#i got a $15 starbucks gift card for christmas that i have never used

[gobbluthbutagirl]

last night my coworker told me that the night i walked out/almost quit hr guy gave everybody a $5 starbucks gift card at the end of the night which i’m thinking he must have done as a direct result of me walking out/almost quitting in addition to other people calling out that day and it’s so crazy how even if i had been there his attempt to reward people for being there was something i would have neither wanted nor had any use for

[venushasvixens]

Leather and Embers and Coffee (Kylo Ren x Reader)

“I have a large cold brew for Leo.”

This morning in the cafe you worked in was very busy for a Monday. It was like the minute you turned your back to make a drink, there was another customer coming in. It was supposed to be you and your coworker Ein, but called to tell you he was going to be about an hour late, which irritated you to the max. Working in the cafe down the street from Starbucks, you were always going to get those customers who try to order a Strawberry Acai with extra fruit, or a S'mores Frappuccino with no whip. 

“I’m sorry ma’am, but we don’t carry that drink.” you would say. 

And then it was like they went through the 5 stages of grief, all in about 5 seconds. You’ll get the “well I ordered it last time and you all made it,” or the “the coffeehouse down the street makes it, why can’t you?”, or your personally favorite, “Starbucks is better than you anyways.” 

You still got a good amount of business, since your coffeehouse was more homey and the prices were lower, so it didn’t really bother you. You could carry a shift by yourself, since you’ve been working here for the past few years and such. It wasn’t that hard or grueling. The only thing bothering you today was Ein calling and that was it. 

You just finished helping a customer when a group of men all dressed in suits walked in, a threatening jaunt in their step. In the middle of the group was a man with red hair, a scowl smeared on his face. His face conveyed so much annoyance, it seemed you could hear what was going through his head. You could also tell that he was rich, seeing as his suit looked like it cost more than your rent, which was already overpriced for a studio. 

He glanced around the cafe, surveying the people. He took a few more steps in, shooing away his bodyguards. You continued making the drinks when you saw a tall man with wavy, dark hair walking in. This was one of your regulars, who came in around the same time everyday, and ordered the same thing. You smiled at him, giving him a small wave. You could remember his order in the middle of this mess. It was a cafe mocha with  extra chocolate syrup, and occasionally, a croissant.  A He gave you a small nod, his version of a hello. His corners of his lips twisting into what you think was either a smile or he was just making a face at the crowd surrounding you. 

The red head turned to your regular, speaking lowly but closely to him. The regular leaned in, listening to all he had to say. As you shelled out drink after drink, the crowd became smaller. It was then that the redhead sauntered over to the register, tapping his finger on the counter. You wiped your hands on your apron. 

“Good morning, how can-” you began. He lifted his hand to ignore you. 

“Americano with an extra shot of espresso.” he said, “should be easy for you.” 

“And a good name?” you asked. 

“Some people should already know my name, but I’ll spare you the embarrassment. It's Hux, H-U-X.” he muttered. 

Okay, already hating this. As you tapped his order into the system, he began tapping the counter with his metal debit card, sighing. 

“Okay, that is 4.00 dollars.” you said. He tossed the card on the counter, making a clinking sound as it hit the surface. A smirk rose on his face. 

“Did you hear that sound?” he asked you. 

Biting your tongue, you replied. “What sound, sir?” 

“That’s the sound of making real money in the real world. In an actual business.” he said proudly. 

You just nodded, swiping his card so you can make his coffee and he can leave. 

“You know, I just started working in that building across the street, so this may become my little hangout.” he said. Oh, great. 

“Oh, sweet!” you said, plastering a fake smile on your face. “This really is a nice place to sit and relax.” 

For some reason, you felt yourself regret your choice of words. 

“Ah, yes. Relax, people watch, checking out some nice girls like yourself.” he said quietly. You caught that last part, and wanted to pour your freshly brewed french press on his smug face. 

“Alright, here you go. Well, I hope to see you again soon!” you said cheerfully. 

As you hand his receipt, his fingertips gently brushing the top of your hand. 

“I hope so too, (y/n).” he smirked. 

I want to go home I want to go home I want to go home I want to go home I want to- 

“Hello.” you heard. 

You looked up to see your regular standing in front of you, his arms crossed. He flashed you a small smile. 

“How are you? It's been a minute since I saw you.” you said, smiling. 

“Since yesterday, nothing much has happened.” he replied. 

“Better to have nothing happened to have something happen.” you said. 

He shrugged. “Nothing did happen, and he’s standing over there.” he mumbled. 

You leaned over the counter, trying not to look too suspicious. 

“Are you both working together?” you whispered. 

He bent down to whisper, he cologne smelling of burnt leather and cinnamon. The scent was so warm and welcoming, you almost forgot you were in a coffeehouse and not by a fireplace at Christmas. 

“Unfortunately, yes. I’ve already decided to find a way to get rid of him.” he whispered. 

“Get rid of him? And how do you plan on doing that?” you said quietly, your hand cupping the side of your mouth. 

“Make it look like an accident and hide him far, far away. No one will miss him, except the cat.” He smirked. 

You nervously laughed. “Should I be concerned?” 

His smirk quickly faded. “Oh, no no no. I was joking, I promise.” 

“You had me in the first half, not going to lie.” you chuckled. 

“Me? Nah, I could never.” he replied. 

“Unless?” you grinned. 

“Yes, (y/n), unless.” he smiled. 

You haven’t seemed to notice Hux striding to the counter. 

“What seems to be the hold up?” he muttered, “we have places to be, get on it.” 

Taken aback by his sudden appearance and new found anger for you, you felt your cheeks get red in what you think was anger or embarrassment. 

“I-i’m sorry-” you began, but was cut off. 

“She’s still helping me, thank you. And she’ll get on it when she’s done helping me.” Ren said, a small clench in his jaw becoming more noticeable. There was a small silence, then Hux let off a sigh. 

“In that case, Ren, I’ll order for you. Another Americano, same as mine. Just so you don’t waste anymore of my time.” he ordered. With a snap of his fingers, you nervously wrote Ren’s name on his cup.

“And this one is on me. Take this as a first day gift from yours truly.” Hux smiled, throwing his card like he did before. As you ran his card again, he checked his Apple watch, shaking his head. 

“Will you look at that, Ren?” he held up his watch right in Ren’s face, “they need me back. Do me a favor and grab my coffee?” 

Hux walked out, swinging the door open. You turned back to Ren, who was looking very upset. You couldn’t tell if it was embarrassment, anger, or annoyance. Maybe it was all three at once. 

“I’ll be okay. Just thinking of that good hiding spot.” he said. 

“So am I, just let me know when you do it so we can celebrate.” you chuckle. He walked to the pickup spot, his arms crossed. As you started Hux’s drink, you decided to do something special. You secretly placed a croissant in the microwave, glancing up to see if he was watching. You didn’t mind the way Ren looked at you. There was nothing malice or creepy, above all it was more awe and watching you work. Instead of making another Americano, you began to steam some milk and pulled out the chocolate syrup. 

You placed Hux’s and Ren’s drink in a small holder, as well as a bag. 

“Here a gift from us for being a loyal customer.” you smiled. He looked in the bag, seeing his croissant. 

“Oh god, thank you. This means a lot, (y/n)” He beamed, placing 15 dollars in the tip jar.  

“Anytime.” As he started to walk off, you waved your hand. “Oh, wait!” 

“Yes?” he said, turning around to look at you. 

“Can you tell me how your Americano tastes? Just to be sure it's alright.” you said. 

“Oh course, I never had it before, so-” As he tasted it, he put his head down, but you could see he was blushing. 

“Soo, what do you think?” you asked. 

“It's the best thing I ever tasted.” he said, taking another sip. 

With you, you didn’t hide blushing at all. “Thank you so much. Tell me how it goes.” you said, referencing his little problem. 

“Oh trust me, I will.” he smiled, waving bye. 

You waved back, watching him leave. As soon as he walked out, you let yourself think of what happened. You kept replaying your conversation over and over. You did this every time you both would talk. It was a nice pastime to ease the boredom. But what kept popping up in your head was his smile. He didn’t smile much, just a little chuckle and maybe a slight upturn of the corners of his lips sometimes. So maybe you did something really good today. 

You heard the clicks of Ein’s footsteps rushing behind you. 

“I was a goner for a second out there. Has the rush started yet?” he asked as he put his apron on, his face flushed. 

“You just missed it, sweets. It wasn’t all that bad.” you smiled, handing him a small cup of coffee. 

“Thank you, I need this.” he took the cup and gulped the entire thing. He squinted his eyes at you suspiciously. “You have that look in your eye, the one that kinda scares me. What happened?” 

You told him about your recent encounter with your favorite regular, as well as your new hatred for his coworker. 

“You’re such a sweetheart, (y/n). I’m telling ya, he really has a thing for you. One day he’s going to come in here, get on one knee and ask you to marry him. No dating, nothing, just straight to the wedding.” he said. 

“He does have the money to pay for it on the spot, sooo..” you and Ein laughed. After your giggle fest, you began to clean the counter from the rush. You were cleaning around the register when you spotted it. A small, metal card, with the name Armitage Hux inscribed on the front. Oh no. 

- 

AUTHOR NOTE: Yes I wrote a coffeeshop au. Did I enjoy making it though? Absolutely. You can find more of me on Wattpad underneath the same name. I’ll be going back and forth, but Wattpad is just so much easier to manage. Please stay safe out there, mwah!! 

[chill-that-ur-inmyhead]

1 - When was the last time you changed a lightbulb? myself?                    never I always have someone else to do it aka my dad 

2 - How often do you get takeaway coffee?                                                      when I used to work in retail it was every time I went to work so twice a week for the past year but now I’m starting a new job and I will probs get takeaway coffee more often now

3 - What’s your typical order when you go to McDonald’s? What about Starbucks?                                                                                                      McDonald’s order: BBQ chicken crispy wrap and mozzarella sticks...... I haven’t been to starbucks in ages but probably a latte and muffin 

4 - Who was the last person you sent an e-mail to?                                      my new manager confirming the job offer is still starting in January

5 - Have you ever seen the motoring programme Top Gear? Do you prefer the new “cast” or the original trio?                                                                      I think the original trio had a better vibe, I don’t care for top gear but even catching some of the clips I enjoyed them

6 - Are you a fan of Louis Theroux?                                                                    I have no opinion yet

7 - When was the last time you visited the dentist? What about the optician?                                                                                                        Dentist, it has been ages, over a year due to the pandemic and opticians I last went earlier on this year in the summer

8 - Do you sleep on your side, your back or your front?                              left side mostly, back to change position and never on my front

9 - Would you rather drive or be the passenger?                                        passenger although I have yet to pass my drivers test so maybe I will change my mind

10 - When was the last time you received a handwritten letter?                  my family and I have received various xmas cards so only a couple of weeks ago

11 - If you have pets, do you buy them gifts for Christmas or their birthdays?                                                                                                      when I had pets I didn’t buy them anything but for future pets I would like to now that I have a job

12 - Would you be able to change a car tyre at the side of the road?        haha nope, when I get my own car I will deffo look into it

13 - Have you ever been to Thailand? Would you want to go?                        I would love to go!!!!

14 - Have you seen a lot of the eighties “Brat pack” movies like the Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles?                                                              yes to both

15 - Do you know how to ride a bike? How about ride a skateboard?        yes to bike and I can only ride a skateboard for a few seconds before I have to jump off!

16 - When you have a drink at home, do you make sure to use a coaster? yep otherwise there will be consequences hehe

17 - When was the last time you had brain freeze?                                            a couple of months ago I got a costa ice smoothie and OUCH never again

18 - Did you get enough sleep last night?                                                    How much sleep is enough sleep for you? yes usually 7 or 8

19 - What are your favourite condiments? Do you use those often?              ketchup always, bbq sauce is a nice option

20 - Peanut butter: crunchy or smooth? Do you have a favourite brand? smooth and usually just the supermarkets own brand

21 - Do you have any life-threatening allergies?                                            nope

22 - Have you had to take a COVID test yet? Was it positive or negative? I’ve had one and it was negative and I’ll take another one before I start my new job and hopefully that one will be negative 

23 - Do you think it’s okay to keep cats indoors for their entire lives? doesn’t sound like a good idea but I don’t know much about cats

24 - Do you think people should need a license in order to keep animals, just to make sure they knew how to properly take care of them?                    I don’t now how much that will do, since they can still abuse the animal even after the license is obtained

25 - Have you ever had to claim on an insurance policy? Did it pay out? nope

26 - Which meal of the day is your favourite? What’s your favourite thing to eat for that meal? BRUNCH hehe and usually a full English breakfast but only for special occasions

27 - When was the last time you bounced on a trampoline? Would you ever want to go to one of those indoor trampoline parks?                                years ago then my parents got rid of it, I wouldn’t mind but I’m not dying to go

28 - What was the last thing you watched on TV? Is it something you’ve seen before?                                                                                              Bridgerton!!! New series on Netflix and I loved every bit of it, combing the modern with the period drama genre is great 

29 - Do you like flavoured versions of sodas? Which ones are your favourite?                                                                                                            nope

30 - What’s your favourite thing to put on a baked potato?                        cheese

[lovemesomesurveys]

Are you an emotional wreck? I’m just a wreck in general.

Will tomorrow be better than today? Today was okay. I don’t see anything different happening tomorrow that would make it better. 

Do you still talk to the person you were dating 4 months ago? I was single 4 months ago (and for the past several years...)

Are you nice to everyone? I think so. It’s never my intention to be rude or impolite. I’m not like overly friendly, though, if that makes sense.

Who did you last hang out with? My family.

Was the first person you talked to today male or female? Male.

What’s the one thing that always gets you through the day? Coffee helps. 

Does it make you uncomfortable when you receive a compliment? Yes.

Is there a night you would like to put on repeat and live it forever? No, not forever. There’s many past experiences I wish I could experience again, though.

Did you do laundry today? No.

What kind of computer do you have? MacBook Air.

What size bed do you have? I have a full.

Do you like Harold & Kumar? I had a brief phase where I was into those movies. 

Can you say all 50 states in alphabetical order? Yes, because we were all taught a song in school during the 3rd or 4th grade about the “Fifty Nifty United States”. <<< Yeppp. And it stuck with me all these years.

Do you subscribe to any magazines? No.


Do you ever buy the same shirt in different colors? Sometimes.

Do you plan your outfits out the day before? No.

Last time you rode a bicycle? Never.

