Tag Archives: shawny nelson

Couch Food: 7 Steps to Mac & Cheese Perfection

We’re all just looking for a little bit of comfort. [Guest contributor: Michael Majlak]

As someone who truly believes that a good meal can transform the human soul, I’ve been spoiled with a mother who can really kick it up a notch in the kitchen. I probably never really gave her the appreciation she deserves for creating some insanely impressive homemade dishes.

Dig in!

Comfort on a plate

It’s one of those cliché arguments you have with your friends as a kid, and I couldn’t imagine it any other way. Every child should go through their adolescence thinking that their mom is the best cook in the entire universe. I can remember almost getting into physical fights with other kids that thought their mom made better meatloaf than mine!

One dish my mom has had perfected since my birth was this gooey, ridiculously delicious Mac & Cheese. Since we’re quickly slipping into the season for food that will keep us warm, I thought now would be the right time to bring you the recipe for a plate that anyone can make- and EVERYONE will enjoy. My mom, Robin, walked me through the whole process in 7 simple steps and I’ve laid them out below with some pictures to get your mouth watering just a bit. Throw on some sweatpants, follow the recipe, and bring a big bowl of this cheesy masterpiece back to your couch for an ultimate comfort session!

Just don’t try to say yours came out better than my mom’s…

SO MUCH CHEESE!

Gather your ingredients

Robin’s Mac & Cheese aka: the ultimate comfort food!

  • 1 lb. Cavatappi Pasta
  • 6 oz. Gruyere Cheese
  • 1 small onion
  • 12 oz. New York Extra Sharp Cheese
  • 3/4 stick butter
  • 1 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
  • 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
  • Salt to taste
  •  2 cups milk
  • 3 Tbs. flour
  • 1/2 cup Panko Crumbs
The beginning of something great!

Boil some pasta

  1. Preheat oven to 375º
  2. Bring water to boil in large pot; add a splash of olive oil, cook pasta until almost cooked.
  3. Grate cheeses, nutmeg and chop onion.
  4. Melt butter in saucepan add finely chopped onion, cook slowly until onion is translucent. Add flour to butter/onion mixture and heat over low for 2 minutes stirring constantly.
  5. Heat milk in separate pan or microwave until hot.
  6. Add milk to pot with butter & onion and whisk until hot [do not boil]. Add cheeses, nutmeg, salt & pepper to mixture. Blend well and when smooth pour cheese sauce over pasta in casserole dish. Top with Panko, salt and pepper.
  7. Bake 30 – 35 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.
Gooey, cheesy goodness.

The money shot

Bout to get crusty!

Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle that Panko

Just eat it all, who cares.

Bake it to crusty perfection

Enjoy!

— Michael Majlak

 

 

 

 

 

The Couch Life of a Modern Jacques Cousteau

But what if I fail?

That question is one of the biggest obstacles we face in our lives. That fear of not being good enough or smart enough or strong enough suffocates us and stomps out our ability to achieve our dreams. As children, we had high hopes and extreme visions for what we would do with our lives. Some of us wanted to be astronauts. Others wanted to be chefs, or doctors, or dog trainers. But at some point, out of fear of the unknown, many of us abandon our dreams and opt for something more “secure”. Instead of shooting for the stars, we decide to take the safer path in order to avoid the risk of falling up short.

On a recent Lovesac business trip to Salt Lake City I sat down with Brent Andersen, the founder of the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium. After talking with Brent for a few minutes, I quickly realized he was not one of those people who took the safe road in life. Brent spent his childhood couch life being deeply inspired by  Jacques Cousteau and his underwater adventures. He created a strategy to build a chain of aquariums and a research vessel. His purpose: to help educate the world on our fragile ecosystem, with the notion that: “We are all connected,” and that we need to understand that.

Two entrepreneurs for the price of one.

Brent Andersen and myself at the Living Planet Aquarium in Utah.

Brent is an entrepreneur’s entrepreneur. Even in the face of every possible adversity, he pushed forward to achieve his ultimate vision.  As an entrepreneur Brent shared four things that were key to his ultimate success. 1. Think big 2. Persevere, no matter the cost. 3. Surround yourself with smart people, and other entrepreneurs. 4. Once you arrive, keep going.

