On the Emmy Red Carpet

Maybe this post would have been better titled, "I survived the Emmys," because I was there from 10:30 a.m. straight on to the ET after party, which I left early at 10 p.m. It was exhausting. You can read all about my adventures though in my Huffington Post article: http://huff.to/cf1qqq

Also, in the below slideshow are 104 of my best photos from the red carpet. Which pic is your favorite? Who would you have most wanted to see in person?

Exclusive Havaianas Midnight Swim Club

Havaianas flip flops has had a series of secret Midnight Swim Club events in LA this summer. The first event was held at the home of Hollywood stars David Arquette and Courteney Cox Arquette. Although I wasn't lucky enough to attend that one (I wish), I did go to one this weekend at a private residence in Hancock Park that's currently on the market for just $7 Million!

Of course the mansion had a private pool in the backyard with colored flip flops dangling above it, which I thought would be a fun decorative idea for any summer party or BBQ. Take a look:

My friends and I were given our own pair of Havaianas, which I put, while Raphael displayed his in his back pockets, causing me and the event's photographer to snap photos of his backside, lol:

I also was able to have my pair bedazzled with two red heart gems punched into the strap via the press they had setup in a tent along with different charms to pick from.

We hung out for awhile swaying to the DJ, kicking back some blue jello shots and Crumbs cupcakes. We even ran into blogging friend Recessionista. Overall, it was one of those fun summer parties that could only happen in L.A., good times.

Over the next few months, Havaianas will roll out a variety of Midnight Swim Club activities, contests and giveaways on their Facebook and twitter. They are asking fans to host their own Midnight Swim Party and post a picture on their Facebook or twitter page and tagging it #midnightswimclub. Each week, the best photo will be announced and the fan or follower will receive a limited edition pair of Havaianas Midnight Swim Club flip-flops, which is the only place these flip-flops are available.

Roy's Hawaiian Restaurant

I think we just found our favorite restaurant in downtown and it's not some hidden hipster joint, but Roy's Hawaiian Fusion restaurant now celebrating 5 years in downtown L.A.! They also have dining locations in Hawaii, Florida, Arizona, Chicago, Baltimore, Philly, Nevada and Texas. My mother having been to the one in Naples, Florida is a big fan of the restaurant too, but I had never been until last night.

I was originally invited to a blogger event at Roy's a couple of months back, but was not able to attend, so they kindly offered to have me come do a tasting another time, which I gladly accepted. I was greeted with an 'Aloha" when I arrived and was seated by the window looking out at the downtown skyscrappers lit up at night.

I was soon sipping their tropical cocktails from a Mango Mojito to their 1988 martini, which is a blend of tart grapefruit and tangy pomegranate with ABSOLUT Ruby Red Vodka, SOHO Lychee Liqueur and Patrón Citrónge Liqueur with a lychee fruit skwerer.

For an appetizer we tried their Canoe for Two, which included two of their amazing Golden Lobster Potstickers in a butter sauce (I could of had a dozen of these easily and called it a night), Blackened Island Ahi, Pork Ribs, Shrimp, and a Spicy Tuna Roll.

For dinner, I had the Roy’s Classic Roasted Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi, which their sommelier paired the Newton "Red Label" Napa Valley Chardonnay with. I'm not easily impressed by wine pairings and often find the connection hard to taste, however, this was the best pairing I've ever had. The drink continued the meal, the meal continued the drink! I'd definitely reccomend this combo. Raphael meanwhile, had the Charred Japanese Misoyaki Butterfish, which was as scrumptious as the first time I tried that particular fish when I was in Maui.

The restaurant also has two special dessert options that require 20 minutes to make them--a Chocolate Soufflé and a Pineapple Upside Down Cake. We ordered ours when we recieved our entres. Although I'm a chocolate fanatic, I was suprised to find that I liked the pineapple upside down cake more.

If you haven't been, you should hurry in soon to take advantage of their LA Ohana Tour for a chance to win a free trip to Hawaii and score some free menu options (more info here). Also, now through Labor Day you can bring your own bottle of wine and pay no corkage fees. Ongoing though from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. is their Aloha Hour where selected drinks and appetizers are $5.

