wildbirds & peacedrums

We went to see Lykke Li again this week in Williamsburg. As always she was brilliant. That girl can dance, dance, dance. She did a cover of Kings Of Leon's "Knocked Up" that was so heartfelt. At one point she had her drummer on one side of the stage and the drummer for Wildbirds & Pecedrums on the other side of the stage drumming together. The sound was incredible and intense. Loved it!

We love to get to all gigs early enough for the opener because you never know what hidden gem you might discover. For Lykke Li it was Wildbirds & Peacedrums (from the lovely land of Sweeden) WOW is what we thought with the first song and by the end of their set we were hooked. Worth checking out live if you ever have the chance. Beautiful and very moving.


--heidi

mcqueen

Today I finally got around to checking out Alexander McQueen's line for Target. I love his style so I was supper excited to see what goodies were in store for me come March. Errr, not as blown away as I had hoped to be. There are a few things that I like but will need closer inspection before I will fully commit to them. I used to look forward to each design collaboration at Target but lately they have all been a bit underwhelming.


I like the pattern to this dress and the draping.



A simple well tailored black blazer always makes my day.



I LOVE grey, so need I say more.? Styled with the blue booties and that killer vest this looks like it could be perfect for going out.



This dress looks fun for summer. I'm always on the look out for summer dresses since the humidity in New York makes me miserable every year.



This whole look was one of my favorites all around.



I really like the cut of this dress, and those blue booties are just too pretty.

--heidi

special order

Everyday when I go to the subway I see this sign. Only in NY would this be a selling point at a bookstore.

--heidi

with my by myself

This may be old news but we think this skit is one of the best from SNL and we can't stop singing it. Just today I was telling my mum about it so I thought I should share it so she can see how funny it really is.



--heidi

at last...

...change has come and it feels so good. Watching the Inauguration today was so inspiring and will stick with us for quite some time. Congratulations Mr. President, you make us proud.

as duckie so wisely said "ain't it the truth"

our best of 2008

We were without internet for a few days, oh the horror! So our planned post of our favorite albums of 2008 did not come together until now. Our personal top albums of 2008 are below. 2-5 are in no particular order because we couldn't decide, they were all soooo good. But we were unanimous in our number 1 for 2008!!

#1 Cut Copy--In Ghost Colours
We listen to this all. the. time. We saw them live three times in 2008 and each time it got better and better. This album is a must have for anyone who likes to dancity dance (us).


Ra Ra Riot--The Rhumb Line
This album makes my heart happy in so many ways-Katie



Elbow--The Seldom Seen Kid

AMAZING! Well deserved winners of The Mercury Prize.

Lykee Li--Youth Novels
Another Swedish delight!

Glasvegas--Glasvegas
We have seen them three times now and we just adore their sound.


Our top singles of 2008 that were on constant repeat

*Santogold--LES Artistes
*Ladyhawke--Magic
*The Kills--Black Balloon
*Kings of Leon--Sex on Fire
*Estelle--American Boy (special shout out to Brooklyn-hey!)
*MGMT--Kids
*The Long Blondes--Century
*The Virgins--Rich Girls
*The Ting Tings--Great DJ
*Feist--How My Heart Behaves (this is from 2007 but received more attention this year,I'm obsessed with it--Katie)

happy holidays

One of my favorite things about New York during the holidays is when all the tree vendors pop up on the sidewalks. It's so picturesque and fun to watch people selecting a tree and carrying it home. We were very tempted this year to get a wee tree for our flat but it just wasn't meant to be. I am going to make sure that next year we make it a priority. No more tree in a can for us! The lights in our 'hood were very small town main street. Brooklyn has such style and pzazz. As much as I love the holidays in New York it wouldn't feel like Christmas without going home to Idaho. The snow, our tree with all the ornaments that our mum has gotten us over the years, the treats that Denise makes, wrapping last minute presents on Christmas eve, going to a movie as a family on Christmas day, eating LOTS of great food, listening to Christmas music and singing along really loud, our tradition of organizing the presents under the tree just so. We are usually all so tired after everything but it's still so fun.

Have a great holiday with your family and friends!

--heidi

**picture is our family tree in Idaho-ho

afirmative

I'm so excited for the second season of Flight of the Conchords. It doesn't start officially until January 18th but you can watch the first episode online here. This show makes me laugh over and over. It's set in New York and filmed here so we have a lot of New York pride when watching. Katie and I tend to break into the songs at random. "Robots" is the one I sing the most. Plus I have a bit of a crush on their manager Murray. He's so loveable in a pathetic way.

--heidi

she's so high

Oh, man I am so very excited to know that, Blur-one of my favorite bands ever, has reunited and is playing London's Hyde Park in July 09. This is a pretty big deal since they haven't played together in eight years and I'm so sad I won't get to be there (must start buying Lotto tickets...). They are a band that has just gotten better and better over time and is continually experimenting and evolving with new sounds.