His next step? Hopefully to take his dream to the next level, building more aquariums, and linking them with a network of exploratory ocean vessels roaming the world making new discoveries. Sound too ambitious? Too fantastic? It is. And that’s why I love this guy. The next Jacques Cousteau, and an inspiration to us all.

–Shawny
Founder, LOVESAC

 

Celebrity Couch Life: The Canavan Sisters

Like everyone else in the world, the people you see on TV have a life on a couch too. Liz and Marie Canavan, the infamous twins from the Amazing Race Season 19, invited me to their place on Manhattan’s Upper East Side to chat about their couch life. We quickly found that when the girls aren’t on television entertaining millions of viewers, they spend time on the couch just like the rest of us. I never grow tired of seeing how reflecting on our couch life brings back some of our fondest and even most touching memories.

The Canavan twins could probably complete every sentence for the other. I think that in the 15 minutes that we hung out on their couch, they actually spoke in unison for some portion of it (something twins are known for). This interview spanned the entire emotional spectrum- carrying the girls from the happiness of sisterly memories on their childhood couch, through the heartbreaking moments they shared upon losing their father, and up to the current uncertainty they’re feeling as they pack up their apartment to live apart from each other for the first time in their lives.

A twin's couch life!

Liz, Marie, and I in their Manhattan walk-up

Do you have a family couch in your life? One you inherited, got stuck with, or possibly stole from your family like the one that Liz and Marie are about to leave behind in their New York walk-up?

–Shawny

“Reading Set Me Free”

With all of the distractions of our modern life, we bring in guest contributor Eric Bennion aka “The DiaryDad”, who reminds us the importance of reading on the couch as a family…

The couch acts a reading classroom...

The couch acts a reading classroom…

Spending time on the couch with my family can mean any one of many activities is going on. We have movie time there, sometimes we play a few video games from it, we have even been known to throw impromptu dance parties around it. Our couch is definitely a place where we come together for good family fun. One of my favorite “couch activities” is reading. I like to read my books there, my wife and I enjoy curling up on weekends for a good Sunday afternoon read; the best however is when I read to my boys. In the last year we have completed the first Percy Jackson Series, a book on Greek mythology, and King Arthur’s tales. Just recently we began The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and almost every night they ask if I am reading a chapter (more often than not they convince me to read them two).

I think reading to and with your children is such an important activity. There is great freedom in developing the skill and ability to read. If it fosters enough enthusiasm in them to read – any maybe write – their newfound love could lead them to pursue literary careers when they get older, like becoming a line editor, copy editor, or maybe even a writer! When I was a little tyke I remember wanting to read. I wanted to read so bad I felt like it was killing me. My workbooks were hard, my flashcards were hard, my phonics lessons were hard; but then again I was only 5 years old. I saw people reading and wondered what it would be like when I didn’t have to ask someone to read a story to me. I wanted to know if there was something I was missing. I wanted to stop feeling like I was being held back by this inability to make funny black marks on a white page make sense.

They're getting pretty good!

They’re getting pretty good!

One day after weeks or months of struggling through phonics exercises and letter recognition with my mom and grandpa, I decided to have it out with a book. I walked up to the bookshelf grabbed a copy of “Fun with Dick and Jane” and went to the couch in our basement in a winner-take-all showdown. Either I would conquer that book or my brain would explode… and yes I read the hell out of that book. Then I proceeded to read the hell out of it to anyone that would listen to me. I read it to my mom, my grandparents, my dad , my brothers, and if I could have caught the mailman I would have read it to him too.

The great thing about that moment is that it set me free. Sure it was just a “Dick and Jane” book and sure it really lacked substance, but I couldn’t be held back anymore. All the knowledge that was out here in the world was available to me because I was a reader. I began reading books with gusto, and to this day there is great comfort for me in the pages of a good book.

Reading to the boys on the couch...

Reading to the boys on the couch…

I remember watching this same phenomenon in my children, specifically my youngest. I remember watching the frustration as he worked to make meaning from those funny marks on the pages. When it finally happened I was more than happy to listen to him read the same story to me as many times as he wanted, because I knew. I had been there and it was a huge defining moment. Now both my boys are avid readers. So much so that it is a punishment to make them go to bed without the opportunity to read. One of the best “go-to” adventures for us is a “quick” walk to the library to load up on new books to read. Those trips never take us less than an hour even though the library is 5 minutes from our home and we never come home without a bag (or two) loaded with new books to read.

