friday's blast from the past: age order.

i grew up on a farm in kansas, the second of six children. as if that wasn't novelty enough, we were all born in approximately two-year increments, so the span of our ages was only eleven years. my mother loved nothing more than to dress us alike and make us stand in something she called AGE ORDER (mainly for the purpose of photos) where the eldest stood on the photographer's left and everyone lined up to the right in accordance to their age. while we were growing children, this resulted in another phenomenon that my mother called STAIR STEPS because our decreasing heights from left to right resembled stairs (please refer to photo).if someone so much as mentioned the words 'camera' or 'picture', my mom would fly into action, shouting AGE ORDER! STAIR STEPS! AGE ORDER! i should mention that my mother had her sixth child at the ripe old age of 29. i'm 30 (with zero children), and finally able to understand that all of her nutty behavior was likely due to the fact that being a mother to six, especially at such a young age, will make you do crazy things.

with regard to the photo, i would like to point out that yours truly is second from the left. ever the fashionable one of the bunch, i am sporting blue socks (trendsetting), a beautiful necklace and pinch-rolled pants. you can tell from my stance that i've clearly been studying red carpet poses. due to the large number of mullets in this photo, i think it's safe to say we were between hairstyles.

recommended movies, music and jason segel.

it's turning into a an extremely music-heavy thursday, but let me explain by saying that i love it when two worlds collide, and i love it even more when the result of that collision is something AMAZING, and whenever music or jason segel is involved, i'm going to put it on the blog. brad and i have watched (recommended movie #1) forgetting sarah marshall about nine hundred and fifty times. it is a great, hilarious movie. NOT FOR KIDS. parts of the film are somewhat inappropriate, but genuinely hysterical due to the main character, played by jason segel (who also happens to be the writer). in the movie, jason's character is a musician and you quickly get the impression that jason is actually a talented musician (and puppeteer-this movie features a healthy dose of puppets, but is still not for the kids). skip ahead to (recommended movie #2) once. this movie is romantic and sad and provoking, and it will kind of break your heart (so i'm sure it doesn't surprise you to hear that brad and i have only watched it twice). it tells the story of two down-and-out musicians who meet by chance and create something magical... you just need to trust me on this one. it's really fantastic. the main characters in once are played by real musicians who won an oscar for a song in the movie and went on to form a band called the swell season (recommendation #3). anyhow, i highly recommend both films and the band, but i ultimately recommend anything jason segel has ever done (freaks and geeks, i love you man, knocked up), especially this video, featuring jason segel performing with the swell season at a recent show in los angeles.

i called the number (315.329.6673) and it's really jason segel. what a dream boat. not sure yet if i'll be emailing healthtronics@gmail.com.

in god we trust.

guess who makes cool accessories? a company called in god we trust. starting with this extremely fresh take on an old wardrobe staple: the best friends necklace.
these socks are adorable. i kind of wish i'd seen them in the fall (as opposed to the verge of spring) but i will still take a pair in every color.

in god we trust also makes some pretty rad sunglasses called COSTALOTS, but i suspect a large part of my liking them has to do with the name.
{via refinery 29}

radiohead, schmadiohead.

dear pandora online radio-

i listen to you ALL day. i love your custom stations and nearly commercial-free music options. i love the 'thumbs down' feature when i hear a song i don't like. i love the buy-it-now option, and i enjoy using the QuickMix shuffle. you are free for the listenin' and you have exposed me to a plethora of artists that i LOVE and would have otherwise never heard (joshua radin, i'm talking about you). generally, i am thrilled with the results of your insanely brilliant music genome project. there's just one teensy, tiny problem:i effing HATE radiohead. i hate them, hate them, hate them, in a crazy, tourette's sort of way, and you play them every other song if i'm not careful. i don't care if rolling stone said they made the best album of the past ten years. i don't care if radiohead is a byword for brave musical experimentation. i don't care that their last album was available for free download (a fair price, by they way). i realize i'm the only person on god's green earth that doesn't care for radiohead, but when it comes to my listening pleasure, please stop, because if i hear that idioteque song again, i might throw my monitor out the window. it's counterproductive to what you're trying to accomplish, really.

