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A great guide to summer fun

kids

Learn how to build this amazing tree house a tons of other cool stuff on Apt Therapy. Photo courtesy of Apt Therapy

This is just a super short shout out to the brilliant folks at Apartment Therapy (how did we survive before this website?) who just posted a list of 50 individual brilliant summer projects to keep our kids (and us) busy and fulfilled as we slide into the real meat of this glorious season.

Because if you guys are anything like me, it’s just now hitting you that we have TWO MORE MONTHS of being completely in charge of our kids’ activities. Which is, of course, a wonderful opportunity and what we live for as parents. Right?

But as I am far from a professional, I, for one, will take all the help I can get.

Enjoy!

Monday, Monday

links

Sometimes summer is about unlocking mysteries like The Institute. A bit more about this documentary below. Photo courtesy of Nonchalance.

Daily Candy does it again with a list of 24 outdoor toys that are as pleasurable to look at as they are fun for the kids to use.

Be a true summertime hero and make your own popsicles. Here are a couple of my favorite posts on the subject, with recipes, ideas for molds, etc. I wrote this one, and the inimitable Jessica Blackman wrote this one. Both on Krrb. Both awesome.

Three inventive, beautiful and most importantly, easy ideas for growing an herb garden this summer.

Steve Baskin tells us why unplugging and sending our kids to summer camp might just be the best way to set them up to excel in this crazy digital world.

Your “journey into a secret underground organization teeming just beneath the surface of every day life begins here.

Man, if I make even just two of these summer pies (there are 20 on the list) I will consider myself a champion.

It’s summer sale time! And who doesn’t want this multi stripe drape back top from Bird?

Rebecca Naomi Jones sings murder ballads for fun

music - people

Rebecca Naomi Jones on the set of Murder Ballad.

Rebecca Naomi Jones is a badass, and I was lucky enough to cross paths with her when I shot her for The Aesthete recently. She plays the narrator in Murder Ballad, the rock and roll musical now playing a limited run in Union Square (it closes July 21, so hurry and get your tickets now.) Later this month, she’ll be heading uptown to Central Park to play Jaquenetta in Love’s Labour’s Lost– part of the Public Theater’s beloved Shakespeare in the Park series.

Check out our story in The Aesthete so you can say you knew all about her before she becomes a household name. You can thank me later.

Joe Bradley rocks

art - people

This is my favorite wall of Joe Bradley’s show at Gavin Brown Enterprises in NYC.

Joe Bradley’s recent NYC show at Gavin Brown was profound, funny, simple, huge, graphic, tactile, primitive and subtle all at the same time. Pay attention to this artist, who is quickly moving into the art-star category. I love his work.

Click below to see more from this show… — Read more

Monday, Monday

links

A mini-me for the Japanese bride. Photo © Danny Choo

A few links to help usher you all into this long holiday weekend…

It continues to be wedding season, so if you’re still trying to figure out what to get the bride who has everything, consider a clone. It’s all the rage in Japan.

And speaking of marriage, the Gay Pride parade in NY yesterday had a little something extra to celebrate, thanks to the Supreme Court. As did these guys.

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but after I watched this video showing us all how to fold a short sleeved shirt in just 2 seconds, I found myself rummaging through my drawer for a tee shirt to practice with. It really works. Amazing.

No seriously, there really is going to be a second avenue subway. Check out these mind blowing photos and see how it’s going.

A brilliant summer activity for the kids from the folks at Momfilter. (More of these, please…!)

Oh right… July 4th is this Thursday! Get patriotic at the grill with this star spangled spatula.

And speaking of holiday picnics, will somebody please make this peach/pecan crumble and tell me how it tastes?

We are not gay…

places

at the gay pride parade in San Francisco.

Here are my partners-in-crime at the center of the universe, getting ready to join the party…

But we are proud. And as we managed to find ourselves in San Francisco today, we couldn’t help but head downtown to see (and be immersed in) the gay pride parade. Because if San Francisco wasn’t the place to be today, I don’t know what was.

My husband and I both found ourselves moved to tears, thinking about what an incredible journey so many of these people have been through, and what the Supreme Court’s recent ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act must mean to the folks marching, and the GLBT community in general.

My daughter, on the other hand, slightly annoyed that I had neglected to pack any of her dress up clothes, just wanted to be in the parade, and didn’t understand why it is such a big deal that these same sex couples can now be married. To her, any two people that love each other make a couple, and her life is filled with so much same-sexness that it doesn’t even occur to her to question it.

