Three Things Thursday :: Florence + The Machine, Anthropologie Homewares and Poldark

When Mom had her retirement party earlier this year we sat down together to make a playlist that would be running in the background during the party.  I wanted music that she liked and was from her era, so we went through a bunch of 60s and 70s music and made a rocking playlist on Spotify.  The album artwork is always shown and I could pick out a lot of the songs she'd like just based on that because I remember playing the records when I was young.  This made me think deeply about the fact that a lot of my music is now on iTunes or Spotify and I don't often buy real CDs anymore.  What are my kids going to play on the stereo when they are young?  Music only from my teenage years when CDs were the only way to get music besides taping the songs off the radio?  I don't think I want them to judge me based on the music I was into then alone.  So I decided recently to start buying more of the music that I really love now, on CDs.  I've listened to The Killers for years and there is always at least one of their songs on any playlist I make, so I bought all of the albums they've released.  Most of them were really cheap because they are older now and it was nice to pop a CD in and listen to every song on there.  I've found some new ones for me that didn't get released to the radio which was like opening a grab bag and getting something you really wanted!  I also ended up purchasing the newest albums by Mumford and Sons (which was only okay, I'm sorry to say) and Florence + The Machine.

Wow!  I really don't think that Florence can honestly do any wrong.  This album, How Big How Blue How Beautiful, as with all of her previous ones, is fantastic and beautiful.  There are songs that make you feel light-hearted and songs that make you want to cry.  The backup vocals are inspiring and there are certain songs that will get stuck in your head.  And it's one of those albums that you'll put in your car and not notice that you've listened to it five times in a row until you're singing along with all the songs.  Best album this summer I would have to say!

My newest weakness is Anthropologie.  Not the clothes or accessories, but their homewares.  Seriously just go to the website and hover over House & Home and then click on Kitchen & Dining and behold the majesty.  I love scrolling through the new-vintage items they have.  Some of them are too high priced for me or not functional enough for the price, but others are amazing and beautiful for what they cost.  My two favorite things have been their Latte Bowls (above), which you can get in a set of four of one color or in this beautiful set of mixed colors, and the Seaside Juice Glasses (below).

I got those in the teal and dark blue and though they are smaller than a regular sized glass, they are great for juices in pitchers or water out of one of these cafe water carafes (which personally I think makes it taste better).  I got my carafe for cheap from Craft Warehouse.

And lastly a new Masterpiece series on PBS for all of you to get into, Poldark.  We all know that Downton Abbey will be showing it's last season this next year and we will need something to fill that English manor sized hole left in our hearts.  Poldark is a period piece drama with plenty of intrigue and romance and characters that you get emotionally attached to.  Mom bought the first season on DVD on a whim and we were addicted pretty quickly.  It was a hurry-up-and-finish-what-we-need-to-do-so-we-can-watch-Poldark kind of week.  I'd thought that it was a stand alone mini-series and I wasn't sure how they were going to be able to clean up all the drama they'd been building up all the way through in just one episode.  Ending with a cliff hanger I jumped on Google to make sure that there was going to be a season two.  Hooray!  And now there's another series to wait for...