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CreaGarden Template

Developed by Community developer
  • Responsive
  • Color
  • PrestaShop -
theme - Home & Garden - CreaGarden - 1
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Customize the look of your store with one click through the responsive theme CreaGarden !
You will be able to customize the main colors, the fonts as well as many other elements thanks to the management module provided with the theme.

  • Custom Fonts
  • Custom Colors
  • Multilingual
  • Responsive
  • Graphics included

  • Sticky Shopping Card
  • Quick View Product
  • Grid or List View
  • One Page Checkout
  • Search Block
  • Layered Navigation

  • Effects & Transitions
  • Image Zoom Effect
  • Custom Background
  • Custom Page Layout

  • Vertical Menu
  • Horizontal Menu
  • Mega Menu

  • Google Web Fonts
  • Google Rich Snippets Integration
  • Bootstrap
  • Icon Fonts
  • HTML5 / CSS3
  • Sass / Less
  • Mobile First

Basic Features

  • Ajax Cart
  • Display Manufacturer / Brand on Product Page
  • Product Labels
  • Product Block (Featured, New, Special and Best Seller products.)
  • Contact Form
  • Social Block
  • Social Share Buttons
  • Newsletter Subscription Block in Footer

Additionnal Features

  • Popup Add to Cart
  • Custom Slideshow

Browsers compatibility

  • IE10+ / Edge
  • Firefox
  • Chrome
  • Safari
  • Opera

Other features

  • Theme management module
  • Unlimited colors
  • 750+ fonts Google Web Fonts
  • Obsolete browser update warning

Tip: Customize your texts and translations

Want to change the translations on this theme, or add any? No problem! Just use the translation tool integrated into the back office of your PrestaShop Store.

Please read carefully the PDF theme documentation.
It was written with love and it contains many useful information about the theme !

Support and updates

You automatically get 3 months of support for this product.

For 90 days after your purchase, you can enjoy technical and feature support, as well as access to updates available for this product.

Make sure this product runs well on your store for 12 months with Option Zen!

With Option Zen, you get access to ALL updates for the product for one year following purchase. Support from the product developer is available by email to answer all your technical and feature-related questions.

What is Option Zen?

Option Zen includes two services:

  • Unlimited after-sales support during the period covered by the option
  • Access to all updates for the product during the period

Option Zen is available at a discount when purchasing this product, but, if you miss out, you can also buy it via your customer account later. It is valid up to one year following the date of purchase of your product. The earlier you buy it, the longer you can enjoy it!

What does it include?

The following are included in Option Zen:

  • questions about using the module/theme;
  • solving technical problems related to the module/theme;
  • access to all module/theme updates.

The following services are not included in Option Zen:

  • customization and special development;
  • installing and updating the module/theme;
  • solving problems concerning third-party services, hosting, the server, or the PrestaShop software.

Quick and easy installation with Prestashop automatic theme installation feature !
A complete documentation explaining the installation of the theme and its configuration is provided.

Frequently purchased together

LifeStyle by PrestaShop - Fashion & Design
Advanced Theme Configurator - Theme Maker
$309.97 Add all three to cart

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  • 3 months of free support (Learn more)
  • Ready to use
  • Developed by a Top Developer
  • Documentation included
  • Compatibility v1.7.1.0 - v1.7.2.3

  • Version 1.0.4 (09/28/2017)

  • Available in fr

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Local Business Category

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The name "Melbourne" refers to an urban agglomeration area (and census statistical division) spanning 9,900 km2 (3,857.2 sq mi) that comprises the greater metropolis – as well as being a common name for its metropolitan hub, the Melbourne City Centre. It is a leading financial centre in Australia, as well as the Asia-Pacific region, and has been ranked the world's most livable city since 2011 (and among the top three since 2002), according the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). In 2013 the EIU also ranked Melbourne the fourth most expensive city in the world, tying with Oslo, Norway. Melbourne is rated highly in the areas of education, entertainment, healthcare, research and development, tourism and sports.It is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip, with its City Centre situated at the northernmost point of the bay – near to the estuary of the Yarra River. The metropolitan area extends south from the City Centre, along the eastern and western shorelines of Port Phillip, and expands into the hinterlands – toward the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. The City Centre is located in the municipality known as the City of Melbourne, and the metropolis consists of a further 30 municipalities. Melbourne has a population of 4.35 million, and the fastest growing population among Australian capital cities. Inhabitants of the city are called Melburnians.

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8 Big Ideas from Socialbakers Engage Prague 2016

8 Big Ideas from Socialbakers Engage Prague 2016

Leading marketing professionals from around the world gathered for the four-day Engage Prague 2016, listening to topnotch speakers from major brands and agencies alongside the social analytics leaders from Socialbakers. To share experiences and stay abreast of the insights into social marketing trends, successful marketing campaigns, showcases the newest tools and even more.

See also: The 10 Most Watched Ads Globally on YouTube in April 2016

It’s unfair to summarize such a huge gathering in one article, but here’s a list of eight important ideas from the event and may inspire you to improve your business performance before end of 2016.

1. If you’re talking to your customers via comments, STOP

Numbers have shown 80% of Facebook users are happy with brands that interact with them via massages. People feel special, important and free if you took the conversation in private. It’s also better to talk over facebook messages rather than discussing customers personal issues in public. Try to take the conversation to messages once it’s getting personal.

private messaging

2. Bots, Bots, Bots

Are you a publisher and you still don’t have a bot? Your readers may not be yours anymore. Start creating your facebook messenger bot now

3. Influencers NOW are the most important channel to sell or grow, choose them Carefully

Many brands are moving from the traditional digital advertising to hiring online influencers, in order to sell their products in a native way, and use influncers’ trust power as referrals to grow fan base. This strategy has proven success on different platforms, especially on Instagram.

4. Outsourcing social media content is a FATAL mistake

Most social media agencies do not understand your products/services better than your employees. So why investing in an agency while you can own the best in-house? You just need to train them right, and hire a digital mind to lead and success will follow.

5. Do not boost any content before making sure your customers love it

It’s a common mistake, many brands boost all their social media posts/tweets, this results in wasting budget waste on bad content, and losing the opportunity to support good content with bigger budget. There’re even worser results such as “page unlikes, hiding all your future posts) in addition to hiding the promoted content they don’t like and result in increasing cost in future sponsored content.

6. Do not forget the small details like Thumbnail

Digital is all about visuals. Let’s say that you’re offering the best product or service, the question is, how to appeal to customers in order to click and read about it? Simply, attract their eyes, try to use eye-catchy images, and display them right by learning more about each platform thumbnail dimensions.

7. No more customer care over phone calls

49% of customer inquires are now handled over social media and 18.6% over digital marketing. Traditional customer care is declining due to the penetration of internet and online customer care. Develop your processes and expand your social customer care teams.

customer care

8. Use music every time and everywhere in your ads, 97% of marketers around the word agreed on this

Music is the world number one language, it builds strong bonds and keep you on the top of customer mind. Use it effectively.

Worth mentioning that STC KSA awarded as the best customer care via twitter in the World, CONGRATS! They replied to around 4 million requests in less than 4 minutes.

STCHave something to say on this? Share your views in the comments box below or join us on twitterFacebook
If you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at post@adigitalboom.com


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Using technology to give people access to mental health professionals

Breaking the barriers of social stigma

shezlong, digital boom

Although Egypt’s mental health policy was formulated back in 1978, the Egyptian government only spends 2% of its already meager national healthcare budget (3.4% of the national budget) on mental health and 59% of this budget is spent on public mental health hospitals.

In a 2015 report from the General Secretariat of Mental Health and Addiction Treatment, it was  revealed that more than 12% of adults in Egypt had mental disorders and some sources put that number at 17%, that’s anywhere from 5 to 7 million people. If you compare that with the actual capacity of the mental health sector as reported by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights being 15 hospitals, 62 clinics and 600 mental health practitioners, it becomes easy to realize the that system is not equipped to handle a problem of this magnitude. Combine that with the social stigma attached to mental disorders, the concerns about security and privacy and it’s easy to see why and how many patients find it difficult to find and receive the treatment they need.

There is certainly a market need and a real problem and that’s why Endure Capital, A15, and Angel Investor and former Senior Vice President at WebMD Karim Hussien are joining forces and investing 1.5M EGP in Shezlong. “We love ideas and startups that are the product of a real need and that have come to exist in order to address and solve a real problem in the community. That is what first attracted our attention to Shezlong and is ultimately a key reason why we invested in the team,” said A15 CEO, Fadi Antaki.

