All posts in: Cool Material

20 Jul 2019

A Pop Up Bar In A National Park

A couple years ago when I randomly by chance won a piece of Herschel luggage through a local boutique, my entire perspective on luck and giveaways changed. It may have taken me 27 years to “win” something, but in some crazy way, I thought my odds had increased. Going forward, I started to think that all was possible and that I’d have this continued luck again. I signed up for more giveaways. Lexi happens to be my designated friend when it comes to Instagram giveaway posts where tagging a friend is required. Don’t worry; I’m hers too!

The downside to all of this is that I receive 10x the amount of emails from brands than I ever did before. I’m still trying to find a block of time I set aside for myself to unsubscribe to all of these. I’ve learned to prioritize certain giveaways and opportunities. Every once in a while though, there’s one that is worth sharing.

Full disclosure: this event happened today, but I’m looking forward to seeing if anyone actually won it! In one of the most innovative contests I’ve heard of, Busch Beer has created a pop up bar within a national park somewhere in the country. There are 154 national parks in case you were wondering like I was. The winner that finds it will receive free Busch Light beer for life. There are a few runner up prizes too, but honestly they don’t compare.

In other facts you should know, Busch actually works with the National Forest Foundation and has committed to planting 100 trees for every person that finds the pop up. If any of you read about this winner before I do, I expect that you’ll inform me.

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16 Feb 2019

“Yesterday” Movie Trailer

I may offend some people with this statement, but I’ve never been a true Beatles fan growing up. It wasn’t in my wheelhouse and it wasn’t passed down to me by my family. I obviously have a great appreciation for the band and their music though. And I recognize how iconic they are. “Across the Universe” though never did it for me. It’s funny, isn’t it, how some bands and artists can mean the world to one person and not to the next. I think that band for me is actually Death Cab for Cutie. Do we think they’d ever get a film though?

I watched this movie trailer the other week for “Yesterday” and gravitated towards it pretty quickly. Actor Himesh Patel play Jack – a character who loves performing covers of The Beatles. One day he wakes up only to realize that The Beatles never existed. As he’s playing their songs to his friends and family, they believe them to be originals as opposed to covers. This picks up and he rises to stardom out of nowhere!

“Yesterday” is in theaters starting September 19th and stars actress Lily James and is directed by Danny Boyle. The film also boasts cameos from James Corden and Ed Sheeran.

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26 Jan 2019

Would You Light It?

The fact that candles can come in all different flavors – even the weird ones – never surprises me. I love gravy more than the average human, but it’s hard to imagine what it would be like to have that scent wafting around in my apartment. My guess is that it would have me craving Thanksgiving or KFC and I’d have to satisfy that right away. Is this candle just a tease here? Also would lighting this make me feel like that I couldn’t escape that scent and I would essentially smell like gravy? I’m not sure how this outcome could be a positive one, but I respect the creativity.

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13 Oct 2018

Nike x Pendleton Sneaker Collaboration

A collaboration of my two favorite things! If there’s one product that I’ve received through blogging that is truly Northwest, it is my treasured Pendleton blanket. I’ll never forget the day that box arrived on my doorstep. Since then, it has moved with me to three different apartments and kept me warm and snuggly through what I consider some harsh west coast winters. I can admit that it will never be as cold here as it is on the east coast. In this new collab, Pendleton and Nike join forces for the ultimate cozy sneaker. There are 29 sneakers that belong to the collection and they come in a number of styles including: Blazer Low, Air Max 1, and Air Max 90.

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09 Sep 2018

Blog Roundup

  • The Guide to Every Wedding Dress Code (for men) [Esquire]
  • Second Life Podcast: Linda Wells on Founding Allure, Being Fired and Moving On [My Domaine]

  • 30 Days Inside Chinese Livestreaming [Beme News]
  • America’s Best New Restaurants of 2018 [Bon Appétit]
  • How the 1 Percent Do Burning Man [NY Post]
  • 50 Things Every Guy Should Know How to Cook [Cool Material]

  • How Heath Ledger’s Joker Was Born

  • Stretchy Ice Cream Is About To Be Your New Summer Obsession [Thrillist]
  • Constance Wu’s Beauty Picks [New York Times]
  • 8 Ways to Make Your Flight Better [New York Times]
  • Secrets of Las Vegas’s Exclusive High-Roller Cosmopolitan Suite [Bloomberg]
19 Jul 2018

Blog Roundup

  • A Spice Girls Exhibit Is Coming This Summer [Nylon]
  • The Emojis We Don’t Need [Vice]
  • Aly Raisman Takes The Floor [ESPN]

  • America’s Ramen Obsession, Explained – I don’t know if I agree with how yummy all these creations are supposed to be! [The New Yorker]

  • ‘Sister Survivors’ and victims of Larry Nassar Accept the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the ESPYS last night [Vogue]
24 Jun 2018

Instagram Launches IGTV

This week, Instagram CEO, Kevin Systrom announced the launch of IGTV. If you loved creating content on stories, then you’re going to love IGTV because instead of just having bite-size content, you can now have a recorded video up to an hour long. I was told that if I updated my app that I’d have IGTV within it so that I can watch the videos of those I already follow, but have yet to see it appear. Instead, I decided to download the standalone app so that I could see what this was all about.

So far, I’ve watched a couple of videos, but the biggest takeaway is really that it’s a longer version of Stories. The format that I seem to be drawn to within IGTV is anything that resembles a Q&A or an interview, but ultimately I love the bite-size content more because it feels shorter. If I were at work, I wouldn’t feel comfortable watching an entire video off of IGTV.

It has been less than a week and since I don’t have it fully integrated into my app just yet, I want to be able to give it a fair shot. At some point, I even want to try recording my own IGTV video or putting a string of videos together for my own channel. Until I’ve given it some more thought though, we’re going to put this on hold!

Readers, have you tried out this feature and are you into it? I know everyone was quite bullish on Stories at first, but look at how quickly you all adopted that into your lives!

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26 Feb 2018

Blog Roundup

  • A team of 14 female Nike designers reimagined the Air Force 1 and Air Jordan 1. The result? 10 new creations. [Fashionista]
  • Most popular shows on Netflix in 2017 by state [High Speed Internet]
  • How to: cut down your wedding list [Vogue]
  • How to nail your first 5 minutes [Valet Mag]

  • Frank Ocean interviews Timothee Chalamet [vman]
  • Why do Google, Airbnb and Pinterest all have similar logos? [Fast Company]
  • The 10 best films from the last decade [Cool Material]
  • How to break up with your phone [New York Times]
  • 10 Cooking mistakes home cooks make [Cool Material]
25 Jun 2017

Blog Roundup

We’re doing a different format this week. This two-part article about a girl who texted her boyfriend to commit suicide is now facing nearly 20 years in prison. Read the two parts to the article here:

  • The Bizarre Trial of the 20-year-old Who Texted Her Boyfriend to Kill Himself [Vice]
  • Inside the Tense Courtroom When the Suicide Texter was Found Guilty [Vice]

Other roundup news:

  • Chance the Rapper Hires American Sign Language interpreters for upcoming shows [Hypebeast]
  • What Would Happen If You Never Used An Alarm Clock? [Digg]

  • Skateboarding legend Brain Anderson on coming out [The New Yorker]
  • I was an investor, she was a founder. [Source]