As I have mentioned before, I have a history of becoming mildly obsessed with a specific group of songs that I unofficially dub my playlist of the season. And since the last time I have bestowed these highly useful musical recommendations on you was back in March (so two playlists ago) I figured it was time for an update. Since it’s officially 2014, I thought it was a good time to recap on some of the tunes that made the end of my year and are still in heavy rotation on my playlist. 

“The Wire” by Haim
The first thing I thought when I heard that there was a band called Haim that it was an attempt by an offspring of 80’s heartthrob turned cautionary tale Corey Haim. Turns out they are three sisters from Los Angeles and it’s actually pronounced like “hi-me” (as in rhymes with “time”). So no relation. But besides this super fun song, my favorite thing that I learned about this up and coming band is that they were once in a tween girl group called the Valli Girls, whose greatest claim to fame was an unforgettable ditty, “It’s a Hair Thing.” I’m not joking. You can watch the video here. It may seem corny, but it just makes me love them even more now that they have been reborn as like supercool folk-rock chicks. Just remember kids- it’s 2014. There’s no escaping the internet. 

“Best I Ever Had” by Gavin DeGraw

You guys, I don’t know if I can express how in love I am with this song. I have listened to it multiple times everyday since I added it to my playlist. Ryan Tedder can kind of do no wrong- do know know how many songs this guy has written? Regardless of his talent as a writer and producer, I really like the stuff that he does with OneRepublic, but unfortunately I think they get totally overplayed (i.e. ruined) by radio stations, making me resentful of their once-revered songs. Even though his super-smooth voice is always on par, for me it’s all about the background music. I love the beat in this song, especially when they get to the bridge and it really speeds up. I just can’t say enough about this one.

“Demons” by Imagine Dragons

Okay, before you completely disregard any credibility this list may have had (and if that’s what you were looking for, you are probably in the wrong place to begin with), just remember, that above all things, music is supposed to be fun. This song is pretty identical to every other club-thumper that Pitbull has done, and Kesha’s not exactly the Barbra Streisand of our generation, but hello? The main feature of this song is a sick harmonica riff. Because if there’s anything the music industry is missing right now, it’s more crossover between hip hop and country, amirite?

“Closer” by Tegan & Sara
I’m confused by these two- are they sisters or lesbian lovers? No matter, I die over this song regardless. It reminds me of a really great 80’s pop song, which I am always okay with. Bonus points because the video features the duo performing karaoke on a vintage television.

“All Night” by Icona Pop
By the end of the summer, I was slightly over “I Love It,” even though it was a really fun song. So I was extremely excited to hear a follow up single from this Swedish female duo, and I think that it’s even better than their debut song. It’s like the perfect “getting ready” song. It reminds me of something my college girl friends and I would put on while primping for a night out. They also used this song in the promos on E! for their coverage of the Emmys, so I knew it was meant to be.

“Give It To You” by Robin Thicke ft. Two Chainz & Kendrick Lamar
I know we’re supposed to be mad at Robin Thicke for agreeing to be a part of Miley’s VMA horror show (and for his affinity for supposedly “rapey” lyrics), but I can’t get enough of this song. What I can get enough of is Two Chainz. God, I can’t stand him. But his presence on this track was somehow not enough to stop me from liking it anyway. 

“We Own the Night” by The Wanted
The Wanted has kind of slipped off my radar since none of them are rumored to be sleeping with Lindsay Lohan at the moment, and also because I couldn’t hear “Glad You Came” one more time without wanting to tip over a double decker bus. But after a little break, I was glad to hear this new song. It reminds me of the kind of tune you find yourself drunkenly singing with your friends at last call. It’s the perfect tempo for people who have spent the last five hours partying but aren’t really with it enough to follow a beat.

“White Walls” by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis ft. Schoolboy Q & Hollis
I have always liked this song, and by “always” I mean since I first discovered Macklemore after seeing him on SNL last year and downloaded “The Heist” in it’s entirety. I know nothing of cars or rap music, but when I listen to this song, I don’t feel like I need to. I just sit back and enjoy every second of it.

“TKO” by Justin Timberlake 
I have never been a huge fan of JT, but I do recognize him to be a great performer (no matter how much crap I give my college roommate KB for it). I’m not crazy about all of the songs on his new album (“Suit & Tie” being my least favorite) but for some reason I really took to this one. I think it’s something about the tracks he does with Timbaland that are always a win for me, a la “Cry Me a River.” 

