#the author was inspired to write this post after hosting a dinner party for two (2) people and coming out of it shaking and covered in blood

[plantsjustwannahavefun]

Hannibal really is the ultimate comfort character, though. People get weirded out when I tell them, but once you get past the whole manipulation, serial murder, and cannibalism thing... No really I mean it, just look past all that for a sec and watch him.

Seeing him go about his day feels like taking a Xanax. I've never seen a character who's just so fucking competent before. Everything he does turns out perfect. And he makes it look so easy. He's so calm and collected and content and in control all the time. Well, most of the time - but even those rare times when things aren't going his way, he's amused and excited, ready to take on the challenge. There's literally a YouTube video called Hannibal cooking ASMR because even just watching him cook feels so calming. He's almost supernaturally graceful and competent about it.

You just keep watching, enthralled, and hoping some of that unshakable confidence and prowess will rub off on you through osmosis. It won't, of course - but just for a few minutes or hours, you get to lose yourself in the fantasy that you, too, could host haute cuisine dinner parties on a weekly basis, become an expert on Italian literature, and beat the national record for owning the most handmade suits, all while holding down a full-time job.

[raysofcrosby]

LITTLE DO YOU KNOW PT. 12

"𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘭𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘬���, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺." ━ 𝐉.𝐑.𝐑. 𝐓𝐨𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐞𝐧, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠

gif credit (x)

series masterlist

requested: yes | no

warnings: nope.

word count: 6,844 [once again, unedited lol]

authors note: THIS IS IT!! the finale of my tyler seguin series– ‘little do you know!’ this series honestly started out as a little fic idea i wrote down in my notes app on a road trip this time last year. i didn’t think much would come of it and when i decided to post it on here, i figured it’d flame away. but yall literally took it to a whole ‘nother level and i love yall for that so so much. you’ve sent messages, reblogged, liked and it’s still mind-blowing to me. i’m so happy that you guys enjoyed this series as much as i’ve loved writing it– and while it saddens me that it’s over, i can’t wait to bring you guys more material. okok enough of my rambling, here’s the finale!

Don't trip, don't trip, don't trip

That was all that echoed through your mind the moment your name was called for you to receive your diploma. You hadn't even thought about that being a possibility until last night, at yours and Kennedy's joint graduation dinner, when your brothers brought up how funny it would be if the two of you face-planted in front of the huge crowd.

And when you crossed the stage with grace, taking in the cheers that followed your name as you stood beside the University President with your diploma in hand– you swore that this was the happiest moment of your life. When you got back to your seat and the rest of the names continued to get called, you couldn't help but spend that time, looking at your folder and thinking back on your last few months.

You rang in the new year at a team party hosted by the Stars organization that was attended by the team, the staff, and their friends and family. It was nice, coming off of an amazing Christmas spent with your family and being down in Dallas. You had left the city, days earlier in the worst amount of pain and dreaded having to come back to it once school started again. Yet being there, waiting for the ball to drop, surrounded by your parents, your friends and the Dallas Stars, was enough to make you forget all about that pain. And with Tyler on your arm, kissing you into the new year, you truly couldn't wait to see just what 2020 could bring into your life.

And if the Stars 4-2 Winter Classic win over Nashville wasn't a sign of the good that the Universe planned to come your way– well, you didn't want to think about that. You didn't believe it when everyone said that the months would fly by as soon as the spring semester started– but they truly had. Your classes had kept you busy during the day while working the Stars games kept you busy at night. You had kept true to your word, and both you and Kennedy had befriended Paisley– the three of you becoming close in just a short amount of time. When the All-Star break came and your many, many votes for Jamie to be one of the 'last men in' were ignored, Tyler offered you a spot on the trip.

It was one thing, knowing that he'd rather have spent that entire week with you somewhere, doing anything and everything but thinking about hockey. And being in St. Louis in the middle of winter didn't really scream 'yes, please!' But taking the weekend off away from school and supporting him and watching him do what he loves while inspiring all of hockey's next generation of players...was enough to make you want to go.

As the weeks went on, Dave and Craig let you take on more and more responsibility as you could, and ones that didn't require you needing the board certification that you were already planning to take. They gave you advice on applying to Masters programs and Craig, sometimes even let you take his place on the bench during games. It wasn't a frequent thing, maybe once or twice every two to three weeks– but it was still cool as hell.

When spring break rolled around, you and Kennedy rubbed it into the faces of your Stars friends, when you announced your spring break plans with Paisley. While most of them had been to Cabo once or twice before, it was a getaway most of them desired for since the toll of the season was starting to weigh them down. Before you knew it, finals week was here and then boom...graduation.

In the last five months, your entire senior year flashed right before your eyes– and the moments that stood out the most always had the most important people in your life.

Your friends.

Your brothers and er- adopted brothers.

And Tyler...and the puppers.

The sound of cheering knocked you out of your thoughts and you saw all of your classmates standing up around you. You followed suit, holding onto the diploma tightly as you looked around you. You couldn't wrap your mind around how four years had come to an end so quickly. All of the weekends, the study nights, the parties off campus– everything, your entire college experience had wrapped up in four hours. As the crowd began to disperse and everyone went in search of their families, you looked around for Kennedy and Paisley, heading towards the meeting spot that the three of you had designated beforehand.

The Texas heat practically slapped you in the face as you used your diploma as a way to block the sun. Leaning out by a pillar just outside the auditorium, your two friends swarmed you from either side, the three of you hugging and trying not to cry. Even though Paisley had come into your friend group so late, it was like she was a missing piece of your friendship puzzle that well, you never knew you needed. When the three of you pulled away from one another, it only took one passing look before you burst into laughter.

"Ugh, why are we like this?" Kennedy laughed, sniffling and wiping her cheeks.

"I'm just happy that I'm no longer in that arena. You'd think with as expensive as the tuition is, they'd have decent air conditioning." Paisley added on, taking off her cap and wiping at her forehead. She turned off to the side and nodded her head. "I see my family, but we're all still on for lunch, right?"

Kennedy and you nodded as she waved and walked off, disappearing into the crowd. You relaxed more against the pillar, looking at your surroundings once more. "I can't believe it's over."

"Oh God, don't you start that," Kennedy came up next to you and plopped back against the pillar. "Get out of your emotions, Y/N. This isn't the time, especially today!"

And she was right, today was not the best day to get all in your feelings and be sad about your college experience coming to an end. Today...or rather, tonight, was so much more important.

"THERE'S MY FAVORITE GRADUATE!"

You and Kennedy looked up to see Big Rig towering over the crowd of people as his frame practically parted the crowd. Kennedy's parents were drifting behind him, all smiles as Big Rig carried flowers in his hands. "Hi, favorite boyfriend."

You rolled your eyes as he picked her up and spun her around carefully, kissing her before placing her back down onto the ground. "Favorite boyfriend? Are you telling me you have more than one?"

"Eh, I forgot about what's his name for the weekends," she joked, standing on her tippy toes and kissing him again. "You're my number one, though."

He smiled and handed her his flowers before turning to you, "ah, my second favorite graduate and first favorite Benn!" He wrapped you up in a hug and lifted you off the ground. "Don't worry, I got you flowers as well." He put you back down and handed you the other bouquet he was carrying.

"Hey, the only one who brings her flowers is me!" You turned to see Tyler standing there all dressed up with a smile on his face. When you looked past him, you saw the rest of your group stopped and talking to Kennedy's parents.

"Hey now, I'm more than okay with receiving gifts," you smiled, as Tyler made his way over to you and wrapped his arms around your waist. "But your flowers are my favorite."

He leaned in and kissed you, pulling away and tapping your graduation cap before bringing the bouquet in between the two of you. "There's a little gift in there too, from the puppers and I."

You looked down in the bouquet to see a black box with a small, red bow sitting in the middle of it. You picked it up and then looked back at Tyler with a raised eyebrow. "But Tyler, I just graduated college...I'm too young to get married."

The way his eyes bulged out of his head was enough to make you want to double over in laughter. When he registered the sarcasm in his voice, he rolled his eyes and nodded. "Haha, very funny, Y/N," he tucked the bouquet in the crook of his arm and nodded down at the box. "But just so you know, my proposal would be 100x better than this."

Your heart fluttered at the thought of Tyler proposing to you. Sure, you were nowhere near ready for marriage and neither was Tyler. And when you said it, it was a total joke. But the thought of it...was still a nice one. You looked back down at the box and lifted up the lid, revealing a stunning gold, heart-shaped locket. "Oh, Tyler..."

"Go ahead, open it." He smiled, nodding his head down at the locket before looking back at you. You pulled the necklace out of the box and opened the locket, revealing two pictures tucked on the inside. "Cassidy and Candace helped me cut out the pictures, I guess my first-grade arts and crafts projects proved that scissors and I don't go together well."

You smiled down at the locket, taking in the pictures Tyler had chosen. On the left, was a picture of the three goodest Seguin boys sitting at attention, all smiles and tongues. On the right, was probably your favorite picture you and Tyler had ever taken. It was at the family skate for the winter classic, the two of you had been skating around and having fun, and after beating Tyler in the first of many races, he had wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you into him– preventing you from skating away. You were laughing, trying to wrestle out of his grip as he buried his face into the crook of your neck, blowing raspberries and only making you squirm more. Kennedy had snapped the candid, right at the moment, you had turned to look at him with a smile on his face and seconds before he leaned in to kiss you.

Literally a picture-perfect moment.

"I got it engraved on the back too," he reached out and flipped the locket over, revealing the small engraving on the backside. "They're coordinates."

"Coordinates? But to where?" you smiled, running your finger over the numbers.

"Dallas," he nodded, pointing at the engraving just below that.

My favorite memories and more. I love you.

You looked down at the locket, continuously running your thumb over the small engraving as you tried to hold back the tears. It was incredibly sweet of him to do this. At most, you expected flowers– but not something as sentimental as this. Yet as always, Tyler was always giving you more than you expected or felt like you deserved.

"I love you." You smiled, finally looking up at him before handing him the necklace and turning around, holding your hair up. "Can you?"

He handed the flowers off to Big Rig before placing the locket around your neck. The moment he clasped it off and you felt the weight of the necklace rest right at your chest, you turned around and wrapped your arms around his neck, kissing him. "I'm proud of you and I love you, Y/N. I hope you know that."

You nudged his nose with your own and smiled, "I know."

He hugged you closer to him, kissing you again until someone cleared their throat, interrupting the moment. "This is nice and all, but let me hug my sister, Seggy."

Tyler stepped away, taking the flowers back from Big Rig as Jamie, Jordie, and Jenn huddled behind him. Tyler and Jamie were back to normal, what happened over Christmas playing a huge part in it. Jamie, of course, had a few understandable ground rules: no extensive PDA in front of him and no discussing bedroom activities in the locker room, both of which you understood completely.

You were swarmed by your three older siblings, all three wrapping you up into a big hug and refusing to give you any air to breathe– but you were okay with it. You experienced a time where you knew that one of them had wanted nothing to do with you at one point, and you never wanted to experience that again. So this, lung crushing hug– was perfect.

"Okay, okay, give her some air you three," your mom said, swatting them away as yours and Kennedy's families group together. "Gosh, look at the two of you...college graduates."

"Yeah, honestly we never thought you'd make it here– OW!" Jordie said, glaring at your mom. "What? It's the truth? Don't you remember how homesick they were freshman year?"

"Oh yeah!" Jamie laughed, pointing at you and Kennedy. "Family weekend, you guys had an intervention with the two of them, telling them that they couldn't camp out in Kennedy's living room anymore on the weekends."

"And look how much gas money we saved on that," Kennedy's dad chimed in, wrapping his arm around her mom. "You girls sure have grown up these last few years...it makes us proud."

"Now about this Hawaii trip..." you smiled, looking at your two older brothers.

Jamie and Jordie looked at one another and Jamie shook his head. "I told you it wouldn't take her long to bring it up."

"Well, you're the one who ruined the surprise."

"Okay, but how was I supposed to know–"

"Boys, boys, boys," Kennedy said, walking over to the two older Benn boys. "Why argue, when you can give us the details on our extravagant, Hawaiian vacation?"

"Girls, we'll discuss it over lunch when we're with Paisley too, can the two of you wait that long?" Your mom asked, shaking her head.

"The lunch that four said big hockey players won't be at because they have to take a pre-game nap?" You smiled, standing up straighter. "Sounds great to me."

"Speaking of the game tonight, we're excited to see you guys play!" Kennedy's mom said, nodding at Big Rig. "Finally get to see the four boys we've heard so much about, in action."

"Please Mrs. Stewart, don't boost their egos any more than they already are." You teased, bumping into Tyler.

"Okay, okay enough talk! If we want to make our reservations we'll need to get some pictures done! Boys– er, boyfriends, you guys with the two girls first." Your dad directed, ushering the conversation forward.

Everyone cleared out in the circle as Big Rig and Tyler came to take a picture with Kennedy and you. Tyler stood on your right as Big Rig stood in between you and Kennedy, all four of you standing close and looking at the cameras, ready for the picture. "I'm kind of jealous of their hats," Tyler said, smiling through his words.

"I know, it's kind of depressing to know that our girlfriends are hotter and smarter than us, now."

"And you better not forget it," You added in, scrunching your nose as Tyler.

"Yeah, but after tonight, we'll be able to say that our boyfriends are the 2020 Western Conference Champions, so which is better?"

Tyler and Big Rig looked at each other and nodded their heads. "Hot girlfriends."

You and Kennedy nudged them both in the ribs before your parents made you take another picture.

❒❒❒❒

Your post-grad lunch surrounded by family and friends was exactly what you needed to take your mind off of the end of your undergrad years and especially, tonight. Jamie, Big Rig, Jordie, and Tyler weren't originally supposed to tag along, but never like to be left out, they opted to join your already huge lunch party. More than once, you often caught yourself slipping out of conversations and just looking around at the table, wondering just how you ended up in your current spot. You had two amazing girlfriends, their families, your own family, your siblings and of course, Tyler.

After the lunch had ended, your four hockey boys went their separate ways to prepare themselves for tonight's game. Jamie had offered up his place for everyone to relax before the game with the one rule that nobody bothered him the moment he went upstairs to take his nap. It was comical, watching him try to lecture the three pairs of parents on how important a pre-game nap was. So, all three families went to Jamie's place and settled down in the living room, mingling and talking about how excited they were to watch the game from the suite that Jamie, Tyler and Big Rig had gotten for the big group. You had chosen to let Tyler have his rest back at his place, deciding to tag along with your parents back to Jamie's house.

And that's when it happened. No sooner than you guys stepped foot into his front door, your mom practically spazzed out, "Oh shoot, I almost forgot!" She rushed into the kitchen, bringing back two envelopes for you. "These came in for you just before we left home. I meant to give them to you at lunch, but I forgot them here this morning."

"What are they?"

"Ooh, maybe it's cash. A million dollars perhaps, Mrs. B?" Kennedy joked, plopping down next to Katie on Jamie's couch.

"Oh no, that'd be a gift from her two loving brothers," your mom laughed, handing over the envelopes to you. "Go ahead, open them."

You took the envelopes from her and flipped them over, seeing two familiar emblems and names written in the top left corner of each. You looked at your parents with wide eyes and they both just smiled. "Do you think...?"

"Only one way to find out."

You took a deep, calming breath before opening the first envelope. You closed your eyes, unfolding the letter before opening it again and letting your eyes dwindle down the paper. "Oh my God...I got in," you let the letter fall from your face as you looked at your parents. "I got in!!"

"Where, where? Which one?" Kennedy cheered, springing off the couch as everyone maneuvered into the living room.

"Houston," you shook your head in shock. "I got into their Masters Athletic Training program."

"Oh God, please stop getting degrees," Jamie groaned, coming in from the kitchen with a water bottle. "It's bad enough you've already got a jump on us, but one more?"

"You can go to school too, Jamie," Katie replied, rolling her eyes. "Open the second one!"

"I bet you got into there too," Jennie smiled, taking a seat on the couch armrest.

"I doubt it," you sighed, looking at the second envelope. "It's USF. They're one of the top programs in the country."

"Well, you'll never know if you don't open it," Jamie replied, coming up by your mom. "And please do it soon, I need my nap."

You stared at the USF logo in the left corner, trying to feel the envelope as if you'd be able to tell it was a rejection letter without opening it. You had only applied to two programs– U of Houston and USF, with USF being your number one choice. Turning the envelope over, you ripped the seal and pulled the folded letter out. You stared at the back of the paper, trying to build the nerve to unfold the letter when you looked up and immediately made eye contact with Jamie.

He sighed and came over, holding out his hand for you to hand the letter over. You placed it in his hand and without hesitation, he unfolded it and brought it up to his face. You watched as his eyes skimmed over the letter, his face showing no sign of emotion. "Well shit," he sighed, sounding defeated.

"No? It's no isn't it?"

"No, it looks like I'll be seeing you in Tampa instead of Houston," he turned the paper around and smiled. "You got in."

Your eyes widened as you read the first word of the letter over and over again. 'Congratulations!' You looked up at Jamie and jumped into his arms. "I got in!"

He hugged you tight and spun you around a little as the rest of the group was all smiles and cheers. "I'm proud of you, kid. I know you've worked hard for this," he put you back onto the ground and handed over your letter. "And you've earned every bit of it."

You were in disbelief, you had actually gotten into both Masters programs. As you stared at your two letters, you couldn't help but feel incredibly proud of the work you'd put in your last four years of undergrad. And as soon as the cheers and voices of everyone around you faded out, the thought that had been lingering in the back of your mind since you applied for the programs, came forward.

If you went to USF...then what about Tyler?

❒❒❒❒

The atmosphere in the arena was insane, and why wouldn't it be? Tonight was the potential final game of the Western Conference Championship. Both of your brothers were playing tonight and the Stars were leading the series 3-0.

Needless to say, tonight was a very, very important night.

So important, that you hadn't even thought to tell anyone besides those who were at the house when you found out about your acceptance into the two masters programs. You figured that after the game was the best time to tell Big Rig and Tyler, not before they had one of the biggest games of their career. That, and it gave you a little more time to really consider what to do about choosing a program. USF was your number one choice and you only applied to U of Houston as a backup. But now that you've gotten into both, what the hell were you supposed to do?

You spent all of that quality pre-game relaxation time asking Kennedy and Paisley what they thought you should do. You and Tyler had just started officially dating only months ago and now there was a huge potential that you would be moving 15 hours away? How the hell would that affect your relationship? You didn't even want to think about that, because you had already almost lost Tyler once...you didn't want to risk it again.

