Conversation 34

TICK TOCK DAY

Tick Tock Day, observed annually on December 29th, reminds us to complete any unfinished business that might need addressing before the end of the year.

As the end of the year approaches, many items call for our attention. Unfinished business usually needs to be wrapped up before the end of the calendar year. Things like larger business purchases and charitable donations for the tax year may need to be transacted before December 31st.

Another thing to consider is your medical plan. Does your deductible start over? Do you have a Flexible Savings Account with funds to use? Some employers offer annual benefits that will be lost if they aren’t used by the end of the year. Time is running out.

Tick Tock Day may also be a day to look at personal goals. Did you finish reading that book? Bucket lists call our names. Where do we want to travel? We may still need to explore some exotic foods, too. Maybe your goals are grander or simpler. Whatever they are, tick-tock.

NATIONAL PEPPER POT DAY

National Pepper Pot Day celebrates a soup with deep roots and a mythology to go with it. On December 29th, explore the flavors and history of the filling dish.

Pepper pot soup is a highly seasoned soup prepared with peppercorns, small bits of meat, tripe, vegetables, and broth. The dish may be more familiar by the name of Philadelphia Pepper Pot because it was brought to the area by people from Africa, the West Indies, and the Caribbean. Colonial Black women served the dish in their homes, the homes where they worked, and in markets. It’s considered an early street food by many historians.

One legendary story credits this soup to George Washington’s chef. The story goes that during the brutal winter of 1777 and 1778, the Continental Army was camped t Valley Forge on December 29th. George Washington asked the army’s chef to prepare a meal that would boost morale and warm the troops. So the chef rounded up some ingredients and called it Pepper Pot Soup. The troops received the meal well and nicknamed it “the soup that won the war.”

Though the story may be untrue, it receives some credit for increasing the popularity of pepper pot soup in Philadelphia and earning the dish its other name, Philadelphia Pepper Pot.

For most of her life, Iris Apfel lived quietly behind the scenes.
Born in 1921 in Queens, New York, she worked in fashion, ran a prestigious textile business with her husband Carl, and cultivated an extraordinary personal style that nobody outside her circle ever saw.
She collected vintage pieces. Mixed haute couture with flea market finds. Piled on costume jewelry like armor. Stacked bangles until her arms jangled. Wore oversized glasses that swallowed her face.
Every morning, she got dressed like she was creating art.
But the world wasn’t paying attention. Not yet.
The fashion industry had made its judgment clear: Iris wasn’t the right look. Not tall enough. Not thin enough. Not conventionally beautiful enough.
So she built her life differently. She and Carl founded Old World Weavers, working with the world’s most prestigious interior designers and even the White House. She had access to the most beautiful textiles and designs on earth.
But her own extraordinary style remained private—something she did for herself, not for applause.
Then, in 2005, something unexpected happened.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art discovered her closet—a kaleidoscopic wonderland of colors, textures, and eras all mixed together with fearless abandon.
They asked to feature it in an exhibition.
She said yes.
She was 84 years old.
Overnight, Iris Apfel became a global sensation.
With her oversized round black glasses, crimson lipstick, and shock of white hair, she looked like no one else in the fashion world. She’d pair a feather boa with chunky tribal beads. She’d throw on bangles with Native American beadwork jackets. She’d stack rings until her fingers could barely bend.
Every outfit was a rebellion against conformity, a celebration of personal expression.
“I’m not pretty, and I’ll never be pretty, but it doesn’t matter,” she declared with trademark confidence. “I have something much better. I have style.”
The fashion industry, obsessed with youth and conventional beauty, didn’t know what hit them.
Here was a woman in her 80s commanding more attention than models a quarter her age. She didn’t apologize. She didn’t tone it down.
She turned up the volume.
Social media fell in love with her. Instagram gave her nearly 3 million followers. On TikTok, at over 100 years old, she dispensed wisdom to hundreds of thousands of fans, her profile declaring her life philosophy: “More is more & Less is a Bore.”
“Being stylish and being fashionable are two entirely different things,” she explained, her voice full of mischief. “You can easily buy your way into being fashionable. Style, I think, is in your DNA. It implies originality and courage.”
She became the oldest person to ever have a Barbie doll made in her image. She landed a MAC Cosmetics campaign. She collaborated with major fashion brands. She appeared in documentaries.
At 90, she was walking runways. At 95, she was giving fashion advice on social media. At 100, she was still creating, still experimenting, still refusing to dim her light.
For two decades, she proved that creativity, confidence, and authenticity have no expiration date.
She showed up at fashion weeks in her 90s and commanded every room she entered. She made being yourself look like the most revolutionary act in the world.
Iris Apfel lived to 102, married to Carl for 68 years until his death in 2015. They had no children, but she influenced millions.
She spent eight decades being told what beauty should look like.
Then she spent two decades showing the world what it could be instead—bold, joyful, unapologetic, and entirely her own.
Think about what Iris actually did. She didn’t get bitter about being excluded. She didn’t stop expressing herself. She didn’t wait for permission or validation.
She just kept being herself—loudly, colorfully, fearlessly—until the world finally caught up.
And when fame arrived, she didn’t change to fit it. She stayed exactly who she’d always been, just with a bigger audience.
Her message was radical in its simplicity: You don’t need to be young to be relevant. You don’t need conventional beauty to be beautiful. You don’t need anyone’s approval to be magnificent.
You just need the courage to be authentically, unapologetically yourself.
The fashion industry told her she wasn’t enough.
She proved them wrong by becoming more—more colorful, more bold, more alive, more herself than anyone expected an 80-year-old woman could be.
She turned rejection into revolution. Exclusion into liberation. Obscurity into icon status.
Not by changing who she was, but by refusing to hide it any longer.
Iris Apfel died on March 1, 2024, at age 102.
But her legacy lives on in every person who decides that their age, their appearance, their unconventional path doesn’t disqualify them from being extraordinary.
The woman who was told she “wasn’t pretty enough” became utterly unforgettable.
Not despite her age. Not despite her unconventional beauty.
Because of it.
Because she understood something the fashion world is still learning: True style isn’t about following rules or fitting molds.
It’s about having the courage to be a rare bird in a world of pigeons.
And Iris Apfel was the rarest bird of all.