What were your favorite songs of 2013? I still enjoy these tracks but am totally ready for some new tunes for the new year. 

~L

After finally continuing my family’s stroll down Christmas card memory lane yesterday, I was inspired to soldier on and finish this series once and for all. If you have missed any of the previous chapters in this compelling story of “How I Developed an Unhealthy Obsession with Christmas Cards,” then you can catch up on Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five and Part Six. 

When we last left, I was finally out of high school, which you think would possibly begin the inevitable demise of my involvement in the family Christmas card. If anything, it just made everything more involved, as we were no longer children who could only be expected to get along and pose for so long.

2005

2006

2007

I’m not sure why the quality of this card is so bad, but I’m guessing that the good ones were sent out to people and all that was left for the book was this reject one. This was another double whammy of a year in the Scalera family, as it was my sister’s first pageant title and I graduated from college. Becky had begun her freshman year at Plymouth State University as I ended my senior year, hence the t-shirts. Since I didn’t actually walk in graduation, I didn’t even have the official garb, which meant I had to borrow this mortorboard from someone. I mean, the tassel doesn’t even match the PSU colors! (Again, continuity hasn’t always been one of our strong points.) This also marks the first year that we tried to get Felix the cat to be in the picture, which has actually proven to be more work than taking photos of children. First of all, he is completely black, resulting in only his creepy eyes to be seen in pretty much every photo we’ve ever taken of him. Also he’s kind of a jerk and tries to scratch us to get away, so we usually end up with about four usable photos. 

2008

As the years went on, it became increasingly more difficult to schedule the card photo shoot. With me living an hour away and my sister being in college, the day you planned to take the photo was the day you took the photo. I’m guessing the weather must not have cooperated on this day, because otherwise it doesn’t seem to make much sense that we were crammed in the corner of our living room when we could have been outside at one of my father’s many man-made photo ops. My mom thought this one was really cheeky because you were supposed to question who the “nice” one is (I think we all know the answer to that). There was actually an entire series (complete with costume changes) of naughty vs. nice that, thanks to the age of digital, I have found and created a small collage for your holiday enjoyment:

an afternoon of our lives we’ll never get back

Like I said, it only gets worse with age…

2009

Once you get to 20+ years of Christmas cards, it’s almost impossible not to recycle an idea here and there. My mom is also a big fan of the “then & now” motiff, as illustrated by the picture in the upper left corner of my sister and I as angels in our church Christmas pageant (which was probably the last time both of us were at a church together). Being on a church budget, we weren’t rolling in fancy floating halo money, hence the gold garland that was simply bobby pinned to our heads. My mom had the ultimate vision that we would recreate the photo with the same garland and white tops, but it would be totally ironic because we were all grown up, therefore, no longer “angels.” This was also the year we got it together and realized our random living room backrounds weren’t going to cut it, so we graduated to posing in front of a curtain. This was another one that involved a series style photoshoot, the likes of which actually made it onto the card as apposed to the 2008 pictures that ended up on the cutting room floor. 

We’re starting to approach a very exciting time in Christmas card history… the year that Steve and I started our very own card (but don’t get it twisted, we are still heavily featured in the family card, much to Steve’s dismay of having to do all of this twice).

Stay tuned!

~L

Aarrgh. I am so behind on holiday blogging. According to my Feedly, I am supposed to have handmade forty-five glitter ornaments, professionally photographed my entire home filled with festive decorations, shared the perfect Christmas cookie recipe, and crafted at least fifteen super specific and oddly expensive gift lists (for everyone from your significant other to your second cousin’s dog walker).

I haven’t done any of it. Well, I’ve done many holiday-esque things, but you know what else I’ve done? Enjoyed them. Meaning I haven’t had a lot of extra hours to hang out and write about them. Not to mention, December was still a pretty busy month for me at work. When I moved to Nantucket, everyone was all, “Get a hobby or start drinking, because you’re going to be pretty bored come winter!” I have yet to understand what they were talking about (but I have a feeling it’s called… January). So needless to say, my time off has been spent taking in all that the holidays on this little island have to offer, which is a lot.

However, I still love blogging and I want to be able to keep up with this in a timely fashion. I always thought my reason for irregular posting was because of the nature of my last job, where I had no set schedule and spent the end of October-January mentally and physically exhausted, ready to give up on the human race (mass retail during the holiday season can do that to a person). I always thought that I once I had a job with a set schedule, I would be able to blog on a regular basis, and even if I couldn’t, I would write all my posts on the weekends and schedule them, what a concept! But you know what regular people do on the weekends? Laundry. Errands. Activities. Sometimes, they have fun. At this point I’ve accepted that if I spent all of my time blogging, that’s less time I would spend actually doing anything worth blogging about.