But you wanted to go to USF, so badly. It was as if your brain and your heart were tugging you in two different directions. One being, that if you choose to go to USF for the next two years, your relationship with Tyler would be up in the air and fall apart as quickly as it had come together the first time. The other being, that you couldn't let a relationship dictate over what would be the best for you and your education. The battle inside of you was at such a high, but the moment that you walked into the training room and heard the chatter and laughter of the boys waiting to be helped, it was as if that was washed away and the real worry at hand took over.

As serious of a game, this was going to be, you'd never know it by the way the boys were in the training room or even down the corridors doing their pre-game stuff. You were immediately greeted with cheers and congratulations, followed by the 'smarty-pants' and 'nerd' chirps. But you loved every moment of it because it was coming from them and you knew that they meant it in a heartfelt way.

You were already finished with helping Big Rig and his stretches when Tyler had come in and requested you to tape his ankles, of course. You were already done with one when the door opened and Dave walked in with Craig behind him, both coming back from helping some of the guys out in the hallway.

"Y/N! We just heard!" Craig smiled, walking past as Jamie followed in behind home.

"You got into USF? Great job, kid! Their program is one of the best in the country," Dave added, coming to a stop by you and patting you on the shoulder. "And as a graduation present from Craig and I, you get to be with us on the bench today. Get a taste of the real playoff run stuff." He walked by and went to his desk, plopping down into his chair. "Also, if you have to do some more internship stuff down there, Tom Mulligan is a good friend of mine. I can see if I can get you one there if you'd like?"

"That'd be cool, thanks, Dave." You smiled, turning your attention back to Tyler's ankle as the guys around you cheered even more for you.

"What? You got into USF? That's awesome!" Tyler asked, bending his foot to get you to look up at him. "Wait, what's that? I've never heard of that school here..."

"That's because it's not in Texas," you took a deep breath, looking back down at his foot and mentally cursing Jamie for telling Dave and Craig. This is not how you wanted Tyler to find out, ideally...he'd find out eh...weeks from now. "It's in Tampa."

"But–"

"You're all done." Before he could say anything else, you finish wrapping his ankle and tap the tape, signaling that he's done. You went to stand up when Pavs called you over, asking if you could tape him too.

Tyler sat there on the table for a moment, watching you and still looking confused before finally hopping off, returning his heating pad and walking out of the training room. You could still feel the tension in your shoulders as you went on and helped Pavs and then a few more of the guys, and though Tyler wasn't in the room with you, it was as if you could still feel his gaze on you. When the training room cleared out the closer it got to warm-ups, you leaned back against a table and took a deep breath, letting it out seconds later and feeling yourself relax.

You weren't even playing in the game tonight and you were nervous. It felt a little weird, having both brothers having to play each other. Sure, they'd done it before during the regular season...but this was different. This was to get to the Stanley Cup Finals– and one brother would go, while the other one wouldn't. It made you anxious. You check your watch to see you have some time to grab a water bottle from the lounge before the game started and you left the training room.

No sooner than you stepped out of the room and started to make your way down to the lounge, were you then pulled away by your wrist and cornered by Tyler. "Jesus, Tyler," you sighed. "You scared me."

"Sorry, I just wanted to talk," he said, an arm extended out towards the wall and holding himself up. "So what's up? I can tell something's up with you."

"Really? Oh no, uh," you coughed, shaking your head. "It must be the nerves of being on the bench tonight."

He rolled his eyes, "nice try, but you've been on the bench before." He let his arm down and rested his shoulder against the wall, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow. "Care to try again?"

"So, like...I applied to two schools, one here in Houston and the other...USF." You sighed, your shoulders collapsing as you caught sight of the locket resting just below the open collar of your polo. "USF is one of the top programs in the country and U of Houston was my backup...and I– I'm just trying to figure out where to go."

"Do you want to go to USF?" Tyler asked nonchalantly.

"Eh."

"Eh?" He laughed, standing up straight. "You just said it was your top choice, so obviously you want to go there. Why aren't you more excited?"

You huffed and crossed your arms, biting the inside of your cheek before looking at him. "Because it's in Florida, it's a two-year program, we just started dating and I–"

He tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow again. "And you?"

Defeated, you slumped back against the wall, staring back down at your shoes. "I don't want to leave us...you. I just–" you turned to him, uncrossing your arms and raising them halfway, only to let them drop back down at your sides. "This is new and I don't want to ruin it."

He opened his mouth to say something when Jamie's voice erupted from the hall. "Seggy come on, let's go!"

"Hey, Y/N, can you help me unpack this tape really quick?" Craig called out, moments later.

You sighed, looking back down at the floor when Tyler reached for your hand and squeezed it, causing you to look up at him. "We'll have to talk about this after the game, okay?" You nodded and he leaned in, kissed your cheek, whispered "congratulations," and then disappeared down the hall with your brother.

Okay, okay that didn't go as bad as you thought it would. Now it's just time to survive the game and maybe you'd end up surviving the 'talk' you and Tyler were going to have afterward....maybe.

❒❒❒❒

Never has there been a time where you wanted to throw a water bottle as a ref or a linesman's face, yet in this game, it was a constant need almost ever five minutes. You were agitated for both sides, really. Calls were being missed, penalties being blatantly ignored– God, it led you wondering how people even managed to survive playoff hockey. Even though you could feel your blood pressure rise with every play, there was no better feeling than being there on the bench and watching it all unfold in front of you.

Yeah, this is definitely what you wanted to do for the rest of your life.

You've been around hockey your entire life. Whether it was watching your older brothers play or even taking a shot at it yourself– hockey was a constant thing in your family. You've watched enough games in your 22 years of life that could fill an average person's full desire for hockey. But this, being there on the bench, knowing that you're the person that helps the players keep up with their performance and take care of their bodies– was a whole ‘nother thing.

It was a never-ending rush of adrenaline and you had Dave and Craig to thank for this entire experience. Why Craig decided to hang back in the training room and let you take his place on the bench, you had absolutely no idea. But you weren't going to complain, one bit.

Your eyes drifted up towards the jumbotron and saw the time remaining in the second period. there was only a minute left and the Stars still had a 2-1 lead. Dobby was a brick wall, you hadn't seen him play like this and his regular season stats were already fire. As time dwindled down and the shifts were changing you heard a whistle blow and play stopped. Dave looked at you and nodded his head. "You go to Jamie, and I'll go help, Klinger."

"Me?!" You squealed, holding onto the fanny pack rested around your waist.

"Yes, you– it's okay. Jamie's tough, probably nothing too serious." He replied, stepping out onto the ice as Rads helped him over.

You felt your heart begin to race as Bishop opened the door for you and you stepped out onto the ice. Big Rig was right there to help you over to Jamie and Tyler skated over soon after, making it a faster trip over to your brother. The adrenaline was surely pumping through you now as you quickly looked out into the crowd and saw the thousands of people surrounding you. "Oh wow," you gulped, holding onto the towel in your hand.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Big Rig laughed as they brought you to a stop in front of Jamie, who was pushing himself up onto his knees.

"What's up big boy?" You asked, looking down at your brother before crouching down on to the ice. He was bleeding on his forehead, just beneath his helmet. "Holy fuck you're bleeding!"

"Well yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what the red stuff is, Y/N." Big Rig chuckled, resting against his stick.

"I think the fucking puck nailed Klinger and ricocheted and hit me," he sucked in air through his teeth as he checked in on Klinger. When his eyes settled back on you he chuckled. "Wow, I guess they just send anyone out on the ice these days, huh?"

"Dave said it wasn't this serious, though!" You panicked slightly, bending down more to get a glimpse at his cut as you reached for the helmet. "This is why mom got the two of you visors for Christmas, you bonehead."

You examined the cut to make sure his helmet hadn't chipped and gone into the wound. You pressed the towel against his head as he laughed. "Shut up or I'll ask Craig to let me stitch you up too– that should be fun."

His eyes went wide at your suggestion, just as Jordie came to a stop by your group. "How's he doing doc? Is he going to lose a few brain cells?"

Oh, how the announcers for the game must be losing their minds– three Benn's on the ice in a Western Conference Championship game. Talk about social media gold.

"It wouldn't matter if he did," you said, nodding back down at Jamie. "I'd still be the smartest in the family."

Jamie groaned and started to stand up without you, but you kept the pressure on his forehead until he was fully standing and took over the pressure on his own. "Yeah, yeah, shut up the both of you."

You walked alongside him as Tyler and Big Rig followed you back, Jordie trailing not too far behind. When you reached the bench, Jamie walked back to the training room and you stepped back into the bench. "Looking good out here, Y/N. I guess the degree hasn't gone to waste, huh?" Jordie joked.

"Oh yeah," you laughed, tugging on our fanny pack and motioning towards the tunnel. "Putting good use to it all seven hours I've had it."

Jordie just winked as he skated off back towards his own bench, just as Dave and Klinger came off of the ice. Klinger looked fine, but since the period was ending soon, he was probably going back to get ahead of the crowd and get checked on. "Everything okay?" Dave asked, nodding his head down the tunnel.

"Oh yeah, just a cut. It doesn't need any stitches or anything, it can just be cleaned, if at most glued. But don't tell Jamie I said that, I already said Craig would let me stitch him up."

Dave threw his head back and laughed as the two of you turned towards the ice as play resumed. He crossed his arms, staring out at the ice before nodding ahead. "I meant what I said, Y/N. I can give you a recommendation to Tom. You've got the heart for this, the skills and you're a hard worker."

You bit the inside of your cheek, still unsure if you were even going to be in that area, though the offer was nice. "Can I get back to you on that?"

Dave nodded as the period came to an end and the players made their way down the tunnel. "Sure thing, kid. But I can tell you one thing, even just based on seeing you in the training room and then just now, you're a natural for this."

You stood there for a few moments longer, taking in the empty ice and the full arena. You took a deep breath and sighed as his words replayed in your mind.

'You're a natural.'

'You've got the heart for this.’

'The skills...'

You tapped your hand against the wall and smiled, before turning away from the ice and walking back down the tunnel.

❒❒❒❒

This couldn't be real.

You had to be fucking dreaming right now.

The Stars were headed to the Stanley Cup Finals and Tyler had scored the game-winning goal in the last shootout round, to send them there. The moment that the puck flew past Markstrom and the team erupted on of the bench, you felt like running onto the ice with them. Instead, you were attacked with a hug from Big Rig before he followed his teammates off of the bench and on to the ice. It was surreal, hearing the cheers erupt all around you.

It was almost deafening.

You couldn't stop shaking even as you watched the ceremony of the boys receiving their hats from the NHL and then the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl from the NHL commissioner. You wanted to cry when you saw Jamie lead the team over to get their picture behind it. Even by the time that everything had calmed down and the families were allowed to come on to the ice to congratulate their players, it still felt like it was a dream.

When you finally got onto the ice with your family, the whole thing was a big blur. It was like you hopped from picture to picture, congratulations leaving your lips time after time as your heart swelled with pride at what your team had accomplished. You were standing back, watching your parents snap pictures of your brother and Katie and relaxing, taking in the scene of the fans still cheering on the boys.

"Y/N! Y/N!" You looked to your left to see Candace and Cassidy both headed your way with big smiles on their faces. The three of you hugged as you looked around for Tyler, knowing that he was probably done taking pictures with his family.

"Can you believe it?" Cassidy smiled, holding onto your arm. "They're going to the Stanley Cup finals!"

"Who would've thought that our average player of a brother would be the won to score the game-winning goal that sends them to the finals, huh?" Candace joked, her eyebrows raising as she looked past you.

You turned to see Tyler making his way over to you and you felt your cheeks redden and your heart race. "I think that's our cue to leave, but come find us afterward! We want pictures." Cassidy smiled, squeezing your arm before pulling Candace away.

You laughed as they walked away just as Tyler had reached you. He was hearing his hat proudly on his head and had the grin you loved so much plastered on his face. "Well hey, there champio–"

Before you could even say anything, he sweeps you up into his arms and kisses you. You wrap your arms around his neck, pouring every bit of love you had for him into the kiss before he pulled away, still holding you in his arms. "I want you to go," he huffed, out of breath.

"Huh?" You asked, tilting your head to the side.

"To USF. I want you to go."

"But–"

"No, no buts." He placed you back down onto the ice and kept his arms around your waist, looking down at you. "This is your dream. That's the best program in the country and don't try to tell me different because I even heard Dave say it."

Your jaw dropped, still stunned at what he was saying. "But–" He looked at you with a raised eyebrow and you sighed. "But I don't want to leave you..."

"We can hang out when we come to play Tampa. I can visit, you can visit and we have our summers." He took the hat off of his head and placed it down onto yours, adjusting it with a smile. "Besides, I'd be able to brag about how my smoking hot, and genius girlfriend got into one of the top athletic training programs in the country."

You felt your eyes brim with tears once again before you brought him back down and kissed him again. When you pulled away, you kept your eyes closed and your forehead pressed to his. "I love you."

"And I love you," he replied, kissing your forehead before pulling away from you and intertwining his fingers with yours. "Now come on, I need a picture with my lucky charm of a girlfriend and the Clarence S. Campbell bowl so I can post it on Instagram and brag about the both of you."

You threw your head back and laughed, as you tucked yourself further into his side, not even caring that you guys were surrounded by the press and the fans. "You're such a dweeb."

"Yeah, but I'm your–"

"Don't even say it, Seguin," you chuckled, looking up at him. He just tapped the brim of the hat on your head, knocking it partially over your eyes before giving you a wink and that childlike grin that was enough to bring the butterflies in your stomach alive.

[oh-great-authoress]

For the Star Wars asks: 3, 14, and 38?

O God in Heaven Help Me, @the-coruscanti-blogger, these are so hard, but. Okay. *rubs hands together* Let’s do this.

I’m so sorry if it’s a little chaotic!

3. Favorite Character from the Prequels

*sighs* This is a hard question for me. Reaaaaallllly hard. I will answer with one, but I must add my next two favorite Prequel Era characters because I feel it would be wrong not to, that’s how much I like them.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Anakin Skywalker (I’m sorry your no. 1 is my no. 2! 🥺)

Asajj Ventress (technically she’s from TCW, but it’s still the same time period, so…)

14. If I Could Change One Two (technically three) Thing(s) About the Star Wars Universe, What Would it They Be?

Let’s make it two(ish). Asajj Ventress (I would have loved to see her helping out the galaxy when she could, being an awesome Gray Jedi, you know? It would’ve been so cool) and Ben Solo would live, and somehow, I don’t know, the seven traditional forms of Jedi lightsaber dueling would be revived.

38. Fic Recommendations (this was the easiest one for me.)

Mission Report by Ruth Baulding

This is amazingly hilarious. This was one of the first Star Wars fics I ever read. It’s Anakin and Obi-Wan writing a report for the Jedi Council. That’s it.

Live Broadcast by Ruth Baulding

Anakin and Obi-Wan from the point of view of a holo-jockey on a Separatist-annexed planet. It involves a lot of comedy, and it’s really good.

You Shall Become (Me) by Jedipati

How to describe this? This is AU comedy gold. Let me just use the author’s own summary, because their words are the best. “The Guardian of the Sith Temple doesn't particularly care for the new breed of Sith, for all that they've been around for 1,000 years. But they're the only Sith the Guardian knows about. Until one day… Alternately, "How to accidentally join the Sith without really trying."”

Quintessence by Mathematica

This shifts POV from Anakin and Obi-Wan to that of the Jedi Council as The Team reports to them about their latest mission.

Essence of Amity by Above the Winter Moonlight

Inspired by the previous fic, Anakin and Obi-Wan are assigned to a diplomatic mission somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, and everything possible goes wrong for the Master and Padawan.

Canzonet by Pyxelle

This is more Obi centric but this is worth the read. Ani and Obi are sent to a planet to mediate a dispute. The problem is, the inhabitants of the planet cannot understand spoken language, they only understand singing.

(I have a thing for comedy featuring The Team 🤣)

Now for something more serious. I know you said that you wouldn’t stop Anakin from turning because then we wouldn’t get Darth Vader — and I also love Darth Vader, but this next fic is so amazing, I’m pretty sure you might (almost) not miss Darth Dadakin.

When Darkness Seems to Hide This Place by IllyanaA

This AU has it all, Skeevy Sheevy being Skeevy and EVIL, spectacular adventures and skin-of-their-teeth rescues, Ani & Obi being bad*ss, honest and open about their emotions, and being the best brothers to ever brother, Anakin being an Amazing Dad, Awesome Ahsoka, nuanced side characters, and a not-dead Asajj Ventress. This is a 50 chapter epic, but I’m telling you, once you start this one, you’ll have a hard time stopping.

Rise, Lord Kenobi by LilyWanKenobi

This is an AU Obitine where Obi-Wan is the heir to the Stewjonian leadership, and as the heir, he is called upon to fulfill his duties upon his father’s death.

The Height of Subtlety by WinterSky101

Bail hosts Padmè, Anakin and Obi-Wan for a dinner party at his place, and no, there are no secret couples in this group, no siree!

One of my jams is Leia makes up with Dad fics, so these are a few:

Father and Daughter by Morwen Tindomerel This references some events from Legends but it’s still quite in canon up to now.

gunpowder and shades of grey by irnan This fic uses the Legends names of Leia’s children, just so you know.

Restless Warrior by Aria Saralyn This is a oneshot longform masterwork. This must be read.

Darkness by Firefly Alchemist After Ben Solo turns to the Dark Side, Anakin comforts his daughter.

Interview With A Sith Lord by KaelinaLovesLomaris

This fic shows that there was more to Captain Piett’s promotion to Admiral than met the eye.

These following fics use the Legends Canon, and these fics by the same author, frodogenic, are so incredibly good that I had to put these on here. It’s an AU fic series that all hinges on the idea that instead of bodily picking up Skeevy Sheevy in RotJ, he used the Force instead to yeet him into the reactor. Luke and Anakin decided to deal with everything else later because the Death Star was about to blow and they have to get out of there. In this ‘verse, Anakin is able to return to the Executor which was still intact because Admiral Piett was able to raise the shields in time for her to avoid her bridge being blown to pieces. However, despite that, her navigation computers have been completely damaged and so, with seconds to spare, they hightail it out of Endor only to land in the Unknown Regions. These fics pick up twenty-some years after RotJ, and are spectacular in their scale. The feels and the snark and the humor are strong with these. You will have emotions in some parts, and want to bust a gut laughing in others. I know I did.

