CityLife Dec. 2014 / Jan. 2015
A Season of Tradition: More than 60 perfect gifts to give

CityLife
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Editor’s Note
It was a routine to watch it with my grandmother every Sunday that I was in town visiting. The show, popular back in the ’90s, was about how special angels live among us. My grandmother believed in angels and collected them, too. I never had the chance to ask her why or if she ever had a sighting.

Goals for your child
For those with young children, I am going to equip you with six educational goals for the New Year (Let’s face it: one for each month can be overwhelming for any parent.

Peppermints and Promises
Time for holidays, parties, cocktails and the red holiday cups at Starbucks (I get excited about small things, what can I say). It’s also deemed a time for reflection as the birth of a new year is upon us. What is it about the expectations of the arrival of Jan.

New Opportunities
Christmas is a great time to end the year with a new beginning in mind. Consider adding to your lists of gifts, the gifts to higher living, one that is gentler, kinder and more forgiving, more committed to family and God. Your influence can be the key to begin a great 2015.

’Tis the season
Especially during the holiday season, Chris and I love to support local businesses when we’re buying gifts for our friends and family. If you think about it, a dollar spent on a locally made item makes so much more of a difference than a dollar spent at a chain store.

Power Tools
To encourage his love for fixing things, my husband and I bought him a real lifelike toolbox a few Christmases ago. This bright orange toolbox proudly displays an authentic Home Depot logo and came with various tools like a hammer, screwdriver, wrench and tape measure.

The city by the bay
Mark Twain Located right near Union Square, Hotel Mark Twain is the ideal hotel property that is close to everything. The newly remodeled rooms give a classic, updated look to this legendary hotel. In the late 1940s, the great blues singer Billie Holiday was arrested in her hotel room.

Global Rustic
He did know, however, what he didn’t want a contemporary look. His new home has a personality, a feel and a setting which required something more personal. I like to attribute a style to each of my clients based on what they tell me they like or want in this case, we went with “global rustic.

THE PAINTER WITH A PASSION
Jennifer Rice Anderson, artist and designer for J. Anderson Design, has learned the art of creating beautiful things, both professionally and personally. Also an art teacher at Ascension Classical School, Anderson manages to balance her career and hobbies alongside her beloved life with her husband and three children.

Owning the Best Look
Shanna Scurlock, owner of Pretenses Boutique and More, is a local woman who knows how to make a career look good. After graduating from Louisiana Tech University with a bachelor’s degree in merchandising and consumer studies, Scurlock moved back to Shreveport to start her beloved dream – opening her own fashion boutique.

TO PRIVATE SCHOOL OR NOT?
Open houses, school tours, placement tests and student interviews are all a part of the enrollment process for many private schools, and parents and students are already thinking about next year and having to plan ahead to secure a spot in local private schools.

Miss Shreveport
Studying for a medical school entrance exam while at the same time preparing for state competition at the Miss Louisiana Pageant would likely be deemed challenging by most of us, but this 20-year-old, Asian-American beauty from Choudrant has already...

A Toy Story
candy canes and peppermints. It may even remind some of a Christmas stocking or a favorite ornament. But for those familiar with Toy Fair in Shreveport, red and white stripes.

IN THEIR DNA
Desmarteau, a licensed sleep technologist, owns and runs Well Necessities for Life, a wellness company with locations in Shreveport and Austin. She moved to Shreveport from Kansas City in 1991 when the sleep diagnostic testing field was beginning.

DINING
Locally, pecan picking is great fun on a crisp winter day, but not all of us have time for that. This time of year, our local grocery stores fill their bins with endless varieties and quantities of all our favorite nuts. With an endless way to prepare them, winter nuts are simply wonderful.

Shopping List
White sugar White vinegar Teaspoon salt and Ground black pepper 1 teaspoon ground dry mustard 1 small onion 1 cup vegetable oil Poppy seeds 8 cups baby spinach leaves Strawberries 8-ounce bag whole or chopped walnuts 1/2 pounds smoked Gouda cheese 1...

Holiday Nut Madness
Place on a foil-lined pan that has been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Cook uncovered for 20 minutes, turning halfway through cooking. Wrap foil loosely around pork to keep pecans from burning if necessary. Cook an additional 15-25 minutes, or until pork reaches an internal temperature of 155.

Subjects of Style
The Mardi Gras fashion show will highlight more than 75 local artists who have handmade pieces ranging from accessories to one-of-a-kind outfits. Katy Larsen, owner of The Agora Borealis, is hosting the event and hoping the fashion show will inspire a new kind of look for the upcoming Mardi Gras season.

GIFT GUIDE 2014
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AGENDA
Get ready to “rock around the clock” at Harrah’s Louisiana Downs. The doors open at 7 p.m. and the party won’t be over until Elvis has left the building … 3 a.m. Tickets are available and are $280 each. Christmas in the Sky invites guests to the ultimate musical mashup.

DEC. / JAN. [ AGENDA ]
FUN FOR THE FAMILY NOV. 26-30: “A CHRISTMAS STORY THE MUSICAL,” Based on the classic 1983 holiday movie. $22 adults, $20 seniors, $18 students/kids. 7:30 p.m. Nov 26, 27 and 29. 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 28. 3 p.m. Nov. 30..

DEC. / JAN. [ AGENDA ]
FUN FOR HIM NOV. 29: CASTING CROWNS, come see the recent winners of the K-LOVE fan awards Artist of the Year. $28-$58. 6 p.m. at CenturyLink Center. Visit www. centurylinkcenter.com. NOV. 29: SEBASTIAN BACH, 7 p.m. 21 and older. The Stage at Silver Star. 1201 Dixie Overland Rd.

DEC. / JAN. [ AGENDA ]
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 9449 Ellerbe Road. Call 210- 7203. ONGOING: ADULT DANCE CLASSES, join us every week for a different genre of dance with Louisiana Dance Collective. Class fee is $10 cash only.

ATHENA AWARDS
Sixteen nominees from Shreveport-Bossier City were honored at the 2014 ATHENA Awards on Oct. 23 at the Shreveport Convention Center.

Cirque de Shreve
Guests were entertained with circus-like entertainment at Cirque de Shreve, a fundraiser benefitting the Friends of the Algur Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College. The event was held 6:30 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Pinewold Manor on Fairfield.

Louisiana Film Prize
Spilling out onto Texas Street, festival-goers could see the slates of 20 films at four locations: Robinson Film Center, Capri Theater, Central ARTSTATION and Bossier Arts Council headquarters in Bossier City. More than 100 short films were submitted and whittled down to 20.

Halloween Masked Ball
The Shreveport Bar Foundation hosted a Halloween Masked Ball on Nov. 1 at the Shreveport Supper Club, located at 610 Commerce Street. The event was an evening of ghostly libations and food from some of Shreveport’s finest restaurants. Music filled the room as the creatures of the night escaped into the darkness in their masquerade.

A ‘Wild’ Journey
Strayed decides to find herself by getting lost in a different sense. Though a completely inexperienced hiker from Minnesota, she makes a plan to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, a 2,663-mile brutal trek across the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountain ranges, from the Mexico/California border all the way up into Canada.