but for now we are young, let us lay in the sun, and count every beautiful thing we can see

In a way, I (almost) can't wait to get back to New York because I'm getting too accustomed to waking up every morning to lovely weather. I find myself planning picnics, sunbathing, road trips, and so many other activities that require several feet of snow to not be on the ground. Until I have to go back to the upstate chill, I will do as the dollies do and lay in open fields of grass. 

Now all I need to do is find a meadow...

Flower power poster child Marianne Faithfull lounges in a field 

Audrey Hepburn shields her eyes from the sun

I love this scene of Sofia Coppola's film where Marie Antoinette and her gang venture outdoors to watch the sun rise 

The queen of glam, Marilyn Monroe, proves she could also be (quite literally) down-to-earth

Sophia Loren smiles in a field of dandelions

Amanda Seyfried, in Teen Vogue, is surrounded by wildflowers so bright they almost match the color of her light blonde hair

The cast from Across the Universe in one of my favorite scenes, where the group sings "Because" in an open meadow of tall grass

 Jack Nicholson's future gal-pal Anjelica Huston poses in a manicured outdoor setting

Marianne and Mick, the poster couple for the decadent bohemian glitterati of the sixties, lay on fields of grass and pelts of fur 

Audrey Hepburn picks flowers petals in Holland - perhaps playing a game of 'He loves me, he loves me not'?

I think Marc Jacobs is a genius and creates the most beautiful things, and his campaign for his scent 'Daisy' is no exception

The lovely Linda (McCartney, that is)

Marianne Faithfull, by Jean-Marie Perier

Another look at Kirsten Dunst's take on Marie Antoinette

Of this photo, Pattie Boyd said: "Me with my dirty feet in the country. George and I went to the countryside and threw down some rugs and had a lovely picnic" 

Chanteuse Françoise Hardy

The beautiful Sharon Tate

Well, I just can't get enough of Marianne

One of my personal fashion heroes, Sienna Miller

Members of the Bloomsbury group: Lady Ottoline Morrell, Maria Nys, Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, and Vanessa Bell

Jane Birkin still manages to look perfect, even when she's laying in a field of dirt and grass

Rolling Stone spawn, Georgia May Jagger

Another from Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette

Speaking of the Stones, a glimpse at Keith Richards soaking up the sun

Former Disney darlings, Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens in Elle Magazine

The fabulous Miss France Gall

I wish that the unnatural lighting was the strangest part of this very cool pic, but Veruschka's choice to lounge in the woods with little more than that red stretch of fabric beats the post-apocalyptic hue

Judy Garland's Dorothy takes a nap in the meadows of Oz

as she posts another letter to the sound of five, people gather 'round her and she finds it hard to stay alive

Paul McCartney is shown here heading to court on February 19th, 1971, in the case against the other three members of the Beatles and the Apple Record company. By his side lending support was his wife of nearly two years, Linda, who was then two-months pregnant with daughter Stella. It was during this court case that Paul tried to dissolve all legal ties between the Beatles. The case was very much opposed by the other members of the band, who each wanted financial control to remain in the hands of Allen Klein.

Linda's brother, John Eastman, advised the couple on how to dress at the court proceedings. Linda was told to dress like a conservative young wife, and Paul was told to wear a suit and tie. He refused to wear a tie, instead opting for an open-neck white buttondown shirt and telling Eastman that "That's too humiliating. I'm dressing up so they'll think I'm innocent. There's no way I'm doing that [wearing a tie]." Linda matched her leather boots and buttondown with a long tailored skirt and vest, and retained her Earth mama charm by letting her hair hang loose and free. Paul, whether out of coincidence or irony, wore the Tommy Nutter suit that he wore on the cover of Abbey Road.

As I've mentioned before, I'm quite a big fan of Paul McCartney facial hair, so I absolutely love his full-on Navy beard. In his official biography Many Years From Now, his look is likened to "a sailor of the Players Navy Cut cigarette packet."

