Music « Covet Living

Yowza. Mama’s let herself go a little lately, and I don’t just mean for Thanksgiving. Not sure if it’s the cold that makes me want to eat comfort food that sticks to my ribs whilst I’m wrapped in a Snuggie, or if it’s just one of my boycott working out phases, but dang. It’s time to resurrect my old friendship with the treadmill again, before I up & bust a seam in my pants… or sprout a muffin top. Because there are fun, sparkly Christmas & New Years get-ups I’d like to wiggle into. Plus, I realize winter’s right around the corner, but I’m not a polar bear, and I’m not heading into hibernation, so this extra layer of goop on my person is just not necessary. I’ve been eating a lot of this lately:

…and not working out. And as a result of which, this is actually what I feel like on the inside:

Buzz, your GIRL-friend… WUF!

Here’s the thing: I’m still a size 6. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much has changed, cuz I’m tall and it’s all spread out. But in reality, I’m 15 pounds heavier than someone my height should be. That takes a serious toll on your joints, holmes. And since I had my blood pressure, BMI (body mass index) and all kinds of other things checked recently, I know that my innards and my heart aren’t as healthy as they have been in the past, or should be. I also know that my “easy workout” was a real grind this week, so getting my a$$ back in shape is as much about staying strong and healthy as it is about looking good in my jeans.

With that said, here are some of my favorite Superwoman Songs that always get me movin (Parental Discretion Advised):

1. Bad – U2: This one’s pretty mellow but with a good beat that kicks up as it chugs along, like it’s climbing stairs or something. I like it as a warm-up. It makes me think I’m running on a long, country road at sunrise.

2. Smoke Weed Everyday – Snoop Dogg ft. Dr. Dre: First of all, I do not puff the cheeba, and I’m not tellin you do it either… but this jam chills hard, kind of quietly kick ass, and makes me run faster. It reminds me of warming up for college volleyball matches, so sometimes I throw a few air punches on the treadmill with a scary scowl on my face. Rawr.

3. Lose Yourself – Eninem: What up, epic SoCon Championship Match 2002? This bomb diggity ditty was blaring in my Discman all weekend during the conference tournament my senior season of college volleyball. The same tune that inspired me to ping balls on the 10-ft line then is like the wind at my back on a treadmill now. PS: Smell ya, Georgia Southern.

4. Good Vibrations – Marky Mark & the Funky Bunch: …You heard me.

5. Teddybears – Cobrastyle: Pretty peppy with a fun beat and indiscernible lyrics. It makes me feel like I just drank Gummi Berry juice.

6. Kids – MGMT: Not only does this song make me want to run, it also makes me want to jump up and down, dance, and run around in circles. And scream and bang on pots & stuff.

7. Holding Out For A Hero – Bonnie Tyler: Listening to this song makes me feel like I just strapped a CO2 cartridge on my back. I could literally barrel down the treadmill at full speed for an hour with this on repeat… while air boxing. I usually put it at the beginning of my climb / uphill sprint, because if feels impossible for me to get tired while I’m listening to it.

8. Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! – ABBA: I get REAL excited at right about the 1:04 minute mark when the chorus is about to kick in. This song is so perky that it helps me sustain a good, long stride during my “sprint.”

9. Maneater – Nelly Furtado: If I ever thought about hacking up a lung or heaving, this one with its killer beat keeps me trucking.

10. Let It Rock – Kevin Rudolf & Lil Wayne: Makes me want to sprint 1,000 miles and box someone in the face at the end.

11. Poker Face – Lady Gaga: I get it. It’s passé. Over for the rest of the universe. It’s still hangin’ tough for me though. It’s like someone just lit a fire underneath my painted-on little spandex shorts.

12. Girlfriend in Africa – Jay Z/Toto Mash-up: Uhhh, what on earth could possibly make my all-time fave 80’s jam better?? Jay-Z.

And when I’m done, I feel like this. Strong, healthy, REAL stinky, but like I can do just about anything.

…including fit into my skinny jeans. Few things, my friend, feel better than that.

xoxo,

Before we plow full-speed ahead into November and all the gleeful, chaotic giddiness of the Holidays, I wanted to recap some of the coolest things I ran across in October. There’s about enough information floating around the internet, magazines, and the blogosphere to make anyone’s head explode, so below are my Curatorial CliffsNotes to what you may have missed last month. Because seriously. Who has time to read all that? ..bwahaha – well, besides me.

1. Budget-friendly, Rental-friendly, and sheer genius: Colorful Masking Tape Entryway. Jenny from Little Green Notebook has featured this project a few times on her lovely blog, and the photos below are from a recent reader’s DIY (wassup, Elsie!) The tape is sold here for about $4.50/roll, and Jenny gives great how-to instructions here. PS: using this gold leaf color would be outrageously cool.

2. Guilt-free and glorious: this Avocado Salad. I made it, and then I licked the bowl.

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3. Looking to update an old dresser? Check out this gorgeous knob from Anthropologie (gasp!) I think it might be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

4. Speaking of dressers, I also nearly lost my marbles when I saw this. Nothing makes me happier than a lovingly worn, ornately carved piece of furniture.

