new and good :: prtty peaushun

It certainly has a funny name, not exactly catchy, but I think I really like this product. It has a lot going for it and vegan and great packaging to boot! Check out the website for the list of what it doesn't have (all the bad stuff), but what it does have is lots of the good stuff! Plus it has the added greatness of looking terrific too! Prtty Peaushun is a body lotion that you can buy with a slight tint to it light-medium-dark (or not-plain)... nice... it feels light and cool going on, but use it sparingly otherwise it's a bit weird, but nice and glossy.

It has a delightful shimmer, not a big shimmer just a bit and it looks totally natural, just more... smooth and gorgeous. I think it's a perfect summer creme, when I happened to wear it out a bunch of people commented that I have such nice skin (this doesn't happen usually so I thought I would say it...) - the package says: "look good in your birthday suit" nice idea, right? It claims to make your body look better and more 'well defined'.. whatever... I like it!

Now here is the part that I like about this stuff.. there are some wonderful things in here like; arnica, japanese green tea (with caffeine, whatever that means?), calendula and rosemary, there is more but check the website for all ingredients. My favorite is really the arnica, what a great idea... when it comes to my body I feel like I always need a bit of arnica! And what there is NOT is a good healthy list too: no toxic ingredients NO DEA, GMS's, parabens, petrochemicals, pthalates, propyl alcohol, propylene clucol, sulfates, synthetic dyes or frangrance, talc, toluene, triclosan, not animal by products and not tested on animals. It also happens to come in a terrific package, which was the original reason I bought it since I am looking for packaging for a product that I am doing... a pouch, so that you can squeeze out every drop, what a great idea!

click here to visit the PRTTY Peashun website

ready for 4th of july?

taken by my friend Manon on way from NYC to NJ beaches 1999

When you live in a vacation spot like we do it's all everyone is talking about, but maybe it's just the same for everyone, because especially this year its been our first good weather of the summer really... Our kids just finished school yesterday, a late finish due to all the snowstorms this past winter, so we are adjusting ourselves to the new schedule (wait, what are you guys doing here in the middle of the day!?) I keep thinking it's Saturday!

I think that more and more people are keeping it simple, which has always been our life, but as a family we are trying to stay more simple in our daily meals and especially dinnertime. We got rid of large plates, and instead use smaller ones so that we don't have the feeling that we have to fill them up. Normally I do the macrobiotic plate style of cooking where I have at least three 'piles' (for lack of a better word) various sides and then a main protein. Lately, I am only doing one or two. So our dinner might be steamed kale, brown rice and condiments like sesame seeds or sunflower seeds and a slice or two of tofu or a meat. Or kinpira (see recipe here) and brown rice with sesame seeds and then cheese for desert. You get the picture and summertime is the perfect time to do this as our bodies do not need so much now.

So when it's time to have people over for summer weekends, I have also cut back... keeping meals simple and light, and maybe just granola for breakfast and coffee ready at the table and for dinner it's simply salads and corn and a few other small things.. We tend to get crazy as Americans and expect to lay out these giant meals (also in restaurants with their giant plates of food! crazy!) -- I think we should take a cue from our European friends and scale it back a bit, there is far too much waste.

Anyway, try it for a week and if everyone hates it you can blame it on me, but I think everyone will come to the same conclusion... it seems smarter this way!

That said... I wanted to remind you of my strawberry cake recipe (click here), it's perfect for 4th of July parties! (with a little whole milk greek yogurt!?)

Happy Fourth!

hostess gifts - summertime favorites

It's summer and time to visit friends and let kids play together! Throughout the summertime we have friends coming and going and when that's not going on we take off and visit friends all over the place as well! It's the best part about summer right!? So when the time comes it's best to be ready with some hostess gifts at hand... so here are a few of my favorite suggestions for this year.

items from nonchalant mom left to right: 1) aleishall girard maxon necklace ($158) 2) atsuyo et akiko pillow ($68) 3) atsuyo et akiko JE TAiME bag ($58) 4) julie rofman bracelet ($75) 5) rosenberg cph tea or coffee cozy ($48) 6) kit+lili zip pouches ($24) 7) Lucky Fish tea towels for the Edible Schoolyard (proceeds go to the edible schoolyard) ($24) 8) kit+lili tote bags ($68) 9) Britt Beautiful Skin System ($36) 10) erica tanov gold leather zip pouche ($110)

