Winterfest Winner

I'm in a good mood today. Know why? The snow is melting. I can hear it dripping from my roof and into giant puddles forming around my house. I can also hear my walls creaking and my doors shifting and my driveway cracking, but I'm still in a good mood.

Reason is, I have four passes to Arvest Winterfest to give away today. These passes include four free skate rental vouchers, four free hot cocoa vouchers and a certificate for a complimentary horse-drawn carriage ride for four. And they're good until Jan. 4.

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What to Do in Tulsa This Weekend

Looking for the best in Tulsa events this weekend, holiday and otherwise? You're in luck. Here now, as heard every Friday morning on the KRMG Morning News with Joe Kelley, is what to do in Tulsa this weekend.

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How To Dine Out With a Two-Year-Old

The holiday season is one of the only times my husband and I have the courage to take our toddler to a restaurant for dinner.

We often talk about our childless years when date nights were ruined by screaming babies brought out by parents with what seemed at the time like nerves of steel (not to mention the stubbornness of a herd of water buffalo).

We vowed to never be "one of those people."

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TDT Holiday Gift Guide: Philbrook Gift Shop

While I was doing research for this gift guide, I came across some rather original suggestions, ranging from the cute and unique to the downright strange.

One suggestion in particular was, I think, smart thinking. Leave it to the head mom over at Ttownmoms.com, Trisha Swindle, to come up with a clever, cost-effective way to shop with local vendors this holiday season without breaking the bank. Her idea? Shop for stocking stuffers at the gift shop in Philbrook Museum.

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Today in Tulsa Blogs

From time to time I find that I've spent an entire morning reading blogs. With all the banter and pontificating and re-telling and general memoir yumminess, it's hard to keep from it from time to time (read: more often that it makes me comfortable to admit. There's dishes and laundry and baby-raisin' to do around here, after all).

Everyone - that is, unless you're still one of those people who ask, "What's a blog?" and if you are, odds would have it that you're not reading this, anyway - has their vices when it comes to blog reading. Mine is The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Did you all see the Beef Stew with Mushrooms she posted today? Lord. Have. Mercy. On my thighs. Because that's right where a recipe by Ree Drummond typically heads - at least, that's true in my case. That all of the recipes on her site now print with ease thanks to HP, my hodgepodge, finders-keepers cookbook stuffed in a three-ring binder left over from college is expanding. Also, my second chin, it is screaming. These days, it's really been throwing its weight around.

Good thing second chins don't get a vote in my house. Stand down, chins!

Speaking of second chins, Hillary over at Life Yoga, a one-woman Tulsa yoga studio that specializes in private and small classes, has a set of resolutions we should all heed now if we don't want to be making lofty vows to ourselves to lose weight and get in shape come the morning of Jan. 1. While I personally have a hard time giving up all of the comfort food that's available around holiday time, I like Hillary's idea of starting family traditions to stay trim.

Start new family traditions. This year my mom and I came up with an idea to start taking a walk every holiday after our meal. We took an hour long walk a few hours after Thanksgiving lunch. All the boys were taking a nap anyways- so we didn't miss a thing and got to spend some great time together. And lets face it- we live in Oklahoma, it's probably going to be 70 on Christmas anyways...

However you choose to spend your holiday just know that it is an excuse to get together with your family and friends- not to eat whatever you want with no consequences. You will feel much better if you follow these simple steps- and will be able to make a much better New Years resolution than losing weight.

Okay, okay, Hillary, I give up - no five slices of pie in one day this Christmas for Tasha. Thanks for working to keep us healthy, woman.

For all my knitting friends, be sure to put on your creative thinking caps and enter to win a 500-yard skein of organic, fingering-weight merino from the folks at Clear Creek Lavender. The prompt: Name the new colorway. You have until noon or so on Wednesday.

77 Counties has a striking image of my beloved Theta Pond. I spent many an afternoon sketching and dodging bird poop at that pond instead of studying in the library, where I should have been. If you haven't yet checked out the 77 Counties project, do it now. The photos are choice.

My pal Carrisa over at And So She Blogs has a valuable lesson for all of you who forget to lock up (I live with one, too, Carrisa - we should start a support group). Plus, she's got delicious, buttery, sweet-smelling baby photos.

Michael Bates - or, as I like to call him, Bates (actually, I call him, "He Who Knows," but usually only in the confines of my feeble little mind) - has a reminder about tonight's showing of the newest Jack Frank show, Tulsa A-Z. Head to Batesline for details, and be sure to tune in.

Jeff Shaw over at Bounded Rationality has a review of a new restaurant downtown. I tried it a few weeks ago and I, too, give Zorba's Greek Grill two thumbs up.