The Most Epic Couples in Music History

1. Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot

No offense to Jane Birkin, but Serge's pairing with bombshell Brigitte Bardot is my favorite of all of his partnerships. Though Birkin and Gainsbourg garnered notoriety for their recording "Je T'aime ... Moi Non Plus," the tune was originally written for and recorded with Bardot on female vocals. I love their 1968 song "Bonnie and Clyde" - its fun, its sexy, and has such an inventive melody. I especially love the promotional video with Brigitte dressed up in her Faye Dunaway-inspired finest and Serge lolling around in suspenders and a button down with a gun in hand.

2. Jay-Z and Beyonce

Just as Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot claimed themselves as Bonnie and Clyde in 1968, in their song "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" Beyonce and Jay-Z declared themselves the B&C of the twenty-first century. No surprise to anyone, but these two basically own the world. With Beyonce's film, music, and fashion career (with House of Dereon), and Jay-Z's career as a recording artist, club owner, designer, and CEO of Def Jam Records (he is the man responsible for making Rihanna what she is today), this pair has been the highest earning celebrity couple for several consecutive years. Despite their high-profile careers, which also consist of several duetted recordings, the duo is intensely private, neither confirming nor denying their marriage, which was alleged to have occurred almost two years ago.

3. Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash

Married for 35 years, the story of Johnny and June is legendary in the pop culture stratum. If you are one of the four people out there that still hasn't seen Walk the Line, you are sorely missing out on love story lasting over four decades. After performing onstage together in the 1960s, Johnny popped the question in February 1968 during a concert. After June refused for several minutes, love eventually won out and their engagement was celebrated by the hundreds of fans watching in the audience. Rarely seen without one another by their sides, Johnny credited June for helping him overcome drug addiction, and when June passed away in May 2003, Johnny soon followed in that September. Some alleged it was due to a broken heart.

4. Paul and Linda McCartney

One of the most successful and long-lasting duos on the list is the marriage and musical partnership of a Beatle and a photographer. Though critics and fans alike would occasionally rip apart this musical duo (for Paul’s lightweight or comparatively subpar lyrics (to the Beatles, that is) and Linda’s lack of pianist and vocal experience), the married McCartneys were the most famous and central figures in the 70s super band Wings, racking up twelve top-10 singles in the UK and fourteen top-10s in the US, and each of their albums reaching the top-10 charts as well in the UK and US, with five albums consecutively reaching the number one spot. With several Grammy Awards won for their work in Wings, Paul and Linda were one of the most awarded duos in the music industry. In 1973 the McCartneys shared an Oscar nomination for the James Bond song “Live and Let Die.” But to be honest, this adorable couple was quite easy to make fun of - with their his-and-hers mullets, tribe of children, and their unabashed blind affection for one another, it's hard for a cynic to not to want to take it out on them a little.

5. Sonny Bono and Cher

Husband and wife duo Sonny and Cher Bono took the American mid-sixties music scene by storm with such sickeningly sweet tunes as "The Letter," "Do You Wanna Dance," and "I Got You Babe." After their film, 1967's Good Times, flopped with both the mainstream and critical audiences, their musical careers soon followed as the scene turned away from carefree anthems to psychedelic rock. They hosted several variety shows in the 70s, even after their divorce in 1975. They reunited several times to perform during the years, but that ended when Bono died in 1998 as a result of a skiing accident. They had a daughter Chastity Bono in 1969.

6. John Lennon and Yoko Ono

What can be said about John Lennon and Yoko Ono (or johnandyoko, as they preferred to be called) that hasn't already been said, torn apart, and said again? Easily the most controversial couple on this list, Lennon and Ono will forever be remembered for their controversial activities in both the musical and political arenas. My favorite albums were not their early experimental works, but the more tender albums they made later in their relationship, namely Double Fantasy and Milk & Honey. These albums marked the passage of time and maturity in their relationship, after they had separated for almost two years and John took up with May Pang, and then had a son Sean, for whom John gave up his career for several years to provide for. It is such a shame that their relationship came to such an early end as it did. No matter your personal opinions on the 'woman who broke up the Beatles', it is hard to listen to John's odes to his wife, particularly the rough recording of "Grow Old With Me," without wanting to breakdown with grief.