1) Chemex coffee maker (it would be nice to give coffee beans as well) - $65 2) his + hers coffee cups by Johnathan Adler ($24) 3) proud mary textiles pouche ($36) 4) for kids, a set of melamine plate/bowl/cup by Thomas Paul ($26 each) 5) Thomas Paul melamine plate set ($40) 6) everyone needs a good brush, love this one! horse hair hand broom ($14.95) 7) Duluth Pack canvas perfect tote bag ($95) 8)  CB I Hate Perfume CB I hate perfume outdoor spray a natural and nice way to keep bugs away ($19-$110) 9) Americana puzzle ($25)

I hope you like all of these ideas... but it's also nice to make something... just about anything, potholders, pillows made from scarves, granola (see my recipe here its delicious)... you know whatever you can make that is good... !!

Have Fun!

GLåD Midsommar!

 
Today is Midsommar in Sweden, which means Dancing, Fun, Flowers, Friends and Food! Traditionally this is the day to celebrate the summer solstice. My friend Gunn says that it is thought that the water from the springs could bring good health and herbs picked at midsummer were highly potent... sound great to me! I also think that it is a day to celebrate the harvest, dance around the Maypole (to ensure a good harvest), pick summer flowers (more on that below) and have lots of fun with friends and family.

In Rattvik, where my family is from, we used to visit various raising of the Maypole with dancing and music in villages surrounding my mothers farm. We would dress up in our traditional Rattviks costume (so did my mom and dad). We made crowns with birch branches and flowers and wore them and when we were kids we even put on a summer show, we made a stage and put on skits and sang songs... so much fun! We stayed up very late because it just never seemed to get dark and had hot dogs at midnight! In the evening the girls would run out and pick seven different wildflowers in a bouquet, run around the well seven times and then go to bed (I think there may have been something else but I can't remember?). The idea was that we would dream of who we were going to marry! I loved this idea...

GlåD MIDSOMMAR!!

hot dogs! (again)

I will always remember my Uncle Hasse making these wonderful hot dogs, I was reminded the last time we were in Sweden he made them for Sander and I thought they were such a delicious memory. Now we make them at home like this and when kids come over they are always curious about how the heck we do it!

Anyway, if you are sick of getting buns for your dogs, then try this and add a whole new fun to hot dogs! We like to use tooth picks just to make the whole endeavor more festive! Just cut hot dogs into three pieces and then cut a cross down the middle half way and toss around in a cast iron skillet and then make these wonderful flowers! Yum! love them!

I also thought of this post because at midnight (or even 1 or 2 in the morning) on Midsummer, in Sweden, my uncle usually fires up the barbecue (he loves the Weber grill) and makes hot dogs..... because you know, it's light until 3 or 4 in the morning on Midsummer! Which is celebrated tonight in Sweden!! Dancing, Festive parties, great food and drink... oooohhhh how I wish I were there!

Have Fun!

jewelry

plastic necklaces crossed in front (makie dress)

how the back works

I don't know about your kids buy when Franny gets into my jewelry drawer I am usually delighted that someone is actually wearing the stuff so I can't get mad! Lately she has been wearing necklaces like this... crossed in front and I actually kind of like it and wanted to pass it on!

okay so this is how you wear them... really

I also wanted to explain it because she did it while we were photographing the Makié collection and I thought it looked... well pretty neat! So I did want to explain to you that the dress does not come with the cross of beads in front... that's my jewelry she is wearing! I collect these necklaces from flea markets, they are cheap plastic beads, I first found them in a junk shop in Amsterdam and bought a pile of 10 of them for $5... I wear them all the time and then realized they exist here too (I feel like they are a cross between plastic and melamine?), I have lots of rich colors but these are my favorite. I am sure that someone has the details, maybe they are from the 70's but I love them!

So wear them how you will but bead-up and jazz up any outfit! (sorry, that is not such a with-it word but whatever...)

Have Fun!

with new makie dress.. coming soon to website!

good answer!

In the latest issue of Vanity Fair Bill Moyers answers the Proust Questionnaire, I can't imagine a better set of replies than his, and manages to be thoughtful and oh so right! (yes, I love him!)

One of his questions is:

If you could change one thing about your family what would it be?

his answer: I wish we weren't always in such a hurry.

