to all my modest gals...

Im gonna be straight up honest--

Summer to me has its pros {see here} but all in all its one big gigantic con. That is for now at least. I get so bloody hot and I feel very limited in my choice of clothes. the rest of the world peels off the winter layers but I feel like I leave several on. When I was living in Florida it was hot, so hot, but the beach was 10 minutes away and I was in a bathing suit a lot of the time.

But now that I live in Atlanta, or what locals like to call it Hotlanta, {don't even get me started} its a different story. There is no ocean so no bathing suits as well as no ocean breeze to cool things off. Its just hot and muggy. Don't get me wrong if I had to choose between being unhappy and hot for 5 months out of the year vs not having the blessings that come with being endowed I'd choose unhappy and hot every single time. Its not a question. Just something that I consciously have to remind myself that is a blessing not a sacrifice on the truly hot days.

My point here isn't really to complain its so tell you about an awesome deal.

I know right?? I wouldn't have gotten that either if I were you, but here it is anyway.

I love J.Crew, but there prices are rarely nice on my wallet. For this reason I have become much more aquatinted with J.Crew Factory. We get along like peanut butter and jelly. They have awesome sale prices on their regular items and half the time an additional % off your purchase. Ive gotten a mega good hauls their lately.

For instance..right now they are have a stock up sale on shorts and polos; 40-50% off. Mens shorts usually start out at $50 and even more for ones with a graphic print, and polos $32 and up. Now Royal wont buy himself shorts, but if they end up in closet he'll wear them. His only request...please don't make me look like an Easter egg. Nantucket red is as wild as he'll go, but he's a New England man. What does one expect, other than pristine perfection??

That maybe just one womans opinion, but Im the only one that matters to him.

Moving on...

J. Crew's shorts are my summer fling. Yes they have the itty bitty things that I couldnt even imagine wearing and the 7'' that in another life would be perfect, but finally they have the 10'' bermuda short. These ladies... are awesome!! They come in a whole slew of fantastic spring and summer colors and are on sale right now for $23 as opposed to their normal $43. I totally love these shorts. Have I mentioned that? I have bought several pairs and have no complaints. They are the perfect solution for getting out of capris or jeans during the brutally hot summers.

Stock up sale indeed.

Now here is the icing on top the the cake. If you head over to Gilt right now you can pick up another 25% your J. Crew Factory purchase. Hurry though, offer ends at midnight. Once bought the coupon is good until Sunday{4/14} at midnight. That means your shorts are just $17 ladies.

17 bucks! Can you believe that?? I mean even if you miss the 25% off its still a good sale. I highly recommend.

Any questions hit me up:)

xO- Etheline

Musical Mondays

I can't get enough of this song right now!! It's a little bit of everything I love all wrapper up in one song. Plus it reminds me of the pixies a little which is never a bad thing:) I have developed a very eclectic taste in music in the past year or so; my iPod/pandora stations are all over the place. It seems, however, that I always have something to fall back on that matches my mood and I find comfort in that. I read an article in this months Instyle {April..the color issue} with Jonny Lee Miller. I've always like him tons..ever since Hackers. If I wasn't happily married I'd say he was my musical soul mate. {lol}

Enjoi-- xO- Etheline

Life according to instagram::

This is what happens when you go to several stores and are disappointed with all of their selection for something to wear for Easter. You run home a make your own^^^^

I'm not gonna lie...Christmas felt easier this year---

I love this picture!! Just excuse the bag of tortilla chips Royal was bribing the kids with. Please and thank you.

There are their smiling faces..my 3 peas in a pod..my blessings from God.

Yeah..that's Russian. It came in a box from something we ordered online. {not from Russia}

I like to pick a few new pieces for my wardrobe for spring. royal just wanted a new fixed gear bike. I got home some shorts anyway;)

Breakfast for dinner^^^ Lets be honest can we call chocolate chip pancakes breakfast, or dinner? You can in the Tenenbaum home. Catch you on the flip side. I mean..have a lovely weekend:) xO- Etheline

Some more New York to brighten your day

Pretend you have no idea how long I've been back from New York...

So... BACK to My Trip!!

Do you know this man? He's a little bit more on the radar now a days since he's the owner of two golden statues.

Here..maybe this will jog your brain a little bit..Christoph Waltz is one of my favorite actors. He's a little bit quirky, a little bit bad a$$, and no one does condescending like him. He's a ton of fun to watch, and while he blows the audiences mind when colaborating with Tarantino he did a Roman Polanski film last year that I {L O V E} called Carnage along side Kate Winslet. Check it out..it takes place in one apartment over an afternoon.

