House Beautiful

Monthly Archive for January, 2013

DAD OR ALIVE – Aka Sex, Fights, Body Piercing and Being A Stay At Home Dad

Ladies and gents, it’s not every day we pirate hookers at Covet Living can toot the horn of a friend who’s just written their first book… but toot is what we’re about to do.

You know that friend you have as an adult who you just know would’ve gotten you kicked out of 8th grade History class by making you laugh uncontrollably?  Well this is my friend Adrian, the blogger behind Dad Or Alive, a hilarious and brutally honest blog about his hell-raising adventure of becoming a dad – a stay-at-home one to boot.

The dad and his two chitlins, Charlie and Ava

A father to a 3- and a 1-year-old, his posts (like “Dad’s In Deep Shit” or “Ava Full of Grace“) are so funny (especially when you know the inane, at-times inappropriate, mind of the person behind them), that I consistently find myself cackling thru his tales of utter chaos.  And you know, they just might make you or someone you know feel a little better about your parenting skills.

Adrian.

Come May 7th (*ahem*, perfect for Father’s Day!), his tales will be available in book form.  All you need to do to pre-order is click riiight here.  Personally I think this would be fab gift for any newish parents you know.  Or any parent in general who remembers the days and nights of tending to your little rugrats!

But don’t take my word for it – from the mouth of Adrian himself:

“This thing is a girthy 254 pages.  It’s small enough to fit in your bag, but thick enough to make your friends think you’re a real academic.  It’s got a normal, grown-up adult font, not that abnormally large shit they use in children’s books.

It’s a journey people. A slice of life from the parenting pie.

Sex, fights, body piercing, exposed breasts, cursing, excessive drinking, state troopers and some occasional filler about trying to raise a kid as a stay-at-home dad.

It’s truly got something for everyone.  But at it’s core, it remains a heartfelt (yet funny) journey of an unexpected stay-at-home dad, finding his way through life while taking care of his daughter.”

Thank you, Adrian.  I seriously can’t wait to witness the journey you’ve begun, my friend.

Oh – and check out his Twitter for more – you won’t be sorry.

Here’s to good parents out there so we don’t have to be (yet),

Honey, get in line.

Are you SERIOUS?  Look at this doozie that Ballard Designs just came out with.  Heavens people.  I ran across it earlier today whilst I was perusing the world wide web for my buddy Benny B’s kids’ room – which is a project we’ll be highlighting in the next few weeks.  Anyhoo – I saw this thing and moments later, had to wring out my drawers.  GYAH, it’s like a glorious, majestic bird dusted with gold meets Oly meets a wee round Edison light.  It’s so chic I can’t take it.  And I’m just guessing here, but looks like an easy install…  unlike most pendants or chandeliers, which you have to pimp out an electrician to do. It ended up not being that big a deal. I just went online and looked at the features of a few electricians until I found one that was able to help me with this. Even if this is a bit more niche, it wasn’t difficult to find one that did.  With that done well, that, my friends, should make it *extra* popular with renters the world over (like je).  Ballard also makes a MONEYBAGS suggestion on their website: “Install multiples down a hallway for eye-catching texture and warmth.”  Uh, genius.  Against a watered-down robin’s egg, pastel-ly Tiffany’s box blue ceiling?  I die.

Sprint your little fingers over to the link above and if your nether-regions have the same reaction to it that mine did, buy it stat.   Already doesn’t ship till 3-7-2013.  Which means…  (who’s seen Sleepless in Seattle??) – “Honey.  Get in liiiiine.”

xoxo,