*Doesn't Graham still look so good? He's wearing the glasses-heart pounds.

I'll never forget getting a cassette (I'm so old) of Leisure for Christmas when I was 15 and being happy as pie listening to it non-stop along with a cassette of Saint Etienne's Foxbase Alpha-two of my favorite albums still. Back in the 90's when it was Blur vs Oasis I was definitely in the Blur camp and had a HUGE crush on Graham Coxon (I've always had a thing for the Brit musicians). Here's hoping they come to NY too.

My favorite song of theirs is Blue Jeans but since there isn't a video for that I'll post the video to She's So High which is what got me hooked in the fist place.



--Katie

london shop fronts

I discovered a fantastic site today via Design Sponge. It is a site after my own heart. London Shop Fronts. It includes my love of signs, design and London, need I say more. It makes my heart so happy.

This is my favorite so far.


--heidi

i not dead

Such an intense beginning to our day today! Around 7:30 this morning an incessant beeping woke me up. We have a railroad flat and it sounded like it was in the back (our bedroom is in the front) so I got up to see what it was. If you don't have a carbon monoxide detector-GET ONE! Ours was going off like crazy so I immediately opened the windows and called 311. I love NYC for 311 which is the number you can call for anything-yes ANYTHING. They connected me to 911 who connected me to the fire department who was at our door in less than 5 minutes. We had three giant firemen in our kitchen and clunking around through our flat with their axes and other pokey staff things (to bust/tear down a door). These guys were big and made our place look oh so tiny. They confirmed we did have carbon monoxide in our kitchen and proceeded to wake up the entire building to find the source (the boiler?) and to check the other flats. While all this went down we stayed in the hall and watched while we waited for clearance to go back into our flat. This ends very anti-climactic because after a while they just left and we had to call our super to see if we could go back inside our flat. Wow! I love our carbon monoxide detector-If I could I'd take it to dinner to thank it for making this years Christmas the best cuz we're not dead!

--Katie

**no pictures taken by us since we were in our jim jams and we had other things going on.

image via

do you really want to hurt me?

Oh Topshop why are you doing this to us? We have been patient waiting for your grand arrival to the big apple and this is how you repay us. Haven't we suffered long enough without you in our lives everyday. You had better make this wait worth it or we're never speaking to you again (at least until you say you're sorry).

pulp

We used to go out dancing a lot with our friend Dirk. Most of the time we would see this guy at the club who looked like Jarvis from Pulp. He danced like him, dressed like him, even had glasses like him. If a week went by and he wasn't there we would be so sad because he was so fun to watch. Not knowing his name we just called him Jarvis. Jarvis of Salt Lake City what ever happened to you?

Below is a classic song by Pulp. It doesn't quite capture the magic of the real Jarvis' dancing but it's our favorite.



--heidi

** AHEM! Heidi forgot an important part of the story in that we would joke that we wanted to go to the Jarvis school of dance because we loved SLC Jarvis' moves so much. One year for Christmas we even had a t-shirt made for Dirk that said "I graduated from the Jarvis School of Dance".

--Katie

thanks!

Since it is a day of giving thanks I'm going to give thanks to my parents who instilled in me a love of travel. Growing up it seems like we would always take at least two trips every summer (one always being Redfish Lake) and we'd go places at other times of the year too. By the time I was 18 I had been to every state in the West along with Canada and Mexico and Hawaii which was pretty impressive since some/most kids my age had never been anywhere. So really it shouldn't be that surprising that I still have the wanderlust and I'm always wanting to go somewhere and do go whenever I can (it kills me when I'm on the subway and I see the ads for Iceland in only 5 hours at $799 for flight and hotel packages-I want to gooooooo!)

My favorite Thanksgivings were when we would go on a quick road trip, usually to CA but once to Phoenix-which were the last four that I lived at home ie: 9th-12th grade. Whoever came up with this brilliant plan (mum or dad or both?) cheers to you! The first time we took off for the holiday we went to San Francisco and had Thanksgiving at a Denny's in Santa Cruz. We had so much fun on that trip we went to San Francisco again the next year and Heidi and I still talk about the PETA protesters at Union Square over the disgusting fur coats women were wearing. Junior year we went to San Diego and we spent a lot of time trying to get to our hotel which we could see but couldn't get to because of the crazy roads and the freeway. Who can ever forget the Thanksgiving spent at Taco Bell at the Grand Canyon-classic.

Heidi and I loved these trips for the fun and adventure we got to have with our family and we usually got to go Christmas shopping and get some swell items. Especially in San Diego and Phoenix where we hit up the music stores and returned to ID with stacks of music. We were always on the hunt for anything that we couldn't get at home.

