Album Review: Port of Morrow

To describe this album release as "highly anticipated" may be an understatement. As The Shins left the world hanging after the amazingness that was Wincing the Night Away it took 5 long years to release Port of Morrow. This long wait has created lots of buzz over what James Mercer could create next. Which I find when there is this much anticipation over an album, it often falls short of what is expected. Port of Morrow is a prime example of this. It is a solid album, but nothing monumental when looking back at what The Shins have already blessed our ears with. 


The most noticeable difference on Port of Morrow compared to The Shins repertoire is how conventional many of the songs are. It was inevitable there would be some sound changes due to an entirely new band behind lead singer/guitar/brains of The Shins, James Mercer, but I found the album to be less innovative than I expected. When played as a whole it sounds like a solid album should, but sadly there is not one song that I can imagine breaking the glass of any hipster's wide-rimmed glasses. One thing I did notice about Mercer's lyrics on Port of Morrow was more of a lyrical vision of which I could comprehend. The short and sweet 10 song album will no doubt please every Shins fan out there, but may not convert any new Shins-aficionados. If you want a quick fix, check out my favorite songs listed here:


Notable tracks: "It's Only Life", "For A Fool", "No Way Down" & "September".


Personally, I am not to hard to please; which is why I would give this album two thumbs up! It's all I could have asked for and more from James Mercer and the gang. I will be seeing them in May and cannot wait to hear this album performed live!


Give it a listen and tell me what you think!

Baked Chicken Nuggets!

Finals week has officially begun! Between fighting for space in the library and gulping cups of coffee, cooking is low on my list of things to do. But I recently stumbled upon a recipe for chicken nuggets and noticed how easy it was! Poor-college-student easy!

We cleaned out the pantry and found some bread crumbs, defrosted chicken breast, and borrowed cheese from our neighbors. Just a few simple ingredients to yummy chicken nuggets!

First preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Then cut the defrosted chicken into bit-sized pieces. (Note: Shelby is also an aspiring hand model, shout out for her nice hand pose here!)

We then made our kitchen table into a nugget station! Taking the chicken, shaking on some salt + pepper, dipping them into olive oil, then dipping them into the cheese & bread crumbs. Once they were coated and ready to go they looked like this:

Then pop them in the oven!

Set the timer for ten minutes...

Then take them out and FLIP them over and back in the oven for five more minutes! 

Shelby likes her nuggets extra crispy, so we left them in another couple minutes. And take them out and enjoy the tender, yummy, healthier option for chicken nuggets! 

Between dips of ketchup we were thinking of other things to add to the crust, maybe next time some crushed garlic? Yum!

While other students spend hours procrastinating on Facebook or YouTube, I generally break out the hot glue gun and craft my worries away. What worries?! You may be asking. Well finals week is fast approaching and I'd craft over study any day! Which leads me to this little present I made over the weekend...

Anyone questioning what this quote is referring to? DROP EVERYTHING, and watch Mean Girls. Or at least this YouTube clip that will give insight to who Glen Coco is. Now that you understand the reference you will understand that my dear friend Megan lives her life by quoting Mean Girls. Seriously, not a day spent with her is unquoted. Which is what inspired me to create this craft for her! 

Supplies: 

• Old picture frame
• Print out a quote
• Scissors & Tape
• A fabric piece the size of the frame
• Paint or spray paint
• Hot glue gun
• Red wine, optional but suggested!

1. Cut out the quote. Now this step can easily be avoided if you purchase sticky letters from the store. But I am thrifty and broke out the old x-acto knife and scissors and cut them out myself.

2. Arranging the letters is all up to personal ascetic appeal. Once they are where you like, heat up the hot glue gun and begin gluing! 

3. Once the letters are secure, paint away!

After the paint had dried and letters were peeled off I was initially displeased with the look. There was not enough of a contrast between the paint and the fabric, which could easily be solved with  brighter colors.

But I stuck to my life rule-of-thumb: when in doubt, GLITTER! Old glitter came to the rescue to help add some much needed flair. 

I will probably end up doing another coat of glitter (because is there ever enough?) and cleaning up the letters, specifically the "coco" which blended together a little too much. I'm so excited to give this to her and will post pictures if I make any dramatic changes.

Now I should probably head to the library...