What do you have planned for today? Same stuff I do everyday that I’ve talked about many times in surveys.

What did you argue about last? I don’t recall.

What is the last thing you bought? Starbucks yesterday. UGH, but I’m so pissed off because I got charged for something twice that I wasn’t aware I was being charged for.  So, I use the app and I had a few bucks left on a gift card that I was going to use towards my order and pay the difference, but that meant having to add more money to the card, so I went ahead and did $15 and tried putting the order through. It said there was an error on their end, so I went ahead and tried again and it said the same thing. I was about to do it a 3rd time, but realized the issue was that the location I was trying to put it in at was no longer taking online orders at that time or something, so I changed the location and ended up just forgetting the whole gift card thing and just paid the total for the order. Well, afterwards I decided to check my bank and saw there were 3 charges pending. It had a weird name, so I looked it up and realized it was my Starbucks order and the two others that I tried doing but didn’t think went through because of the error message. Apparently, the Starbucks order itself didn’t go through, but the money I was trying to add to the gift card did. I didn’t realize that. Ugh. 

Can you touch your toes? Yeah?

What’s your star sign? Leo.

Last place you went out to dinner at? Denny’s back in February.

Ever made out on a rooftop? No. I’ve never been on a rooftop. I never want to be.

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? Depends on which episode you’re watching. Man...this is making me think of my old Carmen San Diego computer game. I might have to go searching for it for nostalgic purposes. <<< Omggg, I played that, too!

What kind of phone do you have? I got the 12 Pro Max for Christmas.

Are your nails painted? Nope.

Would you date anyone you met online? I don’t think so.

Have you met a real redneck? What do you define as a “real” redneck? <<<

How is the weather right now? It’s currently 45F.

What was the last movie you watched? Wonder Woman 1984.

Where was the last place you went besides your house? My doctor appointment a couple weeks ago.

Have you ever fired a gun? Once. I went to a shooting range with friends and tried it.

Last wedding you attended? A friend of a friend a few years ago.

What does the newest text in your inbox say? I don’t feel like checking.

What are you listening to? An ASMR video.

Have you ever made your parents cry? Not intentionally, but yes. Like, out of concern and frustration and fear with health related stuff and some of the things I’ve gone through in my life.

Do you wear glasses? Yep.

Have you ever thrown up on one of your friends? No.

Are you tan? Ha, no.

What are you wearing right now? A new Baby Yoda/Grogu sweatshirt and leggings. 

Do you know anyone that wants you dead? Not that I know of...

Do you believe that regrets are lessons learned? They can be, but not always.

Are you the one that normally makes the first move? No.

Would you sacrifice yourself for a friend? I don’t have any friends.

What’s really annoying you right now? Bleh.

Do you currently work? No.

Who do you know you can depend on? My parents and brother.


When’s your birthday? July 28th.

Who was the last person you texted? My mom.

What are you gonna do later? Tumblr, surveys, listen ASMR, eat.

Do you like where you live? Not the city.

Are you a jealous person? No, not typically.

If the last person you kissed invited you to a family dinner, would you go? That would be so random and out of the blue for him to reach out to me at all at this point, but especially to invite me to a family dinner. But no, I wouldn’t go. 

Has anyone ever told one of your secrets they promised they wouldn’t tell? Yeah.

Have you ever lent the last person you called money? Yes.

Did you have any unread texts when you woke up today? I haven’t gone to bed, yet.

Can you sleep easier with the TV on then off? On. I’ve been sleeping with it on for as long as I can remember. I can’t have it be completely dark or quiet.

Have you ever kissed the last person you texted? On the cheek.

Is the last person you kissed black? No.

[eldritchsurveys]

1116.

1 - When was the last time you met someone for the first time? >> In person? I have no idea.

2 - What’s the longest amount of time you’ve gone without bathing? >> I’m not sure. I’ve definitely gone without for significant amounts of time because, you know, homeless. But I didn’t keep track or anything, so IDK.

3 - Have you ever cooked with crab or lobster? Could you ever bring yourself to kill a live lobster/crab? >> I’ve never cooked with it. I guess I could kill one if I had to? I mean, idk???

4 - What’s your favourite font? What size and colour do you prefer to use when you’re doing surveys? >> I don’t know what my favourite font is anymore, most of my former favourites are just that -- former. I mostly just like a clean, readable font, no matter what it is (even if it’s decorative and script-based, please make it legible! otherwise what’s the damn point). 

5 - Have your clothing choices changed since COVID hit and you started to stay at home more? >> No, because I was already at home a lot so most of my wardrobe was already skewed towards lounge gear.

6 - When was the last time you went through a drive-through? >> Yesterday.

7 - Which fast food restaurant do you go to the most? What do you tend to order when you go there? >> I get fast food so infrequently that I don’t really have data for this.

8 - Do you own any plaid/flannel shirts? >> Nope.

9 - If you eat it, how do you like your steak cooked? What sauces and sides do you like to get with it? If you’re vegetarian, what would you have instead of a steak dinner? >> I don’t eat steak.

10 - Are there any foods and drinks you only have around Christmas? >> I don’t think so, no.

11 - Does it bother you when dogs jump up at you? Does it bother you less if it’s a smaller dog? >> It doesn’t bother me unless the dog is so big that it’d probably knock me over. I don’t want to be knocked over, lol (especially if I’m standing on a hard surface). But generally, I don’t mind unless the owner minds, like if they’re trying to train the dog out of that habit -- then I’d try to cooperate with their training and not encourage the behaviour.

12 - What kind of animal did you touch last? Was this animal one of your pets? >> A cat. He’s Sparrow’s pet.

13 - Which colour do you prefer, red or blue? >> I don’t have a preference, I like both.

14 - How would you describe your sense of humour? Have you ever offended someone when you were only joking? >> I don’t know how to describe my sense of humour. It’s interesting to me that people have specific “kinds”; I just laugh at whatever I think is funny, and don’t think about it too hard. I think the things I find funny span all kinds of... “genres”, I guess -- silly, morbid, punny, slapstick, deadpan, cute, absurdist, whatever. It’s really easy to get me to laugh, as long as it’s not malicious.

15 - When was the last time you cried - what caused it? >> I woke up from a very intense dream before the dream resolved. I was very frustrated and upset with myself because I wanted to know what he was telling me. But my brain got freaked out because it realised the dream interaction was Real(tm) and woke me up instead.

16 - What’s your favourite flavour of potato chip? >> Kettle salt and pepper.

17 - Do you have a lot of artwork around your house? What kind of art? >> A fair amount, I’d say. Some posters, some prints, some figurines.

18 - When you paint your nails, what kind of colours do you tend to go for? >> Black, gold, deep purple. Sometimes all three at once in some configuration.

19 - Do you prefer fruit or vegetable juice? What kind of flavours do you like? >> Fruit. Cranberry, apple, citrus.

20 - What’s the weather doing where you are? Is that typical for this time for this time of year? >> It’s below freezing, and mostly cloudy. The little snowfall we got over the holiday is definitely not sticking very well, though, it’s almost gone.

21 - Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone? How did you meet this person? >> ---

22 - Are you eating or drinking anything right now? >> Nope. I mean, I have my water tumbler, as usual. So, that, I guess.

23 - Who was your first celebrity crush? Which celebrity do you like now? >> Matt Damon, for some reason. I don’t question young!me’s preferences, that’s her business.

24 - When was the last time you went to Starbucks? What did you get? >> Yesterday. I got an Impossible(tm) breakfast sandwich. We’d both gotten $10 Starbucks gift cards, so that was what we were going to use to pay for it, but I forgot mine at home and Sparrow forgot to use hers when she got to the window, lmfao.

25 - Do you have a credit card? How much money do you owe on there? >> No.

26 - What colours have you dyed your hair in the past? What kind of colours would you like to dye it in the future? >> Purple is the only one I really remember (oh, and grey, but that was a way different kind of dye job). I don’t plan on dyeing in the future, I’d rather just buy a wig.

27 - What’s your favourite Christmas movie? When was the last time you watched it? >> Klaus. We watched it on Christmas this year because Sparrow hadn’t seen it.

28 - What’s your favourite brand and flavour of ice-cream or frozen yoghurt? >> My favourite flavour of gelato is probably just vanilla bean. I forget the name of the brand we get, though.

29 - When was the last time you visited the dentist? >> October.

30 - What time do you consider to be too early to go to bed and to get up in the morning? When was the last time you went to bed/got up at those times? >> Anything earlier than 10p is too early for bed for me, but I don’t care what time I get up as long as I’m not still sleepy.

[msblackriver]

Christmas

One time I saw a family at Starbucks and they seemed like so much fun I wondered what it would be like to go home with them and be a part of their family.  The feeling evokes Christmas no?  The idea of Christmas is bigger than Christmas itself.  Every year I find myself looking forward to the holiday.  It starts sometime in October or maybe November and then it starts with the all day Christmas music radio station.  You dismissed it because it was too early to get in the spirit but now it is time.  And you feel the spirit.  It’s like every Christmas movie, Christmas song and memory jam packed in a feeling and it is nostalgic.  Nostalgia the greek word nostos means return and algos means suffering.  “ So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.”  I always thought it made people feel happy and sad at the same time, nostalgia.  What a confusing feeling of conflicting emotions in the end the sadness overwhelms the feeling of joy because it is out of reach.  Our house on Blair my parents would have parties back then when it was a close knit community.  On Christmas we had friends sleep over some on the floor.  Letenkiel one of my mom’s best friends allowed us to open one of the gifts late at night.  It was wrapped in gift wrap and it was obvious it was a video cassette.  We tore open the wrap and it was “Home Alone.”  We watched it that night and it was the greatest movie we had ever seen.  Kevin Macalester outsmarted the bad guys and was living a kid’s dream.  He was our hero.  Every Christmas after that was a disappointment.  Always high expectations but low results.  And it’s just a day!  Nothing is sadder than the day after Christmas.  That is the most nothing day of the year, actually Christmas day isn’t even that great, Christmas Eve is where it’s at.  You look like a scrub because you were up all night and woke up around noon still feeing tired.  Everyone is sitting around the house and now we have to get ready to go to the next relatives house.  We watch “Home Alone”  every year since then “you’re such a disease Kevin!”  Our once hero is now a 8 year old child who is extremely cute.  His plots against his enemies are cartoonish and he grew up to look like a heroine addict.  But still we are taken back to a time “A lovely cheese pizza just for me.”  Everyone in his family was so mean to him “you’re what the french call les incompetent.”  Now a days I look for “Christmas” in people, in the vibe of the room.  It could be a smile or a show tune played at a coffee shop.  It is a christmas feel that captures you for a moment like a flashback for a soldier it is a glimpse into something inexplicable.  A feeling of warmth and joy to be shared.  People are nicer around that time of year, more willing to give a helping hand, more generous with their heart.  In Minnesota the ground is covered with snow.  Saint Paul looks like a illustration out of a picture book or a drawing on a greeting card.  People there are nicer around the holidays than people that live in California because in California with the warm weather and sunshine it’s easy to forget what time of year it is.  

My dad used to buy gifts for us and not buy gifts for our brother which made me feel bad for him like a form of survivor's guilt.  Even though I loved my tazmanian devil watch and never left home without it.  Putting it on was a constant reminder to my brother that he wasn’t good enough and that our father loved us more than him.  He didn’t say anything though it came out in other ways.  No one bought my brother gifts anyways after 14 or 15 because nobody liked him.  He was not a good person they decided and there was no hope for him.  They were not the bad people that put limits on a child that did not offer any guidance.  He was supposed to fix himself.  He did not get a watch or words of support spoken from someone older that was looking out for you.  He was on his own.  They gave us gifts to make him less important his punishment for not being happy with the bullshit they gave.  People like you if you are happy but some people are not happy and they shouldn’t be because they have a brain.  People don’t want you to question things that want you to be dumb and happy so that they can feel better around you.  

We used to go to our aunts house on the next day but one year she started acting strange like she didn’t want to come over.  They always came on Christmas Eve her piece of shit husband and our cousins.  But one year she had a problem with us, she said we talked bad about her brother and we did not understand it.  Our cousin her oldest son had planted the seed that we were bad mouthing our uncle.  Although everything that came out of our mouths wasn’t overwhelmingly positive about him.  I wasn’t sloppy enough to talk shit, I did not talk shit about him with my cousin.  I don’t know what happened to that boy he turned out ot be such a conniving liar.  What he did was he told us our uncle didn’t like us and that he was always talking shit about us and naturally we responded with words of disagreement and self defence.  It was so long ago that I don’t remember what was exactly said but clearly this was a “set up.”  We did not know he was like that.  If someone tells you “so and so said this about you” you might respond with a eye roll and some unkind words.  You don’t expect this to be used against you.  At the time my cousin and his father were heavily beefing with this uncle and I think this was a sad attempt to turn everyone against him and him against us.  It’s not like we were sitting around just shit talking casually.  “They are talking bad about my brother and I am not coming.”  My mom didn’t want to tell us what was going on.  My uncle ignored me when I got back to L.A. not returning my calls and when I did get a hold of him being shockingly rude and abrupt.  I said “hi how are you” and he mumbled “fine how are you” except I didn’t hear him and I said “huh”?  Then he repeated “I said I am fine how are you” he said it angrily with such hate in his voice.  The words didn’t match his tone, I had to end the conversation and get off the phone.  “ I just called to say hi, i’ll talk to you later.”  We weren’t worth an explanation.  No one talked to us about it they just believe whatever they were told and hated us for it.  They were too cowardly to confront us and that is not respectable.  People can hate you and you didn’t even do anything. They’re always quick to turn on you because they think you are a horrible person and they always did.  Quick to turn on you always on edge.  When my sister eventually called my aunt to talk to her about it she told her “we don’t talk bad about Amaniel” she quickly forgave her.  “I know you guys are not like that Lu’lii”  a term of endearment for my sister so all of that was for nothing?  

The next day we went to her house anyways even though she did not want us there.  This was my mom’s idea, I would of left her alone.  So we popped up and it was apparent that she was unhappy and did not want us there but she had to open the door for us.  She wasn’t even prepared for the Holiday, no food was prepared.  She quickly started chopping vegetables and boiling pasta and put together a quick chicken pesto pasta and salad.  She set it up on the countertop buffett style.  We went into the room with t.v. and ate she slowly eased up as the evening progressed.  She began laughing and talking like a normal Christmas.  My mom didn’t want to leave her sad and lonely on Christmas because that’s not the “Christian” thing to do.  On Christ’s holiday you were supposed to cheer people up and be the bigger person.  So that night we drank coffee and watched movies and we laughed like a family.  