Meet the Skywalkers While this is technically the first in the series, this one is the latest story in the AU. The author is slow to update, but it’s really, really worth every single wait.

Lord Vader’s Limpet Darth Dadakin babysits one of his grandsons.

Driving Lord Vader Anakin Solo goes to the Space DMV to get his license. Only catch? Grandpa’s the one taking him there. From there, it gets funnier, and heartfelt by the end.

Four Letters, Starts With L Luke gets hurt while being all Jedi Master-y and Dad comes to visit him in the hospital. So sweet, it’s cavity inducing.

Late Afternoon by camweasley

Post-TRoS fic. Ben comes when he can.

we’ll sit and talk the stars down from the sky by catefrankie (tumblr is @catefrankie if you’re interested)

Post-TRoS fic. It’s still a dance with them, if not a more simple one. It’s still complicated though.

Catharsis by KCMarsala

This is TRoS fix-it fic with sass, sads and laughs.

Hope May Vanish, But Can Die Not by DancingInTheStorm (@enthusiasticallyobessed)

A TLJ Luke study with a beautiful and touching appearance from Anakin.

I have so many more, but I wanted to keep things short (hah) so I will end it here, but not before I recommend…

Would it be so bad if I recommended my own fic, Gray Guardian?

It’s an AU focused on Force Ghost! (ish. You’ll see) Asajj Ventress, basically being young Jedi Initiate Ben Solo’s Guardian Angel. Jedi Master/Uncle Luke’s there too, along with a lot of Anakin (father and son feels), and Obi-Wan (he gets lots of brotherly feels with Anakin too and a lot of feels in general), with guest stars Yoda and Qui-Gon. It features a bestest frenemies forevership with Asajj and Obi-Wan, and a Reylo Endgame.

Please let me know if you read any of these and your thoughts about them, and please don’t hesitate to ask me for more fic recs, or more questions from that ask page!

If any of the links don’t work, just let me know, and I’ll fix them!

God bless you, and stay safe and healthy!

Nadia

[omgjasminesimone]

The Hot Exchange Student Part 1

Logan x MC (Ellie)

Next Part: Part 2

Author’s Note: I have a Logan ficlet queued to post at 7 AM PST for Logan RoDAW day, but then I had this idea and couldn’t resist writing it up. At first it was going to be a one-shot, but now I realize it has to be a series. Even though I told myself my next series will be Colt x MC (I’m still going to write that one eventually). This is my first Choices AU, since I’ve been reading so many great AUs lately and now I’m inspired!

Summary: Logan is an exchange student from Detroit. He arrives at LAX to meet his hosts for the semester, Ellie Wheeler and her father, who just so happens to be a Detective who’s very protective of his only daughter.

Word Count: 2000

“….I didn’t think we’d be hosting a boy.” Detective Wheeler complains again, as he and Ellie wait by the luggage claim at LAX for the exchange student they’re hosting this Fall semester.

Ellie adjusts the sign she’s carrying so Logan can find them. The sign simply says Logan. His application didn’t include a last name, or a photo. The only info the Wheelers have is that Logan is a high school Junior, like Ellie, and he’s coming from South Detroit High School in Michigan.

"I think they usually try to pair the same gender, so there must have been more boys than girls this semester.” Ellie explains.

“Had I known they were going to place a teenage boy in my house, I wouldn’t have agreed to do this Ellie.”

Ellie rolls her eyes. “Dad, what are you worried about? You know you can trust me. I promise you Logan will not be sneaking into my room in the middle of the night.” Considering that Ellie has yet to go out on a date, or even kiss a boy, her dad’s fears are completely unwarranted.

“I do trust you Ellie. It’s him I don’t trust.”

“You haven’t even met him yet Dad. Don’t rush to judgement so quickly. And this is going to look really good on my college applications so please don’t make him want to go back home.”

Detective Wheeler sighs, “Fine, I’ll play nice.”

“Thank you.”

Many teenage boys exit through the automatic doors from the terminal, and each time Ellie holds her breath for a moment, wondering if it’s Logan. But they all pass, giving no attention to her homemade sign. The flow of people starts to trickle, and still no Logan. Ellie frowns, lowering the sign to the floor. She turns to her dad. “Do you think he missed his flight?”

Before Detective Wheeler can respond, another teenage boy comes out of the terminal. He’s carrying a backpack, rolling a yellow and black carry-on bag. He glances around for a moment, and then his brown eyes meet hers from across the room. She tentatively lifts the sign again, he reads it, and then he smiles at her.

Her heart literally skips a beat. Okay, maybe her dad was right to be concerned about this whole arrangement.

Logan is insanely hot. His hair is on the long side, and there’s really no word for his brown locks besides luscious. His eyes are piercing, his smile charming, his arms which are left exposed by his tight white t-shirt veiny and muscular. She can only assume there are more muscles under the t-shirt. Ellie prays her face isn’t as red as she thinks it must be as he approaches.

“The Wheelers?” Logan asks. Oh God, she even likes his voice.

Words fail her, so she just nods enthusiastically. Logan smiles at her again, or is that a smirk? Why is he so hot?!

Detective Wheeler offers his hand for a handshake, “Nice to meet you Logan. Detective Kyle Wheeler. And this is my daughter Ellie.”

Logan shakes the offered hand, “Nice to meet you both. Thanks for hosting me.”

Ellie clears her throat, hoping she can speak to him without stuttering. “Do we need to wait for your checked bag?”

“Nah, I didn’t check a bag. I don’t own a lot of stuff.” Logan answers, adjusting his backpack.

“Well, let’s get back to the house then. Welcome to Los Angeles.” Mr. Wheeler greets.

…

..

.

“And this will be your room.”  Ellie concludes the house tour, turning on the light in what had been their guest bedroom and then standing aside so Logan can pass.

Logan drops his backpack to the floor, leaving his carry on by the door as he walks around the room, surveying the space with his hands in his jean pockets. “This is really nice.” He’s making an observation, not complimenting the house, Ellie notes.

“Different than your room in Detroit?” Ellie asks to make conversation.

“Very.” He replies shortly.  

When he doesn’t offer anything else, Ellie figures she should let him settle in. “Well, I’ll let you get some sleep. You must be tired from the flight.”

 “I’m not that tired. It’s only a five-hour flight.” He sits on the mattress, bouncing a little to test it out. “This is so soft.” He notes, leaning back on his hands. His gaze suddenly turns to her. “So, what’s your deal?”

Ellie frowns, puzzled as she leans against the wall. “My deal?”

“Like, what made you want to host an exchange student? It’s kind of a weird thing to do, open up your home to some stranger from across the country.” Logan clarifies.

Ellie shrugs. “We have a big house. It’s just me and my dad. I thought it would be nice to have some more life in the house.” She doesn’t mention that since her mom died a couple of years ago, having all her dad’s focus on her makes her anxious, the house is too quiet, they sometimes sit at dinner together in an uncomfortable silence. Ellie also doesn’t mention her Langston college application, how this will show her ability to emphasize, mentor, and all those other buzzwords she’s planning to use in her admission essay.

Logan’s stare starts to unnerve her. Ellie clears her throat. “Why’d you want to come? Do you have dreams of Los Angeles stardom?”

Logan smirks at her. “Nah. They don’t actually let you pick the place you know. I just figured wherever they sent me, had to be better than my situation in Detroit.”

She’s about to ask him what his situation in Detroit is, but her dad appears in the open doorway. “What do you think Logan? Is the room up to your standards? Sorry it’s a little undecorated, Ellie and I weren’t sure what teenage boys like nowadays.”

Logan’s gaze flickers to Ellie for a split second before he looks around the room. “This is exactly what I like.”

…

..

.

“Hmmm….we have Spanish and P.E. together, but that’s it.” Ellie notes as she looks over Logan’s schedule after they collect it from the registration table outside the building.

Logan looks around the Mar Vista Prep parking lot, there are some really nice cars here. There most be a lot of spoiled rich kids at this school. “Probably because you’re smarter than me. I see a lot of AP classes on your schedule.” Logan responds as they head into the building.

Ellie blushes. “I’m not that smart you know. I just study a lot.”

“I’ve noticed.” Logan arrived in Los Angeles a week before the school year started. Ellie has been a great host, taking him to the beach, In N’ Out, Griffith Observatory, all the tourist hot spots during the day, but every night she studies. It’s kind of bizarre to him. He’s never met anyone like her before.

Logan follows Ellie through the halls. “This is your first period class Logan. We’re on block schedule, so I’ll meet you here in 2 hours and we can walk to 3rd period Spanish together.”

“Can’t wait.” Logan flirts, enjoying the rush of red that floods her cheeks. She’s fun to rile up. Ellie is cute, but not the kind of girl he usually goes for. In Detroit, he picks up girls at sideshows. Those girls don’t spend their Friday evenings studying for the PSATs. Additionally, he’s living with her and her father, so it would definitely be a bad idea to move past innocent flirtation. Despite this, his gaze falls to her pink lips anyway.

He’s making her nervous. He seems to have that effect on her. “Have a good day!” Ellie waves before covering her blushing face, hurrying off to her own class.

In third period Spanish, Logan meets Ingrid.

“You’re Ellie’s exchange student? I thought they weren’t supposed to mix genders! They gave me this awkward girl from Canada who never speaks, while Ellie gets a hottie like you.” Ingrid complains.

“Maybe if you were nicer to her, she’d speak to you Ingrid.” Ellie interrupts, drumming her fingers against her desk irritably.

Logan raises an eyebrow. Seems like those two have a whole thing.

Ingrid glares at Ellie, who she wasn’t speaking to. “They probably figured you were the safest to mix with Wheeler because obviously nothing is going to happen with a prude like you.” Ingrid retorts.

The classroom fills with snickers at Ellie expense, which Logan doesn’t like. But before he can say anything, Ingrid continues. “Hey Logan, Brent is throwing a back to school party this weekend at his house. His parents are in Europe. Brent throws the best parties, and it will be a good chance to meet people. I worry you won’t get the full LA high school experience being stuck with Ellie. Most of us actually do more than just study.”

“The best parties? Ellie, how are Brent’s parties?” Logan turns to look at her, and she freezes under his gaze.

“I wouldn’t know. I’m never invited.” She reveals.

Logan turns back to Ingrid. “Is Ellie invited?”

Ingrid sputters for a moment. “I mean….I don’t know why you’d even want her there, but sure. Brent’s parties are an open invitation kind of thing.”

Logan leans back in his seat, smiling charmingly at Ingrid. “We’ll think about it.”

…

..

.

Ellie sighs as she adjusts her black lace romper, putting her ombre hair into an Ariana Grande inspired high ponytail instead of her usual braid. She shouldn’t have let Logan talk her into going to this party. Parties aren’t her scene. Not that she’s ever been to a real high school party, but she’s seen them in movies. She assumes there will be loud music, and underage drinking, and maybe 7 minutes in heaven? That happens in some of the movies, that or spin the bottle. That’s not her scene. She’ll probably just stand awkwardly in the corner with Riya and Darius all night while Logan grinds on Ingrid.

A cheery knock sounds on her door, and she opens it for Logan. He’s dressed the same as usual, albeit darker jeans. But there’s no need to fix what isn’t broken. As always, Logan looks really good. He gives her a quick look over. “You look really nice Ellie.” God, he’s smiling at her again. She tries to fight down her blush that arises with such simple praise. She really needs to get a grip.

“My dad wants to talk to us before we leave.”

Logan nods, “Lead the way.”

Ellie and Logan head down to the living room and take a seat on the couch. Mr. Wheeler sits in the recliner across from the pair.

“You look nice Ellie.” Her dad comments, taking in her outfit.

“Thanks Dad.”

Mr. Wheeler turns his gaze to Logan. “Logan, you’ll look out for Ellie right? Make sure no one slips anything into her punch, that there aren’t strange boys around her, that-“

“Dad.” Ellie interrupts. “I’ll be fine.”

Logan nods. “I’ve got her Mr. Wheeler.”

“Okay, you guys need to be back by 10:00 PM”

Logan frowns. “You’re giving us a 10:00 PM curfew on a Friday night?”

Mr. Wheeler frowns back. “What’s your curfew at home Logan?”

“I don’t have one.” Logan answers.

“Well, I’m clearly not as lax as your parents. Nothing good happens after 10:00 PM, so I would prefer you both be home by then.”

“It’s already 8:00 now, and we have a 10:00 curfew?” Logan continues to challenge.

Mr. Wheeler’s eyes narrow, he’s not used to back talk. Ellie always does what he says. “10:30 then.” He replies.

Logan looks like he wants to argue more, but Ellie knows her dad much better than he does. Mr. Wheeler’s next move will be not letting them go at all. She places a hand on Logan’s knee to stop him from saying anything else. Her dad catches that, frowning, so Ellie quickly takes her hand off of Logan.

“10:30. We’ve got it.” Ellie agrees.

Riya’s distinctive honk sounds from outside, breaking the tension in the room. Ellie quickly gets up, Logan following after her. “Bye Dad, I love you!” Ellie calls as the pair head out the door.

Detective Wheeler just frowns as he watches them go.

…

..

.

Author’s Note: I’m aiming to put out part 2 on Logan RoDAW day, let me know if you’d liked to be tagged!

Taglist (Logan x MC/RoD, I think this is right, let me know if you want to be added or removed!): @choicesarehard @ifyouseekheart @brightpinkpeppercorn @regina-and-happiness @choicelogansbitch @flyawayboo @fairydustandsarcasm @alesana45 @umiumichan @maxwellsquidsuit @professorortegasstudent @god-save-the-keen @mrsmckenziesworld @paisleylovergirl @iplaydrake @sinclaire-made-me-sin @hazah @lovehugsandcandy @desiree-0816 @cora-nova @justdani14 @lady-dianelewis @emceesynonymroll

[newstfionline]

We have a child-care crisis in this country. We had the solution 78 years ago.

By Dayna M. Kurtz, Washington Post, July 23, 2018

Millions of babies are born in this country every year, although the numbers are declining. Last year, the United States had its lowest birthrate in 30 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In a new survey, in which participants were asked why they were having fewer children than they wanted, the top responses were almost all economic. Babies are costly, and the current administration is not offering relief for the majority anytime soon.

For all the joy and privilege of becoming a mother in America, most of us are navigating a host of challenges with little to no societal support: the physical effects of labor, the chronic sleep deprivation, the complexities of breast-feeding (logistically and politically), juggling the demands of work and family. But perhaps the most daunting is finding and paying for child care.

The United States holds the dubious distinction of being the only developed country in the world that does not offer paid maternity leave as a federal mandate. If and when a woman returns to work after having a baby, she must confront the sobering reality of securing care for her child. Once she determines whether there are viable options in her area--by no means a given--she’s likely to encounter a wait list. If a spot does become available, she must then contend with sticker shock: In more than half of states, the cost of child care exceeds public university tuition.

It hasn’t always been like this. Once upon a time, the country set mothers up for greater success, if only unintentionally.

During World War II, as more and more men found themselves on the front lines, ammunition factories were short of workers. The solution: Women took their jobs. During the war, 6.5 million American women joined the labor force; the percentage of working women with children younger than 10 increased from 7.8 to 12.1 percent between 1940 and 1944. This significant uptick in working mothers left countless young children at home and unsupervised.

The government resolved the quandary by swiftly amending the Lanham Act. The 1940 law, which allowed for the provision of war-related grants, would now also provide for the establishment of federally subsidized child-care centers nationwide.

Serving thousands of families across all income levels, these programs were innovative, smartly designed and well equipped to serve mothers’ needs. In addition to play spaces, they included medical clinics that provided vaccinations and routine health care, as well as infirmaries where sick children could be tended to by doctors and nurses. They offered an amenity that would make today’s parents swoon: personal shoppers who fulfilled a mom’s customized grocery list while she was at work. Items were bagged and ready when she came to pick up her children at quitting time, right down to the chicken dinner.

At the program’s peak in 1944, 130,000 children were enrolled. The federal government spent $52 million on the program between August 1943 and February 1946; parents paid an additional $26 million in user fees, which in today’s dollars would be $9 or $10 a day.

A report released at the time suggested overwhelming satisfaction with these centers. More than 80 percent of those surveyed had favorable opinions, while nearly 90 percent said the programs should be established in every school district and made available to both working and stay-at-home moms. In a much more recent analysis of the far-ranging effect of the program, Chris Herbst of Arizona State University reported on the outcomes of the children who were enrolled. “They were more likely to be employed, have higher earnings, and less likely to need cash assistance as adults,” he writes. “In addition, the benefits of the program accrued largely to the most economically disadvantaged individuals.”

After the war ended, the Child Welfare League of America lobbied to keep the centers open. Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in her newspaper column, “Many thought [the centers] were purely a war emergency measure. A few of us had an inkling that perhaps they were a need which was constantly with us, but one that we had neglected to face in the past … it would seem to be in the interests of the community to organize child care centers and see that they are properly run. Where state help is needed, it should be given; and when states are incapable of giving sufficient help, it should be forthcoming on a national scale as it has been in the war years.” But the efforts of Roosevelt and others were for naught. Despite irrefutable evidence of the program’s efficacy, funding was cut shortly after the end of the war, and centers were closed within a year or two.

In 1971, we came close to realizing a second nationwide, federally subsidized system of child care. Then current research on children’s development during the critical zero- to 5-year period helped inform Congress’s decision to pass the Comprehensive Child Development Act with bipartisan support. According to the plan, free care would be provided to the country’s poorest children, with their more advantaged peers enrolled on a sliding scale. Shortly after Congress took action, President Richard M. Nixon was scheduled to visit China. In an unfortunate twist, conservative presidential adviser Pat Buchanan framed the act as not only fiscally irresponsible, but also a threat to democracy at large. He suggested that federally subsidized day care would impose the “moral authority” of the government, systematically weakening the nation’s families. Nixon vetoed the act, and mothers were again left to fend for themselves.

Although the Lanham and Comprehensive Child Development Acts fizzled, they established compelling precedents for federally funded day care. In fact, the government is still enacting some versions of them. One is Early Head Start, a child-care program run by the Administration for Children & Families. Intended for youngsters from birth to age 3 who fall at or below the poverty level, and for homeless and foster children, EHS lacks the necessary funding to meet the demand, and wait lists are the norm. The second option is afforded to military families. After identifying that a surprising number of those on active duty had been absent from training because of a lack of child care, the Army decided that providing reliable access was a matter of national security--not unlike in the 1940s.

