Tuesday | Cody's Favourites

Fraid So flip-flop by Sanük | Super-comfy, with terry cloth on the underside of the straps, soft suede for your feet, and mild arch support. Cody got me a pair too, but mine are called Fraidy Cat. Yes, we match. Yes, it's totally sickening.

The Mojito | Perhaps channelling Ernest Hemingway, Cody has been completely obsessed with the mojito lately. It is cool, refreshing, and citrusy. The basic recipe for a mojito is fairly simple. For a highball: 1 oz. rum, 3-4 leaves of mint, barspoon of sugar, 3 lime wedges, 2 oz. club soda. First, add your barspoon of sugar. Then, lightly bruise lime and mint with a fruit muddler. Add ice, rum, and finally club soda. If you like your drink more sweet, you can forgo the sugar, use only 1-2 lime wedges, and replace the club soda with Sprite or 7-Up.

Which BADASS thing are you? quiz on Facebook | Although Facebook has tried to censor this quiz because of "offensive language," it is still the best quiz ever created. Liam Eddleston is a genius.

The Squid vs. The Whale shirt on Threadless | Brandon Ancone's design for Threadless depicts the most epic of battles. Cody loves this shirt to death, but laments that he's always afraid to wear it because it's white and...well...he really loves barbecue sauce.

Nautical-Themed Pashmina Afghan | Cody finds this line in the Lonely Island's video "I'm On a Boat" HILARIOUS. He cries every time he hears it. I know that in his heart of hearts, he desperately wants a nautical-themed pashmina afghan. Desperately.

The Pure Komachi series by Shun | Shun knives are some of the best knives in the world, but at over $100 each, let's just say that our kitchen isn't fully stocked with them. Shun, however, has also put out a line of knives for the more casual cook, which is Kai's Pure Komachi series. Teflon-coated and completely made of awesome, Cody and I love these knives! They are also so colourful that we both get excited to use them!

The Lego Store at Easton | The Lego Store at our local Easton mall just recently opened, and Cody loves it. Luckily, there's a lot of shopping for me around, like Teavana!

Baby Rib Boxer Brief by American Apparel | Did you know that Target recently did a knock-off AA line? Well, they did. It's probably still on clearance where you live. AA-look-a-like underwear for about $3.50. But, of course, nothing beats the real thing, being made in the U.S. and all.

Caravella's Limoncello liqueur | I know it seems like Cody has a lot of alcohol favourites, but it's because he's a bartender, not because he's an alcoholic...although I guess he could be if he wasn't careful. Anyway, ever since my mom brought back some limoncello for Cody from Italy, Cody has been trying various lemon liqueurs. He loves this one by Caravella.

Periwinkle Blue | This is one of Cody's new favourite colours. I recently got a mug and dish set in periwinkle, and when I was compiling this week's list, he excitedly added, "Oh, and periwinkle blue!" (image from Flickr user Chpaola)

CD101's Summerfest.

Yesterday, Belkis and I headed out to CD101's Summerfest. CD101 is probably the best station we have locally in Columbus, and this year, they got a bunch of great bands to play for their annual Summerfest. It was 5 bucks, so we couldn't exactly say no. There were a lot of bands there, but I'll just highlight the ones I enjoyed. Others that played were Mike Snow, the Living Things, Company of Thieves, and stellastarr*, but Belkis and I agreed that those groups were a bit lacking. For example, the singer for Company of Thieves had a lovely voice, almost like Regina Spektor, but unfortunately, the songs were boring and did not do her voice justice.

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. We were pretty tired by the time Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears took the stage, but they were still awesome. A little bit of funk, a little bit of blues, and a lot of fun. And Joe Lewis also had a crazy shriek that got the audience going every time. Did I mention that the guitarist kind of looks like Jake Gyllenhaal? Hot. Also check out their great video for "Sugarfoot."

Matt & Kim. This group was obviously the audience favourite. Kim was the sweetest, and kept an infectious smile on her face during their entire set. Probably most known for their songs "Daylight" and "Yea Yeah," they were cheerful and genuine--and Matt wasn't at all obnoxious like he appears in their videos. They were also immensely fun, although their music is not particularly my taste.

Band of Skulls. I was actually blown away by how good Band of Skulls was. I had only heard "I Know What I Am" before Summerfest, which apparently just doesn't do them justice. Their awesomely gritty and sexy rock was tempered by unexpectedly beautiful songs with great harmonic vocals, like in "Honest."

Envelope. Columbus local rapper, he won his spot at the CD101 Summerfest. At this year's Comfest (Community Festival), he was cut short for being too loud, and his loyal fans rectified this by voting him into the coveted space at Summerfest. If you've never heard "Day Dream Nation," go listen to it now! I was silent after I first heard it on CD101, fathoming how amazing it was. Also great: "Stay Gold," as in "Stay gold, Pony Boy." The Outsiders much? Ah, junior high. He also released doves at the end of his set. Epic.

Tuesday | Cody's Favourites

Today marks the first of my Tuesday series, which will focus on the favourites of the men in my life. This Tuesday, and probably for the next few, I will focus on my boy Cody's current and constant favourites.