Shezlong is the first telemedicine platform in the MENA region to focus on mental health. It provides convenient and private counselling services through connecting individuals with licensed therapists using online audio and video technology. Today Shezlong is growing at 20% month over month with therapists from 6 countries serving clients in over 65 countries.  In the future, Shezlong’s growth is planned to come through geographical expansion to the rest of the MENA region and through specifically targeting several customer segments like mothers and couples with marital disorders. Additionally, they plan on working with corporate companies to provide “Employee counseling services”. In the pipeline is also a chatting service that will enable anyone to chat with therapists through Whatsapp texting and voice notes – through an affordable monthly subscription.

“The idea of Shezlong came after I had a serious accident back in 2013. I suffered from severe depression and it was difficult for me to find a trustworthy and reliable psychiatrist. I was also handicapped because of the injuries, so I thought, why wouldn’t we have a mental health platform serving people wherever they are? That helps me find who the right doctor is and then helps me connect with them?” Said Ahmed Abu Elhaz, Shezlong’s CEO. “In 2014, we applied with our business plan to the TIEC government incubation program. We were provided with an office and a fund of 160K EGP to spend over a period of 1 year. By 2015, we had launched our platform, and worked on growing our medical team. Today and with the help of A15, Endure and Karim, we will be looking to expand our business further and work on reaching the people we know need mental health support” Added Abu Elhaz.


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a glimpse inside

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Looking at the little things

So far this week has sent me spiraling down the stress tunnel.

I’ve been straining to resist spending every waking second planning out the rest of my waking seconds: when I’m going to catch up on film & tv and old testament images of God, when I’m going to take my psych test, when I’m working, when I get to sleep, when I’m going to start these papers, when I’m going to talk to so and so & so and so and when I’m going to see Jacob. Oh yeah, and when I’m going to read my Bible?

It’s been a long week. But, there have been many, many redeeming moments that I don’t want to look over.

1: my parents visited this weekend. Jacob got the flu (not one of the redeeming moments I’m listing), so it was stinky that he couldn’t spend any time with them. Our plans were very much changed because of his sickness, but it was nice to see my parents and hang out.

2: Jacob and I worked on Valentine’s Day, so we celebrated Monday (we got 2 pretzels and 2 drinks from Auntie Anne’s for $6! Tell me that’s a deal!) and went to lunch on Tuesday. It was so fun to just enjoy each other!! I’m so thankful for moments when we get to forget about work and school and invest in each other. We had 2 great Valentine’s dates:)

3: Someone left this awesome tip for me Wednesday night at Firehouse

4: I found the NICEST note from one of my residents in my Valentine’s bag on my door. Talk about some seriously uplifting words! I needed that. Speaking of those bags, they were pretty much a hit. It was super fun to receive valentines from all the girls on my hall! Jacob even got a few in there, too, ha!

5: Jacob’s efforts to reach out to people/things that are important to me. Thank you, Jake, for loving me and trying to love what I love.

6: Standing in the middle of chapel yesterday, surrounded by a small part of the body of Christ singing

“Jesus paid it all,
All to him I owe,
Sin had left a crimson stain–
He washed it white as snow.”

I just closed my eyes and let the chorus of God’s people serenade my heart.

7: Hearing girls exclaim, “Chocolate!!!!” when they returned to their rooms after room inspections. Good idea, Ally :)

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21 for my 21st

Well, it’s another year! I had a WONDERFUL birthday yesterday, thanks to Jacob!:) Thanks for making me feel so loved and cared about… you are so so special to me. :)

I started making yearly lists for my birthday last year and it turned out to be a really fun thing. I went camping, started sewing, played disc golf, built a kite, and read lots of great books! Hopefully this year will be just as exciting and filled with new things. I’ve already got a jump start on learning to play chess (carried over from last year’s list), since Jacob got me a chess set for my birthday!

Anyway, here is this year’s list:

1. Go without chocolate. (Yes, for the entire year. Developing self control/discipline/also just enjoying a serious challenge)

2. Get married!! (Date set: June 16!)

3. Pray for my marriage with Jacob every day.

4. Finish the Bible-in-a-year plan that I started in December 2011.

5. Finish the quilt I started last August. I’m about halfway finished at this point… it’s only taken me about a year to get this far ;).

6. Read 11 (hopefully) good books.

7. Learn to crochet.

8. Play guitar more often.

9. Exercise at least 4 days a week, every week.

10. Work on memorizing Scripture.

11. Set aside and protect my Sabbath day every week.

12. Grow in looking into MYSELF to see my own sin rather than pointing my finger elsewhere.  Grow in repentance.

13. Learn something about gardens and flowers.

14. Stop complaining. Be quick to encourage, much slower to be negative.

15. Pursue ministry intentionally.

16. Get into a regular sleep/awake schedule in order to make rest a priority and give my body a routine. (Bed 11:30, 8am wake up.. or something along that line)

17. Write more.

18.  Take my new bike out and ride ride ride!!!

Goals that have carried over from last year’s list:

19. Learn to play chess

20. Learn to change a tire.

21. Shoot a real gun.

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2011 in a large nutshell

January: I turned 20! Some of my friends from OH surprised me and came to visit. They coordinated with Jacob to distract me and keep me busy all night until they arrived and I was so surprised!

February: My mom came to visit for Family weekend and met Jacob’s family for the first time! Jacob, Teresa (his mom), my mom, and I all went to see Milligan’s production of Treasure Island. I traveled to PCTC (Pennsylvania Christian Teen Convention) with Milligan at the end of the month and made my first-ever sewing project in the van on the way there.

March: Lauren McInturff traveled home with me for spring break, Jacob and I visited Asheville one Saturday, and Redeemer moved into the King Center building in downtown JC. I left at the end of the month to travel to Mountain Christian Church to speak at a fundraising dinner for Milligan.

April: The whole campus celebrated Wonderful Wednesday (a surprise day with no class and tons of entertainment) and Jacob traveled to OH with me for Easter break!

May: I kicked off the start of summer break by heading to Lakeland, FL with Mosby. We relaxed, hung out by the pool, and enjoyed some rest and good books!

After vacation with Mosby, I got to hang out with great friends in Ohio and celebrate the marriage of Kevin and Jen Martin on May 20.

Jacob helped me build a kite at the end of May… something from my 20 while I’m 20 list. We had a blast and even tried flying it afterwards. There was absolutely ZERO wind, though, so the attempt looked like me running around his backyard with the kite, letting it go, and watching it fall straight to the grass. We did get a lot of great laughs out of it, though.

I moved in with a family from church for the summer and started waitressing at Firehouse Restaurant in June.

My parents and I traveled to Florida in mid-June for my cousin’s wedding and we stayed for a week to make it a vacation! What a refreshing week with my family. This picture was taken at the Castillo de San Marcos.

Right when I returned, Jacob and I left for vacation with his family at Myrtle Beach. We tried to fly our kite but the wind destroyed it.

Little did I know that Jacob planned to propose while we were at the beach! He asked me on June 30 and I said yes!

Immediately after our vacation at Myrtle Beach, we headed out for a weekend of camping… my first camping excursion (also on my 20 while I’m 20 list)! It looks like I’m doing well in this picture, but we discovered that camping is not really my thing… thank you for taking such great care of me, Jacob:).

Jacob turned 21 in July. He was VERY excited about his present, even though he guessed it because I’m a practical gift-giver and he is just plain smart:)

Mom and Dad threw us a surprise engagement party with both of my parents’ sides of the family in August when we visited. My cousin-in-law Lisa made this awesome sign for us!

Jacob and I got a couch in August!

Jacob helped me move everything into my dorm room and even stayed to take down/put up blinds and get the couch situated while I was at training all day (how nice is that??).

I started work as an RA this year. We took staff pictures when we got together for training in early August. All the other students moved in mid-August and I hit the ground running to kick off my junior year. Jacob and I also started our 13-week Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class toward the end of the month.

September: A lot of school happened this month, as well as a couple Res Life programs.

Jacob and I traveled to Knoxville on a whim one Wednesday night to hear Jon Acuff (the author of Stuff Christians Like and Quitter) speak. It was funny, forming, and a great adventure for us:).

October: My parents celebrated their 25th anniversary!

Jacob and I traveled to OH for a wedding in late October. On the way home we met Meg and Abbie at Starbucks for some quick hang time. One of the few times this year I got to spend time with those girls.

Sarah came to visit Milligan for the first time in late October… it was such a treat to spend some encouraging time with that girl.

Sarah visited during Homecoming weekend, so she got the full Milligan experience, to say the least. This picture is from the Homecoming parade… Milligan’s new president Bill Greer and his wife Edwina are pictured above.

