When Tara Met Blog: October 2009

I am Woman! The Women's Conference

I feel very fortunate that I was invited to attend the amazing Women's Conference in Long Beach again, this time thanks to Lean Cuisine, one of the show's major sponsor for the last two years. Under the leadership of California First Lady Maria Shriver, The Women’s Conference brings together 14,000 women across the nation and aims to empower and inspire women to become architects of change. For the second year in a row, it's easily the most inspiring conference or event that I've attended. Tickets sold out in less than two hours and the speaker list is a who's who of entrepreneurs, female leaders of industry, activists and people changing the world. Below are just some highlights, soundbites and the insight gained from such speakers.

Paula Deen
I have never watched her cooking show before, but I do know who she is due to an episode of Kathy Griffin My Life on the D List. However, I definitely know a lot more about this likable Southern cook as she was being interviewed by Martha Beck about living an authentic life. Apparently, Deen started her career in her 40s after she was divorced and found herself alone raising her two sons. She had heard that you should do what you know and so with only $200 to start her business she bought $50 worth of groceries, a business license and a cooler to cart her homemade meals for sale. Before this, she also suffered with agoraphobia for 20 years and felt hopeless until she realized the words behind the serenity prayer and that YOU are the only one to stand in your way, to stop your happiness. She went on to say "ya'll if you have a passion go for it, the sin is to not try!" Overall, she was very open, honest and heartfelt as she shared her wisdom with the audience, even at one point leaving her interview seat to walk out to address everyone and standing inches away from me in the front row. I would have snapped a photo, but she was looking right at me as she talked and that would have been weird and of course rude. Ah well.

Madeleine Albright

OK now we're talking about a real architect of change here! I was so excited to see the first female Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in the panel "How a Woman's Nation Changes Everything" (twitpic photo). She also delivered my favorite line of the conference, when she said that she thinks "there is a special place in hell for women that don't help each other." CLAPPING! The panel itself focused on women having the right to choose...work that is, having kids, having both a career and kids, the lack of flexibility at work and how there aren't any policies in place to let women do both effectively.

Katie Couric

The anchor spoke to the crowd reflecting on her trail blazing career being a prominent female anchorwoman and covering hard hitting issues as well. She shared her failures in broadcasting as well, including CNN saying that she would never be on there again after her first gig on the network. Katie then reflected on how former Meet the Press' host Tim Russert helped give her the break that she needed and that "it takes just one person to see something in someone else, everyone needs a cheerleader." She also made me tear up as she talked about losing her husband to cancer. She said her biggest challenge was smiling on The Today Show after her husband died of cancer and while he was battling it. With her bright smile in place, she read some quotes from others including, "Some days you're the pigeon andsometimes you're the statue," and "A boat is usually safer at the dock, but that's not what it's made for." She received a standing ovation.

Geena Davis

I was surprised to see this actresses' name on the speaker list at first, but soon heard about her athletic past and her institute on Gender in Media, which focuses on dramatically increasing the percentage of female characters and sharply decreasing gender stereotyping in movies, TV and other media aimed at kids 11 years of age and under. She started this project after watching cartoons with her daughter and noticing the stereotypical female characters even in G rated shows. She also spearheads www.genatakesaim.com, which champions Title 1X legislation and girls' participation in sports. She still looked the same btw.

Robin Roberts

I had met the Good Morning America anchor once before during President Obama's inauguration weekend, while visiting the Air and Space Museum. The young kids that I was with for a client project even interviewed her here. Anyway, we all know how Robin bravely fought cancer and shared her battle on the air, even shaving her head and not hiding under a wig. She briefly discussed this and said she was inspired by her families motto, "make your mess your message."

Ashton Kutcher

As you can imagine, there was a long line to attend the panel Changing the World Through the Web, which featured actor and social media guru Ashton Kutcher, Facebook's Randi Zuckenberg, Kiva's Premal Shah and Joe Rospars who was the new media director for Barrack Obama's Presidential campaign. Ashton was trying to channel his inner geek, wearing all black. At times I thought the session moderator was being too snarky with him, even cutting him off just as he was delivering some useful insight especially for me in PR and who lives on Twitter. One gem, that he shared was that the Web allows for town hall meetings from home and is a faster way to mobilize people around a cause or issue. I really liked that comparison of the old and new way to gain support (Additional twitpic of Ashton).