Whether at the library, the beach, at a park, in their bed- or on our couch, I hope that my kids never lose their love of reading. It has been fun to see the things that inspire them. What’s more, it is comforting to know that they have the same freedom that I gained those many years ago. Learning to love reading is one of my favorite fathering moments and it is definitely a hallmark of my family’s “Life on a Couch”!

For more “Dadventures” from Eric Bennion, go to his page at www.diarydad.com!

What’s the last book YOU read on the couch?

— Shawny

Change Your Couch’s Clothing

Imagine for a second that you only had one set of clothes. You woke up every single day and you had one pair of pants and one shirt. No matter the weather outside, you just had that one set of clothing. During the 90 degree days of August, you had this one shirt. During the 20 degree days of January, you still had this one shirt.

Time for a change!

Lucky feeling bored about another season with these covers

As you got older and your pants stopped fitting so well, or they lost color or shape, you still only had this one pair to wear. As the times around you changed- and so did popular style and design, you still had only this one outfit. And eventually as the fabric weakened and the pants and shirt wore through and were filled with holes, they were still the only clothing you had.

Pretty hard to imagine, right? Now think about your couch for a second. As the weather outside changes, can you change your couch with it? Imagine how nice it would be to have a cozy, furry couch to warm up in the winter- and then have a cool, breathable fabric to stay cool during the dog days of summer. Or imagine that when your tastes in style changed, you could change your couch along with them. Your couch is the place you can go to when you want to relax and watch tv on your high gloss tv unit. It’s your go to place, so why not change it up a bit every now and then? Why not get yourself a brand spanking new leather couch, maybe even in white? While we all love a white leather couch, cleaning white leather can turn out to be more difficult than first imagined, but it can certainly be managed.

Change clothes!

Changing the covers

A few years back, this would have sounded crazy. People approached the couch-buying scenario with extreme caution, knowing that whatever they bought would live with them for the next 10 or 20 or 30…or 50 years. Now that Sactionals exist, everything has changed. When my wife and I had our fourth child Valentine this past month, we needed some extra couch space so we just simply added some on. But while we were doing it, she decided she also wanted to change up the “feeling” of the room a little for the summer. So just like that, we changed the clothes on our couch! …The same Sactionals pieces we’ve had now for nearly 8 years look new, smell new, and amazingly feel completely new again. (And they’ve seen some abuse!) Every time we change our Sactionals I wonder the same thing: What do people with normal couches do? I guess they just live with it. I guess they just hide that stain under a throw pillow. I guess they just try to get a few more years out of it until they can justify spending the money to get an all new one.

Ready for summer!

Pepper feeling excited about the new covers

You know, this blog isn’t meant to be an advertisement for my company, Lovesac or Sactionals. This blog is however, a reflection of my own real life and the things I find to be changing the way we look at our life on a couch–and real life in general. I have devoted my life to creating products that disrupt the staleness of classic furniture. The feedback I’m seeing from people who truly LOVE their Sactionals is a confirmation that we really have created something special that is shaping the way people live their life on a couch. What do you think?

WATCH THE CHANGING PROCESS IN JUST 20 SECONDS…

— Shawny

Our Baby Valentine

Introducing baby Valentine! Excuse me while I wax personal for a moment:

Pure beauty.

Sleeping baby Valentine

On July 17th at around 2:15am our fourth (and final, so I’m told) child was born. We named her Valentine Nelson. My wife, Tiffany, is doing well. She is an amazing mother and I am so grateful for her willingness to go through with it again, and again, and again—as if once wasn’t traumatizing enough. I just wanted to take a minute to celebrate life, publicly. It is times like these that afford me the rare opportunity to reflect, and to contemplate the things that matter most.

Tiff and Valentine, both doing great!

“Babies,” everybody loves “babies.” Even if they don’t love babies its inhuman, un-American and practically unforgivable to say it out loud. Baby Valentine would be the first of my kids to end up on my Instagram page as a newborn, and judging by the reaction I’d say people are naturally baby fans (at least in moderate doses).  “Family” is another one. Who can argue against anything “family?”

Life on a couch.

Tiffany, Valentine and I on our outdoor Sactionals.

Because of this, there is no special, unique, or original way for me to say it…this will probably just sound like another “nice thing to say.” But in case anyone out there is feeling distracted, stressed-out, stretched-thin, or otherwise confused about things, let me say this: It really is all about our family, relationships, people…love. Everything else is dust.