I had the honor of speaking at President Bill Greer’s Inauguration Dinner later that week, and it was so fun to get all dressed up with Jacob! We both had to buy some new clothes, but it was a great excuse to have a fancy date!!

November: My brother Nick turned 18 this month and Jacob and I started meeting with the Magnesses for premarital counseling! We are very excited to continue learning from them and preparing for our marriage!

 After a rough day at school one week, Jacob treated me to Starbucks! This is a notable event because Jacob hates coffee… and did you notice there are two in this picture??? He got himself one because he said he’s trying to like and appreciate what I like and appreciate (Caramel Brulee Latte in this case)…. I’m not sure it worked, but I sure thought it was sweet!

December: Christmas party after Christmas party! Jacob and I went to the Chickfila Christmas party and hung out with his coworkers for a couple hours the first Sunday in December.

And I celebrated Christmas with my fellow Hart RA’s with a crafty Christmas exchange!

Jacob and I visited Bristol’s famous Motor Speedway in Lights for the first time together (my first time ever)! It was a blast and was definitely worth $10.

And after lots of papers and finals, Jacob and I traveled home for some Austin family time over Christmas break. He stayed for a few days at the beginning and the end of break and I stayed for about 2 weeks. That time was consumed with catching up with family and making wedding plans! Woo hoo!

Happy New Year Everyone!

kite making 101

My really nice boyfriend, Jacob, and I have been making a kite over the past week and a half! He surprised me last Saturday and took me out to buy supplies so I can check it off my 20-while-I’m-20 list:). What a great man, right??:)

Here are some pictures of the process….

Part 1: The Kite Frame

Here are most of our supplies... And an ice cold diet coke to top it off:). Couldn't leave that important ingredient out of the picture:).

Jacob measuring out the sticks so we can cut them appropriately.

Time to attach the sticks and form the kite frame!

Our kite frame!!

Part 1 complete.

Part 2: The pretty cover!! Jacob went into work for the afternoon, so while he worked, I set to work on making our kite unique a beautiful creation:).

Ladies, does this material look familiar to any of you??? I made this kite cover from an old skirt! I found a hole in it when I was moving out of school, so instead of throwing it away, I saved it to use for crafts later! Came in handy. I cut it up and sewed it together to make our kite cover!

Well, between kite-making days, I broke the kite. So Jacob saved the day and fixed it with some duct tape:).

I bought a clear rain poncho from Walmart to sew to the fabric to give the kite more durability.

I pinned the fabric to the poncho, cut the extra off, and sewed it together! The kite cover is ready to be folded over and taped!!

Here's our kite folded over and sewed together! We tried using tape to attach the cover to the frame, but it didn't seem to hold. We decided sewing the fabric around the frame would probably work better, so that's what we did! We also added the tail here! And then Jacob trimmed off the extra poncho fabric to make the kite look nicer (not pictured).

And I broke the kite again:(. This is what happened when I excitedly ripped the tape off, thinking we were finally finished. So I sewed up the injured area... hopefully this won't affect the kite's flying abilities.

And here's the last picture!!! Our finished kite, complete with a tail and flying string!!

We also attempted flying it today. However, there was literally zero wind, so the attempt mostly consisted of me running up a hill, letting go of the kite, and it falling straight to the ground over and over again… a funny sight, I’m sure. So we’re waiting for a windy day to test her out for real!

be the molded.

I just started reading Radical by David Platt. To be honest, I’m kind of tired of reading Christian books. I feel like I’m getting the same message over and over again… so needless to say, my hopes weren’t that high when I started this one.

But, I’m only on page 12, and he’s got a pretty good point already. So good, that I want to share it with you. So bear with me, and keep reading. This is a long quote, but it’s worth your time. Practice some patience. :).

Platt writes, “Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of these eager followers of Jesus in the first century. What if I were the potential disciple being told to drop my nets? What if you were the man whom Jesus told to not even say good-bye to his family [Luke 9:61-62]? What if we were told to hate our families and give up everything we had in order to follow Jesus [Luke 14:26, 33]?
This is where we come face to face with a dangerous reality. We do have to give up everything we have to follow Jesus. We do have to love him in a way that makes our closest relationships in this world look like hate. And it is entirely possible that he will tell us to sell everything we have and give it to the poor.
But we don’t want to believe it. We are afraid of what it might mean for our lives. So we rationalize these passages away. ‘Jesus wouldn’t really tell us not to bury our father or say good-bye to our family. Jesus didn’t literally mean to sell all we have and give it to the poor. What Jesus really meant was…’
And this is where we need to pause. Because we are starting to redefine Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with.
A nice, middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream.

But do you and I realize what we are doing at this point? We are molding Jesus into our image. He is beginning to look a lot like us because, after all, that is whom we are most comfortable with. And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshiping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshiping ourselves” (pp. 12-13).

Whew…. heart check, anybody??

Father, wipe this mentality away from my heart and my mind! May I be molded into your Son’s image, rather than attempting to mold him into my own. Give me a mentality of holding Scripture above my life, of living under your authority. I want to come to you without preconceived ideas based on my own feelings or entitlements of what you should be like. I want to extract everything I know to be true from Scripture. God, help me to make that separation between truth and lie. You are endlessly worthy of my life’s devotion and praise. ALL praise and glory and honor and power to you, Father. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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imma imma imma be a skipper no more

I kind of failed #20 on my 20-while-I’m-20 list. (Sorry, Dr. Abner… I really did enjoy your class, but it was at an extremely inconvenient time for me… :/) HOWEVER, I figure since I still have my Fall 2011 semester, I still have half of the year to improve!

Here’s my vision for fall semester (yes, I am planning a little in advance, but I’m trying to get in the right mindset):
1. Go to class, no matter what. When I’m tired, go to class. When I’m hungry, go to class. When I feel pale, go to class. When I don’t like any clothes in my closet, suck it up, settle on something, and go to class.
2. There is NO REASON for being too tired to get up for a 10 am class. So I scheduled all my morning classes for 10 am (except Tuesdays, on which I have an 8am.. it’s good for the eyes to see the sun out at that time on occasion).

To prepare myself for waking up well in the fall, I’m going to start by waking up well in the summer. I’m planning to continue the 8 o’clock club (it’s #3 on my 20wi20 list, but I got the idea from these lovely ladies), although I honestly might move it to 8:30. After all, it is summer, and unless I work a morning shift (and have to get up earlier), I don’t see any problem with an 8:30 rise and shine.

“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Proverbs 25:28

Hello, discipline. My name is Lauren. :)


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26 April 2016

How to move your craft room

Moving house can be stressful. Moving a craft room/studio/supplies even more so! And being of the creative variety you never throw anything away because hey, those loo rolls are going to come in handy for your next great craft project, right? Hmm, you might want to see my sort and declutter tip below ;-)

However much craft stuff you have, and as someone who is currently packing to move house, it needn't be that stressful if you're crafty about it, ha ha! So, here are my top tips on how to move your craft room with ease.

Prepare and plan

If you know the date you're moving, get your diary/planner out (you've got several, right?!) and plan what days/nights/weekends you are going to pack. Be realistic and give yourself ample time because it always takes longer than you think. Remember to also put one whole day aside for sorting and decluttering (see below).

Get supplies in

If you haven't already got them stored away, get plenty of boxes, bubble wrap, parcel tape, a pair of scissors, labels, a notebook (see below) and your favourite pen because you're going to need them. Also, buy or borrow a load of supermarket bags for life. They are amazing for shifting books and odd shaped craft tools in. They're super sturdy and because they have handles, they're really easy to carry into the van!

Sort and declutter

Before you even start packing, spend a whole day going through all your craft supplies. Do you really need ten pairs of scissors? Have you even coloured that colouring book in yet? Be honest with yourself and put a pile of stuff together that you don't want/need/are never going to use.

When you've collected these items up, you could either donate them to a charity shop, ask your fellow crafty friends if they would like them or you could run a flash sale on Instagram if you've got tonnes of really good, unused craft stuff. See Claireabellemakes' brilliant blog post on how to organise a successful Instagram sale!

Get clever with space

Don't just chuck everything into a box, be clever by putting all those miscellaneous odds and sods into that box you plan to découpage, iron and fold fabric and put those sewing and knitting patterns into an A4 folder. It saves on space in those boxes and makes unpacking a lot easier.

Be organised as you pack

Have your notebook, pen and labels at the ready! As you pack use those labels to number your boxes. In your notebook write down the box number and what is in it. When you've moved and you're trying to find that Modge Podge gloss, you'll know exactly which box you put it in.

