Food & Entertaining

I love planning parties! But when it comes to cleaning up after a party… well… not so much. When I teamed up with Glad to host a clothing swap for a bunch of my girlfriends, they assured me that they would show us that cleaning up could be fun. That’s right: FUN.  Glad Black Bag is celebrating life’s best moments and making sure that no matter the mess left behind cleanups are in the bag with its “Trash Crasher” Bashes. From tossing our “trashy tacos” and bagging our once-beloved duds that we were donating to charities, a team of trash-crashing ninjas (aka #TrashCrashers) descended on the house and swooped up our ...Read More
A few weeks ago, I was showered with love by some family and dear friends at one of the best bridal showers I’ve ever been to! I promise, I’m not just saying that because it was for me… Okay, well that definitely helped, but honestly, the hosts of this party happen to be chic, creative, and extraordinarily generous so each and every element blew me away. From the flowers, to the party favors, to food and of course, some very special gifts, I walked away not only feeling very lucky an special, but also with some great ideas for future parties of my own! Because of the attention and time that ...Read More
Last month, I teamed up with Glad®  to host a party like no other. Perched at the top of the hills overlooking Los Angeles, I invited some of my most stylish friends and fellow bloggers to join me for a night of fashion, fun and food. I knew my friends had great taste and great wardrobes, but honestly, I didn’t realize how great until I saw the amazing new duds everyone got to go hoem with. While I didn’t take home anything from the swap, except some fabulous jewelry from my girl at GROCK LA, I was shocked by how many designer and trendy items the girls left with. (Um, PS. ...Read More
Exciting news! I’m now a contributor to Disney’s Spoonful, a fabulous resource for crafts, recipes and activities for parents and kids.  For my first post, I whipped up a little Oscar Party with some “perfectly partied” panache. Oftentimes, Oscar Parties are geared toward being “adults-only” fêtes. But since the Oscars are on a Sunday and everyone I know has kids under the age of 9, the days of lounging around the house in sweats, glued to the television for eight hours (with copious cocktails present), are a distant memory. That said, this is still very much a part of my DNA and a tradition that I can’t entirely shake. So ...Read More
This past week marked my last week of a partnership with KLEAN LA… which meant my glorious 24 day run of all things gluten and soy free, was coming to an end. But guess what? I had so much success and am feeling so great, I’m not going to stop! In 24 days, which basically spanned over 5 weeks (as I scheduled my deliveries to Monday-Friday), I lost about 6 pounds and feel fantastic! With 47 days until “the big day,” *(but who’s counting, really) I’m not stopping now! There is obviously a big financial consideration when it comes to choosing to do a diet delivery service. But knowing that I ...Read More
Rosemary Ground Beef Bolognese With Baby Spinach & Brown Rice Pasta Part of “going gluten-free” is making sure I take these healthy habits I’m learning from eating KLEAN LA and integrating them into my family life and my family food! While I’ve been on the “diet,” I have found myself making meals that that are more balanced and that are less laden in the things that I’m not eating (evne if I’m not eating them). When Kiki of KLEAN LA suggested I try out the family meal, I couldn’t resist. The family meals come with 4 servings of a lean protein, complex carb and vegetable, plus 2 sauces to create a healthy ...Read More
#TrashCrashers @GetGlad Party You know what they say: One woman’s trash, is another woman’s treasure! And it when it comes to my friends and their wardrobes, we’re talking treasure troves! This past month, I had the opportunity to partner with Glad® to host a party of my choice for 15 of my friends. To me a perfect party with the girls includes wine, cocktails, gossip, delicious food, more cocktails, (more food), and if possible fashion. So I figured a clothing swap party was the perfect setting to get all of those elements and then some. Glad’s® longstanding, 28 year partnership with Keep America Beautiful (KAB), has made it a mission to engage individuals to ...Read More
Grilled Chicken MarbellaBaby Spinach & Roasted ZucchiniSpaghetti Squash I love the message I got from Kiki Heinzer, CEO and founder of KLEAN LA this week: “Low-carb diets are so 2000! We are all becoming more educated on the benefits of eating a diet of balanced, whole foods.  The use of complex-carbs in the Klean program plays a very important role. Carbs are our body’s main source of energy.  If you completely eliminate carbs from your diet, your body breaks down your precious lean muscle for energy instead.  The less lean muscle you have, the fewer calories you burn at rest and the slower your metabolism gets!  This means you have to work ...Read More
Greek Chicken Salad with Romaine, LentilsPomegranates, Walnuts, Mint Balsamic Vinaigrette If you come to my house and enter the kitchen, on the counter you’ll see a huge (and I mean huge) container labeled “VIRGIN DIET.”  Usually people do a double take and wonder what exactly I’m doing and (usually the men) make a joke asking if I know that ship sailed for me a long time ago. Ha ha ha. I reassure them that I’m not becoming a nun but in fact trying to follow a diet created by JJ Virgin. The Virgin Diet calls for eliminating 7 things: Soy, corn, gluten, dairy, sugar and artificial sweeteners, eggs and peanuts. Sounds cray ...Read More
The other day, a friend told me that I’d make the perfect “1965 wife.”  Some women might find this to be offensive, but me, nah… I’m a full time working gal, with a plate so full and a life so busy. So the fact that I cook, clean, raise a child and sit patiently during tackles, touchdowns, and all things end-zone, kinda makes me feel like a badass. While I’m still the “not so queen of it all,” I actually feel proud that I have figured out a way to be “domestic” too. It may not look perfect, it may not always be pretty, but I can certainly try to be a little ...Read More