Starting a Wine Cellar

This is a neat article about starting a basic wine cellar.

What's your favorite type of wine?

Until a few years ago, I normally only drank white wine. Then, at the start of 2009, my New Year's resolution was to acquire a taste for red wine. It was one of the most fun (and also most successful) resolutions I've had to date.

source: http://xkcd.com/627/

Ballroom Jeans

A friend recently passed this advertisement along to me, and it's kind of hilarious. This same friend, split the crotch of his jeans open trying to impress a small group of people with his dance skills a while back. So...these would be good for that, or also if you want your man to practice his ice dancing skills, I suppose:

New Favorite Magazine

A friend of mine recently told me about Matchbook Magazine, which is online once a month. It's so cute! The perfect combination between preppy and relaxed. I can't wait until next month's issue!

Music for Monday Morning

I woke up this morning to this link in my inbox from my dad. Monday mornings can be hectic, so get ready for work while listening to this fun song.

Tonight for dinner, we tried the Spicy Turkey Meatballs and Spaghetti from Ina Garten's How Easy Is That? Cookbook. Lately, that's been my go-to for recipes. As always, I'd recommend using less salt than she suggests, but it was a tasty, hearty cold weather meal.

Here's a link to the recipe, and a picture of a much tastier looking dish!

These are a few of people's favorite things...

Lately, there's been a lot of "top" lists. Here are some of my favorites:

•  The Top 10 Literary Badasses in Children's Books 
• 10 of the Best Burgers in NYC (chosen by The Guardian)
• Best Cocktail Bars in the World (Top 50)

What do you think? What are your some of your favorite things? 

Sunday Post

I am always on the lookout for new music. Lately, I've been feeling like I'm in a bit of a rut--have any suggestions?

In the meantime, I'm enjoying these:

Mr. Rogers! (and more)

It's Monday, which means I never have seem to have enough time in the day to do everything I'd like to. Maybe it's because I spend most of the days wishing it was any other day...

Here are a few things I found interesting:

• A great article on Fred Rogers.
• This looks like a yummy British food to make. 
• Apparently a man in Florida tried to use a taco as ID? Best line ever: Another deputy clarified they were asking for an ID, not a taco. Falkner chuckled and began eating the taco.
• I want to try making some of the recipes on this tasty-looking blog. 

Happy Sunday

It's definitely fall in London this weekend. Yesterday we went up to Windsor and went kayaking on the Thames, which, aside from the the train not running part of the way, was a really fun experience. We managed to see Windsor Castle, Eton College, and lots of birds amidst fall foliage.

Afterward, we decided to swing by the Egham Real Ale & Cider Festival. Located at the Egham United Services Club, there was snooker, a BBQ, and fireworks in the background for Guy Fawkes Day.

Today, we made a Turkey and Roasted Red Pepper Meat Loaf for dinner. Real Simple's recipe is a nice, tasty alternative to traditional meat loaf.

For the end of the weekend, I've swiped the two below links from Cup of Jo:

• This is a great article on relationships.
• Don't you kind of want these cute fake tattoos? They could be a cute Christmas stocking stuffer.

Tokyo Police Club

I discovered this album last year after a friend recommended it to me. It took a little while, but they've really grown on me (good driving music!0. And this video is one of the most fun music videos I've ever seen. Dog pool party!

Occupy Wall Street

This is a pretty great idea, even if you just want to cut down on junk mail:

James Van Der Week

Ever wonder what James Van Der Beek is up to these days? Me either, but I was still pretty excited to see him take over the Funny or Die Twitter Account for a week, and also to see this pretty awesome new website (I especially like the Katie Holmes smile section). Here's a clip of him doing "sexy":

And here's how it all came about.

Video: A Murmuration of Starlings - The Atlantic

This must have been such an amazing thing to stumble upon. I love how surprised these girls seem:

Video: A Murmuration of Starlings - The Atlantic

Kitty!

This is pretty spot on:

Best or Worst Commercial Ever Made?

Thoughts?

Tuesday Song

It's dark and grey in London, so here's a sleepy song for the day. Though I love Kate Bush's original version, I kind of like this cover by Greg Laswell:

College Dorm Decorating Tips

Check out these dorm rooms.

I could definitely learn a few tricks from these college students.

Look Ma, No Hands!

...is actually the name of a coffee shop / bike repair shop (okay, it's mum, but I haven't yet embraced that Britishism) not far from my apartment. On that note, check out this video on biking with no hands (I have to admit, I like it until the end...)

The National Book Award

Have you heard about the National Book Award debacle? The Awards will be announced on November 16th. Here are the nominees (with an error on the YA section--more on that later):

Fiction
THE SOJOURN by Andrew Krivak,
THE TIGER'S WIFE by Tea Obreht
THE BUDDHA IN THE ATTIC by Julie Otsuka
BINOCULAR VISION by Edith Pearlman
SALVAGE THE BONES by Jesmyn Ward

Non-Fiction
THE CONVERT: A Tale of Exile and Extremism by Deborah Baker
LOVE AND CAPITAL: Karl & Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution by Mary Gabriel
THE SWERVE: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt
MALCOLM X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable
RADIOACTIVE: Marie & Pierre Curie: A Tale of Love and Fallout by Lauren Redniss

Poetry
HEAD OFF & SPLIT by Nikki Finney
THE CHAMELEON COUCH by Yusef Komunyakaa
DOUBLE SHADOWS by Carl Phillips
TONIGHT NO POETRY WILL SERVE: POEMS 2007-2010 by Adrienne Rich
DEVOTIONS by Bruce Smith,

Young People's Literature
MY NAME IS NOT EASY by Debby Dahl Edwardson
INSIDE OUT AND BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai
FLESH AND BLOOD SO CHEAP: THE TRIANGLE FIRE AND ITS LEGACY by Alfred Marrin
SHINE by Lauren Myracle*
OKAY FOR NOW by Gary D. Schmidt

*So, it turns out that SHINE was listed in error. What they meant to say was that CHIME by Franny Billingsley was on the list. Here is a PW article on the blunder, and here is author (and wife of Myracle's agent, Barry Goldblatt) Libba Bray's take on the situation.