Lack of time? Get an extra pair of hands

If you only have one weekend in which to realistically pack everything, then ask for help. Your family and best mates (especially those of the crafty variety!) will be more than happy to help as you can return the favour at a later date. And it needn't be completely boring! Pop some tunes on, get some biscuits in to have on your tea break and a pizza to gorge on when you've finished. You'll get it done in no time with two pairs of hands!

Happy packing!

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The Last Day Off

This is the last day of my four day weekend -it’s back to work tomorrow (SIGH). Since it’s rainy I will probably just lay around and watch movies. I may try to get one more large post in. We will see.

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  1. Hope you had a great day! It rained all day, here, too. I posted a picture of it on my blog:)

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Interesting Lady 9

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history / inspiration / travel

Nellie Bly (1864 – 1922) was a writer, journalist, inventor and industrialist. Perhaps most famous for her trip around the world in less than eighty days, she undertook the trip to see if Jules Verne’s famous book could be turned into reality. In 1889 she started a journey of almost 25,000 miles around the globe that took her to England, France (meeting with Jules Verne), Italy, Ceylon, Singapore (buying a monkey), Hong Kong and Japan. Travelling by train and steamboat and sending progress reports along the way, she arrived back in New York city after 72 days, more than a week faster than the fictional Phileas Fogg.

As a pioneer in investigative journalism she took an undercover job to investigate reports of brutality and neglect at a women’s lunatic asylum. Faking insanity she stayed at the asylum for ten days to experience the treatment firsthand. Her article raised many questions and the book was a huge success, bringing her lasting fame. Later in life she ran a steel manufacturing company and patented several inventions.

    800px-Nellie_Bly_2  Nellie_Bly_journalist

Song for today: Prince & the Revolution – Around The World In A Day

The Author

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it may be necessary from time to time to give a stupid or misinformed beholder a black eye.”  Miss Piggy

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Saturday, November 9, 2013

Grab that glue gun!

Hi, Friends!  Back again and taking a break from the craft room to upload some projects for the MFP 12 Days of Christmas HERE.  I have the glue gun burns on my fingers to prove that I've been having fun with Day 9 of the challenge!  Thought I should share a Florida-themed one first!

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Flash Fiction: How The Math Exam Should Have Ended

“Grade nines, you may start your exam.”

My hand shot forward, flipping open the yellow booklet. There were short instructions; show your work, read carefully, use pencil on the bubble sheet, blah, blah, blah. I got this. Then I saw the first question. My face fell and I could feel beads of sweat gathering above brows.

Multiply the what by what? Did we even learn this? My eyes skittered around the gym, looking for others who were as lost as I was, but all I saw were pencils filling in the bubble sheets. I looked back at the paper. Okay, next question.

My eyes bulged. Solve that? Was that thing even considered math? It was just an angry jumble of numbers and letters. I cursed under my breath and continued to flip through the pages, trying to find something I knew how to do.

20 minutes later I’d finished one question and guessed about five. Should I just guess the whole thing? It’s better than nothing right? But I’m failing! This is not good, not good, not good, not good— Wait a minute. Esther was sitting in front of me, math wiz extraordinaire. She was small too, so I could easily see what she was writing from over her shoulder. A, B, D, D, D, C, A, A, E, B… Okay, multiple choice is over. Now what?

I drummed my fingers impatiently on the desk, looking up at the clock. I was starting to sweat again. Oh god, I was already failing math. If I didn’t get at least a 70 percent I’d fail. AGAIN. No, stop it, I had to try at least. I looked back to my paper, trying to remember something, anything. Any number to the power of zero equals… zero? Shoot, I had no idea. I looked back to Esther, then at the teachers. None of them were giving me weird looks. I took that as a green light and nonchalantly brushed my formula sheet off the edge of the desk. Esther bent down to get it and she was out of my view for just a few seconds. I scanned over the paper, absorbing as much information as I could. Esther handed me my sheet and I muttered a thank you. Any number to the power of zero equals one, I wrote.

I kept doing this, but Esther was smart. She caught on after the third try and made a point of closing her exam book and covering her bubble sheet before bending to pick up my papers. Then she continued, hunched over, annoyance emanating from her like heat waves.

Plan B. I waited until no teachers were looking and then slipped my iPhone into my calculator case as fast as I could. To someone looking from the front of the gym, it would just look like I was just solving another question.

R U getting NE of this?, I texted Anne, my friend who was sitting a few rows down. I counted a few seconds and then I heard the ring from the back of the gym. 200 heads turned in unison. I cringed. Anne was frozen in her seat.

“Having fun, are you?”

I jumped, hitting the gum covered desk bottom with my knee and sending papers and pencils sliding to the floor. Esther even turned to pick them up again, but when she saw who was behind me she whipped back with a terrified look on her face. She glanced at me before she turned totally though, and I saw a hint of sympathy. My math teacher, Mr. Christie, looked over my shoulder at my phone. He was six foot five, 100 percent muscle, and practically breathing down my neck.

“You know what this means, right?”

“I-I fail?” I squeaked.

“Again.” He picked my exam up from the floor. When I looked back he was grinning. It’s like he wanted to see me in summer school. “Come, you don’t just get a free pass when you cheat on an exam anymore. Rules have changed.”

I gathered my things reluctantly. Ugh, my mom was gonna kill me.

Everyone was looking at me, but seeing Mr. Christie glaring back, they turned to their sheets.

Christie lead us out into the halls. They were dead silent. Everyone was still in the exam and it would be another twenty minutes until anyone was allowed to leave. Christie stopped by a door beside the boys bathroom. I’d seen it before, but never really known where it went. Into another room? If it did then it had to be a closet. Was he going to lock me in a closet for an hour? So unfair.

To my surprise there were stairs behind the door, leading into the dank, LED lit basement. I took a tentative step down. My gut told me to run for it. It was the last exam after all, and then it was summer. What did I have to lose?

“Hurry up, Epiphany. It’s not that bad.”

I followed him, but only because I decided it would be a good story  to tell later on. Yeah, and then he dragged me into the basement. Like, what even?

The basement was just like any old basement, musty and ugly. No one had tried to make this place look nice. It was just filled with twisting brass pipes and pressure valves.

“Come back here.”

I followed obediently, admittedly curious as to what was behind the next door he was unlocking. The room was dark, but he ushered me in. I heard the click of the door closing and the flick of the light switch. I gasped. We were in a dinner hall and all of my teachers were there, holding forks and knives. Large forks and knives. That’s when I decided this wouldn’t make a very good story after all. I kicked Mr. Christie in the stomach and grabbed his keys from the floor, then I opened the door, and shut it behind me.

It was locked, but I could hear banging. What the heck was going on!? This was what they did to cheating students? It’s bad to cheat but not that bad. I ran up the stairs and jostled the handle. Locked. Shoot.

There were like, a million keys on this thing!

Okay Epiphany, calm down. You’ve got nothing to lose. Even if it looks like your teachers are going to eat you alive, at least you have a slim chance of survival.

The door was shaking. My heart pumped, I tried key after key, none of them fitting.

“Hurry up, hurry up!” I muttered. I heard a crack and I turned, they had broken right through  the wood door. It was only a matter of time. I tried another key.

They were out and tripping over themselves to get to me.

“Shoot, shoot, shoot!”

Mr. Christie was bounding up the stairs, giant utensils in hand. He reached for me.

The key fit, I opened the door, and ran like hell, screaming my head off. Then bang, I threw the outside door open, Mr. Christie lost behind me. Sunlight hit my face. I kept running. I was free. It was summer.

AN: Well that escalated quickly. Too quickly? What do you think. I guess I was just so glad that I’m finally done all of my exams and it’s officially summer! By the way, this is absolutely, positively  fiction. Esther is actually one of my best friends and the exam wasn’t that bad. Also, Mr. Christie is at least five inches shorter than me and is super nice. He’d never try to eat me alive 😉 I don’t even have an iPhone. At least it was fun writing this. Have a great summer!


