I had a pretty fall-tastic weekend, guys. Pumpkin carving, sausage dog cuddling, caramel apple eating and watching the Blue Angels fly around the sky for Fleet Week from a sailboat. Not too shabby.
How was your weekend?
Weekend Things
Weekend Reads
Happy weekend, friends! You look like you need some interwebz reads to go with that cliché sunset pic. Check out some of my favorite articles from the past week below.
A deep dive into the Instagram #luckygirl hashtag and its implications.
“..it’s much more culturally acceptable to simply be a #luckygirl on whom fortune smiles sans blood, sweat, or tears.”
“Wouldn’t it be refreshing if we talked more openly about how much effort we exert to hold it all together?”
What if the lack of electricity in third world countries could be fixed by playing soccer? Uncharted Play is trying to do just that.
Scientists are working on an exercise pill and while this could be an amazing development for injured folks, the concept sort of scares the poo out of me.
California’s drought is so bad that officials are turning to dowsers, who use crystals and sticks to find water.
The worst nobel laureates thus far.
For some reason I find these nihilistic password reminder questions hilarious.
..and while we’re on the subject of McSweeney, “It’s decorative gourd season, motherfuckers.”
I love this article on showing support for the hustlebirds.
Replacing fossil fuels with clean energy will be our generation’s moon landing. This makes me hopeful.
Creative things to do, see and enjoy this month.
Cannabinoids might actually be the source of your runner’s high, not endorphins..
“Dude.. have you ever thought about how running is, like, faster than walking..? Whoa.”
Apparently Hillary is unlikeable. What are your thoughts on this? This article addresses the phenom.
People Magazine’s call to action on gun control. I love that they took a stand.
SF’s last gun shop closes, and apparently that makes SF lawmakers “nazis” according to one disappointed resident.
I think I need this in my room..
My Starting September playlist is coming along nicely. Listen here.
The word of the week is aplomb: self-confidence or assurance, especially when in a demanding situation
Don’t forget to enter the Aurorae Fitness Bands giveaway here!
Have fun, be safe and watch the sunset.
Bex’s Creative Cocktail: Tea-quila
Happy Friday! Bex’s Creative Cocktails series returns and this time with a steamy tequila number. Check out “Tea-quila” below and see the rest of Bex’s concoctions here.
If you’re cold, have a cold, or feel like you’re getting a cold—let some tequila help you out and make it all alright. I swear it’s totally a thing. Ok, I’d like to see it become a thing. But with the weather taking a turn and us starting to bundle up, we might as well start bringing in the hot cocktails to warm our hearts and clear our minds. So here’s my latest concoction, “Tea-quila” a tea-like splendor of tequila, ginger and peaches. Cleansing, toasty, and awakening. Try this peach sweater on for size.
- 2 oz Tequila
- ½ oz Canton (Ginger Liqueur)
- Half of a small white peach
- 2 Pure sugar cane cubes
- Boiling Water
*Rinse a mug or heatproof glass with boiling water to warm it. Add peach slices and sugar, and muddle ingredients with 1 oz of boiling water. Add and stir tequila and Canton. Finish by adding and stirring another 1 oz of boiling water to bring the heat back up. Garnish with dried white peach slice. Recommendations and fun ideas are welcome!
To see more, follow me on Instagram (@bexaintwang) and post your thoughts! Also, check out my website (bwyant.com) for more thrilling things I do with my free time.
Original photo and recipe by Becca Wyant. All rights reserved.
Aurorae Yoga Resistance Bands Giveaway
For the past couple years, I was pretty broke TBH. Let’s just be honest. Living out here ain’t cheap, and you know I’m for real because I just used the word ‘ain’t.’ Even though fitness has always been a priority of mine, I didn’t have the means to shell out membership fees each month. Since running has been my weapon of choice for quite a while (and just so happens to be free), I didn’t think much of my lack of muscle and when I started to get deep into the archives of free TIU workouts, I finally invested in a yoga mat, 5-pound and 10-pound dumbbells. Even those were pretty restrictive though, and it was the opposite of fun trying to pack those dumbbells up for each move.
These Aurorae Yoga Resistance Bands, however, would’ve been the perfect alternative. I’d never really considered using bands instead of weights, but turns out I should’ve. These guys are super versatile since they provide full range of motion and you get to control how much resistance there is. This set comes with padded handles, an ankle strap and a door anchor in addition to a book of workouts and carrying case. Aurorae sent these over for me to try out, and after getting my sweat on with them in Point Richmond over the weekend (have you ever tried hiking with free weights? Not happening.), I’m stoked to announce that you could win a set of these bad boys for your own fitness adventures.
Enter below, and check back next Thursday to see who won.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
*Only available to U.S. readers — sorry, friends!*
Click around on these awesome resistance band workouts, too, while you’re at it:
What’s your favorite low-cost workout?