Jillian Michaels

The Biggest Loser fitness trainer Jillian Michaels (photo) rallied the audience by saying it's in our DNA to dream, we just have to allow ourselves. She also challenged everyone there with, well behaved women rarely make history so find a rule and break it! On a side note, I couldn't help but think she looked like actress Linda Hamilton.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
This was now the third time I've heard the Governor speak, outside of movies that is, and again I had to admire his deftness at making fun of his film career, while also providing some interesting insight. Last year, he was a bit more inspirational though, but the crowd appreciated his comments about his wife saying that she is a true partner, beautiful, smart and that she gives good advice. As a result, he went on to say "she's a female Terminator" lol.

Maria Shriver

Such an amazing and smart women, I really do admire her and the work she's done with these conferences and her warmth when she spoke to all of us. As expected, she spoke about losing her mother and how she was her hero and how her death brought her to her knees. Of course everyone was crying. I was twittering just to keep myself from going into full sobs.

The sob fest continued during a panel on grieving with Elizabeth Edwards and Susan Saint James, who both lost a teenage son. They were joined by a surprise guest, Lisa Niemi, Patrick Swayze's wife for 34 years. Like everyone there I was of course remembering my own losses and for the millionth time admiring my mother for being so strong despite losing her other daughter. I was so emotionally drained after this panel that I didn't go to the next scheduled one with Arianna Huffington, instead I walked around to the different booths in the exhibit hall.

In the sponsors area, I received a lot of pamphlets and branded knickknacks (not as good as last year though and no CVS flu-shots either). I also got to speak with the lovely ladies at Not Done Yet, which creates t-shirts around this slogan and a portion of every sale supports Cancer and Alzheimer's research (my two causes) as well as grief support services. Do check out their awesome and soft-to-the-touch tees, especially for holiday gifting this year and as their motto says, "Live agelessly! You're 'not done yet' - in fact, you're just getting started!"

Last year, I had walked away from this conference determined to blog more about social issues like cancer and green topics, which I'm proud to say I accomplished. I also planned to continue to be more of a mentor to young women at work and in the blogosphere, which I'd like to think I've done as well. This year, I plan to continue the above goals, but because I was so recharged and inspired hearing from such strong and successful women again, I plan to continue that inspiration going all year long, by reading some autobiographies and essays from strong women and keeping more up-to-date on women's issues, like I did back in college. I also want to do some hands on volunteering again, even if it's just a once and awhile roll up your sleeves thing.

For more photos from the conference, do check out e*starLA's flickr photo stream (she has a nicer camera).

The Lavender Harvest

I've always liked the scent of lavender, but like most I never gave it much thought. However, I know have a deeper appreciation and understanding of the plant after attending the Fall Lavender Harvest Festival at The Langham Huntington in Pasadena. The event celebrated all things lavender and included a live lavender distillation demonstration, lavender infused desserts, educational sessions covering the history and health benefits of lavender and 15 different types of lavender essential oils to sniff.

Similar to the making of alcohol, lavender is distilled in order to capture the essential oil. As you can imagine, it smelled lovely. Take a look:

Below are some interesting lavender factoids that I learned from the team at Ajne Pure Essentials, which grows and harvests lavender on their farm in Carmel, California and offers their beauty products at the hotel:

There are approximately 39 different lavender species and over 300 variations.
An infusion of lavender is claimed to soothe and heal insect bites and bunches of lavender are also said to repel insects.
If applied to the temples, lavender oil is said to soothe headaches.
Lavender is frequently used as an aid to sleep and relaxation: Flowers buds of the plant are added to pillows.
Lavender oil is claimed to heal acne.
Lavender will grow in nearly any climate - with the likely exception of the arctic. It does best in Mediterranean climates though.

Gloria Gaynor celebrates 30th anniversary of I Will Survive

Last week, I got to sit front row during an intimate concert with disco icon Gloria Gaynor at The GRAMMY Museum at L.A. Live. The Q&A and concert was celebrating the 30th anniversary of the diva’s hit song "I Will Survive." Other hits for Gaynor include, “I Am Who I Am” and “Never Can Say Goodbye,” which were also popular in the dance days of the 70s.

In the small conference-like auditorium holding about 75 people, Gaynor answered questions about her 40-year career, revealing that her favorite re-recording of her song "I Will Survive" is by singers Gladys Knight and Chantay Savage. She was surprisingly quiet and had a deeper/gravelly voice than I had expected, but she was very gracious and sweet. She also said that growing up she was inspired by the music of Ella Fitzgerald and Nat King Cole. Before singing a duet "Tell Him" with soap opera actress Nadia Bjorlin, she mentioned that she is talking to Days of Our Lives (her favorite soap) about being on the show. Interesting.