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Book Riot Recap | What I’ve Been Doing Elsewhere on the Internet

I haven’t published as much as I would have liked to in the last few months but I’m still plugging away at it. I have a few articles for Book Riot in draft form right now and hope to get them out by the end of the month. But until then, here’s what I’ve been […]

Book Review | Alibis: Eassays on Elsewhere by Andrew Aciman

I super loved Alibis: Essays on Elsewhere by Andrew Aciman when I started reading it. I’m talking about super love here! It is a collection of essays about his traveling but what I especially loved about the first few essays was the unique and totally relatable way he talked about the weirdness of time and the passing […]


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Nostalgia Beat: Tuna

15 Sep

Tuna is a crazy overfished…fish.  It’s enormous.  Way bigger than the little tin can or convenient foil pouch you scratch the flakes out of, this fish has dominated American life from cradle to grave.  As a kid, I loved eating the sandwiches on hikes with my Dad and at home for a change from PB&J (a life partner) with my mom.  High school provided the warm cat-food smelling tuna casserole that I actually adored and devoured.  At college, Middle Ground Café made a zesty refresher course of traditional mayo/celery/chicken of the sea by replacing mayo for vinaigrette and opting for ginger instead of celery.

Coming back from the whirlwind of graduation, I found myself sleeping for a week, watching Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion and listening to 90’s songs.  But I also was eating a lot of tuna.  Was it the protein I was so lacking at school for 4 years or a shameless wallowing in nostalgia for the good ol’ days?  Frankly I don’t care, and I can’t stop eating the stuff.  It’s become my on-the-go snack on my road trips to Chicago so I don’t have to kill myself with McDonald’s or the incredulity of the KFC Express/Pizza Hut.  I love it plain from the pouch with a fork, in salads, in lettuce wraps, on English Muffins, in a bowl with Miracle Whip and a hefty portion of mace or on a sandwich with my own arugula/radishes/blueberries and cheese.

Whichever way you cut it, the world and I are going to have a hard time if this great fish disappears and yellowfin isn’t going to be the answer.

14 Sep

How cute are you little egg?!?!  Thanks to Klimo’s and my mother getting up early Saturday mornings — something I just can’t get on board with yet — I get to eat these little golden eggs.  With all the hubbub surrounding factory produced, salmonela soaked eggs coming out of Iowa factories, fresh cared-for eggs are extremely relevant right now.  They happen to have been relevant to me for a long time simply because they taste better.  That’s all there is to it.

13 Sep

There is something kind of insane about being a college graduate, fresh off the campus.  I had two months of down-time while I looked for work, tried to catch up on the sleep I haven’t had for 22 years and figure out what to do with my life.  Now all of a sudden I’m juggling two internships, a night job and moving stuff out to my new apartment in Chicago when I find a free moment.  This is the long way of explaining why I haven’t been blogging so much.  But that’s not even the whole story.  In those two months of figuring out time, I wasn’t cooking and I’m still not cooking, nor do I have any interest in cooking right now.  I have not felt an ounce of inspiration for kooky jams or savory masterpieces.   Totally out of answers.

One project I’ve been working on is the visual conception or logo for A Hoppy Pipper thanks to a great friend, Kenyon alum and magician with spray paint.   His work outpaces others working in the medium: the concepts, the craftsmanship of his stencils and innovation with prints made him my number one pick.  Below are the first products of our collaboration to be updated when I get more material in.  I would love feedback from everyone!

5 Aug

“Zack Bruell be my boyfriend, are you married?”

“I want to be best friends with lardo.”

These were the one-liners rolling off my tongue as I ate bite after bite of excruating beauty at Chinato, on E. 4th Street.  I’ve lived in Milan, my mother has lived in Bologna and Florence but an evening at Chinato brought us almost to tears.  Here was Italian food, dare I say, better than or on par with the pinnacle of Italian gastronomy in Italy.  The price point is well, on point!  I ate here again just tonight with a friend and with a crudo, an antipasto, an entree, a dessert, a cocktail and a glass of wine WITH tip and tax was $52.  Not to mention the service was outstanding (our waiter from a few weeks ago was our waiter again and remembered us), the wine choices impeccable, we were visited by the chef himself and treated to Damilano Chinato (a digestif) following our meal.

We started with a crudo, tuna with lardo and our hearts melted a little.  My mind was racing to figure out how I could make and eat lardo every day, even if that meant my body would take the name and shape of the delicious slivers that were melting in my mouth.

Next we shared the fresh sauteed sardines with parsley, olive oil and lemon — the nostalgia of eating fresh fried sardines in Genoa when I was 20 washed over me and pulled me, like the strong oceanic undertow, back to that fleeting moment.  After, an exquisite salad of julienned pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, arugula, goat cheese, roasted turnips and balsamic dressing.  I don’t even want to describe the dish because then it’ll just give away the ending.

Our entrees: for me, the fritto misto of sweetbreads with fried caper berries (our country is at least a trillion light years behind every country when it comes to our definition of bar food — because this would blow those pee covered pretzels and peanuts at the bar out of the water), for my mother the veal breast with polenta unlike any kind of polenta you’ve ever had and salsa verde (parsley, olive oil, anchovies).

Dessert was the best almond panna cotta I’ve tasted and also a lemon polenta cake with a scoop of cherry gelato.  This is Italian comfort food, the peasant food, the cheap cuts of meat or fish and making the most out of them by perfecting the cooking technique, letting ingredients speak for themselves and coaxing flavor out of tough cuts.  The result is something like magic.

I’ve taken to listening to TED podcasts in my car on the way to work, and they have a great catch phrase: “Ideas Worth Spreading”.  Recently I came across one that just spoke to me so clearly.  This time it was Chip Conley, who spoke about how we should re-evaluate what we value: GDP (Gross Domestic Product) or GNH … Gross National Happiness.  Surely, a restaurant such as Chinato is a focused human lesson in what we should appreciate and what counts.  What is the logical outcome of people loving what they do and creating what they love for others’ enjoyment?  An intangible measurement, with a very tangible result.  I don’t think it folley to say the lessons in Chinato are ideas worth spreading.

Beer School: The Presentation

5 Aug

There are several things to keep in mind when you’re on the precipice of enjoying your well-deserved beer.  To name the essentials:

TEMPERATURE — don’t treat beer like it has to be as cold as the Rockies:  would you serve a Malbec at a freezing temperature?  No, so please respect your beer enough to let it breathe a little and warm up to cellar temperature (45-55°F) so it can properly display and perform its wonderful components.  You can tell the difference even in a terrible beer: if the mountains on the can turn blue, your beer will smell and taste like cold, like licking the freezer crust off a Stouffer’s mac ‘n’ cheese, but if it warms a little you get the actual aroma and flavor.  Think about it the next time you see those commercials about “drinkability” and “Cold as the Rockies” — what are they hiding behind all that cold?

GLASSWARE — proper glassware is another must.  Accelerated in the wine industry by the Riedel family was the idea of specific glasses for certain wines to enhance the experience of drinking the product and enjoying it to the fullest degree.  This has been a part of the good beer world since the beginning.  Beer steins, goblets, snifters, tulips, kolsch, pints…the list goes on.  I personally dread the presentation of a beer in the common, all-purpose shaker glass at most bars — the whole thing seems off if the beer isn’t showcased in the best light or in this case the best glass for its contents.

THE POUR — I can’t even get started on how many terrible pourers there are working in the bartending industry or just in casual settings.  There is no excuse not to pour a beer correctly, because it’s too ridiculously easy.  If you need video instruction, here’s your man.

One of my favorite parts about beer, besides the taste, are the different types of bottles they come in and their labels.  You can get growlers at most any microbrewery brewpub, where for a fixed charge you can buy a half gallon of beer on tap and then bring it back when you’re done with that beer for a lesser charge for a refill.  This is a great system and provides a solid link between the brewery and their customers.  There are also bombers, which are the 22 oz. bottles you can find now in most any good grocery store.  Some breweries only do bombers, like Buckeye Brewing but others do a mix of both bombers and the regular 12 oz. bottles.  When you venture into lambics, you get to experience the delight of the champagne style bottle with cork and cap.  Or if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on De Molen, you’ll have the treat of holding a sweet bomber with cork, champagne cage and wax top.

Alright I’m done geeking out on beer.  Contribute comments or questions — I’m happy to answer!

Beer School: The Results

4 Aug

When I joined over a year ago, one of the first things I learned was that many more styles of beer existed than I had previously reckoned.  There are in fact, 73 different styles of beer lovingly crafted for your enjoyment.  So far I’ve worked through 65 different styles, with sours ranking as my favorite for its unique complexities and delightful inconsistencies across this particular style.  However, belgian strong ales take the cake for the beer I seem to drink the most.  Anyways, here is the rundown of the Mighty 73.  Look them up on RateBeer for the deluge of descriptions.

