AUTHOR: ARTSY CHOW ROAMER

Throwback Thursday

5 BEST BLOGS THIS YEAR

It’s Throwback Thursday and you, Constant Reader, picked the 5 best blogs for this year by Artsy Chow Roamer! You did it through your pin action on Pinterest and by your warm messages and reach outs to me. Thanks so much for your attention and support throughout this past year.

We will revisit those blogs (which I have updated with additional pics, info and upgraded content) so if you missed them the first time around you have a chance to check ‘em out now! Let’s get to it. 😉

What’s Your Plan for Healthcare?

• PILLS, SINGLE MALT AND ICE FLOWS!

Pills, Single Malt and Ice Flows was all about my total frustration with navigating the healthcare system. It doesn’t matter if you are doing it for yourself or for someone you care for, it ain’t easy and you should fasten your seat belt for the bumpy ride.

The point is that it really shouldn’t be this hard. If the folks in DC were actually using the same systems we are and weren’t rich enough to overcome the faults, they would be having a meltdown and we would have change overnight.

If their parents were not taken care of or their special needs child wasn’t helped-there would be revolution. Every other industrialized country on the grid has figured this one out-why can’t we?

It’s the money. It’s always about the money in America. Greed is good, remember? Get the money out of it and it will all fall into place. Healthcare should not be a for profit business. People can’t help getting sick-am I right? You gotta plan? You’re gonna need one! Ya know what mine is now.

Visiting the Czech Republic

• 25 WONDERFUL THINGS TO DO IN PRAGUE

Prague is one of the most visited cities in Europe. It is over visited and while I would like to tell people to be responsible and see other places (pssstt…I cover several of them in this blog) I still want you to go. Do the 25 Wonderful Things I outline in the blog and you will have done a lot!

It is a fairy tale…it is beautiful…it is historical…there is simply no better place to spend time. Having lived there for five years with a husband who speaks the difficult language I felt like I learned how to navigate it. I learned about the culture, the people and the little secret spots around every corner.

Every trip I take back I find something new to be amazed by and I want you to see just how magical this city can be. Even the smells are part of my memory; horses, hot spiced wine, baking bread, beer and caraway seed still put a smile on my face every time!

This blog was one of the ones I got the most messages and questions about as many of you planned a trip for this year and next. It also served as a lovely reminder to folks who have already been to see just how much they did during their stays. Pro tip here-please don’t go in summer-it is hot, overcrowded and impossible to see the same way you can during other seasons.

Winter is Coming!

• GAME OF THRONES

Yes, I knew Game of Thrones was huge. But did I really know that such a simple pin would drive traffic and people the way it did on Pinterest? No way! I think most everyone thought Jon Snow would be the one….he deserved it. He worked for it. He looked the part right?

And then there you go. Weirdness happened. Spoiler alert! Fans were not happy when in such a short time on the last season Deanerys started losing her marbles. After everything she had been through and stayed sane, she suddenly loses it when Cersei kills her friend? Nope…we just weren’t buying it.

Jon suddenly couldn’t love her anymore cause she turned out to be his Aunt? Everyone knows that family wouldn’t have been bothered by the two of them leading the realm together. And please….it turns out to be the busted up kid with the third eye who wins everything? After his sister, pulled off the kill of the Night King? Really?

Personally, I think there was a problem with not enough episodes for the last season and the fact that R.R. Martin hadn’t finished the book series so those of us who had been following the characters would have had insight into what he was going to do and how he would end the series.

Now, if he ever gets the last book out I’m not sure I want to read it because if he ends it the same way-well we are already disappointed anyway. Who wants to be so again? Or would he really throw us off and end it in a totally different way…just because?

Stunning artwork

• 5 ARTISTS INSPIRING ME TO SHARE

There are some artists that are just different. They make you stop, draw you in and start contemplating what you think they are trying to tell you. This blog was about 5 artists works that engaged me in that way and inspired me to want to share them with my readers.

While most of the art pictures used generated a great deal of traffic and interest I would never have guessed the one that would receive the most Pinterest interest would be the detail of the dress above by artist Fabiola Jean-Louis. It is haunting by virtue of the title, Rest in Peace, but also because we don’t see her face-just her beautiful arms, hands and the details of that dress-have you looked closely?

She draws you in and makes you start wondering what is that she is holding? Is she laying in a coffin or laid out to rest on a table at home as was often done in historic times? All of the pieces I showed in the blog by this artist were done in a series to document the horrific treatment of people of color throughout history.

Other artists in the piece included Harry Paul Ally, Richard Painter, Blockhead and Rebecca Crowell. The abstract female figure pieces of Harry are intriguing; deconstructed and faceless suggesting the fragility of life. Rebecca Crowell’s cold wax works suggest the very landscape she paints in her winter studio in New Mexico.

Richard Painter’s bio is funny, charming and honest as he talks about liking to burn things while Blockhead’s small treasure sculptures based on PEZ dispensers just makes me laugh out loud. Check out the blog with updated info and pics.

An Homage to a Favorite Chef

• ROCKIN’ IT LIKE ALTON BROWN?

Drum roll please: coming in 5th, only because it was written the earliest, is my epic tongue in cheek homage to the dead clever Alton Brown. Trying not to take myself too seriously really comes from watching Alton at work.

I can’t look at him post a serious pic of himself on Instagram in a turkey costume with his glasses on without busting out laughing. I commented that I worry about him getting a big head bein’ famous and all and then he posts that pic….nope….not a problem there!

I watch his seriously good videos about such mundane things as bow ties or a Japanese drum lesson with his daughter and nod saying to myself “that’s what I wanna be when I grow up” (well in the blogging and influencing world anyway).

We do have a lot in common as I go on to point out in detail; we both are in outlying areas of Atlanta, have a love for all things musical, are serious foodies and more than just a little quirky to name a few. I just want to nail that sense of humor in the same way he does. Bein’ funny ain’t easy.

So rockin’ it like him yet? Probably not but hope dies last and a shout out from Alton at least made me realize that I must be doin’ something right! Rock on.

CONCLUSION

So there you have it. The top 5 traffic driving pin crazy blogs from this year as shown by you, Constant Readers, to be your favorites. I hope you enjoy reading them again as much as I have enjoyed updating them with more info, pics and upgraded content for you!

If you enjoyed what you read here you might also enjoy reading other blogs from the website. Hey, don’t be a stranger! Let me hear from you…really…anything you want me to know or you want to ask. Tell me what would really help you. What do you want to read about? Until next time…

Cheers,

ArtsyChowRoamer

Follow me on You Tube, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter