Top 25 Christmas Books for 2012

Last year we started the advent style tradition of reading Christmas and winter themed books each night in the month of December. It was such a big hit for our girls (now ages 2 and 6) we are doing it again this year. I love the notion that we can mix up our selections each year with library titles and then deliberately choose to make purchases focusing upon ones that we absolutely adore.

I'm quite selective about children's book in general and when you are talking Christmas books it adds a whole new layer to my book neurosis. Classic and solid story lines, beautiful illustration/design and high marks on review meters are my general guidelines. I also like to keep it real and adaptable with our kid's ages since our girls are still pretty young.

Here is my list of favorite Christmas books for 2012:

1 Pashmina the Little Christmas Goat - We loved this book so much from last year I purchased it. The story is heartwarming and the watercolor illustrations are gorgeous!

2 Reindeer Christmas - Another selective purchase but worthy of a repeat, it is so beautifully illustrated.

3 Dream Snow - Eric Carle is sure prolific eh?

4 Uncle Vova's Tree - A Russian tale.

5 The Mitten: An Old Ukrainian Folktale - A Ukrainian folk tale

6 Babar and Father Christmas - Got to have a little Babar!

7 The Night Before Christmas - I remember my Grandma reading me this version growing up.

8 Madeline's Christmas - Madeline is a household favorite.

9 Singing Away the Dark - Julie Morstad's illustrations are fantastic, can't wait to get my hands on this.

10 A Christmas Carol (BabyLit) - This will appeal to our two year old, for sure.

11 Father Christmas Goes on Holiday - This looks quirky and fun.

12 The Clown of God - Looking forward to reading this old French legend.

13 Petunia's Christmas - I love Richard Duvoisin books.

14 The Twelve Days of Chirstmas - This vintage beauty makes a repeat.

15 The Lost Christmas Gift - I received this in the mail a few days ago and really enjoyed it.

16 The Third Gift - Got this last year and it remains on the list. A great overall story about Myrrh.

17 Santa's Favorite Story - The Story of the First Christmas through Santa's eyes.

18 The Elves and the Shoemaker - We are going to this play this year, should be fun to read too.

19 Silent Night: The Song and Its Story - A story about the beloved carol.

20 Nutcracker - Trying different versions of this until we find our favorite. This one is illustrated by Maurice Sendak, last year we did this one.

21 Christmas in the Stable : I'm excited to get my hands on this one as it is written by Astrid Lindgren!

22 How the Grinch Stole Christmas : Classic and keeper.

23 Letters From Father Christmas : Tolkien wrote this one and our book club is reading it this month, will probably read the girls only excerpts as it is on the longer side.

24 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer : A classic and look forward to seeing this vintage version.

25 The True Gift: A Christmas Story : Excited to read this one.

So what would you add to the list? What are your favorites you know, the ones that you come back to year after year?

ps. Last year's list here and here.

Top 10 Plant-Based Diet Cookbooks

For the last month or so our family has been focusing upon eating plant-based meals. Yes, we still have some organic chicken, wild fish and shrimp in the freezer to use up, but we are moving more fully towards a plant-based diet. Normal I would infuse 2-3 meals a week that were meatless in the menu plan, but now it is turning more into like 6. We've already nixed most dairy, and we've really seen and felt the difference.

For us this movement has been a gradual process over the last few years. After recently watching Forks over Knives, along with a few other haunting documentaries about meat production, (and bouts of hot dog food poisoning) we have not been in the mood for juicy meaty burgers, well at least right now. Ask me again next year and we'll see. (I promise we aren't turning into California hippies, well maybe a little, ha). Since at home we will be working towards eating pretty clean, we are the pretty easy-going type so we won't be freaking out about things as we dine out, or over at someone's house. We are implementing the 80/20 rule. 

The main thing we've noticed so far overall is more energy, and I noticed that my skin cleared up too. (Although, sadly as I had some major slip-ups on my recent road trip my skin began to meltdown again).