7. Phil and Ronnie Spector

This pairing of a mega-producer (and creator of The Wall of Sound technique) and the "original bad girl of rock and roll" was an unusual one, especially for its time. At the time of the beginning of their relationship, Ronnie Bennett was the lead member of the girl group the Ronettes and Phil Spector was a well-respected oddball music producer. Their personalities clashed from the beginning - Ronnie sought freedom, success, and adventure, whereas Phil was after control. In her autobiography, Ronnie recalled times when Phil would force her to watch Citizen Kane moments on end in order to stress that she would be nothing without him. Despite his controlling attitude, the duo married and produced several number one singles, such as "Be My Baby," as well as several children. After years of utter domination and abuse, where she was locked away in their mansion for months, Ronnie finally left Phil in 1972. Today, Ronnie is an inductee to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and Phil is awaiting a life sentence for murder.

8. James Taylor and Carly Simon

In their decade-long marriage, Carly Simon and James Taylor were the reigning king and queen of the music scene. Recording duets and going on tour together, their fishbowl marriage seemed charmed. After they wed in late 1972, Carly and James had two children Sarah (known as 'Sally') and Ben, both of whom followed in their parents footsteps as musicians and activists. Simon scored a huge hit in '73 with "You're So Vain," which Taylor worried was about him at the time. Over the next few years, Simon struggled to break her husband of a drug addiction and raise a family at the same time, all the while facing her own temptations with drugs. The marriage ended in 1983, and the couple now no longer speaks to each other.

9. Isaac Hayes and Millie Jackson

Millie Jackson and Isaac Hayes recorded together in the mid-to-late seventies. Jackson was known for her candid, talk-and-sing style and Hayes was a recent success in developing Memphis soul and, with his more recent efforts, laying the foundation of what would eventually be rap. Jackson nows runs her own record label and broadcasts a radio show from her home in Dallas, Texas. Hayes, known to newer generations as the cook on South Park, passed away in 2008 at 65 years old.

10. Ben Gibbard and Zooey Deschanel

Hipsters, indie folk, Seth Cohen wannabes, and Urban Outfitters enthusiasts raised their hands in celebration upon the news that Zooey Deschanel and Death Cab for Cutie frontman (as well as The Postal Service mastermind) Ben Gibbard were engaged. The pair was very quiet about the relationship and few even knew they were together until their engagement was announced. While they haven't recorded anything together, fingers are crossed that Gibbard will soon team up with his She & Him darling. The duo married in September 2009, in a very private ceremony in Seattle.

11. Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon

Sonic Youth members (and personal friends of Lily van der Woodsen, apparently) Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon have been rocking out together since the early 80s. Though Moore claimed in his autobiography that the only reason he went to New York to pursue a music career was to "fuck Patti Smith," Gordon and Moore married in 1984 and had a daughter Coco ten years later. The pair has appeared in a number of projects over the years, most recently showing up on Gilmore Girls and Gossip Girl. Yeah, and Moore still writes songs about how he wants to fuck Patti Smith.

12. Ike and Tina Turner

The married Turners were an American homespun success in the 1960s and 1970s, for their inventive lyrics and beats that everyone could dance to. Together Ike and Tina Turner lasted as a recording duo for over sixteen years, until Tina's emergence as a solo talent in the late seventies. During this time, Ike became increasingly dependent upon cocaine and pills to get by, and often became violent with Tina when he was high. Unfortunately, in recent years the success of Ike and Tina as a duo has been overshadowed by the claims of abuse and drug addictions. Ike passed away in 2007 at the age of 73, whereas Tina is still the phenom as a musical talent at 70 years old.

13. Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani

Since their wedding in 2002, Gwen Stefani has gone from pink-haired songstress from No Doubt to high fashion solo star with legions of aspiring Harajuku Girls following her every step. Both members of popular late-90s bands (Bush and No Doubt, respectively), Gavin Rossdale and Gwen Stefani seemed like a perfect match - after meeting in 1995, the two fell in love quickly and started a long distance relationship, because both of their bands were touring at the time. Though they haven't collaborated musically, they have collaborated reproductively (I know, that's gross - forgive me!) - Gwen gave birth to their sons Kingston and Zuma in 2006 and 2008.

14. Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull

They are the couple that lived too fast, partied too hard, and looked almost too beautiful while they did it. Mick and Marianne - synonymous with late sixties rock and roll, indulgence, and wildness, but how we envy them so! Whether in Morocco dancing with the natives, or in a court house on drug charges, or seeking enlightenment from the Maharishi in Wales with the Beatle gang, Mick and Marianne were where it was at in the sixties. When they first got together, Mick gave her love, fame, and security, and Marianne gave him an appreciation to obscure literature and faraway culture that she so loved, as well as an introduction to the Swinging London scene that she ran with during her marriage to art curator John Dunbar. Together they made the Mars Bar the chocolate candy of legends after the Redlands bust. As a result of that, Mick became the badass rock 'n roller he is today and Marianne became 'Miss X', the tarnished reputation of a folk princess that caused her to become a rock goddess girl on a motorcycle. Marianne proved to be endless inspiration for many of the Rolling Stones' greatest songs, from "Sympathy for the Devil" (Mick got the idea from a book by Mikhail Bulgakov that Marianne made him read) to "Wild Horses" (the repeated line "wild horses couldn't drive me away" was apparently what Marianne told Mick after her 1969 overdose when he told her his worry that she would die and leave him forever). Their breakup in 1970 was largely caused by Marianne's increasing drug addiction, and the separate points they both reached in their careers. One song is credited to the both of them: "Sister Morphine" which Mick wrote the music for and Marianne the lyrics. Both have recorded their own versions of the song.

15. George Jones and Tammy Wynette

When George Jones and Tammy "Stand By Your Man" Wynette hooked up, the country world had found their golden couple. Their marriage, which lasted from 1969 to 1975, was the beginning of many duet albums that they would record over the years. Though blissfully happy together, Wynette found she could no longer stand by Jones, her third husband, because of his severe alcoholism. They continued to record together throughout the seventies and eighties, and released their last album together in 1995.

Who are your favorite couples in music history? Did I leave any of your favorites out?

The Lovely Linda

Growing up, Linda McCartney was my idol. My first real exposure to her was on an episode of “The Simpsons” I watched with my older brother when I was around five years old. Her and Paul made voiced “guest appearances” on the show where they spread the message of vegetarianism. This episode caused my taste for meat to decrease greatly and I think it was one of the earliest things that influenced my decision to give up meat permanently only five years later.

Mrs. McCartney (who was born Linda Eastman) continued to influence my life as I grew older. My mother, a former photographer, had tons of books containing the work of other photographers, one of them being Linda (I believe it was her “Portrait of an Era” book, but I cannot find it anywhere in our house right now). I admired her intimate style of photography; her work never seemed stiff or posed, it looked as though she had captured a spontaneous moment of a close friend. Linda’s photography has become world-known, especially in the rock’n’roll community, as she took famous images of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Simon and Garfunkel, Neil Young, The Doors, The Who, and of course, The Beatles. A portrait taken of Eric Clapton in 1968 marked the first time a photo taken by a woman had graced the cover of “Rolling Stone” magazine. I picked up photography as hobby about four years ago, and I think that Linda’s portfolio has influenced my style. Like she, I tend to photograph members of my family particularly when we are outside in a very natural, earthy setting. About photography, Linda once said it “made me a different person because it was something I loved doing and just nothing else mattered. I could just taken my camera and go, probably like Diane Arbus felt when she was taking pictures. I had that feeling…I could just go, go anywhere.”

Her close and almost down-to-earth style of photography mirrored her unpretentious and warm personality. Paul described their relationship in “Many Years From Now” as always being “very close…It was a great change in my life, I've always had quite serious relationships, I didn't have that many women. I had girlfriends and one-night stands a lot, the swinging sixties, sexual revolution. But this was the start of this new kind of relationship for me. I found it very liberating” to be with Linda. Although she was born into a very wealthy family, Linda insisted on making her own income and having her own career, a belief she carried through her marriage to McCartney. She was also the one to insist her and Paul spend time in the countryside with their children, believing that it was necessary to retreat from the world and build a nest together. The family (Paul, Linda, Heather, Mary, James, and Stella) lived in a three-bedroom house because as Paul said, “Linda and I agreed that to have a successful family, we intended to live on top of each other.”

