News Announcement

Manchester, April 29 - Members of the Locavore movement will host a local food and craft expo at the Radisson in Manchester to promote New Hampshire agriculture. The expo will feature a number of restaurants from Manchester, Nashua, and Portsmouth including Brookstone Grille, Diner 137, The Beanstalk, and Cotton. There will also be a large exhibit by Lush, providing samples of handmade natural cosmetics and ingredient lists so that anyone attending can make their products at home. Gail McWilliam-Jellie, the state director of agricultural development who has partnered with the NH Farm to Restaurant Connection, will be the guest speaker.

The event is scheduled to begin at 9 AM and end at 2 PM.

On Writing by Stephen King

I love memoirs because they lack reservation. Stephen King's is a great example. His name used to have a negative connotation for me because I started to read Misery a few years ago and it didn't hold my interest. Quite frankly, I couldn't help but think that the author must have been a creep. However, in light of this memoir, he's proven to be a pretty awesome creep. I felt fortunate to learn what he has to say about writing because every bit of it is useful. Every word was meticulously chosen to convey just the right meaning. It's like an inside look at the mind of a genius English major. Definitely worth more than eight bucks.

You're So Vain

I went shopping the other day with my mom and sister. We were in HomeGoods looking for a mirror to put in our Hampton Condo (my mom wants to start renting it out and she said nobody will be interested if it doesn't have a mirror and a TV, both of which it is currently without). We found a nice mirror that we thought would look even nicer as a pair. My sister, an avid shopper, said that she 'd seen that very mirror at the HomeGoods in Salem. I had already begun to wish I stayed home. After a long ordeal with an incompetent cashier I was put in charge of the go-buy-it-before-anyone-else-duty. The next morning I trekked to the mirror section in the back of the Marshalls/HomeGoods in Salem. Upon searching high and low, I came to terms with the fact that the subject of my quest was nowhere to be found. Defeated, I turned towards the door. As I walked along I couldn't help but notice how many people were in the store. It was roughly 12:00 PM on a Wednesday afternoon in the middle of March and all sorts of shoppers filled the aisles; moms with baby carriers strapped into their carriages, handsome Spanish speaking amigos with piles of silky button-up shirts hanging over their forearms, grey haired couples forgetting their years of scrimping and saving, and teenage girls too naive or too stupid to realize that they should be saving that "extra money" while saving is still an option. Then something interesting caught my eye -a jacket. But it wasn't just a jacket, it was THE jacket that I have been waiting for all my life (did I just jump on that teenage girl wagon?). I tried it on, and it fit me to the 'T', so I smiled. I surprised myself by smiling. If the jacket had not been sent to me from Heaven, I don't think I would have smiled. It was, though, because the price tag read $3.99, marked down from $400.00.  I tell you this tale while wearing the jacket,  in all it's glory, but forever in search of the matching mirror. At least I'm still smiling.

Business Announcement (of my dreams)

Good news everyone! I became a millionaire after winning the lottery last Tuesday. What's more important is my most recent investment; I've purchased Jewell and the Beanstalk! For those of you who have been missing out, this is a delicious and cozy restaurant located on Somerville Street in Manchester, NH. Not only does The Beanstalk cook everything from scratch and use 100% locally-grown ingredients, it also serves as a showroom for the local craftsman and artists who wish to sell their pieces; the walls and shelves are filled with affordable, yet heart-stopping pieces for your home, handmade jewelery, knitted and crochet hats and scarves, and more!

If you wish to join the festivities and be fed like Kings and Queens (or just relax in the back and read a book) feel free to stop in. We're OPEN weekdays 7:00 AM-9:00 PM and weekends 5:00 AM-1:00 PM.
We'll also be participating in the Locavore Expo at the Radisson Hotel in Manchester on April 26th from 8:00 AM-1:00 PM -we'll be serving sample dishes and displaying a preview of the goods we sell in our store. Check it out!

Crash

Painting by Artist Lisa Rae Winant

Image used by permission of the Artist

12 x 8 / oil on panel

And an accompanying micro-fiction piece by me:

There was no rhyme or reason behind her madness. She just knew how she felt and she had been around for a long time so she thought that people should listen. She was, after all, a woman of grace and intuition. Hundreds of children had benefited from Gale’s concern over the years but her own had to suffer. Though it was only a bit, it was enough to stunt their growth, because they had to focus so much of their energy into figuring her out; into figuring themselves out. Of course, when you rely on an antagonistic mixture of two people to prepare your delicate self for the world, the pressure can be like poison.

The youngest was the most unfortunate of all. Bessie was, ultimately, the one who was punished for her sisters mistakes because it took her mother and father so long to develop a plan. There was no chance of Bessie becoming a fuck up even though the most influential people in her life hadn’t taken their own lives very seriously. Her imagination was her only escape. When she met her best friend in kindergarten it was clear that the two would have been bound together like glue if it weren’t for their parents. They were like soul sisters from the start. Bessie would beg her mother to take her to Mary’s house for a sleepover and vowed that they would both be in bed by at least seven o‘ clock. In the basement they acted out skits of runaway slaves and mean high school chicks that got all the boys.

One year, when Bessie’s mother and father took the girls on vacation to a private beach house on the Cape, she and Mary’s little feet glided along the shoreline more quickly than they ever thought possible. They had never felt such freedom before. The girls took it upon themselves to venture onto the jetty but by the time they realized they were in over their heads the crashing waves had nearly sucked them both under. Gale came running out of the house as gracefully as a bull in a china shop the moment she caught glimpse of their endeavor. It’s not that they hadn’t been aware of the power that came from deep within the sea, Bessie’s mother had warned them of it many times, and that is precisely what drew them to it.

Mary wasn’t afraid for Bessie as she was lying in the sand without any sign of life. Bessie was invincible in Mary’s eyes and she couldn’t understand the fearful tears streaming down Gale’s face. Mary put one hand on Gale’s shoulder and the other on Bessie’s. Soon Bessie was coughing and laughing and rolling over onto her side all at once. Gale’s face dropped and her eyes suddenly went dry. Everything that just happened was replaying in her head while she tried to understand how the situation managed to escalate.

There was one thing she knew for sure; her child would never be put in harms way again.

Day # 1

Goodmorning blogosphere.
I'm new here :)


Well, first things first. BIEBERRR!!!




Just kidding. Really, though, I don't that think I am much of a blogger (whatever that means). I like to read, look, and listen. I'm passionate about photography and expressing myself through creativity. So, we'll see how this goes. I have literally written the words "blog" and "tweet" for homework in my Media Writing class and both of these things are foreign to me -it may take some getting used to.