The Military Child Care Act of 1989 outlines a detailed plan. Cost is determined by parental income level. A mother who enrolls her child generally pays no more than 10 percent of her salary, a sharp contrast to her civilian peers, who are likely to pay twice that. Military child-care centers are conveniently located on base, and are uniformly accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. (Only about 10 percent of their nonmilitary counterparts are accredited by the NAEYC or a similar organization.)

The child-care models offered by the Lanham and Military Child Care acts are neither uniquely inspired nor perfect. What they were, and are, is funded: paid for because those in power appreciated a substantial risk to our country if those resources were unavailable. The truth is, a larger, pervasive threat already exists. Forty-two percent of children younger than 5 live in parts of the country considered ���child-care deserts,” rural areas where no child-care centers are located or can meet the demand. This results in lost wages and benefits for parents who are forced to quit jobs to care for their children at home. Families who can access day care are forced to pour the bulk of the resources into covering those costs.

Yet President Trump’s budget for fiscal 2018 indicates a $100 million cut in funding to military child care. His daughter and adviser Ivanka Trump’s child-care plan, a proposal that offers tax deductions determined by the cost of child care in each state, has been reported by members of both parties to favor those who need it the least--the rich.

Raising the next generation of citizens to run our country requires love, time and attention, obligations most parents fulfill. But it also requires money, more than most hard-working parents can come by, and they are responding by having fewer children. We might not be embroiled in a world war, but as a nation that depends on robust birthrates to thrive, we are imperiled.

[evakfanficsrecs]

Hey guys!

As you might know, this week is the Skam Fic Week happening, and since we are a Skam (Evak focused) Fic Rec Blog, we wanted to get in on the fun! Hence, in the spirit of the event, we’ll be holding our own so called SKAM FIC REC WEEK, yay!

How will this work? - First of all, you should read the introduction post to the actual event hosted by the lovely @littlespooneven to gain understanding of what this is all about… Now onto our spin on the event… we will be picking our favorites of every day and adding them to this post which will be updated between Midnight and 1am CEST/6pm and 7pm EST daily!

Here are some small guidelines we have in place for this event (so we don’t lose our sanity):

only recommending Evak centered fics

only recommending fics that are either tagged with the #SkamFicWeek tag or/and have a clarification in the notes that it is in fact an entry for the event

sometimes we might add bonus recs for fics which are posted after our update time

We’re super excited to do this, since during the last Skam writing event, we got a lot of requests to participate and we couldn’t miss out on the opportunity this time! Hopefully you guys will all enjoy it too, as this is not only our way to praise our favorite authors of this amazing fandom, but also a gift to our lovely followers whom we appreciate and love dearly :’) We also figured this would be a great way to organize all the great new recs so everyone can access them easily!

Without further ado, you can find all the recs under the cut and make sure to check back in for 5-10 new recs every day! Have fun ♥

All the love,

Andie & Liv

*

DAY 1: ACCIDENTAL/FAKE DATING

how to get a guy in seven days by thekardemomme Summary: Even and Yousef won’t make a move, so Sana and Isak take matters into their own hands. It doesn’t go exactly as planned. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

my longing drives me crazy for you by highpraises Summary: Isak’s mum worries, Isak makes bad life decisions and Even loves Isak. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

makin’ me a mess by itjustkindahappened Summary: The boy gives him a look of alarm, making a weak attempt at drawing his hand back, but Isak keeps holding it convulsively as he looks pleadingly into the stranger’s eyes. “Listen, this is super humiliating for me but I’m currently getting stood up on a date and my ex is a waiter here and he’s already been walking past my table too many times and looked far too satisfied for it to be casual so can you please just—pretend to be my date or something? I’ll pay for dinner and everything, I’m really sorry about this, I just—please?” Recommended by: Andie

friends don’t treat me like you do by hippopotamus Summary: Isak’s going to humiliate himself in front of Even’s friends because he has no idea how to be - pretend to be - in a relationship. What is Even expecting him to do? Hold his hand? Kiss him? Hold eye contact with him for more than two seconds? Isak can’t do any of that. And he also can’t sleep. Recommended by: Andie

last night by bbyfruit   Summary: Alright, so Isak is pretty used to waking up hungover in the middle of the afternoon, especially at this point in his seventeen years of living. He’s also pretty used to waking up in Jonas’s bed, usually with Jonas curled up beside him, light that comes in through Jonas’s window and hits Isak right in the face. What he’s not used to is Jonas’s arm slung over his hip and no memory of what the fuck got them to this point. Recommended by: Andie

I May Have a Little Crush on You? by shipblur Summary: Even helps Isak out of a tight spot. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

Runaway Boyfriend by stories_and_dreams Summary: Stuck in an airport and trying to get back home to his friends’ wedding, Isak Valtersen is surprised to run into a former classmate from his old school back in Norway. Even Bech Naesheim. They barely know each other, and somehow, before he knows it, Even becomes his “pretend boyfriend” for the weekend wedding. They end up having a great time together but when the weekend’s over so is their relationship, right? Destiny has a different plan, as they keep running into each other again… and again…and again. Will they ever become real boyfriends and stop running from each other? Recommended by: Liv

The best boyfriend by champagneleftie Summary: “Hey man, what’s up. I’m Isak.” The guy still looks confused, like he has no idea what’s happening, so Isak decides it’s probably best to be as obvious as possible.“Vilde’s boyfriend.” This is the possible love of Even’s life, the most perfect boy he’s ever laid his eyes on, with the perfect height and perfect lips and sometimes he does this little thing with his tongue that reduces Even to a puddle of feelings – and he has a girlfriend. * A very liberal interpretation of the fake relationship trope. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

Andie’s BONUS REC: I couldn’t possibly leave this list without mentioning Ciara’s (aka the actual creator’s of this event) brilliant entry which you can read either on her blog or in her collection of various oneshots/drabbles on AO3.

*

DAY 2: BED SHARING

quantum mechanics of fate by thekardemomme Summary: Isak is scared of thunderstorms, and Even is the only one home to help him sleep. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

Not in my bed by Taraxacus Summary: Even is in Isak’s room, soaked wet. He’s staying for the night, and he and Isak will have to share Isak’s bed. Considering they are just friends, it shouldn’t be this nerve wracking. And yet. Isak’s heart is beating loud, louder than the thunder inside, and all the while Even is looking like a dream. Fluff ensues. Recommended by: Andie

seasons may change (but i love you) by kittpurrson Summary: Three times Even and Isak share a bed platonically, and one time as more. Recommended by: Andie

Double Trouble by obscurial Summary: Furrowing his eyebrows in utter confusion, Isak narrows his eyes, trying his very best to formulate a single articulate thought. (System failure.) “What the fuck?” he very eloquently blurts out, gesturing wildly to the two Evens sitting in his bed, one in a visible state of undress and the other wearing one of Isak’s old t-shirts. The two of them do not seem to be worried in the slightest, which only serves to fuel Isak’s panic. (An au where Isak wakes up and he finds two Evens lying in his bed.) Recommended by: Andie

BELLA by LiliMane Summary: “I don’t think you’re a kitten expert, Even, so you shouldn’t be running your mouth in regards to kitten issues with such confidence.” Recommended by: Liv

Sleep on it by unsungyellowraincoat Summary: ”I can’t deal with you right now,” Isak says, turning his head away. “I’ll sleep on the couch.” Recommended by: Andie, Liv

loving you to sleep by highpraises Summary: Even and Isak cuddle a lot, and love each other a whole lot. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

The Motel Stay by dear_ida Summary: Out of gas, the boys are forced to stay overnight at a motel and share a bed. This obviously works well for everyone. Recommended by: Andie

this house is falling apart by bbyfruit Summary: Pros of living with your best friends: they do cool shit with you. Cons of living with your best friends: sometimes their definition of cool shit is forcing you to go camping and share a sleeping bag with a stranger. Recommended by: Andie

just move in close to me by allyasavedtheday Recommended by: Andie

*

DAY 3: ALTERNATIVE FIRST MEETING

And for special effects he has six filters by imminentinertia Summary: lbr, it’s sheer luck (and Isak’s love-struck POV) whenever Even comes across as suave (well, maybe except for the carefully executed slo-mo walk). This is what really happened in the school bathroom. Recommended by: Andie

the one with the hot naked guy by pansexuaIeven Summary: Eva’s apartment comes with a view of a hot naked guy. Isak isn’t complaining. (Or, a fic inspired by ugly naked guy on Friends) Recommended by: Andie

ride it, cowboy by highpraises Summary: Isak is a talented rider and Even is pretty sure he’s in love. Recommended by: Andie, Liv  

Literal Adonis by champagneleftie Summary: Sana and Isak have lunch and Isak meets a literal Adonis. Recommended by: Andie

Make you work up a sweat by diamondjacket Summary: Even is deeply, utterly, monumentally screwed. Also, if Even could actually get deeply, utterly, monumentally screwed by the dude in front of him, preferably into a mattress in the next forty-five seconds, that would be great. Recommended by: Andie, Liv  

slippin’ away at the end of the day into dreams of the two of us running away by wyoheartsmusic Summary: Isak sends an awkward text to a wrong number. It’s the best mistake he’s ever made. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

The Very Personal Shopper by Crazyheart Summary: A shopping service AU. * Isak is too lazy to shop his groceries, and too fed up with Eskild’s complaints, and finds that a shopping service would be perfect. But what could he do when his personal shopper turned out to be the most gorgeous guy he had ever seen? Recommended by: Liv

The Times We Meet by falsified Summary: Even is a cab driver who Isak keeps meeting unintentionally (and intentionally). Recommended by: Andie, Liv

when i met you, when we started off (it sure was a different kind of love) by dewdrops Summary: Sana is supposed to tutor Even but can’t make it due to some vague, unforeseeable events. Recommended by: Andie

*

DAY 4: REWRITTEN/EXTENDED CANON SCENE

You Know How I’ve Been Acting a Little Weird Lately? by kapplebougher Summary: Isak’s finally opened up to Jonas. Jonas feels relieved, and happy, and proud…but also a little guilty. (A little microfic window into Jonas’ thoughts once he’s come home after his kebab with Isak at the end of ep 6) Recommended by: Andie, Liv

I think you’ll find I’m the master here by evakuality Summary: “You’re older than me! I’m the master, and you’re still tired too, so don’t be a fucking dick.” Or… what happens after Even gets his boner at Isak’s birthday party. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

Destinations set by imminentinertia Summary: Isak hasn’t planned anything. Even has, or at least he’s had a flash of inspiration. He doesn’t get his Amazing Magical Extra Special Pool First Kiss, though. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

you’ve got the light to fight the shadows by highpraises Summary: Isak’s thoughts after Mekke Øl. Recommended by: Andie, Liv  

Syng by waitineedaname Summary: It was supposed to be a good night. He’d go out with his boyfriend and their friends, have a couple beers, sing a little karaoke. It wasn’t supposed to end up like this. Recommended by: Andie, Liv

BONUS REC: allyasavedtheday’s drabble on the prompt: What would have happened if the little girl didn’t find the boys in the pool back in episode 4? Recommended by: Andie, Liv 

*

DAY 5: WORK COLLEAGUES AU

Thank You for Flying Norwegian Air! by falsified Summary: Isak and Even are both flight attendants who definitely don’t have feelings for each other. Seriously. They’re just friends. Right? Recommended by: Andie, Liv

It Only Takes a Taste (When You Know It’s Good) by shakespeareandsunshine Summary: It would be bad enough if it was just some mystery coworker stealing meals from the office fridge. Then Isak could hate their anonymous ass in peace. But no, Isak has a very good idea who the culprit is. And seeing the villain in the breakroom every day, smiling at Isak like he has nothing to apologize for was testing Isak’s very limited patience. And also probably his self-control, although for an entirely different reason. Recommended by: Andie

i tried to be strong but i lost it (i knew it was wrong, i’m beyond it) by highpraises Summary: Even has a thing for his intern, Isak has a thing for his boss, they’re both a bit clueless and their friends just want them to get their shit together. Recommended by: Andie, Liv  

Mamma Mia by MermaidsandMermen (SophiaSoames) Summary: The workmates AU for day 5 of Skam Fic Week. And it had to be IKEA, and it had to be Evak, and it has to be ABBA. Of course. A tiny bit of Sweden in the middle of Oslo. Recommended by: Andie, Liv  

EVEN by LiliMane Summary: Whatever. People come and go. Sometimes they don’t come at all. Sometimes they only send you money. And the ones that come don’t stay too long. But that’s how it is and there’s nothing I can do about it. Not that I want to do anything about it. I can accept reality. I’ve been doing nothing but accepting reality since the day I stopped dreaming. And I’m doing quite well, if I do say so myself. Recommended by: Liv

Colleagues? by bashfulisak Summary: Isak and Even have been work colleagues for three years - a couple for two - and they like to call the office their “second home” for multiple reasons. Recommended by: Liv

Unclassified by bri_ness Summary: “Separate fiction from fact, romances from tragedies, the stories you want to experience from the ones you’d rather ignore.” * Isak and Even flirt in a library while having some deep thoughts about cataloging. Recommended by: Andie 

stuck on you (what did i do?) by itjustkindahappened Summary: It’s not that Even doesn’t try to be friendly with him—Isak just makes it so hard. Whenever Even approaches, Isak either makes up a fumbling excuse to leave, or just becomes really stiff and refuses to acknowledge Even’s existence. Whenever Even’s tried to talk to him Isak has just stared into his coffee and mumbled out one-word answers until Even’s had to give up, and it’s just so unfair. Because Isak’s just fine around everyone else—he laughs and jokes around, and Even can just watch from afar how his eyes crinkle up with sunshine and wish he could get to be the one that put them there. Or, a teacher AU with zero teaching and a lot of crushing. Recommended by: Andie 

I Don’t Date Cops by jinglebin Summary: Isak gets a new colleague and he’s instantly smitten. Until said collegue tells him he doesn’t date cops. * Isak and Even at the 99th precinct. Recommended by: Andie

BONUS REC: Ink About Me by readwritesleep Summary: They all have stories on their skin. That’s why they do this, because they love stories. The tricky part is, stories don’t turn into reality until they start to mix. When Even steps through the door of the tattoo parlour, a new story enters. Even might only have eyes for Isak, but Jonas can sense reality shifting around all of them. Recommended by: Andie (I know this one isn’t technically Evak centered and it’s from Jonas’ POV, but I loved it so much that I just had to include it anyway.)  

*

DAY 6: WEDDING GUESTS AU

can’t stop thinking of your diamond mind by ahana Summary: I’ve been hashtag blessed, is all Isak can think. * Or, Even crashes a wedding and Isak’s not too happy about it, until he is. Recommended by: Andie, Liv 

The Disaster Wedding by Jules1398 Summary: Even goes with Isak to his cousin’s wedding. Recommended by: Andie

Always the Guest, Never the Groom by allyasavedtheday Recommended by: Andie

we could burn and crash, we could take a chance by highpraises Summary: Even meets Isak outside of a wedding and experiences love at first sight. Recommended by: Andie, Liv 

BONUS REC: Balance by waitineedaname Summary: Jonas and Mikael are the best men and best friends to the newest and sappiest married couple in Oslo. And yet, they’ve barely spoken to each other. Why don’t they change that? Recommended by: Andie (Again, not Evak centered, but super cute if you like a bit of Jonas x Mikael!)

BOUNS REC: Best Man Support Group by bri_ness Summary: “I’m having an existential crisis at my best friend’s rehearsal dinner.” “What a cliché.” * Jonas and Mikael bond as they help Isak and Even prepare for their wedding. Recommended by: Liv (Not Evak, but is Jonas x Mikael!) 

*

DAY 7: BASED ON A 'FRIENDS' EPISODE OR A MOVIE

the one with the disastrous double date by highpraises Summary: Isak and Magnus agree to set each other up with blind dates, but Magnus forgets to find Isak a guy. Recommended by: Andie, Liv  

TOW The Blackout by bri_ness Summary: “I’m stuck in an elevator with Hot Neighbour.” Recommended by: Andie, Liv  

off the maps by ahana Summary: “I can’t stop running back to you,” Even whispered into the quiet of the night. Isak looked at him, green eyes unwavering. “Is that a bad thing?” “I don’t know yet.” Or, a Brokeback Mountain AU. Recommended by: Andie

Those magic changes my heart arranges by diamondjacket Summary: He slowly, cautiously lifts his gaze. And his eyes run smack into blue ones he thought he’d never see again. Those blue eyes widen immediately, and that soft, pillowy mouth— the same mouth that had tasted Isak’s, not long ago— drops open in shock. “Isak?” Recommended by: Andie, Liv

I’m Flying by bashfulisak Summary: Isak meets Even on the RMS Titanic - and somehow, someway, they fall in love. Recommended by: Andie

Pinstripes (Are All That They See) by shakespeareandsunshine Summary: “No. No no no no no. Nope. Nuh uh. Not happening.” This, surprisingly, from Magnus, finally fully awake and shaking his head vehemently. “We are not putting out a hit on the poster child for happiness.” Isak can’t help but agree. “Not the man,” Jonas says, exasperated. “The dog.” And, well. That certainly changes things. (Otherwise known as that Heist AU you never knew you needed.) Recommended by: Andie

The One With Jonas’ Wedding by allyasavedtheday Recommended by: Andie 

the one where even is extra by bbyfruit Summary: In which Even tries way too hard, Isak is just trying to deliver some damn pizza, and the Balloon squad are best bros. Recommended by: Andie

that's how you know by colazitron Summary: The boy of one's dream doesn't usually metaphorically fall into one's lap through a magical well from a parallel universe. But sometimes, he does. Or: a Disney's Enchanted AU. Recommended by: Andie

the one with the prom video by thekardemomme Summary: Even has been in love with Isak since they were younger, but he never intended for Isak to find out this way. Recommended by: Andie

[thesimplyluxuriouslife]

257: An American Being Everyday French - My Interview with author John von Sothen

If you take an American man and place him in Paris, asking him to fit in, it will take a good sense of humor and a sincere love of France, but this man will be calling Paris his home, his sincere home, in due time.

Such a man, or should we say, monsieur, is author and writer John von Sothen.

