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A small selection of articles and stories from Stefanie Payne's writing portfolio. |
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[Health / Wellness] |
Ener.g Bath and Body Products | Destination Spa Meets Home Spa
I was in Scottsdale recently for a much needed weekend away with the girls and what goes better with a group of girls than a day at the spa?
...Entranced by the miraculous scent of essential oils that were
customized specifically for my visit — lightly herbaceous, woody and
citrusy — I vowed to recreate this experience at home to the best of my
ability. |
[Fashion / Beauty / Wellness] |
All-Star Yoga Props and Apparel from Manduka and meSheeky
Manduka and meSheeky create the most popular and widely-used yoga props, accessories, and apparel on the market. And with good reason — they know what practitioners of yoga really love, and they deliver. I can assure you that all devout yogi’s have
used, or want (even if they don’t know it yet) the chic and high-quality
creations made by these powerhouse companies. And now, there are now
some fantastic new lines to shop from! |
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[Literature / Travel] |
Algonquin Hotel: Literary Landmark in New York City
It was exactly five years ago today (July 5, 2011) that the Algonquin Hotel was officially designated a literary landmark. Tucked on W. 44th street in Midtown Manhattan, stepping into the sprawling lounge invites you to dream that you are being written into a page of history — where literary institutions of today were conceived of and spun into gold, drinks made famous, and tradition served with every perfectly crafted Manhattan. H.L. Menckin once called it "the most comfortable hotel in the world."
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[Politics / Events] |
Rebuilding the [American] Dream with Van Jones
On June 30th, at Town Hall in New York City, the Roots, Talib Kweli and Shephard Fairey met on stage with Van Jones to launch the American Dream Movement. Inspired by recent protests by the union workers of Madison, Wisconsin—and put into action by environmental advocate, Van Jones—a new sense of hope was delivered to an inspired crowd about how we can work together as a country to rebuild the middle class. Backed by MoveOn.Org, Jones requested the help of our nation...
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[Travel + Tourism] |
A Double Rainbow in the Green Gobi Our expedition to the north of the Mongolian Gobi from the capital of Ulaanbaatar took about two hours by small plane, four hours of expert 4×4ing across desert “roads,” and critical directions from state-of-the-art GPS systems. In the Gobi there are no addresses, only coordinates. |
[Travel + Tourism] |
Journey to the Great Wall of China
“This donkey is very slow.” Cheney shook his head looking down, whipping stagnant air into his face with a fan made of tan-colored bamboo. “The donkey isn’t the only thing that’s slow today,” I muttered under my breath... |
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[Travel / Gourmet] |
The Pike Place Market – Seattle’s Favorite Tour Spot from a Local’s Point of View
You may know downtown Seattle’s Pike Place Market as an outdoor farmers market where flying fish soar through the air. But to a local Seattleite, the pockets of the Market exemplify much more than just a place to sit on a carved bronze pig for a candid snapshot. So then, what is “the Market” to a native Pac-N-Westerner?
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[Travel Feature] |
Becoming a Horseman - A Horse Trekking Adventure Through Mongolian Back Country
When I signed the form and sealed the envelope that would confirm my spot on a horse trek through the rugged hills of Mongolia, I should have probably taken into consideration the fact that I am terrified of horseback riding. I was just six short weeks away from a series of mild panic attacks, some serious self-realization, and a self-taught class in the art of turning panty-hose into a fan belt.
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[Gourmet / Wine] |
Eddie Osterland - America's First Master Sommelier
As the first Master Sommelier in America, Eddie Osterland has evolved into the first speaker of wine over the past 25 years, conducting “Power Entertaining with Food & Wine” workshops to teach executives essentials for wining and dining international clients...
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[Gourmet / Wine] |
The final finesse on a bottle of wine is the art of the wine label. The identifying marker... peaking personal amusement for the eccentric winemaker, inviting proliferation for a designer or artist, providing the conversation piece in a basement cellar... the label tells the story of the wine. |
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[Gourmet] |
This is one sexy spice. It soothed Alexander the Great after battle, launched wars between nations, and one single thread was once said to calm melancholy and ignite passion... |
[Gourmet] |
Japanese Kaiseki, an 11-Course Feast for All Senses
Japan: where knife training occurs for many years before a budding chef is allowed near a fish and chopping block...where cooking rice is a careful and deliberate balance of vinegar, rice, water and a knowing hand.