Isn't this the truth and it speaks volumes. It makes me think of our own lives (ha! isn't that what a Proust Questionnaire is supposed to do...) and how much we rush from one moment to the other and with kids I find myself trying to figure out what we are going to do with our time. Our best moments together are really when we just sit and do nothing! That's when we hold each other, that's when we listen to each other and best of all, that's when we just sit and stare at each other (well maybe it's more of me just dreamily watching them).

When you work at home as both my husband and myself do, you almost tend to work in every moment you can get, and you forget to shut off. It's times like these when I read something like this that I re-evaluate my life and figure out how to slow things down and keep my mind separate kids vs. work. I think that many of us are under a tremendous amount of pressure these days, to make it work. Make our jobs work and make our life with our family work, and with the pressure of the economy it's just another variable that keeps our minds away from the kids. Well, at least this is the way it's been in our family... maybe you can relate and this will help you to find the time, to keep your mind clear and just BE with your kids.

And just in case you are interested, when I was researching to write this blog I came upon the REAL Proust Questionnaire, you know there is a real one... (I didn't know it) it's actually where the Vanity Fair one came from, his answers to these similar questions posed to him at age 13 and then again at age 20, the answers are thoughtful and beautiful. ENJOY! (I found this online, it's kind of a weird link but - here is the link)

Proust did not invent this party game; he is simply the most extraordinary person to respond to them. At the birthday party of Antoinette Felix-Faure, the 13-year-old Marcel was asked to answer the following questions in the birthday book, and here's what he said:

• What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
  
  To be separated from Mama
• Where would you like to live?
  
  In the country of the Ideal, or, rather, of my ideal
• What is your idea of earthly happiness?
  
  To live in contact with those I love, with the beauties of nature, with a quantity of books and music, and to have, within easy distance, a French theater
• To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
  
  To a life deprived of the works of genius
• Who are your favorite heroes of fiction?
  
  Those of romance and poetry, those who are the expression of an ideal rather than an imitation of the real
• Who are your favorite characters in history?
  
  A mixture of Socrates, Pericles, Mahomet, Pliny the Younger and Augustin Thierry
• Who are your favorite heroines in real life?
  
  A woman of genius leading an ordinary life
• Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
  
  Those who are more than women without ceasing to be womanly; everything that is tender, poetic, pure and in every way beautiful
• Your favorite painter?
  
  Meissonier
• Your favorite musician?
  
  Mozart
• The quality you most admire in a man?
  
  Intelligence, moral sense
• The quality you most admire in a woman?
  
  Gentleness, naturalness, intelligence
• Your favorite virtue?
  
  All virtues that are not limited to a sect: the universal virtues
• Your favorite occupation?
  
  Reading, dreaming, and writing verse
• Who would you have liked to be?
  
  Since the question does not arise, I prefer not to answer it. All the same, I should very much have liked to be Pliny the Younger.

What is fascinating about this questionnaire is that it was considered so great an amusement to very young people in Proust's time. It is hard to imagine a party of 13-year-olds in these times being quizzed about their favorite virtues, painters or characters of fiction and history. If the questionnaire were not to smack of exam, it would have to ask "what's your favorite TV show?" or "what's your favorite band?"

Seven years after the first questionnaire, Proust was asked, at another social event, to fill out another; the questions are much the same, but the answers somewhat different, indicative of his traits at 20:

• Your most marked characteristic?
  
  A craving to be loved, or, to be more precise, to be caressed and spoiled rather than to be admired
• The quality you most like in a man?
  
  Feminine charm
• The quality you most like in a woman?
  
  A man's virtues, and frankness in friendship
• What do you most value in your friends?
  
  Tenderness - provided they possess a physical charm which makes their tenderness worth having
• What is your principle defect?
  
  Lack of understanding; weakness of will
• What is your favorite occupation?
  
  Loving
• What is your dream of happiness?
  
  Not, I fear, a very elevated one. I really haven't the courage to say what it is, and if I did I should probably destroy it by the mere fact of putting it into words.
• What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?
  
  Never to have known my mother or my grandmother
• What would you like to be?
  
  Myself - as those whom I admire would like me to be
• In what country would you like to live?
  
  One where certain things that I want would be realized - and where feelings of tenderness would always be reciprocated. [Proust's underlining]
• What is your favorite color?
  
