hollywood housewife

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.

My good friend Cyndi owns Artworks, a studio and art school, and among other things you can rent the place for a night or afternoon and have crafting parties.  Adults or kids!  Last year Cyndi threw a Valentines-making party there and I swore that this year I was going to do one myself. 

I invited a handful of girlfriends and told everyone to bring a bottle of wine to share.  Artworks provided the snacks and all the art supplies, so we poured ourselves a glass of bubbly and I used a glue stick for the first time since kindergarten. 

It was so therapuetic to get creative and messy and tipsy with friends.

Some of us were overly chatty (me) and some of us hunkered down and really cranked out some seriously beautiful valentines (not me).  But the method didn't really matter.

It was all about the process. 

And the process led to some darn great handmade Valentines.

Such a fun night.  It makes me want to do a crafty night with friends for any occasion, not just Valentines.  You should try it yourself. 

Good conversation flows when you're looking down at your own glue-stained fingers.

Happy Valentines Day!!

beauty & blogging meetup at blushington

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

sunday in the canyon - super bowl weekend

We have had one of the very best weekends in recent memory, capping it off with a lively crowd over to watch the super bowl.  I served The Pioneer Woman's Spicy Whiskey BBQ Sliders and they were pretty darn good. 

I didn't make them spicy enough (I got scared when I started dealing with the jalepenos - they smelled HOT) and next time I would use a different kind of bread (what I chose was a little crunchy), but the flavor was great.  It wasn't a super low-maintenence dish because I started cooking the meat as people arrived, but if you cooked the patties in advance it would be really easy.  It was a valid first effort on my part.

I also served the usual suspects.  Chips and dips and veggies and cookies and the like.  Football food.  Another fail safe appetizer I learned from my book club: toss a room temperature block of camembert cheese in some crescent roll doll and cook at 375 degrees for ten minutes.  Serve with crackers and it's gooey and yummy.  The dough will be just slightly undercooked and the cheese is bland enough to be pleasing to most.  Yum!

Did you watch the game?  Did you whip up my easy fancy crab dip?

The rest of the weekend we had houseguests, and spent a morning with good friends, we had a date night, and a beautiful neighborhood brunch in our honor. 

I am exhausted and very, very happy.  It's strange how being around certain people buoys you.  I want to be one of those kind. 

giving thanks

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.  We did. 

sunday in the canyon - iris courtesy of infiniti

On Thursday night, The Gorilla and I had the most fabulous date at the Cirque du Soleil show Iris, now permanently housed at the Kodak theater in Hollywood (home of the Oscars).  The show is literally minutes from our home, and we'd been wanting to see it for months, so I was thrilled when Infiniti offered us tickets.

We had fourth row seats, I could see the whites of the performers eyes!  Between us, The Gorilla and I have been to a handful of different Cirque shows and we both agreed that Iris was by far the best one talent-wise.  My jaw was on the floor over and over again.

If you live in the LA area and are looking for a super nice date night, or even as a gift idea, Iris was truly incredible.  I already want to see it again because I know that I missed so much!  Cirque shows are always like that - special things happening on every corner of the stage.  It's sensory overload in the very best way.

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Pssst - I announced the winner of the Nixon bag!  Was it you?!

Disclosure: Infiniti is a sponsor of Iris and provided me with two VIP tickets to see the show.  However, they did not ask me to post about it and these opinions are entirely my own.

sunday in the canyon - ou/tx weekend

It's not quite midnight on the west coast, but it appears that I've survived OU/TX weekend with my water intact. 

It helps that the game was such a blowout.  I hardly screamed at all while OU pummeled Texas.

We stayed close to home just in case, enjoying takeout BBQ with friends Saturday night and pancakes and family time on Sunday.  We're anxious, a little jumpy, and so, so excited for the next few weeks to come.

sunday in the canyon - VMAs

We spent Sunday evening in downtown LA at the MTV Video Music Awards.  We weren't supposed to cameras, but I did manage to shoot this quick pick of The Gorilla, Drama, and Machine Gun Kelly in the lobby before the show. 

We had a great time at the show.  I'm over at BlogherPop recounting the whole evening.  

sunday in the canyon - plates as shoes

It's a good thing we don't buy a lot of expensive toys, when taping paper plates to your feet seems to bring as much fun.

extra at the grove

Seeing cameras and lights set up for a shoot doesn't give LA locals much pause.  On every random street corner or venue you'll see something similar daily.  Many times it's a hassle when production trucks are blocking the street or a crew is blocking the way for a shoot.

But this one is kinda fun.  Every weekday at the popular outdoor mall The Grove, they shoot a segment of Extra with Mario Lopez.  Since I frequent The Grove (and at one time lived just blocks away) I see this set up and the crowd it draws all the time.  Last week when I was meeting a friend for an afternoon movie, it occurred to me that not everyone glances at the former Saved By The Bell star on a regular basis.  

They always gather a group of shoppers and lookers-on to stand behind him and more than once I've tripped on the equipment wires while scurrying by on my way to Barnes & Noble or Nordstroms.  What I noticed on this day was that the crew member in the blue striped shirt was holding up Mario's cues on iPad.  Gone are the day of poster board cue cards, I guess. 

Nothing but the best of technology for AC Slater. 

PS - The Grove is also where I was first in line to meet The Pioneer Woman.  It's like a second home, really.

sunday in the canyon - quality family time

After what has felt like months of disjointed chaos, we are gearing down for a slower time of year, a more peaceful summer mindset.

We spent a wonderful weekend together as a family, attending a children's fair on Saturday and running leisurely errands together on Sunday.  The Gorilla and I had a date night and saw a movie and went to one of our favorite restaurants.  I can't even remember the last time we saw a movie in the theater together.

Slowing down, making deliberate choices, I am constantly evaluating and re-evaluating how I'm spending my time and energy these days.  I tend to do this after a stormy period or when my soul knows I need to make some adjustments.  Currently, both are true.