My Motley Family Xmas

My family is a motley crew of Hindus, Unitarians, Buddhists, Jews, one Muslim and one Catholic. Every year since I can remember we get together at Christmas to celebrate family and friendship. On Christmas eve we have a poetry reading, where we sit around the fire and take turns reading classic children's poems that my grandparents grew up with,  pithy contemporary poets, and everything in between (there are often original poems, occasionally a rap, and sometimes even a dramatic interpretation of scene from Braveheart!).

Afterwards, we eat spaghetti with "critter sauce" a tomato based seafood curry, and when everyone 

has had some time to digest, we bring out the musical instruments. The jam session is usually my favorite part of the festivities--everyone grabs a drum, guitar, or even a book to bang on. Some of us are more musically gifted than others, but the spirit of it isn't really about how we sound. We sing Bob Dylan, Modest Mouse, Arcade Fire, Joe Purdy, and The Stones, and when we don't know the lyrics we make them up as we go along. I'm sure we're quite a sight to behold, but I never feel so warm and cozy in my home as I do when this motley festive bunch comes together. 

Plus behind the scenes footage from Xmas Jam Sesh 2009! Harharhar.

Someone Great

As is my yearly ritual, I spent the pre-holiday weekend in DC for my best friend Sarah DH's birthday.
This ritual generally includes dancing my face off, having a ridiculously good time, eating some latkes, and seeing friends I haven't seen in way too long. This time around was no different. My DC friends are some of my favorite people, and many of them will always be New Yorkers at heart.  In one conversation my friend Paola confessed how much she misses NYC and that watching the video for LCD Soundsystem's "Someone Great" made her feel super homesick. It happens to be one of my favorite songs of all time, and I think the video is kind of a great sentimental snapshot of the city I'll always love the most.

Wonder Wall

                                             
                                       

 How great are these prints by Brooklyn based artist Jacqueline Schmidt? Emily Faulkner, an awesome choreographer I'm working with, has a set of nine in her home/studio where we rehearse, and I am always captivated by them.  I feel like the images are a perfect balance of whimsy and earnestness, an expression I can relate to closely.  In the midst of trying to be all grown up I am often overcome with childlike wonder. On a rough day I'll seek comfort in small things that spark my imagination: a colorful knotted rug, tea leaves floating in a glass pot, a rusting pastel car, a toadstool.  Is that me looking so forlorn next to the kangaroo and mint mid-century rocker?

Ps. Bonus! The artist is also a modern dancer.

Please Sarah, We'd Like S'more!

 

My very lovely (and brilliant!) friend Sarah Warren is now this fine city’s very first Butler of S’mores. You read right. “How can the life-long dream I've had of knowing a s'more butler come true?”  You might ask.  Well, it  came true because s’mores are damn delicious, cockle-of-the-heart warming snacks and Sarah realized that there just aren’t enough of them in this neck of the woods err-lack of woods. Whether s’mores transport you to a cozy fireplace or raucous bonfire,  now you can have them WHEREVER you want them, HOWEVER you want them. Yes, however you want them! With bourbon marshmallows and caramelized bananas, perhaps? Perhaps! You may not have reached that point of sophistication in your s’more eating habits, but this s'more butler has, and she’s sharing the dream.


Photos from S'more Bakery.