Baxter Bark Twice

Do as I say, never as I do

Posts Tagged ‘holiday’

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What to Give: Holiday Gift Ideas

Posted by AllieB on November 30, 2011

Ho ho ho!!! (Sister, someone’s calling you.) Merry Christmas!

I’ve mentioned my lack of creativity before re: costuming, and the case is very much the same when it comes to gift giving. I think those who can give thoughtful and not necessarily elaborate or over-the-top gifts have a truly enviable skill. You know the person – they could make a bag of dirt seem appealing. They’re the ones who bring the delicately wrapped and ribbon-adorned lace cookies to the bake sale when you bring a half batch of Nestle Tollhouse because you ate most of the dough. (I speak not from experience….) Anyway, some people just have “the touch.” For those of us who don’t, there are gift guides.

For Guys: I’ve been asked by more than one person for gift recommendations for boys. This is pretty much the blind leading the blind, but I did a little research…and…here. Sorry in advance. I found this one guide: Gifts for Guys That DON’T SUCK that is trying just a little too hard…there are 4 pages of ideas, including a camouflage baseball, stainless steel ice cubes, and bacon-flavored hot sauce. I think I might pick up that third one for yours truly.

If anyone but Barney Stinson handed me a drink with these in them, I’d get the H outta D.

Look, shopping for guys is tough. Get him a tie. A Vineyard Vines or Ferragamo one with a tasteful golfing or aquatic or football motif. YKenna – I helped you not at all, did I.

White Elephant Party: Thompson Ferrier Candles. I always say you must smell a candle before you buy, but at this price I say go with it – Elegant Gardenia sounds pretty safe. I still don’t quite get the premise of these parties, but this falls in the right price range – can’t beat $15. This Capri Blue Jar candle ($28 at Anthro) is actually my most favorite, and it’s larger than most.

For Pallison Cleveland: The Meatball Shop Cookbook by Daniel Holzman and Michael Chernow (Ballantine Books; $28).  Make this: Start with the signature beef version and work your way up to the advanced-technique “bunny balls.”

Stocking Stuffer/Gift That Keeps on Giving: Best invention ever – the rubber wine stopper. This set will cost you $11.33 and will change the life of its recipient. It can make a bad bottle of wine good – literally. Go ahead and buy 2 – one to give and one to keep. That’s kind of nice mantra with Christmas shopping in general…

For the person who has everything/is impossible to shop for: a gift to charity in their name. Honestly, I really like it when people do this in my honor, especially when it’s to a cause I hold dear. If you’re really stumped as to what to get someone, think about what they like: puppies, trees, art, hunting, music, children, healthcare…if there’s a noun, there’s a 501 (c) 3 raising money for it. Most of these causes will send a notification to the person for whom you gave the gift, so that’s a nice little bonus.

This is a woefully incomplete list…nothing for parents…and I didn’t even include anything for me! That’s probably because I already have everything I could possibly wish for :) Well, except for new Frye boots and/or a console table for my abode.

Here are 425 more ideas from $3 to $1,295. 

Posted in Arbitrary, Imparting Wisdom | Tagged: , , , , | 9 Comments »

I’m just a girl, standing in front of a turkey, asking it to be delicious

Posted by AllieB on November 24, 2011

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

My initial plan was to do a sort of live-blogging situation of the Baxter Family Turkey Day – frequent updates with pics, shenanigans, what have you. I then realized that I do not know how to do that, so I’ll just do the one post. Currently, I am making whiskey sours and heating the Parmesan Pups (glorified pigs in blanket from Trader Joe’s), and I have on my fringe boots that are a treat for both the eyes AND the ears.

Today I am especially thankful for these things:

– Missy and my mom and dad and sisters and Stanton and my friends, new and old

– Baxter Bark Twice

– whiskey sours

- Holeman & Finch

– my new luggage by DvF – now I just need someplace to take it

– Revenge; not the practice, the TV show on ABC. Emily Thorn 4 eva

– Florence + the Machine

– still thankful for The Devil Wears Prada – I now own the DVD, but I still rent it from Comcast every month. Which is really dumb.

– Georgia football…most of the time, anyway

Missy took this one of us – she’s surprisingly dexterous.

Posted in Arbitrary | Tagged: , , , | 4 Comments »

It’s turkey time, you turkeys

Posted by AllieB on November 21, 2011

The annual day of thanks is upon us once again. I’ve come to really love Thanksgiving, and despite the fact that I will be the lone ranger dining with my parents and Missy and that it is a very unsettling 75 degrees outside, I am nevertheless very excited about this holiday.

I even wanted to cook something. I’m not going to, but the thought seriously crossed my mind – so much so that I BOOKMARKED recipes. This this one of Linton Hopkins’ wild rice casserole looked pretty delicious.

from: Garden & Gun

My second option was a less-tony-but-still-tasty-looking beans with brown butter.

Conclusion: neither/nor, but I WILL be ever so helpful with preparation and cleaning. I’m serious, I will. OH, maybe I’ll create a themed cocktail for us…that can be my project. Or we can just stick to the Baxter Tride & True: Whiskey Sours. That’s fine with me. Hey, look at that – I’m already done with my project. I had some lofty aspirations for cooking something last year, too – in case you were wondering, it didn’t pan out. And there’s your token turkey day funny on the right; I borrowed it from myself, which is totally not cheating.