So here we are, four days away from Christmas. I am approaching my first Christmas “break” since college, where I will have almost two weeks off. I don’t even know this girl anymore, but I like her and want her to stick around. 

Despite my lack of recapping December’s festivities, we all have our holiday traditions, and I have been looking forward to sharing this with you all month. I planned to continue this series much earlier in December, but there’s no time like the present to continue…

The Scalera Family Christmas Card Anthology. Part Six (take that, Rocky).

You may remember last year, when I started sharing the year-by-year progression of the Christmas cards my family sent out growing up. If you need to catch up, you can check out Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, and Part Five.

When we last left the Scalera sisters, they were showcasing their talents in a musically-themed photo. Also, it was smack dab in the middle of my awkward years. But as we entered the new millennium, my sister and I began to take control of our hair, our style, and our destiny.

2000

Please tell me someone else remembers these sweaters. I know I do, because I will forever be traumatized by the journey it took for me to get one. This was the era of really cool Gap commercials and print ads. The year before, this striped sweater was like, the item of the holiday season that they were peddling to consumer-driven teenagers like me that tried to convince our parents that a $70 sweater was a totally appropriate gift for a rapidly growing high schooler. It was probably the first time I ever asked for something that was kind of expensive (not counting Kirsten, of course, but that doll paid for itself eventually with the education I received from her book series). 

I remember being so excited for Christmas morning, finally feeling like I was going to be one of the cool kids when I rolled into school after break rocking this baby. One of the traditions in my house is that you save the biggest and best gift for last. My parent’s would act like gift-giving was over and as you started to throw away the discarded wrapping paper, they “remembered” that there was maybe one more thing left. Gift is pulled out of secret hiding place, children squeal and Christmas is complete. I was absolutely convinced that my Gap sweater was lurking in a closet somewhere, ready to be pulled out at the exact perfect moment. Except that moment never came. 

After about ten minutes, I finally broke down and asked where our “extra” gifts were. My mom told me that we were officially done with gifts and it was time for breakfast and the Disney parade. I thought she was really piling it on that year and gunning for an Academy Award for “Best Performance while Pretending to Hide a Present.” She wasn’t. She informed us that after all the years of pretending, she thought we had outgrown the need for a secret gift. I.was.crushed. I know, it’s totally awful and selfish. I had just opened like twenty other gifts that were awesome and I still wanted more. But I remember even then thinking that it wasn’t about the fact that it was an expensive gift. She could have hidden a tube of Bonne Bell lip gloss and I still would have been excited; it was the novelty of thinking that you’re finished and finding out that one thing remains. I’m almost thirty, and my mom still hides one gift for us because we never let her forget that year that Christmas was almost ruined (yes, I’m being overdramatic- Christmas was still wonderful and I am not that horrible of a human being). 

As for the sweater, I obviously didn’t get it for Christmas ’99, so how did I eventually acquire this multicolored masterpiece? 

At an outlet, of course. 

My mom was perusing some discount store probably six months later, when she discovered that the sweater that ruined Christmas was not only still available, it was marked down to a level that a parent couldn’t resist. So she bought three- one for my sister and I, and my best friend Hannah (which there is a photo shoot of the three of us wearing, you’re shocked, I know) and the matching hat. As much as I loved this pattern, we felt the hat + sweater together was a little much, so why not put it on a random bear?  

This photo was probably shot again in October, which explains the lack of snow. Fun fact: I planted that tree the year we moved into our house when it was just a tiny, twig-like fir. And to this date, I still have the sweater. 

2001

All of our family Christmas cards are stored in this holiday-style scrapbook that you slide pictures into, with room for you to write in your own captions underneath. Under the year 2001, it simply states in my mom’s handwriting, “No card due to 9/11.” Because when you send out a Christmas card, the terrorists win.

2002

If nothing else, you gotta give Doreen credit for being crafty even in the days before it was so easy to just slap your card together on the computer. While the themes for these cards weren’t always something blatantly festive (I believe this one was “turtleneck sweaters”), many of them were centered around just trying to capture a nice moment between sisters. Unfortunately, that moment didn’t occur in the same photograph, forcing my mom to superimpose my image onto the existing one of my sister. I swear my photo was taken on the same day, during the same photo session despite having completely different lighting. I refuse to believe that is my hand on my sister’s shoulder, even though I know that it is. I’m not gonna lie, there is something creepy about this one. But hey look, my hair is getting better!

