Archive | November, 2013

hear. jams to be thankful for this holiday

28 Nov

hear

for me, music isn’t just to be listened to, it’s to be felt.  it puts you in a mood.  maybe a day drinking kind of mood, or a stroll in the snow mood or simply a thankful mood.  here is a carefully curated bunch of playlists to put you in the right frame of mind while you mix turkey with mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.  don’t you want to just plug and play?  hopefully, i made it a little easier for you Thanksgiving today.

first is my playlist on spotify.  (if you are still using itunes, shame on you) click here for the playlist.  i made it just for you, so listen and love.

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epicurious

didn’t just put together one playlist for you – but, like, a million.  there has to be something in here you will like!

fuse

has a wide range of tastes that mesh together seamlessly – good for a food coma, they say. and, i must add, very creative song list for thanksgiving.  listen here.  i love “sweet potato” by celia and “making pies” by patty griffin and ‘mashed potato time” by dee dee sharp.  cute.

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click here for some joni mitchell, beastie boys and fats waller.  beautiful.  just like pumpkin pie mixed with stuffing and a touch of green bean casserole.

Screen Shot 2013-11-28 at 8.53.29 AMHappy Thanksgiving.  I love all of you, my friends, reading this!

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see. HONY – humans of new york.

26 Nov

a friend introduced me to this incredible facebook page you have to “like” instantly.  it is the most unique facebook page i’ve ever encountered. and that is saying a lot.  you have to have a little bit of an artsy point of view to get it.  it’s called HUMANS OF NEW YORK.  it’s actually a blog that you can find here.

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snapping pictures, getting a blurb and moving on.  these are amazing and really make you realize how small you are and how big and beautiful the world is.  watch his story:

here is a sample of what comes into my feed:

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Screen Shot 2013-11-26 at 8.34.48 AM Screen Shot 2013-11-26 at 8.35.06 AMi hope your life is enriched like mine has been!

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plaid + flannel

17 Nov

when i think of flannel, i typically think of plaid.  and i think of…

Eddie vedderdon’t you?

ah, eddie vedder.  hand’s down, my generation has the best music ever.  but that is not what this post is about.  it’s all about flannel + plaid.  two things that have fall written all over them.  tell me you don’t have a big ole flannel shirt with the arms rolled up that captures all the outdoorsy smells of bonfires, grilling, wet leaves and still holds out the chill in the air perfectly?

here are some items that are also trying to get into the plaid and/or flannel state of mind:

flannelplaid

like this fantastic iphone cover by jake spade, a smashing bowtie by the kozie canine, a vintage poncho from freepeople that is no longer available but they have loads of hippie fantastic clothes, these flannel scrunchy boots i’m coveting and a plaid flannel infinity scarf that is sure to brighten up any old black winter coat.

oh, but that’s not it, my friend!

how about some more?  you can’t talk flannel without talking plaid and vice versa.  quite honestly, i’m even thinking they are one in the same which they most certainly are not.  something can be plaid or it can be flannel but most flannels are plaid.  sigh.  this sure beats thinking about all the work i have to do.

here is a website, you’re sure to dig.  i love the name of it.  toast.  already without looking, you are going to be able to tell that it is crunchy, warm, buttery and scrumptious.  go ahead and peek.  i’ll give you a glimpse.

toast

 

lastly, did you know…

that duluth trading company rated cities as to how “flannel” they were?  check it out here.

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way to be, louie.

13 Nov

i guess everyone has their idea of someone they’d like to emulate.  maybe a mother or father.  a mentor.  a rich tycoon.  maybe it’s a well-curated mish mosh of personalities.

the past week i haven’t been able to get ROF’s and my friend louie out of our mind.  he passed away this week – way too early.

we met louie through some very close friends of ours.  his restaurant soon became our meeting place.  after long days, before big parties, when wives were traveling or husbands worked late.  the meeting place.  unassuming – in fact almost obscure – louie’s didn’t have any windows but the minute you walked in, you felt at ease.   the best pizza, best salmon and ceasar salad like no other – Louie’s in east dallas was the place to be.  louie,  the co-owner and bartender was always there to greet us, shake our hand and stop and talk to us for a while. he kept the place open late for us and always made us laugh.  his trademark voice was scratchy, multi-toned and riddled with midwestern sarcasm.  he wasn’t the overly friendly, cheesy type that grinned from ear to ear 24/7 kind of person (thank God!)  he worked hard and had hard core conversations with all the folks at the bar that had an opinion.

when i moved to michigan, i came back to dallas and of course, went to louie’s.  louie was asking me about michigan and he left a voice message for ROF who was not there.  so i have the friendly “heyyyy robert…” message in my phone.

