Monthly Archives: March 2016

Music, partner campaign

This is what Gwen Stefani’s “Truth” sounds like

The first concert I went to with my friends was in February 1996. I was a senior in high school, and a group of us drove two hours to see Bush. We were all there to see Gavin Rossdale & company, but all we talked about on the way home was Gwen Stefani and No Doubt. By the next day we all owned copies of “Tragic Kingdom.” (I still have mine.) No Doubt was good, but Gwen Stefani was great. She was all energy and electricity, and it’s no wonder that Gavin fell for her.

Yeah, it was that tour. The one where No Doubt opened for Bush, and Gwen and Gavin fell in love. All of which paved the way for Gwen’s new album, “This is What the Truth Feels Like.” It’s all about old, broken love and exciting, scary new love, and it’s pretty personal stuff.

"This is what the truth feels like"Some of the lyrics on the new album — from “I don’t know why I cried, but I think it’s because I remembered for the first time since I hated you that I used to love you” to “I feel worthless, I’ve been hurt so bad, I get nervous you won’t love me back” — seem so personal that I felt a little weird listening to them. Like I was reading her personal emails to Gavin Rossdale or Blake Shelton. Of course, this isn’t the first time Gwen has written pretty transparently about a relationship. Most of “Tragic Kingdom” is about her breakup one of her No Doubt bandmates, but even 20 years after that album her lyrics strike me as shockingly frank.

“This is What the Truth Feels Like” is just as confessional as “Tragic Kingdom” was, but its sound is far less raw. Gwen’s look was more track star than movie star two decades ago, and her music now sounds more recording studio than garage band. A couple of tracks on the album, such as “Misery” and “Asking 4 It” (featuring Fetty Wap!), sound like they would be right at home on the soundtrack of a high school romance movie. I like high school movies, so that’s not a bad thing. Other songs are decidedly more post-graduate. I’m looking at you, “Send Me a Picture.”

For an album that came out of what had to have been a very upsetting and confusing time, “This is What the Truth Feels Like” is packed with danceable tracks. And when I say “danceable,” I mean I can very easily bounce around the kitchen to them while I’m making dinner. People who actually know how to dance would probably find songs like “Naughty,” “Make Me Like You” and the scorned-woman anthem “Red Flag” actionably danceable.

You can buy “This is What the Truth Feels Like” starting today at iTunes, Target and other retailers.

Disclosure: Nichole participated in this sponsored album review program as a member of One2One Network. She was provided the album to review, but all opinions are her own.

Diversions, Social Media

Green peas, glitter and a lifelong aversion to crafts

I didn’t spend a ton of time at my paternal grandfather’s house when I was a kid, but the few memories I do have of being with them are pretty vivid. I remember laying on their floor in front of their TV watching a VHS of “Savannah Smiles,” a winning and winsome tale of accidental kidnapping. I remember a weird and fascinating lamp they had hanging from the ceiling that featuring a lady in the center who was surrounded by strings that had oil dripping down them. It was mesmerizing.

And I remember Betty’s craft room.

Betty was my grandfather’s second — and, as it turned out, final — wife. Her craft room was a Pinterest-enthusiast’s dream. She had every bead, glue gun and bauble you can imagine. She had stamps, stickers and glitter, tissue paper, ribbon and a hundred varieties of scissors. And I have no idea what she did with all of it because she only let me in there to get crayons from the crayon drawer and coloring books from the coloring-book shelf.

When I was in kindergarten or first grade, Betty came to Grandparents Day at my school to have lunch with me. I embarrassed her by pulling my plate away just as she tried to put peas on it. The peas hit the floor, and she was not pleased. I’m not sure that particular incident is the reason I wasn’t granted free reign amongst her craft supplies, but it certainly couldn’t have helped things. I’m not going to say that Betty is to blame for my aversion to crafts, but that incident in the cafeteria was clearly traumatic for both of us.

Anyway.

My children enjoy a good craft project, which could have been most unfortunate for them because in addition to not having a fully stocked craft room, I am very bad at thinking up good craft projects. Fortunately for Poppy and Pete, they are being raised in the Pinterest era. So I have 24/7 access to the best crafting minds on the internet, and I make frequent use of that modern-day blessing.

The first day of Spring is just a few days away, so I’ve been compiling a list of easy, cute and Springy arts and crafts projects for the kids to enjoy. Hopefully I’ve squirreled away enough coffee filters, paint and toilet paper rolls to make a few of them.

Follow Nichole’s Spring Art Projects board on Pinterest.

Not surprisingly, there are a lot of floral-themed art projects out there. That Artist Woman’s paper hyacinths and found-poetry nests and this up-cycled bouquet from Chica Circle are stunning, but the very easy cherry blossom pieces from Alpha Mom and Kim K are probably more my speed.

I’m positive I don’t have all of the materials required to make these wax-resist bunny garlands from Housing a Forest, but I think you could make the bunnies using pretty much any sort of colorful, abstract artwork. I also don’t have the yarn I’d need to make this texturized bunny silhouette from Katie’s Crochet Goodies, but I might have to fix that because I love it. In non-mammal news, I also love the sweet and spiky baby chick from All Free Kids Crafts. Who would’ve thought you could paint with a fork? (Art teachers and other creative folk, that’s who.)

I have a beautiful Pysanky egg that a neighbor made for me about a decade ago, and I always put it on the mantle in the springtime. (I also put up the one I made, but it is… not beautiful.) I’d like to have some more permanent egg art to put on display. I think the tape-resist Easter eggs from Mom To 2 Posh Li’l Divas, the splatter-painted Easter eggs from Hands On As We Grow or the marbled Easter eggs from The Chocolate Muffin Tree would look pretty great on the wall.

How about you? Was your childhood wrought with arts & crafts?

menu plan Monday

Here’s my plan for teaching the children how to cook

We used to let the kids pick one meal every week, but we stopped doing that because Poppy almost always chose fish sticks and macaroni and cheese. Well, that alone isn’t the reason we stopped doing it, but it certainly didn’t help. I really don’t like fish sticks. Anyway, this week marks the triumphant return of Kids Choice Night, sort of. I’ve made a list from which the kids can choose, and all of the recipes on it are simple enough for them to make themselves:

Baked potatoes
Baked pasta
Shake-n-Bake chicken
Scrambled eggs
Grilled cheese
Sesame noodles
Tacos
Chili

They’re pretty basic dishes, and that’s because I’m trying to teach the kids how to cook. That way they won’t have to eat Taco Bell for every meal when they go off to college and I can slowly switch places with the children and play Super Mario Bros while they make dinner. In the past I’ve toyed around with the idea of putting together or purchasing a Cooking Curriculum, but the idea never really stuck. So we’re just going to dive in and make things that they’re interested in making, and hopefully they’ll pick up the skills they need as we go.

Last night was supposed to be our first Kids Cook Night, but the kids ended up going to a friends’ house and they didn’t get home until pretty late so Poppy didn’t get to make her grilled cheese sandwiches. Here’s what we’re having the rest of the week:

Tuesday: Sandwiches
We’ll be having a DIY sandwich bar. Any combination goes, as long as you don’t want anything other than ham, cheese, peanut butter or jelly. (That could go very, very grossly.)

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner
Eggs, toast and veggie sausages. Nothing fancy this week.

Thursday: Tacos
Pete wanted to learn how to make tacos. Hopefully in a few weeks he’ll be in charge of taco night. (It may take longer than a few weeks.)

Friday: Pizza
We ordered from Domino’s last week, and the pizza they delivered was missing topping and it was doughy. We probably won’t be ordering from Domino’s this week.

Still hungry? Check out OrgJunkie for more menu plans.