Primetime Streaming

I have all these grand visions of life as a multitasking supermom... garden-to-table three course dinners, handmade toys and sweet little hand-stitched sundresses for Amelia, consistently shampooed hair. You know.

But after the day is done and the baby is in bed, who wants to sit at a sewing machine when you can snuggle on the couch and stream TV shows instead?* Now that Chris and I have the littlest Ross, our days of binge-watching a series during the weekend are over, but we still find time to catch an episode or two in the evenings. Here are our recent favorites on Netflix and Amazon...

ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK  This show might be a little old news but I don't even care. Never in my life did I think I would love a prison drama so much. But I do, we both do. It took us forever but we finally finished season two a few weeks ago and now there's a void in our lives.

KEY AND PEELE  This is our go-to show when we're in the mood for something lighthearted. The jokes are hilarious, the characters are ridiculous, the production value is surprisingly high-quality. One of my favorite sketches: substitute teacher #2.

DOWNTON ABBEY  I realize the blogworld is probably over Downton (until next season, perhaps) but since we didn't have TV for the past four seasons, I've been catching up on Amazon. The storyline, the history, the costumes, the dry humor... it's all so good (although I feel like I should share that Chris decidedly does not feel the same.) I just finished season three yesterday and OHMYGOSH I don't even want to talk about it, my heart is broken. I just can't.

ADVENTURE TIME  We usually turn on Finn and Jake's shenanigans when we don't know what else to watch. Then we get sucked in to watching four episodes because everything is just so dang mathematical. I don't even know how to summarize this show in a few sentences, so you should probably read this article from the New Yorker.


Have you been obsessing over any shows lately? Next up for us will probably be Six Feet Under, and I've never seen The Office in full (I stopped watching when Michael left) so that's on my list as well, but I'd love to hear some other favorites!

* I feel the need to note that this sentence has some nice alliteration going on and even rhymes. I also feel the need to note that it was not planned. I promise I'm not that cheesy, I just read a lot of nursery stories these days.

Arrested Development: Season 4

Let's take a break from all the baby talk, shall we? Let's watch this trailer instead.

ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT RETURNS IN TWO WEEEEEKS!!!!!

Seeking a Friend for the End of the World

This weekend Christopher and I saw Seeking a Friend for the End of the World and loved it. It was funny, dark and poignant. The last ten minutes were so sweet, I left the theater with red-rimmed eyes, the sniffles and a greater appreciation for my husband and life in general. I highly recommended it!

Recipes on Film

I've seen a lot of creative food videos popping up on blogs lately and I am so in love with them. It's such a wonderful way to share recipes...

Classic Pesto from Tiger in a Jar for Kinfolk, via Etsy

Mojitos, Chips, and Salsa by Rachel Chew for Elephantine

A French Press Method by Hugh Forte for Sprouted Kitchen, via Pitch Design Union

Beautiful, right? There are a great many things I'd love to master, videography being one of them. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll ever have the time to become as skilled as these filmmakers. Which is fine by me... I'm content to watch these lovely shorts unfold.

100 Years of Fashion

I can't get over this video: 100 Years of Fashion, presented in 100 seconds through dance. 

It's actually a commercial for a new branch of the British shopping center, Westfield Stratford, but I think it's a work of art. The musical transitions, the clever choreography and of course, the costumes... advertising can be so great.

I'd also like to pretend that the dancers are married. Because they're super cute together.

A few of my favorites... oh how I love the gypsy lifestyle of the 70s and those 90s power suits...

Art direction by Jake Lunt for The Viral Factory.
via Uppercase.

Art & Copy

Somehow, even in the 90-95 degree weather we've been having lately, I caught a cold. A sniffly, sneezy, sore throat, nasty cold. And summer colds are the worst. It's so warm and sunny outside, but all I want is to curl up in a blanket and drink tea. For dinner last night, I made Chris eat grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup with me. Yeah. It's that bad.

 Photo by Kate at Diapers and Skinny Jeans

So I spent yesterday at home, tissues by my side. Between naps, crafting, and random bouts of housework, I was able to knock two movies off my Netflix queue. One of them I've had in my queue for a good year now: Art & Copy, a documentary about creativity and the world of advertising. Have you seen it? I don't know why it took me so long to watch it... I really enjoyed it. One of my favorite quotes, from the opening scene: 

"The frightening and most difficult thing about being what somebody calls a creative person is that you have absolutely no idea where any of your thoughts come from, really. And especially, you don't have any idea about where they're going to come from tomorrow."

-Hal Riney

You said it, Hal. The film explored a few real-life Mad Men (and women) and focused on their efforts during the 60s, 70s and 80s to bring advertising to life as a form of creativity and art. I enjoyed hearing a few interviews from the creators of campaigns for Volkswagen, Nike, Apple and other huge companies. Although I wouldn't consider myself in the "advertising" business, I really enjoyed this film as a designer and a creative. It was a good reminder to constantly strive for creativity, beauty and innovation in my work. Thank you, PBS, for your inspirational films. Definitely check it out if you have a little free time.