The greatest secrets are always hidden

I've been having a no-good-very-bad week so far. And then I happened upon this illustration from Melbourne based designer Amy Borrell, and it made me feel, as the little girl in The Sound of Music says in her sweet little British accent, much much bettah.

Music Monday: First Aid Kit

Hi Turkey's! Did you all have a lovely Thanksgiving? I sure hope so! Mine was fantastic and included some much needed R&R. Today's Music Monday features First Aid Kit; the Swedish Folk duo composed of sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg, whose vocal harmonies and woodsy, folk-influenced songwriting take influence from bands such as Fleet Foxes and Joanna Newsom. First Aid Kit's debut album "The Big Black & The Blue," was released on January 25th, 2010.  To me, these super talented ladies sound like the junior version of Neko Case. And we can never have enough Neko Case now, can we? Check out their music video for their song, " Hard Believer" below. And lots of thanks & love to Ms. Taryn for introducing me to this band in the first place!


Happy Music Monday to you all!





* First Aid Kit songs to download

- Hard Believer

- Ghost Town

- I met up with the King

* New Feature!

Loving these ....

New shoe clips by bando! How cute would these look at a holiday party?

Music Monday: Phoenix/PS22

I stumbled upon PS22's beautiful rendition of Phoneix's Liztomania  (a children's chorus singing Phoenix? What? Amazing) and it reminded me of my love for the French pop-sync band. I started listening to them back in 2000 with their debut album, Untitled. The albums that followed were equally as impressive including their recent album released in 2009 entitled Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Fun fact? The lead singer, Thomas Mars, is Sofia Coppola's life partner and they have two children together! Check out Phoenix's video below for 1901 and if you have time, take a peek at the PS22 kids chorus video as well which started this whole Phoenix madness today! Happy Music Monday!

Tweet, me, Please!

La Petite Choue has finally grown up and joined the 21st century - we're now on TWITTER and tweeting up a storm! Follow us here!


















HAPPY FRIDAY!

xoxo,
LPC

Martha Stewart + PetSmart

Ahhh! I just found out today that Martha Stewart is doing a line for PETSMART! What? I'm going this weekend to pick up some little goodies for Scout! I love the dog bowls and holiday toys! Happy Friday, ya'll!

Perfect Dinner Party

 I love hosting dinner parties and coming up with really fun groups of my friends to introduce. I created my dream dinner party guest list below. I guess the theme here is: really cool ladies that kick ass (which is fine by me)!  If you could host a dinner party with anyone you wanted, who would you invite?

Girl Dinner Party by katesullivan on Polyvore.com

Drew Barrymore - Actor/Director (E.T, MUSIC & LYRICS, WHIP IT)
Idina Menzel - Theater Actor (RENT, WICKED)
Sofia Coppola - Writer/Director (VIRGIN SUICIDES, LOST IN TRANSLATION)
Karen O - Musician (Yeah Yeah Yeah's)
Ellen Page - Actor (WHIP IT, JUNO)
Tegan & Sara - Musicians (Sainthood)
Jenny Lewis - Musician (Jenny & Johnny)
Natalie Maines - Musician (Dixie Chicks)

Loving these ....

Set of two fall inspired wallpapers created for the iphone and ipad through the Barcelona based company, Poolga. I love how all of the leaves were handcrafted out of paper!

WordSmith

I stumbled upon this word post on one of my favorite blogs which listed the 100 most beautiful words in the English language. I choose my favorites off the list and re-posted them below. As a journalism student (both in college and hailing from two journalistic parents), I have grown to realize the importance of words and have also developed a pretty unhealthy obsession with scrabble. That being said,  refresh your vocabulary with some of the words below and feel free to leave a comment with a favorite of your own.

Beautiful Words in the English Language

Bungalow A small, cozy cottage.
Dalliance A brief love affair.
Dulcet Sweet, sugary.
Ebullience Bubbling enthusiasm.
Effervescent Bubbly.
Elixir A good potion.
Eloquence Beauty and persuasion in speech.
Epiphany A sudden revelation.
Fetching Pretty.
Felicity Pleasantness.
Harbinger Messenger with news of the future.
Leisure Free time.
Lilt To move musically or lively.
Love Deep affection.
Onomatopoeia A word that sounds like its meaning.
Plethora A large quantity.
Ratatouille A spicy French stew.
Ripple A very small wave.
Scintilla A spark or very small thing.
Serendipity Finding something nice while looking for something else.
Sumptuous Lush, luxurious.
Surreptitious Secretive, sneaky.
Talisman A good luck charm.
Umbrella Protection from sun or rain.

