The Permission to Kick Ass Blog
Misadventures to Make You Feel Good About Life
I believe in eating your own cooking… most of what I’ve learned about how to live a “fearless life” (in quotes because there’s no such thing – people only THINK I’m fearless) comes from making choices (some of them pretty dumb) and taking action. And I’m sharing what I learned (plus any adventures I have along the way) in my blog.
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All this week, I’ve had gas anxiety. Not the kind that necessitates you stay near an open window (though that would have been hilarious). For the last week or two, along certain stretches of the East Coast in the United States, there’s been a gas shortage. Technically speaking, there was plenty of gas. But after the Colonial Pipeline shutdown, people…
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Last Memphis adventure before Stella and I head off to Nashville… PHENOM steak dinner at The Majestic Grille with excellent company courtesy of Raven Followed immediately by the hunt for a shower curtain liner to replace the one Stella suddenly decided she needed to conquer. *sigh* this is traveling with a cat, folks.
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First I had to have a picnic, and of course it was another round of Gus’s Fried Chicken: This was beautiful – I really wish the water had been flowing so you could see the awesomeness and get the full effect. It took me about half an hour to walk from the “start” of the scale model Mississippi to the…
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Managed to hit up multiple museums plus a foodie legend in one weekend. Here are some snaps from the Stax Museum of American Soul Music: And here’s the Memphis Rock ‘n’ Soul Museum: And then there was the Memphis Music Hall of Fame: And then walking around Beale St + a stop at Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken:
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Power’s out at the Airbnb so I took myself out for dinner and something called a “Memphis Cream Cake”. This is a banana cake with peanut butter frosting, topped with chocolate ganache. It is goooooooodddddd. It was GOOD. Not nearly as sweet as it sounds. Kinda like banana bread in terms of flavor and the frosting/ganache combo was WOW. I…
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It’s been ages since I went out to greet the sunrise. This time I walked all the way to Arkansas and back to do it.
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Finally got out and about to do some exploring. Wound up eating some sweet potato pancakes at Arcade Restaurant, where Elvis used to eat. I found some funky local shops and picked up some interesting stuff to commemorate my time here. Then I walked to the Civil Rights Museum, at the Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated. I don’t…
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Lost a little faith in man when I walked out to my car and saw this. Faith restored when I took it to the body shop and the dude did some sort of magic move to pop it back in place (believe me, that was the first thing I tried but he has magic, I swear) and refused to take…
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The Permission to Kick Ass podcast is now live. And it’s got its own special section on the site: Podcast You can listen to episodes there, or through your favorite streaming service!
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Hot “Scotty” at the local Irish pub. This was the right choice. Today’s adventure… A delightful something called “Take Me Back 2 Cali” recommended by the lady on staff. It was a good recommendation Turns out my midday waffle break was right next door to the place where Johnny Cash first performed live.
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I still don’t understand how she reconciles “hates being squirted with the water bottle” with “loves sitting in a just-rinsed sink and getting my ass wet”. Seems to work for her though. Later in the day: I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom I can tell you I don’t…
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Subtitled: “My nuts are poppin’ today!” “dessert near me” A few words typed into Google Maps and that’s how I happened upon Beale Sweets Sugar Shack. I’d just wrapped up lunch and had a hankering for something sweet, so might as well find something in walking distance, right? I look for local places, wherever possible – so this one, not…
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This little place is located walking distance from where I’m staying. It’s called The Beauty Shop restaurant and it actually was a beauty parlor once upon a time. They still have remnants of its past days leftover inside. And apparently this is where Priscilla Presley used to get her hair did. I am way too excited to be eating in…
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I just barely missed the marching of the ducks. I’m gonna catch it at some point though…
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Is my Airbnb haunted? I’ve got a closet door in my bedroom that pops open at random, and it always manages to startle me. I kinda like to imagine it’s haunted… Only this ghost only opens this particular door, for mysterious ghostly reasons. Is it inviting me to Narnia? I like the ghost explanation too – more mystery. Why THIS…
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Her highness and I hitting the road to Memphis… Her song is loud and proud. And continuous. We’re taking a quick food break so I let her out of her backpack prison. She’s being surprisingly chill. I took 55 and there were some parts of MS that are still pretty icy. If the roads weren’t still crappy I’d probably have…
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Unanticipated digital nomad challenge #7532: Never thought I’d be rationing toilet paper so I didn’t have to buy a new pack before I check out of my Airbnb. Try as I might, didn’t make it. Had to buy a 12-pack from the Walgreen’s around the corner with less than 24 hours to go until check out. At least it was…
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Today I’m learning Mardi Gras beading at an event called “Sew and Brew,” down at a local coffee shop. Wish me luck!