Everything else is dust

Yeah, we all gotta earn a living and we all gotta make ends meet. I make couches. But in the end, if you really think back, the relationships we build with those closest to us are the things that not only makeup our fondest memories, but they are the only things that endure.

The WHOLE fam

Our baby Valentine is the newest piece of our family, and at just over one week old, she has already joined us for an evening or two on the couch.  (We’ve added another Base to our Sactionals just to make room for her.) I feel blessed and I feel grateful. In case it is not clear yet, this is what #LifeOnaCouch is all about, for me.

 

What does #LifeOnaCouch mean to you?

— Shawny

Twitter.com/Shawny_Nelson

The Lovesac Tour Bus for $1

Goodbyes are never easy. In the case of the 1998 Gulf Stream F5 Tour Bus used for our promotional tours in the first years of this millennium, saying goodbye will be extremely tough. In an effort to focus funds on brand expansion, we’re auctioning off the vehicle which saw coast-to-coast trips throughout the early 2000’s as the brand was built. The auction started at $1 (although it’s gone up a little since then) and there’s no reserve set- it has to go! The list of celebrity visits, near-death experiences, and straight-up lunacy that occurred on this bus is extensive, some of which can be seen on the Lovesac Bus Blog. For those of you who are like me and don’t like prancing around the Internet, here is a list of my most memorable moments from the Lovesac Tour Bus:

What a beauty!

The Lovesac Tour Bus

5. The Trip to Huntington Beach

Each year in the early years of Lovesac, it was a tradition for me to personally visit each and every store across the country. Once we acquired the bus, I decided to just start driving it on these cross-country tours. Most of the tours ended in Huntington Beach, California, where I actually lived for a short time in 2002. Surfing the Pacific Ocean is something I’ll never forget.

The Pacific Ocean is beautiful!

Surfing at Huntington Beach

4. Safe Driving Techniques

Much of the fun we had with the Lovesac bus came just from actually driving the bus. We tried our best to follow all posted speed limits and traffic laws, but it didn’t always work out as planned. That’s why it can be handy to know someone who is an expert on driving laws in Georgia, or where you’re going along the way. One night we rolled upon an iced-over, vacant lot in Omaha, Nebraska, and a little bit of madness ensued- resulting in the Director of Retail who was filming nearby almost getting run over by the gargantuan rear-end of the spinning bus.
These types of accidents can’t be helped sometimes due to weather conditions, even if you allow change to your routine things can still go wrong. However, some people don’t care about the changing conditions and will still drive like everything is normal! This eventually leads to massive accidents and violations, meaning that they may be required to go back to driving school either in person or online, like this driving course website – https://www.myimprov.com/traffic-school/lowest-price/. Luckily no-one was seriously hurt with our accident and we all came out intact, just shows it can happen to anyone at any time.

3. MC Hammer/Vanilla Ice Reunion Concert

In 2009, it was someone’s twisted idea to get MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice to reunite for a 90’s concert in Salt Lake City. We’re not going to mention any names, but someone at Lovesac decided it would be a good idea to sponsor the event. So for a couple days in March of 2009, the touring Lovesac crew hung around with Mr. “Too Legit to Quit” himself on and off the bus and witnessed a whole bunch of Hammer Time.

Hammer Time!

MC Hammer and the Lovesac Bus

2. Winter X-Games Taxi Service

During the 2009 Winter X-Games in Aspen, Colorado, Lovesac was doing various promotional events in the areas surrounding the annual action sports extravaganza. These events required the Lovesac bus driving from the nearby village to the contest itself. At one point we thought it would be nice to help taxi some of the people walking and trying to get to the same destination as us. At one point we had over 50 people on the bus, disco light spinning, and the music blasting. Being at Winter X was definitely a memorable point for a lot of the Lovesac crew- and the bus made that possible.

1. Jessie James Tour Transport

During the rise of pop star Jessie James, we teamed up with Def Jam and used the Lovesac Bus to get her around the country for various shows and interviews. We zig-zagged our way across the southeast starting in Houston, going as far down south as Miami and finally finishing in our Country’s capital. The tour was packed full of radio station visits, performances, Impromptu Lovesac Lounges, pranks, great food, stories and lots of laughter. Easily one of my favorite moments on the Lovesac Bus.

Jessie James on a Sac!

