KILLER music blog started by a couple kids in Boulder, Colorado. The music is divided into 2 categories: BANGIN' and CHILL
http://www.thissongissick.com
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Bringing La Mecca to the Streets - Day 1
While LA MECCA is bringing fashion to the streets, the symbiotic
equation to that involves LA MECCA being brought to the streets. So today was
the first day we took Sammy (the truck) out to work! We went…and we returned...
It was a learning experience involving two broken mirrors and a dent to his
body. …now while the two broken mirrors may spark a sudden grimace in lieu of
common superstitious beliefs, I can tell you that at the end of this tale
science outweighs superstition and two negatives equal a positive.
Rewind one day: I was happily meandering the Melrose &
Fairfax Flea Market wearing my little-red-ridding-hood cape-coat when the stars
aligned and the last piece to the puzzle (a magic mirror), which is why I had
come, I found. It was perfect – the perfect size, unique, ornate, and framed so
it could be easily hung. Later, with the electric drill & screw driver (new
tool! thanks dad ;) ) I hung it in the truck and it really was that last
missing piece; it completed the outlined components. I knew we were ready to
go.
So today…
We head to Santa Monica…our precise destination being based
upon wherever we could find two metered parking spots tandem to one-another (as
Sammy was rather large). About 3 minutes enroot and there’s a high-pitch CRASH.
Rebecca looks at me. I look at her.
“What was that?!?”. Grimace. “THE MIRROR.“
“Is the mirror broken?”
“Yup…the tire fell on the mirror.”
“How broken?”
“All broken.”
We pull
over to evaluate…do we need the mirror? YES. How will people try things on with
no mirror? We need a mirror. We decide to detour and reroute to Bed Bath &
Beyond. Of course, being 16 feet tall though, you don’t fit in the average
parking structure (except maybe of Home Depot); so I waited with my hazards on,
pulled over on the street while Rebecca ran inside.
A little while later, a little shaken but feeling like we
pushed through it, we get into downtown Santa Monica…what a busy place full of
people trying to find parking! Eagle-eye Rebecca spots a tandem twosome ahead
on the opposite side of the street. We get excited. It’s not as easy as you
think to get to the opposite side of the street on gridlock system incorporated
with a walking mall “the promenade”. We know the fabulous beast we were driving
can’t take tight turns, being a big truck, so a U-turn was out of the question.
His size we underestimated however…although obviously large, he really seems
more petite from the driver’s seat! …An alley seemed like the best option. Off
the alley there was a drive into a parking lot that exited back onto the street
in the right direction so we decided to turn into it. The turn looked a little
“tight” but didn’t look like anything that a 3-5 point turn couldn’t easily
accomplish. …But, shortly after, stuck between a triad of walls, dented, we now
know a little more about how wide “tight” isn’t.
A little shaken and back on the alley way, we see the light at
the end of this darkened alley and take a deep breath as we are about to exit.
Watch out! SMASH passenger side mirror snaps against the window and the mirror
shatters. We clipped another truck in the alley, which had been unloading. It startled
them but no damage was done, given that where we hit it was its back
corner…which was already dinged up all the way up and down. Unfortunately, you
may start to notice that this dinged-up-corner syndrome is a commonality among
large trucks…and now, after a dent and clipped mirror, we understand why.
Driving these things are like driving beasts.
We decide we should go home and reevaluate. The ride home was
a little stressful; with the passenger side-view mirror out and not having a
rearview mirror in trucks, it left us with only the driver side-view mirror.