My parents are ex-hippies, so they grew up with Beatlemania and the after-years, and made the music they grew up with an integral part of my youth. I remember dancing along to my mom’s original Wings albums and thinking it was so cool that this girl from New York had made it into a British super-group. Linda, who openly said that she never desired a music career and only joined Wings at Paul’s insistence, performed keyboards and vocals during the band’s decade-long tenure. She also co-wrote some of the band’s biggest hits her with husband; both she and Paul were nominated for an Oscar for their song “Live and Let Die,” and Wings won many Grammy awards throughout the 70s. Despite the many successes Wings had, Linda still had to put up with jibes about her newfound musical career and criticisms about her singing being out-of-tune. Linda apparently told her close friend Danny Fields, (as repeated during the A&E Biography of the Beatles’ Women) “I don’t want to be here, I want to be home with the horses and the children and the garden. I can’t play piano – everyone knows it. They laugh at me, they write about me, they make fun of me.” But eventual as her musical talents grew, Linda was able to make light of her inexperience, calling her singing sub-par in the beginning and claiming that in terms of her piano-playing, “there’s high-schoolers who could do better.” For me, a child with no musical abilities, Linda represented what I thought was impossible – even though she had to endure all those rude remarks about her singing, she still won many Grammys and other awards – because of Linda, I could now add international rock star to my list of possible careers. So deep was my respect for Linda, I even accepted the fact that she was married to my future-husband Paul because I understood she was a good person, which was no easy feat for a lovelorn seven-year-old.

Linda McCartney was also an outspoken activist, particularly for animal rights, lending her support to organizations like PETA, Friends of the Earth, LACS, among others. She also was a vegetarian for the majority of her life. Of her meatless lifestyle, Linda said that she wouldn’t “eat anything with a face” and said that if more people understood the goings-on of slaughterhouses, “the whole world would be vegetarian.” After introducing her husband to vegetarianism in 1975, she founded a business with hopes of further promoting vegetarianism. She started the Linda McCartney Foods company, where she published many cookbooks containing only meatless recipes and sold frozen vegetarian meals; both endeavors proved to be very successful and made Linda financially independent from Paul.

In 1995 Linda was diagnosed with breast cancer, losing her battle with the disease three years later. She passed away in April 1998 at only 56 years old. I remember the day Linda McCartney passed away – as pathetic as this may sound, her passing was my first real encounter with death and it absolutely devastated me. I may have only been a child, but the genuine feelings of melancholy were not lost on me. Even though I didn’t know her, I felt like I had lost someone who was very much present in my life. The ways in which Linda presents herself in my life unfortunately does not exclude breast cancer – both my mother and grandmother have been diagnosed with cancer in the last four years, and I live with the possibility of inheriting the disease.

In a lot of ways, I can relate to Linda and look to her as my role model. She proved herself to be an esteemed and talented photographer who succeeded in making a name for herself apart from the merits of her husband’s work. She also was an animal rights activist who spread the benefits of a meatless lifestyle with the world, and was probably the most famous reluctant rock star of the twentieth century. In her honor, PETA created the Linda McCartney Memorial Award after her passing in order to commemorate those who make strides to protect animal rights. Linda also inspired some of her husband’s most tender love songs, including: “The Lovely Linda,” “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “I Will,” “I’ve Got a Feeling,” “Two of Us,” and “My Love.” Paul McCartney also said that after Linda was diagnosed with cancer, the meaning of his song “Little Willow” – originally dedicated to Maureen Starkey, the late first-wife of Ringo Starr – also became true for Linda. Rest in peace Linda; your wonderful legacy lives on through your activism, your photography, and the lessons you taught your four children and husband, who all still carry on your message.