I had the opportunity to meet up with John in the arrondisement he has called home for nearly 20 years - the 10th - and join him for what I like to describe as a "walk and talk". For more than two hours (which felt like minutes as I had the good fortune of being on a one-on-one guided tour of a city I too love, but have so much to learn), he showed me his everyday life from the fish monger where he picks up his poisson, the boulangerie where he walks down to pick up his faily's baquette (or two) in the morning and the restaurant where the neighborhood parents meet up after dropping their children off at school in the morning.

His new book, released this past May - Monsieur Mediocre: One American Learns the High Art of Being Everyday French - shares the reality of being an expat from America living in Paris all the while being newly married, newly a parent and new to everyday living in France. Needless to say, with a dose of humor, an insatiable curiosity and deep affection for France, and being raised to "contribute" as his mother would also encourage him to do at dinner parties his parents would host in Georgetown in his youth, he has found France to be his home in more ways than he ever intended, but sincerely appreciates.

In today's episode, I have divided it into three parts (all included in this one episode). As our conversation begins, we are seated outdoors on a terrasse in the 18th arrondisements bordering the 10th.

I hope that you will appreciate the real-time acoustics of the city of Paris' background music as you will hear it all - French conversation, the traffic, and a city that is alive. With my trusty, but small hand-held recorded we chatted about everything, much of what I learned by reading his book and much more.

There are a few instances in which the wind is heard, and while I have edited out most parts of our conversation in which the wind was present and obstructive, the instances in which I have not is intentional as what we are talking about is worth hearing, and I did not have the heart to cut it out. Thank you for your patience in these rare moments because the rest is a dance of insights about Parisian and French living from the inside that we don't often learn or hear about.

From talking about the famed French vacances that foreign onlookers love to dream about, what being an aristocrat really means in France (psst - his wife is an aristocrat and from an aristocratic family, so he has the inside scoop), the truth about raising children in the city of Paris, how his mother influenced his love and interest in France, why he was raised unintentionally to be someone who could step into a new culture and not be intimidated, what escaping to the country in France is like for someone who loves the city life, the film Amelie, American politics as perceived by the Parisians, and his now quickly-becoming-famous rescue pup made it into a French film.

~John von Sothen's family dog Bogart at home when I met in him July in Paris (left); the French film Yves in which Bogart stars. The film premiered on July 26th of this year.~

Now, a quick note about that last point. Of course, I was drawn to our entire conversation and intrigued about the realities, but when we started talking about his family's dog Bogart, I couldn't help but be intrigued. And perhaps John noticed this because he gave me the opportunity to meet his dog, and so, below I captured a picture of him after I had the chance to say hello. He is the sweetest pup, truly a kind soul and no wonder he is a star on screen because he is a star period. (view the trailer for the film - Yves - here - Bogart appears in the first seen sleeping on the sofa)

I do hope you enjoy our conversation. John von Sothen's book is available now, and you can find him writing for Esquire, French Vanity Fair, GQ, and AirMail, as well as other French and American publications (and even sometimes on French television as his book describes in hilarious detail).

~Learn more about John von Sothen and read more of his writing at johnvonsothen.com

~Purchase a copy of Monsieur Mediocre: One American Learns the High Art of Being Everyday French (May 2019)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BybapiHAsit/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

~John entertained graciously my attempts at a photo together, but I wanted to included especially the photo on the lower right as in the background is a piece of art created by his mother of which wsa talked about at the beginning of today's episode.~

~Subscribe to The Simple Sophisticate:  iTunes | Stitcher | iHeartRadio | YouTube | Spotify

~Find more episodes of The Simple Sophisticate podcast.

~Find all of the French-Inspired episodes of The Simple Sophisticate podcast here.

TSLL’s 4th Annual French Week posts thus far . . .

SUNDAY August 11th

Welcome to TSLL’s 4th Annual French Week!

7 French Candles I Love & A Giveaway! – giveaway

Visiting Musée d'Orsay and Impressionist Berthe Morisot's Exhibit

~Sponsors of today's episode:

Candid Co - candidco.com/simple

Save $75 off your order with the following promo code - SIMPLE

Tune in to the latest episode of The Simple Sophisticate podcast

[thebookrat]

I've talked about Christina Boyd (The Quill Ink)'s Pride & Prejudice anthologies here on the blog before, mostly for Austen in August (surprise, surprise). Christina normally curates and edits these collections — which are stellar, might I add — but with the latest entry in the lineup, Elizabeth: Obstinate, Headstrong Girl, she's not only wearing her editor hat, but is making her debut as one of the featured authors as well. Today, she's stopping by to talk to us a bit about our favorite OHG (obstinate, headstrong girl), and what it is about her, maybe even more than Darcy, that draws us back to P&P again and again. She's also giving you a chance to win a pretty stellar prize pack featuring titles from each of the authors involved in the anthology, as well as a bonus giveaway (more on that below)! So make sure to check out her post below, and enter to win — and then stop back by tomorrow for my thoughts on the book!

Why Elizabeth? by Christina Boyd

Elizabeth: Obstinate, Headstrong Girl has been a project on and off my mind for some time. Even the day after the release of my anthology The Darcy Monologues (2017), readers were suggesting I put together an Elizabeth collection. But I kept putting it off, wanting to pursue other projects like Dangerous to Know: Jane Austen’s Rakes & Gentlemen Rogues, Rational Creatures, and even Yuletide: A Collection of Jane Austen Inspired Stories. As Pride & Prejudice is told mostly from the third person limited narrative of Elizabeth Bennet, and there is already so much Elizabeth fanfiction out there, I wondered if there was a need. But that thought was always there, niggling at me like an itch that needed to be scratched. (Don’t touch your face, by the way.) And when it came right down to it, I wanted to assemble this collection. Still, I needed to justify why she is relevant two centuries after her creation, why she might translate well to other era stories, and why readers might like more Elizabeth—so I made a list.

Five Reasons We Love Elizabeth Bennet:

She is confident and refuses to let anyone, regardless of sex or rank, intimidate her. “I am resolved to act in that manner which will in my opinion constitute my happiness without reference to you or to any person so wholly unconnected to me.” –Chapter LVI

She uses her wit rather than fall for petty behavior. “I am no longer surprised at your knowing only six accomplished women. I rather wonder now at your knowing any.” –Chapter VIII

She is fiercely loyal (even when she proves fidelity to the wrong man.) “…do you think that any consideration would tempt me to accept the man, who has been the means of ruining, perhaps for ever, the happiness of a most beloved sister?”—Chapter XXXIV

She recognizes her faults and strives to improve herself. “But vanity, not love, has been my folly…Till this moment I never knew myself.” –Chapter XXXVI

She cannot be bought. She would rather face genteel poverty than marry someone she could neither respect nor marry. “Do not consider me now as an elegant female intending to plague you, but as a rational creature speaking the truth from her heart.” –Chapter XIX

I could go on but we Lizzy Bennet fans don’t need to be told what we already know. And who doesn’t have a little bit of Elizabeth inside them? Once I determined that I was going to commit to this project, I floated the idea to a few of the authors I had worked with before and was pleasantly surprised how enthusiastic they were. I don’t know why I was hesitant to ask—of course, we all love Elizabeth Bennet! And because The Darcy Monologues is a collection of stories set in the Regency to modern times, I wanted Elizabeth’s stories to mirror that idea. Author Beau North suggested we approach NY Times bestselling Regency romance author Tessa Dare to write the foreword as she had at one time written Jane Austen fanfiction—and so we did—and she accepted. Her deft understanding of Elizabeth and Pride and Prejudice and the focus of our collection—well, she made my Dream Team complete! And the title, it seemed a no brainer to me. Late last spring, seeing the stories that had already arrived in my inbox: five re-imaginings or prequels or sequels in the Regency era, an Edwardian story, a 1930s story set in old Hollywood, a college-aged student in a1980’s male dominated field of engineering, and a present day story about a young coed on a blind date, I thought a Victorian era story might work too. I had an idea for an Elizabeth story about aging, and the wisdom we gain, and how older people often bestow such experiences on you. In “A Mate for Life”, set in 1855, an aged Elizabeth Darcy, with side commentary from her beloved Fitzwilliam, counsels her granddaughter about an impending betrothal while sharing how she came to marry Darcy. Since publication of our collection, I’ve received encouragement for my debut story but this, from my very practical, non-romance, non-Austen reading sister was everything:

After reading your story and pondering it, I’ve finally concluded that P&P is not a hopeless romantic story at all… For me, Jane Austen’s premise of the Darcy & Elizabeth saga is that unconditional love is not instantaneous awareness that someone is your soul mate. It’s hurdling obstacles of perceived lies and assumed transparency into another’s soul and decide quite unexpectedly, I love this person whole heartedly. The totality of my mind does not love every notion of this being because that would be absurd. But yes, despite our differences, we are very much alike, and it is the differences that make our hearts whole and compatible. I like the aged Elizabeth reflecting on her obstinate, headstrong girl ideals and then see how those ideals evolved with maturity and ‘lived’ wisdom so translated into how she perceived Darcy…

I’ve learned through my years of reading, reviewing and editing Jane Austen-inspired fiction that many refuse to read it because they have prejudices against the genre. Some discount Austenesque novels as escapism, like one man said to author Christina Morland at a dinner party, while others might read it and then write their two-lined Amazon review: “Jane Austen would be rolling over in her grave if she knew people were using her characters…” I get it. Not everyone is going to like the same stuff. (“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.” –Emma) But words like that from my non-Austen reading, non-romance reading sister make me hopeful… If this collection about our favorite obstinate, headstrong girl can help even one person reevaluate their prejudices against Pride and Prejudice or Austen, and even Austenesque fiction, then surely that must be a win. I am confident there is enough room for everyone under the Austen umbrella. Let Elizabeth: Obstinate, Headstrong Girl be your gateway to Austenesque literature. It’s addicting. In a good way. Moreover, we hope readers will enjoy the stories inspired by Austen’s best beloved heroine in the same affectionate manner they were written. Thank you, Misty, for hosting this last stop of our #OmgItsOHG (as in oh-my-gosh it’s obstinate, headstrong girl) blog tour. And for shining your light on this collection of stories! CHRISTINA BOYD wears many hats as she is an editor under her own banner, The Quill Ink, a great reader and reviewer, and a ceramicist. A life member of Jane Austen Society of North America, Christina lives in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with her dear Mr. B, two busy young adults, and a retriever named BiBi. Visiting Jane Austen’s England was made possible by actor Henry Cavill when she won the Omaze experience to meet him in the spring of 2017 on the London Eye. True story. You can Google it. You can connect with Christina via her website, Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook. ABOUT THE BOOK: (e-book, trade paperback, pp.350):

“Obstinate, headstrong girl!” For over two hundred years, having a “lively, playful disposition,” Elizabeth embodies the perfect imperfections of strong-willed women everywhere: she is spirited, witty, clever, and loyal. In this romance anthology, ten Austenesque authors sketch Elizabeth’s character through a collection of re-imaginings, set in the Regency through contemporary times. In ELIZABETH: OBSTINATE, HEADSTRONG GIRL, she bares her most intimate thoughts, all the while offering biting social commentary about life’s absurdities. Elizabeth overcomes the obstacles of others’ opinions, not to mention her own flaws, to find a love truly worthy of her—her Mr. Darcy—all with humor and her sparkling charm. “I think her as delightful a character as ever appeared in print…” wrote Jane Austen in a letter to her sister Cassandra, January 1813―and we think so too! Foreword by NY Times & USA Today bestselling author Tessa Dare. Stories by Amy D’Orazio, Jenetta James, Christina Morland, Beau North, Joana Starnes, Karen M Cox, Elizabeth Adams, Leigh Dreyer, J. Marie Croft, and Christina Boyd.

GIVEAWAY

The #OmgItsOHG (Oh-my-gosh, it’s Obstinate Headstrong Girl) Blog Tour began February 18 with announcement and cover reveal at Austenesque Reviews, and we hope you will continue to join us and connect with each author about their “Elizabeth” story. We’ve included a Grand Prize package giveaway (a book of your choosing from each of the eleven author’s backlist) as well as additional giveaway: my Silly Austen-inspired blank note cards and coordinating coffee mug.

Open worldwide, so be sure to participate. 1) Enter the Rafflecopter for the Grand Prize package of books, and 2) comment on the blog stops to be counted for the additional giveaway (you need not comment everywhere to be entered in that drawing but we hope you’ll have your share of the conversation.) Ends March 31. Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51329630-elizabeth BuyLink: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0998654051/ a Rafflecopter giveaway via The Book Rat

[thatfestivallife]

Girls all in independent designers: Kokomo Design perspex dress, Palace Flophouse skirt & Duvet Days trousers & Rosa Bloom top!

Delicious music, culinary delights, more than a dollop of cultcha and an escape to the far-flung deserts of Morroco at the end of miserable March?? I didn’t need much persuading to ‘buy the ticket and take the ride’ to the innaugral Beat Hotel festival, in Marrakech.

The Beat Hotel was already well known to me for their big venue near Glastonbury’s pyramid stage – but apart from a few showers of rain over the weekend, this offering, couldn’t have been much further from its Pilton partner…

Those Festival Facts

What? Beat Hotel Marrakech “A long weekend of live music, DJs, one-off culinary collaborations and a talks programme featuring some of today’s great minds and voices.” Inspired by the ‘Beat Generation’ of poets and authors.

Where? The Fellah Hotel, a 20-minute drive outside of Marrakech in Morrocco…. my first festival in Africa! (ticked that off the bucket list!)

When? This year it was the last weekend of March – 2020 festival not confirmed yet. It ran Thursday through Sunday with music and wellness programming from 9am – 4am.

Who? Organisers are Brits and the audience (in my experience!) were mainly from the UK with a smattering of locals and attendees from across the globe to make up the neat 2000 capacity. 

Set in the Fellah Hotel, a 25 minute drive from the outside central Marrakech, the festival site was a resort made up of winding paths lined with rosemary and cactuses, cosy bedouin tents decorated with golden lamps and opulent Moroccan textiles, shimmering swimming pools and hidden indoor rooms. Within this paradise, the programming blended together the worlds of art, literature, wellness, and music.

“Follow your inner moonlight”

Skip straight to practical tips for attending Beat Hotel next year!

Undoubtedly ’boutique’ (whatever that even means any more!), this isn’t a trait I’d usually be mega keen on but here it came with the territory, a festival held in a 5-star resort is gonna have a 5-star feel! The resort setting reminded me a little of beach festivals I’ve been to in India like Sunsplash but 20 times more lavish…

What was best about this boutique-ness was the size. Apparently, a compact 2000 revellers attended Beat Hotel, which was super intimate compared to Oasis, a techno festival on the same site which has a cool 8000 guests! Whilst having the classic where have we met before / have we met before? chat with a fellow dancer on the first night…. he hit the nail on the head when he said it was the best festival he’d been to in years because it recaptured a feeling “like someone had put on a party for you and your mates”.

Thursday Opening Concert

After a day of taking in the gardens and museums of the festival’s culture-rich neighbouring city (stay tuned for my Marrakech itinerary!) we headed for our first evening at the Beat Hotel site just in time for the magnificent red and pink clad Deep Throat Choir in the ‘Interzone’, a beautifully dressed clear marquee that served as the festival’s main stage.

I’d wanted to catch them for ages after seeing their live session video from Greenman festival…  the combined raw power of their amazing voices singing original material and choice covers like Little Dragon’s Ritual Union was such a perfect opening to the festival. 

Deep Throat Choir

In homage to the festival’s home, The Master Magicians of Jajouka were next… which was an experience. They are a legendary family from rural Morocco who play some of the oldest musical styles still preserved on the planet! At first we thought the complex rhythms and the loud wail of their instruments (imagine the sound of 20 bagpipes, if they were Morrocan?!?) was a pretty strange choice for a 2 – hour – booking when this was the only stage open….!

BUT we decided to get stuck in at the front of the crowd and actually it was amazing… to punctuate the 4000-year-old music a small man in a fur-covered costume came onto the stage (basically their hype man) and had us totally transfixed. apparently, he was the fertility goat and everyone he hit with his stick in the crowd would soon be with child!!! Queue side eyes for two of our mates who got a solid smack…

Closing was Awesome Tapes from Africa – and he did not lie, they were awesome tapes! If you have never heard of this selector and label owner, he mixes only on cassette and has a huge collection of rare tapes that he has found from all over Africa ranging from traditional music to African disco and pop, which were all blended seamlessly and left us at the end of the night with sore feet and raucous shouts of “one more cassette, one more cassette!”

Friday Photo Tour

On Friday I headed into the medina for a tour with “conscious creative collective”; Patternity.  I’m not usually one for guided tours, preferring to get to know a place myself, but with limited time for exploration this was actually a perfect opportunity to be spoon fed a speedy introduction to the city and connect with the area we were in before fully submerging ourselves into festival fun… and a nice chance to meet fellow festival goers!

View from the carpet shop roof…

Two of many cats on the Cat-ernity tour

Touring the beautiful tiled Dar El Bacha museum

We met at a beautiful palace turned museum for some tile goodness, wandered around souks, got a tour of a carpet shop, gathered on rooftops for mint tea and enjoyed a demonstration of Moroccan tinctures in an apothecary… Anna from Patternity was a wonderful host and it was definitely one of the best decisions I made on the trip – all festival should have a local tour on the first day!

We finished up with cocktails on the rooftop of some fancy riad and then I hopped in a taxi to site with some girls I met on the tour just in time for sunset over the pool… 

Malika & cocktails by the pool

Zac in the lazzzers

The Friday headliners were Maribou State who were extreme levels of lush as always, a more intimate version of the magical first time I saw them, dragged to the front row of the main stage at Secret Garden Party… 

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                  🌞 @mariboustate at @beat_hotel with all my gorgeous pals 🌞 #BeatHotel#ThatFestivalLife

A post shared by Dulcie Horn (@du1cie) on Apr 17, 2019 at 11:00am PDT

Later on, we headed through the winding paths to a tucked away stretch tent that housed the second stage ‘San Remo’ which was absolutely bouncing for Andrew Weatherall. We drank ‘Ballantines Moroccan mules’ from the sponsored bar next to the stage –  there were plenty of brand partners on site but luckily it was done in a classy not overbearing way (reminding me a bit of Magnetic Fields festival actually).

The interzone adorned with Morroccan lamps.

Closed the night dancing to Hunee from the pyramid stacked next to the main stage, reminiscent of the Glastonbury Beat Hotel…  Made it home and had an impromptu house party (riad party?) with a group of our lovely neighbours.