I’m working on my holiday wishlist right now, I’ll put that up next week. What with the arrival of Pinterest in my life, it’s been a lot easier to compile/keep track of my wants and needs. My mother has already informed me that she has completed her holiday shopping, so I guess I should have gotten on top of this sooner…Gaylen and I aren’t always on the same schedule re: getting things done.

ATLiens: The Whigs are playing their annual Thanksgiving show on Friday night at Variety Playhouse. Openers are Ponderosa and Johnny Corndawg. Be there or be not awesome.

I mostly just wanted to check in real quick and say hey. Hey.

Posted in Food & Drink | Tagged: , , , , | 3 Comments »

It’s a bird, it’s a plane…it’s Wine Gal

Posted by AllieB on October 6, 2011

One of my biggest flaws, I think, is my lack of creativity when it comes to costumes. I have a pretty good imagination and can be creative with other stuff – this blog doesn’t write itself – but I suck at costumes. People who do not suck at costumes: A, K, Leila, Pants, Caro…you’ve all had some remarkable ‘stumes. Case in point: two years ago I dressed up as Parker Posey from Dazed and Confused. LAME. And, to make it even lamer, I was the only person who did it so instead of SENIORS my shirt said SENIOR – senior singular. I did enjoy having that whistle…and making people fry like bacon.

Last year, as I was thinking about options, I decided that, whatever I chose to be, it had to include a cape. Who wears capes? Superheros. Somehow I landed on a “wine superhero” (probably after a great deal of wine) and yada yada yada…meet & greet WINE GAL.

Wine Gal wore all purple: purple knee socks, purple tennis skirt, purple tank bathing suit (oddly, I owned all of these things), and I bought some sparkly purple fabric to fashion a cape. Key accessories included a gold fanny pack and my weapon of choice – corkscrew, duh – and then mini bottles of wine which served as my strength serum – think Popeye and spinach. I didn’t really have a super power….unless you count the ability to consume incredible quantities of red wine as one. Which I do.

So, here we are… Once again I have no idea what to be, I only know what I don’t want to be:

-slutty nurse/waitress/maid/police officer… you can pretty much be a slutty noun. Those costumes are lame and SO obvious. PLU don’t dress up like those things, but I just wanted to reassert how not okay they are – I don’t care what you saw in Mean Girls.

-persona from current events. Apparently Charlie Sheen is trending as this year’s most popular costume. That’s really dumb.

-any kind of animal. Either you’re a slutty kitten or you wind up in some huge cow costume with icky udders. No to both. Unless you’re a dude, in which case a big goofy animal costume can be funny. Actually, guy costumes are a totally different conversation – the same rules do not apply.

-anything really ugly or scary. I’m sorry, I’m just not good at really immersing myself in a look…this might be why I’m no good at costuming. Maybe I just need to get over myself and go as Mt. Rushmore or something……A, you will forever have my respect for that mountain of an ensemble.

Fack. BOLO for Wine Gal 2.0.

*PLU = people like us.

He changed our lives and imaginations with his inventions. Check out this compilation of tributes from across the world – an “iMemorial” of Steve Jobs – worth a look.

Posted in Arbitrary | Tagged: , , , , | 4 Comments »

Stranger’s Day

Posted by AllieB on August 24, 2011

In the same vein of what I think we can all agree is one of the more brilliant holidays – Make Someone Uncomfortable Day (it goes Christmas > my birthday > MSUD > T-Giving) – I bring you the under-publicized, under-valued, and certainly under-celebrated: Stranger’s Day.

The point of Stranger’s Day, from what I can gather (I’ve been doing some goog’ing, and it seems that SD hasn’t really taken off – YET), is to share garbage valuable and cherished items with someone you do not know. It’s almost like doing a Random Act of Kindness, if you think about it. I’m not sure how you go about actually sharing said item, so for now we’ll keep it viral – i.e., photo sharing via the interweb. Bob Mankoff, author of this article from the New Yorker, has shared some things that he might like to share with a stranger, including but not limited to:

Another flea market find I’d like to share with you, dear Stranger.

That shiz is creepy. I am still unpacking my apartment (BAXTER, finish the drill), and I’ve come across an assortment of items I think I will share in honor of Stranger’s Day, including but not limited to:

Here you will find some items great for any home: a bedraggled poster from a food festival I attended eight ago as well as a piece of original art by moi. Value: priceless.

You are welcome, Stranger.

This veritable smorgasboard is just plain useful. From top left: a lei for your wrist or ankle, an only slightly used, fragrance-free candle, a wallet for your shoe, and Happy Birthday!

That is the ugliest f-ing candle I have ever seen. I’m embarrassed that it’s even in my possession.

Sorry for that one, Stranger.

Here, Stranger: my friends and family can be your friends and family, too.

That is a particularly nice headshot of JBax on the lower left – treasure that one.

Stranger, here is a New York notepad (gifted to me by MCL, I believe) that is not only useful, but is also imparting some wisdom that I some borderline illiterate idiot scribbled on it…

Someone’s getting lucky today, these are some hot ticket items…I recommend browsing your desk drawer at work, or that basket where all the crap goes that you don’t want to look at – one person’s trash is truly another person’s treasure.

There was an earthquake yesterday on the East Coast – people are making light of it, but really? Have you seen the devastation – the horror??

Seriously, you need to be eating Eggo nutri-grain waffles. They are the bomb.

Posted in Arbitrary | Tagged: , , | 4 Comments »

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