Abbey Dubbel/Abbey Tripel

Amber Ale

American Dark Lager

American Pale Ale

American Strong Ale

Baltic Porter

Barley Wine

Belgian Ale

Belgian Strong Ale

Belgian White (Witbier)

Berliner Weisse

Bière de Garde

Black IPA

Bohemian Pilsener

Brown Ale

California Common

Classic German Pilsener

Cream Ale

Dry Stout

Dunkler Bock

English Pale Ale

English Strong Ale

Foreign Stout

Fruit Beer

German Hefeweizen

German Kristallweizen

Golden Ale/Blond Ale

Heller Bock

Imperial Pils/Strong Pale Lager

Imperial Stout

Imperial/Double IPA

Imperial/Strong Porter

India Pale Ale (IPA)

Irish Ale

Lambic – Faro

Lambic – Fruit

Lambic – Gueuze

Lambic – Unblended

Low alcohol

Malt Liquor — edward 40 hands is the only reason to drink this, and probably not even then.

Mild Ale

Old Ale

Pale Lager

Premium Bitter/ESB

Premium Lager

Scotch Ale — if you value your life, don’t EVER call a Scottish person a Scotch…a person is not something you drink, unless you’re a vampire.

Scottish Ale

Sour Ale

Specialty Grain

Sweet Stout

Traditional Ale

Weizen Bock

Wheat Ale

So what if all the rum’s gone….you’ve got 73 types of beer to choose from, so drink up me hearties, yo ho!

Beer School: The Brewing Process

20 Jul

Every brewer starts with 4 ingredients: water, hops, barley and yeast.  Yeast is weird, gross but also kind of magical — for some reason the image of the gross kid from middle school eating his scabs keeps popping up in my head … that’s what yeast is like in the trio of other noble ingredients.  But without that gross kid, middle school wouldn’t be the same and without yeast, beer could never exist.

But before yeast is added, the mash must happen.  Mashing is the part where you put your grains or extract in a large vessel and bring it to a boil for about an hour or sometimes longer.  Hops are added at different times during the boil to impart their particular characteristics in the bittering, flavoring and aroma aspects of the brew.

Next is the magic of fermentation, when the wort (the chilled result of the mashing process) gets to play with the yeast.  The sugars broken down from the starch of the grains or extract are eaten by the yeast to produce the all mighty alcohol and CO2 content.  There are three famous strains of yeast used in brewing: Saccharomyces cevisiae, this ale yeast is the variety that causes foaming on the top of the wort during fermentation while Saccharomyces uvarum is a lager yeast that is known as a bottom fermenter.  Brettanomyces is hands down my favorite yeast because it is responsible for the funky goodness that is lambic.  A brewer can choose between a dry yeast or a liquid yeast which has already been rehydrated as the yeast “starter” and offers the brewer more stability and fewer possibilities of infection in the brew.

Conditioning is another important step.  For homebrewers it means the addition of priming solution (cornstarch and water) or spiese (practice of using unfermented wort) into bottles before the beer is bottled.  This process is important to the development of carbonation in your bottles so your beer won’t be flat.  Most big breweries force carbonate their brews with specialized bottling equipment.  Conditioning can smooth out the flavors of the beer as well as provide carbonation.  It is vital that you keep an eye on the gravity (what determines or estimates the original and final alcohol content of the brew) during the whole process and before bottling.

Now go study …. which translates to, go drink a beer and think about it.

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Why use Botox or Juvederm When You Can Use Paraffin?

16-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:

Friday, May 5, 1911:  I believe I have forgotten all that I really did do today. It must have been a case of carelessness or laziness.

Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:

Since it sounds like Grandma had a fairly quiet day a hundred years ago, I’m going to go off on a tangent —

Sometimes I’m surprised at the similarities between 1911 and 2011. According to the March 15, 1911 issue of Ladies Home Journal in an article titled ” Other Girls are Pretty: Why Can’t I Be? ” women a hundred years ago sought to erase wrinkles by going to beauty doctors for paraffin injections. Who would have thought?

Many women apparently got the paraffin injections, though there were risks. The woman profiled in the article had been to “one of the quack beauty doctors who belongs to that army of charlatans who promise to perform miracles.”

The woman was quoted as saying that the beauty doctor had, “filled my dimple and made it into a pimple and he turned two frown wrinkles into ridges, and the lines on my face are all lumps. They tell me nothing can be done. I don’t see how I’m going to spend the rest of my life with a face like this.”

According to the author, “The lines running from nose to mouth were raised like the ridges of mountain ranges on a model map, and two lumps protruded on her forehead where the paraffin, or whatever the injection was, had coagulated into an indissoluble mass.”

The author continued, “Now girls, a direct word to you—I mean you girls who think you are the only ugly girls in the world, and who grow morbid and sensitive and allow your shoulders to stoop dejectedly—I beg of you, do not look for beauty in the cheap parlors of a quack beauty doctor, or in the advertisements of lotions and beautifiers you see in the papers. . . .”

Have times changed??

Juvederm is a currently used facial filler designed to eliminate wrinkles. According to a  Q and A forum on Juvederm on the RealSelf website:

Question: Why does Juvederm leave bumps after the injections?

Answer: Juvederm Should Not Leave Lumps or Bumps.

Injecting filling agents such as Juvederm or Restylane is very much technique- and physician-dependent. In other words, the doctor must know what he or she is doing, and many do not.

When you inject Juvederm, if it is too deep, it is absorbed by underlying tissues and does not specifically fill the wrinkle. But if you inject too superficially or too close to the surface, you can end up with lumps. Generally, these will go away within a week, but for persistent lumps, you may need to undergo additional injections with an enzyme named hyaluronidase to dissolve the filler material.

Arnold W. Klein, MD – Beverly Hills Dermatologist

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TI know she’ll be hungry. She’s inexperienced enough to fire a rifle while standing—on a hillside. She chanced a kill with no way to haul it. I boggle.

I’ve been two days and three nights puzzling. Okay, worrying. If a person has so little experience with the essentials of sustenance, how will she manage her own bandages? Shelter likely is an issue. Does she have something safe to eat?

With the venison smoked at different camps, the tanning of the hide was underway. Always on the move.

“April, I feel compelled to find this girl…woman.”

“You think it wise given her attitude?”

“Her inexperience might take her life.”

“Trying to find her might cost us our lives. If she has access to one gun, she probably has access to more.”

She has a point. I thought it through during the nights of worry. “We’ll have to take that chance.”

©2014 Sandra R. Davidson

QSquint to be certain. Yes, and finally. I am three miles from home. The drought has scattered prey from their usual feeding grounds into lower valleys and higher catch basins. For me, dragging a kill downhill seems more logical than huffing it uphill from the valley.

A bow and full quiver of arrows had become life saving about twelve years ago. My wife and I abandoned to the desperate city folk our little home with its central creek. Property or our lives, or both if we made our presence known. I think we made the right swap. Though we were prepared, it hasn’t been easy becoming nomads.

Does and fawns; no buck in sight. Logic dictates I take a fawn to leave the mature females to breed again. Never bucks. I need to hunt again and bucks were scarce due to the long standing sport of collecting a crown of antlers for someone’s wall, the equivalent of a silverback ape drumming his chest. Besides, a fawn would demand far less energy to transport.

The quiver lay close on the ground, one arrow lighter. To move downhill would be upwind from the group. An uphill shot isn’t my first choice. I have been getting better.

Slow, deep breaths. I exhale and let loose the arrow that is promptly followed by rifle report, which startles the group and me. Firearms were rarely used to hunt. Too valuable and drew too much attention to a person who had something for which most would kill.

The fawn had fallen in the chaos; a clean kill. Another arrow from the quiver as my guts shrivel at the thought of killing a human. A woman rises from the forest brush and turns toward the disappearing herd for another shot—at a moving target.

I will have to wait her out to tow the fawn, if she doesn’t scour the area for a chance kill from the rifle. I am unsure if I can kill a human after so many years of avoidance. I have no love for common humans. She’s stomping about a bit and hissing her Ss, perhaps cursing.

The fawn is now loaded onto the transport board without altercation. It is also nearly dark as I couldn’t risk changing position until dusk.

“I was hoping for venison stew.” Her voice is young but past childhood. “How about you leave that right here and I’ll let you leave.”

“You have the advantage, miss.” My bow and quiver are down the slope where they have been all day. I can’t decide if their location is a good thing. I hear the hammer ease.

I noisily make my way down the hill in a haphazard fashion, flailing at limbs and anything else in range. I finally drop beside the bow and quiver to look back. Struggling uphill, she had slung the rifle cross-body and it rested on her back. She now has my pack and assorted gear; everything I have for hunting is on that transport board, save the items in my hand.