The passenger window doesn’t roll down (weird design) so there was no way for
Rebecca to look and see what was coming in the right lane. We were like Derek
Zoolander and couldn’t turn (right). Eventually though, we made it to Sammy’s
home, disposed of the mirror and left to regroup. We go to lunch at the Grove
to perk up with some Christmas cheer, make the arrangements for fixing the
things tomorrow, and relax about the whole thing….a little perplexed…it
certainly is not how I imagined it would happen going into it the first day
but….
the mind does not passively soak up knowledge. The positive
becomes “Well now we know”. What do we know? We know we do not fit in allies
with other vehicles present. We know that spare tires are very heavy and can a
be a destructive hazard; thus more significant though, we know that we should
evaluate ALL inanimate objects for destructive and hazard potential (and create
a prevention plan). While theoretically we “knew we couldn’t make tight turns”,
now we know how wide “tight” isn’t…”tight” is a value, in my opinion, based
upon the subject’s size.
We will see you tomorrow Santa Monica! xoxo
Monday, November 5, 2012
A Tribute to the 1990's
Happy November everyone!
This year has flashed by faster than ever. The holiday season is creeping in as sequins, snow globes, and everything jewel toned starts to trickle into our shops. We have so much change just around the corner with our impending election. As we wait anxiously to hit our polling places lets take a moment to chill out and reminisce on the good old days of the 90's. Enjoy!
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This year has flashed by faster than ever. The holiday season is creeping in as sequins, snow globes, and everything jewel toned starts to trickle into our shops. We have so much change just around the corner with our impending election. As we wait anxiously to hit our polling places lets take a moment to chill out and reminisce on the good old days of the 90's. Enjoy!
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inages via- imdb.com, spicegirls.wikia.com,
vineyardvintage.blogspot.com, seaninthecitydfw.com
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tread Watch: What's Coming
Without giving away too much, here's a sneak peek at what coming in the next couple months in trends for the fall and winter collections. Anticipating particularly one of our international brands, UK-based RELIGION, which will be coming in November here's what's on the horizon:
 |
| American Flags: Election year has inspired a patriotic boom! |
 |
| A basic color palette in the greyscale range |
 |
| This is the PG version of the scantily, but classy, naked women to come! wootwoot! |
 |
| Shameless Thoughts |
 |
| Religious Icons (Mainly Crosses) |
 |
| Paint Splatter Effect |
 |
| Portraits of Random People |
 |
| Over-exposed Photographs |
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Pumpkin + Spice = Everything Nice
There is no better excuse to throw a party with dope friends, food, drinks, and old movies than Halloween. With it's mid-week timing this year it has been an even a better excuse to hop around from homes to bars for MULTIPLE nights of celebration.
We sure as hell celebrated this weekend and will continue to do so until we have exhausted every last pumpkin flavored drink/food recipe and have emptied Trader Joes of every pumpkin pancake/beer/cake/pie items that our West Hollywood location can carry.
We sure as hell celebrated this weekend and will continue to do so until we have exhausted every last pumpkin flavored drink/food recipe and have emptied Trader Joes of every pumpkin pancake/beer/cake/pie items that our West Hollywood location can carry.
ms. pumpkin awaiting carving
fall sangria (recipe below)
white bean + turkey chili (recipe below)
spooky TJ's cookies
pumpkin chocolate chip squares (recipe below)
pretty pink blooms by the Beverly Center
- Turkey Chili
- Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil - 2 medium onions, chopped
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1 1/2 pounds lean ground turkey
- 1/4 cup chili powder
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 3 15-ounce cans small white beans, rinsed, drained
Directions:
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Sautee onions until light brown. Add oregano and cumin. Increase heat to medium-high. Add turkey; stir until no longer pink. Add chili powder, bay leaves, cocoa powder, salt and cinnamon. Add crushed tomatoes, and mix in stock. Bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add beans to chili and simmer until flavors blend, about 10 minutes longer. Discard bay leaves. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Serve in bowls over corn tortillas and garnish with sharp white cheddar.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
(adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe)
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-13-inch baking pan and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
Cream butter and sugar until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Add pumpkin puree and mix well. The mixture will look somewhat curdled. Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake bars for 35-40 minutes or until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.
Cool bars completely in pan.
