Travel Tuesday: Chicago

Travel Tuesdays : where I can look back fondly at wonderful places, people and journeys while we prepare for the exciting adventure ahead… Chicago, like most urban centres, can be carved up into smaller pieces: neighbourhoods, districts, regions, each defined by some homogeneity be it geographical, cultural, or  historical. In some ways the city can … Continue reading

Imminent Return

Hello you. I know it’s been a couple of weeks of radio silence. I hardly have time to think let alone blog. But the horizon is in view and we’ll be back to our normally scheduled ramblings about french toast, frostbite, and far away places soon. In the meantime I have fifteen minutes of a … Continue reading

Things I’m Loving

Last year I wrote a weird and wonderful round-up of things on my radar, and it consistently ranks among the favourite pages on this here Log. So I thought it was time to unveil the innerworkings of my Spring 2013. Et voila… I. THINGS THAT MAKE ME THINK Award season sees the worlds of media, … Continue reading

Strangers

When I walk down our very long street on my way home from work,  I first pass grocery stores and bus stops which eventually blur into Victorian tenement buildings and small businesses. Walk further along and the other end peters out into vine covered bay windows, rose gardens and a huge wildlife preserve. I find … Continue reading

Travel Tuesday: Amsterdam

When I think of Amsterdam I usually think of its airport. I’ve been in it more than a dozen times and it’s hands down my favourite airport (though Charles de Gaulle’s atrium inspired terminals give it a run for its money artistically). It has a stunning fireplace and grand piano lounge. And a library. And … Continue reading

Par Avion take flight

I have to come clean. I’ve been harbouring a secret. And in the world of full-frontal bloggery, that’s tantamount to sin. I mean, what is a blog if not a license to read and judge a total stranger’s faceless life? So I’ll start at the beginning. * A million years ago, I resolved to do … Continue reading

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Have you seen the Lizzie Bennet Diaries? This show is AMAZING (and I don’t use caps lightly). Now if I gave you the 30 second pitch normally ascribed to such projects, you may rightly balk: a modern Pride and Prejudice adaptation told through video blogs and social media. (The website is also quite hideous.) But … Continue reading

The Holiday Spirit : Music

In my ongoing quest to encapsulate our varying British and American Christmas experiences, I’m mulling on seasonal songs. There is nothing that says Christmas to me so much as carols and festive tunes. There is a great tradition, both classical and pop, in both our adopted countries, and it always amazes me that nary the … Continue reading

The Holiday Spirit

While Christmas is constantly bemoaned as overly commercial and increasingly homogenous, I still thrill at little peculiarities, personal traditions, and culture clashes when it comes to St. Nick. I’m not the first, of course. May I strongly suggest you listen to David Sedaris muse on Christmas traditions, particularly in the Netherlands. 6 to 8 Black … Continue reading

Mixtape Memories

In a world of mp3s and Spotify, I may be showing my age, but I’m still a sucker for a mix-tape. It’s easy for us Gen X – Gen Y bods to be overly nostalgic. I know this. I am not even the first to wax poetic over the nuance and romance of curated musical … Continue reading