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Today: a abecedary who makes $31,000 per year and spends some of her money this anniversary on a Perfect bar.

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Occupation: TeacherIndustry: EducationAge: 23Location: Buffalo, NYSalary: $31,000Paycheck Bulk (Biweekly): $951Additional Income: I additionally waitress on the ancillary and accomplish $300-$400 per month. (This includes tips…I get about $30 per analysis afore tips.)

Monthly ExpensesRent: $790, breach bottomward the average with my boyfriend, C.Student Loan Payment: $100 (I owe $27,000 total.)Netflix: $15 (My sister SOMETIMES remembers to pay me for the added half.)Credit Cards: $300 (I owe about $2,500 in acclaim agenda debt that I am aggressively aggravating to pay off.)Gym Membership: $22Utilities: Never added than $100 a month. C. takes affliction of utilities and afresh deducts my bisected from the hire he owes me.Savings: $20 every Monday into my accumulation account. Small, I know, but that’s what happens aback you accomplish a baby salary!

Day One

6:55 a.m. — I deathwatch up. I am SUPER LATE. I’ve had this bad addiction afresh of aggravating to get every minute of beddy-bye I can. My acceptance are absolutely backbreaking me lately. I adulation them, but average schoolers are adamantine work. I grab my breakfast and cafeteria and jet out the door.

7:35 a.m. — I get to academy on time somehow! I appetite to accommodated with my arch to altercate a fundraiser he wants the club I admonish to run. But abominably he’s action on a acreage trip, so I don’t get to accommodated with him. I calefaction up the breakfast I brought from home and delay for my kiddos to arrive.

11 a.m. — Cafeteria is provided for us today! I about consistently accompany my own lunch, as I am aggravating to save money. I eat the egg-salad sandwich I brought (hey, I adulation it) and grab some of the amazon soup we accept in the teacher’s lounge. Center through the day, I feel a absolutely bad algid advancing on. I accede calling in ailing tomorrow but anticipate about how I accept a club affair during my cafeteria tomorrow…

3 p.m. — School’s out! I accept a basketball bold to drillmaster today, so I charge some caffeine. I go to Starbucks and buy a bifold attempt on ice. I bushing my Starbucks app for $10 and afresh beat through to Whole Foods to get a Perfect Bar. They’re on sale, two for $4, so I grab accession to bandy in the fridge aback I get home. $14

5 p.m. — I leave the basketball bold and arch to my additional job. I waitress on Tuesdays and Fridays and sometimes aces up accouterment on Saturdays as well. I do this alternating with apprenticeship basketball, actuality a club adviser, and acting as a parent-teacher liaison. Here’s to acquisitive I accomplish some money!!

10 p.m. — Assuredly out!!! I arch home, grab some gas on the way so I won’t accept to do it in the morning. I get home, booty a shower, and accord C. a kiss accost and goodnight. Tuesdays fetor for us because we don’t see anniversary added at all. I apprehend on my Kindle and afresh abatement asleep. $10

Daily Total: $24

Day Two

6:30 a.m. — I deathwatch up and feel TERRIBLE. I accept hella all-overs alike cerebration about calling in sick, but I apperceive if I don’t I will feel alike worse this weekend. I don’t appetite that to happen, because C.’s sister is visiting from L.A. and we’ll be spending time with her! I argument our academy secretary and acquaint her I’m ill. I affiance her an algid cappuccino tomorrow aback I appear back.

10 a.m. — I’m aloof lounging about the house. I still feel appealing crappy, but the added beddy-bye helps a lot. I accomplish myself some breakfast. Toast with avocado and eggs and accession allotment with peanut adulate and banana. I am OBSESSED with peanut butter. C. gets mad because I buy altered flavors all the time and we currently accept ten jars.

12 p.m. — I annal through Amazon, but I don’t buy annihilation because I accept a $125 allowance agenda advancing my way from acclaim agenda rewards points. I’m aggravating to cut bottomward on plastic, so I put some reusable sandwich baggies in my cart.

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5 p.m. — C. gets home!! We babble about his day and accomplish dinner. He plays rugby and eats A LOT, so our bistro schedules don’t usually match. I accomplish an egg-white omelet with veggies, and C. makes a lot of craven and veggies. We booty turns switching amid me watching Netflix and him arena on his PS4. We accept a Fire Stick in the bedroom, but I don’t feel like lying in bed.

10 p.m. — I annal through LikeToKnowIt. I adulation all the outfits. I haven’t bought clothes with my own money (thank you, allowance cards!) aback afore Christmas, so I appetite to amusement myself eventually. I do this until I canyon out.

Daily Total: $0

Day Three

6:30 a.m. — I deathwatch up at 6:30. But. I. Can’t. Get. Up. I breach snuggled up until my additional anxiety goes off at 6:45. I blitz cafeteria and breakfast together. I’ve absolutely got to alpha accomplishing this afore I go to bed.

7 a.m. — I stop by Tim Horton’s to get our secretary her promised algid capp, and I grab an algid coffee for myself as well. Yesterday I didn’t absorb any money, so I’m all appropriate with battery out the six bucks. $6

11 a.m. — I eat my collection of Trader Joe’s mac ‘n’ cheese, broiled veggies, and a boilerplate yogurt. I accept accession basketball bold afterwards tonight, and I apperceive I’m action to accept to grab a bite about afterwards school. I analysis my coffer account, and my freeholder STILL hasn’t taken my hire analysis out. This happens a lot, and it’s appealing annoying because I accept to mentally bulk out how abundant I accept in my checking. I apprehension I accept a little money to additional afterwards payday this week, so I accomplish a brainy agenda to pay a little added against my apprentice loans. They aren’t as abundant as what some bodies I apperceive have, but the absorption adds up.

3 p.m. — I arch to basketball. It’s demanding apprenticeship alike for average school. We lose in overtime. I accomplish a big accent at the end because a few girls fabricated faces on the cloister aback I told them what to do, and it drives me NUTS. Now I apperceive why my mom acclimated to get so mad.

5 p.m. — I adjudge to run and grab a few advantage afore I arch home. I arch to my admired abode on earth, Trader Joe’s!!!! I get about all of my advantage from Trader Joe’s. I adjudge to grab the arctic lamb tandoori to eat for banquet tonight. I absorb a little beneath $70. I additionally run to Target because they advertise the yogurt I like. Of advance I get ice cream, ChapStick, and a few added things. That comes to a little beneath $30. $97.29

8 p.m. — I absolutely should be action to the gym, but I can’t accumulate my eyes accessible at all. C. is a bad access and tells me to aloof breach home and rest. He active to rugby, and I catnap off and don’t alike apprehend him appear home.

Daily Total: $103.29

Day Four

6:45 a.m. — I deathwatch up a little afterwards than usual, but I feel abundant because I got a abounding night’s rest. I get dressed bound and bandy a cafeteria together. I backpack my waitressing clothes because I accept to assignment tonight. Bifold payday today!

7:15 a.m. — I grab coffee for two coworkers and myself. We accept formed a absolutely tight-knit accumulation in the accomplished year and a half, and I like assuming my acknowledgment for them whenever I can. Our job is difficult, and not anybody understands the accent agents experience. We accept a accumulation babble area we accelerate common memes and complaints and allocution all day. $6.23

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10 a.m. — Is this day over?! My kids are absolutely testing me today. We’re watching a cine about abolitionists, and it’s absolutely absolutely good, but they WON’T STOP TALKING. It drives me nuts.

12 p.m. — Okay, while my kids are watching the abutting documentary about Jesse Owens, I cave. I absorb $87.52 at Gap online — two shirts, a brace of “sculpt” jeans, and a brace of absolutely beautiful dress pants. I additionally arch over to Nordstrom Rack online, area I get a brace of pants and a brace of over-the-knee boots. This equals out to $142.70. I don’t feel bad because I am disturbing through my closet this anniversary accepting rid of annihilation I don’t wear. $230

3 p.m. — School’s out!! Alone one added anniversary until February break! I’m action home to appointment my parents for bristles days, and I can’t wait. I alive bristles hours abroad now, and I absence them a lot. I get accessible to arch to the gym afore my waitressing gig.

4:30 p.m. — I’m starving! I get to assignment and anon adjustment a craven sandwich. Luckily, we don’t accept to pay for our commons here. For a little while we did, and it sucked. I would absorb allotment of my tips advantageous for my meal. I bandage it bottomward and get accessible to serve. It can be accidental here, so I never apperceive what I’ll make.

10 p.m. — Woo! Fabricated about 100 bucks tonight! This is great, because I try to absorb my tips afore I blow my debit card. This will buy and apparently awning all of our advantage abutting week, so I’m excited. Waitressing afterwards teaching all anniversary is exhausting, so I anon blast afterwards accepting home. I grab $10 account of gas on my way. $10

Daily Total: $246.23

Day Bristles

10 a.m. — I booty time to pay my acclaim agenda payments. I set abreast $300 per ages to pay off my cards. I accept three. It was a aberration to accessible up so many, but oh well. I’m demography albatross for it now. I accept one about paid off. Once that’s done, I’ll aggressively pay off the added two!

11 a.m. — We accept a continued day advanced of us, but I hit the gym first. WOW — I am sore. My acquaintance is a claimed trainer, and anniversary ages he creates a conditioning for me for the month. It’s awesome! I grab a baptize canteen on my way in. $2

4 p.m. — We accommodated C.’s parents and his sister for dinner. We absorb every weekend with them! It’s abundant because they’re so nice and additionally let us do our laundry at their house. We get Italian aliment and C.’s dad affably pays.

8 p.m. — We adhere out at C.’s parents’, and his sister rents Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s so good!! We adhere out for a few hours afore we arch home and get to bed.

Daily Total: $2

Day Six

10 a.m. — C. and I arch to our admired café/coffee roastery. It’s in an old burial home, and it’s Day of the Dead–themed. We adulation it! I appetite to accompany their mug club, but it’s $100 a year and I can’t absolve that aloof yet. I get a turkey sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich on a whole-wheat bagel. C. gets this antic sandwich with mac ‘n’ cheese, BBQ chicken, cheese, and Triscuits. He says it’s delicious, and honestly, it does attending appealing great.

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4 p.m. — We’ve been lounging allllllll day. I hop on Netflix and watch Tidying Up with Marie Kondo. I use our additional bedchamber as my closet and absolutely charge to get rid of things and adapt added effectively.

7 p.m. — I am about absolutely done charwoman my room. Whew. That was a lot. I put some clothes abreast to accelerate to my friend. I additionally column some on Poshmark and achievement that I can accomplish some money that way.

10 p.m. — Okay, I’m shot. I get into bed and delay for sleep.

Daily Total: $0

Day Seven

6:30 a.m. — Ughhhhhhhh. Mondays. They are rough. I run out the aperture and stop and grab a coffee. I am absolutely aggravating to cut aback on my spending, I swear. $2

8 a.m. — It’s alone 8, and I’ve already yelled at my kids. They are so beggarly to anniversary added that it hurts my soul. All I appetite to do is advise them to be affectionate animal beings, but they are absolutely disturbing with that.

11 a.m. — Cafeteria time…halfway through the day. I can do it! I accept basketball afresh today appropriate afterwards school, so I’m counting the hours until I can go home and sit down. I adulation actuality a teacher, but man, it makes me tired.

3 p.m. — As we arch to our game, I see a Venmo appeal for a wine bout we did with accompany a few months ago! Apparently, my acquaintance forgot aloof like I did. I accelerate her the money for it. I additionally stop and get $20 in gas aback somehow I’m on abandoned again. Amid active aback and alternating to assignment every day, basketball two to three times a week, and the gym four times a week, my car is sucking up the gas. I absolutely should ample it up, but it’s freezing! So I ample it up halfway. $95

5 p.m. — I get home and see my acclaim agenda rewards accept appear in the mail! I accept $125 for Amazon and $50 for Starbucks. This is amazing, because I absorb money at these two places the most!

7 p.m. — I accomplish banquet for us — Buffalo craven with broccoli and candied potatoes! We bandage it down. C. goes to rugby convenance and I put on Lady Bird.

11 p.m. — I assuredly clamber into bed. This anniversary has been a continued one, and I alone accept four added canicule until February break. I can’t wait!

Daily Total: $97

Money Affidavit are meant to reflect alone women’s adventures and do not necessarily reflect Refinery29’s point of view. Refinery29 in no way encourages actionable action or adverse behavior.

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tell me about boston manor, i want to hear everything you've got to say about boston manor! all the deets and especially how you became friends with them just tell me all

they’re just so nice and personable and never for a moment have i felt like they hated me (well at least not when i was talking to them) like they hugged my mother and were all super nice to her too and they all hugged me and they smell super good,,,, just such soft and pure boys who make me super happy

like on warped tour i barely knew any of their names but they all made me feel like i had known them for years ? and they ask to hug u bc they don’t wanna make u uncomfortable and they thank u for buying their stuff and supporting them and apparently they buy u coffee

but like i became “"friends”“ with them on the last night of my shows like i was standing in the pit and their drummer, jordan, was the last on stage and he brought me a setlist and was like ‘u probably have 5000 of these but we want u to have this’ and the girl next to me got really jealous and was like what are you friends with them or something? and the drummer just waved and was like yes we r friends and like saved me against this girl BUT HE ALSO CALLED US FRIENDS

they also remembered me from warped tour and like the guitarist, ash, was immediately like did u dye ur hair, like wasn’t it red and i was like,,,, ahhhh yes and then we hugged and he was asking me how often i dye my hair and was making jokes and told me i should dye it orange and like,,,,

and then when i gave them their gift of 2 15$ starbucks cards in a card i wrote a lil message to them in they were super nice and thanked me probably 20 times each and kept insisting that i didn’t have to do that, like just coming to their shows and supporting them was enough and they all hugged me ???? and like the other guitarist, mike, wanted to finish reading the card before we all took the picture (the rest of the boys just kinda skimmed over it and awed) and mike was like “hold on i gotta finish this” and then he was like Awhhhhh and hugged me super tight and set his head on my head and just held me and it was so amazing and then they wished me and my mom a merry christmas and happy new year and basically told me they will be back in 2018 we better see u in 2018 bc ur amazing and WE LOVE UOU and i started crying and they were all like no don’t cry like ur amazing and i was like this isn’t it any better and they just kept hugging me and it made me entire life so fucking worth every moment of those 15 minutes with all five of them and like they shared cigs with my mom and it was just such a,,, blessful time and like it was so much interaction w my faves ???

that was prolly a rant but ugh it was so amazing and their tour merch guy knows me and like remembers me and hugged me and ugh like these boys know me by name how fucking cool????