Fall Sangria
Ingredients:
2 bottles pinot grigio (we used TJ's 2 buck chuck)
1.5 cups bourbon
1/2 cup triple sec
2 cups TJ's apple cider
3 cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp whole cloves
1 granny smith apple
1 orange
1 lemon
**secret ingredient** ---->2 tsp Cholula hot sauce
**secret ingredient** ---->2 tsp Cholula hot sauce
Directions:
Slice up apples, lemon, and orange. Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Serve over ice.
Slice up apples, lemon, and orange. Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours. Serve over ice.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
The Secret Gift Catagory to Buy In
The Secret Gift Catagory to Buy In
*The
key to gift giving is giving something that is useful (ideally used
frequently), fills a niche, and/or better yet, solves a problem (inconvenience or annoyance).
UNIQUE does not mean RANDOM
It may seem like a good gift has to be something “unique” that the person doesn't have; this however, is not necessarily the best way to go and not very easy. How hard is it to think of something unique for the person "who has everything"? Difficult. What can happen in these cases, is that you get something random that is "cool" idea, but realistically is a shelf-life novelty or gadget that is never used because is so specifically specialized that some other all-in-one gadget (like the iPhone having an alarm clock) does it more conveniently, so that while cool at first, really ends up inconvenient...(and anything that is slightly inconvenient will quickly be eliminated from anyone's life for a more convenient choice). Use "unique" as an adjective, not a noun.
THINGS BOUGHT BECAUSE THEY CAN BE RETURNED = not impressive
Another concern may be “if they will like it” because some gifts cater to taste and style, that is the trouble with buying shoes an clothes… it seems like a good idea because you know (she) like shoes and clothes, and it’s easy to buy something she doesn’t have because there’s an endless supply of fresh product available to meet the trends in flux. The BIG roadblock on this one is that it’s a coin toss if she will like it, and she has to LOVE it to wear it. So, you say “If you don’t like it you can always return it and exchange it for something else”…and in a sense you feel like it’s a win-win because even if she doesn’t like it she can go shopping for free, with birthday monopoly money. So, this whole process is kind of cop-out, you might as well hand her a gift card (Which aren’t bad…but certainly not very distinct, memorable, or thoughtful). Leave the sh*t she’s going to parade around in all day to her and her best friend, this is the most difficult category to actually succeed in.
PERSONAL GIFTS...
So, with out further ado… the best gifts often cater to convenience and can in fact be very common, everyday things. Some times SO common, they are completely overlooked. This includes household items, like pots and pans and personal use items, like a person's glasses. That may sound lame at first, but wait until you start shopping… there’s a whole world of pots and pans, in fact it’s an entire industry with competition, trends, and technological development. It’s bazaar to look at every individual thing in your house and think that it has an entire industry responsible for it’s basic-seeming creation. The funny thing is, these everyday items in fact have HUGE industries creating them with intense competition because these items are so frequently bought since everyone needs these common things; the result is a wide variety of choices creatively and leading-edge tech backing them.
Why this is a great gift category: it’s an untouched category to gift from so it’s easy to come up with fresh ideas. Bonus: You won’t have to worry so much about if they will like it aesthetically because your gifting something useful, and will not be a statement they are making to others, which is always a bit touchy. You are gift genius: often the person doesn’t even know they want it until you came up with such a good idea. Why it works: 1) While they may already have one, it's likely that it's worn-out because it is used so much, so a new one would be surprisingly convenient and useful, for example cooking pans or kitchen knives. 2) Some common things are just plain, ugly, or boring because they are “so basic”, like a shower curtain or shoe rack. The reality here however, is that this person sees and uses this item every day. In fact, she probably knows every little speck-of-dirt mark on it that won’t come off. Spice up the person’s personal living environment with something prettier or more convenient then the one they have now! Make their daily lives interesting and easier. Get online, find a cool-ass shower curtain or shoe rack and gift it…now that is unique. If you want to take it step further, make it personalized for her/him…for example measure her closet and get a custom built cool-ass shoe rack that fits perfectly, how convenient…especially since we all know the closet is too small to begin with. Plus, shouldn’t that shoe collection, which probably has been a huge investment and could be valued at some obscene number, deserve a rack that displays them properly? Give her closet a view and get her that extra couple inches (which likely may make her rearrange her entire wardrobe... which is fun, refreshing, and exciting).