Which is as it should be.

Some photos of the parade follow. — Read more

Online shopping hits the streets

places - shopping

Who needs stores anymore? Kate Spade turns window shopping into actual shopping. The future is now.

So I’m walking down W 18th street and I see this guy standing in front of a bright yellow storefront rubbing the window like it was some kind of oversized iPad or something.

And when I got a bit closer, I realized that was exactly what he was doing. The entire window had been transformed into a giant display with a 5 foot tall framed area where you can swipe your way to a new wardrobe, pay for it, and have it delivered to your (Manhattan, I’m assuming) location in one hour.

Turns out Kate Spade has partnered up with eBay and put their new capsule collection (called Saturday) up for sale at 4 electronic kiosk/pop-up shops around the city. So from now through 7 July, you can drunkenly stumble down Orchard Street, impulse buy some flowered sunglasses you don’t need, and the $$ will be gone from your bank account in the time it takes to wipe your hand across a window.

Great and kind of big brother/horrible at the same time. The technology is really cool and very attractive, but there is something unsettling about the absolute lack of human contact here. Are stores going to be a thing of the past soon? Like the helpful people at ticket windows in the subway are quickly becoming?

Monday, Monday

links

Some pictures are worth considerably more than a thousand words. Photo courtesy Jean-Christian Bourcart via Slate.com.

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s wedding season! Check out these brilliantly strange-yet-enchanting wedding photo outtakes on Slate.com.

Evidently, none of us are washing our hands correctly. Here’s how it should be done.

I made this cider braised pork shoulder with caramelized onions for Father’s Day dinner and IT. WAS. AWESOME.

And here’s a beautiful quote about the special kind of bravery it takes to be a father.

I know, I know, Daily Candy can be a little annoying, but this list of books for little kids is filled with gems and well worth checking out.

The iconic Kim France gets fashion inspiration from her 10 year old nephew. I shudder to think what might happen after a few days with my five year old…

I saw the new Superman movie this weekend. It didn’t suck. Slightly too long trailer below for your viewing pleasure.

Rock the body body

music

Kim Gordon breaks out the harmonica at last night’s Body/Head show in Greenpoint.

Last night I actually went out (what???) to a small rock club in Greenpoint (after checking out Achilles Heel, a lovely new bar) and heard some amazing music by two bands fronted by two formidable women.

The original plan was to see Kim Gordon and Bill Nace’s new noise duo Body/Head rock the house. They did not disappoint, though my ears are still ringing. In a good way. It was a perfect storm of video, guitar noise and Gordon’s ethereal and slightly indistinguishable vocals, which blended into the rest of the music making them a dreamy part of the sonic wash.

The special bonus was seeing Kathleen Hanna’s current band The Julie Ruin bring the house down right beforehand. While I’ve been a fan of Hanna’s for years, I’d never seen her play with this line up and was more than happy to dance my way through their set (as much as a person can move in a tiny packed club.)

It was all part of the Northside Music/Film/etc FestivaL… Just more proof that Williamsburg is, in fact, the center of the cultural universe right about now. Or at least it’s a serious contender.

Music to do your taxes by

music

You can barely read the text on the cover of Yo La Tengo’s latest album… But then again, it is called Fade…

I just spent a college style late night/early morning adding up my receipts for my 2012 taxes. Lets not get into the fact that I am still reckoning with my 2012 taxes. I usually push it up to the extension deadline in October so I feel pretty good about myself here, thank you very much.

Let us instead be thankful for the lovely new album by Yo La Tengo that I won in a silent auction at my daughter’s school recently. Actually, I won quite a few records that I have only just started to listen to now. I promise to pass on all of the good ones. And this one, aptly entitled Fade (cause that’s what I wanted to do last night, I assure you) is another great one from the formidable indie-rock band that has been around forever, yet still sounds as fresh as the first time I heard them. Which was at some club in New Jersey in the early 90′s, where they were sharing a bill with The Lemonheads. But I digress.

Not going to go into great detail here…. just know that you are in for a sonic, mellow-yet-soaring treat if you are wise enough to get your hands on this music and listen for yourself. Check out the Rolling Stone review for a few more details. You can take a listen there as well.

And then when you have to stay up late doing something as horribly boring as adding up a years worth of taxi receipts, you’ll know what to listen to to make it all ok.