What I Wore
I found a historical rose garden while exploring Piedmont with Ziggy one day, but I couldn’t go in because Morcom Rose Garden doesn’t allow puppies inside. I kept meaning to go back and sniff the roses and all that, but months went by without ever stepping foot in this secret garden just a couple miles from my house. Finally I decided the time had come, so I threw on this rad lightweight jacket from Shein and one of my Vegas dresses from Tobi. It was nearing 80 degrees out in these photos, so the barely-there material of the jacket and breathable ankle booties were essential for pulling off a semi-autumnal look despite the temps. This military green color is one of my favorites right now. I’ve been tracking down any and all pieces in this shade, and this jacket is the perfect addition to the collection.
Which fall trends do you currently have your sights set on?
Linking up here.
Weekend Snapshots
Over the weekend I ate Korean BBQ at Jong Ga House in Oakland, where I attempted to enjoy baby octopus and failed. I didn’t feel good about it, but Ziggy felt great about it later. Besides that, the food was amazing. I tried so many colorful, unidentified things before coming home and constructing those Instagram photo lines up there. I found the cute baby clothes pins at Michael’s and printed the IG photos with PostalPix, in case you’d like to recreate it. Saturday morning I got up bright and early to hike Mission Peak in Fremont with those pretty ladies. It was a pretty challenging 6-mile hike and the view was incredible, but perhaps even more impressive was the hour-long line to take a photo on top of that pole. Sunday I took lots of pictures with the manfriend (coming later this week), played with Ziggy at Point Isabel, made delicious chili with my Farm Fresh To You veggies and baked peach cobbler. Food, friends, adventures and cuddles: my kind of weekend.
How was your weekend?
Bex’s Creative Cocktails: Notable Scheme
Bex is here to present to you her first fall-themed cocktail of the season, “Notable Scheme.” See what she has to say about it below, and see the rest of her lovely concoctions here.
Man, it’s been awhile. You know how everything is the same until it’s not?
Ha. I know, obvious. But still. Like. Autumn. It’s here. It’s happening. Happening like whoa.
It’s time to spice up our taste buds and stir in all those awesome flavors to make this delightful season as vibrant as it can be. Fall is the time of change, but it’s the kind of change that we love (hopefully). The kind of transition that we put our boots on for, and breathe in deeply as we stroll through the streets with the leaves crunching below our feet. So whatever may be in store for you this fall—let’s start it off smart. Let’s take the time before making our big decisions, so we can be as bold as possible when the time comes. And what better way to bring in that sophistication to our palate than with a lovely brandy cocktail? So without further ado, I present to you, Notable Scheme, the first of my many upcoming autumn cocktails. Here’s a defined mouth-warming cocktail of apple and blackberry brandy with spikes of allspice to bring it all in. Careful, it’s definitely a charming little devil that wants to be your friend, so pace yourself before it gets the best of you. Tin hats on, scholars. We’re in it to win it now.
- 1 ½ oz Liard’s Apple Brandy
- 1 ½ oz Blackberry Brandy
- ¼ oz Allspice Dram
*Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass
Recommendations and fun ideas are welcome! To see more, follow me on Instagram (@bexaintwang) and post your thoughts! Also, check out my website (bwyant.com) for more thrilling things I do with my free time.
Original photo and recipe by Becca Wyant. All rights reserved.
Sunday Links
Happy Sunday, friends! Like my new layout? I’m still trying to get it fully installed, so let me know if you see anything that looks out of place. I did a lot of reading this week, and I have lots of thoughts, opinions and links for you. I try not to expound on controversial topics in this space, but sometimes you just gotta share some articles, amIright? I’d love to start some discussions with you all, so feel free to express your thoughts and feels in the comments below.
This new brand of Japanese paints doesn’t include color names in hopes of teaching color theory to young’ns.
This Barbie’s badass Instagram feed is everything.
The Cyrano de Bergerac of Pop music, this 44-year-old Swedish man is responsible for some of your favorite T.Swift tracks and 21 No.1 Top 100 Billboard hits.
November begins National Novel Writing Month AKA NANOWRIMO. To write or not to write? That is the question.
Trying to step up your SEO game? Here’s a great resource.
I’ve been following this interior design boss lady on Instagram for quite a while, but this interview with her on Everygirl made me even more fangirl-y.
Forget smart watches, I want this beautiful smart ring.
This is one of my favorite blogs to read on the daily lately. I’m pretty sure we would be BFFs IRL.
As for controversial topics I usually avoid..
In case you were under the impression that the tech boom benefits everyone in the Bay Area, read this. And if you’re so inclined vote for this.
How to spot a feminist. “..a person who believes in political, economic & social equality of the sexes.”