In conclusion, good gifts can items that they already have, just better.
UNIQUE does not mean RANDOM
It may seem like a good gift has to be something “unique” that the person doesn't have; this however, is not necessarily the best way to go and not very easy. How hard is it to think of something unique for the person "who has everything"? Difficult. What can happen in these cases, is that you get something random that is "cool" idea, but realistically is a shelf-life novelty or gadget that is never used because is so specifically specialized that some other all-in-one gadget (like the iPhone having an alarm clock) does it more conveniently, so that while cool at first, really ends up inconvenient...(and anything that is slightly inconvenient will quickly be eliminated from anyone's life for a more convenient choice). Use "unique" as an adjective, not a noun.
THINGS BOUGHT BECAUSE THEY CAN BE RETURNED = not impressive
Another concern may be “if they will like it” because some gifts cater to taste and style, that is the trouble with buying shoes an clothes… it seems like a good idea because you know (she) like shoes and clothes, and it’s easy to buy something she doesn’t have because there’s an endless supply of fresh product available to meet the trends in flux. The BIG roadblock on this one is that it’s a coin toss if she will like it, and she has to LOVE it to wear it. So, you say “If you don’t like it you can always return it and exchange it for something else”…and in a sense you feel like it’s a win-win because even if she doesn’t like it she can go shopping for free, with birthday monopoly money. So, this whole process is kind of cop-out, you might as well hand her a gift card (Which aren’t bad…but certainly not very distinct, memorable, or thoughtful). Leave the sh*t she’s going to parade around in all day to her and her best friend, this is the most difficult category to actually succeed in.
PERSONAL GIFTS...
So, with out further ado… the best gifts often cater to convenience and can in fact be very common, everyday things. Some times SO common, they are completely overlooked. This includes household items, like pots and pans and personal use items, like a person's glasses. That may sound lame at first, but wait until you start shopping… there’s a whole world of pots and pans, in fact it’s an entire industry with competition, trends, and technological development. It’s bazaar to look at every individual thing in your house and think that it has an entire industry responsible for it’s basic-seeming creation. The funny thing is, these everyday items in fact have HUGE industries creating them with intense competition because these items are so frequently bought since everyone needs these common things; the result is a wide variety of choices creatively and leading-edge tech backing them.
Why this is a great gift category: it’s an untouched category to gift from so it’s easy to come up with fresh ideas. Bonus: You won’t have to worry so much about if they will like it aesthetically because your gifting something useful, and will not be a statement they are making to others, which is always a bit touchy. You are gift genius: often the person doesn’t even know they want it until you came up with such a good idea. Why it works: 1) While they may already have one, it's likely that it's worn-out because it is used so much, so a new one would be surprisingly convenient and useful, for example cooking pans or kitchen knives. 2) Some common things are just plain, ugly, or boring because they are “so basic”, like a shower curtain or shoe rack. The reality here however, is that this person sees and uses this item every day. In fact, she probably knows every little speck-of-dirt mark on it that won’t come off. Spice up the person’s personal living environment with something prettier or more convenient then the one they have now! Make their daily lives interesting and easier. Get online, find a cool-ass shower curtain or shoe rack and gift it…now that is unique. If you want to take it step further, make it personalized for her/him…for example measure her closet and get a custom built cool-ass shoe rack that fits perfectly, how convenient…especially since we all know the closet is too small to begin with. Plus, shouldn’t that shoe collection, which probably has been a huge investment and could be valued at some obscene number, deserve a rack that displays them properly? Give her closet a view and get her that extra couple inches (which likely may make her rearrange her entire wardrobe... which is fun, refreshing, and exciting).
In conclusion, good gifts can items that they already have, just better.
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