Saturday Showers

Saturday evening started with some torrential downpour and classically getting to the festival later than we meant to meant we missed a talk from Irvine Welsh (the Irvine Welsh!!) and ‘disco naps yoga’ in the wellness area Spiritlab which sounded like just what I needed tbh…

Speakers Corner

Luckily we hadn’t missed all of the non-musical entertainment and popped in to listen to a bit of a talk in the Speaker’s Corner from Scottish writer John Niven and a lounge on the luscious Morrocan rugs in the space… 

The skies cleared so we headed to the San Reo for some reggae by the pool… Shout out to the best food on site, the Berber and Q stall by the San Remo bar, I had a DELICIOUS mezze plate which was 1 zillion times more amazing than the photo shows… plus top marks and bonus points for silver plates and real cutlery – the rest on site is plastic, unfortunately.

Steph by the pool

Berber & Q Mezze DELICIOUSNESS

Emma’s nailzzz

Full of food and heavy with last night’s excesses we sheltered again in the Speakers Corner for a really interesting discussion on “Music, Fiction and Mythology” from another Scottish Author (the theme of the day!?) David Keenan and last night’s best DJ Andrew Weatherall.

As the lamps were lit and the sun went down the rain came back with a vengeance (go to Morrocco for your holiday they said!) and Friday night was still taking its toll so I went for dinner #2, a veeery delish lentil, beetroot and goats cheese salad with sautéed potatoes… and then just as everyone was discussing calling it a night I decided to book a tarot card reading for 1.30am…!!

San Remo closed due to the rain and the terrain so all of the programming was moved into the pool / bar building to make a club-esque setting.  As some of our pals went home we stayed for an amazing night of dancing at the Ransom Note takeover, punctuated by a couple of intense tarot card readings with David Keenan – our third Scottish from earlier!

Tarot Reading with *** in the beautiful Beat Hotel Tea Room

The last dance

Got to site late again… the problems of having your own super luxurious riad and a fridge full of food and booze!

I would have loved to have caught the writing and drawing workshops in Speaker’s Corner – but that is my constant refrain at all festivals… I always wanna do all the workshops in the morning but unfortunately, I also wanna party all night and these things don’t always go hand in hand! We got there just in time for an incredible, intense set from Young Fathers who totally blew me away.

Young Fathers

Beat Hotel

With San Remo back in action, we danced to whoever the excellent Dj was there around midnight and settled into the best night of the festival… 

Me and my friend Amie stumbled on the secret room, which was above the pool bar – but apparently had moved from underneath the San Remo building into the pool bar when it rained which was originally where the cinema had originally been (wrap yer head around that)…

My favourite set of the festival was from another unknown DJ in the secret room who opened with Bronski Beat and later played a timely Prodigy track to a wild crowd (of about 30) and two tracks of the drum n bass I’d been hoping for all weekend… someone put a star sticker on my face, someone else gave me a branch of rosemary to brandish like a shaman… it was so great.

The rest of the evening included a lot of cocktails, rolling around on the beds beside the pool and disappearing for an hour because I was learning Arabic and chatting football with the medical staff…

Amie in her Duvet Days halter

We found the full crew at the main stage for the close and danced for the rest of the night (to Gerd Jansen? Maybe? There’s a theme here…) The night ended in a stage invasion and us enveloping each other into a giant group hug – bringing that proper festival flavour I have mainly only experienced in UK fields 💖

San Reno vibes

It was wonderful…  so smooth for an inaugural year in a very culturally different country.  They obviously cared about their audience, all the staff were lovely – for example, there were plenty on hand at the end of each night checking if people could get home okay.  You could tell they’ve done festivals before, accreditation was soo smooth, the info point was informative, it rained but the stages were all undercover and any hiccups that came along (unavoidable in a festival first year) were dealt with really well.

More toilets would have been great – and compost loos would be even better,  I would have liked it if they had booked a few more females across the programming… and I would have liked to have dipped my toe in some more of the wellness and Speaker’s Corner, but that might be my own fault for not getting out of bed sooner! Attention to detail like secret rooms and offsite activities meant it was so much more than just a music festival…. can’t wait to relive it at the Glastonbury version in a couple of months!! 

Top tips for Visiting Beat Hotel Festival in Marrakech

Getting to the Beat Hotel

There are loads of reasonably priced flights into the local airport Marrakech (RAK) – I flew from Stanstead and then returned to Bristol. Getting from the airport to your accommodation might not be quite as easy though – we’re pretty sure everyone in our group got separately mugged off for our taxi fare… to top it off, we didn’t even have the right address for our riad, doh! Our driver did give us oranges and play some bangin Arabic tunes in the taxi though so all was forgiven…

Where to stay in Marrakech

So, we booked a couple of months in advance as we were out there for a mate’s 30th… we struck gold on our accommodation and had an incredible riad, 11 of us with a huge pool, massive kitchen and a gorgeous rooftop overlooking the Atlas mountains! And it was just over £100 each for 6 nights… If you’re in a big group I would highly recommend hunting on Airbnb to see what comes up. Most of the accommodation in town wasn’t as private as this was so it was worth being a bit out of town – it was about half an hour drive South of the city but only 10 minutes South of the festival site. 

Tricky to leave your hotel when it looks like this…

If you’re on your own or in a pair it would probably make more sense to stay in town because of traveling into the festival each day, which leads me on to… 

Getting around in Marrakech

This bit is important! We struck gold with our riad location and the fact that it came with a driver. We got one free return ride into town / the festival a day and then could book later pick-ups with our legendary taxi driver Ismael. 

Top tips for getting around the city and getting to the festival:

Do a bit of research on how you’re gonna get in and out of the festival, see if your accommodation can recommend your transport.

Make friends with people staying close to you and buddy up to make it cheaper. It could be a pain in the butt and really sting you for cash if you haven’t organised it properly.

The festival did put on a shuttle which you could buy a wristband for – I didn’t get it myself so can’t really feedback but speaking to people it was apparently quite sporadic and only stopped at a few places so depending where you were staying you’d probably have to find a taxi to get you through the middle of town.

Getting around town itself whilst sightseeing is pretty easy as long as you know the names of the places you’re going.

Make sure you haggle with your taxi!

Taxis can’t go down most of the winding souks and streets (but watch out for mopeds!) so download Marrakech onto the HERE we go app and mark all your landmarks on it before you’re out of wifi – this top tip courtesy of Sophie from Saints on a Plane!!

I had a couple of experiences when I was stopped in taxis from the city by a police blockade at the end of the road to the festival – the driver was made to get out and once I was… Still not entirely sure what it was all about and it felt really sketchy. 

What to bring and what to wear

Weather-wise you can expect temperatures in the 20s but dropping down to about 10 at night so come prepared for both! If you’re unlucky like us it could also be a wee bit rainy… 

I packed one small sized cabin bag for the duration of the trip and brought the following stuff to Beat Hotel: 

Modest clothes for exploring the city – Morrocco is a Muslim country so keep your legs, shoulders etc covered when wandering the city.

But less modest clothes/bikinis etc. totally acceptable for the festival site, like Lannah’s Kokomo ‘Sunset Boulevard’ perspex dress above! 

Swimwear.

Light jacket for the evening – I brought a denim jacket which was enough to keep me warm in the chillier nights but I could have done with a scarf too.

Bumbag for the festival – I brought my trusty tasseled Beksies Boutique Bum Bag.

What to Eat and drink

The food offering is not mega veggie friendly but there were a few good options which I’ve mentioned above! The stalls were run by the popular Marrakech restaurants Nomad, Cafe De Espices & Le Jardin and there was also the Berber & Q stall running int the day time. You should expect to pay UK festival prices for meals. As well as the stalls Beat Hotel also curated a series of pre-bookable banquets but at £80 a pop these were a bit out of our price range. 

The Beat Hotel bars were plentiful but did run out of stock a few times and the cocktail bar staff had noooo idea what was going on for the first few days!! Was kiiind of funny being brought the wrong drinks three times in a row until I remembered I was paying a tenner a go… you aren’t allowed to bring your own supplies in so we spent a lot on the bar… 

Also worth noting that Morrocco is a Muslim country so there aren’t a huge amount of places in town that serve alcohol. As we were in self-catered accommodation we bought all our food and drink from a local Carrefour which did serve booze.  

Money! What to bring and what you can expect to spend… 

The festival is totally cashless, my first experience with RFID wristbands! It was actually really smooth and pretty nifty but I did spend a lot, especially considering I was having most of my meals and drinks back at our accommodation. I topped up on site but the wristbands could be pre-loaded before the festival which meant you got a bonus and the chance for a refund.

£1 = 80 dirham

It’s a closed currency in Morroco so your best bet is just to get your ‘dirham’ for the ciy and taxis etc. from an ATM when you get to the airport – bring emergency cash to exchange in case your card doesn’t work or that ATM’s at the airport are out of use!

Personal Safety

As with all other festival travel – be extra careful if you’re indulging, keep your passport, spare money etc. safe at your accommodation. A good idea is to whatsapp your friends a scan of your passport and your flight ticket details and make sure you get travel insurance!!

Some specific advice to Beat Hotel Marrakech:

As explained above, get your taxis sorted, watch out for getting scammed – haggling is a part of life here don’t be shy to walk away if you don’t think the price is good, it will usually be agreed to if it looks like you’re leaving! 

Cover up – there were a lot of similarities between the covered streets of the souks to the winding markets of India, but in India it’s just never-ending staring, in Marrakech it was lewd words muttered by most men we passed and swear words shouted at us down the street when I glared at them… not pleasant!

Be careful in the Medina at night time – I only went in the day and I don’t think I’d be comfortable on my own at night at all. 

Similar to the urchins at Love International festival… this time watch out for the spiky cactuses!! If you do get some in your leg/arm/butt just pop into the lovely friendly guys in the well equipped medical room, they’ll have it out in a jiffy and if you’re lucky like me they might give you an Arabic lesson in the meantime! 

Some more general Marrakech tips coming soon in a separate post… you can find more festivals around the world here! xx

Beat Hotel Festival, Marrakech Morocco '19 Delicious music, culinary delights, more than a dollop of cultcha and an escape to the far-flung deserts of Morroco at the end of miserable March??

[rainhorn6-blog]

Scandinavian Dinner with La Crema: Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberries and Sweet Gingerbread Crumbs

This post is sponsored by La Crema Wines. All opinions here are my own. You can find the companion recipes over on the La Crema blog. 

Apologies for the quiet here this past month. Things have been busy, and cooking, writing, and reflecting have fallen by the wayside a bit. We’ve got 24 days to go until our wedding, which is both insane and kind of a relief. I’m feeling rock solid about marrying Trevor, which is 99.9% of the battle, but there’s still a lot of miscellaneous stress associated with hosting a party for 50 with all kinds of societal and emotional strings attached. I’ve got a lot of thoughts on weddings at this point, but I’ll save those for a later date.

Today, what I’m here to talk about is this Scandinavian dinner menu – my latest collaboration with La Crema wines. It’s inspired by my recent trip to Iceland: in July I finally took advantage of Boston’s relative proximity to Scandinavia and spent a long weekend there. Iceland has been at the top of my travel wishlist for years and I was so excited to finally be in the land of moss-covered lava and epic waterfalls. I have to do a real travelogue at some point, but suffice it to say that the Icelandic landscape is incredible (and here’s a few teaser shots!). One moment we were driving through an alien landscape of hardened lava boulders tumbling into the sea, the next there were pockets of geyser steam rising up all around us, and then, suddenly, we were in the midst of fields of lupine in front of massive glaciers.

Iceland is known for being pretty expensive. I certainly found this to be true, particularly when it came to food. The silver lining to this was that the price differential between cheap food and fancy food was much smaller than it is here in the US. While a gas station hamburger could set you back $20, a three-course meal with wine at a top restaurant only cost $60. So despite the expense, we managed to have some very good meals. Our most memorable culinary experience was a 3 course dinner at Forettabarinn in Reykjavik. It was our final night as a group (and a semi-bachelorette celebration) after a long weekend of adventuring in South Iceland. The food was creative and well-executed, the wine was abundant, and the company was unbeatable. That lovely dinner served as the inspiration for this one.

There are three courses to this menu. First, a super-simple Smoked Salmon and Rye Crackers appetizer. Everyone should have a few minimal-effort, but still fancy-feeling appetizers in their repertoire. This should be one of them. The only “cooking” is to whip up a little cream with capers, slice a cucumber, and assemble. It’s also very portable, so guests can easily grab one of these and a glass of wine while mingling. On that note, the wine to open for this course is La Crema’s Monterey Chardonnay. Its bright acidity and smooth texture stands up nicely to the fatty, smoky salmon and rich caper cream.

The main event consists of two parts – Mashed Potato Waffles with Horseradish Sauce and Mustard-Thyme Pulled Leg of Lamb. I don’t think I’ve ever had lamb served BBQ style before my dinner at Forettabarinn, but it’s so wonderful. Ideally, I would have liked to use a slightly more economical and fattier lamb shoulder for this recipe, but I couldn’t find one at my butcher. The result was still good – tender, falling apart lamb, completely imbued with the flavors of mustard and wine and paprika. It was delicious on top of the potato waffles with a bit of horseradish sauce and grainy mustard. For this course, I opened a bottle of La Crema’s Monterey Pinot Noir and it was so good together! Just tangy and juicy and yum.

For dessert, I whipped up a light Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberry Sauce and Gingerbread Crumbs. If you’re not familiar with it, skyr is Iceland’s answer to yogurt, only it’s thicker and tangier. Similar to Greek yogurt, it’s rich in protein and very trendy here in the US. To turn it into mousse, I incorporated whipped cream and a hint of sugar. It was such a treat – light and airy with a distinct tang from the skyr. It was also so simple to put together. The only other recipes I saw for skyr mousse involved a fussy gelatin method, but I opted for a much simpler treatment here – whip cream, whip skyr, fold together, serve. With the maple-blueberry sauce and a sprinkling of gingerbead cookie crumbs it’s a more-than-the-sum-of-it’s-parts dessert.

You can find the recipes for the first two courses on the La Crema blog: Smoked Salmon Rye Crackers with Caper Cream; Mashed Potato Waffles with Horseradish Sauce; and Mustard-Thyme Pulled Leg of Lamb. The Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberries recipe is below!

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A simple skyr-based mousse made from whipped cream and thick, yogurt-like Icelandic skyr. Served with wild-blueberry sauce and gingerbread crumbs.

Inspired by dinner at Forettabarinn

Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Yield: 4

Ingredients

1 cup wild Maine blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/4 cup maple syrup

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 cup heavy cream, chilled

4 TBS sugar

1 cup plain or maple flavored skyr (Icelandic yogurt), chilled

1.5 oz. gingerbread cookies, preferably Anna’s Swedish Thins

1 TBS brown sugar

Instructions

Place the blueberries, maple syrup, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and stir to mix. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer the berries until they have burst and released their juices and the sauce is slightly syrupy, about 8-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them to be sure they don’t burn. Remove from the heat, transfer the blueberry sauce to a storage container, and chill thoroughly.

To make the mousse, whip the heavy cream on high until stiff peaks have formed. Add the sugar and beat for a few seconds longer, just to incorporate the sugar into the cream. In a separate bowl, beat the skyr for 30 seconds until it is lightened slightly. Add half of the whipped cream to the skyr and use a spatula to gently fold together. Repeat with the remaining half of the whipped cream, folding just enough to mix the two together. Don’t overfold or your mousse may deflate. Chill the mousse until ready to serve.

Place the gingerbread cookies and the brown sugar in a small food processor and pulse several times to make crumbs. Set crumbs aside.

To serve the mousse, drizzle the chilled blueberry sauce on top of the mousse. Sprinkle with the gingerbread crumbs. Serve immediately

Source: http://katieatthekitchendoor.com/2017/08/22/scandinavian-dinner-la-crema-skyr-mousse-wild-blueberries-sweet-gingerbread-crumbs/

[badgerkick0-blog]

Scandinavian Dinner with La Crema: Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberries and Sweet Gingerbread Crumbs

This post is sponsored by La Crema Wines. All opinions here are my own. You can find the companion recipes over on the La Crema blog. 

Apologies for the quiet here this past month. Things have been busy, and cooking, writing, and reflecting have fallen by the wayside a bit. We’ve got 24 days to go until our wedding, which is both insane and kind of a relief. I’m feeling rock solid about marrying Trevor, which is 99.9% of the battle, but there’s still a lot of miscellaneous stress associated with hosting a party for 50 with all kinds of societal and emotional strings attached. I’ve got a lot of thoughts on weddings at this point, but I’ll save those for a later date.

Today, what I’m here to talk about is this Scandinavian dinner menu – my latest collaboration with La Crema wines. It’s inspired by my recent trip to Iceland: in July I finally took advantage of Boston’s relative proximity to Scandinavia and spent a long weekend there. Iceland has been at the top of my travel wishlist for years and I was so excited to finally be in the land of moss-covered lava and epic waterfalls. I have to do a real travelogue at some point, but suffice it to say that the Icelandic landscape is incredible (and here’s a few teaser shots!). One moment we were driving through an alien landscape of hardened lava boulders tumbling into the sea, the next there were pockets of geyser steam rising up all around us, and then, suddenly, we were in the midst of fields of lupine in front of massive glaciers.

Iceland is known for being pretty expensive. I certainly found this to be true, particularly when it came to food. The silver lining to this was that the price differential between cheap food and fancy food was much smaller than it is here in the US. While a gas station hamburger could set you back $20, a three-course meal with wine at a top restaurant only cost $60. So despite the expense, we managed to have some very good meals. Our most memorable culinary experience was a 3 course dinner at Forettabarinn in Reykjavik. It was our final night as a group (and a semi-bachelorette celebration) after a long weekend of adventuring in South Iceland. The food was creative and well-executed, the wine was abundant, and the company was unbeatable. That lovely dinner served as the inspiration for this one.

There are three courses to this menu. First, a super-simple Smoked Salmon and Rye Crackers appetizer. Everyone should have a few minimal-effort, but still fancy-feeling appetizers in their repertoire. This should be one of them. The only “cooking” is to whip up a little cream with capers, slice a cucumber, and assemble. It’s also very portable, so guests can easily grab one of these and a glass of wine while mingling. On that note, the wine to open for this course is La Crema’s Monterey Chardonnay. Its bright acidity and smooth texture stands up nicely to the fatty, smoky salmon and rich caper cream.