Some insight into the disease that is obesity and why fat-shaming is simply never, ever acceptable.
Planned Parenthood is not exclusively for abortions. I’ve been there many times (not once for an unplanned pregnancy) and they do cancer screenings, women’s exams, STI testing/treatment and provide many methods of preventive birth control. In case you’re getting swept up in the coverage of this PP scandal, government shutdown business, please consider this one too. This will be an issue again in a few months. #StandwithPP
Remember the hero; forget the zero. My heart is heavy to read yet another article like this. What do you think the solution to this epidemic is?
I’m a little torn about this Party City scandal. Either way, their PR team monumentally effed up, but I’m curious as to how you feel about gender equality in Halloween costumes? Maybe I never came across this problem growing up because we always made our own costumes..
A boyfriend too good to be true. A beautiful piece on Alzheimer’s.
And on a lighter note, glowing turtles!!
Word of the week: screed – a long speech or piece of writing, typically one regarded as tedious.. AKA this blog post.
Please let me know your thoughts! I know I covered a lot of topics here, and I want to know your opinions (even if they’re different than mine!).
Milo Greene, Over The Trees & Karate Dancer live in SF
An Intimate Evening with Milo Greene
presented by Noise Pop & Culture Collide
(via)
You guys. You need to listen to and love Milo Greene with me. It started with little, meaningless flirtations with songs like “1957” and “Parents’ House” on Spotify. I often numbly comb through indie playlists while working and flag the ones I like. Then I feel silly when it takes way too long to realize I’m flagging the same artist’s different songs over and over again, and Milo Greene was one of them.
After last night, it’s official. It’s a full-blown Milo Greene love affair and I’m not even ashamed of being the other woman.
Let me tell you about last night’s Intimate Evening with Milo Greene presented by Noise Pop.
The Venue
First, after much debate, I wore my new army green jacket from Shein and bright red lipstick because I wanted to look the part of the savvy music blogger. I look like Barnie due to purple lighting in all the pictures though, so it’s TBD whether I succeeded. I hesitantly told the bouncer I was “on the list” as I wandered into the Swedish American Hall around 8:30pm after coffee and truffle fries across the street at Ovok. I’d never been to this venue before so I was psyched to see fat stringed lights strewn across wooden beams over a small set up of unassigned chairs, each adorned with a flyer and pin.
The Openers
An adorable 5-part band called Over the Trees from Norway was already playing when we walked in. The smily tambourine player/vocalist with a man bun was hands down my favorite. He hit the most ridiculous notes while smiling so big I couldn’t help but beam right back. I had never heard these guys before (they only have two songs on Spotify), but I’m definitely adding them to the new music rotation. They have a Young the Giant feel to them and their accents and broken English as they introduced their songs was the cutest thing ever. Hand claps, woo hoos and fun beats to dance to– can’t top that from an opener. I hope to see lots more from them soon.
The next act was a couple from Ecuador and Peru called Karate Dancer. The female vocalist wore a rad sweatshirt meets chic dress ensemble and Chad insisted that her face looked just like Anna Kendrick’s (I don’t see it). They were both pretty nervous, fumbled around a lot on stage while talking over each other and had several technical sound issues — I especially liked when the male counterpart asked over the mic, “Please can you put sound in my ukulele?” — but I liked their sometimes spooky bass lines and dancey techno sounds mixed with vocal harmonies. They don’t have any songs on Spotify yet and they said this was only their fourth concert ever, so we’ll see what happens with them next.
Milo Greene
Then came Milo Greene. They’re a 5-part band from LA, and the four vocalists (Marlana Sheetz, Graham Fink, Robbie Arnett, Andrew Heringer) sat in chairs up front while the drummer (Curtis Marrero) chilled in the back. The band is super versatile in that each song features different band members’ vocals/switching up instruments and while “Parents’ House” has a dark, ethereal sound, “1957” amps it up and you can’t not sing along to “I’ll go, I’ll go, I’ll go” despite the heartbreaking lyrics. The male singers voices are all distinct and they’re all complemented by Marlana’s incredibly smooth vocals. She shook an orange-shaped maraca in between playing the keyboard and guitar, so that’s an automatic win.
Robbie’s parents sat in the front row directly in front of us and he teased his dad saying he could only get so intimate while he in the front row. Graham rambled about Tia and Tamera not being actual twins, reminisced about 3LW and encourage audience interaction between sips of whiskey–naturally he was my favorite. I consistently got chills throughout their performance and despite Marlana’s concern that she was “too pitchy” (she wasn’t), super nervous and couldn’t find the guitar stand, they were incredible live. If you ever get a chance to see them, do it, do it, do it! Be sure to check out “White Lies” and the rest of their new Control album here.
