Links Loved <3

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Will Shilling, Columbus Alive

The vortex of social media is strong, luring one to links all over the internet. Here’s a roundup of some of my favorite links I’ve ventured to this week.

Columbus Alive Columbus Cocktail Challenge For their bar guide issue, the folks at Columbus Alive challenged local mixologists to create a "Columbus-themed cocktail." I love that each of these libations highlights a different part of what we've come to define as Columbus. There's the VI-I-IV, named after a local mathematician and featuring Columbus' own Watershed Gin (Columbus is a smart city after all), The Franklin, paying homage to the crazy weather in our city, and The Buckeye, a drink playing off flavors of Columbus' favorite local chocolate candy.

Cocktails You Should Be Drinking Based on Your Zodiac Sign I love a good zodiac pair up and this one includes more drinking fun courtesy of Marie Claire. Ever wonder what cocktail you should be drinking based on your zodiac sign? #TeamGemini

How Refinery 29 built a $100 million media company for Millennial WomenRefinery 29 is a daily web and snapchat story destination for me, and this profile on how they've been able to connect millennial women and advertisers directly is fascinating. (We actually like brands!) Worth the listen.

Generate Your Own Minor League Baseball FranchiseThe El Monte Lake Oysters The Dayton Space Beagles

The name generator for this minor league baseball franchise name is hilarious. Needless to say, it's a great way to waste a few extra minutes here and there.

See all the Stylists Behind Beyonce's Lemonade She has a tour stylist, a street style stylist, an Ivy Park Stylist (and personal fashion director?) - and remarkably they kept all of this quiet before Lemonade’s first air. See the folks behind the fashion for Beyonce's buzzworthy Lemonade, fashion that plays just as much of a role in the album as the music.

Succulent Shopping

For years, with serious fail, I’ve tried to grow plants in my home. Flowers? Pretty much dead on arrival.

Ferns that don’t need sun? Always meet their demise.

Lucky bamboo? I’m pretty sure I’m doomed to years of bad luck.

But still, there’s something so effortlessly stylish about a fiddle leaf fig tree perched in a corner of a home, soaking in the sun from a neighboring window.  If only.

And so I’ve continually search for a solution to my black thumb desires and luckily I haven’t had to look too far.  Yup, I’m talking about succulents.

Whether it’s an ikea cactus perched on top of my windowsill or a blooming echeveria (yeah, I totally googled that) as part of a larger planter, these little plants are seriously hard to kill.  And they’re seriously stylish too. Because they’re super small and don’t need a lot of attention, they’re perfect for any urban dweller looking for a little green. Singularly stylish in a cute pot on their own, or grouped together with other equally stylish vessels, these unfussy plants are a chic way to add a bit of green to your abode.

Here’s a selection of some of my favorite pots, perfect for growing your own succulents.

succulent-shopping

Clockwise from top left:boxcar planters |  cat planter | melting mug | paper planters | polka dot planter | rain planter

Summer Drinks: Grapefruit Beer

After a gin & tonic, my go-to summer drink as of late has been grapefruit and tequila. It’s tart and refreshing without being as fizzy as a tried and true paloma. But sometimes I want to drink a grapefruit libation throughout the evening and too much tequila usually = poor life choices (or just as likely, me asleep by 8pm).

Enter grapefruit beer. One of the ultimate thirst quenchers, beer and summer go together like peanut butter and jelly. (or is that beer and sports?) But I enjoy a bit of flavor to my brews, and the addition of grapefruit is seasonally perfect.

Here a few I’ve had a chance to try - any others you would recommend?

Schofferhofer Grapefruit My first foray into grapefruit brews also claim to be the first grapefruit beer on the market. Schofferhofer says their beer is a 50-50 split between heferweizen and carbonated grapefruit juice and it sure does taste a bit like a soft drink. The sweetest of the three, you can barely tell you’re drinking beer at all. And sometimes that’s exactly what I’m looking for. (available at Anderson’s)

Leinenkugel Grapefruit Shandy Leinenkugel’s beers can be so hit or miss for my palate, some of them are great and some of them are just plain terrible. But having spent a portion of my childhood in the badger state, I don’t mind supporting great products from Wisconsin, and I’m happy to report Grapefruit Shandy is one of them. Here Leinie’s starts with their famous Weiss beer and combines it with “white grapefruit flavor” and the result is definitely more beer-esque than the Schofferhofer. Served super cold on a hot summer day, its twice as refreshing with its grapefruit finish. (available at Kroger)