For all you history buffs out there, boy, do I have a blog for you: Historic Tulsa. Check out three recent posts on midtown mansions: Parriot Mansion, Carl K. Dresser House (read: Tulsa wedding central) and Moore Manor, on the same tract as the Creek Nation Council Oak, the fabled birthplace of Tulsa. I love those old photos, don't you all?

The always snarky Irritated Tulsan has 25 Uses for Leftover Turkey. Here's a preview: Use No. 24 is pothole filler. Use No. 12? Monopoly game pieces. Use No. 1? Unmentionable here on this mostly family-friendly blog. Check it out - you won't be sorry.

Ever get the hankerin' for horseback riding? Ron over at Route 66 News has a little somethin' for ya - Route 66 Riding Stables. Check out his photos and review. While you're there, have a look around the site. Ron writes about everything from restaurants on Route 66 to Route 66 property for sale. It's a great resource and an even better read.

All these holidays got you thinking it's finally time to learn to boil water? Learn that and more in the cooking classes at The Stock Pot. Check Tulsa Food Blog for offerings and times.

Did you miss Garden Glow at Philbrook last Saturday? No worries - you can catch some pics over at What's Up @ Philbrook, a blog about Tulsa's world-class museum at 2424 S. Rockford, updated daily.

Speaking of Tulsa's world-class museums, take a virtual tour of the one on Gilcrease Museum Road, thanks to Yogi at Yogi's Den.

To what Tulsa and Oklahoma blogs are you addicted? Share and feast upon links in the comments.

Shopping Ethically

The post that follows appeared first at Grey Eye Designs Studio Blog. After being subjected to much gushing and pleading, the author, local craftista Brigid Vance, agreed to re-post it here at TashaDoesTulsa.com. Enjoy!

In light of this weekend's Black Friday shopping craziness, I've been reading lots of opinions that people have a duty to get out there and shop for the holidays. One even went so far as to say that not consuming means you are injuring the local economy. This opinion really ruffled my feathers. 

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Tasha Does Tulsa Gift Guide 2009

The latest whispers from Washington say that we're starting to pull out of this whopper of an economic crisis. As the holiday season and the demand on the pocketbook it brings with it looms before us, I think we can all agree that this is good news.

We've all made sacrifices since our economy lurched to a standstill a few years ago. Some of us have turned to couponing to feed our families, others have given up their cable TV and still more were forced to downsize, or were downsized themselves.

That we're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel is like stumbling upon an oasis in a sprawling desert. It seems we can't wait to get back to life as usual.

Here's an idea. Rather than shop as we once did by heading to the malls or the monolithic, big-box mega-stores, check out what local shops, restaurants and other service providers have to offer instead.

After all, your dad doesn't need another bottle of Old Spice (unless you're my dad - in that case, you probably do), the kids don't need yet more plastic toys and Mom doesn't want yet another gift basket from the store that rhymes with Bath & Body Schworks.

She'll only re-gift it as a Secret Santa gift at church next Christmas. Trust me. I know these things.

Here's some more food for thought: For every $100 spent at a chain store, just $14 stays in the local community, according to the Tulsa Area Independent Business Alliance. Spend that same Benjamin at a locally owned store and $45 - more than 320 percent more - stays here in town.

I'm sure that folks employed by local businesses that have been forced to scale back on pay and benefits could appreciate the value of a three-fold impact on the community in which they operate.

Thinking along these lines, I've decided to put together the first-ever Tasha Does Tulsa holiday gift guide. Each day from now until Christmas Eve I'll post about a product or service sold or produced here in the Tulsa area that'd look totally rad under (or, on) the Christmas tree.

Or, in a Christmas stocking. Or, on the Christmas dinner table. Or, out in the driveway (or, in the bike rack). You get the idea.

All entries in the TDT Gift Guide can be accessed by clicking a bright, shiny button that I'll make for the top of the right sidebar. Check back often, folks, as there's bound to be something new and wish list-worthy waiting for you there.

You might even find a chance to win free stuff - stuff to use as holiday gifts for loved ones, for yourself, or ways to live life to the fullest in Tulsa this holiday season. Just about anything goes, so man your mouses and get ready to enter some contests and giveways.

While the line-up in this parade of local gifts is pretty much set, I'm still open to learning about gifts that might have escaped my attention. If you come across a find that's too good not to share, e-mail me. We'll spread Christmas cheer together, perhaps over a cup of eggnog.

Because I'm always available for a cup of eggnog.

Look for the first featured gift to show up at the top of this page at some point tomorrow. Until then, happy pre-Thanksgiving cooking (or, in my case, bite-sneakin' and beater-lickin' and putting out fires with the help of this Thanksgiving dinner survival guide at Ttownmoms.com).