Tara at the Emmy's

The Emmy® awards are only a couple of weeks away and tinsletown is already abuzz with news and planning for the award show. As am I ... because this year, thanks to Duncan Hines, the official dessert sponsor of the 62nd Primetime EmmyAwards, I'm going to get to be in the "fans in the stands" red carpet bleacher section along with my gal Aly.

I'll be tweeting live from the stands and snapping photos with my fancy paparzzi like camera, which can shoot a steady stream of pics with just one click, so hopefully there will be a few money shots in the group that I can share with all of you. The TV celeb I'm most excited to see would probably have to be Courteney Cox who I'm hoping will be there due to Cougar Town. Also, Matthew Perry is presenting this year, so hopefully I'll spot him too.

As for celeb interviews though, that will have to wait for after the awards show when I'm at the 14th annual Entertainment Tonight Emmy Party, which has just announced that multi-Grammy Award-winning artist Cyndi Lauper is headlining. I was already excited to be reporting on the red carpet there, but being a huge "Cynner" and having interviewed her before (here), I'm now even more excited to attend. The ET Emmy Party will be held at Vibiana in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, August 29th following the Emmy telecast. Lauper’s performance follows in the tradition of spectacular headline acts which have included performances by Prince, Mary J. Blige, Duran Duran, Billy Idol, and Earth, Wind and Fire.

“Cyndi Lauper is timeless," says Linda Bell Blue, Executive producer for Entertainment Tonight and The Insider. "She’s a fantastic and exciting performer. Our guests are in for a surprise, because you don’t know what to expect with Cyndi!”

Cyndi Lauper adds, "The ET party is supposed to be off the hook! And since I'm doing it, were going to have some fun." And ... Grils Just Wanna Have Fun! (I know, it was a softball I had to take)

From the cuisine to entertainment to décor, ET will be celebrating Emmy night in style alongside the year’s biggest stars of television, film and music. The amazingly funny Kathy Griffin is slated to attend (Yippee!).

Guests (not reporters) will be treated to a specially created menu from celebrity chef Susan Feniger’s Los Angeles restaurant, Border Grill, limited edition wines from Bure Family Wines (IE Candace Cameron from Full House!), a dessert bar by Magnolia Bakery, a customized Grey Goose Vodka bar, lounges by Neutrogena and Dr. Scholl’s® For Her and an exclusively designed Cole Haan gift bag.

Up in a hot air balloon over Temecula

This weekend, Raphael and I along with another couple headed two hours southeast to Temecula, wine country. We've gone before, but it's been awhile. This time we did some wine tastings at Wiens, Leonesse and had dinner at South Coast Winery. Then, the next day we arose at the ungodly hour at 4:30 a.m. to go on a hot-air-balloon ride and picnic with Sunrise Balloon tours.

When we arrived it was dark and they were inflating two balloons with a four person and a six person basket. Luckily the four of us were able to ride in our own four person balloon. Sipping mimosas, we floated over orange groves, full vineyards, and rose to about 1,500 feet. It was very serene, almost like paragliding.

It was in the 50s when we woke up, and although I had packed a snuggie, I didn't have to use it since the temperature quickly increased, especially standing under the blowing fire filling the balloon and heating our heads.

Here's a look at our view:

BlogHer 10 Recap

I'm back from BlogHer and what a whirlwind! It was 2.5 days of networking, geeking out, swag bags, partying and shopping. I'm sorry for the following laundry list of all the hub bub, but I'll try to make it as interesting as possible.