She looks back several times though the darkness conceals me as I nearly walk beside her. She can’t hear past her own ragged breathing and stomping to maintain traction uphill. I aim and release.

Her screams are harrowing; I’ve disabled her arm at the bicep. The board is waiting for me. She cries, growls and kicks while I bandage her arm and set her on her feet. The rifle I take. I know she’ll not make this mistake again. Nor will I.

Now, to make it a fair distance without the scent of the fawn’s blood attracting a different sort of scavenger.

©2014 Sandra R. Davidson

PShe was forgettable in a handy way. Quiet, she wore unremarkable clothing in analogous colors. Neutral hair of medium length, neutral skin, no beauty marks or tattoos. Her posture wasn’t open or closed, just demure, accepting. Her eyes were on the path or whatever was just below another person’s clear view of her face.

She was the new kid in high school—a sophomore—in a town of fewer than 500 people. The males were sharks, circling for a couple of weeks before deciding she wasn’t much of a thang. The females seemed not to notice her.

Heaven, though, don’t let her smile. I mean, she had a closed-lip smile that failed to reach open eyes and left her head in the down-nod position. In that sense, she smiled constantly.

The first snowy day of school, everyone took off their shoes at the wide entry hall. What a picture that made! She followed the lead of the more experienced and added her shoes. By this time, the hallway to the classrooms was a riot of bodies run-sliding in their socks. More hilarity than injury.

She picked up her backpack and stepped away from the door onto the heated floor. Her chin lifted to share surprised green eyes, and her smile bloomed. Transformed, transfixed, she hadn’t even noticed I was watching. I was always watching, curious.

Her toes wriggled inside her socks. The building was heated from below. Her brightness spontaneously spilled at random times during that first snow day.

As much as she wished, she couldn’t return fully to the periphery of attention. What is seen cannot be unseen, much to my delight.

©2014 Sandra R. Davidson

Author’s note: This is my fourth attempt at the letter P for the April A to Z writing prompt. Certainly not because I was displeased with the writing of the first three; however, each of the three became too intense to post.

Love Without Fear

LIt isn’t Valentine’s Day; breathe easy.

No matter what we hear about “unconditional love,” it is a myth. There are always conditions even if they are extreme.

If you enter into an intimate relationship and you can see the end at the start, there is little point in giving only part of yourself and holding back the deeper self. You’re robbing yourself and the other individual(s).

This isn’t a passing friendship; friendships have different levels. If it is mutually understood to be a short term intimate relationship, then you can edit what you share. Important part: mutually understood.

You have no accountability to anyone but yourself, of course.

A deep relationship is love without fear. You don’t start out on day one pouring out your soul to someone, anyone. When you discover you’re looking for a long term commitment, be sure you’re clear. No hints. Put it out there in plain language. You want to have the other person(s) opt out if that is what they will do later when they eventually understand your implied intention.

Once the destination of your relationship is set at long term, hold nothing back. Love without fear. If you do, the other person(s) will.

Try not expect others, even friends, to love you the way you want to be loved. Again, be to the point if the relationship you have with anyone important to you. Even family. Even chosen family.

There are no guarantees. No promise is fail-proof. Yet you can love without fear through directness and honesty with yourself and other people you care about.

©2014 Sandra R. Davidson

The Matter of Trust

Today I read a post that pegged me and fostered self-examination. So of course I have to try it out on you. The post is Trust.

Ritual abuse, the sort that is in the name of religion and cult, is quite real and I am relieved to be informed without having to have had first-hand experience.

When I was young, I trusted everyone I met with everything about me. Frightening, isn’t it? As an abused child, I wasn’t a discerning adult; I wanted and craved close relationships instead of superficial ones and silence.

I’m still learning to trust and how to trust, not just whom to trust. After a particularly disastrous choice to trust, I no longer trusted my own judgment. I began eliminating friends, family, co-workers and anything that appeared to be an attempt at a relationship. I did well and soon had no one to which I could turn—or hurt or be hurt by.

After seven years of isolation, I am relearning the skills of small talk, which I despise. My counselor and I discussed having a group of friends to meet with and laugh with; this is foreign, intimidating. It was my brother who put it into perspective: Start with “hello” to the checkout clerk and “thank you” to someone who guided you in some small way. When you meet someone for the third, fourth, fifth time, it is okay to ask how their day is going.

There is an older gentleman who works at a national chain store near me. I see him nearly every time I enter the store. He speaks to everyone and I used to just nod. Then I began to respond quickly as I pushed my cart past him. One day he wasn’t in uniform; he was hanging out at the store on his day off. I immediately recognized he was lonely. He said he was checking his schedule—while standing in the middle of a main isle of the store. I had an actual conversation while waiting for my husband to join me.

No commitment there for me, and he appreciated the recognition that he was a part of the store’s culture.

I’m no master, and I’m learning.

Come to Rest

Dish towels rolled neatly, with dish cloths folded.

There was a time in my life where beauty found its space. I could look around a tidy room and consider what might be missing, just a touch of texture or color.

Money was an issue, of course. Whether single or married, thrift and frugality were my attitudes and beliefs. Thrift is easier when you, or someone you know who lives with/near you, have handy skills for repair and touch-up.

Some ideas took no money at all.

I began to roll my towels because they were in an open-faced cupboard. The towels didn’t match; that wasn’t the point. Rolled often takes up less space and takes the same time as folding. Always, I matched which ends faced out—and rotated stock (more on my stock-rotation rationale elsewhere).

When I was young, Continue reading

Intimacy, Trust, Transparency

Is it trust that’s impossible? Or is it the expectation of intimacy to the degree of thought and behavior? Is there anyone, including me, who is able to be fully transparent to another person? Not to everyone, but to just one other person? Do we ever trust ourselves enough to be open to that degree, let alone be open with another person to that degree?

©2008 Sandra Davidson


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An Irish Lesbian's thoughts and observations…

Posts tagged ‘House MD’

Let’s talk about women! Older women in particular!

Let’s talk about women. I’ve been throwing out so much randomness recently but it’s now time to talk about our love of women. The pulse behind the hearts of us lesbians. When I was a baby dyke just after coming out I found myself attracted to older women and that hasn’t changed at all since. Initially there was only a gap of a year or two between myself and the women I kissed or dated but then the gap grew bigger. There’s eight years between my wife and I and I can’t imagine being as happy with someone my own age.

Lisa Edelstein who starred in House caught my eye many years ago when I first watched the show. An older woman in a position of power seemed pretty attractive! I loved her accent too.

Older women seem to suit me as I need someone emotionally mature in my life. I even sometimes prefer hanging out with people who are older than me. I’ve never had a particular ‘type’ that appeals to me but Shane from The L Word was definitely never on my list! I was more of an Alice or Helena fan, myself. What about you? When I was almost 16 I gave up on relationships because it was so difficult to properly connect with someone my age or younger but then I ended up dating someone who was three years older and while that relationship was a disaster at least we could have a decent conversation. I’ve been involved in and overheard so many debates about what the perfect woman looks like but I’ve learnt that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder and every woman can be someone’s perfect woman. Women are such beautiful creatures, aren’t they? I thought for years that being heavy made me unattractive and undesirable but after I lost weight I realised that it was my own personal opinion of myself that was injecting these thoughts into my mind and I was attractive to someone both with and without my excess weight.

So, this has turned into a bit of a rant but the moral of the story is… well, I’m not sure about that anymore but I am sure that older women rock!

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Newsreel: Guess who?

1. Playing her first tournament since the Australian Open, Serena scored a straight-sets victory over Timea Bacsinszky, 76(2) 61, followed by a slight struggle, 62 36 60, against Andrea Petkovic, who put up a more than respectable effort.

By the way, what’s with Serena’s 5 minute “gossip sessions” at the net these days? What the hail girl? You’re Serena Williams, you really don’t need to be nice to the minions.

2. NINJAAAAA. Somehow the slits work in black.

Also returning from injury, Venus had no trouble dismissing Nutty Patty and Shahar Peer both in straight sets. With her wins being so straight-forward, conversation during the press conference turned unnecessarily to the topic of retirement, with Venus dismissing the idea given her recent results.

“Well, when I’m feeling rotten and no good at tennis then I’ll say to myself ‘get out of here’. But on this wave of wins there is no real need for me to think about quitting. We’ll see.”

Acapulco aside, it is a fact universally acknowledged that the Williamses aren’t well known for their clay-court prowess. But with the fall of other seeds such as Lena Dee, Vika, Carol, Sveta and DinaRICK in Rome, I wonder if Serena and Vee, with their inherent killer instincts, smell a chance just around the corner.

