Louella’s taken a real shine to her guitar lately. She asks Willy & I to sit on the bed & sing along with her to songs she’s made up. It’s pretty awesome.

So, as we were getting her ready for bed last night, I was, as usual, met with “I wanna do it by myself.” Over and over again. So I started singing back to her a rendition of Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself” circa 1975. (I swear I can hear it playing on my parents’ digital clock radio.) Except I sang it “All by myself. Don’t wanna be I wanna do it — all by myself.” She loved it (I’m sure minus my bad singing) and sang along.

So instead of reading the same books for the thousandth time at bedtime, I got a little unorthodox and did a little music appreciation lesson with some crazy (crazy awesome) choices. I showed her some videos in her bed and we talked about them. Dolly Parton: “I like her hair,” she said. “It’s on her shoulders.” Oh, boy.

Here’s what we watched. Am I the best mom, or what?!

Our new block is so neighborhood-y and awesome. We used to live on an avenue with a bus stop on our doorstep, and before that, our bedroom was on a truck route, so it’s pretty easy to see why the birds are waking us up in the mornings. It’s pretty idyllic.

Case in point: our street has a block party each Fall, complete with a bounce house, pony rides, and a talent show. Louella was pretty much talking about the event since June, with the most excitement reserved for the pony rides. In past run-ins with horses, however, she ended up being skittish, but one of the ponies they brought over from Kensington Stables was truly a pony, and the perfect size for her. She rode it over and over again.

Seriously, how happy does she look riding the horse with Willy alongside? Look at that face!

Equally awesome: they have drop-in pony rides at the stables for $3. You can just stop by. Definitely on the list of weekend activities!

A sweet little something I just received in my inbox from my friends over at M Z Wallace: a pic of Louella & me modeling some MZW wares in the Swiss mag, Annabelle.

Have you seen the MZW fall collection? Their bags just get more and more awesome. I’m loving the cool, 70′s vibe, but the bags are still SO practical.

Here’s what I’m eyeing…

Rust Leather Camille: I’d wear it to the concert I’m going to tonight.

The Chinchilla Mimi: This would be a great work bag to fit my sketchbook and camera.

And my perennial favorite day bag… The Perforated Leather JF Tote. Love the slick black.

When did I develop a $5/day coffee habit? Seriously. In my mind, there’s no disputing that it is indeed that much better than its $2 counterpart. But that’s quite a daily habit. Talking to some girlfriends yesterday morning, we joked that it perhaps coincided with the decline in our spending $ on drinks at the bar. After all, since I’m more rarely up till the wee hours partying and instead up AT the wee hours (definitely not partying), I need a beverage that’s socially acceptable to drink at said hour. Enter: coffee. I guess they don’t call it a coffee “bar” for nothing. My Brooklyn neighborhood favorite: Cafe Grumpy. I dare say the experience with the baristas is akin to that of a bartender.

If I weren’t always so dead set on making my kid’s costume, I’d totally get her this. Adorable or what?

from The Costume Cafe on Etsy

This perfume flask melts my heart. And clearly it did the same for others, since it sold for over 11K at auction. Wowza.