Jessie James on the Tour Bus Sac

The people we met and the places we saw while touring the country on this bus are memories that will last a lifetime. The bus itself is fully-loaded in every way imaginable, from thousands of dollars worth of electronics to Sactionals, Sacs, and pillows- even the motorized disco ball is still hanging in there! Read more about the eBay auction for the Lovesac bus by clicking here. Good luck to everyone bidding, and to the winner- take care of our bus, it helped us become the beloved brand that we are today!

Look at that shag carpet!

The inside of the Lovesac bus

– Shawny

All the Stress Just Seeps Out…My Couch Life

Take a peek into the couch life Keith Rinzler of Atlanta, Georgia, including all of the stress that comes along with being a serial entrepreneur and single dad. I was recently travelling through Atlanta and I had the chance to sit down with my good friend Keith in his own home. Keith knows all about all of the stress and pressures of an entrepreneur growing a business, and a single father raising three teenage kids. Many people in Keith’s position would be looking into weed liquid is on offer near them, but Keith powers on through being the amazing dad and successful entrepreneur he is. I love hearing from successful and totally unique people like Keith because it just reaffirms my belief that we all have a life on a couch-and we are all more alike than we are different. Whether our couch comes from Wayside Furniture or anywhere else, our couch has its own story and is an integral part of our home life. Some of our best memories in life happen on or around our silent sofas. See how Keith relies on his couch life to de-stress and bring his family together.

“My Couch Life” Interview with Keith Rinzler, of Atlanta Georgia. Read the full transcript.

The Stress of a Tech Startup Entrepreneur

Keith is currently living with all the stress that comes from building an amazing technology company called 1Q. Check out 1Q.com…it will blow your mind. You can actually sign up to receive text-based questions (or download their app: for iOS or Android) and get paid $1 dollar for every single question you respond to from a company interested in asking you survey questions. When was the last time you were paid by a company talking at you? Think about it. I think 1Q is going to be a big deal-and I’ll be like a proud papa when I can someday say, “Hey, I know that guy-and he’s got Sactionals.”

Lovesac Hookah Lounge featuring Sactionals

Keith’s in-home hookah lounged powered by Lovesac

The ultra stress-free hookah lounge sectional sofa

I didn’t mention that Keith also has this crazy Moroccan themed hookah lounge, complete with an audio-sensitive LED light show embedded in the walls behind the draped fabric panel tent that envelopes the entire room. Talk about a stress-relieving environment! And, before you say anything, I know that there are lots of ways to deal with stress. Some people opt for Nutra CBD olie although English Speakers may recognize this as CBD Oil. Just the other day I was talking to my girlfriends about how stressful life was getting and they all had different recommendations. One said I should take up a peaceful hobby like painting, another said therapy was helping her, and a third said I should look at the marijuana shatter deals canada! There’s so much you can do and it’s all about finding the best choice for you. And for us, that’s this stress-free hookah style room! The seating for this hookah room is, of course, all Sactionals by Lovesac and a Pillowsac too. When asked, “What is the craziest thing that’s ever happened in this hookah room?” Let’s just say, Keith declined to comment.

— Shawny

My Couch Life Keith Rinzler Interview Video transcript:

Shawny: What was your early memory of your life on a couch?

Keith: It was itchy-it was kind of a wool, itchy material I remember, it was kind of a white-beige color. You know, its in the living room, and every once in a while we would just get in a mood and start building. And I’ve carried that forward to my kids, and we’ve built couch castles in the basement. And my kids have slept in them-they’ve taken it to the next level, they’ve built couch castles and then they cover them with blankets so its totally dark on the inside.

Shawny: What about your everyday couch life, today?

Keith: On this particular couch, which is in front of the television, I like to get right in the middle, and my sinks in right in between these two pillows-all the stress seeps out…

Shawny: What is your craziest memory involving a couch?

Keith: This guy had a couch, it had a steering wheel, it was motorized-you sat on it-and its driving all over the desert at Burning Man and going to see things and people would jump on and jump off. It was like taking the best of a couch and making it mobile. It was awesome-it was awesome

Shawny: What does “life a couch” mean to you

Keith: As my kids get older and they want to spend a little less time with their parents and they want to go do other things-those times when we sit together and all watch something together and kind of comment on it and just have that time-that’s what I think of.

This is life on a couch – and it is interesting, because you are.