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5. I love the quiet poignancy of the quote below. On a personal note, watching my friends get married and pop out kids at lightning speed has filled my silly little soul with joy, and seeing them climb corporate ladders and nestle into comfortable lives is wonderful. But in the wake of it all, I hear the echo of my own shoulda / coulda / wouldas… should I have married him, or him, even though – despite loving him – it didn’t feel completely right? Would it have been more prudent to have stayed in a six-figure job that made me unhappy? Etc. But as I round the corner to the big 3-0, I realize that I have finally made peace with the things that didn’t go as planned, because I don’t think that any decision you make with your gut is ever the wrong decision. And for the first time in a long time, instead of looking back and wondering if I’ve made the right decisions, I can’t wait to see what’s around the next corner.

6. Anybody ever perused Young House Love’s House Crashing files? If you haven’t, you should. Below are a few of my faves.

The homeowner’s boyfriend painted that mural on the wall. I’m speechless.

That light is from IKEA, and that giant mirror is made out of an old weathered wood pallet. Chairs were a thrift store find. I think I want to be friends with these people.

This 700-pound butcher block was a Craigslist find, took 7 men to lug into this house, and makes me weak at the knees.

7. The photography below is so breathtaking, it’s actually painful. Dustjacket Attic is a mystical, dreamy little blog that posts gorgeous photography (often from foreign publications that we might not otherwise stumble across), to the tune of often exotic iPod music. I could look through its archives for hours.

(Sigh), the beautiful melancholy of fall. Is that Fields of Gold I hear playing?

Italy?? Yes please.

8. You’d better believe that I’ll be giving these recipes from House Beautiful a whirl in a skinny second. If this isn’t the best (low carb) comfort food for fall, then I don’t know what is.

Herb Roasted Chicken with Lemon and Sage

Broiled Wild Mushrooms with Tamari Butter

9. Oh, Eddie (!) Speaking of fall comfort food, I would like to eat the recipes above at the table below, styling courtesy of the hilarious and stupidly talented Eddie Ross, and brought to us by Lonny Magazine, which is like a Band-Aid over the gaping wound that Domino left.

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10. THIS SONG by Rooney is my new jump-around-the-house-dancing fave, and it sounds like 80’s, but actually came out in 2007.

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11. Last month, I ran across too many beautiful bedroom photos to count… Below are my favorites:

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Uncluttered, clean and utterly beautiful. The understated, gorgeous antique bed… the barely-there lavender paint… those throw pillows (!)… the camel cashmere throw and THAT mirror. I can’t even handle it.

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Bedroom of Rue Magazine’s Editor, Crystal Gentilello. The refined and edited palette of beige and grey tones makes the room feel soothing, but the playful shapes of the bedside lamps, accent pillow and the bedspread – intermixed with the hard angles of the headboard and mirrors – makes this room a visual gem. Rue Mag’s current issue has an entire spread on Crystal’s Budget Bachelorette Abode, and it’s entirely stunning.

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Heavens to Betsy. All my favorite things in one shot: Pretty wallpaper, tufting, poufs, sunburst mirrors, and that pool blue wall color. If you love blue as much as I do, you should scurry over to House of Turquoise.

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Oh, Lulu! You ‘ol mixer-upper you. The photo above is the bedroom of textile designer Lulu DK, featured in this month’s Lonny, and dang. Her-mix-a-lot sure can weave a good smathering of furniture, textiles and accessories into something genius and completely unique.

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Wintry and delicious. Look (!) It’s the garland light from the Dreamy Little Bathrooms: Lighting on a Shoestring post! That and the itty bitty silver bedside lamp would make this room icy cool, except the nubby throw, hide rug and floor/ceiling/wall planking keep it uber warm and cozy.

12. I ran across the photography below on Bottom of the Ironing Basket, which is always full of amazing eye candy. This one’s for all my favorite mamas raising sweet little girls.

13. October was like opening a treasure chest of fabric sources: Calico Corners (swatches at right), which I gushed about last week, and LS Fabrics out of Atlanta (swatches at left) are two of my new go-to’s. PSST: stay tuned next week for a surprise give away!

14. Nicole from Making It Lovely – who posted the GORGEOUS dining room below (which I logged into my inspiration folder stat) – is also the genius author of the 30 Before 30 List… a list of 30 goals she set for herself, and then worked diligently to hit in the months leading up to her 30th Birthday. You’d better believe making THAT list is on my to-do list for the week.

15. Last but not least, House Beautiful‘s November 2010 Issue featured one of the BEST resources, ever, for entertaining – 101 Party Do’s & Don’ts. And I’m not just saying that because we’re in it. Whether you’re having 2 people over or 20, these 4 succinct pages are filled with smart, witty, all-encompassing, simple-but-genius tips to being the Hostess with the Mostess. I already have ’em in a plastic binder sleeve, stashed in my cupboard for easy access. The issue – on newsstands for another 2 weeks – also marked Covet Living‘s very first appearance on the glistening pages of a magazine, which was exhilarating, to say the least. We heart them for including us, and we’re almost ready to shut up about it.