Music Monday: Feist

Oh friends, I am tried. So very tired. This 3-day-weekend was incredible but after two trips to the dog park, a Sofia Coppola wine themed game night, and a Sunday evening dinner party, I am exhausted. So I'll leave you with one of my favorite music videos of all time. Feist's 1,2,3,4 makes my droopy eyelids stay open. Notice that the video is only one shot. Notice the choreography. Notice her fantastic sparkly blue jumper that I would kill to own. Happy Monday!

Loving these ...

Bowje Hair Bows made from 100 percent recycled clothing. How cute are these? And How cute is my friend Lulu (brunette) who modeled for this shoot? I can't wait to get my grubby little hands one of these puppies! Also check out Bowje's cute headband blog, Little Prada Pig, here!

Let's go to the movies

I am so terribly behind on my movie watching that there's only one thing to do on this long upcoming 3 day weekend: movie-marathon! Here's what I'll be seeing:

127 Hours by Danny Boyle starring James Franco



Hereafter by Clint Eastwood starring Matt Damon



Welcome to the Riley's directed by Jake Scott starring Kristen Stewart and James Gandolfini



Black Swan directed by Darren Aronofsky starring Natalie Portman



What have you seen lately that you love?

Loving these ...

"Moon Games" photographs taken by landscape astrophotographer and astronomy journalist Laurent Laveder.  Laveder's photographs have appeared on NASA sites and international astronomy magazines, and he is part of an international collective of astronomy photographers called The World At Night.  (Um, I'd like to be a part of this too please) His recent project, "Moon Games", has recently been published as a small book in France and reminds me a lot of a favorite childhood book of mine, The Little Prince, who lived on an asteroid moon himself. To check out more of his photography, you can go to Laveder's website. I can't wait until there is a full moon again so I can go out and try this!

Music Monday: Yolanda Be Cool

Oh my goodness - how cool is this? Below is a collaboration between Suzanne Cleary, Peter Harding and Jonny Reed. The song, entitled We No Speak Americano aims to stretch the concept of Irish Dance to its limits. The song is incredible and I love the way it's filmed. Enjoy and Happy Music Monday!

Happy Weekend & Good Luck, Scout!

I just dropped the little pumpkin off at the vet to be *spade* this morning. I MAY or may not be a nervous wreck. I took this photo on the way to the vet. I'm pretty sure home-pup had no idea what was going on, other than the fact that she wasn't allowed to have breakfast this morning and was pretty miffed at me. Since Scout will be in full-on recovery mode this weekend, the two of us are going to curl up on the couch and watch the second season of Friday Night Lights (seriously people, this show is amazing - Tim Riggins anyone?) and attempt at making this delicious recipe. We're going to try and finish a few home-craft projects as well so I can finally take photos of my new home to share with you! What are you up to? Happy Weekend!

An Awesome Book of Thanks

Dallas Clayton writes children's books. I just recently discovered his incredible book, An Awesome Book (clever title, eh?), and am totally addicted. Dallas' new book, An Awesome Book of Thanks, comes out this month. Check out his introductory video below! His images are so goofy and beautiful and I love the positive message he sends to children. (Thanks C for introducing me!)

Oh! And check out my What I'm Thankful For list today on Our One Sweet World blog! I had such a fun time coming up with it!

November Lovin'

reading: finally finished A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Michael Cunningham - love love loved it. Currently reading the MAZERUNNER by James Dashner and then Charle's Bukowski's POST OFFICE as our next book club book! Excited as I have never read him before.

buying: porch furniture for the log cabin's wrap-around and a new iphone case. Oh, and still searching for the perfect salt and pepper shakers!

listening to: Warpaint, The Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Soundtrack (I'm a nerd) and Mark Ronson.

watching: Modern Family (love), 30 Rock (LOVE!), The Event, Dexter, 90210 (guilty!) and just started watching Friday Night Lights on DVD and.am.obsessed.

loving: how fall has finally reached Los Angeles, pumpkin spiced lattes, taking walks with the pup, staying in on Friday nights and making cider, and craft nights!

planning: a trip to NYC this winter to visit friends and hang in Brooklyn. More details on that to come!

What are you all loving these days? Happy November!

Music Monday: MixTape Mini Cushions

Happy Music Monday! How cute are these adorable MixTape Mini Cushions from Etsy? Get your set of three cushions here! P.S. You can buy the set seen below or custom order them with your choice of color scheme and embroidered title. I think my set of tapes would read; 80's pop princess mix, Jem and the Holograms Greatest Hits, and, lest not forget, Madonna: The Immaculate Collection. How about you?