@shoelady60,

Good evening here is the endgame for tonight’s dinner.

Since is chocolate candy day and I know you love your Vino. 💕😎

Just a bit to hit the spot and then it’s nighty night. 😎💕

Getting ready to jump in the tub with a Perlier Body Bath and the works.

Sweet Dreams. 💕Hey terrific score for your Hockey Team great way to end the night. 💕

@taci,

Good Evening OZ had a bit of high wind and snow today. We are around 22 degrees
as I type. Very cold night. I made sure the animals were all fed and taken care of. 😎💕

🧀✨ In charge of pre-dinner snacks this New Year’s Eve? You can’t go wrong with a delicious cheese platter from Feast on Fruit! 🍇🥖🍷 Perfect for sharing this festive season 🎄🎉

Taci here is another idea you may find useful and delicious. 💕🎈

I am sure whatever you come up with your family will love it.

Sounds like you had a good hike. 😎💕

@oodiebom,

Wear your pieces in good health you deserve it. 🎈💕😎

912-224
Heidi Daus Teacher’s Pet Crystal Apple Pin – Red

You mentioned your husband was wanting some apples. 💕😎

I love Apples but I also love Heidi Daus Apple Pins too.

Heidi just had a huge sale on her site. 💕Based on experience I know when
the next one will come. 😎🎈

Sweet Dreams Oodie and have fun with your Heidi Daus. 🎈😎

@oodiebom,

Good evening glad to see you are getting back to normal. 🎈💕😎

Hubby and I finished are marketing for the week. I do not want to be out
New Year’s Eve. I will make my annual visit to my neighbor two doors down who I
have known for over 25 years. I will be wearing all red Heidi Daus. 💕🎈😎

Hubby pulled some strings and does not have to go back to work until well
after the New Year. 😎🎈I will take advantage of this time there is plenty to do
in OZ. 🎈😎💕

Happy Shopping and I hope you find some good deals for the your meals. 💕

923-447
Heidi Daus Alta Moda Earring Set of 3

I am loving these. 💕🎈

Here’s to a good evening.