Venus has such a ridiculously beautiful body, just sayin’, but she really does.

3. Sharpen those knives, feast on the carcasses. The “World No 2” crashed out of Rome yesterday, losing in straight sets to my beloved MJMS, whose incessant drop shots were so filled with stealth that she really ought to be arrested.

4. The competition hasn’t been kind to the locals – ARad spared Roberta Vinci just one game in a 6-1 6-0 win over the Italian (before losing to Mrs Birdy), likewise CWoz trounced wild card Maria Elena Camerin before going down to my beloved. Flavs and Franny both crashed out in straight sets second round.

Expectations raised, expectations crucified. It’s like Wimbledon, but for the Italians.

5. When you have nothing more to lose, the only way to go is up. Ana Ivanovic “upset” Vika and Demmy to score her first top 10 victories in … yonks.

Nevermind Vika and Demmy played stale and listless tennis, wins like these matter little for merit, but they matter hugely for morale.

And is there a more demoralised player than Ana Ivanovic in women’s tennis?

I don’t club baby seals for sport, no matter how much I may or may not dislike baby seals. Not when Ivanovic fans are developing something akin to the battered woman syndrome these days anyway.

Good job Ana. She has a doable section of the draw to the final. That said, the minute something becomes ‘doable’ for Miss Muffin is the minute it snaps out of her reach.

xx doots

PS: oh yeah, some guy won a match in Estoril. No biggie.

I mean … It’s not like I’m having his babies or anything.

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4 responses to “Newsreel: Guess who?”

  1. TopSpin says :

    Seriously for a premier five event, one attended by 9 of the current top 10 (is that right?), including both Williamses and a bunch of other former champions, no one seems very bothered about Rome this year – not least the fans – I’ve yet to see a match attended by more than about 15 people.

    Don’t get it.

    Today’s qfs feature the Williamses, Jelena/Ana, and a variety of other talent not least of which is MJMS – likely the best lefty in womens tennis today.

    That’s all the tiers of tennis represented right there. When was the last time that happened?

    I’m rooting for Ana, Jelena and Venus, though it’s a lot more open than that. The hung parliament I’ll likely wake up to tomorrow

    • dootsiez says :

      Re attendance – was at the AO women’s semifinal, Rod Laver was about 80% full, which isn’t bad, until you find out that about 100 people lined up outside RLA during Federer’s first round match, willing to pay the full price to watch a set if a spare seat came up, and *still* couldn’t get a seat.

      But that’s nothing compared to the WTA Championships in Doha last year – 90% empty stadiums.

      It was depressing to see Carol collapse in pain with so much passion, yet no one cares.

  2. Jack says :

    I don’t really like Ana. So its hard for me to get excited, or even care, that she has won THREE matches.
    And I’m not buying into this “she’s back” talk yet. Lets see how she does at RG first.

    I’m not an Ana hater though. Just know I’m never gonna be a fan of her. She’s just too…..fluffy.I mean, I’m a huge fan of Maria, and Maria and Ana are polar opposites, so I think that says it all.

    I am becoming a fan of Serena again though. Really missed her game whilst she was gone and hope she (or Venus) win this.

    And I’m thinking that guy likes Fed……a lot! Just a hunch though 😀

  3. jfk says :

    I like Ana, but I’ll never cheer for her against my Maria. It’s good she’s back and into the semis…I’m just still wondering about how she will perform at the slams.

    And so jealous of that Fed fan. Awww.

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SOME FOOD SHOTS in New York City and Radish Carpaccio

Life is just a bowl of cherries.

I have been meaning to write a post from NYC during the last two weeks but have had no time to do this – too much to do, friends to see, many art galleries to visit and so much good food to eat. We ate at many good restaurants and for those that do not like to cook, there was so much good prepared food to buy (not in all neighbourhoods).

I have decided that posting some photos may tell the story.

Bistecca Fiorentina was very good at one of the restaurants.

Some magnificent salumerie (small goods shops) were  a delight to see.

Salumeria at Eataly

These providores also sold a wide range of raw food as well as high quality take a way food.

You could also eat it there.

Zucchini at Eataly

You will recognise these vegetables.

Good looking already prepared meat.

There was a variety of ready to eat fish.

Prepared dips and the antipasto selection. Caponata is one of the selections.

Seafood – fresh and sustainable at one of the many Farmers Markets.

A salad of grilled soya beans and heirloom carrots in one of the many organic, vegetarian restaurants.

A radish carpaccio as a starter in another restaurant.

A variety of oysters from many places around NYC (not just Long Island) were one of the many the highlights in this fish restaurant.

Of course we shopped and ate at Eataly.

We saw many sea urchins at several seafood markets; they were relatively inexpensive and full of roe.We also had pasta and sea urchins in one of the restaurants.

I took very few photos in restaurants but I ate well. Bunches of broccoli de rave (cime di rape) and kale were very common in super markets and on on restaurant menus.

Recipe for Spaghetti Chi Ricci – Spaghetti con Ricci di Mare (Spaghetti with Sea Urchins)

Recipe for Radish Carpaccio

Slice radish length wise.
Salt them lightly and  leave them for about 60 minutes in a colander to remove some of their juice. Cover with a little black olive Tapenade and serve.

Recipe for Caponata.

Next Mitchigan.

3 thoughts on “SOME FOOD SHOTS in New York City and Radish Carpaccio”

  1. I can completely understand why time got away with all the good food and eating and such. Originally we were to live in New York and at the last minute the plans changed and we were sent to the Midwest. Are you by any chance coming through Indiana? If you are, let me know!! Have a wonderful and safe trip!

    1. No, we are going just to NYC, Mitchigan and San Francisco. And thank you we are having a great trip. The friends we are staying with in Okemos invited 15 friends fro dinner last night. No time to take photos of the meal however. I have iota cooking at the moment for tonight’s dinner. Thank you for the invitation ….maybe next time.

      1. And what a dinner it was. No time for pictures just eating and enjoying friends! Thanks so much it was amazing!

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Special units of IRGC guard leader of Houthis

Special units of IRGC guard leader of Houthis

Units of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are guarding the leader of the Houthi Movement Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the Saudi al-Watan newspaper reported.

The newspaper quoted sources of leaders of the Saadah Resistance as saying that al-Houthi suffers from several mental illnesses due to his hiding for several months inside caves of Saadah.

The newspaper quoted a tribal leader from Saadah, Yahya Muqait, as saying that the resistance has made significant advance in Saadah, pointing out that al-Houthi feels threatened.

Meanwhile, a Yemeni military commander Ahmed Hassan has said that four Lebanese were captured in Marib, affirming that they are still investigated.

Hassan, who is Commander of the Third Military Region spelt out that the four Lebanese will referred to prisons after the completion of investigations.

He said that Lebanese experts of Hezbollah could flee from battlefields in Nidhim district, Hassan added.

Meanwhile, Yemeni military officers have recently disclosed that Iranian experts are helping the Houthis in operating drones and providing the Houthis with military consultations.

Brig. Gen. Omar Jawahar told the Saudi-based Okaz newspaper that Houthi captives admitted that the Houthis have unmanned planes and that Iranian experts help them in developing them.

Jawahar told Okaz that the National Army backed by forces of the Arab Coalition will liberate Yemen's western coasts, indicating that military operations will be launched soon.

He further said that dozens of Houthis were killed and captured during the past 24 hours in Haradh and Midi, pointing out that a number of drones which were used in spying were destroyed.

اشترك معنا على الصحوة تليجرام

القائمة البريدية

أشترك معنا في القائمة البريدية لتصلك كل الاخبار التي تنشرها الصحوة نت

تواصل معنا

الجمهورية اليمنية

الصحوة نت © 2017 م

الى الأعلى


text:
Britney’s Dirty Thirty

Today the pop icon of my generation turned thirty. In honor of her birthday, I have watched around 5 music videos and consequently have had “Criminal” stuck in my head all day. All day long. MTV made a quite hilarious video tribute to Britney. When you see it, you’ll know why I loved working there so much. So anyway, here are a few of my favorite Britney gems in honor of the special day.

I’m a Slave 4 U video is the best Britney video ever.  Ever.

Crossroads is one of the worst movies ever made (the only one being worse is Glitter).  Do I still own it on VHS? Why yes. Yes, I do.

The 1999 VMAs were her best live performance ever. Yes, mostly because it was with ‘Nsync. 10-year-old me almost peed her pants.

Happy birthday, Britney.  My childhood wouldn’t have been the same without you.

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Food Delivery | Restaurants Delivery | Eat24 Order Online

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