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after reading all the wonderful articles on louie, i started to really think about what it was about him i liked.  i realized that those attributes he has are ones i really want.  when i think about my career and where i want to go and do in the future, i think about louie and louie’s, the restaurant.  making people feel welcome and happy, serving good food and good drinks, working with family and making the people you work with family. what more in the world would you want?

my heart and prayers go out to louie’s wife, three kids, mom and brother.  also to our good friends who loved louie so much and to casey, john, beth and all the folks at louie’s who i know are still working but without hearing that trademark scratchy riff of a voice we all came to know and love so much.  the world has become a better place because of you, louie!

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salted caramel recipes

10 Nov

salt + caramel = 2 things that go together like soni+cher, peanut butter + jelly and vodka + lemons. after pumpkin, the one thing that says ‘fall’ is salted caramel.

there is just something about the sweet + salty togetherness that when you mix it with the background of falling red leaves, crisp temperatures and crackling fire it all says – home to me.

pinterest + I curated some tasty recipes for you. from a martini to popcorn to rice krispie treats.  all of the great blogs and recipes can be found here.

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top left to right: salted caramel pretzel brownies, salted caramel bark

salted caramel pb cups and bailey’s salted caramel chocolate pie

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from top left to right: salted caramel macarons, popcorn,

brownies with SC filling and rice krispie treats.

and you can’t forget the salted caramel martini.  did you know that have that flavor?  Screen Shot 2013-11-10 at 8.15.38 PM

the recipe from ministry of alcohol’s website

is

2 parts stoli salted karamel

3 parts apple juice

how easy is that?  (to quote my favorite cook)

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absolutely obsessed with lorde

9 Nov

since this blog is called the appreciator, i have to write about my latest obsession – lorde, the 16 year old singer/songwriter from new zealand.  i am absolutely blown away by her sound + lyrics.  her debut album is amazing from top to bottom and i listen to it so loud driving to and from work that people have to think i’m a bit nuts.  how in the hell-o can someone that young have such deep, creative lyrics?

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now, if you are one of those people that just enjoys a good beat, then you probably won’t like this. but if you get into lyrics and oddity and unsymmetrical poetry – then you won’t be able to put this down like a never-ending delicious book.  here are the lyrics to one of my favorite’s called ‘team’.  i can already picture the lyrics sketched on a big white wall in my dream office space.

Wait ’til you’re announced
We’ve not yet lost all our graces
The hounds will stay in chains
Look upon your greatness
That you’ll send the call out
(Send the call out [15x])

Call all the ladies out
They’re in their finery
A hundred jewels on throats
A hundred jewels between teeth
Now bring my boys in
Their skin in craters like the moon
The moon we love like a brother, while he glows through the room

Dancin’ around the lies we tell
Dancin’ around big eyes as well
Even the comatose they don’t dance and tell

[Chorus]
We live in cities you’ll never see on screen
Not very pretty, but we sure know how to run free
Living in ruins of the palace within my dreams
And you know, we’re on each other’s team

I’m kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air, so there
So all the cups got broke shards beneath our feet but it wasn’t my fault
And everyone’s competing for a love they won’t receive
‘Cause what this palace wants is release

[Chorus]

I’m kind of over getting told to throw my hands up in the air
So there
I’m kinda older than I was when I revelled without a care
So there

[Chorus]

here is the song:

here’s a great video about her.  watch this and then compare ( i had to briefly…) her to someone with the initials MC.  who is the artist?

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i am a writer.

2 Nov

ROF said something this week that upset me.  or it made me mad at first but then i thought about it some more.

i was telling a story about something that happened to me that i thought was right out of a scene from a movie, or a book.  and i said to ROF, “you know, the writer in me thought that would be a great story to tell.”  that’s when he said:

“since when are you a writer?”

i won’t bore you with the witty repartee but it is one of those things that i always thought i was.  in fact, i bet my mom and sister are reading this saying “she is a writer?” but it is one of those things that i’ve always aspired to be but don’t write much any more.  unless you count 287 blog posts writing.

which i do, by the way.  ROF. even if there are pictures.

i graduated college with a fiction writing minor.  i took a post-grad class called “your first 100 pages” of your novel.  i wrote a book of poems.  I’M A WRITER.

or am i just one of those old(er) people that hangs on to who they used to be – or worse – hangs on to whom they wanted to be? busted.  but stuff like this can always be turned around, right?  

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ernest hemingway, i’m not.  but i kind of liked thinking of myself as a writer.  so i’m going to start to write.  you’ll notice a new tab at the top of my blog. peek in there sometime if you want to read some musings.  i want to be a writer.

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