Showing posts with label Alexa Chung. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alexa Chung. Show all posts

1 June 2014

Weekend List!

Sarah's List:

Guess what! Good news! Reproducing might not destroy the planet. (As long as you raise your kids right.)

And let your kids play. They probably won't kill nature either.

Photo credit: Jill Humphrey


This. This is exactly what I needed to read at this precise moment in my life. This is the last week of the only life we've known for quite some time.  And it's the pits. Can it just be the future already? Or I'll settle for a week from now when I twist off the cap on a mini bottle of Air France wine.

Speaking of airplane perks, The Ultimate List of Airlines That Serve Free Alcohol.



Ever been on the beach and wondered what's across the way?

Adam and I were Stayers (expats left behind) for a long time. I agree with this article, that sometimes it's harder than leaving. Take away: It hurts because it is good.

We're doing lots of packing, ditching and giving away. The only consolation is it feels so, so good to fit our lives in 8 suitcases. But check out these minimalists.

Using Parentology to raise your kids. This guy's got all the answers.



And the strangest thing happened this week. Mama Youyou came to work wearing this shirt, which I swear is an old shirt of mine from high school. I remember buying it because I thought it looked so cool and "African." I guess Mama Youyou thought the same when she found it at the marche. It's completely possible this is my actual shirt.



P.S. These dogs after a bath.


Jill's List:

Always researching ways to feel beautiful on an airplane. (Insert laughter.)



Sapeurs.  The endlessly fascinating dandies of Central Africa. Thanks, Alice!

These people will put together your Ikea furniture for you.  Interesting.

I've been attempting a hipster top knot again recently and it freaking hurts my hair.  Sarah and Johan are really sick of my detailed descriptions of scalp pain.  This is an interesting explanation, but really, I do wash my hair!



Wish I had her hair.  Like everyone else.  At least we can now copy her beauty routine.

Speaking of hipsters.  This article is blistering:
Gentrifiers focus on aesthetics, not people. Because people, to them, are aesthetics
For all of you expats who aren't packing up.  Moving's hard, but so is staying behind.


Once again, the Onion cuts to the chase.
At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past five years were referring to themselves and their situation as “helpless.”
When Sandy Hook happened, Elias was also in 1st grade, the same age as the children who were shot and killed. I was so thankful my family was "safe in Africa".  I am actually more anxious thinking about my kids' safety in the U.S. than in the Congo.  My fear is insane, yet legitimate, thanks to this idea that unless everyone has a right to an automatic weapon, our freedom is threatened.  Like the father of Christopher Michael Martinez said, "What about [my kid's] right to live?"  Not one more. 


Image from Moms Demand Action.  Let's get to work.

And.  Kids and their guns.

2 December 2013

Monday's Lazy List

Hi friends.  The turkey made us lazy.  Or maybe it was the steamy hot weather.  

At any rate - here's your "Weekend List"!

Jill's List:

All of those lovely Holiday Wish Lists are coming up.  This, this, this and this are where I'll look for some serious fake shopping.  Oh, and I've told Johan that he can't go wrong if he follows these genius lists for wife gift ideas.  We used to do a lot of homemade stuff, but it's not exactly easy to ship from the Congo (I had to DHL a letter to the U.S. a couple of weeks ago. $180. Yup.), so I'm super happy about this whole Internet shopping thing.

Goodwill Mugs + Adorable Child Handwriting = Winning Gift  (I modified this tutorial.)

I got a great haircut in Kinshasa last weekend.  Go Rami at La Bella! (Even though you repeatedly pointed out my many grey hairs.) Maybe it was the bain d'huile or the oxblood red nails (Joanna told me to do it), but I walked out of that place feeling like a million bucks.  I was nervous about getting my locks chopped with a new stylist, but I feel like I'm channeling Alexa Chung, which is...well...awesome.


Super interesting.  What and who - exactly - does it take to make a t-shirt?  (Excited to begin reading this related book with my middle schoolers this week...)

From here.

I love this post on how progress is alive and well within even the most "downtrodden" communities. (My soapbox topic.) This article is about teachers, but I think the same lessons apply to health care! (Remember this article?)

Photo by Sarah Rich for her amazing project, EduCorps.  Read more here!


Feeling like folk?  Me too.



I've been thinking a lot about this article.  I kind of can't believe I'm saying this, but it's true:
“While American parents are pulling their kids out of tests because the results make the kids feel bad, parents in other countries are looking at the results and asking themselves how they can help their children do better.”
Of course, here's some of the other side.

Me?  I look at these pictures of aliens and think, "How does this drawing compare to that of a Finnish 7 year-old?"


Haha.  Helvetica perfume.
Retailing for $62, it comes in a bottle printed with 24-karat gold lettering and contains two ounces of water. 


We just started a sticker chart to try and adjust Elias' unfortunate habit of responding to every sentence with "NO!"  As in, "Elias, you have food on your face.  Wipe it off, please, because it looks gross."  "NO! No I don't!" (as cheesy cauliflower soup drops from his nose to the table).  But, I'm still on the fence about sticker charts.  I'm semi-holding out for some intrinsic motivation to communicate like a sane person.  What do you think?  Here's the accumulated wisdom on bribing your children.

Temper, temper.  Randomly, this hot blooded child is much more inclined of the two to eat neatly.


Sarah's List:

Nope.  Not here.  Sarah is working on various and sundry things...most important of which is installment #3 of her viral Moving Abroad series.  Read Part 1 and Part 2 while you wait.


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