These trips were great to tide us over until spring break when we would hit the road again. With all the traveling we did when we were young it's in our blood to always be going somewhere and Heidi and I continue to get out and see the world while we can. Now we just need to go to Hong Kong, Praque, Stockholm, Tokyo, Brussels, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Bergen, Istanbul, Sydney, Luxembourg, Madrid, Copenhagen, Berlin, Munich, Sao Paolo, Buenos Aries, Cape Town, Moscow and everywhere else!

Thanks Mum and Dad for being such great parents and showing us that there is a world beyond the back yard.

--Katie

hairy situation

Anyone you know need to hide from the mob or the government? I have the perfect disguise for you. People will be laughing so hard when they see you in this they won't be able to see the real you through their tears.



See even the other head forms at the store are laughing at these guys.

--heidi

the necklace

Back in May I got this necklace at a design market-when I saw it I died and had to have it. It is the most amazing necklace and I love it. People ask me all the time what AGO stands for-it's just someone's initials as this is a combination of several vintage pieces reconfigured together. It's definitely an eye catcher and elicits gasps from all the girls at work and beyond.




I will be buried with this!




--Katie

does not offend at all

I am not known for being a great housekeeper. I have to be highly motivated to tidy up. This song is my new motivation, I seem to have no problem getting started on cleaning up once this starts playing. This is the first song for my "clean up your flat" playlist on my ipod.



--heidi

a little story

This story has made my whole week-it's that funny.

The other day at work I was having lunch in the break room with a couple of people when the funniest conversation occurred. Two of the guys who work in receiving (very strong and manly guys) were talking when all of the sudden Syed asked Javier if he had any baby pictures of himself. Javier was a bit confused and said no. Syed then asked Javier very seriously, "Would you like to exchange baby pictures?" I hadn't been paying much attention but that was the most random and funniest question I had ever heard I couldn't help but laugh for the rest of the day. Syed is a bit of a prankster so I knew even though he sounded serious he was just taking the piss out of Javier which made it all the more hysterical.

I think this will keep me laughing for a long time.

--Katie

designer art

At the beginning of November we went to the Chanel Mobile Art exhibit in Central Park. It was what I needed after working 8 days in a row and I was ready for something to get me out of my work haze. I haven't stopped thinking or talking about this exhibit since we went-it was AMAZING and I loved every minute of it.




Basically it's a project to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the quilted Chanel bag (which I now suddenly kinda want one-oh they're good). So Karl Lagerfeld asked architect Zaha Hadid to create her interpretation of the inside a Chanel bag and then 11 other artists contributed works that were inspired by Chanel for the interior. It was free to attend but you had to have a ticket which we didn't know about and they were all gone months ago. We don't let that kind of thing get in our way as we are savvy in the ways of these kinds of events (sold out Sundance films are never sold out and I've only not gotten into a film once and I've been to a lot). We wait listed for two hours and got in easy peasy. Being fans of The Man we're used to waiting in lines and this was nothing compared to those lines.



So they let people in groups of about 30 at a time every 15 minutes and all of the workers were so nice and friendly. Even though you're in a small group they break it down even more to about two or three at a time for baggage check. After you check your bag and coat they sit you down on a bench and bring you a little headphones/MP3 player and tell you to wait for someone to come set it for you. Another person then comes over and sets it to the volume you prefer and explains that they are starting yours 10 seconds apart from each other for personal reflection. Then you wait for the narration to begin.

Okay, little did I know that the narrator is a voice I love, love, love. Her name is Jeanne Moreau and she has a deep, husky voice and I could listen to her talk all day (she is the narrator in the Drew Barrymore flick Ever After). There are various points throughout the structure and I'm not going to describe all of them-just my two favorites. A little way through you walk into a long narrow hallway where there is a bench to lean on. Across from you there is a wall that stops a foot from the floor and you can see a cobbled street with a puddle all along the hallway. It takes a minute for you eyes to adjust and THEN... I can hear in my headphones dripping water and I see the drips in the puddles but it keeps going and you see an upside down reflection of houses in Paris with little Chanel logos and there is the sound of talking and drapes opening/closing and you see little movements of life in the reflection. Then it goes from day to night while all this activity is going on. It was so beautiful to me I just wanted to stay in there all day but my narrator lady had us moving on.

My other favorite piece was at the end and we had to write out a wish and tie it to a tree. The point is to empty your "bag" and bare your soul. Then we went to the bag check and they give you a large magazine type catalog (a gift from Chanel) of the exhibit since photographs aren't allowed inside. Heidi and I left so refreshed and calm-almost like we'd been to a spa. It was such a brilliant experience and I was so sad it is temporary-it's moving on to London next. After we left the exhibit we walked through the park for awhile to enjoy the beautiful weather and just being in some nature for a change.





I've been struggling lately with being in NY and wondering what the hell I'm doing here but I'm back in the groove of loving it for opportunities like this where I get to experience something so magical that reminds me it's been worth it so far (my eight month mark was at the beginning of November-Yay!).

--Katie

P.S. I found this girls blog about this as well-check it out!