The main event consists of two parts – Mashed Potato Waffles with Horseradish Sauce and Mustard-Thyme Pulled Leg of Lamb. I don’t think I’ve ever had lamb served BBQ style before my dinner at Forettabarinn, but it’s so wonderful. Ideally, I would have liked to use a slightly more economical and fattier lamb shoulder for this recipe, but I couldn’t find one at my butcher. The result was still good – tender, falling apart lamb, completely imbued with the flavors of mustard and wine and paprika. It was delicious on top of the potato waffles with a bit of horseradish sauce and grainy mustard. For this course, I opened a bottle of La Crema’s Monterey Pinot Noir and it was so good together! Just tangy and juicy and yum.

For dessert, I whipped up a light Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberry Sauce and Gingerbread Crumbs. If you’re not familiar with it, skyr is Iceland’s answer to yogurt, only it’s thicker and tangier. Similar to Greek yogurt, it’s rich in protein and very trendy here in the US. To turn it into mousse, I incorporated whipped cream and a hint of sugar. It was such a treat – light and airy with a distinct tang from the skyr. It was also so simple to put together. The only other recipes I saw for skyr mousse involved a fussy gelatin method, but I opted for a much simpler treatment here – whip cream, whip skyr, fold together, serve. With the maple-blueberry sauce and a sprinkling of gingerbead cookie crumbs it’s a more-than-the-sum-of-it’s-parts dessert.

You can find the recipes for the first two courses on the La Crema blog: Smoked Salmon Rye Crackers with Caper Cream; Mashed Potato Waffles with Horseradish Sauce; and Mustard-Thyme Pulled Leg of Lamb. The Skyr Mousse with Wild Blueberries recipe is below!

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Thanks for reading!

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A simple skyr-based mousse made from whipped cream and thick, yogurt-like Icelandic skyr. Served with wild-blueberry sauce and gingerbread crumbs.

Inspired by dinner at Forettabarinn

Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door

Yield: 4

Ingredients

1 cup wild Maine blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/4 cup maple syrup

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 cup heavy cream, chilled

4 TBS sugar

1 cup plain or maple flavored skyr (Icelandic yogurt), chilled

1.5 oz. gingerbread cookies, preferably Anna’s Swedish Thins

1 TBS brown sugar

Instructions

Place the blueberries, maple syrup, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and stir to mix. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer the berries until they have burst and released their juices and the sauce is slightly syrupy, about 8-10 minutes. Keep a close eye on them to be sure they don’t burn. Remove from the heat, transfer the blueberry sauce to a storage container, and chill thoroughly.

To make the mousse, whip the heavy cream on high until stiff peaks have formed. Add the sugar and beat for a few seconds longer, just to incorporate the sugar into the cream. In a separate bowl, beat the skyr for 30 seconds until it is lightened slightly. Add half of the whipped cream to the skyr and use a spatula to gently fold together. Repeat with the remaining half of the whipped cream, folding just enough to mix the two together. Don’t overfold or your mousse may deflate. Chill the mousse until ready to serve.

Place the gingerbread cookies and the brown sugar in a small food processor and pulse several times to make crumbs. Set crumbs aside.

To serve the mousse, drizzle the chilled blueberry sauce on top of the mousse. Sprinkle with the gingerbread crumbs. Serve immediately

Source: http://katieatthekitchendoor.com/2017/08/22/scandinavian-dinner-la-crema-skyr-mousse-wild-blueberries-sweet-gingerbread-crumbs/

[innerkryptonitebanana-blog]

[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

New Post has been published on http://getblackhatdownload.com/get-the-big-four-plant-sourced-diets-plr-special-download/

[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

Hi PLR Friends,

Kater here from PLRPump.com introducing “The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets” PLR Special.

This is a Full Product PLR Funnel You Brand, Sell & Keep 100% of the Profits.

Check out all the details and decide if this white-label PLR is for you…

MARKET OUTLOOK – PLANT SOURCED DIETS

#1 Health Trend from the Dairy Council (Shocking Admission)

Plant-based eating patterns are on the rise. Until recently, plant-based eating patterns were almost exclusively advocated for their health benefits and adopted by a relatively small number of consumers.

Now, the popularity of these patterns is growing due to factors beyond health: cost, animal welfare and environmental concerns.

Many health groups promote diets based on plant foods; for example, the dietary patterns endorsed by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) are primarily plant-based. Campaigns such as Meatless Mondays are frequently offered in hospitals and schools, and documentaries abound on the purported advantages of this approach.

  We’ve done the market analysis for you.

Keyword search trend is in steady with highs after New Years and early Spring

Sub-niche abound in healthy eating, nutrition, cooking, recipes, demos

Global health and wellness sales on the way to hit a record high of US $1 trillion by 2017.

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Content marketing is the key to authority blogging, because great content builds great profits. But there is just so much you have to pull together to make it work. Just look at everything involved in keeping the King on top.

There are dozens of steps involved with content development, not the least of which is actually writing the material. I’ve listed some of the most obvious tasks in content marketing.

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Graphics

Squeeze Pages

Sales Copy

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Opt-in Offers

Writing eBooks/Reports

Crafting Emails

You know you’ve wanted to create a Healthy Lifestyles course, but planning and writing out an educational program is no small task.

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Welcome to the power of Private Label Rights content PLR –  sometimes referred to as White Label. PLR is content produced in a variety of formats and provided to marketers who want to keep their customer happy with information and solutions. PLR cuts the time, cost and resources to produce content by 95%.

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“The Big Four Plant Sourced Diet” eBook

Massive! Over 7,000 words. 40 pages. Illustrated.

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We’ve picked 15 popular niche products.

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Just post it to your blog and be sure to include an affiliate link pointing to the book, just in case people want to purchase the book after reading your review! 3 pages.

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Publish to social sharing sites, use to build backlinks, whip out your iPhone and share it with potential customers at the grocery store, salon, Bunko party.  Editable PSD included. You are a Marketer Extraordinaire!

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Below are ideas to squeeze more out of each piece of content.

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Use as list building freebie to build your list.

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Dear Kater, Thanks for sending me your incredible and inspiring story. It’s great to be on your list and to know a fantastic person like you. I appreciate so much your efforts to help folks like me who struggle to get a toehold online. You are truly a breath of fresh air. Cheers, Oliver

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Your PLR License

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[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

[wingedtragedyconnoisseur-blog]

[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

New Post has been published on http://getblackhatdownload.com/get-the-big-four-plant-sourced-diets-plr-special-download/

[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

Hi PLR Friends,

Kater here from PLRPump.com introducing “The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets” PLR Special.

This is a Full Product PLR Funnel You Brand, Sell & Keep 100% of the Profits.

Check out all the details and decide if this white-label PLR is for you…

MARKET OUTLOOK – PLANT SOURCED DIETS

#1 Health Trend from the Dairy Council (Shocking Admission)

Plant-based eating patterns are on the rise. Until recently, plant-based eating patterns were almost exclusively advocated for their health benefits and adopted by a relatively small number of consumers.

Now, the popularity of these patterns is growing due to factors beyond health: cost, animal welfare and environmental concerns.

Many health groups promote diets based on plant foods; for example, the dietary patterns endorsed by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) are primarily plant-based. Campaigns such as Meatless Mondays are frequently offered in hospitals and schools, and documentaries abound on the purported advantages of this approach.

  We’ve done the market analysis for you.

Keyword search trend is in steady with highs after New Years and early Spring

Sub-niche abound in healthy eating, nutrition, cooking, recipes, demos

Global health and wellness sales on the way to hit a record high of US $1 trillion by 2017.

The health and wellness market is beyond huge growing at a rate of over 7% each year.

An abundance of monetization opportunities in offline and online coaching / product sales.

Are You Ready To Succeed Building An Authority Blog and Take A Slice Of A $1 Trillion Dollar Market?

There’s no denying Content Is King. But does it make you feel like a Content Slave?

Content marketing is the key to authority blogging, because great content builds great profits. But there is just so much you have to pull together to make it work. Just look at everything involved in keeping the King on top.

There are dozens of steps involved with content development, not the least of which is actually writing the material. I’ve listed some of the most obvious tasks in content marketing.

Planning

Research

Brainstorming

Choosing Hot Topics

Designing

Graphics

Squeeze Pages

Sales Copy

Producing

Opt-in Offers

Writing eBooks/Reports

Crafting Emails

You know you’ve wanted to create a Healthy Lifestyles course, but planning and writing out an educational program is no small task.

With all this product development, when do you get time to focus on reaching out to partners and clients? Heck! There’s no energy left to squeeze some love out of your fans!

It’s Not Your Fault You Can’t Keep Up 

What if you could just pay someone to do the work for you?

What if you could then turn around and put your name as the author? And what if you get it all done for less than the price of a decent dinner for two?

Discover A Simple Way To Eliminate The Drudgery Of Producing Content

The Same Method Top Online Marketers Use To Whip Up Content Campaigns Fast!

Private Label Rights Content

What if you could get premium content at a fraction of the cost of outsourcing and never spend a minute making bad choices hiring freelancers to write your business content?

Welcome to the power of Private Label Rights content PLR –  sometimes referred to as White Label. PLR is content produced in a variety of formats and provided to marketers who want to keep their customer happy with information and solutions. PLR cuts the time, cost and resources to produce content by 95%.

Build Authority Blogs

Provide current content your readers value because it helps them get what they want.

Create Article Portals On eCommerce Sites

Boost SEO with relevant content and pull in traffic from high ranking posts.

Launch Membership Portals

Create a mentoring course. Build it once and then bring in monthly income over and over.

Core Marketing Bundles Ready to Go

We’ve got your content marketing primed for results with the key material to build your reputation and pull in your perfect audience.

Let’s peek at the core modules included in this release.

Ready for your special touch. Branded By You.

READY? HERE’S THE DEAL

Premium Ebook Keeps Your Product Sales Funnels Fresh

Fully illustrated and formatted.

Easily edited with Word or OpenOffice.

Just brand with your business or name and upload to your host. Or update with your own unique touch. Change as much or as little as you see fit.

“The Big Four Plant Sourced Diet” eBook

Massive! Over 7,000 words. 40 pages. Illustrated.

DFY Sales Copy

Sales Copy With HTML Sales Funnel

No need to start from scratch with our pre-made templates.

Sales page, thank you and download pages included.

Upload to your hosting as HTML sales page or cut-n-paste to your WordPress pages.

We even have training videos to show you how. Learn it once and you know how to do it for all your products.

Affiliate Rolodex

Finding products to promote is a snap! Just pick from these popular merchants.

We’ve picked 15 popular niche products.

Fill Your Content Publishing Calendar With Pre-Written Articles

Modify with a new title and add supporting content such as illustrations or images, statistics, quotes, graphs, or videos and always a call-to-action.

10 articles (400 words) in Word .docx and .txt format.

Amazon Bestseller List Book Review

Writing a book review is challenging – but you don’t have to because we did it for you.

Just post it to your blog and be sure to include an affiliate link pointing to the book, just in case people want to purchase the book after reading your review! 3 pages.

Lock-In Clicks With Pre-Sales Training Presentations

17 slides. Images included. Just add your Call-to-Action.

Publish to social sharing sites, use to build backlinks, whip out your iPhone and share it with potential customers at the grocery store, salon, Bunko party. You are a Marketer Extraordinaire!

Social Media Messages

Facebook & Twitter messages – 10 each to match up with the articles.

Gorgeous eCover Bundle

6 styles. Powerpoint template included. 4 sizes

4 sizes. PSD included

DFY SEO Keyword Analysis

Target the right keywords from the start.

Social Media Images

Inspirations and tips

Publish to social sharing sites, use to build backlinks, whip out your iPhone and share it with potential customers at the grocery store, salon, Bunko party.  Editable PSD included. You are a Marketer Extraordinaire!

Deliver New Products In Hours. Not Weeks!

You Benefit From Our Expertise

Leveraged content and templates saves hours of time in research, planning, and development.

“Leverage” is the point of White-Label / Private Label Rights content.

Customizable Products

Add unique value to create high impact marketing content like blog posts, newsletters, reports and shared content

Instant List Building

Present visitors with valuable information or tools they can’t resist.

DFY Funnels

Sales Copy is ready to go.  Just add your Buy Button and branded eCover.

Premium Articles

Informative articles ready to post. Just add your Call-to-Action.

Training or Sales Presentation

Upload pre-sales presentation to Slideshare for viral boost and backlinks.

DFY Autoresponders

Email messages crafted to build trust, engage and convert subscribers into buyers.

Eye Catching Graphics

Ecovers, illustrations and graphics are royalty-free and no attribution required.

Book Reviews

You don’t even have to read the book.

Implementation Tutorials

Step-by-step tutorials with added value tips. No charge for the tips. 

Put the Hours You Save to Better Use. Quality Time.

Your Content Marketing has Unlimited Potential With Our Quality PLR

Use and repurpose any way you wish. Pro blogger and traffic guru, Neil Patel tells it like it is…

  You can repurpose your blog content to extend the reach of your blog and to identify further link-building opportunities. – Neil Patel, QuickSprout.com

Below are ideas to squeeze more out of each piece of content.

Unlimited Purposes

Use as list building freebie to build your list.

Sell the ebook.

Monetize elements with your affiliate links for streaming commissions.

Convert the ebook chapters into Podcasts.

Upload slideshows, videos and PDF files for site promotion on high PR sharing sites such as Slideshare and YouTube, Vimeo, etc.

Use PLR content to create autoresponders.

Publish articles to your blog.

Use the presentation to create a Webinar.

Add your byline to the book review and share with another blogger for backlinks and traffic.

Turn each article into a video article.

Add links to the ebook and articles to products to earn commissions on sales.

Create videos of presentation.

Insert presentation slides as image in blog posts.

Create a coaching program.

Create a members only portal where you host special training and charge a monthly fee.

Promote training as a home study course.

Merge topics into a pillar content leading readers to an opt-in button.

Create a monthly paid newsletter.

Translate the material to a foreign language.

Record articles into a podcast.

Brand the eBook as your own and sell it.

Convert Articles into podcasts.

Merge 5 articles into a special reports.

Use snippets on Facebook and Twitter.

Add it to an existing related product.

Give reports or ebook PDFs as a bonus to affiliate offers.

Hire a ghostwriter to rewrite articles and offer as guest posts.

Use it on your sites, create many posts or giant authority posts.

Use Tip & Quote posters as viral content on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Use any template in the PLR pack to create your new eCovers, posters and opt-in graphics.

Brand all editable elements as yours to increase brand visibility and firmly establish yourself as an authority on the topic.

Your PLR License

See What Our Customers Are Saying About Our Content

Real feedback from our customers

Hey there Kate … just want to let you know that your November Chakra package is some of the best content I’ve ever seen. I’ve got so many ideas and plans for this product already! It’s gonna be EPIC!

Thanks for keeping the quality high and the price low.Hope you have a super-duper day!

Your Budizona,Donna

Kate,

Thank you so much… for the first time ever, I am happy to own a PLR product, thanks to your training/customizing videos. It couldn’t have always been this easy, has it?

I am truly blown away with the progress I have made in a few short weeks!

John D.

The NLP package looks like truly good quality (which is hard to find) – even with citations! – and I liked that the Hypnosis had scripts included (don’t care for the audios, just want the text/words so I can re-write and narrate in my own voice). Do you have any more hypnosis or guided meditation scripts?  thanks  Mark

Dear Kater, Thanks for sending me your incredible and inspiring story. It’s great to be on your list and to know a fantastic person like you. I appreciate so much your efforts to help folks like me who struggle to get a toehold online. You are truly a breath of fresh air. Cheers, Oliver

Hi. My name is Renee Howes. I’ve been following your fabulous, educational material and have purchased several PLR packages. With your knowledge, I’m hopeful you can point me in the right direction for assistance with my WP affiliate website (equestrian).

Renee Howes

  Kate, I recently purchased the Wellness-Garden Niche Pack and am amazed and impressed with the sheer size of it! I am still downloading the zip files and having a look at the content …overwhelming!

Gail

More Resources for You

Bonus Resource Kit

Tools & Resources to Get Your PLR Into Action Quickly

Get People Talking & Sharing

WordPress plugin compels your readers to share your content and virtually ensures your message is spread further than any paid ad.

Step by Step Implementation Tutorials

Learn how to brand and implement your PLR today!

Your PLR License

Let’s Peek At The Cost To Produce This Pack

That’s a Total of 116 Hours and over $2,200 in Expenses!

Producing information products is expensive unless you do all the work. Ugh, how long would that take you to complete?

That’s where leveraging our product development team to create your content marketing material makes sense.

And today you can pick up this entire product for less than the cost of a single page article!

Put the Hours You Save to Better Use. Quality Time.

Now It’s Your Turn

Magnify Your Visibility By Minimizing Your Efforts. With Leveraged Content.

YES! I Want This Now!

I understand I’ll get instant access to:

The “The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets: Vegan, Vegetarian, Raw Foods & Plant-Based” PLR Package:

DFY Product: Premium Quality Ebook

Fast Start: HTML Salesletter/Thank You Page

Affiliate Rolodex: Choose a high converting product

10 Articles: Written by professional niche writer

Bestseller: 3-page book review

Slidedeck: Pre-sales training presentation

DFY SEO Keyword Analysis

Instant Facebook and Twitter messages

Gorgeous eCovers: 6 Styles

Social Media Images: 10 messages for social portals or blog

License: Full Private Label Rights

Your Fast-Action Bonuses! WOW!

FAST-ACTION BONUS #1: Highlight & Share Plugin

FAST-ACTION BONUS #2: Get Results Implementation Tutorial

[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

[topmixtrends]

BEFORE HER 2016 novel Chanson douce won the prestigious Prix Goncourt, Leïla Slimani had already made a splash with her 2014 debut Dans le jardin de l’ogre, about a young mother caught between her bourgeois marriage and her sex addiction. These two novels, published by the prestigious press Gallimard, have earned Slimani a reputation as one of France’s brightest young literary talents, a writer whose work attends to the plight of young women struggling to conform to the competing demands of modern urban life. Slimani’s astute sociological gaze was refined through her work as a journalist covering her native Morocco, writing primarily for the online newspaper Jeune Afrique; three volumes of her journalism have been published in Paris in the last year. Recently, she was selected by President Macron to serve as his personal representative to promote French in the Francophone world. Chanson douce, meanwhile, is slated to appear in translation in over 35 languages, and has just been released in the United States as The Perfect Nanny.

