Friday Playdate

Keel’s Simple Diary (because sometimes blogging is too hard)

Susan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:30:36 +0000

Once upon a time, back before there were blogs, people kept diaries, the paper kind, where they wrote down what they did each day and what they ate and what they dreamed. And then we started blogging and now everything is public, and if you’re like me, you sometimes long for those old paper diaries, the ones with the leather covers and the silk bookmarks.

Keel’s Simple Diary is the solution to blog overload; it is an elegant marriage of old school diary and newfangled Plinky prompts. The diary itself is sleek and retro and cool, with a faux leather cover and that silk bookmark. But it’s what’s inside that really makes this book fun.

Each page consists of a series of prompts, options that, on their own, don’t really make any sense. Then again, keeping a diary doesn’t really make any sense, if you think about it, so having these haphazard jumping off points can be the best way to start writing.

Through a combination of check the box and fill in the blank, you’re able to record your day. Some pages have drawings or premade lists; others provide actual empty lines for writing. The end result is a hodgepodge of breezy commentary, rather than a detailed account of what you ate for lunch, which is really what the best diaries are all about.

Phillip Keel, the creator of Simple Diary, was looking for a way to break out of the technology rut. “We live in a world of too much,” he writes, and we feel this overabundance the most in our relationship with technology.

Keel’s Simple Diary Volume One is available in six cheery colors for $15.00; Volume Two will be out soon. Order yours today and take a break from the blog. Your brain will thank you.

grace in small things: forty one

Susan — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:21:20 +0000

Random cool things, because really, I am all about cool. (I know, I’m laughing at that too! OMG.)

1. This dress, from kid a collective, which I wrote about for Cool Mom Picks; it’s still sitting here on my desk, making my ovaries hurt. (Also: hey, I’m writing for Cool Mom Picks! Which means that I get to drool over great kid stuff and claim that I’m working. Hooray!)

2. This big bag of bedtime goodies that I’m giving away on Friday. Still time to enter! Full details are here. Added incentive: The GoodNites people are giving away a full bedroom makeover for your child. And! You could help me win $1,000 worth of books to be donated to a community group.

3. The perfect storm of great hair and delicious cocktails in a beautiful salon. Enter to win a chance to party with Danielle, Heather and me, and have your hair made over by the staff at Sparrow Hair in Chicago on July 23. Contest ends Friday at midnight (Friday is a huge day around here, aparently). And if you need more incentive, let me tell you this: Sparrow Hair has a DJ booth. Seriously.

4. The perfect sundress, from Old Navy. $24.50, you all! And so so cute.

5. Hungry Beast. This is my new favorite website; it’s the Daily Beast with food! Specifically food provided by Cookstr, which is run by my friend Katie Workman, which means that Katie is this close to hanging out with Tina Brown, which is one of my fantasies. Got five minutes? Read this essay on bacon. OMG bacon! What’s not to love?

peanuts and cracker jack

Susan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:08:43 +0000

really, I’m just lazy (but you can call it a style if you like)

Susan — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:19:56 +0000

I have had short hair for most of my adult life. I cut it all off in the spring of 1990 (what little there was, which wasn’t much, a permed, chin-length bob) and I’ve really never looked back. Oh, sure, there was that one year after Charlie was born when I went ten (11?) months without a hair appointment, but eventually I was forced to acknowledge that pulling a ponytail through the back of a ball cap was not the look I really wanted. Also I was cutting my own bangs with a pair of curved nail scissors, which I would not recommend to anyone. Ever.

(These days I own two pairs of hair cutting shears, one regular and one for texture. They are a huge improvement over the nail scissors.) (more…)