  Beauty lies not in colors but in their harmony
• What is your favorite flower?
  
  Hers - but apart from that, all
• What is your favorite bird?
  
  The swallow
• Who are your favorite prose writers?
  
  At the moment, Anatole France and Pierre Loti
• Who are your favorite poets?
  
  Baudelaire and Alfred de Vigny
• Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
  
  Hamlet
• Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
  
  Phedre (crossed out) Berenice
• Who are your favorite composers?
  
  Beethoven, Wagner, Shuhmann
• Who are your favorite painters?
  
  Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt
• Who are your heroes in real life?
  
  Monsieur Darlu, Monsieur Boutroux (professors)
• Who are your favorite heroines of history?
  
  Cleopatra
• What are your favorite names?
  I only have one at a time
• What is it you most dislike?
  
  My own worst qualities
• What historical figures do you most despise?
  
  I am not sufficiently educated to say
• What event in military history do you most admire?
  
  My own enlistment as a volunteer!
• What reform do you most admire?
  
  (no response)
• What natural gift would you most like to possess?
  
  Will power and irresistible charm
• How would you like to die?
  
  A better man than I am, and much beloved
• What is your present state of mind?
  
  Annoyance at having to think about myself in order to answer these questions
• To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
  
  Those that I understand
• What is your motto?
  
  I prefer not to say, for fear it might bring me bad luck.

click here to read the full Proust Questionnaire with Bill Moyers

SUMMER SALE :: starts today.. Baby/Kids/Mom... 15% - 50% off!

 I just posted a summer sale last night... Sale on most collections: Nico Nico, Kit+Lili, Makié, Tuss, Matta, and more.... Visit Nonchalant Mom and get yourself and your kids some summer goodies, and save a bit of cashola! (prices as marked)

nico nico - organic and super soft t-shirts that your kids will LOVE and so will you! Shorts that you can't beat for summer all priced $28-$40

kit+lili - if your little girl doesn't have her summer dress yet, you better get your act in gear and jump over to kit+lili and get yourself one... pronto!

makie dress

makie gingham top

Makié - nothing is better than Makié for a european summer look, completely put together and sharp! (but I happened to photograph it with cut-off jeans which looked pretty smart too... very american!!) I am already getting some things for Fall from her so I am excited to add her things to the SALE!

tuss - The Ultimate Simple Solution... and great for summer. Impeccably beautiful kids clothes from Sweden that are perfect for all the time and any time!

shampoodle fuego top and bollywood pants

shampoodle air dress

shampoodle - This summer shampoodle created a the perfect play collection, with clothes that are easy to wear and take care of.. if you are packing for travel, look no further!

and for Moms: Lucky Fish, Matta, kit+lili and shampoodle are all on sale too!

click here to shop Nonchlant Mom now!

remember cut offs?!

nico nico cloud t and cutoffs

I know this is not re-inventing the wheel here but I was inspired to cut off these crazy bell bottom jeans that I got for my son (okay this was years and years ago so don't shoot me) but we cut them off for Franny and they looked great... Just thought this might inspire you too! have fun with old stuff... we do it all the time!

here's the how to (but you know how to do this.... maybe you just forgot!?)

cut off one leg where you think it will look nice

fold that leg over and cut the other leg at the same point

these extra pieces make great knee patches!

HAPPY SUMMER!

SALE :: keep it going!

 
We decided to keep the SUMMER SALE on all womens collections going on until FRIDAY, JUNE 17th! There are quite a few amazing things left and when this sale is done... it's DONE and we will be getting ready for Fall to arrive (what!? can you believe it... I can't!)

use code: 'summer' at checkout to get the discount - pass it on!!!

SO shop while you can and get something good for yourself, hurry while it's above 75° for a few days here!

HAVE FUN (and I am trying to figure out what goes on sale next... any ideas!?)

japanese paper goods! {my favorite!!}

homepage for UGUiSU

 
I love all things paper, colorful and fun! and all of this comes together in this perfectly wonderful online paper source called: UGUiSU Japanese Paper Goods. It's just about impossible not to rack up a big bill... as I did... with all of her amazing things! If you are planning a party, go here first! But even if you are not make your personal notes and cards, or even just the tape you use, more beautiful with the help of UGUiSU.

gift tags

hand towels

tired of boring post-its!? check out these!

here is a tutorial on how to use post-its! (in case you don't know!)

wrap creatively! (say bye bye to boring!)

simply beautiful notes!

a large supply of tenugi!

kitchen gauze towels

how to use your gauze towel!

kids bored? pull out the origami! have your kids teach you how to use them!

how to use your tenugi!

the BEST japanese magazines!

inside magazine (so much better than OURS!)

wonderful japanese how-to books!

hate plastic straws? use paper straws!

They have a great shipping policy (everything is shipped straight from Japan) and it doesn't cost too much. It's a really fun shopping experience so HAVE FUN!

shop UGUiSU click here

boys will be boys...

one of my favorite boy collections is Tuss from Sweden

I know that dressing boys can be aggravating at times, boring and just downright un-exciting, but I don't think it has to be that way! You just need to leave all of those typical boy's gear behind and fill their drawers with more interesting clothing. It will not take long and your boys will catch on, and even start to like looking slightly different. My kids go to public school, the same as many of you, in an atmosphere where most of the boys wear T-shirts that are down to their knees, huge baggy jeans and giant sneakers (untied) some sort of 1980's version of Michael Jordans... what the heck is that? There should be a dress code to at least tie your sneakers! Sometimes it's not that bad and it's only the big giant T-shirt. What ever happened to wearing clothes that fit! People buy clothes so big these days for fear that their kids will grow out of them, that by the time they actually fit they are just about rags. I am not sure where this is coming from because I don't see parents dressed this way (well maybe some of them), is it to cover up fat bellies? Not usually... even the tall skinny kids look like this!

nico nico boatneck stripe t and mini boden red slim jeans

I opened Nonchalant Mom in a little silent battle against this look... and I think I'm winning! (well maybe not in our little town) but my boys things usually go quickly, so swiftly in fact that I rarely get Sander into things from my store! The other day he came home from school, he had dressed himself in the morning of course, and I thought to myself I was so proud of how cute he looked! (maybe I should say 'handsome'!). Either way I had to take a picture of him because I want everyone to know that yes, my kids actually wear these clothes and look great!

I think that a new mom of boys has a hard time going against a masculine father and putting her boys into something more interesting than red, blue and khaki. But you have to admit, these days a polo shirt might even have five buttons instead of three! whew! And boys can step out of the box and wear just about anything! One of my contentions is that it should FIT, not be baggy and huge! Let's pull ourselves together here. I promise you that if you are buying something new, it's not a bad idea to actually buy for their age, I don't know about you buy my son can go through clothes and completely consume them in one season, so what's the use of buying something that will fit a year later!?

This Sunday New York Times has an article that is called 'Toddling Past Gender Lines', which takes this a step further and talks about kids at 4 years old wanting to wear tutu's and heels, comon... this is a four year old! It's a game and it's not like it's the rest of their lives, they go through something and onto the next in a minute, I think this is holding a microscope up to a millisecond in a kids life! Just let him be and see where it goes and takes him and don't make such a big deal! If it continues into school I am sure that it will be a difficult thing to tackle but a close family will find a way through it with the help of the school and parents working together. It's hard to imagine that there would not be bullying, even in a quiet way that will make a child feel bad about the way they want to dress. I know that I have sent my son to school in a caftan, which he wears in the summers all the time, but when he wanted to wear it to school I thought twice but decided to let him do it. The boys told him he was dressed like a girl, but not because the caftan, it was because there was a 'heart' stitched on the back of it.. hhhmmm, it seemed to go okay (this was in second grade). While he didn't do that particular shirt again he had no problems with a caftan again, I feel like the other kids just had to get used to it... I don't know... and he doesn't seem to care?

wovenplay stripe t-shirt and parachute shorts

All I am trying to say is let your kids 'color out of the lines' with their clothes, let them handle it at school. I told my son to look at what the other kids were wearing and did he want to look like that, he immediately said "NO". They are going to have to learn to stick up for themselves and unfortunately we can't always be there to guide them through, stand up for them, and defend them all of their lives. If you are ready for it.... here are some suggestions from my store (and other stores too!), good luck and remember to have fun!

lucky fish and wovenplay - go to website click here

makié collection - click here to visit website

nico nico collection - click here to shop on website

wovenplay collection on nonchalant mom click here

tuss collection on nonchalant mom

Click here to shop all at Nonchalant Mom