Lifestylist® Marketing

Something that is very important to this Lifestylist® is cooking with kids, and teaching them from the beginning how to eat well and delight in the food that they eat. As part of this passion I’ve gotten involved in Days of Taste and met Robin Plotkin – an amazing Licensed Dietitian, communications consultant and Mom. She has given her time to the Days of Taste program for years and truly understands the importance of teaching kids about nutrition and making it fun.

Tomorrow is a day I’m really excited about – I get to work with Robin and Lisa Stewart Photography on a project to spread the word about Robins Bite. Lots of food, styling and great information. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to share the results with you here.

The good and bad news is that this Lifestylist® is super busy! Lots of new homes to design and give the Lifestylist® Designed touch to, products to develop, animals to rescue… there just never seems to be enough hours in the day. Life seems to be moving at warp speed, and before you know it summer is gone and I never took advantage of some of the great events Dallas has to offer.

When I heard about the series the Nasher Sculpture Center is holding this summer I decided it was time to slow down and take a night to sit under the stars. The ’til Midnight at the Nasher series is such a great idea – every third Friday through October you can go to the Nasher and enjoy a concert and movie in their garden. If you haven’t had the opportunity to visit the Nasher it is a must see, and their garden is complete with beautiful works of art that are a joy to experience. You bring your own blankets to sit on, and beverages and food are available from the Nasher Cafe catering services provided by Wolfgang Puck.

Every evening is a different theme, and last night was the Wizard of Oz complete with a showing of the film. Emerald City – a 14 pc band entertained us and had everyone on their feet for most of the evening. The theming also carried through to specialty drinks such as “The Great and Powerful Oz”, “Flying Monkey” and “Over the Rainbow”. The very talented Lisa Stewart does a lot of photography for the Nasher, and she was in the know enough to pre-order a picnic basket for us which was an amazing deal. A bottle of great wine, salads, cheeses, bread and strawberries with a decadent dark chocolate dipping sauce made me a very happy participant in the evening.

Another great opportunity was that a guided tour of the Nasher was included as part of this event. Other museums in the area including the Dallas Museum of Art and Crow Collection made this event a true block party and you could take a progressive museum tour through all three. We had so much fun I did something that I’ve been thinking about doing for quite awhile – I became a member! This is the best way to truly take advantage of all the Nasher Sculpture Center has to offer.

It was so much fun to see young and old, people from every walk of life coming together to celebrate the arts. I can’t wait until next month, and now I’m hoping my kids and grandkids will be able to come and enjoy an evening as well.

Summer is definitely here, and I decided to celebrate this Memorial Day weekend by trying out my Lifestylist® skills making something I’ve been craving – homemade ice cream. Lucky for me JC Penney had a great sale on so I got a great deal on my new Cuisinart Flavor Duo and it’s exactly what I wanted – easy prep and cleanup and you don’t need a bunch of items that you already wouldn’t have around the house. No rock salt needed – this uses two freezer bowls that easily fit and can stay in your freezer. I LOVE that it has the two separate bowls so you can make two different flavors at the same time without making more than you can eat in a weekend.

For my test run I opted for a fresh peach ice cream using peaches grown at the wonderful Lemley Farms in Tyler. They have a stall at our local Farmers Market and I couldn’t pass them up. I like a custard style ice cream which means you have to do some cooking but it was well worth it. There are some recipes in the instruction manual for ice cream where you just add ingredients – no cooking necessary.

The entire process could not have been easier, and sitting on the porch eating fresh ice cream brought back such great memories of the times our family shared when we all got together of all of the holidays. Now I can’t wait for my grandkids to visit so I can make some ice cream and memories with them as well.

Today was a great day – I got a lot of work done on my gardens then we went to our local farmers market to pick up some goodies for the week.

The Home Idea Factory is in an area of Dallas called Oak Cliff and we are very fortunate because we are close to town but it’s an older established area that is really coming into it’s own. Some amazing restaurants have opened, I’ve heard there is now an organic coop and now we even have our own coffee company – Oak Cliff Coffee Roasters. So today we picked up some coffee, and sampled our way through the local farmer stalls at the Dallas Farmers Market. Local peaches were just coming into season and there also was a bounty of tomatoes, onions, squash and cucumbers. It’s going to be a healthy tasty week around here!

Some vendors are only there weekends and we discovered the Lucky Layla Farms which had amazing cheeses. I bought the Fresh Campesino which was perfect with my tomatoes, avocados and cucumbers for lunch. I’m going to make some homemade ice cream to use with the peaches for dessert.

One of the best things about being a Lifestylist is getting to explore what’s out there and figure out how to make it approachable and accessible. I was amazed how much I saved by buying at the farmers market vs. a typical grocery store – I got 5 huge beautiful tomatoes that were picked that morning for $1 each! My goodies helped me make a quick and healthy lunch for under $1.50 per serving.

We have got to support our local farmers and businesses. The Lemley family has been bring exceptional tomatoes, peaches and other produce to the farmer’s market for over 30 years. I know that a lot of the better restaurants in town also buy from them and I can’t imagine a summer without their goodies. It’s exciting to have all of these choices now and I plan on supported them so they are here for years to come.