Helmut Lang jacket from Saks Fifth Avenue | Cody adores this jacket by Helmut Lang. More than a little out of our price range at $1,425, but it's still good to dream.

Burgundy Pashima scarf | Cody and I found some great pashmina scarves at the mall the other day, 2 for $10. He ended up with a dark gray scarf and a burgundy scarf at my urging. The burgundy scarf has been slowly growing on him. With his Asian complexion, you can imagine how great it looks on him!

The Three Flask Set in Leather Case by Russell's for Men | This has been one of Cody's favourites for awhile, but at $145, no one has exactly jumped at gifting him with it. Each flask comes complete with a jigger overcap for mixing the perfect drink.

Donna Karan's DK3505 frames | These are Cody's favourite glasses, and they are so cute on him!

The Honda Insight in black | Certainly an improvement over Cody's current car, the massive Toyota FJ Cruiser. He told me that if he owned the Insight, he would almost have to yell, "I'm saving so much money right now!" while driving it.

Calvin Klein's Steel Cotton Hip Brief | Cody saw these at Macy's recently and almost died, because, according to him, "The stainless steel screams, 'I'm a man!'" Haha.

Ty Ku liqueur | Yuzu, honeydew, mangosteen, ginseng, green tea, goji berry, and soju (like vodka, but lower in calories) blend to make one of Cody's new favourite liqueurs.

Laguiole Waiter’s Corkscrew from Williams-Sonoma | This is Cody's favourite waiter's key. Handcrafted from olivewood and with a more-intuitive-than-average design, he admires it constantly.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou | One of Wes Anderson's best films, Cody adores this movie because of its dry but smart humour and perhaps because there's a dog named Cody in it...? He also loves the underwater scenes because of their imaginative quality.

Of Montreal's album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? | I swear, if I get into Cody's car one more time to find that he's been listening to this again...no, I kid, I love this album too. Dark but clever, I guess you could say that he enjoys this album for the same reasons he enjoys "The Life Aquatic." He also likes seat-dancing enthusiastically while driving. Cody's favourite lyric: "I remember feeling like a ship/whose captain was too drunk to steer/and you watched as I was sinking/waving sadly from the pier"

Girls' "Hellhole Ratrace."

My friend Jack from Boulder introduced me to this beautiful, surreal debut video from San Francisco's band Girls. It reminds me of going to house shows in Boulder--drinking straight gin and listening to joke metal or Velvet Davenport.

Movies: "Julie and Julia," "Sunshine Cleaning," and "Elephant."

Yesterday was a good day! Cody and I met Belkis and Zorn for ice cream and went to see "Julie and Julia," which was actually completely adorable. If you haven't seen it yet, check out the trailer here. It made me want to pick up one of my favourite cookbooks, like "Moosewood" or "Enchanted Broccoli Forest" and try a new recipe!

Seeing "Julie and Julia" reminded me of another movie I've seen with Amy Adams recently, "Sunshine Cleaning." They were showing it on the flight from Houston to Portland, and although I could barely hear it, I enjoyed it quite a bit--especially more than the movie my mom chose next, "New In Town," where every Minnesota accent was faked so poorly it was embarrassing. Has Renée Zellweger been in anything moderately good lately? The answer is resoundingly no. No, she has not.

Well, anyway, here is the trailer for "Sunshine Cleaning."

Two nights ago, Cody and I also watched "Elephant," a film by Gus Van Sant. I'd always been curious because I'd heard such good reviews. Overall, Cody and I agreed that it was a very refreshing film. It was based on the Columbine shootings, but instead of passing judgements and trying to make the victims seem like perfect, angelic human beings while demonizing the killers, it simply was. It showed what was likely an average day at Columbine High School, full of the single-minded pursuit of the photographer, the bingeing of several of the girls, the embarrassment faced by one of the girls that didn't quite fit in, the alcoholism of one boy's father, and the strangely beautiful mind of one of the killers, among others.

At points, though, the movie seemed as if it was dragging on. As Cody put it simply and accurately, "There was a lot of walking in that movie." For some reason, probably 75% consisted of students walking from place to place and the other 25% had some other action to it. In fact, only in the last twenty minutes or so do the two killers begin their assault on the school. I'm not sure if Gus Van Sant did that intentionally, because you are aware that the shooting is going to occur, but you just don't know when. When the pair enter the building, you are almost relieved, but of course, when you see the cruelty and the devastation wrought, that sentiment is immediately regretted.

I think that Cody and I both appreciated the movie a lot once we were able to slow down and let it unfold. There were no heroes; there were victims, but not all ones that you particularly liked; there were no villains. You could point the finger of blame on several people, if you really wanted to, but it wasn't ever encouraged. "Elephant" was quite poetically told and moving. On a less serious note, it also made me incredibly happy that I am no longer in high school. Yikes.

Today, Cody and I are setting out to do some dress shirt and pants shopping for him. He finished his bartending certification and has gotten a job! The restaurant manager raised her offer to $7.75 an hour plus tips, which of course, he just couldn't turn down. I'm very excited for him! I'm moving about two hours from here for more college, so now I must find a job too, but I have a lot of food service/catering experience, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

I hope you are having a fantastic day!