i thought it might be fun to look at the book mobiles have evolved and where they are now. who wants to help me make this happen

 

 

rolling in the...

so, the flood is still happening... we're safe, though. thanks for all of your prayers! Two dear friends are coming to visit this weekend and if they're interested I think we'll head to a music festival/fundraiser for Tunica cutoff (a place REALLY affected by the flooding and sand boils) Saturday. If you want to come with us, let me know.

on another not completely unrelated note, I can't get adele's "rolling in the deep" out of my head. (the mississippi is deep..and definitely rolling these days). anyway, i drive to work singing it. i fall asleep singing it. i cook dinner singing it. i listen to other songs on my ipod and sing it.

this is worse than my  dolly parton/kenny rogers "islands in the stream" fixation about a month ago. (that was so bad it almost ruined my marriage. seriously. ask boone.)

anyway, although i'm sure i'm WAY behind the times here, i had no idea what she looked like, but i did a google search the other day and was inspired that this woman with a golden voice wasn't a stick figure with no soul. instead...she's a soft, full figured, lovely lady with similarly silky voice. which means....

new. style. crush.

it's especially exciting because i've been feeling (and looking) softer and curvier every month we live in MS. i've been pretty unhappy about it, but now: 1) I feel confident that one can be curvy and still sexy and 2) I ordered the zumba videos so I can take control of my own body again. :)

it takes two...

some coworker-friends and i are in a "super secret mix tape club" which isn't really secret and involves making mix cds, not mix tapes, but eh... semantics.

we make a mix once a month and pass them out to the other 3 in the group (it was 5 people total for a while, but apparently the 5th didn't really have time to devote to the hobby). ANYWAY, this month my mix is a compilation of my most favorite duets and two-person harmonies... here's a little visual taste for you..

 

tammi terrell and marvin gaye singing "if I could build my whole world around you"

 

stevie nicks and don henley (of fleetwood mac and the eagles) singing "leather and lace"

 

rodrigo y gabriela playing "hanuman"

 

she and him "why do you let me stay here?"

 

kenny rogers and dolly parton (sigh...) singing "islands in the stream"

 

gram parsons and emmylou harris duet "love hurts"

 

the avett brothers singing and playing "november blue"

  

lucinda williams and elvis costello on "there's a story in your voice"

some of these folks sang together ALL the time..and others just connected for one incredible duet. if you leave me a comment with YOUR favorite duet, and I choose your number on Friday, YOU can have a copy of this mix. 

you know you want it.

love hurts...

five years ago i was working as a high school art teacher and i got a wild idea to dye my incredibly long and naturally blonde hair jet black. now i realize it was a desperate attempt to emulate my idol, emmylou.

 it's that she's always confident and refined, while still seeming easy going and natural. her voice is clear and authentic, and her harmonies make every song sound better. plus, a woman with a guitar is so unmistakably cool.

before i married boone and got the new last name of Harris, i'd had grand plans to name a future daughter emmaline louisa and call her emmylou.

emmylou wilson, sure. emmylou vanderzanden, perfect! but two emmylou harrises in the world might be one too many. ;) i still love her though.

 

who are your famous crushes?

the perfect color... ?

so there's been some buzz among my most fashionable work colleagues that this season's jcrew models' lipstick is TO DIE FOR. i absolutely love the way jcrew styles things...and noticed the super bright red-orange when i opened up the catalog, but i'm not really into lipstick with tons of color. (i'd love to wear red-red, but i haven't found the right one yet). anyway, since at least 3 women i know are obsessed with the color, i figured there are more of you out there...

 so, what IS the most perfect color and fashionable color lipstick this season?the color that goes well with nudes, with jeans, with military green, AND bright orange?

are you ready?

 

here it is! NARS heat wave.

it really is beautiful... do you think i could pull it off (or could you?)

images from jcrew , the electric, and admiral and tea,
and color from hb

a perfect ten...

 

i was pretty excited when I realized that today is 10/10/10 since it feels like a really auspicious, important number. ok, maybe not as important as the number 3, but if you read a little bit about it, it IS pretty impressive.

anyway, my 10/10/10 involved getting to hear boone preach at church (he was fantastic, by the way) watching a law & order marathon, napping, visiting with our neighbors, and cooking. besides feeling a little yucky, it was a perfect 10. appropriate, right?

j'dore this...

watching brainless tv helps me pack... i guess it keeps my mind off of the mess or something? anyway, saw this incredible outfit from satc2 on E! and almost died from the gorgeousness and coolness of it all.

maybe i can get away with wearing a vintage tshirt, the underpinnings/petticoats of a zac posen dress that has a TRAIN, and a satin shrug in the middle of the day in mississippi? maybe?

photos here, here, and here

my mom=incredible

so here i am again...totally floored by my mom's incredible-ness. y'all know she's started doing calligraphy for weddings. and that she's so, so good.
but did you know she did tatoos, too?

no?

well, she does. sweet erin, my mom's new bff and creative pal at lucky luxe asked her to write out a little girl's name so her dad could have it tattooed on his arm. this is what she came up with (erin's photos btw):


well, actually when i talked to her last week she'd written it like 79 times, but the ones here were the faves. erin did a little photoshop magic to see how it would look and viola!


see? my mom is incredible. thank goodness I'm going home to play with her this week!
see erin's original post about this here.

the great canadian mitten give-away...

i've been watching the olympics like it's my job... maybe it's what I should give up for Lent? (more on this later) anyway, fiona over at cafe cartolina is giving away a pair of mittens that the canadian athletes wore in the opening ceremonies. i was completely smitten by the maple leaf in the palm, epesh since we went to Canada for our honeymoon...if you love them too, then make sure to head over there to try to win a pair!

first photo from here

put on your red shoes and dance the blues...

david bowie... i don't get it.


at all. but whatever it is, i know i like it.



images from here, here, here

brighty tightys...

i love tights and leggings (especially brightly colored ones) but i really thought they'd have gone out of style by now. hooray for a trend with a little sticking power!



want to add a blast of color to your own winter ensembles? get nearly any color of the rainbow here.

photos from kate spade, stylebite, frolic, itsoktosweat, iamstyleish, and lena corwin