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"Newsletter shorts"— newsletter introductions to special promotions and discounts of related interest. |
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Harry Houdini—the World's First Celebrity
Magician extraordinaire, a master of self-promotion, the world’s first celebrity... Harry Houdini ignited the nation with death-defying performances by enlisting radio broadcasts, public platforms, and one of his favorite tools: the police. In 1898, he set the stage (and arranged a subsequent arrest with the Chicago Police) atop a building adjacent to the reporting offices of the Chicago Tribune. His mission: exposure. He knew that duping police while conducting a major stunt on a newspaper’s doorstep would grow his fan-base astronomically… an early form of viral marketing.
[People / Biographies] |
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Quipus - The Inca Empire's Documenting System
In the absence of a written language, the Inca Empire of the Andean region of South America used quipus (sometimes called “talking knots”) to keep records. Spun from tens to thousands of strands of Alpaca and llama hair, the colorful knots contain numeric and other values encoded by a decimal positional system. They are still widely used in the region today to teach mathematics. Elsewhere, you will likely encounter quipus in some form in your daily life — they are the original form of the modern-day bar code. Barcodes were first used in America to label railroad cars.
[People / Biographies]
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The Epicureans
The modern use of the word epicure describes a person who is knowledgeable in the art of sensory pleasure – notably, a connoisseur of food and wine. But the real Epicureans believed that life is suffering, and so the purpose of this life is to experience pleasure. But the “vertebrae” (so to speak) of Epicureanism, is that great pleasures, great foods, abundance of wine, etc., create addiction to these pleasures and should be avoided. The teacher Epicurus would say that a life of asceticism with one small meal per day, no drunkenness, no enthusiasm, is the ideal… For indulging greatly would only lead to dissatisfaction later if one could not afford such delicacies in the future. The obvious contradiction between the pop-epicurean and the real epicurean is evident, but one common nerve remains: a call for friendship (with patrons of Athens, with food and wine,)—is one of life’s most esteemed pleasures. [People / Biographies] |
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Kaldi the Goat Herder - The Legend of the Bean...
Legend has it that coffee was discovered in 300 AD by an Ethiopian goatherder named Kaldi. One morning at the rise of sun, Kaldi set out to tend his daily path when his herd began feverishly eating red and green berries from a low-lying bush. Full of energy and an uncharacteristic charisma, the goats began kicking up their heels in a seemingly joyful state.
After succumbing to immediate effects of alertness and unwavering energy, he shared the news of his new “wonder berry” with the people of his village, word quickly spread. This prompted Arab traders in the region to bring the beans home to their farms where cultivation of coffee plants began. At harvest, the farmers boiled the beans, creating a liquid elixer, which they named “Gahwa” (translating as “Preventer of Sleep.”)
[People / Biographies] |
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Famed Explorer: Vasco da Gama
It’s hard to believe now that there was a time when traveling roundtrip from Lisbon to Calcutta could take two years... During the Age of Discovery, that’s exactly how long it took the great Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, to sail a maiden voyage from his native home southward, rounding South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, and on northward through the turbulent ocean to India. Eager to return home, da Gama ignored monsoon warnings that would sink two of his four ships and afflict half of remaining survivors with scurvy. These were considered successful results at the time, as da Gama returned home to a hero’s welcome. He was later named “The Admiral of the Indian Seas.”
[People / Biographies] |
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Balzac's Writing Schedule
Honoré de Balzac once wrote, “as soon as the coffee is in your stomach there is a general commotion... ideas begin to move like battalions...” If you are a coffee enthusiast, chances are that you are familiar with Balzac’s essay, “The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee.” It was here that he wrote of how his brewing methods changed over time, reducing water and increasing the brew strength to help him “continue to obtain the same cerebral power.” So you will see that it was not Balzac’s affinity for coffee, but a habitual necessity of caffeine that helped him maintain an extremely dedicated writing schedule that subsequently influenced the works of Proust, Dickens, Faulkner, Dostoyevsky, Poe and other famed novelists of the 20th century. Balzac would fall to sleep after a meal in the late afternoon and arise to sip inestimable cups of the strongest black coffee while he toiled by the light of the midnight oil… and so he said,“Coffee is a great power in my life.”
[People / Biographies] |
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