erica schrag

Winter Wonderland!Prior to Christmas my loft space was taken...

Thu, 03 Jan 2013 23:30:03 -0500

Winter Wonderland!

Prior to Christmas my loft space was taken over and turned into a DIY-craft “winter wonderland,”…

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"It’s a good thing I was a girl or I’d be a drag queen."

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:53:51 -0500

“It’s a good thing I was a girl or I’d be a drag queen.”

- Dolly Parton

"I don’t fuck much with the past but I fuck plenty with the future."

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:01:13 -0500

“I don’t fuck much with the past but I fuck plenty with the future.”

- Patti Smith

Audio

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:57:00 -0500

It’s that time of year again. Winter. Florida girls...

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:54:36 -0500

It’s that time of year again. Winter. Florida girls (especially those of us who spent two-thirds of their life without experiencing the existence of snow) revere winter as unreality. I am still in disbelief that people choose to live in cold climates. Thank goodness Georgia is mild and I can get by with quick trips back to the motherland and daydream about visiting my sister in Hawaii. She’s a smart one, my sister. Why doesn’t everyone move to Hawaii? How to beat the winter blues? Lots of Elvis in Hawaii movies and fare alerts on Kayak set to Honolulu.

Mo-chic in Movember! Help support my Edelman Team in raising...

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:59:29 -0400

Mo-chic in Movember! Help support my Edelman Team in raising awareness and funds for men’s health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives.

It’s November 1st, which means my 29th birthday is 24 days...

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:39:58 -0400

25th Birthday at R.Bar

25th Birthday at HMS Bounty

Rachel, Dan, Nikki at my 25th Birthday

It’s November 1st, which means my 29th birthday is 24 days away. 29 seems like an obscure milestone to celebrate and more like a slow death march to some metaphorical (and truly, a physical internal) clock - leading to 30. It seems like yesterday I was celebrating 25 with pure bliss and innocence. How much things change in 4 quick years. I’ve said (and stand firm) that Facebook is no place for a single lady approaching 30.

The illusion that marriage and motherhood are the missing piece to put a cap on your life before the 30th milestone is maddening. Facebook (usually) doesn’t show the dirty diapers or the husband sleeping on the couch for a month. I’ve received several surprising inquiries about the absence or reappearance of my presence on Facebook. At the end of the day - much of my work life is the business of Facebook and it’s simply unavoidable to remain forever removed.

For now, I take what I see with a grain of salt. I say a silent prayers for my sweet sisters with little babes and offer my support to the newly hopeful in love. I discerningly keep my internet conversation to lighthearted Jennifer Lopez lip dubs and give nod to a young women still silently composing herself into a lady.

"I just believe in putting kindness into the universe."

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 23:00:57 -0400

“I just believe in putting kindness into the universe.”

- Emmylou Harris

Audio

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:55:27 -0400

a wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all...

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:49:00 -0400

a wind has blown the rain away and blown
the sky away and all the leaves away,
and the trees stand.  I think i too have known
autumn too long

                  (and what have you to say,
wind wind wind—did you love somebody
and have you the petal of somewhere in your heart
pinched from dumb summer?
                            O crazy daddy
of death dance cruelly for us and start

the last leaf whirling in the final brain
of air!)Let us as we have seen see
doom’s integration………a wind has blown the rain

away and the leaves and the sky and the
trees stand:
             the trees stand.  The trees,
suddenly wait against the moon’s face.

- A Wind Has Blown The Rain Away and Blow, e.e. cummings

Precarious

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 19:03:16 -0400

pre·car·i·ous
/priˈke(ə)rēəs/
Adjective
Not securely held or in position; dangerously likely to fall or collapse.
Dependent on chance; uncertain.
Synonyms
uncertain - insecure - dubious - doubtful - unsafe

Audio

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:59:24 -0400

"All our friends, they’re gettin’ on But the girls are still staying young. If I get caught being..."

Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:34:54 -0400

“

All our friends, they’re gettin’ on
But the girls are still staying young.
If I get caught being rude in a conversation
With a child bride on a summer vacation.

No matter how hard I try to be just one of the guys
There’s a little cop inside that won’t let me.
No matter how hard I try to have an open mind
There’s a little something inside that prevents me.

It’s how I live. You got me here,
Locked in this bathroom full of tears.
And I have begged for you and I have borrowed
But I been the only sister to my own sorrow.

No matter how hard I try to be just one of the guys
There’s a little clock inside that keeps ticking.
No matter how hard I try to have an open mind
There’s a little something inside that won’t let me.

There’s only one difference between you and me
When I look at myself, all I can see:
I’m just another lady without a baby.

No matter how hard I try to be just one of the guys
There’s a little narc inside that won’t let me.
No matter how hard I try to have an open mind
There’s a little something inside that prevents me.

”

- Just One of the Guys - Jenny & Johnny

FOLK REVIVAL VS. DEATH METAL REVIVAL

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 16:33:00 -0400

Erica: hmm the lumineers seem canned

Katie: canned?

Erica: pre-packaged. fabricated. like the same people who like the band "fun"

Katie: meh. maybe

Erica: sorry!

Katie: I like them hahaha

Erica: well that's good to know what you like. you know who you should like? karen o from the yeah yeah yeah's. she's a solid woman and a mega babe.

Katie: yeah i like her. ha I like pretty much anything

Erica: I wish America would get off this "folk" revival kick. if I have to go to one more wedding with suspenders and mason jars I'll kill myself

Katie: haha

Erica: can we have a death metal revival? can we all wear slayer shirts and drink blood?JKJKJKJKJKJK

Photo of my grandfather and my grandmother dressed up for...