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So far I’ve been incredibly fortunate with my Airbnb hosts as I travel. Sending up big gratitude today! I have no idea how I’m gonna eat all this cake. But I’m damn sure gonna try! I learned this from a friend and former NOLA resident, Lisa Perk: You have until midnight on Mardi Gras Day. If you pace yourself and…
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We interrupt your feed with this breaking news: there is no “neat” way to eat a beignet. You will be coated in powdered sugar. The birds will follow you like you’re Snow White. Just embrace your Disney princess moment, and accept that generous dusting of sugar as avant garde fashion. If you haven’t yet experienced the pleasure of a beignet,…
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So grateful for a sunny day and fancy grilled ham and cheese. Can’t get enough of this croque monsieur. I had no idea what to expect when it said it came with a pickled veggie salad but they was goddamn delightful. I found my new favorite place helps that it has a balcony, strong cocktails, and a séance room.
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Yeessssssssss it’s all coming together… Click here and have a listen of the trailer: https://permission-to-kick-ass.simplecast.com/episodes/coming-soon-permission-to-kick-ass (don’t forget to subscribe!) I dragged my feet on that damn thing for so long. But listening to the episodes I’ve already recorded with fresh ears has me all fired up again. I can’t wait to share! Some of my friends and guests are already…
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Instead of Mardi Gras parades (they’ve officially been cancelled because of the pandemic), locals are decorating their houses as “floats”. There are a lot of them along the usual parade route (which I’m near). Here are some I saw while out walking. Its nickname? Yardi Gras. It’s even more fantastic because most of the homeowners that participated wound up hiring…
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It was kinda surreal seeing it in person. I have such mixed feelings. This is the Oak Alley plantation. My family was intermarried/allied with the family that built this sugar plantation. I believe it’s been used as a filming location for several movies, including Interview with the Vampire. Sadly the human cost of this place has gone largely unaccounted for…
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More French Quarter exploration. This time, stuck to the awesomely less people-y Royal St and was happy to see all the artists out painting, set up on the sidewalks
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Just walking around NOLA. Still not entirely sure how I set out to find a bookstore and wound up on Bourbon Street…
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Oh yeah, this is happening. I know you want some too – who wouldn’t want some world-famous stand-in-line-for-them beignets from Cafe du Monde? I learned the hard way that you have to hold your breath when taking a bite of a powdered sugar-coated deep fried pastry. The pigeons are LOVING me and the mess I’ve made I can mail you…
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Despite growing up in central Texas and Houston, I somehow never made it to New Orleans. Decided to remedy that straight away… After 6 hours in a car with a yowling cat, I made it to New Orleans. I really like this little place… Well done, Airbnb.
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When you’re home for the holidays at your mom’s, and her baking business has taken over the spare bedroom… I think I can do this for three days. Adapt. Improvise. Overcome.