Anyways..my point about Mr. Waltz is that while in Manhattan he was the host of SNL. I got it into my head that it may be fun to try to get standby tickets since hes not uber well known. I had done some research and knew that we had to get there early...like 3 am early...for tickets to be handed out at 7am. Royal was down so we got up at 4am {^^@ Columbus circle stop waiting to head downtown} and got to NBC Studios. We got there and no one was there- 20 minutes later some other people showed up and we thought..wow we might have a chance. Honestly when I think back it was certainly to good to be true, and indeed it was. {lol} Around 6am some guy showed up saying theres a line on the other side too- of course there was. Royal went inside and asked what the deal was and they informed him today was special and the line was on 58th street instead of 50th today. {awesome! not.} We trekked over and found a line, an extremely long line. Im talking people on air mattresses with suitcases wrapped in trash bags to keep dry from the on again off again sleet. It was the craziest thing Id ever seen and I wish I could have taken a picture but there were times on our trip when I was so caught up in the joy or fun of what was happening I totally forgot to take photos.

The beauty about the experience was that either way it didnt matter. We were on our own in New York City. If we wanted to be nuts and wake up in the middle of the night-- we could. When we got to the end of the line Royal and I were more than happy to keep walking to jump on the subway and go back to our apartment and go back to bed. On the way we passed by Rockefeller Plaza and it was empty. Not a soul in sight. Okay thats not true there was a 30 something guy in a tuxedo sleeping on the ground in the middle of the street with snow on him. I wanted to be like..you obviously have a nice apartment somewhere..go home..lol. We also walked through Time Square {my first time} and it was just us and the lights. NO taxis, people, or delivery trucks. It was freakin' awesome. Later we woke up at 1pm and decided to continue with our day and hit up the diner around the corner before setting off for Brooklyn.

Ill say that the Brooklyn flea market was probably one of my favorite things we did. During the winter its held in this amazing building filled with a rotating smorgasbord of vendors. Its the kind of place that really makes you want to live there so you can go a few times a year to see the new hauls they have acquired and what will translate well into your own home. I found this old school Lands End crew neck sweater for $20. It is so warm and I lived in while we were there. Royal found a Barbour jacket in great shape for more than 1/2 off but alas it was too big and so we passed. There were rows of vintage Pendleton wool button up, donney and bourke bags, eclectic furniture and prints, and one of a kind jewlery pieces. I was hunting for a broach that really jumped out and was kind of disappointed nothing spoke to me.

In short if you are in New York over the weekend ever go! Its a must do on your trip. You will not be sorry you took the time; ever!! We decided to skip the pizza that night and instead jump up to Grays Papaya and try their recession special; 2 hot dogs and a drink for $4.99.This place was recommended by Tony, you know Anthony Bourdain...lol. He lives nearby and has said its his favorite place to eat in NYC. I totally see why. The hot dogs are sooo good and the experience is quite fun as well. Its a quick and dirty place if you will, no seating, but its a good thing because its usually so packed full of people where would you sit anyway. You get in you eat you get out. I love places like that and its supper accessible. Just get on the 1 train and take it to 72nd/Broadway. You'll see it as soon as you pop up top..No hunting required.

Sunday means church for us. We got on the subway {1 train again} and took it to 66th street. The temple is right there when you pop up. It was really cool having always driven to church. We actually saw a family we knew from a neighboring ward back home which was fun and the other families we met were so nice as well. It was ver family oriented. We joked around with them about the talent they must have as Juilliard was right across the street. They said you have no idea!!

Later that evening we took the subway down to the 9/11 Memorial--

This was the coldest I remember being on our trip^^^

The footprints of the buildings have been made into a memorial waterfall type thing. It's really beautiful and all those who lost their lives have their names engraved around it.

This is the new building that's being constructed

^^^^Here is the survivor tree. Story's like this always fascinate me. I love to see them. There's one in Oklahoma that I would love to visit if I ever make to Oklahoma. There's something very beautiful to me about such evil devastation and something so natural surviving against impossible odds.

This piece was in memory of the fire fighters who lost their lives from the first responding station across the street. I felt more sorrow here honestly than at the actual 9/11 memorial center. It felt less of a mass memorial and more of everyday people remembering their friends.

We really had a great time!! It didn't matter what or where we were going. It was perfect!! When we got back to Manhattan we of course got some pizza. I couldn't live without it. Lol--

xO- Etheline

Ps. more soon..promise..lol

Abracadabra--

I seem to connect magic and blogging together a lot. I think it has something to do with the idea or disappearing and reappearing, and well lets face it I do that a lot.

Ill be honest here, and this maybe why I havent blogged for so long, but I had to come home from New York early. There was a family thing that developed and that was that. Everything is okay...except that I had to leave New York early. I had to leave my husband and fly home by myself from our 1st vacation with no kids in 4 years. It was my first time in Manhattan and I wasnt ready to leave darn it.

I was angry and bitter and didn't want the world to know that. I wanted to hold onto the preciousness of the trip as long as I could, and not explain how I had pictures of Wynton Marsalis {trumpeter, composer, teacher, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center} at Lincoln Center but why I was no where to be found in any of the pictures. It all seems silly, but I can be that way sometimes...

After a while I got over it and moved on, but then a few of us got sick, I had preschool at my house here for two weeks, free day at the children's museum, we wanted to get all the kids spring/summer clothes in one weekend because it was consignment sale palooza here and Gap was simultaneously having their 40% off your entire purchase sale up at the outlets, my car died..like officially...like we are saving for a new one died, and we are trying to figure out what and if we want to put the boys in any summer camps because lets face it summer will be here before you know it.