2003

If at any point you were wondering during this series, what is going to be like, the card of all cards, then this is most definitely it. The 20th Anniversary MEGA CARD. It was a big year in the Scalera household- not only was it the platinum anniversary of Christmas cards, but I my sister and I both celebrated our graduations that year, mine from high school and hers from middle school. What better way to capture the biggest year in our history to that point than with this all-powerful collage of every card since the family’s inception? Slight hiccup- our graduation dates were a solid two weeks apart. But that wouldn’t stop Doreen, oh no, she got out her trusty scissors and faux-Photoshopped images together of us in our white graduation bests. There’s a slight continuity error that can be seen only by looking at this in person, when you realize that it’s actually my dad’s hand that is clutching my sister’s shoulder. 

2004

Upon first glance, it may seem like we are overdoing it with the sweater theme, but we totally mixed it up in 2004, with gloves, duh! Not sure if you can tell what season it is in this one- I will give you a hint, it definitely ain’t winter- but at the time I went to school six hours away, therefore scheduling Christmas card photo shoot was increasingly more difficult. I think it was like, “Oh my God, it’s nice out! Quick! Throw on your sweaters and winter accessory sets and get out there!!!”

I don’t wand to overload you with excellence, so I will leave the remainder of the Christmas cards for another day. Hopefully it won’t take me a year to write the sequel this time.

~L

Yesterday I posted the first half of my Christmas wish list. Again, I’ll reiterate that I do not need nor expect a zillion presents under my tree, however, I keep getting asked what I want by extended family members, so I figured, why not make a list? I mean, isn’t that what most bloggers do three to five times a week anyway and disguise it as “currently crushing” or whatever the hell we are calling it now? (No judgement, after all, one of my favorite days of the week is Friday’s Fancies.) 

Not to mention, I had to continue my photo collage list tradition for my mother. She seemed sad when I told her that she could just look at my Pinterest board for inspiration.

I’m all for organization, except for when it comes to like, bills or shoes or whatever. So the theme of yesterday’s list was clothes/makeup/jewelry/general girlyness. Today we’re going to with books, DVD’s, decor, etc.

Nautical office supplies– I have been making small attempts to decorate my first ever solo cubicle with nautical elements. My mom was awesome and actually got me a few of the things I pinned for my birthday, but there are a few other adorable pieces that I would love for my desk. Such as…

A nautical letter opener– I can’t explain it, but I have always wanted a nice letter opener. I just think they scream, “I am a totally pulled together adult who efficiently and stylishly opens all the very important grown-up mail that I receive with just a flick of the wrist.” A little oceanic doodad would only sweeten the pot.

Assorted whaley things (that are also semi practical)– I may have mentioned before that I work at a whaling museum, specifically focusing on sperm whales. And how cute is this stapler and tissue box?! I think they would be perfect additions to my existing red, white and blue accents. Also I have the ugliest stapler in the world currently and it bends all of my staples in half. (It’s a non-profit, we aren’t just like, swimming in an excess of fancy staplers.) Steve is offended by the price of the tissue box and claims he could make me one instead, but I feel like the chances of that happening in this lifetime are slim to none (not because he’s not talented, just because he’s like too busy cooking me dinner and cutting down Christmas trees and stuff).

A chic business card holder– I realize this serves no actual purpose, but this is another thing that I thing makes it you look profesh. It’s like yes, I have business cards, and oh, would you like one? How convenient, they’re right here. Mine are currently still in the box in my desk. I always love a good monogram but I’d also be happy with just an interesting “thing” that falls into the nautical color scheme.

Decorative folders– Manila folders make me want to die at work. I have one of those holders on my desk so they are always exposed, and every time I look at them, I get the sads. I have been looking all over the place for fun, nautically patterned folders and I am just convinced they do not exist. So even just to get different patterns in red, white and blue would make me so happy.

Kate Spade pencils– I KNOW THESE ARE NOT PRACTICAL AND EXPENSIVE AND THEY ARE PENCILS but I don’t know why, I just want them.

CD’s… did you know they still make CD’s?!- Not sure why, but I still enjoy popping a good CD in the car and cranking the volume up to twelve. I also like monetarily supporting artists that I actually believe in. There’s a few new releases that I’ve been eyeing these days: