A Plan...

I found the amazingly chart-tastic We Love Datavis tumblr via Black*Eiffel and had to boost this for my very own.

This is my to-do list right here...

Wantables — Paris Memorabilia

Let's see how long I can beat this dead horse...

Since my family never made it to Paris (had the volcano not erupted, we'd have just been returning today), I've been toying with the idea of buying faux keepsakes from the trip that wasn't. [Cue the violins...Stéphane Grappelli, perhaps, since he's the only French violinist I know.]

This idea ranged from the silly, to the bland yet suitable, to the exorbitantly pricy. Falling in the latter category, there's home décor from Bonjour Mon Coussin.

A cute macaroon throw pillow for baby girl's room.

Exquise

Déliceux

Or, maybe a tote bag that celebrates the arondissement in which we'd booked a pied-a-terre for our stay.

Paris 3 Bag

I'm going to get over this whole thing, guys, I swear. Just...not today.

Art I Heart — Josh Cochran

"The Future Is Space"

I am all about Josh Cochran's illustrations right now. I go kinda cross-eyed just thinking about all the work the Brooklyn-based Parsons prof puts into each intricate piece. (Oh, and I wish I'd gone to art school so I could effectively put into words exactly what it is about the color palette situation that I love so much.)

I'm perusing his online store trying to pick which print I "need" in my life.

"I Feel Space"

"100 Cars 1"

New Hayao Miyazaki!(?)

I have no idea what the above says...but I'm still pretty stoked.

From what I understand, this is the official blog for the new Ghibli Studios film coming down the pike. According to the GhibliWorld site, it's based on the book, "The Borrowers."

Here's what Miyazaki, himself, has to say about it:

The project of the feature length animation Chiisana Arrietty is based on Mary Norton's The Borrowers. Its location has been moved from England 1950s to Japan 2010 though. To be more exact, its specific detail location is around Koganei where things are familiar to us. A family of tiny people live under the floor of the kitchen of an old house; the fourteen year old Arrietty and her parents. They are "borrowers"; to live they borrow everything they need from the humans above them. They can't use magic, nor are they fairies. Instead, they fight against mice, suffer from termites, dodge pesticide spray attacks, escape from cockroach traps and live cautious in order not to be seen. There still remains a classical family image though. The father has enough bravery and patience to go hunting for his family, the mother is responsible for keeping the house with creative thinking and the daughter Arrietty is a curious girl with a rich sensibility. With this, seen by 10cm tall tiny people, a world familiar to us will be restored with freshness. The story starts from the tiny people's life. Arrietty meets a boy, makes a fellowship and separates. Finally, they escape from the storm blown up by callous humans and go into the field. The wish for this film is to comfort and encourage people who live in this chaotic and anxious time.

This was all the way back in 2008, though. IMDB has nothing but a July Japanese release date, so it's really unclear if/when this will release here in the States. Until then, we'll keep wearing out our Totoro/Ponyo/Kiki DVDs and I'll cross my fingers that the new one isn't too "Spirited Away"-intense for five-year-olds.

Watch This — Tim Doing What He Does Best

I love Tim Harrington. He is insane and that is but part of his charm.

Here is some bizarre little video I picked up on Pitchfork. In it, Tim dons an outfit that's actually well-made, compared to the dumpster-derived costumes he wears onstage with Les Savy Fav. In fact, I've even passed him by on the streets of Soho wearing something not as tasteful as you'll see in this, er...short film.

The band's playing at Echoplex, May 9. What better Mother's Day present than to have him smear lipstick on my face, or dance around me in a torn bridal gown? Beats the pants off of brunch and a bouquet. (Hope my husband gets the memo! If not, I'll settle for some of Tim's Deadly Squire home goods.)

Wantables — This book needs to be on my coffee table

Chronicle Books just released "Mixed — Portraits of Multiracial Kids" . There is such synchronicity between what author Kip Fulbeck has done and what I do with Swirl Syndicate that I kinda' wish he and I were Wonder Twins...form of "mixed kid gift basket!" (Actually, when Fulbeck debuted his "Part Asian - 100% Hapa" exhibit at L.A.'s Japanese American National Museum a few years ago, I was invited to sell my shirts in the museum gift shop in conjunction. Alas, that was to be the end of our liaison. I need to be more enterprising and try to sync myself up with him again!

The book is filled with pix of kids of every hue and background, as well as their own little handwritten intros and letters from their parents. My daughter doesn't see many kids who look like her in her daily life; this book could be a great visual reminder/inspiration for all three of us.

Watch This — "The Golden Afternoon"

My daughter has been twirling around the house singing this song incessantly, having just watched Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" for the first time. It seems so seasonally appropriate (even though it's pretty much perpetually spring where we live). The old-school animation is so ridiculous; CGI can go kick rocks.

For the Love of Lists — Things to do in D.C. while you're waiting for Godot

"Did you hear about the volcano in Iceland?" my husband started, before giving me the details last Thursday.

"Stop playing with me," was my refrain.

If only.

We read the headlines, we dialed the toll free numbers and waited on hold, we even made the 45 minute trek to Dulles airport, fruitlessly looking for a human being to explain to us what would happen with our imperiled flight plans.

What it ultimately boiled down to was this: We had no idea if we would ever actually make it to France and I was going to have to make D.C. — my hometown and a place I'd long-since taken for granted — as fun a consolation prize for my daughter as I possibly could. There was no Playmobil exhibit at the Musée Des Arts Décoratifs, no cavity-baiting at Ladurée and no shopping at DPAM. Here are the highlights of what we did instead.

There was the sight-seeing...

...I mean, can you go to D.C. with a kid and not visit the National Zoo? The free-ness, alone, is a draw. We giggled

at naked mole rats, strained our necks to see a shy panda and marveled at the crowd-pleasing orangutans. If you

time your visit just right, you may see them on walk-about on their O Line. As long as you stand far enough back to

keep them from peeing on your head, you can watch them walk, or swing directly overhead as they go back and forth

between their two living spaces.

...We escaped chilly winds by browsing the blossoms in the humid Botanic Gardens.

...My dad drove us to Baltimore for some Inner-Harbor paddle boating and a visit to the National Aquarium, an

attraction I hadn't visited since I was in the sixth grade. The dolphins and sting rays were interesting and all,

but that dark, musty place is seriously overdue for an overhaul.

...And, of course, my daughter has to ogle the Smithsonian's taxidermied animals every single time we're in town.

...My personal favorite moment, though, was walking my daughter to and from the adorable little brick Takoma Park

library that I loved so much as a kid.

And then, there were the meals...

...I was reasonably satisfied with a mason jar of lemonade, delicious biscuits and shrimp 'n' grits (too light on the grits, I must admit) at cool Zora Neale Hurston-inspired soul food eatery, Eatonville.

...Dukem doesn't have the best Ethiopian food I've ever had (Ghenet, in NYC, earned that distinction), but the dinner entertainment was spell-binding.

This isn't what we saw, but does demonstrate the dancing style.

...Across from Dukem, the grown-ups hit up Ben's Next Door, where my "good" mom jeans were no match

for the Essence-mag-fabulous bar crowd. Everybody was far too fly for after-work drinks in the middle of the week.

...My kid did get to scarf down some pâté after all at out-of-the-way french bistro, Et Voila.

...We weathered the yuppie zone that is Dupont Circle's Pizzeria Paradiso and were rewarded with the lamb,

potato and feta pizza of the day.

...We lunched on more soul food at the renovated Eastern Market. The ladies at the famed and historic Market Lunch

counter may have nicer new digs than they did before the building's fire in '07, but that has improved their stank

Soup Nazi-esque demeanor not a bit. It's all part of the experience, though.

Less notable experiences at Kramer Books & Afterwards, Good Stuff (inaccurately named, over-priced burgers and

soggy fries brought to you by Top Chef's Spike Mendelsohn) and Tex-Mex Lite hot spot, Lauriol Plaza rounded out

our dining outings.

For a non-"vacation" trip, we actually managed to cram in quite a bit of goings-on, I'd say. Nonetheless, the universe

owes me another getaway! Where should it be? I'm definitely thinking somewhere in this same time zone because

there is not enough melatonin in the world to tame my jet lag disorder...

Just An FYI: I'm F-L-Y*

*I love that lyric.

What Up Man - The Cool Kids

I also love Andrea Pippins' blog, Fly. And I really, really love the fact that I was chosen as the site's Fly Girl of the Week. But, um...why do I find myself irked by the publication of my actual age? Have I reached that stage in my life already?

Actually, I kinda wanted to be featured in time to plug by big ol' Swirl Syndicate sale, but I won't bite the hand...

Where Have I Been All Month?

Well, right about now, the real question should be where have I not been. Remember when I mentioned my family trip to France (Nice, then Paris)? I've spent most of the month planning, re-planning, hyper-planning and then double-checking my plans, all in efforts of having the world's most amazing vacation.

The laundry list of plane activities, alone, took me days to compile. And don't even get me started on the journal full of lists — sites to see, things to buy and gouter to manger. I was going to expand my daughter's horizons so far that she'd need a month's worth of naps to recover. And then, when it was all over, I was going to chronicle my travels and sell them to the highest publishing bidder. It was all arranged in my mind.

Thanks for nothing, Iceland.

So, now, I'm sitting in the Washington, D.C. house in which I was raised (this was the first leg of our trip), preparing to turn tail and head back to California. I still don't think my daughter understands exactly what's going on. I was even joked that I should tell her that the large CW TV tower around the corner from my parents' house was the Eiffel Tower. But I've shown her Washington Post pix of the volcano erupting and bought her (possibly, one too many) consolation prizes...so hopefully there won't be too many tears over the dashing of her Madeline daydreams. We'll have a meal tonight at Et Voila before our flight out, so she can at least get a literal taste of what she'll be missing.

I've actually still not emotionally rebounded from it all. Let me fly home tomorrow, have a good cry, look at all the pix from the highlights of the trip we did take — Baltimore Aquarium, Botanical Gardens, National Zoo and many other spots that D.C. natives take for granted — and then, get back to you.

Two Weeks — A Fading Love Affair

Last spring, Grizzly Bear's "Veckatimest" arrived on my doorstep from Amazon. I was smitten with that album to a degree that is almost embarrassing. I listened to it in the car until even my pre-schooler was over it.

The song I had on repeat? "Two Weeks." (Disclaimer: Not super crazy about the video.)

I'm trying to tell you. The vocal harmonies on this one...the drums...those piano plinks...my hair stood on end every time. When Pitchfork pegged it #5 in its Top 100 Tracks of 2009, I felt a swell of pride, as if I had something to do with it.

I have had songs that I could not shake before: Prince's "Adore"; The Sea & Cake's "Bird and Flag"; "Autumn Sweater" by Yo La Tengo, to name a few. This is just the latest in a long line of tracks I've wanted to blast from the rooftops. That is...until lately.

This song has been a sonic slut these days. I heard its tell-tale plinks at the beginning of that insipid VW Punch Bug ad and the worry set in. Then, it was on that NBC dramedy "Parenthood." Then, on the loudspeaker at Loehmann's yesterday, butted up against "True Love" by Madonna. And, according to Wikipedia, "How I Met Your Mother" and Peugeot have used it, too.

Yeah. Despite all the soul-stirring and goose flesh-inducing, I'm kinda' done. I am officially in the market for a new favorite song.

My inner-teenager — she, who loves only that which is obscure — can't help but wince at all the mainstreaminess. It's like Drake says on that Jay-Z song, "Whatever you about to discover, we off that." You can take the girl out of the scene (and, apparently, move her to its ideological polar opposite), but you can't take the scene out of the girl. I'm not proud of the arbitrary superficiality of this turn of events. But a smidge of snobbery here and there does shake up the boredom of housewifery!