ALSO ON MONDAY WAS THEIR SECOND HEADLINE SHOW IN AMEFICA and i had gone to it and everyone demanded one more song so they came out and played another song (driftwood) and then on friday when i was having them sign my setlists the guitarist wrote driftwood on it bc like it wasn’t on there and was like we r retiring that song i’m glad u got to hear it for the last time

and kept reminding me that they better see me in march and i cried a lot and just they signed all my shit and gave me 3 setlists from each show, and a drumstick, and FUCKING COFFEE but like they’re so nice it feels like theyre like my friends ?? idkkkkk

[alia15]

Holiday Q+A

I didn’t really have any “holiday” themed posts lined up this year, so when I saw that Emelia from the blog “Dream Big & Buy the Shoes” did this Q+A, I decided to steal the idea.  Borrow the idea?  Whatever, I’m doing it.

It’s a challenge from The Blended Blog, and I thought I could have some fun with the responses.  

Shall we?

1. Real or Fake Tree?

“The boobs are real, but the tree is fake” -- my tagline if I was a Real Housewife on Bravo

2. Favorite Christmas Cookie?

Struffoli, also known to Italians as “struffula” or, if you’re an uncultured swine, “HONEY BALLS.”  Whatever you call ‘em, they’re the best.  And I always request that my neighbor Arlene make me some every year because hers are TOP notch.

3. Home on Christmas Morning or Travel?

NEVER traveling.  I have a huge extended family and we all live within a 5 mile radius of each other... WE’RE CODEPENDENT, IT’S FINE.

4. Clear or Colored Lights?

I like clear/white lights, but there’s a place for colored lights, too -- it’s called the trash.  Kidding!  Not really.

5. Send Christmas Cards?

Meh, I don’t.  I have before (yes, as a single childless person -- WE CAN SEND CARDS TOO) but it’s tedious and I hate dealing with snail mail in any capacity; ESPECIALLY sending it.  I *do* love getting your cards with your cute little family posed in a field/park somewhere in your coordinating winter-wear, so keep ‘em comin. ...you’re just not getting one from me.

6. Favorite Christmas Present Received?

My brother and sister-in-law telling me I was going to be an aunt for the first time* :)

*they did also get me like, real gifts, but that news was my favorite.

7. Favorite Christmas Present Given?

I’m always a fan of giving “experience” gifts -- tickets to a show, sporting event, gift certificate for a massage or wine tasting, etc.  Another perk?  I give these gifts accompanied by a really poorly done Microsoft Paint presentation, like the time I got my sister-in-law & mother tickets to see Annie on Broadway:

it’s a hard knock life, for us.

Or, Rangers tickets for my dad & brother:

i cantttttt

8. Stockings or No Stockings?

I don’t have a fireplace, but I DO have an empty leopard print stocking hanging on a doorknob in my studio apartment because I’m tacky.

9. Christmas PJ's?

Of course!  We’ve also had two pajama-themed Christmas Eve’s with my family, so it gives me an excuse to buy them. (Side note: it was like humid and 70 degrees one year and I was in flannel pajamas and sweating my arse off)

sticky.

10. Favorite Christmas Carol?

I’m changing this to “song” because “carol” indicates some Charles Dickens-esque old fogey thing, but lawddd, this is hard.  I can’t pick one, so I’ll tell you to check out the Spotify playlist I made that has all my faves, new AND old.

me when christmas music comes on.

11. Favorite Holiday Tradition?

My family has so many traditions I love and we’re always introducing new ones (the foods we eat, games we play, themes for dressing up, etc.) but I would say going to see the Rockefeller Center tree every year is up there -- my family and I have been going for a few years now and I love it. [We also head to St. Patrick's Cathedral & Bryant Park]

12. Early Shopper or Last Minute?

Hi, my name is Allison Arnone and I do everything in my life last minute.

13. Favorite Christmas Movie or Show?

Aww, I love Home Alone and Elf.  A Christmas Story is a classic, obviously.  I’ll tell ya what you *WONT* catch me watching, and that is Hallmark movies.  

14. Favorite Holiday Beverage?

Do Chestnut Praline lattes from Starbucks count?  My cousin Chrissy always concocts some kind of delicious dessert-y cocktail on Christmas Eve; those are great (pudding shots?  yes please!).  You also can’t go wrong with some Baileys.

Chrissy’s pudding shots!

15. Cookies and Milk for Santa?

No, I am a grown ass woman.  

Your turn!  Feel free to answer a few of these in my comment section, or of course -- do a post of your own!  Happy Holiday season, y’all!

[dippedanddripped]

A skinny, gap-toothed kid gesticulates wildly in the parking lot of Mike’s Drive-In in Oregon City. Short dreads stick up on either side of his head, like antennae to some alien planet. His friends, in the deep background, hang out of a silver Honda, goofing on one another. But it’s nearly impossible to take your eyes off the skinny kid, with his awkward dance moves and urgent facial expressions. He commands your attention. He needs it.

This is the video for Aminé’s persistently catchy “Caroline,” a half-sung, half-rapped summer anthem that went viral in 2016—the video has more than 200 million YouTube views, and the kid front and center is the artist himself. It’s Aminé’s best-known song, and for most music fans both within his home city of Portland and beyond, it represented the MC/singer/director’s colorful first impression.

Aminé—born Adam Amine Daniel, son of Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants to Portland and a graduate of Benson High—had been around awhile before “Caroline” hit. His debut album, Odyssey to Me, appeared in 2014, though it has long been expunged from the commercial internet. It begins with a low-key prophecy: “I’m headed to my next show / I gotta go / Headed to that Madison Square / 25,000 fans in the air.” Then an accented female voice repeats “Adam, wake up.” It’s Aminé’s mother, coaxing him back to Portland obscurity. But it’s too late. The dream has taken root.

Aminé hasn’t played Madison Square Garden just yet, but he has definitely found a bigger stage. In 2017, the hip-hop magazine XXL included him in its influential Freshman Class, which functions as a sort of critical watchlist of stars in the making. Billboard and the New York Times both weighed in favorably, the latter calling his major-label debut, Good for You, “one of this year’s most intriguing hip-hop albums and also a bold statement of left-field pop.” The album sold 13,000 copies in its first week, debuting at no. 34 on Billboard’s US charts. After a set at Lollapalooza, Daniel posed for photographs with his arm around a new fan, Malia Obama.

Through sheer will and a catchy song, a colorful dream world became Aminé’s reality. From the outside, it’s like he came out of nowhere. That’s intentional. To become the next big thing in the music world of the late 2010s, you have to let the world in on the ground floor. That can sometimes mean recalibrating, or even erasing, your pre-fame history. All the way along, Aminé—who, through manager Justin Lehmann, declined to be interviewed for this piece and did not respond to requests for comment on this story—had boosters and collaborators. Some have come along for the ride. Some were left in the dust. This is the years-long story of Aminé’s overnight success.

Born in 1994, Aminé grew up in Northeast Portland. He’s said his biggest aspiration back then was “to be Kobe Bryant,” a dream dashed when he was cut from the Benson basketball team as a freshman. But he also grew up in a musical environment—he’s told interviewers his parents listened to everything from Ethiopian music to John Mayer—and music eventually became an obsession. In his first recorded performance, he told Vice in August, he rapped about girls and rival high schools over Waka Flocka Flame’s “O Let’s Do It.”

Josh Hickman, a thoughtful and soft-spoken 26-year-old, is three years Aminé’s senior. He also went to Benson and both ran track, but the two barely knew each other then. Three years after high school graduation, as Hickman began his senior year at Portland State University, he connected with Daniel, a PSU freshman, who messaged him about music.

“My first impression of Adam was that he seemed older than he was,” says Hickman, who spent his college years composing and producing rap music under the name Jahosh. “There was a determination, or a focus, that resonated with me. It probably goes back to track and field at Benson. We would work out six days a week. It really instilled me with this work ethic and discipline. So when I met Adam, I was just like, ‘Man this is dope. He’s just like me.’”

I was screaming to the moon, ‘Check out Aminé! He’s doing the thing! Are you guys paying attention?’

Daniel loaned Hickman money to buy a microphone and portable vocal booth, and they began writing and recording on a relentless schedule. “He would come over in the morning and he wouldn’t leave till night,” Hickman says. “But it didn’t even feel like work.” Daniel would give Hickman input on the beats; Hickman says he helped with song concepts and even lyrics. Together they created the first DIY Aminé release, a mixtape called Genuine Thoughts.

With help from PSU music students whom the charismatic Daniel had recruited along the way—including multi-instrumentalist Irvin Mejia, who would go on to produce “Caroline” and other songs on Aminé’s major-label debut—Hickman went on to produce the bulk of Odyssey to Mein his windowless recording studio in East Portland in late 2013. The album’s songs run from vulnerable, confessional slow-burners (“My Emotions”) to explicit sex jams (“Feelin’ Like”). It’s ambitious both sonically and conceptually: The cover art adapts the poster from Richard Ayoade’s 2010 cult film Submarine, about a small-town 15-year-old named Oliver looking to lose his virginity. The album echoes the film’s plot in places, and references its protagonist throughout.

By Odyssey to Me’s 2014 release, Aminé had picked up a few key supporters in Portland, including Fahiym Acuay, an MC and writer (under the name Mac Smiff) for the popular regional hip-hop blog We Out Here. Meeting Aminé for a video interview, Acuay remembers a funny, slightly shy kid who seemed unusually driven. “He knew that he was a little bit different,” Acuay says. “He had a really different sound—kind of playful—but he also had these really deep melodies.” Acuay became an evangelist for the young artist: “I was screaming to the moon, ‘Check out Aminé! He’s doing the thing! Are you guys paying attention?’”

IMAGE: COURTESY MARCUS HYDE AND REPUBLIC RECORDS

While local acts like U-Krew, Five Fingers of Funk, Lifesavas, and Cool Nutz have made some waves, Portland has never spawned a true national hip-hop star. Instead, we have a closed rap ecosystem with its own set of references, stylistic tendencies, and small-town kingpins. Portland rap artists tend to be judged more on their lyricism and verbal ability than on their melodic instincts or pop savvy. And on those fronts, Acuay notes, Aminé is no match for local mainstays like Illmaculate and Rasheed Jamal—battle-tested MCs with dense, intricate rhyme delivery. In fact, if Aminé had emerged a decade earlier, there’s a good chance he’d figure in the Portland hip-hop story as an eccentric side character, selling mixtapes out of his trunk at rap shows. But Aminé was born in a new era, where the home-burned CD has been replaced by lightly curated “mixtape” download websites that connect artists directly to a national audience, with no middleman and no local-cred hurdles to clear.

And Daniel knew how to work that system. He spent $1,000 of his student loan money to secure Odyssey to Me a spot in the featured albums section of Datpiff.com, a popular hip-hop mixtape-sharing blog that has served as a bellwether for artists like Drake and Chance the Rapper. By the end of summer 2014, Odyssey had reached 20,000 downloads. Daniel and Hickman found a promoter to take a punt on them—Ibeth Hernandez, who offered them a show at Peter’s Room in the Roseland, opening for critically acclaimed California hip-hop trio Pac Div. “It was so sweet,” Hernandez remembers of Daniel and Hickman. “They got me a thank-you card afterward, and it had, like, a Starbucks gift card inside.”

But the biggest payoffs came from shows Aminé and Jahosh booked for themselves. A few days after Christmas 2013, they threw a show marking Odyssey’s imminent release, hit social media hard, and drew 250. A party the next year drew 400, among them Blazers star Damian Lillard. His presence alone hinted that Daniel and Hickman had sidestepped most Portland hip-hop rites of passage. Not everybody would be happy about it.

But Daniel was making connections outside of Portland, too. In summer 2014, after landing internships with Complex magazine and Def Jam Records, he connected with a young, unestablished New York City manager named Justin Lehmann. To Hickman, something about the new arrangement set off alarm bells.

“I was with Adam from day one,” he says, “thinking, his success is my success and my success is his success.” Though he won’t dive into specifics—and allows for miscommunications—Hickman says he decided to get his handshake deal with Daniel into writing. Daniel refused. Hickman “got even more weirded out.” The partnership slowly unraveled, taking the pair’s friendship with it, and Hickman would later pull Aminé’s first album and the subsequent En Vogue EP from the internet, asking social media outlets and blogs to do the same. “It was my assumption that he would have most likely taken the music down himself, had I not,” says Hickman.

He was building this full package for himself. He didn’t just focus on Portland.

Aminé’s second full-length album—the excellent, world-music-inspired collection Calling Brio—proved that he was capable of making great music without Hickman. That too has been scrubbed from the web post-“Caroline,” along with videos and articles from 2014 and 2015, as has become standard practice for many indie artists who take on a major-label rebrand. Around the same time, Daniel texted Acuay to ask him to remove all the pieces We Out Here had written about Aminé from the site. Acuay reluctantly agreed. Later, when he saw a national piece on Aminé billed as “the first interview” with the young artist behind “Caroline,” Acuay admits, “I was kind of salty for a second. I had the first interview.”

Two years after Josh Hickman and Adam Daniel parted ways, Aminé struck gold with “Caroline.” The single and video led to a deal with Republic Records, a Universal subsidiary home to artists from Ariana Grande to Black Sabbath. While Daniel moved to Los Angeles in 2016, his official label bio still begins with “Now, Portland isn’t traditionally referred to as a hotbed of hip-hop like Brooklyn or Compton is, but Aminé could very well change that perception.”

For a moment, it appeared that Aminé might force the issue. In November 2016 on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show, Aminé performed a striking and minimal version of “Caroline” with a string section. At the end of the performance, the yellow stage lights switched to red, white, and blue, and he delivered a message to the incoming president elected just days before. “You can never make America great again / All you ever did was make this country hate again.” It was a bold choice, one the Times and other outlets focused on. But Portland music fans noticed something else: two vocalists backing up Aminé were established players in the Portland scene, earthy R&B artist Blossom and inventive MC the Last Artful, Dodgr.

Acuay was watching that night. “It was so very Aminé. ‘I’m not going to do what everyone expects me to do.’ I was really proud of him. I remember thinking, he’s making us look good. He’s really holding it down for Portland right now.”