Thu, 18 Oct 2012 13:58:43 -0400

Photo of my grandfather and my grandmother dressed up for Halloween. Found two years ago when I had a box of my mother’s slides developed. Lots of fun ahead this weekend as my immediate family is coming in town to be together for my sister Amy’s homecoming from Hawaii.

My mother was an artist. One of her many talents was her ability...

Thu, 11 Oct 2012 13:02:00 -0400

My mother was an artist. One of her many talents was her ability to sew - anything. She handmade the four of us girls handmade Halloween costumes (among many dresses, pillows, curtains and rompers) for years. It’s perhaps one of the most beautiful stories to hear how my sister Amy was influenced by my mother’s artistry to become a costume designer. These photos tell the story themselves.

The hand work to custom craft these costumes emulates love. In the late autumn months remember my mother staying up all night (after making dinner, cleaning and packing lunches for the morning) to sew our costumes.

Perhaps this is why I am over enthusiastic about Halloween, taking great care to craft my costume each year (and well, truthfully I look for any opportunity to dress up). I am full of light and love remembering the artistry my mother demonstrated in every area of her life.

Audio

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 09:57:00 -0400

Last night I came home and made dinner while simultaneously...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 09:54:06 -0400

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry Muffins

Last night I came home and made dinner while simultaneously baking one of my favorite recipes - blueberry crumble top muffins. I listened to a little of the new No Doubt album, because I’m an adult who still enjoys dancing in the quiet comfort of my home pretending I’m Gwen Stefani. This changes depending on my mood. I also like to regularly channel Stevie Nicks and Nina Persson.

Two nights ago I went to see beloved female icon, Fiona Apple at the Tabernacle. Unfortunately the show was quite the departure from her last appearances I saw in 2005.

I used to quote Fiona as if her lyrics were sacred scripture. I clung to her words as comfort during the angst filled relationships of my early twenties. I vividly remember hours of commute time on foot between NYC and LA with headphones secured snugly listening to Shadowboxer, Paperbag, Get Gone, I Know, Never is a Promise, and Sleep to Dream.

The show at the Tabernacle was a great departure from her intimate performances in 2005. The myriad crowd of assumed doctors, lawyers and hipsters (including myself) with enough cash to pay for the $60 base ticket price made the experience feel much like a mass produced arena tour. Like going to see Coldplay and Dave Matthews with a Groupon deal.

Earlier in the week on Monday I went to see Grimes at the Basement. Perhaps that set the stage for encountering disappointing audiences. The crowd was so disheveled it made the wait through two embarrassing openers seem fruitless.

Perhaps this is demonstrable proof that I am, in fact, getting old. I hope not. I like to think that the live music experience has shifted. The grit and the newness of music discovery has escaped. Everything is mass produced, branded and sponsored. I think we all just need Prince to step up into his namesake and set us all straight.

I grew up working with my mother in flower shops. She was a...

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:40:00 -0400

I grew up working with my mother in flower shops. She was a third generation florist. Her father owned Almquist Flowerland in Quincy, Massachusetts. His father (my great grandfather) started the family business.

After my father finished graduate school at the University of Florida, my family relocated to Englewood, Florida. The older I become, the more I see that we do in fact live in a small world. Located in my hometown, was Stevens the Florist South - started by Linda Stevens. Linda grew up in Massachusetts as well and her father owned Stevens the Florist North in Plymouth an hour away from Quincy. They knew the same wholesalers, markets and of each others respective family businesses.

My mother and Linda worked together for years in Florida. Linda brought the New Englander out of my mother. I quickly learned that Linda was not pronounced “Lin-da,” but, “Lind-err.” Everything was “wicked,” and car, yard, bar, girl the R’s were all silent (cah, yah, bah, gil.” When I was in the 6th or 7th grade, I started working the counter for Linda during the holidays. I learned to take orders and quickly was brought on board to run deliveries with her father. I ran the wire orders, prepped arrangements with greens and quickly discovered my mother was a flourishing artist with flowers as her medium.

She was sincerely loved by all. My mother simply loved people. She would talk your ear off if you let her. She cared deeply for others and her passion for people was apparent in her work. Her arrangements were crafted with great care and she worked as if the flower shop were her own. At a young age, my mother instilled in me a strong work ethic. The mantra, “The customer is always right,” was ingrained in my head. I remember Linda and my mother discussing this idea and how their father’s instilled this in them as well. They said, “It isn’t necessarily that the customer IS right. They might very well be wrong. However, because they are your customer, you are to treat them with the utmost respect and work to satisfy their request as best as possible.”

There is a great amount of patience to be had when one works in customer service. Flower shops, as whimsical and dreamy as they may appear are the pressure cooker of human emotions. You are servicing people in their darkest, happiest, milestone and secretive moments! Patience is absolutely paramount when filling an order for an infant who has passed, a son who wishes to send his love from overseas to his mother, a young girl placing her boutonniere order for her very first date and well, I could go on and on.

Because my mother was a skilled artist and passionate for people - she excelled at her job. She knew that love is always the secret ingredient to anything well crafted.

I found these outrageous leather upper MIA boots at Value...

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 14:11:52 -0400

MIA boots

MIA boots

MIA boots

I found these outrageous leather upper MIA boots at Value Village yesterday. I cannot wait to stomp around in these for fall! I’m in disbelief of all the goodies I found at Atlanta’s finest Value Villages between Memorial and Mooreland. The staff told me the last Wednesday of the month is half off everything. I have to put that on my calendar as a recurring mandatory meeting.