Barrie darling and I recently attended a fabulous event at Scandia Home, Scandia Down’s luxe new flagship store on Beverly Drive. I swung by the Veranda hosted fete on my way to pick up the Critter from preschool, hoping to meet the lovely and talented India Hicks, the honoree, who was signing her gorgeous new book Island Life. I studied her father’s work as a student and avid stye follower, and was very excited to meet her in the flesh and see more of the beautiful island home she and her family have remodeled in the Bahamas.

I was thrilled to find that she was extremely friendly and lots of fun to talk to, especially since we both have babes born in 2007. I hope to run across her again soon so we can have a longer visit!
*A very special thanks to Lauren from JL Photographers for allowing to share her photo album of the event. Just click the big photo at the top of the post for the slide show!

When I became a wife and a mom it terrified me that I would have to come up with something fabulous for the PH every Father’s Day. He’s one of those guys who has everything he wants (well except for a couple of Ferraris), and doesn’t need me to choose his clothes. He likes stuff that I don’t know anything about, and would never buy without ruining a surprise. When I realized that the Rodeo Drive Concours d’Elegance takes place every year on that day we celebrate dads, it gave me peace of mind that I will always have the perfect day planned for him.

The 17th Annual event celebrated “The Art of Italian Motoring” and will featured more than 125 vintage Italian cars on display. The Perfect Husband was able to run up and down Rodeo for hours taking shots of his dream cars while the Critter and I checked out OUR favorite Italian style and design.

I am so honored to be asked to contribute to two new sites for women and moms! You may have noticed on Twitter that I wrote posts for GalTime and MomsLA over the weekend, covering Kidstock and L’Enfant Terrible’s Fun Festival of Tragedy. I am really excited to be able to share more of the fun we have on these two entertaining and informative places with other friends that I really like. I also hope that being in more places than one I can continue to meet more wonderful people and make new friends.

I also am thrilled to let y’all know that the glitch that I had on BeverlyHillsMom’s Facebook page has been resolved! Now that I’ve established a secure haven on Facebook I just posted a mountain of photos that only my FB friends can see – all the photos that I love that I didn’t find the right spot to post (or photoshop, wink wink!).

As we rolled down the hill from Greystone Mansion and away from the Kidstock 2011 Music and Arts Festival, in spite of the fact that The Critter was furious and thrashing that he didn’t want to leave, my Perfect Husband remarked “Well honey, that didn’t suck nearly like I thought it would – high five!” The PH doesn’t like to give up time with me and The Critter on the weekends, so in PH speak, that translates to AWESOME!

We were the guests of HUDSON JEANS at the rocking chock-full-o’celebrity-parents festival, which showcased remarkable talents from Radio Disney, fun activities and awesome eats. It was a really fun day with the family. Tents were set up all throughout Greystone Estate with delighted kids bringing out their inner rock star and designer personae in all sorts of crafts and interactive play. All the top notch talent and sponsors represented were in support of One Voice and the Scholars Program, a very special program that mentors and prepares low income and underprivileged Los Angeles youth for college and sees them through to graduation.

It was a family event with behind the scenes power players powerful enough to make Ari squeal – super celebrity guests and their families included: Bill Bellamy, Giada de Laurentiis, Greg Kinnear, Ryan Phillippe, Jason Bateman, Busy Phillips, Soleil Moon Frye, Constance Zimmer, Julie Bowen, Ed O’Neill, Nolan Gould, Keirnan Shipka, Doug Ellin, Jason Sloan and Annabeth Gish, along with Radio Disney performers Sierra McCormick, Jake Short, Stephanie Scott, Jake Whetter, Coco Jones and China Anne McClain. You can see great photos here and here of the awesome event.

It’s official. Richard Ruskell is THE cake artist without peer. And now you can learn from him in a small class of fifteen people once a month until Christmas! I have no doubt these classes will fill quickly; call soon to reserve…

*September 7, 2011 Update: For a review of the “Buttercream” class, check out RockinMama’s post of her experience with Richard!