love, kristina

2010 forecast: giant headgear.

i thought it was slightly coincidental when i posted this picture and this picture, but it is time to FACE IT: giant headgear is preparing to take over 2010. you heard it here first, folks. get some giant flowers and/or yarn pom-poms on your head, STAT.{image of the lovely evelyn nesbit via what possessed me}

nicole & oscar.

did anyone else see the dress nicole kidman and her plastic face wore to the screen actors guild awards? oscar de la renta, and i thought it was kind of awesome. boho AND sequins? that's a combo i can always get behind. homegirl needs to eat a sandwich, but i give this look an A+. {images via just jared}

marthas and arthurs.

unless you live under a rock or are my mom, you probably subscribe to daily candy, which (daily, duh) emails tidbits of things you should be doing or buying, specific to your location. i have stupidly been subscribed to 'all cities' when i SHOULD have been subscribed to daily candy: london, since, as we all know, london is on the cutting edge of cool. DC: london has really made my day with today's candy, courtesy of london correspondent audrey:

LOOK WHO'S COMING TO DINNER.For your last dinner party, you spent two days making heavenly stew, 45 minutes fluffing egg whites, and two hours on a seating arrangement that resulted in the singles pulling and the marrieds flirting.

What did your guests do for you? They brought cheap red wine, then spilt it on the white carpet.

Next time, invite vocal harmony group Marthas & Arthurs. In exchange for a meal, they’ll perform for you and your guests for free. The four-person indie band — who describe their musical style as a cross between Belle and Sebastian and the The Mamas & the Papas — play private dinners, launches or other events. All you have to do is e-mail them three good reasons why they should pick your party.

That’s what we call singing for your supper.

{via daily candy: london}

SOJUSTTOBECLEAR, this talented band of accordion-playing strangers will come hang out with you and engage in free musical performance if you feed them, with the only catch being that you must live in london.

edmund dulac & the golden age of illustration.

i've had a recent penchant for (relatively) obscure artists who worked mainly in illustration, possibly due to the fact that sitting in a studio and drawing all day sounds LOVELY. i've fallen hard for the collective works of edmund dulac, who had opportunity to illustrate the stories of shakespeare, edgar allen poe, hans christian andersen and the bronte sisters. edmund dulac was raised in france and then relocated to london, where he had a prominent and successful career in book illustration. he was fortunate to live and work during a time dubbed 'the golden age of illustration,' when books were commonly printed with luxurious color images. these images are a dreamy, blurry escape from winter's cold, gray skies.more images (and the stories they accompany!) can be found here.

meow.

i share a residence with

1. a fantastic common-law husband-slash-fiance;
2. two half-adorable, half-asshole dogs and
3. three extremely overweight and bitchy CATS.

the cats pretty much drive me bonkers on a minute-to-minute basis, which makes my fascination with funny cat pictures and funny cat youtube videos a mystery (refer to previous cat fascination here and here and here). nevertheless, i stumbled upon an online treasure trove of funny cat pictures today, called CATS ARE DOING SHIT. i know. the name needs work, but cut them some slack:Caption: In the 1920s, this cat was briefly editor of The New Yorker.

dik-dik.

dear brad-

valentine's day is just around the corner, and i know you've been scouring the Fire N' Ice collection at Zales, but i don't need any diamonds this year. alls i need is a dik-dik (no, not that kind, but thankyouallthesame). actually, i think i need two or three dik-diks. let's face it: if you can get dik-diks cheaper by the dozen, just get a couple dozen. so please stop whatever it is that you're doing right now, call up africa and say I NEED THREE DOZEN DIK-DIKS:these adorable miniature antelope are about 16" tall when fully grown and they get their name from the sound they make when they're scared. despite the fact that they are called dik-diks and hail from the east african bush, i suspect dik-diks are made of sugar and spice and everything nice. i challenge you to find anything more precious and adorable in this entire world.

love, kristina

ps-i will also need a magical fairy-land backyard and a dik-dik feeder.

{via cute overload.}