Lifestyle Archives - Page 2 of 3

Galveston, Tropical Storm Bill, and the art of hurricane panic

The unsinkable Graham Gemoets, Galveston. I love Galveston—it’s such a short drive from Houston but such a world away from the city. My buddy Graham Gemoets has a charming little getaway there near The Strand. With Mother’s passing and as hard as I have been working I felt long overdue for a trip and quality time with a friend. Mr. Gemoets is almost seven feet tall and more outrageous than can be recounted here--he should have his own TV show. Anyway, a Tropical Disturbance, soon to become Tropical Storm Bill, was churning in the Gulf with all spaghetti models projecting a route directly to Houston. But I was damned determined to get out of town, so with one eye on ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-06-19T10:38:27-05:00June 18, 2015|Destinations, Food & Beverage, Lifestyle|

The true meaning of Memorial Day – Discounts?

Arlington National Cemetery by Andrew Bossi (Own work) [CC BY-SA 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons. Formerly known as Decoration Day (the day to decorate the graves of the fallen), the federal holiday of Memorial Day was created in commemoration of those who died while serving in the United States military. Observed yearly on the last Monday of May, this year it falls on May 25th. But over the past 150 years Memorial Day has morphed into alternative connotations. Many Americans have come to accept that the new true meaning of Memorial Day is Discounts! For the past several years I have been a designer for a major American furniture brand. And while my skills are better suited for one-on-one interaction with ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-07-15T22:45:45-05:00May 17, 2015|Lifestyle|

The Best Friends Brunch, Delta Dawn’s big day!

Delta Dawn & me upon our arrival at the Omni Houston Hotel (photo by Kim Coffman) Most English Springer Spaniels are at home running through a grassy meadow or trudging through the marsh. But after Delta Dawn's big day at the aniMeals Best Friends Brunch I realize that her ideal habitat is a luxury hotel. I wrote a post a month back about the aniMeals Best Friends Brunch (Kick-off party for Best Friends Brunch – TroysArt.com). The Best Friends Brunch benefited aniMeals on Wheels, a division of Interfaith Ministries Meals on Wheels program. I found out about the charity through my friends, sisters Kristy Phillips and Wendy Phillips who, with Teena Davis, served as brunch co-chairs. The program was conceived after ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-03-01T14:23:57-05:00February 27, 2015|Lifestyle, TroysArt|

A kick-off party for the Best Friends Brunch

Kirk Longmire, Kristy Phillips, & Cody Soutar at the aniMeals kick-off. I had a lovely evening a few nights back; I attended a kick-off party for the Best Friends Brunch. The Best Friends Brunch benefits aniMeals on Wheels, a division of Interfaith Ministries Meals on Wheels program. I found out about this worthy charity through my friends, sisters Kristy Phillips and Wendy Phillips who are serving as brunch chairs. Apparently administrators for the Meals on Wheels program learned of a need for pet food when questioning drivers about what they were learning on their routes. Seems program recipients were not finishing their meals in order to save a portion for their four-legged companions. The aniMeals program was created so that ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-01-15T17:38:30-05:00January 15, 2015|Lifestyle|

How long can lights stay up after Christmas?

No, this isn't my house! - Christmas Lights by Anthony92931 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons No, I did not erect Santa’s Village in the parking court, a manger on the patio, nor a heard of reindeer pulling a sleigh across the rooftop. This Christmas season I very tastefully hung a row of white lights along the edge of the awning over my front door. And with sunset before I get home from the office I have especially loved coming home to their soft white glow, and I can see to open the gate and to get my key in the lock. It seems colder and darker than ever at this point of the year and ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-01-10T13:47:49-05:00January 10, 2015|Lifestyle|

A few thoughts about Lisa Benitez

Mark Moss, Troy Broussard, Lisa Benitez, Amy Evans, & Stacey Abbott, summer 2014, Koelsch Gallery, Houston, by Smilebooth.com On Wednesday, December 31st, we will say goodbye to our dear friend Lisa Benitez, a day that should have been reserved to celebrate her birthday. Some would say that a funeral should be a day to celebrate her life, but how can one celebrate when a life is cut so short? I've known Lisa for 20 years, give or take a few--I met her through a mutual friend Johnny Hooks. And it seems to me that everyone in Houston knew her also as she trancended every group and socio-economic class in the city. She was able to touch lives professionally as well as philathropically. But most of all she touched lives as a ...

By Troy Broussard|2014-12-30T11:39:33-05:00December 29, 2014|Lifestyle, TroysArt|

Bah Humbug to Christmas Commercialism

Scrooge (Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar) from The Odd Couple by ABC Television (eBay item photo front photo back) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons Is it just me or did Christmas seem to begin earlier than ever this year? Sure, stores started putting decorations out the week before Halloween which I find disturbing, but not unusual. Perhaps the number of retailers opening on Thanksgiving for Black Friday acted to set the Christmas clock forward. I guess this is my own bah humbug to Christmas commercialism… I found a Forbes Magazine study from 2011 that over $450 billion is spent in the USA in the month of December, much of that spurred by “holiday” shopping. And ...

By Troy Broussard|2014-12-28T11:03:11-05:00December 15, 2014|Lifestyle|

Where is artist David Baum?

Art of David Baum, courtesy of Malcolm Allred Twenty-two years ago I found myself spellbound in front of St. Louis Cathedral as I gazed upon the most expressive, colorful, powerful, and emotional artwork I’ve ever experienced. It was something I'd never seen before. Atypical of work found in Jackson Square, I thought that this body of work was as raw and guttural as Vincent van Gogh’s must have looked in its day. I stood there for a while but the artist was nowhere in sight. I camped there. After twenty minutes an energetic guy, my age, in paint covered clothes came sprinting up. His name was David Baum. I spent an hour with him; we talked about art, especially Vincent van Gogh. We had ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-05-03T17:41:47-05:00September 10, 2014|Artists, Lifestyle|

White Bucks after Labor Day?

White Bucks after Labor Day? I recently posed a simple question to my friends on social media: “White Bucks after Labor Day?” And I got a assortment of responses. Etiquette maven Rachel Thomas Hale from Evangeline, Louisiana, simply replied, “Nope!” But Oscar nominated globe-trotter Pud Cusack responded, “Always!” Interior Designer and man-about-town Kirk Longmire of Houston quipped, “Yes, we live in the tropics. All bets are off!” Head of men’s talent for Kim Dawson Agency and professional stylist Gerald Frankowski of Dallas advised, “In the South it can be done until mid to late September.” While a friend from Jennings, Louisiana, Kelley Durham Carambat wondered, “My question has always been ‘Says who?’ “ Research on the subject yielded ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-01-08T17:40:06-05:00September 7, 2014|Lifestyle|

Flip Flops Are Disgusting

My Flip Flops, 2014, by Troy Broussard Mother never allowed us to wear shoes that could be bought at a convenience store; and dad thought that open toe shoes on boys were effeminate. But while walking down the beach at Fire Island in leather soled shoes a decade back I came to accept the purpose for such footwear—and I bought a pair of expensive flip flops. Flip flops are fabulous for the beach or poolside, or as a shower shoe. But when did flip flops become acceptable everyday apparel? Sisterwoman and I determined that there are three techniques of walking in thongs: First there are the “Toe Flailers”, a group composed disproportionately of men who in order to ...

By Troy Broussard|2015-01-08T17:40:30-05:00September 4, 2014|Lifestyle|

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