She of course performed her popular song to much clapping as well as a few gospel songs that will be in her upcoming gospel album next year. Another story she shared with us was that a year before recording "I Will Survive" she fell during a performance and was temporarily paralyzed and was in the hospital for several months. Her mother also passed away that year, both tragedies she credits to helping her sing her hit with such conviction.

Overall, it was a very intimate affair, part of the museum's Legends series and was followed by a signing and meet and greet with Gaynor herself. I had her sign her CD and got to take a photo with her.

Tara's Got a Brand New Bag

Take a look at my latest purchase! Actually, I'm thinking of it as an extremely early birthday (Dec. 9) and Christmas gift for myself. I've been wanting a new purse, so I headed to Coach since I'm loving their new big interlocking C designs from their Madison collection and purchased the OP ART CHAINLINK MAGGIE ($298).

Besides being chic and loving the colors (purple magenta, silver, black and a bluish gray), it's super light due to the microfiber fabric. I almost bought one of the similar solid colored leather bags, but they were more money and heavier and that was without my many accessories that usually bog down my arm. There are also three section dividers and a lot of pockets, which will hopefully make finding the afformentioned gadgets and crap in my bag easier to locate. The purse's handles though are from glazed cowhide trim, which again isn't as heavy as their traditonal leather straps either. Lastly, the inside lining is so purpley bright and colorful that it makes me happy just seeing the hidden splash of color.

I didn't stop there though, after all if you give a mouse a cookie...or rather a new bag, she's going to want some milk, I mean, a matching wallet :) But come on, it's so tiny and cute! It barely holds all my cards, but it helped me streamline a bit.

All week I've been wearing clothes that have the above colors so I can match and show off my bag, lol.

Review & Giveaway: Truth Be Told board game

A few weeks ago, I was given a board game to review, Truth Be Told, which is available for purchase online now and at select retailers, but will be available nationwide next year. In order to properly review the product I invited several friends over (14 actually) to play the game and to drink some martinis.

The tagline for the game say's it's a pretend to know your friends party game. Each round, one of the players is the host, and picks up a question card such as, “Truth be told, I hate _____.” The host writes a truthful answer – Cirque du Soleil. All other players pretend to be the host, and write bluff answers –which seems like something the host would write - Ryan Secrest, prunes, medifast, curry. The host collects and reads all answers aloud, and players try to guess the true answer to score points. Bluff answers score points too if yours is selected that is – so there are a lot of ways to win. We received some funny responses during the night and my husband even laughed so hard tears came out during one round where we all bashed and stereotyped a friend with our responses. Our only complaint with this game was that because scoring is done on a dry erase board it's easy to wipe away accidentally, which we did at one point, opps.

Here's our best staged board game commercial poses. What do you think? Would you cast us?

Truth Be Told is for 3-8 players, ages 12+. It has an MSRP of $27.99. You can purchase it ahead of time at www.buffalogames.com/truthbetold.

GIVEAWAY: To win your own early release of the game, just comment here. To enter, reply to this post with a valid email address or with a profile where I can find a way to contact you if you should win. Also, you'll receive an additional entry if you tweet this contest too. Ends Saturday October 24.

Update: Congratulations Susan! Have fun playing the game.

Angie Harmon Says Got Chocolate Milk?

Tonight, I attended a fun Spooktacular got chocolate milk? event on the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood.

The studio’s mock New York street was decorated for Halloween and Fall (my favorite season) and as if to comply with the theme, the skies were overcast with scattered showers. It hasn’t rained out here since June. Despite the change in weather though, kids were dressed in cute costume and trick-or-treating by knocking on the hallow façade homes that have probably been seen in hundreds of films over the years. Also, in plastic cauldron’s several different brands of lowfat chocolate milk were available, which I couldn’t resist. Luckily, at the event, Dr. Tanya Remer Altmann told the audience of bloggers, mothers and media that like white milk, chocolate milk contains the same 9 essential nutrients and are a key component in building strong bones during childhood and adults can benefit from the calcium and vitamin D in chocolate milk too.

Also on hand was Law & Order actress, mom and model Angie Harmon who unveiled her very own got milk? Milk Mustache ad, which features her three beautiful daughters who were also there with their dad. Angie explained how excited she was to be in the ad, especially with her family and because famed photographer Annie Liebowitz shot it. Her ad debuts in People Magazine on Oct. 16, but you can see it in the background of the below photo. As expected, Angie Harmon was just as beautiful and skinny in person, she also seemed pretty down to earth even cracking jokes at her own expense.

On their site there is a contest where you can win Angie's designer VIP celebrity bag and you can also make your own mustache ad (sans Annie Leibowitz) at whymilk.com.

