hollywood housewife

kitchit (hire a personal chef in los angeles)

This post was not sponsored or perked in any way. I paid for my Kitchit service in full. Just wanted to pass along a cool thing.

When I was young and pictured myself as a woman, one of the things I envisioned was hosting glittery dinner parties where I floated around in chiffon, my arms full of gold bangles. (Auntie Mame was and is one of my favorite movies, if you want insight into my aspirations.)

But evenings dripping candles and cocktails have not been my hostess reality. The Gorilla and I entertain a lot, all kinds of gatherings, but the intimate dinner party has eluded me. I get tripped up over the food. And what is a dinner party without dinner?

clare vivier {obsessed}

Wandering around in a neighborhood close to my house, searching for the heywood gourmet grilled cheese place, I came upon Clare Vivier. Not Clare herself, but her beautiful corner store in Silverlake. After we ate, I made The Gorilla load the kids up by himself while I did a lap through the accessories. I spent so much time that he started honking and texting.

So I went back the next day.

friday links - indoor s'mores edition

I hosted book club on Tuesday evening.  Normally we're a Saturday morning type of group, but one of our founding members Nora (remember when I threw her a book release party?) was in town visiting from New York, so we made an evening exception. 

I served spicy shrimp pasta that wasn't quite spicy enough, and I butchered The Pioneer Woman's rosemary rolls.  But then we made s'mores in the fireplace, so all was well.

underwood family farms - sunday in the canyon

Because twitter knows all, I asked my followers Saturday morning where to find the best pumpkin patch in LA.  I got several good answers, but lots of people suggested Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark.  Even though it was a good 45 minutes away from Hollywood, we tossed the kids in the car and got on the freeway.  (I trust twitter that much, people.)

semi-charmed life book release party

All pictures taken by the beautiful and talented JJ from The Blah Blah Blahger. Her specialty is boudoir photography (ooh la la).

Last week I threw a little soiree for my dear friend Nora Zelevansky, whose debut novel Semi-Charmed Life hit bookstores this month.

sunday in the canyon - happy easter!

We spent the weekend with friends.

It was a wonderful holiday.  I hope yours was, too.

sunday in the canyon - carousel

After a week of total insanity (major shoot, major deadline, a play, a concert, houseguests, an awards show), we were ready for some downtime and family bonding on Sunday.

We ate donuts for breakfast, wandered around the zoo, then we all took a long afternoon nap.  It was all much needed and much appreciated. 

Welcome, April.  We have big plans for you.

friday links - kids choice awards edition

All week the Kids Choice Awards blimp has been floating around Hollywood.  Wait, it's not a blimp, it's a zeppelin.  Read the difference here. 

Be sure to tune in to the Kids Choice Awards on Nickelodeon on Saturday night because The Gorilla is directing the opening sequence.  It will be very exciting!  I'll be at the awards, so make sure and follow me on twitter or on facebook for the insider scoop.

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Things I ate this week (by myself, with a book):

Truffle burger from Umami, my favorite burger in town.  Pastrami and provolone on bagel, my lunch time concoction.

Things I enjoyed this week (with others):

The candy bar and a mani/pedi courtesy of the Sanuk footwear party at BellaCures in Beverly Hills.

Credit to Summer from le Musings of Moi for taking my picture, as I was clearly too busy tweeting and sipping champagne.  Tweeting and sipping champagne are requirements at any good blogger event.

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If you are new here, you should probably know that Fridays are always this random.  Promise. 

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For your weekend reading pleasure:

I'm super into wives and their relationship to their husbands.  I always have been.  I love this theme in history, in literature, in daily life.  I cannot get enough of the wife role, in all its complication.  Clearly, my life and my blog reflect this.  So, I liked this article by my new friend Joy: In Which A Woman Was An Elder In A Baptist Church (sort of). (In A Mirror Dimly)

Awhile back I made an Instagram book using Blurb (which I normally love) and it fell apart on me within days.  I've been meaning to call customer service about that, actually.  But I like this Instagram book better, anyway.  (A Beautiful Mess)

I made sure and updated my Carbonite online backup this week.  Please make sure you have something like this in place if you care about what's on your computer. 

I was also a guest poster for the Momma Dreams series at Grateful for a Coffee Break.  Click here if you want to read about my dreams and how they've changed during my life.

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I haven't been browsing on the internet as much the past couple of weeks, which is both good and bad.  We're in one of those flow-y seasons around here.

Besides the Kids Choice Awards this weekend, we'll have houseguests and we're going to a concert.  I'm excited about all of it. 

Happy weekend, HH readers!

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valentine making party

Last week Mommy Monday became Marriage Monday, and this week I wanted to talk about the infamous heart holiday.  I promise that next Monday I'll return to all things Mommy.

On Friday I threw an old-fashioned Valentine-making party for a group of my girlfriends.  I'm not sure if women used to get together and craft Valentines in the olden days, but in the age of evite and sexting, it certainly felt old-fashioned to spend the evening with glitter and glue.

beauty & blogging meetup at blushington

On Monday night I hosted an LA bloggers meetup at the new makeup bar Blushington in West Hollywood.