filipino tradition says if you do the following on new year’s eve, you’ll be struck with good luck in the year to come: 1) keep all the lights on 2) stuff coins in your pockets 3) wear green at 12 minutes to midnight, throw 12 grapes into a glass, pour some champagne (or sparkling cider) […]

the things i miss about christmas are the little things. shopping with mom for my outfit. making each christmas card by hand. passing out the gifts to all the guests. pretending we’re drunk on apple cider. scooting around in my pajamas-with-feet the following morning. francesca said we need to enjoy the traditions while we still […]

1. i see people i know walking down the street 2. i know exactly where to go if i need to buy a gift/baguettes/pretty paper 3. they recognize me at my favorite coffeehouse 4. there are cheap taco stands on the same street as fancy shmancy restaurants, both of which are unbelievably good 5. yard […]

it was the first night i couldn’t sleep because of the cold. i kept tossing & turning & sliding further down my bed to find some warmth. when i mustered up enough energy to get out of bed and turn on my heater, i saw that it was 54 degrees. of course, now it’s blue […]

i still remember: spinning the lazy susan like it was a gameshow wheel, cracking open fortune cookies as if they were a prize and picking the tiniest morsel of food on my plate with chopsticks. there was something magical about going to eat at chinese restaurants, which we did all the time as a family […]

Give me 5 minutes, and I’ll stalk your site. Here are the latest greatest people, places and things that have a hold on my heart (in no apparent order): (in no apparent order) – dooce – whygodwhy – katejinx – not martha – get crafty message boards – paranoidgirl – the onion – ask frenchie […]

last night, the wind shook the trees and it sounded like waves crashing. i felt like i had my ear pressed up to a seashell. i had never heard anything like it. or if i had, i’d forgotten.

i spilled red glitter all over the floor last night and pricked my thumb with a pin. i love this time of year. as if i am not a kid every other day of the year, this giddy little girl within me awakes and i have to have my hands in everything. i always try […]

it’s the kind of laughter that erupts from your belly without warning. a graceless, tactless, careless roar that you really should control but just can’t because it’s late and you’ve had a rough week and you are past the point of sanity. you have been trying to hold it together, but it just seems pointless […]

whitechocolatespaceegg is perfect singing at the top of your lungs in your car with the window rolled down music. and, just my luck, i am in liz phair's vocal range.

back in my puppy love stage with the internet — before it became a fullblown, mad, passionate affair as it is now — i obsessively stalked lowbrow.com, a site where users, simply, submit stuff. stuff, or as they call it, the “best user submitted content about scraping the bottom.” i liked it because it was […]

my favorite advent calendar, next to those chocolate ones that i used to get as a kid. i can't believe it's already december.

forget martha stewart living magazine. i'm in love with martha stewart magazine for kids! there are far more festive ideas and crafts to try in the holiday issue (with beautiful j.otto-illustrated section on penguins). on the to-do list: sock puppies, monkey bread and paper snowflakes. hooray!

yes, okay, i am well aware that it is december. that technically, it is not so much autumn as it is winter. that in most places, in fact, it is already snowing. but i feel a little cheated, because i haven’t gotten to stomp on any crunchy leaves and i didn’t get to re-heat turkey […]