I could only stay for 45 minutes though since I had to run to catch a flight again, but I did quickly get to say hello to bloggers Elizabeth and Los Angelista.

Note: My firm’s Chicago office represents the National Milk Mustache “got milk?” campaign, but I'm not on the account and I was not asked to blog about the event, etc., I just attended as a an invited blogger and guest.

Blogalicious

From New York, I then headed down to Atlanta (my first time) for Blogalicous, which is a blogging conference celebrating diversity. Although I'm a blogger (duh if you're reading this) I was at the conference for work doing PR for Pine-Sol's cause site PowerfulDifference.com, which honors everyday women who are making a difference in their communities. As a result, I was working their booth and got to hang out with The Pine-Sol Lady (Diane Amos), who was very nice and shared stories with me of her son and daughter and working on the film Nine Months with her friend Robin Williams. Here's a photo:

When the exhibit hall was empty and the other bloggers were busy attending the different sessions, I visited the Suave booth, which was doing fabulous hand massages. The masseuse commented that she could tell I typed a lot by the tenseness of my muscles, however, it could have been an educated guess since it was a bloggers conference, lol. I also received a bottle of their Lavender and Vanilla lotion. FYI Suave is also a client in our NY office.

I also got to finally meet face to face, Kimberly from MomInTheCity.com and Aliza Sherman, who guest blogged here over 3 years ago.

Oh, and here I am trying to be gangster while double fisting two glasses of champagne and wearing a tiara courtesy of Disney at their closing cocktail party. Sookie sookie now.

Bag Trends

While in New York I was able to attend the BagTrends Arm Candy Party. I met the founder of BagTrends.com, Pamela, back when I lived in the City and I attended her first party. Her site has since taken off and has incorporated more and more designers.

At this party the participating purse brands included: Adriana Castro, Anavaa Kisasa, Beirn, Clara Kasavina, Clipa, Emre, Lena Erziak Joanna Maxham, and Zara Terez.

Also, at the party was my girl Nichelle from Cupcakes Take the Cake and Liza from Culture Kitchen:

A day after my birthday (hint hint) on December 10, 2009, Bag Trends is coming to the West Coast just in time for the holidays. At S Factor on Wilsher Blvd in Los Angeles they will be having a very sexy and fun party with handbags to dazzle your arm, jewelry brands, drinks and of course complimentary pampering services for guests, so do sign up for their listserv to stay tuned for the invite.

Wisk-ed away

I'm back in New York this week for a client media event--"Bubbles & Bubbly" from LaundryHE.com (You might have seen people tweeting about it using the hashtag #WiskNYC).

In a stylish loft in Chelsea, the event covered all things bubbles, when you need them (in Champagne) and when you do not (in your HE washer). By going to different activity stations, we all learned that more bubbles do not equal cleaner clothes. Instead, excess soap bubbles can actually keep your clothes from getting clean and lead to buildup, so I'm definitely going to be more careful and measure the amount of detergent that I pour into my wash, especially since my building has an HE washer.

Along with other bloggers I sipped Champagne, got my fortune read from a bubble reader (kind of like tea leaves but with bubbles, she's even read Carson Kressley's) and got to play a detergent scientist in the laundry classroom, where we donned fun rubber gloves and removed grass stains to see the differences between regular and high-efficiency detergent. I also got to catch up with friends Aly Walansky, Dancing Hot Dogs and I'm Not Obsessed, plus met Keeping the Castle, Latina on a Mission, Mommy Goggles, blasianbabynotes.blogspot.com and many more blogging rock stars.

For those who couldn't be at the event, you can take the online bubbles quiz and enter for a chance to win an HE Washer and Dryer (it's red too!) and daily giveaways for Wisk HE detergent in their Bubbles & Bubbly contest.

Just when you think you're grown up

you go home and act like a kid again. I know I'll always be my mother's baby, but it's funny how when I'm back home I act like I am. How easy it is to add my clothes to the laundry basket and to ask for a glass of water even though I can very well go and get it myself and would if I was at my house. I even find myself getting a little testy like a teenager or something. Despite my age, accomplishments and self sufficency elsewhere in the world it all seems to disappear somewhere in my pastel colored room filled with my dusty, once loved dolls. I've been looking/cringing at photos and reading letters, cards and love notes that I've saved over the years and it's like I'm lost between the present and the past, where neither exists. It's nice being babied every once and awhile though and not act like a grown up for a few hours.

Anyway, this week I'll be traveling to Manhattan and Atlanta with hopefully some interesting blog posts for you later.

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