On the first Sunday in May, my Perfect Husband and I were delighted to be guests at the Concours d’Elegance held on the historic estate of Greystone Mansion. As this Concours event is one of only a few collector car shows in the United States designated as a Fédération Internationale des Véhicules Anciens” (FIVA) event, we knew only the highest quality autos would be shown. It was the perfect event for the family, or in our case, a super afternoon date with my hubby while The Grandmother visited with our Critter at home. There was something for everyone – The Perfect Husband LOVES cars and was thrilled to photograph his favorites below, but I alsoenjoyed looking in the Mansion at the architecture and wonderful collectibles offered by auction, antique and art dealers. There was something delicious around every corner to eat or drink, and we made new friends and ran into old ones. Fabulous crystal trophies from Tiffany and Company were awarded to the best in class and best in show. It was the perfect May day in Beverly Hills.

I was feeling very sentimental about Wills getting married. I remember when his mom and dad married and how it was the biggest thing ever. How Diana’s dress and all the trimmings of the wedding started a trend of brides aspiring to the same gentrified standards of that Royal Wedding, and we didn’t see a waistline or cleavage for about six more years. I wondered what this generation of royal would produce in a family of folks who know how to host a theatrical nuptial.

And then I received the invitation and it all came together – Style 2020 was hosting a brunch to view the wedding! I immediately called my favorite ex-patriot now all American Barrie Darling and we also extended the invitation to our own princess Catherine and her handsome prince Casper, who would of course be the most fun people in the world with whom to watch this whole pageant.

It was a fabulous celebration in honor of style, substance and spectacle, as you can plainly see in my photos. A very special thanks to Style 2020 of Newport Beach for transporting us physically, mentally, and visually with their wonderfully festive brunch to commemorate the marriage of the new Royals. I hope Catherine will forgive me for this terrible video of her heartfelt wishes for the couple – try to ignore the bad video and focus on her beautiful words. Here’s to princesses and happily ever after!

I have decided that from now on I will take a mulligan on January and February of every year because the whole family including the dog gets sick, then March kicks off a craaaazy schedule for all of us until Memorial Day. Late April through May brings – Easter, the Perfect husband’s birthday, the Critter’s birthday, Mother’s Day and the annual visit from the Grandmother from Missisippi.

You can see that I joyfully embrace any event that causes me to have to dress up, meet interesting people or decorate something. The last two weeks have been jam packed! During this time I have baked and decorated four dozen eggs, four dozen shape cookies, raised money for LLS, attended a fabulous event teaching me how to pack light, had brunch twice, had Easter egg hunt at home, attended one at the Montage, attended the RealityRocks Event, filmed reshoots for a reality pilot, and this weekend is going to be more excitement!

Tomorrow morning after I drop the Critter off at preschool a car is coming to whisk away my friend Tara and I to Newport Beach to have a luxurious champagne brunch and Bulgari showing with my friends Catherine, Casper and Barrie. I am SO excited to hang out with my friends and hear Catherine’s take on the wedding – she’s related to the royal family, so I’ll have the scoop! Stay tuned for some live blogging and tweeting of the fun.

Saturday is the arrival of the Grandmother, then since we have free babysitting, my Perfect Husband and I are going on a date to see fabulous classic cars at the Concours d’Elegance at Greystone Mansion. The luxury event is sponsored by brands that include Tiffany and Company and Mercedes Benz –click here for ticket and more sponsor details – hope to see you there!

As you know from my previous post, I am a “Team Mary” member in the Man/Woman of the year campaign to fight blood cancers. The campaign does not end until May 13th, and honestly, with all the holidays, birthdays, school events of the season have me so busy that I was getting a little bit tired, and was really having a hard time summoning the energy to put out the word about the campaign. Then, staring at me from about 675 unread emails, I saw this one in my inbox from Blanca Garcia, mother to Celeste, the Girl of the Year for the campaign.

Her email reminded me that the very least I can do to help these brave families whose lives were so painfully affected by disease is to keep the momentum going for the campaign and remind you to PLEASE give whatever you can to Team Mary so that LLS can save more lives like Celeste’s. Forward this link to as many people you possibly can, even if it might annoy them, even if you feel awkward doing it, just do it anyway. Every little bit helps! Click here to give, and below you can read Blanca’s email to the team members.

Hello 2011 MWOY Candidates,
Hope this e-mail finds you well. I wanted to take this opportunity to share some awesome news about my daughter Celeste :)Please take a moment to read the attachment. (It was intended to reach you much sooner). Words can not nearly express the gratitude I have in my heart for what you are doing to help fight blood cancer(s). I hope a day will come when cancer can be prevented and that all lives can be saved. I believe that all your efforts and time is getting us that much closer…Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!
Sincerely,
Blanca & Gilbert Garcia

And she attached this: