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I am so sentimental for New Orleans today – I’m seeing so many wonderful shots from the parades today from old friends who are in the Crescent City today. We will actually be celebrating Shrove Tuesday this year at All Saints . I’m expecting great pancakes without the nakedness.
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I confess that I have always been a plant murderer. Fortunately I have been rehabilitated by the ease with which we lucky Southern Californians can grow succulents. I have managed not to kill quite a few attractive plants that grow whether or not I pay any attention to them. I was inspired at the LA Art Show by the huge orchid containers at the entrance and by some beautiful cactus containers I see when I visit local nurseries, so I decided to take the potted plant up a notch to try my hand at creating some containers with these little pretties. An added benefit is that I can enlist the Critter to help me select the plants, do the replanting, and the decorations we used for the layers of our succulent project. We spent our creative time last week doing all the selecting and then did the planting over the weekend. The average amount of time per pot: fifteen minutes! Try a project like this – huge satisfaction value for low skilled gardeners. 😉
Happy New Year to you, my faithful readers! First on my 2013 agenda was to by get involved and support Nancy Krasne for our local city council election. I believe she is the BEST candidate for our city – she is the one I know is reading ALL the lines and in between to make sure our city stays safe, prosperous, and the amazing little place that it is. If you are a citizen of Beverly Hills, I URGE you to read the story I wrote about Nancy and look into supporting her. You will also enjoy the videos above of Nancy speaking formally and informally at her 2013 Campaign kickoff, as well as a few clips of New York Times bestselling author Brittney Ryan telling her stories of why she supports Nancy.
Tonight I am attending the VIP Opening Celebration of the LA Art Show for the second year – remember the fun we had last year? I look forward to seeing what’s been happening in the art world, and the Critter is super excited to take another painting class with Alexandre Renoir, hosted by Beverly Hills’ own wonderful Galerie Michael. LA Art Show events run through January 27th, so there’s plenty of time to get your art on!
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Y’all know my history with Chris Mann, and you know how much I love PBS, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I got the invitation from Barbara at One2One Network to attend the taping of his upcoming PBS Special! I went to Sony last night and watched and listened to him BRING IT for four hours, and I can assure you the special will be something…special. I thought this about Chris since the first night I heard him play and am so happy to see all the great things that have happened since then – that he’s in the skilled hands of the production people at PBS is also very reassuring. I know that they’ll “get” him and create a wonderful program with all his hard work. His voice is in top condition, and every note her delivers is rich and clear. My favorite songs he performed? Cuts from his new album Roads: My Way ( Frank Sinatra and his grandad would be proud), and Cuore (it really doesn’t matter if you know what he’s saying, just close your eyes and listen). After seeing this special you will also want to add his Christmas album to your permanent collection – his version “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” is just amazing.
Here we are together after the show – I got to give him a hug and tell him how happy I am for all he’s achieved since that night at Genghis Cohen…
Super deluxe thanks to the folks at Disney Pixar for inviting me to lunch at Four Seasons Beverly Hills with the very amazing producer of BRAVE Katherine Sarafian. If you ever wonder how the eighteen year veteran of Pixar mom of two manages to drive a blockbuster animated film’s production while pregnant, you’ll be pleased to know that Katherine suffers all the issues we all have – having enough time with family, getting everyone to school on time, and her fear of potluck supper ( she was thrilled to know that she can just give some money to the organizer mom!). I really enjoyed talking with her on how LONG it takes to develop an animated character – it took almost two YEARS for the animators to nail down that fabulous flowing red hair that the heroine of BRAVE has.
Upon arriving home, the Critter and I immediately opened the wonderful gift of the DVD BluRay combo pack I was given and watched the film – it’s amazing! The animation could not be more flawless – it’s a visual fantasy feast for everyone. Don’t worry, you can get your home version on November 13th!
As usual, I am in holiday heat. You probably know that I LOVE Halloween, and can’t wait to be the teacher’s helper at kindergarten tomorrow so I can see all the cutie pies in their costumes, help decorate cookies, and OF COURSE go out trick or treating in the ‘hood. I hope y’all have a great Halloween – keep it sweet and safe!
When the Critter was about eighteen months old I found this Feist video on SesameStreet.org. He was completely enraptured by it! I now had five minutes to go to the bathroom or make a phone call and know that my wee one was entertained. But that was only the beginning of the benefit of this discovery – The Critter counted to four AND sang the Whoaaaaa part of the song, the first time either happened, EVER! This was the beginning of many special moments of discovery with the furry and funny monsters that I will always remember, and in which my baby began his education – I credit this program and others on PBS with his ease (so far) in learning to read in kindergarten.
Since then I have developed a relationship with programming and people at PBS and write about them frequently. I believe that there is no more valuable resource for our children AND adults to learn and broaden horizons.
Government needs to trim fat, but our public television is not fat. It is the steak on the plate in a sea of potatoes. Support PBS!
I’m back in BH, making lunches for BHDad and the Critter for the next few days as I prepare to head out again to Atlanta. I had such a great weekend with all the awesome Sits Girls at Bloggy Boot Camp – I picked up tons of great information that any woman in business needs to know about social media. Prevailing themes were primarily aimed at working smarter, knowing one’s value, solving tech glitches, and for those of us work from home moms – how to set boundaries and keep your mind clear for your family.
It was not all work and no play – Ashaa and I managed to do a little partying at the Cosmopolitan – the most glam casino on the strip right now. You MUST have a look at my videos of that place!
I realize that if you don’t follow me on Twitter, then you may think I’m not writing because nothing exciting is going on. I you do follow, you’ll know that the end of summer was full of awesome activities with a the finale of the Critter going to kindergarten. This has been a HUGE transition, probably more huge for BeverlyHillsDad and me, because the ante is up. Lollygagging is over. There’s homework and tardies count (of particularly terrifying note to me). If my five year old isn’t turning in homework it’s because MOM didn’t get him to sit in the chair and do it. There are folders, backpacks, lunch and a snack that need to be filled properly. There are days that are designated wear and eat a certain color day. I had a minor breakdown at midnight the night before yellow day when I realized there were no bananas for Critter’s lunchbox, and came back to my senses with triumph when I remembered there were lemons in the fridge. Right now I am fantasizing about Halloween, and just spent way too much time arranging the gum in a bowl in my kitchen, but I seem to be in there so much lately, I wanted it styled.
So you see, I’ve been getting the hang of kindergarten and the ever changing life as a mom. As much fun as this is, the gum could be called a cry for help. I actually knew this a couple of weeks ago, and am now getting back to spending more time with the parts of my livelihood that feed my creative energy. Last weekend I sat on a panel moderated by Jessica Gottlieb along with Romy Schorr and Candice Berneman Khan at the BLP ConnectHer Conference. A group of about 200 attendees spent the day at the Casa del Mar Hotel in Santa Monica, a gorgeous hotel, which, by the way, was a project I worked on in my early design days in LA – I hand picked all the seashells in the lobby! Over the day I spent time with these and so many intelligent, compassionate, accomplished, stylish, sexy, women like Jeannine Chanin Penn, Donna Tetreault, Ali Landry, Lisa Steadman and Wendy Bellissimo. We shared some highs and lows of our respective professions, and what worked for us and what didn’t. It was a really generous (and gorgeous) group who were all there to learn how to do business better, but the theme broadened into the fact that we all have lives that go on during (and WAY after) business hours, and how we all manage it. The tide of women in business is no longer to fit into an existing model, but to create what fits into our lives – and to own all the parts of how we do it. I feel really blessed to be able to maximize my time with my Critter, and have work(and play) that works with us. In the spirit of this, it may take me a while to share more of what we experienced, including but not limited to: our trip to the Pebble Beach Concours, the making of a video with ET, PBS Press Tour ( I met Martha Stewart!!!), and loads of the style photos I know y’all love.
Speaking of travelling and making it work: I will be attending the Bloggy Boot Camp Las Vegas next weekend. I had so much fun last time I went to this conference, I couldn’t pass up a chance to do it in VEGAS baby, and I’ve also roped 90210Mom and Ashaa to go with me. There will be no juiceboxes or flats allowed.
And last but definitely not least: I am really amazed to be the guest of Coca Cola at their world headquarters to participate in Conversations with Coca-Cola, a social media conference. When they called to invite me, I assumed it was because they heard how much Diet Coke I drink. I’m really excited to see behind the scenes and know more of how the most venerable brand in the WORLD operates. Jamie will be there with me, representing from Los Angeles – stayed tuned!
I know you’ll love the video of Steve Songs singing the theme song to the performance – you can check out a few more videos of the day on BeverlyHillsMom’s YouTube Channel.