Publicly, “Go Aminé” is the party line in the Portland hip-hop scene, as well. But there is grumbling behind closed doors. A handful of artists and music scene staples contacted for this story declined to be interviewed about Aminé, or did not respond to requests. One artist formerly associated with Aminé indicated a reluctance to be seen as a hanger-on. A polite decline came from Nikolaus Popp, the prolific Portland director credited as the cinematographer and editor behind the “Caroline” video. Popp sent a somewhat cryptic statement: “Respect is everything in this world and that really goes for any human being. People will try to minimize you, but you always have to know your worth. Money doesn’t pay for respect, no matter the amount. It’s about how you treat people.”

In his first big national profile in the New York Times, Daniel used the phrase “super depressing” to describe his path through the Portland music scene, which the article’s author further characterized as “dead.” Aminé’s lyrical take on Portland has been bittersweet since his earliest songs. And on Good for You, he raps about coming home to find kids who bullied him calling him a hero. In the song “Turf,” he details the city’s gentrification in a mournful chorus: “I look around and I see nothing in my neighborhood / Not satisfied, don’t think I’ll ever wanna stay for good.” Another lyric speaks to those mixed emotions with even more clarity, and perhaps provides an explanation for the artist’s systematic eradication of the old Aminé: “I used to have dreams / Now I dream.”

I asked Vursatyl, one-third of the Portland crew Lifesavas—they released their debut, Spirit in Stone in 2003—if his group experienced a Portland backlash when they surfaced on the national radar. “The difference is we were really trudging it out in the local scene for a long time,” he says. “There were a lot of us trying hard to make it. Some of it was friendly competition, and some wasn’t. But everybody wanted to be the guy to put the city on the map.”

That city—before the gentrification of its North and Northeast quadrants—was a place where the black community was still somewhat centralized, and Aminé’s family home, off NE MLK and Dekum, sat at its heart. “There’s less of a sense of community now,” Vursatyl says. “And I think that, in the long term, Aminé would have benefited from what was the black community still being fully intact. He’s had an awesome journey and he’s doing great, but I feel like there’s a disconnect in terms of local pride in him. And you want that groundswell. You want to play to your base.”

But for Hernandez—who also booked Aminé’s first South by Southwest performance (“The whole showcase fell apart. It was a disaster, actually.”)—the fact that Aminé’s dreams were bigger than his hometown is exactly what made him stand out. “He didn’t make the rounds like other artists, but that’s OK,” she says. “He was building this full package for himself. He didn’t just focus on Portland. A lot of artists put themselves in a box, and that’s cool, but at some point you have to expand. I saw him expand at such an early point, and he’s still expanding.”

Where Aminé is expanding to is an open question. In interviews, he’s low-key and likable—the right mix of confident, humble, and self-deprecating. Critics praised Good for You as “honest” and “carefree.” Its impressive breadth spans from the floaty Frank Ocean-esque Auto-Tune ballad “Hero” to a curious diss track laid out over progressive, minimal electronic music, “STFU.” If anything, the album seems built—albeit on a solid pop-rap foundation—as a showcase for Aminé’s versatility in both sonic approach and personality. He’s a sensitive, brutally honest outcast on the molasses-slow “Sunday,” and a bitter ex-boyfriend on “Wedding Crashers.” Album closer “Beach Boy” spells out the MC’s thoughts on his own mutability: “Who knows what the future holds / I don’t, if the truth be told / They say play it safe, young soul / Fuck that, I’mma take control.”

Two years ago, taking control meant parting ways with Josh Hickman, now studying software development in Los Angeles and making music as a hobby. When he won an $18,000 scholarship for making a tutorial video about sampling, Hickman used a song he built for Aminé as the video’s source material. “I took it as a message from the universe or God that, hey, I got what I needed out of that situation,” he says. He hasn’t spoken to Daniel in years, he says, but he’s not bitter about the experience. “We had all these doubts,” he remembers. “We’d be in the studio just talking, saying, ‘Man, are we crazy?’ And it’s dope to see those doubts were unfounded.”

In October, Aminé posted a new video to YouTube, this time for his playful song “Spice Girl.” It hit one million views in three days. The video features a cameo from a childhood hero, from the first concert he ever attended: the Spice Girls’ Mel B. Like every artifact of Aminé’s newly rebooted career, the video is colorful, cinematic, and dreamlike.

The video also makes obvious what should have been clear all along: Aminé never had Portland dreams. He saw himself, a first-generation American-born citizen living in an unlikely corner of the country, playing Madison Square Garden. He saw himself in the company of stars.

Something familiar about the particular inflection Daniel gave the titular “Caroline” suggests she’s the same character André 3000 sang about 15 years ago, on Outkast’s smash-hit “Roses.” In Aminé’s later song “Veggies,” from his 2017 so-called “debut” album Good for You, he refers to himself as “André’s prodigy.” These tributes to the eccentric vocal genius and fashion icon who got every wedding party in America dancing to “Hey Ya” are rare signposts from an artist who seemed, to most fans, to “come out of nowhere.”

Just one year after he uploaded the “Caroline” video to YouTube, Daniel posted a street-corner selfie to Instagram. On the left, wide-eyed with his mouth forming a stunned “ooh,” is Aminé. On the right, Outkast’s André 3000.

Adam Daniel used to have dreams—now he dreams. And his most compelling characteristic seems to be that he’s living out his fantasies in the public sphere. But dreams, by their nature, are not collaborative. They are personal. One dream lived is always another deferred. It’s been clear from the moment “Caroline” hit YouTube that the skinny, gap-toothed kid in the front was going to stay there. It’s still anybody’s guess whom he’ll take with him.

[samanthasroberts]

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

http://bit.ly/2Eq5KzI

Cataloged in Holidays

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

January Nelson Updated December 11, 2018

If you still haven’t finished your holiday shopping, you should think about buying these last-minute gifts suggested by Ask Reddit.

1. Mason jar + equal parts granulated sugar and veg oil + either a few drops of essential oil OR some lemon zest OR vanilla extract = boutique grade body scrub.

2. Buy tickets online for a upcoming play, dinner & show, concert, game, etc. Print out page of ticket confirmation and put it in a nice Christmas card envelope. It’s an awesome gift because people tend to love it more than clothing or other junk you usually give. And if you’re parents are like mine, they barely take the initiative to go to these type of events themselves or don’t even know about them. Experience > material goods.

3. Run to the grocery store, pick up chocolate morsels, butter, and cream.

Takes about five hours to make 200 chocolate truffles. Easy to make them different flavors as well. (Orange, Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Cinnamon Honey are the good with milk chocolate. Peppermint, Khalua, and Matcha are good with dark chocolate. Peppermint and matcha are fantastic with white chocolate.)

4. At least for men, my go-to is always a beard or personal grooming kit. It’s likely something that they wouldn’t buy themselves, and many haven’t felt the exhilaration of a peppermint shampoo. Men deserve a little pampering and self care too!

5. I think mugs make a good last minute gift because they’re available at most stores, pretty cheap for a gift, and will actually be used by the recipient.

6. Socks. High-end, badass, toasty warm (if you live where it gets cold) socks. Smartwool/Darn Tough/etc.. They may “meh” at it early on, but will thank you later. Maybe even very later, but it’ll be appreciated (a lot) eventually.

7. Most people I know don’t have bluetooth hook ups in their car, FM Transmitters are absolutely fantastic, they’re relatively cheap and life changers for folks that like to listen to music while driving, Probably $15 and under.

One of those copper chef/gotham steel type skillets. They’re fantastic, less than $20, endless use.

8. Cookie/brownie mix in a mason jar with instructions on a card and a bow.

Or a visa gift card.

9. Fancy pasta, fancy jarred sauce, nice block of parm cheese, in a serving bowl with a kitchen towel. You can do this as expensively or as cheaply as you want.

I also loved a book called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee (basically, a woman exploring Chinese food in the USA as well as her own Chinese roots, and the history of fortune cookies… really fascinating). She talks a lot about soy sauce in that book, so I’ve given that book with a bottle of “real” soy sauce many times. I love sharing things I love with other people, so that’s a gift I love to give.

10. Subscription box. Like coffee? Subscription box. Board games? Subscription box. Make up? Subscription box. Ties or socks or yarn or hot sauce or tea or beer or wine or Japanese candy or marvel or harry porter or fitness? Subscription mother-fuckin box.

11. Go to the dollar store and grab some over the hand oven mitts, then head to the grocery store and get cake & brownie mixes, hand write the baking directions on a decorated index card or slip of paper. Personalize each one with a message or somesuch. Bam.

12. If it’s someone you’re fairly close to, print out a photo of the two of you and put it in a frame. It feels thoughtful, but can also be done in less than an hour and is cheap.

13. Depends how well I know them, or if I’ve used the same trick before – but it’s probably a cast iron skillet. Costs $20 for a good one (rhymes with dodge), and I always get thanked for it, like a year later.

14. Aldi.

A million calories of chocolate for about twenty quid.

Enough to distribute to everyone.

15. Here is what I do every year.

I go buy gift certificates for my favorite restaurants, and gift cards from Best Buy. I then put them in Christmas cards with no name on them.

I keep some in the house and some in my car.

If someone gives me a gift, I say “Wait a minute, I have something for you too” and go get the card. I quickly write their name on it and hand it to them.

Its worked out perfectly for me for years. I give everyone that gives me something, and if I end up with extra gift certificates or gift cards, I just use them on myself.

16. I make them an elaborate Christmas card with an etymology of their name. It’s always a hit and has more meaning than a gift card.

17. Good pair of headphones.

18. I make very good gingerbread cookies and decorate them very elaborately, like I’ll draw a portrait of them in frosting or I draw a cartoon character they like. Im pretty good at it.

19. Chia pet. So many varieties. ‘Ironic’ gift for those recipients, awesome gift for the others.

Either way you are a hero!

20. Those soft-ass blankets you find in any store around Christmas time. And then I buy one more for me. Every goddamn year

21. For girls: anything from Anthropologie. They have a great gifts and the quality/craftsmanship is decent. That and they gift wrap beautifully for free! I use this for last minute birthday gifts quite often and it always impresses.

For guy: gift cards or booze. Guys appreciate utility.

22. Nail place… Women will go wild over a free mani-pedi.

23. A bottle of their favorite spirits, or for non-drinkers/kids, a book.

24. BOOKS!

There is a book on literally any topic ever.

Fan of Formula 1? Book.

Fan of Jujitsu? Book.

Like economic news? Book.

Porn? Book.

Lonely? Book.

Want to improve yourself? Book.

And you can get books everywhere. Online, in store, thrift stores, little free libraries, everywhere.

25. Houseplants!

I usually have lots of spiderplant babies and keep a few small pots on hand. Great for all occasions.

26. Those Hickory Farms meat and cheese gift boxes.

27. For a family – Get a tin bucket of gourmet holiday popcorn (caramel / chocolate flavored popcorn) to share.

For a dude – Get a bottle of fancy champagne or other booze like whisky or bourbon.

For anyone younger than 30 – Get an Amazon gift card.

For a kid – Give them a $50 dollar bill. They likely never handle money and if they do, the $50 looks so much better than the $20. Easy way to become the cool uncle.

For a girl – Get them a gift certificate to a local salon, a big blanket, or fun warm socks (not regular socks but those nicer holiday woven socks).

For your mom – Get her an ornament that has sentimental value, or, go to the mall (who does that anymore) and get them to hand paint an ornament on the spot with the family name & year on it.

For your dad – Get him NFL or NBA tickets.

28. Things that are consumable… everyone has way too many junk trinkets just because someone felt they had to buy something.

Ground coffee from a local coffee shop (if you know the person has a grinder, get whole bean, but not everyone does). They usually have fun Christmas flavors this time of year.

A bottle of dry wine or champagne.

Nice candles (go for ones that are soy based and have lids) or liquid hand soap.

29. Who wants lottery tickets?!?!?!

30. If we’re talking non-money gifts you know what’s a great go to? TJ Maxx. They are just a hodgepodge of random stuff and they have bailed me out so much when it comes to gift giving because with all the things they have you are bound to find something for everyone.

31. Home made egg nog, Irish cream, or Kahlúa. Most people will love one of the three, they are easy to make, made by hand, affordable, and our gifts that go away.

32. I’d bake a bunch of stuff or make fancy looking caramel apples. If I give people food, they seem to be satisfied.

33. I’ll do a blanket/candle/bottle of wine/nice beer and fudge,

OR a movie/board game and stop by the dollar store for a shower caddy, fill it with popcorn, movie candies, etc if it’s for a family. Do a caddy and filler per family member.

34. Starbucks gift card. Everyone loves Starbucks.

35. Lego. Lego for the nephew, lego for dad, lego for mom, lego for granny, lego for EVERYONE!

36. Spicery subscription for three months. Print out the confirmation and chuck it in an envelope. I’ve gifted this twice and both recipients said that they never wanted any other present from me – just for that subscription to repeat.

37. If it’s last minute, I tried to go to a clothing store I know they have clothes from. Throughout the year I’ll ask “bro, nice jacket, where’d you get it?” Then I remember their spot and get them a gift card.

Then to cover my ass cause some people are weird about gift cards I say “I saw a _____ while shopping but I couldn’t remember your size/didn’t know what color you’d like/etc.”

38. Magazine subscriptions. The New Yorker. Times Literary Supplement. New Scientist. Private Eye. Done them all.

39. Mom – Candles and epsom salts.

Brother – Steam/eShop card, or go to a second hand store and find a game I think he’d like.

Dad – Itunes Gift Card or some kind of sports paraphernalia.

Girlfriend – something that reminds me of her, or that I think she’d love (last Christmas it was a pair of socks that said ,”I’m a delicate fucking flower”).

40. I buy ten copies of the best book I’ve read all year and wrap em in newspaper.

Proof of success: I do this every year

41. A brick of batteries. Everybody needs batteries, nobody will say no to batteries, and they will think of you when they are in a pinch and realize you got them a BRICK of batteries.

Great practical gift.

42. Throw blankets from the 24-hour drugstore. They’re $15 and nice enough that I use them myself. This is also my go-to for any gift swap at the office/with people I don’t know super well.

43. Pictures! Take a picture of something the receiver will like, or find one you might already have, throw it in a cheap frame and WABANG

44. Go to CVS and get a gift card (they have Amazon, iTunes, random others). Swing buy a restaurant and grab a gift card for that place. Last ditch, don’t have time to get a hard copy of a gift card- just buy one online that you can email.

45. Luxury kitchen stuff.

There’s a great kitchen & dinnerware shop within walking distance of my home. I can get pretty dinnerware, flatware, glasses and linens in a range of styles, and they have durable, high quality cookware for the more practically minded people. It’s my go to gift-shop, because everyone eats.

46. Lava Lamp!

No one has one.

They’re 20$

Oh, and it’s neat.

47. I’d bring them all to a restaurant and pay for their meal-> easy way to make a party and present at the same time without having to worry about what to buy them since they can order themselves what they want

48. Pharmacies always have cheap last minute crap like travel manicure kits and hot sauce samplers.

49. You get a box of chocolate! You get a box of chocolate! And you get a box of chocolate! Everyone gets a box of chocolate!!!

50. Cash, candy, and/or alcohol.

0

Image Credit: Anthony Tran

is cataloged in Last Minute Gifts, Presents

What if kindness was cool?

What if you could live a life that would make YOU jealous? What if you could make just one person’s day better with a few simple words of encouragement?  is a book of inspirational words that will keep you fighting and ask you never to give up on life, yourself, or others. Open a page to start your day, frame a page that inspires you to keep living, share a page with a friend who needs support, or leave one behind for a complete stranger to brighten their day.

Join The Kindness Revolution

Source: http://allofbeer.com/50-thoughtful-last-minute-christmas-gifts-for-procrastinators/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2019/04/22/50-thoughtful-last-minute-christmas-gifts-for-procrastinators/

[adambstingus]

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

http://bit.ly/2Eq5KzI

Cataloged in Holidays

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

January Nelson Updated December 11, 2018

If you still haven’t finished your holiday shopping, you should think about buying these last-minute gifts suggested by Ask Reddit.

1. Mason jar + equal parts granulated sugar and veg oil + either a few drops of essential oil OR some lemon zest OR vanilla extract = boutique grade body scrub.

2. Buy tickets online for a upcoming play, dinner & show, concert, game, etc. Print out page of ticket confirmation and put it in a nice Christmas card envelope. It’s an awesome gift because people tend to love it more than clothing or other junk you usually give. And if you’re parents are like mine, they barely take the initiative to go to these type of events themselves or don’t even know about them. Experience > material goods.

3. Run to the grocery store, pick up chocolate morsels, butter, and cream.

Takes about five hours to make 200 chocolate truffles. Easy to make them different flavors as well. (Orange, Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Cinnamon Honey are the good with milk chocolate. Peppermint, Khalua, and Matcha are good with dark chocolate. Peppermint and matcha are fantastic with white chocolate.)

4. At least for men, my go-to is always a beard or personal grooming kit. It’s likely something that they wouldn’t buy themselves, and many haven’t felt the exhilaration of a peppermint shampoo. Men deserve a little pampering and self care too!

5. I think mugs make a good last minute gift because they’re available at most stores, pretty cheap for a gift, and will actually be used by the recipient.

6. Socks. High-end, badass, toasty warm (if you live where it gets cold) socks. Smartwool/Darn Tough/etc.. They may “meh” at it early on, but will thank you later. Maybe even very later, but it’ll be appreciated (a lot) eventually.

7. Most people I know don’t have bluetooth hook ups in their car, FM Transmitters are absolutely fantastic, they’re relatively cheap and life changers for folks that like to listen to music while driving, Probably $15 and under.

One of those copper chef/gotham steel type skillets. They’re fantastic, less than $20, endless use.

8. Cookie/brownie mix in a mason jar with instructions on a card and a bow.

Or a visa gift card.

9. Fancy pasta, fancy jarred sauce, nice block of parm cheese, in a serving bowl with a kitchen towel. You can do this as expensively or as cheaply as you want.

I also loved a book called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee (basically, a woman exploring Chinese food in the USA as well as her own Chinese roots, and the history of fortune cookies… really fascinating). She talks a lot about soy sauce in that book, so I’ve given that book with a bottle of “real” soy sauce many times. I love sharing things I love with other people, so that’s a gift I love to give.

10. Subscription box. Like coffee? Subscription box. Board games? Subscription box. Make up? Subscription box. Ties or socks or yarn or hot sauce or tea or beer or wine or Japanese candy or marvel or harry porter or fitness? Subscription mother-fuckin box.

11. Go to the dollar store and grab some over the hand oven mitts, then head to the grocery store and get cake & brownie mixes, hand write the baking directions on a decorated index card or slip of paper. Personalize each one with a message or somesuch. Bam.

12. If it’s someone you’re fairly close to, print out a photo of the two of you and put it in a frame. It feels thoughtful, but can also be done in less than an hour and is cheap.

13. Depends how well I know them, or if I’ve used the same trick before – but it’s probably a cast iron skillet. Costs $20 for a good one (rhymes with dodge), and I always get thanked for it, like a year later.

14. Aldi.

A million calories of chocolate for about twenty quid.

Enough to distribute to everyone.

15. Here is what I do every year.

I go buy gift certificates for my favorite restaurants, and gift cards from Best Buy. I then put them in Christmas cards with no name on them.

I keep some in the house and some in my car.

If someone gives me a gift, I say “Wait a minute, I have something for you too” and go get the card. I quickly write their name on it and hand it to them.

Its worked out perfectly for me for years. I give everyone that gives me something, and if I end up with extra gift certificates or gift cards, I just use them on myself.

16. I make them an elaborate Christmas card with an etymology of their name. It’s always a hit and has more meaning than a gift card.

17. Good pair of headphones.

18. I make very good gingerbread cookies and decorate them very elaborately, like I’ll draw a portrait of them in frosting or I draw a cartoon character they like. Im pretty good at it.

19. Chia pet. So many varieties. ‘Ironic’ gift for those recipients, awesome gift for the others.

Either way you are a hero!

20. Those soft-ass blankets you find in any store around Christmas time. And then I buy one more for me. Every goddamn year

21. For girls: anything from Anthropologie. They have a great gifts and the quality/craftsmanship is decent. That and they gift wrap beautifully for free! I use this for last minute birthday gifts quite often and it always impresses.

For guy: gift cards or booze. Guys appreciate utility.

22. Nail place… Women will go wild over a free mani-pedi.

23. A bottle of their favorite spirits, or for non-drinkers/kids, a book.

24. BOOKS!

There is a book on literally any topic ever.

Fan of Formula 1? Book.

Fan of Jujitsu? Book.

Like economic news? Book.

Porn? Book.

Lonely? Book.

Want to improve yourself? Book.

And you can get books everywhere. Online, in store, thrift stores, little free libraries, everywhere.

25. Houseplants!

I usually have lots of spiderplant babies and keep a few small pots on hand. Great for all occasions.

26. Those Hickory Farms meat and cheese gift boxes.

27. For a family – Get a tin bucket of gourmet holiday popcorn (caramel / chocolate flavored popcorn) to share.

For a dude – Get a bottle of fancy champagne or other booze like whisky or bourbon.

For anyone younger than 30 – Get an Amazon gift card.

For a kid – Give them a $50 dollar bill. They likely never handle money and if they do, the $50 looks so much better than the $20. Easy way to become the cool uncle.

For a girl – Get them a gift certificate to a local salon, a big blanket, or fun warm socks (not regular socks but those nicer holiday woven socks).

For your mom – Get her an ornament that has sentimental value, or, go to the mall (who does that anymore) and get them to hand paint an ornament on the spot with the family name & year on it.

For your dad – Get him NFL or NBA tickets.

28. Things that are consumable… everyone has way too many junk trinkets just because someone felt they had to buy something.

Ground coffee from a local coffee shop (if you know the person has a grinder, get whole bean, but not everyone does). They usually have fun Christmas flavors this time of year.

A bottle of dry wine or champagne.

Nice candles (go for ones that are soy based and have lids) or liquid hand soap.

29. Who wants lottery tickets?!?!?!

30. If we’re talking non-money gifts you know what’s a great go to? TJ Maxx. They are just a hodgepodge of random stuff and they have bailed me out so much when it comes to gift giving because with all the things they have you are bound to find something for everyone.

31. Home made egg nog, Irish cream, or Kahlúa. Most people will love one of the three, they are easy to make, made by hand, affordable, and our gifts that go away.

32. I’d bake a bunch of stuff or make fancy looking caramel apples. If I give people food, they seem to be satisfied.

33. I’ll do a blanket/candle/bottle of wine/nice beer and fudge,

OR a movie/board game and stop by the dollar store for a shower caddy, fill it with popcorn, movie candies, etc if it’s for a family. Do a caddy and filler per family member.

34. Starbucks gift card. Everyone loves Starbucks.

35. Lego. Lego for the nephew, lego for dad, lego for mom, lego for granny, lego for EVERYONE!

36. Spicery subscription for three months. Print out the confirmation and chuck it in an envelope. I’ve gifted this twice and both recipients said that they never wanted any other present from me – just for that subscription to repeat.

37. If it’s last minute, I tried to go to a clothing store I know they have clothes from. Throughout the year I’ll ask “bro, nice jacket, where’d you get it?” Then I remember their spot and get them a gift card.

Then to cover my ass cause some people are weird about gift cards I say “I saw a _____ while shopping but I couldn’t remember your size/didn’t know what color you’d like/etc.”

38. Magazine subscriptions. The New Yorker. Times Literary Supplement. New Scientist. Private Eye. Done them all.

39. Mom – Candles and epsom salts.

Brother – Steam/eShop card, or go to a second hand store and find a game I think he’d like.

Dad – Itunes Gift Card or some kind of sports paraphernalia.

Girlfriend – something that reminds me of her, or that I think she’d love (last Christmas it was a pair of socks that said ,”I’m a delicate fucking flower”).

40. I buy ten copies of the best book I’ve read all year and wrap em in newspaper.

Proof of success: I do this every year

41. A brick of batteries. Everybody needs batteries, nobody will say no to batteries, and they will think of you when they are in a pinch and realize you got them a BRICK of batteries.

Great practical gift.

42. Throw blankets from the 24-hour drugstore. They’re $15 and nice enough that I use them myself. This is also my go-to for any gift swap at the office/with people I don’t know super well.

43. Pictures! Take a picture of something the receiver will like, or find one you might already have, throw it in a cheap frame and WABANG

44. Go to CVS and get a gift card (they have Amazon, iTunes, random others). Swing buy a restaurant and grab a gift card for that place. Last ditch, don’t have time to get a hard copy of a gift card- just buy one online that you can email.

45. Luxury kitchen stuff.

There’s a great kitchen & dinnerware shop within walking distance of my home. I can get pretty dinnerware, flatware, glasses and linens in a range of styles, and they have durable, high quality cookware for the more practically minded people. It’s my go to gift-shop, because everyone eats.

46. Lava Lamp!

No one has one.

They’re 20$

Oh, and it’s neat.

47. I’d bring them all to a restaurant and pay for their meal-> easy way to make a party and present at the same time without having to worry about what to buy them since they can order themselves what they want

48. Pharmacies always have cheap last minute crap like travel manicure kits and hot sauce samplers.

49. You get a box of chocolate! You get a box of chocolate! And you get a box of chocolate! Everyone gets a box of chocolate!!!

50. Cash, candy, and/or alcohol.

0

Image Credit: Anthony Tran

is cataloged in Last Minute Gifts, Presents

What if kindness was cool?

What if you could live a life that would make YOU jealous? What if you could make just one person’s day better with a few simple words of encouragement?  is a book of inspirational words that will keep you fighting and ask you never to give up on life, yourself, or others. Open a page to start your day, frame a page that inspires you to keep living, share a page with a friend who needs support, or leave one behind for a complete stranger to brighten their day.

Join The Kindness Revolution

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/50-thoughtful-last-minute-christmas-gifts-for-procrastinators/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/184356935077

[allofbeercom]

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

http://bit.ly/2Eq5KzI

Cataloged in Holidays

50 Thoughtful Last Minute Christmas Gifts For Procrastinators 

January Nelson Updated December 11, 2018

If you still haven’t finished your holiday shopping, you should think about buying these last-minute gifts suggested by Ask Reddit.

1. Mason jar + equal parts granulated sugar and veg oil + either a few drops of essential oil OR some lemon zest OR vanilla extract = boutique grade body scrub.

2. Buy tickets online for a upcoming play, dinner & show, concert, game, etc. Print out page of ticket confirmation and put it in a nice Christmas card envelope. It’s an awesome gift because people tend to love it more than clothing or other junk you usually give. And if you’re parents are like mine, they barely take the initiative to go to these type of events themselves or don’t even know about them. Experience > material goods.

3. Run to the grocery store, pick up chocolate morsels, butter, and cream.

Takes about five hours to make 200 chocolate truffles. Easy to make them different flavors as well. (Orange, Bailey’s Irish Cream, and Cinnamon Honey are the good with milk chocolate. Peppermint, Khalua, and Matcha are good with dark chocolate. Peppermint and matcha are fantastic with white chocolate.)

4. At least for men, my go-to is always a beard or personal grooming kit. It’s likely something that they wouldn’t buy themselves, and many haven’t felt the exhilaration of a peppermint shampoo. Men deserve a little pampering and self care too!

5. I think mugs make a good last minute gift because they’re available at most stores, pretty cheap for a gift, and will actually be used by the recipient.

6. Socks. High-end, badass, toasty warm (if you live where it gets cold) socks. Smartwool/Darn Tough/etc.. They may “meh” at it early on, but will thank you later. Maybe even very later, but it’ll be appreciated (a lot) eventually.

7. Most people I know don’t have bluetooth hook ups in their car, FM Transmitters are absolutely fantastic, they’re relatively cheap and life changers for folks that like to listen to music while driving, Probably $15 and under.

One of those copper chef/gotham steel type skillets. They’re fantastic, less than $20, endless use.

8. Cookie/brownie mix in a mason jar with instructions on a card and a bow.

Or a visa gift card.

9. Fancy pasta, fancy jarred sauce, nice block of parm cheese, in a serving bowl with a kitchen towel. You can do this as expensively or as cheaply as you want.

I also loved a book called The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8 Lee (basically, a woman exploring Chinese food in the USA as well as her own Chinese roots, and the history of fortune cookies… really fascinating). She talks a lot about soy sauce in that book, so I’ve given that book with a bottle of “real” soy sauce many times. I love sharing things I love with other people, so that’s a gift I love to give.

10. Subscription box. Like coffee? Subscription box. Board games? Subscription box. Make up? Subscription box. Ties or socks or yarn or hot sauce or tea or beer or wine or Japanese candy or marvel or harry porter or fitness? Subscription mother-fuckin box.