Culture Collide 2015
See the rest of the Culture Collide 2015 lineup here.
October Goals
Happy October, friends! I’m late to the game because I’m trying to do big, happy, healthy things around here revolving around fitness, friends, music and creativity. I’ve got big plans for this month, this blog and this life of mine. As I mentioned here, there are some big changes going on for the gal behind One to Nothin’. Not only did I just start a new (very different, but awesome) job but I also gained a new roommate (who I just so happen to be dating), and with change comes adjustment and occasionally ugly cries in the car because it’s placebo week, your phone won’t work and you’re hungry (hypothetically..). As I strive for balance, I’m setting goals and hopefully they’re not the kind that I post on my blog and forget about (that happens a little too often). Here goes.
+ Make the most out of my ClassPass subscription. I’ve mentioned in passing that I’ve been Classpassing it up ever since Jessi introduced me way back in the day. I started with a 10-day free trial thinking I’d be over it by day 10, but 10 classes later I was hooked. I haven’t looked back since (I started in May). For those of you who are unfamiliar, ClassPass is a service available in many major cities that allows members to try a variety of group exercise classes at tons of studios in your area (and other areas when you’re traveling as well). The only stipulation is you can only do three classes at the same studio in one month, but considering how many studios offer classes to ClassPassers, this has not once been an issue for me. I’ve tried everything from ballet-style barre to Crossfit-style bootcamps to twerktastic dance classes to foamrolling classes. I will sing praises of ClassPass any day of the week to anyone who will listen, but the point is while it’s a great deal, it’s still a little investment each month and there has been a week here and there where I didn’t take full advantage. This month I aim to do 5 classes a week. They don’t all need to be #HAM workouts, sometimes they’ll be flexibility classes or relaxing yoga, but Monday through Friday, it’s go time. (see prices for your city here. Surprise: mine’s the most expensive). Oh and if you need some exercise motivation, read this post.
+ Write about my concert habit. While reuniting with my girls in Vegas who I hadn’t seen in years, some of the feedback from my social media presence was, “All you do in California is go to concerts, right?” It’s true. Live music makes me happier than pretty much anything else in the world. In the past I worked for a music news website (that’s now unfortunately defunct), and haven’t done much music writing since. Sometimes I talk about my obsession with Nate Ruess, you can read about Outside Lands 2015 (2014 and 2013) and I often throw playlists at you guys, but I want to start covering my live music experiences in a bit more detail. Some of you may not be interested, but knowing me there’s bound to be some misadventure that goes along with it and story time will go on as usual. I’m off to an Intimate Evening with Milo Greene tonight at the Swedish American Hall in SF in case anyone else is interested. Tickets are on sale here and I hope to tell you guys about it tomorrow. If you’ve never heard of Milo Greene, listen to this song.
+ More fashion and food posts! Fall fashion is pretty much the best thing ever, so expect to see flannel, blanket scarves and my new riding boots (!!) around here. Also, apples, pumpkins, sweet potatoes and all sorts of squash are some of my favorite things to cook and bake with. I may or may not have bought caramel for caramel apples the other day and yes, you can expect to see metallic sprinkles on them.
+ Make my apartment more homey. I mentioned here that I finally have a couch and tv in my living room again, and now that I know I’m staying put for a while, I want to invest more time in making my home cozy and pretty. I hope to finish my gallery wall this month, give you guys a little apartment tour and throw a few DIY projects around.
+ Make a badass Halloween costume and find a legit costume party to attend. Last year my skull t-shirt cut-out DIY just wasn’t up to par.
+ No alcohol. This is a hard one. Not because I’m an alcoholic, but because another ongoing goal I have is to nurture my relationships, and my friends like to drink as much as I do. Here’s the thing, drinking is fun for a few hours but that’s it. I only remember the fun, outgoing feels I have while intoxicated, but the truth is it makes me feel gross, unhealthy and regretful the next day when I’m lying in bed, eating junk food, not working out or exploring nature or accomplishing any of the other big-picture goals I have for myself. Moderation is a real, valid, wonderful thing that a lot of people can handle and lately it seems like I’m not one of them. My goal this month is to cut it out. Maybe next month I’ll be fine with a 2-drink maximum, but for now it’s cold turkey. Get it? Cuz it’s fall? Anyway..
+ Plan to execute a super fun, exciting and semi-terrifying challenge for everyone to participate, connect and enjoy next month with one of my best bloggy friends, Sarah. EEK! More details to come soon!
+ Read a photography book, complete at least two webinars and use my cute ass planner I just got. I need to hone my skillz, y’all.
What are your goals this month? Please share!
PS: Advertise with One to Nothin‘ in October and let me pimp your blog/biz out! See options here. Giveaways? Linkups? I’m all for it. Let’s do this.