Ballast Point Grapefruit Sculpin This beer is a serious new find for me and its one I never would have picked for myself with out being forced to try it. You see, if there’s one type of beer that I’m usually guaranteed to refuse while out with friends, its an IPA. In general I hate how hoppy they are and I’d much rather enjoy a smooth dark brew. But there’s something about the grapefruit in this IPA that turns my IPA hate upside down. To be sure, this is a BEER. It’s not a hybrid like the two options above, it’s a 100% brewski - you can even tell just by looking at it (and at 7% alcohol, you'll start to feel it to). The grapefruit shines here though, its tart, it’s fresh, and perfect when you truly want a beer to finish off the day. (available at Trader Joes)

The A List: 4.22.16

It’s the return of the A List!  The crazy season of my job has finally winded down and with the return of my social life and my free time has started. And while I’ll miss the excitement and adrenaline of the season, I’m thrilled this “me” time is coinciding with daylight hours. Anyways, here’s a collection of things I’ve been loving this past week (or month) or so.

Grey’s Anatomy

TV isn’t doing much for me these days, I don’t have a whole lot of time to watch it at the moment and nothing seems too enticing to tear me away from my web videos. So it’s a little bizarre to me that the one show I do make time for, is the one I picked back up again last year. Grey’s Anatomy is under a refresh to me with Meredith Grey leading the way. Her journey back to herself and her social life is great tv at the moment, and I’m loving the Jackson and April dynamic too.  And can we talk about how amazing the Denzel Washington directed episode was? #TGIT

Tyler Knott Daily Love Haiku’s

Romantic. Dreamy. ALL THE FEELS. Every one of Tyler’s daily haiku’s that he posts to his instagram just speak to me, even when I don’t even expect them to. What makes them even more special is that he handwrites them, making them all that more emotional to read each and every day. Seriously, ALL THE FEELS.

Style Code Live

Speaking of web videos, there’s another appointment video for me at the moment, Amazon’s Style Code Live. Streamed nightly at 9pm, it’s a half hour of fashion and beauty and I’m obsessed. And the geniuses at Amazon have made everything on the show available for purchase, so it’s essentially one big commercial without feeling like one. Miss an ep? They’re handily available on Amazon’s Video App – great for binge-watching all of the latest trends (and safely tucked away from that pesky "one-click" purchase button).  =)

InStyle Redesign

Despite my addition to online magazines and lifestyle blogs, I still try and find time each month to catch up on my old magazine standbys. (My Texture app makes this infinitely easier – if you haven’t purchased it yet, do so now). InStyle has long been one of my favorite glossies, I love how they deconstruct outfits each month and how their editorials are a bit more approachable than some of the other high fashion pubs. But what I’m loving right now is their latest redesign, it’s fresh and sleek, and somehow remains luxurious, all while looking totally modern. So fabulous.

Lilacs

If daffodils are my favorite spring flower, lilacs might be my favorite other flower. Our place lucked into a huge lilac bush surrounding our back patio, and on slightly breezy springs days, especially the ones we’ve been super fortunate to have of late, the fragrance of them is transcendent. A bit feminine, but still fresh, right now they’re quite literally a breath of fresh air.

15 minute weeknight soup: kale and chicken sausage soup

When a week goes by where temps rarely reach freezing, there’s only one food group that I want to reach for: soup. And when you have a week where there’s nary a time to sit down and plan like I just had, this soup is the perfect weeknight warmer. With the exception of the garlic and chicken sausage, there are no real culinary skills required to cook this soup. All you need is a handful of ingredients, a big soup pot, and about 15 minutes.

Yup, only 15 minutes until a soup full of depth and flavor that will warm you right up.

The flavor depth is hidden in the ingredients; seasoned chicken sausage, the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, diced tomatoes with a little extra sumthin’, and the soup is surprisingly healthy as well, full of beans, tomatoes and kale, which all pass the new years resolution test.

Next time you only have 10 minutes in the store to pick up dinner, grab these ingredients and assemble, instead of the instant food you’ve always grabbed.

Recipe adapted from this one by Real Simple.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil 1 12-ounce package fully cooked chicken sausage links, sliced thin *I love the al fresco brand with roasted red pepper and asiago 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional) ¼ teaspoon thyme leaves 1 19-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed 1 14.5-ounce can low-sodium chicken broth 1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic & oregano 1 bunch kale leaves (I used an entire package of the baby kale from the bagged salad section) kosher salt and black pepper grated parmesan cheese to finish

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, stirring once, until browned, 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Stir in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more.
3. Stir in red pepper flakes and thyme leaves
4. Add the beans, broth, and tomatoes and their liquid and bring to a boil.
5. Add the kale and salt and pepper to tase. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Serve soup in bowls, top each bowl with grated parmesan to finish.