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Her royal highness was displeased with getting her shots. The humans however, were all enamored with the black-cat-in-a-backpack look. Stella came through with flying colors, by the way. The backpack, however, needed a thorough washing. Thus we learned the trick of lining the backpack with puppy pee pads. <3
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Radar locked… destruction imminent. Traveling with a cat is interesting. Thankfully Stella is a dog-cat and generally well behaved. Though sometimes I wonder what goes through her brain. Especially times like this, when I catch her thinking deep cat thoughts.
Read More ...I was talking a friend of mine recently who was working on a new client proposal. She was trying to work out what to offer and kept getting stuck, so she reached out and asked me what the difference was between copyediting, copy coaching, and copy chiefing. I answered her privately and she was able to send off her proposal……
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*in my best Tom Hanks in Castaway impression* I HAVE MADE FIRE. (I may be here all night until this thing dies down though, seriously) Fire has a wonderful way of healing things. Even moreso when the flames climb high enough to merit a safety drive-by by the local fire engine company. Just a reminder:
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It’s been about a month since everything went down. I’ve packed up everything and moved to the first Airbnb of the great road trip of 2021. Stella really likes my host’s blanket. She looks like she’s meditating.
Read More ...I was hanging out in a copywriting group the other day (what, doesn’t everyone nerd out over advertising? Just me? Shut up)… and got into an interesting discussion with a newer copywriter. This person was tasked with writing a “generic” ad that could be “reskinned” and used for multiple businesses, with different owners, in multiple geographical areas, in the same…
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My coffee maker is all packed up, so today we had to make a coffee run. Stella’s digging her new travel basket.
Read More ...I have a confession to make: I get easily overwhelmed. If you haven’t met me, hi my name is Angie and this is awkward. If you know me, you’re probably looking at your computer a little like this: Especially since hi, I specialize in really complex marketing plans involving multiple channels of communication, upwards of half a dozen different audiences,…
Read More ...“Another one for the hook…” I’m paraphrasing the punch line of a great story told by Stephen King in his book, On Writing. Back in the day, he’d work his day job and submit stories and book ideas on the side. And he’d get letter after letter back – no. So he hung a hook on the wall. And every…
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It’s time to kick Monday’s ass… This weekend I kicked my own ass. Long story short, on Friday I was roped into helping my aunt move to a little town in the Texas hill country, about 4 hours away from where I currently live. And I was actually happy to do it – because I’d been so sucked into being…
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It’s time to kick Monday’s ass… I think I slept the weekend away. Part of me regrets being so lazy – and the other part of me remembers I work my ass off and when that laziness comes over me, it’s usually my body telling me I need rest. I’m working on this thing lately, where I listen to what…
Read More ...“I just don’t think it’s smart to put fertilizer on the front cover when we’re in the middle of a drought!” I said, frustrated. I was getting pretty close to losing my temper at that point. There were about 10 of us crammed together in a conference room – all the company’s VPs, the merchandisers from the plumbing and garden…
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It’s time to kick Monday’s ass… Lately it’s been hard to come up with ideas and make myself sit still… I’m in the middle of a big transition in my professional life, where I’m slowly disconnecting from things I’ve outgrown into new and exciting arenas I’m pumped to start exploring. And of course with big changes comes big freak outs… That…
Read More ...In my house, we have a game. I call it, “Where will I find X today?” X could be a spoon, a dish towel, a spare roll of TP, maybe a light bulb. No matter where it is, it will definitely NOT be in the last place I saw it. And I am actually neither the creator of this game,…
Read More ...What if, instead of freaking out whenever problems pop up (as if we’ll ever solve ALL the problems)… We focused on creating good problems? It’s a different way to look at the same challenge, but it’s a critical distinction. Rather than focus on lack or overwhelm, often a shift to opportunities created can open your eyes to a new way…
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It’s time to kick Monday’s ass… I’m feeling pretty low energy this week. If you’re not in a hurricane prone area, the stress of watching a storm coming in for weeks is probably not something you’re familiar with. (trust me – that’s a GOOD thing) It’s… sucky. In a word. Because the forecasters never know where it’s going – it’s all…
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