The Perfect Nanny is inspired by a notorious 2012 murder case, in which Lucia and Leo Krim, only six and two years old, were stabbed to death in a Manhattan apartment by their nanny, Yoselyn Ortega, who then attempted, unsuccessfully, to take her own life. The question at the heart of the novel is one that journalists reporting on that crime also sought to answer: what could possibly motivate a caregiver to kill the children in her charge? After opening with a scene of the murders, the novel flashes back in time, to the moment when Myriam and Paul Massé hire Louise to watch their children, Mila and Adam, and then charts their path back to the present. A wonder-nanny, Louise cooks like a first-rate chef and brings order and calm to the couple’s chaotic work lives, but her troubled past is glimpsed in snatches, suggesting a basis — if not a motive — for the crime she will commit.

Though we know how the story ends, the novel remains primarily focused on the mundane daily rhythms that structure the Massé household. Louise arrives early and leaves late. She transports the children to school and to various outings, hosts their birthday parties, and regales them with fanciful stories and games. “You’re part of the family,” Myriam tells Louise as she mounts her framed photo on a bookshelf in the living room. Within their family unit, Louise occupies the role not of a replacement mother but of a third child whose presence, repeatedly described by Paul as “doll-like,” becomes a fixture in their home.

Most of the novel takes place within the small Massé apartment in the gentrified 10th arrondissement of Paris, a confined space that is exceedingly quotidian but never boring. Paul and Myriam aspire to a conventional upper-middle-class life, where she can escape from the claustrophobia of full-time parenting while he guiltily embraces urban amenities, rejecting the austerity of his own childhood. They celebrate their career successes — Paul is a music producer, Myriam a trial attorney — and their fancy dinner parties, replete with cooking by Louise, make them the envy of their social circle. Their main worry is keeping Louise happy at work: without someone to take care of their kids, the rest of their carefully curated lives wouldn’t be possible. The novel’s insistence on their professional success, and the general sense of plenitude in their work-life balance, augur all the more sharply the downfall that awaits them.

As a fiction writer, Slimani seems most at home in the present tense. Her first novel was told almost exclusively in clipped sentences that dramatized the urgency of the protagonist Adele’s physical needs and gnawing inner voice. In The Perfect Nanny, a similar prose style evokes the repetitive cycle of daily existence. There is something disquieting in Slimani’s present tense, which seems always about to rupture the veneer of equanimity. Occasionally the narrative breaks away from the everyday, splicing in chapters that transport us to scenes from Louise’s past, to her eventual trial, or to a hypothetical future envisioned by one of the characters. Anxious to see her children after a busy week, Myriam imagines that tonight:

she would devote herself entirely to them. Together, they would slip into the big bed. She would tickle them and kiss them, she would squeeze them against her until they were dizzy. Until they struggled.

It’s when the novel ventures out of its comfort zone of the present that it inclines too strongly toward such melodramatic flourishes that forebode a tragic ending.

Although Slimani has said that her work “never meant to describe any true or real event,” The Perfect Nanny tracks the well-known Krim case from New York, even while relocating the story to Paris. Mila and Adam are the same ages as the Krim children were at their deaths and are similarly discovered by their mother in the bathtub, with a kitchen knife in the hands of the nanny. Descriptions of her “scream from deep within” echo the initial news reports of the case. Kevin Krim, the children’s father, was met at JFK airport by policemen to break the news of the murder, just as, in the novel’s closing pages, Lieutenant Verdier awaits Paul Massé at the Eurostar section of the Gare du Nord.

References to Louise’s increasingly unhealthy physical appearance, troubles with her landlord, and history of mental illness all echo news coverage of the Krims’ nanny. One article from The Daily Beast, for instance, describes how Ortega had “continued hearing voices, male and female, speaking in Spanish but still unintelligible to her save for when they urged her to hurt others.” Likewise, in the novel, a voice speaks to Louise:

Someone has to die. Someone has to die for us to be happy. Morbid refrains echo inside Louise’s head when she walks. Phrases that she didn’t invent — and whose meaning she is not sure she fully grasps — fill her mind.

There’s nothing new about a novelist drawing on sensational newspaper reports; that’s been common practice in US fiction since at least Theodore Dreiser’s An American Tragedy (1925). In France, the faits divers tradition popularized by Victor Hugo, Guy de Maupassant, Paul Bourget, and others in the 19th century pursued a similar topical strategy, and the success of Emmanuel Carrère’s L’Adversaire (2000) attests that this tradition is alive and well. But in its translation into a Paris-based literary thriller, the Krim case has undergone one noteworthy transformation: the novel both flips and elides the dynamics of ethnicity from the news story, with the Dominican New York nanny becoming a white Parisian, while the white employer turns Maghrebi.

This inversion is signaled very subtly — you could almost miss the fact that Myriam Massé, née Charfa, is ethnically Arab, or that Louise is white. Indeed, Louise bears no trace of ethnic origin for half of the narrative. Only when she is firmly anchored within the Massé family, accompanying them on their summer vacations, do we glimpse a few strands of blonde hair peeking out from underneath her swim cap — a suggestive metaphor for the ways that markers of ethnicity unwittingly escape from the novel’s efforts to contain them.

Sam Taylor’s confident English translation retains all French place-markers and cultural signposts. It carefully adapts the pleasing simplicity of Slimani’s prose and adheres to her rigorous resistance to making ethnicity a centerpiece of the story. The book’s paratexts, however, tellingly contravene this thematic reluctance. The English title — itself sensationalistic in tone, and nothing like the original, which literally translates as “sweet song” — is plastered over the image of a woman’s torso, dutifully dressed in a British-style nanny uniform, her pale neck prominently exposed. Meanwhile, Myriam is identified in the back cover copy as a “French-Moroccan lawyer,” and Slimani’s author bio refers to her as the “first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious literary prize.”

In other words, where the Gallimard edition makes no reference to the ethnic identity of either the characters or the author, the English translation places this issue front and center. The two versions conform almost too neatly to their cultural contexts: the French political project of laïcité systematically rests on a refusal to acknowledge or privilege forms of identity, while in the United States, race becomes the book’s raison d’être.

As intriguing as The Perfect Nanny is for its translation of an American crime into a French context, it is most compelling as a reflection on how we consume the media today. The novel brims over with visual references to media technologies and texts: Louise leaves the television on all day long, watching “apocalyptic news reports” with the children “in rapt silence” by her side. Slimani describes photographs of the crime scene and of the children taken before their deaths — photos matching those that appeared in newspapers and magazines in the wake of the New York case (such as one of the “bouquets of flowers and children’s drawings” littering the entrance to the couple’s apartment building). She even references pictures from the Krims’s personal blog. “Just uploaded photos from my iPhone,” Marina Krim wrote in one of her last blog posts before the murders, and some of the images of her children — wearing a white dress, lying on the ground half-naked, visiting a friend’s farm — emerge in the novel, recast as Massé family snapshots taken on Myriam’s iPhone.

All of Slimani’s characters, in the end, are stuck behind screens, and if Louise’s crime is figured, at least in part, as a result of our apocalypse-focused news culture, so too does Slimani register her own position as a media consumer, transfixed by images of the event, molding them into literary form.

The novel in that sense can be read not only as an obsessive account of a crime, but also as a meta-story about the ways in which we obsess about crimes today. It bespeaks our era of easy and unfettered access to online media and compulsive news cycling. The Perfect Nanny offers a window onto the experience of being immersed in someone else’s tragedy, all the while expressing deep ambivalence about the contemporary media culture from which such stories emerge.

¤

Sara Kippur is associate professor of French at Trinity College in Hartford and the author of Writing It Twice: Self-translation and the Making of a World Literature in French.

The post An American Tragedy by Way of France appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

from Los Angeles Review of Books http://ift.tt/2nzbSM5

[gbhw1hec]

New Post has been published on Get BlackHat World

New Post has been published on http://www.getblackhatworld.com/get-the-big-four-plant-sourced-diets-plr-special-download/

[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD

Hi PLR Friends,

Kater here from PLRPump.com introducing “The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets” PLR Special.

This is a Full Product PLR Funnel You Brand, Sell & Keep 100% of the Profits.

Check out all the details and decide if this white-label PLR is for you…

MARKET OUTLOOK – PLANT SOURCED DIETS

#1 Health Trend from the Dairy Council (Shocking Admission)

Plant-based eating patterns are on the rise. Until recently, plant-based eating patterns were almost exclusively advocated for their health benefits and adopted by a relatively small number of consumers.

Now, the popularity of these patterns is growing due to factors beyond health: cost, animal welfare and environmental concerns.

Many health groups promote diets based on plant foods; for example, the dietary patterns endorsed by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) are primarily plant-based. Campaigns such as Meatless Mondays are frequently offered in hospitals and schools, and documentaries abound on the purported advantages of this approach.

  We’ve done the market analysis for you.

Keyword search trend is in steady with highs after New Years and early Spring

Sub-niche abound in healthy eating, nutrition, cooking, recipes, demos

Global health and wellness sales on the way to hit a record high of US $1 trillion by 2017.

The health and wellness market is beyond huge growing at a rate of over 7% each year.

An abundance of monetization opportunities in offline and online coaching / product sales.

Are You Ready To Succeed Building An Authority Blog and Take A Slice Of A $1 Trillion Dollar Market?

There’s no denying Content Is King. But does it make you feel like a Content Slave?

Content marketing is the key to authority blogging, because great content builds great profits. But there is just so much you have to pull together to make it work. Just look at everything involved in keeping the King on top.

There are dozens of steps involved with content development, not the least of which is actually writing the material. I’ve listed some of the most obvious tasks in content marketing.

Planning

Research

Brainstorming

Choosing Hot Topics

Designing

Graphics

Squeeze Pages

Sales Copy

Producing

Opt-in Offers

Writing eBooks/Reports

Crafting Emails

You know you’ve wanted to create a Healthy Lifestyles course, but planning and writing out an educational program is no small task.

With all this product development, when do you get time to focus on reaching out to partners and clients? Heck! There’s no energy left to squeeze some love out of your fans!

It’s Not Your Fault You Can’t Keep Up 

What if you could just pay someone to do the work for you?

What if you could then turn around and put your name as the author? And what if you get it all done for less than the price of a decent dinner for two?

Discover A Simple Way To Eliminate The Drudgery Of Producing Content

The Same Method Top Online Marketers Use To Whip Up Content Campaigns Fast!

Private Label Rights Content

What if you could get premium content at a fraction of the cost of outsourcing and never spend a minute making bad choices hiring freelancers to write your business content?

Welcome to the power of Private Label Rights content PLR –  sometimes referred to as White Label. PLR is content produced in a variety of formats and provided to marketers who want to keep their customer happy with information and solutions. PLR cuts the time, cost and resources to produce content by 95%.

Build Authority Blogs

Provide current content your readers value because it helps them get what they want.

Create Article Portals On eCommerce Sites

Boost SEO with relevant content and pull in traffic from high ranking posts.

Launch Membership Portals

Create a mentoring course. Build it once and then bring in monthly income over and over.

Core Marketing Bundles Ready to Go

We’ve got your content marketing primed for results with the key material to build your reputation and pull in your perfect audience.

Let’s peek at the core modules included in this release.

Ready for your special touch. Branded By You.

READY? HERE’S THE DEAL

Premium Ebook Keeps Your Product Sales Funnels Fresh

Fully illustrated and formatted.

Easily edited with Word or OpenOffice.

Just brand with your business or name and upload to your host. Or update with your own unique touch. Change as much or as little as you see fit.

“The Big Four Plant Sourced Diet” eBook

Massive! Over 7,000 words. 40 pages. Illustrated.

DFY Sales Copy

Sales Copy With HTML Sales Funnel

No need to start from scratch with our pre-made templates.

Sales page, thank you and download pages included.

Upload to your hosting as HTML sales page or cut-n-paste to your WordPress pages.

We even have training videos to show you how. Learn it once and you know how to do it for all your products.

Affiliate Rolodex

Finding products to promote is a snap! Just pick from these popular merchants.

We’ve picked 15 popular niche products.

Fill Your Content Publishing Calendar With Pre-Written Articles

Modify with a new title and add supporting content such as illustrations or images, statistics, quotes, graphs, or videos and always a call-to-action.

10 articles (400 words) in Word .docx and .txt format.

Amazon Bestseller List Book Review

Writing a book review is challenging – but you don’t have to because we did it for you.

Just post it to your blog and be sure to include an affiliate link pointing to the book, just in case people want to purchase the book after reading your review! 3 pages.

Lock-In Clicks With Pre-Sales Training Presentations

17 slides. Images included. Just add your Call-to-Action.

Publish to social sharing sites, use to build backlinks, whip out your iPhone and share it with potential customers at the grocery store, salon, Bunko party. You are a Marketer Extraordinaire!

Social Media Messages

Facebook & Twitter messages – 10 each to match up with the articles.

Gorgeous eCover Bundle

6 styles. Powerpoint template included. 4 sizes

4 sizes. PSD included

DFY SEO Keyword Analysis

Target the right keywords from the start.

Social Media Images

Inspirations and tips

Publish to social sharing sites, use to build backlinks, whip out your iPhone and share it with potential customers at the grocery store, salon, Bunko party.  Editable PSD included. You are a Marketer Extraordinaire!

Deliver New Products In Hours. Not Weeks!

You Benefit From Our Expertise

Leveraged content and templates saves hours of time in research, planning, and development.

“Leverage” is the point of White-Label / Private Label Rights content.

Customizable Products

Add unique value to create high impact marketing content like blog posts, newsletters, reports and shared content

Instant List Building

Present visitors with valuable information or tools they can’t resist.

DFY Funnels

Sales Copy is ready to go.  Just add your Buy Button and branded eCover.

Premium Articles

Informative articles ready to post. Just add your Call-to-Action.

Training or Sales Presentation

Upload pre-sales presentation to Slideshare for viral boost and backlinks.

DFY Autoresponders

Email messages crafted to build trust, engage and convert subscribers into buyers.

Eye Catching Graphics

Ecovers, illustrations and graphics are royalty-free and no attribution required.

Book Reviews

You don’t even have to read the book.

Implementation Tutorials

Step-by-step tutorials with added value tips. No charge for the tips. 

Put the Hours You Save to Better Use. Quality Time.

Your Content Marketing has Unlimited Potential With Our Quality PLR

Use and repurpose any way you wish. Pro blogger and traffic guru, Neil Patel tells it like it is…

  You can repurpose your blog content to extend the reach of your blog and to identify further link-building opportunities. – Neil Patel, QuickSprout.com

Below are ideas to squeeze more out of each piece of content.

Unlimited Purposes

Use as list building freebie to build your list.

Sell the ebook.

Monetize elements with your affiliate links for streaming commissions.

Convert the ebook chapters into Podcasts.

Upload slideshows, videos and PDF files for site promotion on high PR sharing sites such as Slideshare and YouTube, Vimeo, etc.

Use PLR content to create autoresponders.

Publish articles to your blog.

Use the presentation to create a Webinar.

Add your byline to the book review and share with another blogger for backlinks and traffic.

Turn each article into a video article.

Add links to the ebook and articles to products to earn commissions on sales.

Create videos of presentation.

Insert presentation slides as image in blog posts.

Create a coaching program.

Create a members only portal where you host special training and charge a monthly fee.

Promote training as a home study course.

Merge topics into a pillar content leading readers to an opt-in button.

Create a monthly paid newsletter.

Translate the material to a foreign language.

Record articles into a podcast.

Brand the eBook as your own and sell it.

Convert Articles into podcasts.

Merge 5 articles into a special reports.

Use snippets on Facebook and Twitter.

Add it to an existing related product.

Give reports or ebook PDFs as a bonus to affiliate offers.

Hire a ghostwriter to rewrite articles and offer as guest posts.

Use it on your sites, create many posts or giant authority posts.

Use Tip & Quote posters as viral content on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Use any template in the PLR pack to create your new eCovers, posters and opt-in graphics.

Brand all editable elements as yours to increase brand visibility and firmly establish yourself as an authority on the topic.

Your PLR License

See What Our Customers Are Saying About Our Content

Real feedback from our customers

Hey there Kate … just want to let you know that your November Chakra package is some of the best content I’ve ever seen. I’ve got so many ideas and plans for this product already! It’s gonna be EPIC!

Thanks for keeping the quality high and the price low.Hope you have a super-duper day!

Your Budizona,Donna

Kate,

Thank you so much… for the first time ever, I am happy to own a PLR product, thanks to your training/customizing videos. It couldn’t have always been this easy, has it?

I am truly blown away with the progress I have made in a few short weeks!

John D.

The NLP package looks like truly good quality (which is hard to find) – even with citations! – and I liked that the Hypnosis had scripts included (don’t care for the audios, just want the text/words so I can re-write and narrate in my own voice). Do you have any more hypnosis or guided meditation scripts?  thanks  Mark

Dear Kater, Thanks for sending me your incredible and inspiring story. It’s great to be on your list and to know a fantastic person like you. I appreciate so much your efforts to help folks like me who struggle to get a toehold online. You are truly a breath of fresh air. Cheers, Oliver

Hi. My name is Renee Howes. I’ve been following your fabulous, educational material and have purchased several PLR packages. With your knowledge, I’m hopeful you can point me in the right direction for assistance with my WP affiliate website (equestrian).

Renee Howes

  Kate, I recently purchased the Wellness-Garden Niche Pack and am amazed and impressed with the sheer size of it! I am still downloading the zip files and having a look at the content …overwhelming!

Gail

More Resources for You

Bonus Resource Kit

Tools & Resources to Get Your PLR Into Action Quickly

Get People Talking & Sharing

WordPress plugin compels your readers to share your content and virtually ensures your message is spread further than any paid ad.

Step by Step Implementation Tutorials

Learn how to brand and implement your PLR today!

Your PLR License

Let’s Peek At The Cost To Produce This Pack

That’s a Total of 116 Hours and over $2,200 in Expenses!

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The “The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets: Vegan, Vegetarian, Raw Foods & Plant-Based” PLR Package:

DFY Product: Premium Quality Ebook

Fast Start: HTML Salesletter/Thank You Page

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10 Articles: Written by professional niche writer

Bestseller: 3-page book review

Slidedeck: Pre-sales training presentation

DFY SEO Keyword Analysis

Instant Facebook and Twitter messages

Gorgeous eCovers: 6 Styles

Social Media Images: 10 messages for social portals or blog

License: Full Private Label Rights

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[GET] The Big Four Plant Sourced Diets PLR Special DOWNLOAD