I am already a huge fan of Heidi Swanson's books and she has usually been my go-to for excellent plant-based recipes but, I also wanted to explore more options. Here are the top ten plant-based cookbooks I've checked out over the last few months at our local library, are in my queue or am interested in.

Read more »

Books

A few books on my mind.

1. Currently listening to The Power of Habit I'm not that far in but it is very interesting so far. Listening to audiobooks has been a great way for me to fit them in timewise. I listen in the car, running errands, or doing household chores.

2. I am a recovering perfectionist so this book The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown hit home for me in many ways. I would highly recommend this title to anyone, but it is especially great for those who rarely feel 'good enough' on whatever level. It is engaging and very well written. To see Brene's wit and fun personality check out this Ted Talks which (along with the conference I heard her speak at) turned me towards the title. (Crazy thing, this is the first book I have read in entirety on my phone!)

3. Black Beauty - a classic, Mac or I have been reading a chapter to the girls every night.

4. East of Eden - I am taking on this long one. It has been on my list for ages.

Your turn! What are you reading/listening to these days?

Ps. Oh and for the kitchen, I also bought this cookbook and pre-ordered this one. Can't wait to get them in the mail.

Music Monday: The Lumineers

I hope you had a wonderful weekend, one of the highlights of mine was attending the lovely Kinfolk Dinner/Brunch in San Francisco that I hope to share more of later today. To kick of Monday with a little music I wanted to share a band I recently came across called the Lumineers, with their song called Ho Hey which is a sweet little ditty about being someone's sweetheart. I am enjoying their overall sound, it's pretty nice. Enjoy.

Music Monday : Scissor Sisters

Our five year old daughter has been seriously obsessed with horses for a few years. The other day she expressed again how excited she is to grow up so she can live on a farm with horses and be a real cowgirl. This "Only the Horses" by Scissor Sisters suits her well, I am excited to share it with her and I hope you will enjoy it too. Here's to a little upbeat Music Monday happiness.

Paris In Color

If you are not already dreaming of moving to a magical place such as Paris, Nichole Robertson's book, Paris in Color will entice you even further. Her beautiful photographs that she has been taking, sharing, and even selling on her blog of the city of lights for the past few years come even more alive when you see them compiled together in this lovely book. Her extremely well-written introduction gave me the chills in a good way and had me instantly want to drop everything and hop on a plane with our family and move to one of my favorite destinations. Although that isn't possible for us now, I am inspired by her words to cultivate even more flâneur wherever I am. If you love Paris, photography, and things organized in color like me you will love this book. Bravo Nichole, your book is a sheer delight!

Music Monday : Bahamas

This acoustic version of the song 'Lost in the Light' by Bahamas is helping my Monday morning get going in a soothing way. I just bought the album Barchords and can't wait to listen to it all the way through. Toronto-based Afie Jurvanen has such an amazing sound, I can't wait to hear more. Hope you had a nice weekend, and you are off to a great start!

Seattle...

We are still hanging out in the Pacific Northwest for spring break and having a great time. The girls were pretty giddy about their first Ferry ride today, they couldn't have loved it more.

Have a lovely weekend!

Today Miss India ran towards these flowers in Whole Foods with the greatest laughter and it made me crack up. She loves flowers as much as I do!

Mac and I are headed for a little weekend getaway to the coast and I am excited, it has been ages since we got the chance to go somewhere sans kids. I will be posting shots along the way on instagram @blackeiffel.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Noosa Yoghurt

I kind of have a thing for yogurt, if you follow me on instagram (or other posts) you will see the variety I like to try.

The other day I was struck in the yogurt aisle by something new I haven't seen before, Noosa yoghurt. The pretty packaged cream-cheese sized container (which serves 2) stood out amongst the yogurt crowd. I was also delighted by the g'day cow greeting on the inner sealed label, talk about attention to detail. I got honey and raspberry and it is a different consistency of yogurt than I am used to, like panna cotta creaminess, I really love it. It's not as thick as Greek, not too soft like European, but just right - Aussie style made in Colorado. Hello to my new scrumptious favorite yogurt!

Do you have a favorite yogurt that you have tried lately? If you see Noosa around give it a whirl and tell me what you think.