Hey y’all! Just got back from Tunica, MS and the South Central Manufactured Housing Show. Part of what being a Lifestylist is all about is experiencing life to the fullest, and even though I went to view housing trends, when I saw that bus with Paula Deen’s face on it beckoning me to the casino and her signature buffet, how could I say no?

The show and Ms. Deen’s buffet are both housed at Harrah’s  Tunica. I had stayed there in the past when it was The Grand Casino and let me just say the buffet was anything but grand, to the point that it may have been some of the worst food I have ever had. But love Paula, love her show, so decided I’d give it a go.

I went for lunch, and honestly I thought it was a great value. I think it was about $14.99, and I would have been happy if they just would have brought me up a sleeping bag and I just stayed there for a few weeks. I next to never do buffets because I don’t like feeling like I have to over-eat to get my money’s worth, and usually the food isn’t that great quality. That was not the case here. I knew I was going to have to stay to bite sized portions if I was going to make my way to every station, but from the salads on everything was sooooo good I could have just eaten that! I’m very picky about fresh, and everything seemed super fresh and almost made to order. I wanted to try things that were Paula’s signature dishes and they were even better than I had hoped. The cheese biscuits and hoe cakes were out of this world! And the Mac and Cheese…. I’ve had some great Mac and Cheese but this was one of the best.

There was an entire seafood selection that had mounds of shrimp, oysters and fried goodies, The Lady and Sons station had wonderful southern specialties including yams, fried green tomatoes, ham and fried chicken. And THEN there was a BBQ station and of course dessert. Had to try the Gooey Butter Cake and it lived up to it’s name and reputation, but my favorite desserts were the peach cobbler and bread pudding. The only shortcomings for me were the fried pickles and the fact that they had Kool Whip for the dessert items! I didn’t realize it wasn’t whipped cram until I tasted it and it ruined the experience.

The Paula Deen brand was visible everywhere, and it should have been. Loved how they had recipe cards at some of the different stations so you could make some of the various things you tried at home, and while you were waiting there was a Paula Deen Gift Shop.

The restaurant was beautiful and definitely had Paula’s southern charm and a very welcome feel to it. I loved every minute (and calorie) that I spent here, and may have to plan a trip back just so I can do it all over again! If you want to make a weekend out of the journey the casino also offers “Paula Deen Suites” that would complete the experience.

What makes Lifestylist Marketing different from other forms of marketing? In our case it’s because the base information that we market around is someone’s lifestyle. To understand that buyer’s needs or expectations we go to places they would go to, shop where they would shop and read what they would read. This includes our extensive research on the travel and leisure industry, and participating in events that would attract the buyers that our clients are hoping to attract. We are definitely more than a design firm, and one of our strengths is our relationships outside the design arena.

We are now busy planning for the Super Bowl that will be coming to Dallas sooner than we think! The Gaylord Texan is the official hotel for the Dallas Cowboys and our relationships with this amazing hotel will help our clients experience this event in a great way. For anyone coming into Dallas that needs recommendations on where to dine or what to see, we are the people in the know that can make that happen. Lisa Stewart of LAS Photo is another one of our great resources and her team can help capture your special Super Bowl memories in photos. Event planning? Extraordinary Events and Design are the people to call.

We’ll be sharing more of our resources in the future – contact us and let us know what your needs are and how we can be of service at answers@lifestylist.com

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my Job? As a Lifestylist I spend a lot of time researching trends and ways that I can help consumers enhance their quality of life, so researching foodies and food trends is a large part of what I do. Last week I attended the Texas Restaurant Association’s Southwest Foodservice Expo, and as luck would have it Duff Goldman, The Rock Star host of Ace Of Cakes was one of the speakers! People have asked me if I go everywhere with a photographer – as a matter of fact I do any chance I get attend events with Lisa Stewart of Lisa Stewart Photography so I can capture images to share with you all. Thanks to her I was not only able to get some wonderful shots of Duff, I was also able to go behind the scenes and see what he’s like without an audience in front of him.It’s wonderful to now know that Duff is not only fun to watch on his Food Network show Ace of Cakes, he also has an amazing amount of experience and credentials to back up the fact that he’s one of the most talented cake designers today. His loyalty to his employees – most were friends before they joined the business – talent as a true artist as well as the gift to not take himself too seriously has moved him to the top of my favorite chef list. As we all know, Food Network has been moving towards having personalities instead of chefs hosting their shows, but with Duff’s background of attending the CIA Greystone (and not as a weekend course like others we know) and working at the celebrated French Laundry, this chef is more than fluff.I’m also in love with this man because so many times when you attend an event like this the speaker does their thing then disappears, but not Duff. He not only walked the aisles meeting everyone and being very gracious about it, but he also interacted with the various vendors and was extremely approachable.Duff is the perfect example of what the Food Network needs more of – great role models for the future of the food industry. I’m looking forward to watching the new season of his show which starts in a few weeks!