11. Go to the dollar store and grab some over the hand oven mitts, then head to the grocery store and get cake & brownie mixes, hand write the baking directions on a decorated index card or slip of paper. Personalize each one with a message or somesuch. Bam.

12. If it’s someone you’re fairly close to, print out a photo of the two of you and put it in a frame. It feels thoughtful, but can also be done in less than an hour and is cheap.

13. Depends how well I know them, or if I’ve used the same trick before – but it’s probably a cast iron skillet. Costs $20 for a good one (rhymes with dodge), and I always get thanked for it, like a year later.

14. Aldi.

A million calories of chocolate for about twenty quid.

Enough to distribute to everyone.

15. Here is what I do every year.

I go buy gift certificates for my favorite restaurants, and gift cards from Best Buy. I then put them in Christmas cards with no name on them.

I keep some in the house and some in my car.

If someone gives me a gift, I say “Wait a minute, I have something for you too” and go get the card. I quickly write their name on it and hand it to them.

Its worked out perfectly for me for years. I give everyone that gives me something, and if I end up with extra gift certificates or gift cards, I just use them on myself.

16. I make them an elaborate Christmas card with an etymology of their name. It’s always a hit and has more meaning than a gift card.

17. Good pair of headphones.

18. I make very good gingerbread cookies and decorate them very elaborately, like I’ll draw a portrait of them in frosting or I draw a cartoon character they like. Im pretty good at it.

19. Chia pet. So many varieties. ‘Ironic’ gift for those recipients, awesome gift for the others.

Either way you are a hero!

20. Those soft-ass blankets you find in any store around Christmas time. And then I buy one more for me. Every goddamn year

21. For girls: anything from Anthropologie. They have a great gifts and the quality/craftsmanship is decent. That and they gift wrap beautifully for free! I use this for last minute birthday gifts quite often and it always impresses.

For guy: gift cards or booze. Guys appreciate utility.

22. Nail place… Women will go wild over a free mani-pedi.

23. A bottle of their favorite spirits, or for non-drinkers/kids, a book.

24. BOOKS!

There is a book on literally any topic ever.

Fan of Formula 1? Book.

Fan of Jujitsu? Book.

Like economic news? Book.

Porn? Book.

Lonely? Book.

Want to improve yourself? Book.

And you can get books everywhere. Online, in store, thrift stores, little free libraries, everywhere.

25. Houseplants!

I usually have lots of spiderplant babies and keep a few small pots on hand. Great for all occasions.

26. Those Hickory Farms meat and cheese gift boxes.

27. For a family – Get a tin bucket of gourmet holiday popcorn (caramel / chocolate flavored popcorn) to share.

For a dude – Get a bottle of fancy champagne or other booze like whisky or bourbon.

For anyone younger than 30 – Get an Amazon gift card.

For a kid – Give them a $50 dollar bill. They likely never handle money and if they do, the $50 looks so much better than the $20. Easy way to become the cool uncle.

For a girl – Get them a gift certificate to a local salon, a big blanket, or fun warm socks (not regular socks but those nicer holiday woven socks).

For your mom – Get her an ornament that has sentimental value, or, go to the mall (who does that anymore) and get them to hand paint an ornament on the spot with the family name & year on it.

For your dad – Get him NFL or NBA tickets.

28. Things that are consumable… everyone has way too many junk trinkets just because someone felt they had to buy something.

Ground coffee from a local coffee shop (if you know the person has a grinder, get whole bean, but not everyone does). They usually have fun Christmas flavors this time of year.

A bottle of dry wine or champagne.

Nice candles (go for ones that are soy based and have lids) or liquid hand soap.

29. Who wants lottery tickets?!?!?!

30. If we’re talking non-money gifts you know what’s a great go to? TJ Maxx. They are just a hodgepodge of random stuff and they have bailed me out so much when it comes to gift giving because with all the things they have you are bound to find something for everyone.

31. Home made egg nog, Irish cream, or Kahlúa. Most people will love one of the three, they are easy to make, made by hand, affordable, and our gifts that go away.

32. I’d bake a bunch of stuff or make fancy looking caramel apples. If I give people food, they seem to be satisfied.

33. I’ll do a blanket/candle/bottle of wine/nice beer and fudge,

OR a movie/board game and stop by the dollar store for a shower caddy, fill it with popcorn, movie candies, etc if it’s for a family. Do a caddy and filler per family member.

34. Starbucks gift card. Everyone loves Starbucks.

35. Lego. Lego for the nephew, lego for dad, lego for mom, lego for granny, lego for EVERYONE!

36. Spicery subscription for three months. Print out the confirmation and chuck it in an envelope. I’ve gifted this twice and both recipients said that they never wanted any other present from me – just for that subscription to repeat.

37. If it’s last minute, I tried to go to a clothing store I know they have clothes from. Throughout the year I’ll ask “bro, nice jacket, where’d you get it?” Then I remember their spot and get them a gift card.

Then to cover my ass cause some people are weird about gift cards I say “I saw a _____ while shopping but I couldn’t remember your size/didn’t know what color you’d like/etc.”

38. Magazine subscriptions. The New Yorker. Times Literary Supplement. New Scientist. Private Eye. Done them all.

39. Mom – Candles and epsom salts.

Brother – Steam/eShop card, or go to a second hand store and find a game I think he’d like.

Dad – Itunes Gift Card or some kind of sports paraphernalia.

Girlfriend – something that reminds me of her, or that I think she’d love (last Christmas it was a pair of socks that said ,”I’m a delicate fucking flower”).

40. I buy ten copies of the best book I’ve read all year and wrap em in newspaper.

Proof of success: I do this every year

41. A brick of batteries. Everybody needs batteries, nobody will say no to batteries, and they will think of you when they are in a pinch and realize you got them a BRICK of batteries.

Great practical gift.

42. Throw blankets from the 24-hour drugstore. They’re $15 and nice enough that I use them myself. This is also my go-to for any gift swap at the office/with people I don’t know super well.

43. Pictures! Take a picture of something the receiver will like, or find one you might already have, throw it in a cheap frame and WABANG

44. Go to CVS and get a gift card (they have Amazon, iTunes, random others). Swing buy a restaurant and grab a gift card for that place. Last ditch, don’t have time to get a hard copy of a gift card- just buy one online that you can email.

45. Luxury kitchen stuff.

There’s a great kitchen & dinnerware shop within walking distance of my home. I can get pretty dinnerware, flatware, glasses and linens in a range of styles, and they have durable, high quality cookware for the more practically minded people. It’s my go to gift-shop, because everyone eats.

46. Lava Lamp!

No one has one.

They’re 20$

Oh, and it’s neat.

47. I’d bring them all to a restaurant and pay for their meal-> easy way to make a party and present at the same time without having to worry about what to buy them since they can order themselves what they want

48. Pharmacies always have cheap last minute crap like travel manicure kits and hot sauce samplers.

49. You get a box of chocolate! You get a box of chocolate! And you get a box of chocolate! Everyone gets a box of chocolate!!!

50. Cash, candy, and/or alcohol.

0

Image Credit: Anthony Tran

is cataloged in Last Minute Gifts, Presents

What if kindness was cool?

What if you could live a life that would make YOU jealous? What if you could make just one person’s day better with a few simple words of encouragement?  is a book of inspirational words that will keep you fighting and ask you never to give up on life, yourself, or others. Open a page to start your day, frame a page that inspires you to keep living, share a page with a friend who needs support, or leave one behind for a complete stranger to brighten their day.

Join The Kindness Revolution

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/50-thoughtful-last-minute-christmas-gifts-for-procrastinators/

[nanalikessurveys]

1. Where are you from?

I am from Finland

2. Where do you live and for how long? A town in the western part of Finland, i’ve lived here my whole life

3. What’s your favorite thing about where you live? I like the city center even tho it is under construction atm and looks like a total mess. but it has pretty much every shop and store i need in my life

4. What did you love the most about the town you grew up in? Like i said, i’ve lived here my whole life

5. Do you have any pets? My mom has two cats but i don’t live with her anymore, but i still call them my cats

6. What was your 1st pet’s name? We had a pet hamster whose name was Hermanni, lol

7. What’s your favorite season? Probably winter or summer

8. What’s your favorite movie? There’s plenty, for example Gothika, Shutter Island, Misery, Seven…

9. Favorite movie in the past 5 years? Same as now, lol

10. What’s a movie that you laughed the hardest during? Maybe Fun With Dick and Jane, that movie was really funny, i love Jim Carrey

11. What’s a movie you cried the hardest during? The only movie i’ve cried while watching was Train to Busan, the ending is really really sad

12. What’s the best-animated movie ever created? I don’t know about the best but i’ve always liked Over the Hedge

13. Favorite TV show? CSI Miami

14. Favorite TV show that is currently on? Well they have CSI Miami rerun on tv at the moment

15. What’s your favorite restaurant? The local American Diner we have here

16. What’s your favorite food? Pasta. And sushi, also chicken and salmon

17. Least favorite food? Anything pickled

18. What toppings do you get on your pizza? Mushroom and tuna, also garlic

19. Favorite beverage? Just plain water. I also like lemon cola

20. Favorite dessert? Ice cream

21. Is there a dessert you don’t like? I don’t really enjoy cream cakes

22. Cake or pie?

Pie i guess

23. What’s your favorite ice cream? Vanilla, raspberry and liquorice lol

24. What’s your favorite condiment? Garlic or paprika mayo

25. What do you get for brunch?

I don’t know exactly what brunch means

26. It’s 4 am on a Saturday night, what do you eat? I’m usually sleep by then LMAO

27. What one thing do you have in your fridge at any given time? Milk i guess

28. Weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten? I don’t think i’ve ever eaten anything weird

29. What’s your favorite band? I don’t listen to bands

30. Favorite solo artist? James Arthur

31. Favorite nonliving musician? I’d say Amy Winehouse. i like some of her songs. i don’t really listen to deceased singers

32. Favorite lyrics? So many

33. Favorite song of all time? I’ve been listening to Figure 8 by FKA Twigs alot

34. Favorite album? Ummm dunno

35. What’s the last song you listened to? Juicy by Doja Cat haha

36. If you life were a song what would the title be? I’m so bad with these

37. What song would you probably be caught dancing alone to? I dance to alot of songs, can’t just pick one

38. If you could sing a duet with somebody who would it be? I can’t sing. i don’t want to embarrass anyone so i wouldn’t pick anyone lol

39. If you could master one instrument what would it be? Piano i guess, i used to play it but then i stopped and forgot everything

40. What is your go-to karaoke song? Noooo you will never hear me sing karaoke

41. What book are you currently reading or the last book you read? I’m not reading at the moment

42. What’s a book that you plan on reading? My Friend Dahmer, i fell in love with the movie so i really HAVE TO read it, first i’ll just have to find the book somewhere lol

43. What’s a book that you read because everyone else was reading it? I don’t think that eve happened, i don’t really read alot

44. What’s a book that you read in school that positively shaped you? What does that mean? idk but book i enjoyed reading for school was this finnish book about a girl who was addicted to drugs, it was a true story and really interesting

45. What’s a book in school that you hated? I don’t remember

46. What’s your favorite book? I’d have to say Lolita

47. What’s a book you wish you had written? Idk, some succesful book is guess lol

48. Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? Milk chocolate

49. Underwater or Outer space? Noo i’m afraid of both

50. Dogs or cats? Cats

51. Kittens or Puppies? Kittens

52. Dolphins or Koalas? Koalas

53. Bird watching or whale watching? Uuh, bird watching?

54. What is your spirit animal? I have no idea lol, a cat?

55. To be or not to be? Lol

56. IPhone or Android? i have iphone

57. Twitter or Instagram? Instagram, i don’t even have Twitter

58. Vine or snapchat? Vine is my life lol

59. Who should everyone be following right now? I don’t know, ha

60. What’s your favorite app? Website? Youtube for both

61. What was your favorite subject in school? English

62. What was your best subject in school? English and chemistry

63. What was your worst subject in school? Math for sure

64. What subject would you teach in school? I would never be a teacher

65. What is one thing you wish you knew in high school? How to actually study properly

66. What advice would you give yourself at 13? Just be confident

67. How tall are you? 163cm

68. Who is your fashion icon? I don’t have one

69. What’s you favorite fashion trend? I know nothing about fashion trends

70. What are 3 things you always have in your bag (besides phone and wallet)? Keys, bus card and lot of old receipts lol

71. What is a current trend you hope doesn’t exist in 100 hundred years? I’m bad with trends

72. What’s your must have fashion accessory? My earrings and belly button ring lol

73. Heels or flats? I love both but flats are more convenient

74. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds

75. Blow-dry or air-dry? Usually air-dry

76. What color dress did you wear to prom? I didn’t attent prom

77. Favorite cocktail? I don’t drink cocktails

78. What do you usually order at Starbucks? I’ve been there only couple times but i’d say just plain iced coffee is the best

79. Coffee or tea? Coffee

80. How do you like your coffee? A café latte please

81. Who is a person you want to have coffee with? My friend

82. What historical figure do you want to have coffee with? I have no idea

83. If you could live in any historical decade, what would it be and where? I’d rather just stay here

84. What’s your favorite country to visit? I loved Cyprus

85. What’s the last country you visited? Spain

86. What’s a country you wish to visit? Italy, Iceland, Thailand

87. What’s your favorite state to visit? I’ve never been to the states

88. What’s the last state you visited? ^

89. What’s a state you wish to visit? Florida because of Miami lol

90. What’s the best vacation spot? Cyprus i guess

91. Where does one go on a perfect road trip? I don’t really like road trips

92. Favorite city? Stockholm, i would live there

93. Pilates or yoga? Yoga for sure

94. Jogging or swimming? Swimming

95. Favorite way to workout? Dance and gymnastics

96. Least favorite way to workout? Running

97. Best way to decompress? Just to be alone

98. What’s the best first date idea? Maybe to go to a nice coffee shop

99. What’s love?

Uhh

100. Major turn on? Intelligence

101. Major turn off? Being gross

102. What’s the weirdest thing a guy has done or said to try and impress you? I don’t this ever happened

103. What’s the first thing you notice about someone when you meet them? Eyes

104. Do you believe in love at first sight? In some cases yes, like mothers who see their child for the first time

105. Best gift you ever received? i like all my gifts i’ve received

106. Last gift you gave a friend? Chocolate from Spain

107. Best gift to get for someone? Depends on who it is for

108. What’s the biggest surprise you’ve ever had? I don’t really know

109. What’s your favorite color? Pastel blue

110. Least favorite color? I like all the colors

111. What’s your favorite type of flower? Dunno, roses i guess

112. Who is your favorite comedian? Jim carrey or Kevin Hart

113. Who is your favorite action star? Matt Damon

114. Best superhero created? Spiderman

115. If you had one superpower what would it be? Invisibility

116. What’s your kryptonite? What is that

117. Biggest phobia? Losing someone close

118. Favorite Disney Movie? The Lion King

119. Favorite Disney character? Idk i like all of them

120. Favorite Holiday? Christmas

121. What’s your best Halloween costume? I don’t dress on Halloween

122. What’s your favorite plot-twist? I don’t know

123. If you could do a flash-mob where would it be? Haha i wouldn’t

124. What’s the coolest thing in your bedroom? My bed

125. If you got a tattoo where would it be? Uhh, maybe on my wrists or my ribs. underboob tattoos are pretty too

126. What’s your favorite curse word? Fuck

127. What’s your favorite board game? That finnish board game Afrikan tähti which translates to a star of Africa, that game was my childhood lol

[thedrowsydoormouse]

As per tradition, @anangelamuse-castiel-spnfam answered all the asks and now I will, too.

1. Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? 

Spotify.

2. is your room messy or clean?

Organized chaos

3. what color are your eyes?

Blue

4. do you like your name? why?

I hate the name I was born with but love the name I go by now.

5. what is your relationship status?

Happily taken.

6. describe your personality in 3 words or less

Queer glitter goth

7. what color hair do you have?

Deep purple red

8. what kind of car do you drive? color?

None.

9. where do you shop?

Pretty much anywhere I can find cute black clothes.

10. how would you describe your style?

Goth time traveler who keeps forgetting what year it is.

11. favorite social media account

Tumblr.

12. what size bed do you have?

Queen

13. any siblings?

Two sisters and a brother.

14. if you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?

Ney York because it was the only place I’ve been that instantly felt like home.

15. favorite snapchat filter?

I don’t use snapchat.

16. favorite makeup brand(s)

Blackmoon, Urban Decay, Milk, Lime Crime.

17. how many times a week do you shower?

Every day

18. favorite tv show?

Doctor Who. (It was Supernatural but I broke up with it because of artistic differences. I saw Jack as alive, they saw him dead. And yes, that was a Chicago reference.)

19. shoe size?

US women’s 10.

20. how tall are you?

6′ 1/2″

21. sandals or sneakers?

Strap-y sandals with a decent sized wedge.

22. do you go to the gym?

Never.

23. describe your dream date

Disneyland during the Halloween season complete with a crap ton of special snacks and shopping for all the Haunted Mansion and Nightmare Before Christmas merch my little spooky heart can handle!

24. how much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?

$35 in cash plus some gift cards that I have no idea how much is on them. And a 20% coupon for Sephora.

25. what color socks are you wearing?

None.

26. how many pillows do you sleep with?

Five or more.

27. do you have a job? what do you do?

Nope.

28. how many friends do you have?

No clue. Mostly because almost none of them ever actually talk to me.

29. whats the worst thing you have ever done?

Been indirectly responsible for the deaths of at least 3 people and the end of countless other marriages. And possibly one other person needing open heart surgery but the jury is still out on that one.

30. whats your favorite candle scent?

It’s called White Barn #1 and it smells like Halloween but more mature and a little bit musty.

31. 3 favorite boy names

Jack, Bucky, Stu

32. 3 favorite girl names

Marilyn, Olivia, Wednesday

33. favorite actor?

Doug Jones

34. favorite actress?

Marilyn Monroe

35. who is your celebrity crush?

Right now it’s Sebastian Stan, Alex Calvert, Hale Appleman, and Taron Egerton.

36. favorite movie?

Princess Bride.

37. do you read a lot? whats your favorite book?

I used to but now I don’t have enough spoons.

38. money or brains?

Why not both?

39. do you have a nickname? what is it?

I have several but I can’t mention them because they’re “private”! ;)

40. how many times have you been to the hospital?

None.

41. top 10 favorite songs

I can’t pick just 10.

42. do you take any medications daily?

CBD oil.

43. what is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc)

Combination.

44. what is your biggest fear?

A giant spider clown doll on Christmas. And the threat of being killed by a mass shooter during the impending nuclear apocalypse.

45. how many kids do you want?

None.

46. whats your go to hair style?

Half bun, half ponytail secured with a clip. or a side braid.

47. what type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc)

Decent sized.

48. who is your role model?

Myself.

49. what was the last compliment you received?

My mom said I’m really good at cooking salmon. Which is random but true.

50. what was the last text you sent?

I had to text my address to my therapist.

51. how old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?

Third grade.

52. what is your dream car?

A motorcycle.

53. opinion on smoking?

Disgusting and an instant deal breaker.

54. do you go to college?

I dropped out the week before my 21st birthday.

55. what is your dream job?

Acting in a musical on Broadway that hopefully gets nominated for a Tony.

56. would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs?

The city.

57. do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels?

Always.

58. do you have freckles?

Tons of them (I’m like 66% Irish. We’re covered in the things.)

59. do you smile for pictures?

Depends on the picture but I look better when I don’t.

60. how many pictures do you have on your phone?

Fuck if I know. But I know it’s an even number. It’s always an even number.

61. have you ever peed in the woods?

Regrettably. 

62. do you still watch cartoons?

Who doesn’t?

63. do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds?

Neither.

64. Favorite dipping sauce?

Ranch.

65. what do you wear to bed?

Sweat shorts and a tank top in the warm months, sweats and an over-sized sweater in the cold months.

66. have you ever won a spelling bee?

I’m not a nerd.

67. what are your hobbies?

Drinking, cooking, baking, being super judge-y, daydreaming about Halloween, the usual queer goth stuff.

68. can you draw?

Not according to some of my college art teachers but then again they couldn’t draw either so who knows.

69. do you play an instrument?

Nope.

70. what was the last concert you saw?

Sugar Ray. I got to hang out backstage and dance in the wings because I know the lead singer.

71. tea or coffee?

Tea.

72. Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts?

Neither.

73. do you want to get married?

I am.

74. what is your crush’s first and last initial?

JA

75. are you going to change your last name when you get married?

I technically did but not to my husband’s name because we both picked a new name.

76. what color looks best on you?

Red, black, and green but only if they’re vibrant. Fuck pastels and muted colors.

77. do you miss anyone right now?

Everyone I would miss is in the same room as me.

78. do you sleep with your door open or closed?

Open just a crack.

79. do you believe in ghosts?

Considering I have a broken door jam and a messed up ankle after being attacked by one I’d say yes.

80. what is your biggest pet peeve?

Bigotry.

81. last person you called`

My mom to give her my food order for dinner.

82. favorite ice cream flavor?

It was called Dublin Mudslide and it was amazing but sadly it’s in the flavor graveyard now.

83. regular oreos or golden oreos?

Neither.

84. chocolate or rainbow sprinkles?

Chocolate.

85. what shirt are you wearing?

Super old black tank with a faded union jack and a bunch of holes in it.

86. what is your phone background?

Jack Kline laying on his back being a total cutie!

87.are you outgoing or shy?

Shy until I feel comfortable. Then I never shut up.

88. do you like it when people play with your hair?

Only certain people.

89. do you like your neighbors?

I just met the people who are moving in next door and they’re super nice but I hate everyone else in the neighborhood.

90. do you wash your face? at night? in the morning?

At night before bed.

91. have you ever been high?

I’m high right now.

92. have you ever been drunk?

Earlier today.

93. last thing you ate?

Half an impossible burger and some onion rings.

94. favorite lyrics right now

Don’t let me mean nothing or just pass away/ Just give me tomorrow, forever, today.

95. summer or winter?

Fall

96. day or night?

Night

97. dark, milk, or white chocolate?

Milk

98. favorite month?

October

99. what is your zodiac sign

Sagittarius

100. who was the last person you cried in front of?

My friend, James.

[susantregre]

The Stages of Being a Sick Mom During The Holidays

The holidays are already hectic enough, but being a sick mom during the holidays sends you through a cacophony of emotion. You have to give yourself permission to acknowledge them.

I’ve lived with multiple chronic illnesses for about 15 years now, but I’m still blindsided whenever I am sick or if one of my chronic illnesses flares up during a holiday. Why is it that the time of year when expectations run at their highest happens to coincide with germageddon? Talk about a cruel joke!

When it comes to being a sick mom during the holidays, be it acute or chronic illness, there are many stages of grief. Below are some tips on coping with each stage.

Stage One Of Being A Sick Mom During The Holidays: Shock

I had it all figured out. This was going to be my first holiday season as a freelancer gifting myself and my daughter with the present of being 100% present.

We had plans to hunt down a ton of Santas, bedazzle every ornament in reach, shop ’til we dropped, see all the family we could, go to the theater and watch a bunch of movies, go sledding with my daughter’s friends, craft like crazy, eat amazing food, and turn external technology off, moving inwards like a cozy, little Christmas card.

Then life said, “hold my egg nog,” and I got sick.

Not just a cold. Really, really sick.

The added joy of chronic illness is that it takes something that isn’t horrible for most people, like a mild case of viral bronchitis, and turns it into A Thing. Even though I knew this, I wasn’t giving in, because stubborn. I probably made it worse by sliding right on into Stage Two.

Stage Two Of Being A Sick Mom During The Holidays: Denial

Welcome to the “tape the wrapping paper and platter of Christmas cookies to my hands, and I’ll be fine” phase of being a sick mom during the holidays.

I sought out my usual arsenal of juice shots, oils, and vitamins, in addition to my medication, because balance.

I also over-caffeinated, put off seeing the doctor, and ran myself into the ground preparing my work so that I could finish early for the year. The icing on the cake was the night I felt myself slipping and still crammed in a visit to see Santa, our annual mecca to Build-A-Bear for my daughter’s “waiting for Santa” buddy, the Christmas house light scavenger drive we always go on, and a ton of shopping I probably would’ve been better served doing on Amazon from my couch.

Stage Three Of Being A Sick Mom During The Holidays: Anger/ Guilt

A big part of the anger side of Stage Three of being a sick mom during the holidays is knowing that some of the discomfort is self-inflicted. If I hadn’t been trying so hard to deny being sick, and just rested a bit, I probably would’ve felt better quicker!

Guilt is something that comes hand-in-hand with motherhood, but for the chronically ill mama, it’s a little different. I’ve had heath problems for the extent of my daughter’s life. I’ve always worried that my issues would take away from her experiences.

If anything it has made her a compassionate and empathetic human. She never lacks for anything that she needs, and that includes most of her wants in life. She knows she is loved. But I still feel bad.

Whenever I ask her about her feelings about it, she tells me, “I just see you as my Mom, and you’re strong.”

In order to ensure that things always run smoothly when I’m sick or in a flare, I put a lot of planning in behind the scenes, since it is just the two of us. I always keep a fully stocked DIY Sick Kit, make sure that my “sick day section” of the freezer and pantry has the necessary supplies.

I work ahead as much as possible on my client projects, so that when I need the inevitable day or two to chill, I am ready for it. Starting next year, I am hoping to get a head start on my holiday to-do’s, just in case!

It makes me feel good to know that it all pays off and she is a happy little girl, but it doesn’t take away from the anger, guilt, or sadness that comes with being a sick mom during the holidays.

Stage Four Of Being A Sick Mom During The Holidays: Despair

I shed angry tears a few nights this week, after my daughter went to bed, disappointed that the plans I so carefully constructed for us were sabotaged by my traitorous body.

You know what? That’s okay, and it is necessary sometimes.

Moms have to put on happy faces all day long: at work, and at home. Once you’re alone, it’s actually helpful to fall apart, once in a while.

Feel it, acknowledge it, but then release it, for the good of your body, mind, and soul.

When I’m upset over my health issues, I just remind myself that I’m right where I’m supposed to be. I have lessons to learn, and this is all part of it.

Some Christmases are quieter than others, and that’s okay. My biggest thing is trying to be a good example for my little one. Challenges make a person stronger and better, and we all have them. They teach patience and how to appreciate all of the little things in life that we sometimes overlook when we are healthy and things are going well.

Bad times allow us to be more open and appreciative of the good. I need to mirror that for her.

Stage Five Of Being A Sick Mom During The Holidays: Acceptance

Wave that white flag (a.k.a wad of tissues in your hand), grab a Medicine Ball from Starbucks, and flop yourself down on the couch, Mama!

90% of the pressure we deal with as moms during the holidays, we place on our own shoulders. Let that sink in, because I struggled with the realization.

That’s right, your tiny army doesn’t really care about the shiny details that we fret over. They just want you.

By the middle of this week, after I realized that Christmas break was halfway over, and that we weren’t going to be able to make it to the light show that we attend with friends every year, or the village tree lighting–and our gingerbread house?

…Let’s just go ahead and admit that it’s either going to be a President’s Day or Valentine’s Day House this year. Yay, to strange, new traditions!

I wrapped my arms around my daughter and apologized for ruining Christmas. She wriggled out and said, “Mom, you can’t really ruin Christmas. I don’t care where we go or what we do, as long as we’re together.”

The #1 Key To Coping With Being A Sick Mom During The Holidays: Cut Yourself Some Slack!

This post contains affiliate links below.

Cindy Lou-Who was right. We modified our plans by dragging my daughter’s new Barbie DreamHouse over to the couch to play. We used this amazing slime book to make small batches of slime, and read books together.

There was some light cooking, as we made our Christmas dinner sides. Who cares if I ordered the turkey from Boston Market, because I wasn’t feeling well enough to make one? We worked on a no-sew blanket craft that she received for Christmas. She slayed me at MarioKart, and we watched Christmas movies. We ate cookies while we talked about life.

For New Year’s Eve, we will either dress up or we won’t, and binge-watch Harry Potter movies. We’ll eat our favorite foods and play all of her new board games. There may or may not be a terrible round of karaoke.

We’ll end the night reminiscing over the highs and lows of the year, and share our dreams for the future. I’m surprising my daughter with a fun Mother and Daughter journal for the new year. All of these things I can do, sick or healthy, and I am looking forward to it!

It was a good week. We absolutely used the time to reconnect as a family. At the end of the day, isn’t that what we are all trying to achieve during the holidays?

  How do you deal with chronic illness or sickness during the holidays?

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The post The Stages of Being a Sick Mom During The Holidays appeared first on Kids Activities Blog.

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