Its been busy, crazy busy.

It hasn't been all bad though by any means--just life. We did go to the ballet. My first time ever:) I still to this day am a little amazed at myself for getting Royal in the seat. While he doesn't hate it its not his favorite. It wasn't a major company, just a local production of Swan Lake, but it sure was beautiful. My biggest enjoyment was that they had a real life orchestra performing with them and for me that was the icing on the cake. I absolutely adore Tchaikovsky! I have big grandioso dream of Margot being a ballerina. It will happen. Mark my words!! {lol}

All in all it was just one of those months were after the kids fell asleep blogging was the last thing to do on my list and cuddling into Royal and watching a movie or catching up on some Justified was so much more appealing. Hopefully now that Ive moved on and spilled my childish guts I can get back into the swing of things.

Here..take a look at this. This is exactly what I mean. Its none stop I swear. Grand Central ain't got nothing on us!!

xO-Etheline

Manhattan: Day 1

When we landed in New York I just about died. I was finally here-- I had made it. I have to admit, however, I was a little disappointed I didnt see any paparazzo waiting for celebs. {lol} Come to think of it we didnt see any celebs. Well, "well known" celebs, but I'll get to that later. Im guessing we would have had we headed to Soho, Tribeca, and Chelsea...maybe next time.

Anyways when we got into the city we started making our way to our place, but stopped for pizza. We went back. We stayed at this great place we found on airbnb over at Colubus Circle. Right at 59th and 8th. Hello Central Park. It was amazing!!!Let me say it again, a m a z i n g. After we settled in we freshened up and scooted down to Carnegie Hall. Thats right Carnegie Hall baby. Royal is a member of the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce and we noticed in their monthly newsletter that the Royal Swedish Philharmonic Orchestra were going to be in town at the same time. If my memory serves me right that is the absolute definition of kismet.

Let me just start out by saying Carnegie Hall is beautiful. When it opened in 1891 guest of honor Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted his Marche Solennelle on Opening Night and his Piano Concerto No. 1 several days later. Andrew Carnegie's architectural gem is known as the most prestigious concert stage in the U.S. and I can vouch for that. I felt like a bonafide sophisticated adult that night. This was my first {ANY} major performing arts attendance and I think we choose very nicely.

Before the concert started I noticed a man in plaid pants and said to Royal, " I know him." He sort of thought I was crazy. I had been in New York for 6 hours...how could I possibly know anyone? Once he looked up he knew where I was going with this. It was Marcus Samuelson, the 2010 Top Chef Master competition on Bravo. He has also competed on Iron Chef in Food network and owns several restaurants in New York and Sweden. This, to Royal and I, is a celebrity. {lol} We are big time foodies and Royal is a fantastic chef. Once he got mistaken for a food critic by the owner of a MIchelin star restaurant once, but thats a different story for another day. We also had the pleasure to hear Ray Chen, a prominent violinist, who was featured at the 2012 Nobel Prize Concert. He was a phenomenal addition to the orchestra who played flawlessly and put on a beautiful show. I had the most amazing time with Royal and it was the best night to kick off our trip.

Its so great posting about our trip. I get to relive my trip all over again with you all.

Coming up next:: Middle of the night trips to Rockefeller Center and train rides to Brooklyn.

xO-Etheline

Great song

I love all kinds of music. I grew up listening to The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkle, Frankie Valli and lots more. When I entered my teens I took a turn into some pop punk and straight up punk, but never crossed the lined into heavy metal..yuck!

My taste continued to refine and in my early 20s stopped searching for the next album and the next band and instead enjoyed what I liked and didn't let one genre define me. I became more interested in the singer and song writers off the beaten path; Emery, Bayside, and at the time death cab..because they were no where to be found on the radio at the time. When I fell in love with my husband he opened my eyes to the wonderful world of Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. Honestly you should see my Pandora stations they are all over the place; Jack Lieback for when I want to hear phenomenal film scores, Diana Ross for some good old fashion throwbacks, Early Bing Crosby for even earlier throwbacks, Calvin Harris for dance parties, and I'll stop there because I could do this all night.

My point is music is a big part of my life and the connections I've made to people along the way. My father and I danced to moon river by Andy Williams together since I was a little girl. As I got older I was always in tears at the end of the song because one day I knew that would be the song we danced to at my wedding and things would change forever that day. And they did, but I no longer cry when I hear it. I just think about the happiness I felt that day in that moment.

Lately I've become way more aware of the music in our car and house because its the right thing to do, but more importantly because my boys are getting older and they don't need to hear any kind of innuendos no matter how good the beat. {Justin and Jay-z I'm looking at you} When I heard the song below I was in the car and the first thing I thought was this song is beautiful. The second thought I had was I'll have to go home and look up the lyrics to make sure they are okay. Rihanna's awesome, but sometimes girls got beef with the world and needs to let it out. So I was over the moon when this song got the check off from me. ENJOY!! I love it.

Oh and if you look it up on YouTube..she's in the bath so...yeah. Don't say I didn't warn you. Lol

xO- Etheline