Good Day.

Have a bright and cherry weekend! Hope it is full of happiness and color.

1: Megan Geckler
2: Rachel Castle

Music Monday : Top 10 Musical Discoveries of 2011

I hope you had a nice holiday break, we sure did and are working on getting back into the normal flow. Flashing back over the past year, I came up with a list of my top ten favorite music discoveries of 2011 and did my best to sum each selection up in a few words. What about you? Do you have a band, artist or song that stood out to you in 2011, do share. Next week for Music Monday I will share my top albums of the year!

1: Oh Land - Hip Danish futurist.
2: Metronomy - Cool British Electronica mixing it up since the late 90s.
3: Keren Ann - Multicultural French wow.
4: Matt Corby - Perhaps he is Jeff Buckley, Bon Iver and Nick Drake's nephew.
5: Youth Lagoon - Airy eerie nostalgia.

6: Toro Y Moi - Quirky.
7: Starsmith - Chill electronica.
8: Ben Howard - Acoustic melting road trip music.
9: Bombay Bicycle Club - Adorable boy next door band with a new release.
10: Young Galaxy - Interesting dance pop eclectic.

Feeling a little glitzy...

1: Sportmax S/S 2012 Runway Details from Monsieur J
2: Free People sequin button down (via my friend Holly)

Music Monday : The Black Keys

This is a great music clip to watch on a Monday, I'm digging this guy's nice dance moves. The Black Keys has me smiling real big today. Hope you had a nice weekend.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Whew, this week has been a doozey. Along with being sick, (finally we are all getting better!) we also found out sad news about someone in our close family (in another state) that involved the ER and hospital. Yikes. I won't go into details but it sure puts things into perspective. Our gratitude for good health, modern medicine, and loving family and friends with great hearts has definitely been heightened.

The above shots are taken with my iPhone and shared on Instagram over the last few weeks. I love that app and I am excited to hear that they are working on an Android version so more people can enjoy the fun. Do you use Instagram?

Tomorrow we are picking up my sister at the San Francisco airport and I am currently planning out the perfect day. Shout out any San Francisco tips you have in the comments. I will be sharing our adventures on Instagram (username : blackeiffel) if you want to see what we are up to.

Wishing you all a healthy and wonderful weekend!

Hi there everyone, me and the baby have been under the weather, and now V has join in the fun with some type of stomach bug, which unfortunately involved lots of unglamorous cleaning up today. Hope to be back soon.

The World's Smallest Post Service Kit

We have this ongoing joke in our family that when you call something 'cute' it has to reference something miniature and tiny. You know like babies, kittens, puppies, these teeny-tiny macarons or mini burgers and fries. I can hear echoes of our daughter saying, "sooooo cute, cute, and cuuuute!" to all of the above. 

A little while ago I remember sharing these teeny-tiny custom letters that Lea Redmond created that set off my 'tiny cute radar' back then, and have remained on my gift idea list. Then recently... voila! Lea in conjuction with Chronicle Books came out with a Tiny Mail Stationery Kit that allows anyone to create their very own bundle of miniature cuteness. The kit supplies items to write those itty bitty letters and make little gift boxes to share with others. Check out this clip to see what I mean, talk about hip, hip, cool. Wouldn't you love to give or receive a tiny letter, how memorable would that be?!

Trying to think of what to say in such a limited space? This excerpt from one of Lea's custom letters may help inspire you to get the ball rolling and is so adorable.

"To my wife who is my all. I send this card so very small. And though it's held by fingertips. The love inside could sink ten ships."

GIVEAWAY ALERT: Enter to win a Tiny Mail Stationery Kit! Leave a comment below and a winner will be randomly selected and notified on Monday and I will update this post with the winner's name as well. Good luck. You can also find the kit to buy here if you want.

I am happy be part of The World's Smallest Post Service's blog tour  - which included : Simple Lovely >  Refinery 29 > Fete a Fete > Oh My Handmade.

*Update: Jen is the lucky randomly selected winner which I will contact via email. // Comments are now closed.