Thursday night:

After getting off the plane, I dashed over to the coveted Social Luxe Lounge again and it was better than last year's. The event's main sponsor, Avery, allowed us to create customized binders using their online Zazzle store, so I of course made a When Tara Met Blog one, which I then used to organize all my conference materials for the rest of the week:

Here are pics from the Stride Rite photo booth, which was at the lounge with Rosa and Divina from Dancing Hot Dogs:

Like my outfit? Thanks to a free pre-BlogHer shopping trip to the GAP, where the store's employees kindly styled me for my trip, I was wearing a yellow ruffled micro-print sleeveless top and their denim leggings (jeggings are all the rage right now!). The light weight shirt was perfect for the NY heat. I loved it on me, but it isn't something I normally would have picked out for myself, so was glad it was suggested for me. I felt like Pretty Woman during the makeover scene ;). I also wouldn't have tucked the blouse in if it wasn't for their advice either, but again it worked out well. We also paired the outfit with this cute thin gold belt, also an accessory that I usually forgo.

Speaking of outfits, check out this Frito Lay one:

I then cabbed it uptown with Elizabeth to the Bumble Bee Foods VIP Party, where Hell's Kitchen chef Scott Leibfried made some recipes using Bumble Bee Sensations and their prime fillets.

Friday:

BlogHer officially kicked off in a grand ballroom at the Hilton announcing that next year’s conference-BlogHer 11-will be in San Diego on August 4-6 at The San Diego Marriott and San Diego Convention Center. I was excited about this since it means I won't have to buy a plane ticket and because I love San Diego.

I didn't get to stay too long at the conference on Friday though as I was one of the lucky few selected to participate in ShopAtHome.com’s shopping excursion after submitting my reasons why I'd love to go the bargain hunting trip. I forgot what I wrote exactly, but I'm sure it consisted of some begging. In the end it worked out as I had an amazing time visiting the private Garment District and seeing behind-the-scenes at the different showrooms. I was also given $150 and the chance to shop at wholesale prices! I ended up shelling out an additional $60, but walked away with a shirt dress, two scarves, a cashmere top and a hoodie. Check it out:

As if that wasn't enough. I then headed to my friend Vera's Getting Gorgeous event, where I fell in love with Remington Hair Care's new pearl ceramic styling tools in pale pink. I then had my hair curled by one of their stylists using their new curling wand. The new line comes out this Fall and I can't wait to buy the straightener too.

After all this excitement, I bailed on my Friday evening events to meet up with some friends in the city. However, after 3 glasses of scotch I was once again singing Karaoke in a tiny bar that I don't know the name of and I didn't get home till 4 a.m.

Saturday:

It was a rough morning after the late night prior, but this was my first real day to explore the show's floor and see the different booths and to meet my friends and ... the Pillsbury Dough Boy.

Almost all the exhibitor booths had free samples to give out (It's crazy!) as well as the standard drop your card in a bowl to win a prize type deal. Which is why I loved that Eggland’s Best drew a daily winner from those that used the Four Square app to "check in" at their booth. Also, several brands had twitpic contests like Tropicana, which told people to take a photo with one of their Tropicana beverages being given out during the show and twitpic the photo to @TropicanaOJ to win a prize. It's a social media conference after all, so it was nice to see some of the companies being more social and not so brick and mortar in their PR tactics.

I especially liked that PUR and Filtrete provided water filling stations throughout the show to fill up our water bottles during. I went at least twice for a refill.

I also did an interview at PepsiCo's booth with Jennifer Brandt, the Managing Editor of Momversation, who is not only beautiful but very sweet too. Unfortunately, I look super pale in the final edit due to the aforementioned night out and not because I was auditioning for the next Twilight flick.

That evening, I put on my black dress and hit the Unilever PentHouse Make Life Better Event at the Royalton. Here I got to indulge in all my favorite Unilever products like Suave and Dove! I even got a reflexology foot massage. After all the standing and walking I had done, my little feet were in heaven. I also now have plenty of their nice smelling products that I had shipped home.

Lastly, that night I also attended the Glamour & Games e.l.f event where I got to play the new Kinect for Xbox 360. I didn't think I'd like it, but the game Dance Central was awesome and I ended up dancing twice to Lady Gaga's Poker Face. It's like the wii with the more of the movement oriented games, however, no remote controls are needed as it uses a sensor to track your movement. Below you can see my poker face in action, lol:

After all this and my hangover, I was way too tired to go to the infamous CheeseburgHer event at midnight, too bad though as I loved my photos from last year's party.

I'm all in at BlogHer for City of Hope

Tomorrow, I'll once again be heading to the BlogHer conference. This year it is in New York City. During the 3 days that I'll be there I'm going to be heading to one cool party after another, networking with other women and getting lots of free goodies. So, in order to not be a total hedonist and to give back some, I volunteered to be a BlogHer ambassador for City of Hope.

Basically, this means that I've agreed to spread awareness for the national women’s cancer research leader and treatment center City of Hope amongst my fellow bloggers during my time at BlogHer. Since BlogHer is for women and City of Hope focuses on cancers affecting women, I figured it made sense. I also believe cancer research is underfunded by our government, which is why non-profits like these are so important.

I'll also be wearing an "I'm All In!" City of Hope button and giving them out to anyone who might want one. So, if you see me there, be sure and ask for one and if you twitpic @CityOfHope a photo of you wearing the pin, you'll be entered to win a gift card to Sephora (5 winners in total).

Cupcake Camp OC

Yesterday, I was one of the judges at Cupcake Camp OC, a gathering of cupcake-lovers to raise money for a good cause--to stop human trafficking.

With The Sweets Truck and Holly, we sampled 56 cupcakes in just two hours from all the amateur submissions. Sounds like a sweet job, but it wasn't a piece of cake ;) When we started, I was chilly from the air conditioned room, but after eating the first 30 cupcakes I was soon sweating sugar.

Eventually, we picked the top 3 in the following categories, the most unique exotic flavor or ingredient, most childhood inspired cupcake and the most Orange County cupcake.

Our picks for the most unique were the moist and sweet ube (purple yam) cupcake, followed by a fresh hibiscus & strawberry cupcake and a passion fruit coconut cupcake with moshi toppings.

We also loved these Orange County inspired In-And-Out cupcakes made of fondant for the cheese and tomato, while green colored coconut shavings were used for lettuce:

For childhood inspired cupcakes, 1st place went to a yummy peanut butter and jelly cupcake. These two shown below were our second and third pics--Small World Churro flavored cupcakes and these sleeping children ones with melted starburst as the blanket.

These didn't taste very popcorn flavored, but look at the presentation and creativity:

I ended up even dreaming about cupcakes that evening.

Free GAP jeans for me and you

As a GAP Brand Enthusiast I received a free pair of their denim leggings this week. The new super skinny jeans are also super soft, yet also a little stretchy and breathable. They come in a variety washes--dark to faded grey to black. Trying on these jeans was also a good reminder that I can use a trip to the gym again ;) However, a coworker did ask me who made my new jeans and was surprised when I said GAP.

I'm not simply bragging that I got a free pair of jeans here, but to also offer one of you a chance to have a free pair too. GAP also gave me a card that's good for jeans up to a $69.50 value. To enter, comment here about GAP jeans. Please don't forget to leave your email address in the body of your comment or link back to a blogger profile or website that actually has your email address on it. For extra entries tweet this giveaway. Ends Wednesday, August 4 at Noon PST. Good luck! Update: Congrats to Ms. Mayhem, I guess you were indeed feeling lucky! :)

Decal Crazy

I seem to have gone decal crazy while decorating my new apartment.

First, for my New York themed bathroom (yes, my bathroom has a theme) I used an art applique of the New York Skyline ($39.99 on Amazon) to go across the top of my walls. It took some time to apply and have it all be even, but I'm quite happy with the result.

After the skyline decals were up, I couldn't help but think it looked familiar somehow. I then logged on to my blog to write this post and saw my site's header and banner and was like, oh yeah. It's just missing some pink and a cartoon me, lol.

To compliment the New York metropolitan theme I also added these decorative touches as well:

I also put up a window cling in our guest room of a bunch of tulips in a vase from Flat Flowers. Since this window can be seen by the apartments across the way, hopefully it will look as if I always have a fresh bunch of flowers on my windowsill. The brightly colored decal us also visible from both inside and outside and comes in seven different boquet designs-I also liked their poppy one. Apparently they are created and made in the Netherlands and are new to the US and Canada. They sell for $15 at OOTS.