Kevin Jonas and Lunchables want Field Trips for All

Today, I got to meet Kevin Jonas of The Jonas Brothers fame. The funny thing is that this meeting wasn't through my job at Disney, but through Lunchables, which has partnered with the pop-star to help deserving kids across the country go on field trips with the launch of the program, “Field Trips for All.”

To help kick-off the “Field Trips for All” program, Kevin Jonas accompanied a group of lucky elementary school students to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles as they learned about the ocean and its inhabitants.

Amidst the screams of the children, here is Kevin's welcome speech to the crowd:

Kevin also shared about his favorite field trip growing up in New Jersey, “I remember my first field trip to Liberty Science Center. It was one of the best parts of going to school – being with friends, learning about new things and having fun! I’m excited to work with the Lunchables team to help kick-off the 'Field Trips for All' program, and help give deserving kids a chance to discover new things and get inspired by a great experience.”

According to The American Association of School Administrators, it’s estimated that over the course of the current school year, the number of school districts eliminating field trips will increase by 56%. That’s more than 30,000 schools. Anyone can nominate a classroom to win a free field trip on Lunchables.com through June 1st. Fifty classrooms will be chosen in total.

Oh and check out this video about the program where they surprise kids during their field trip. And for any Kevin Jonas fans reading, here are some more photos that I snapped:

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Weird photos that I've snapped in L.A.

I almost got the same paint job for my Jetta, lol


Jesus drinks Starbucks? I saw this guy while at a stoplight in Hollywood and it wasn't remotely near Halloween or near a film set.


At first I thought the dog was driving. Either way, shouldn't he be wearing a helmet?

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The Dim Sum & Grilled Cheese Trucks

Seems like food trucks are all the rage and although I eagerly follow countless numbers of these vehicles on twitter, I've yet to catch any of these elusive street meats outside of the infamous Kogi BBQ truck that started it all.

Last weekend though, I had the good fortune of being able to try the Dim Sum Truck, The Grilled Cheese Truck and Kogi truck all in one night as they were all parked outside of The Brig bar in Venice. Luckily, the lines weren't too long, maybe because it wasn't lunch time or a big food fest, because in total it took only 20 minutes to wait in line and walk away with my orders. The funny part while ordering is that the truck's windows are really high up, so I had to reach up on tiptoes and shout my order to be heard. I commented to the guy that they should have a stepping stool, lol.

Anyway, first I tried some yummy sticky rice wrapped in a lotus leaf from the Dim Sum Truck, which was really good as it had pieces of sausage and full sized shrimp inside.

I then shared a Cheddar Grilled Cheese sandwich on wheat and a Cheesy Mac and Rib sandwich filled with macaroni and cheese with sharp cheddar and pieces of BBQ pork, which was beyond fantastic. I'm hungry just thinking about it, take a look, the photos practically ooze yum.

Besides following these popular food trucks, LAist has a great listing of twitter handles to follow.

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Epilady review and giveaway worth $75

After visiting the Epilady booth while at the Housewares show and seeing their online Hautelook sale, I had wrote here that I was going to try using an epilator and review it for ya'll.

An Epilator is like an electric shaver, but instead of just trimming the hairs it plucks them from the root like a tweezer, thus it's like an electric tweezer. Tweezing in general isn't that much fun and can cause redness, which was the case here too. However, the redness was just temporary and I actually had more redness and bumps from shaving in the past, while the epilator left me as smooth as a baby within a few hours after using it and applying lotion. As some of you mentioned previously in my comments using an epilator does hurt, especially in the bikini area, but you do get used to it the more use it and it's fleeting.

Also, since it grabs the hair from the root, it allows more time in between till you have to use it again, just like waxing, but in the privacy of your own home and for less money. Epilady products are around $50 to $75, thus eventually it is less than paying $30 plus tip for each bikini wax. Also, supposedly hair grows back more slowly, and diminishes over time and new hairs grow back softer and lighter. I have noticed the time claim, but have to continue using longer to know for sure.

Tips for using an epilator: take a warm shower prior to epilating. What this does is open your pores up and will help reduce discomfort and make epilation more efficient. After epilating, do not apply any creams or lotions until about an hour later. This is because your hair shafts are open and when creams are applied, it clogs up these shafts. This may lead to ingrown hairs. You also have to make sure you're holding it at a 80 degree angle and not straight on.

The cool people of Epilady that I met at the Housewares show are actually allowing me to hold a giveaway for an Epilady Legend -Rechargeable Epilator worth $74.95. This product may be used on the arms, legs, underarms, bikini, and face, comes in two operating speeds and includes adapter, cleaning brush, carrying case and instruction manual. To enter, comment here about why you'd want an Epilady. 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, April. 21. Good luck! Update: Congrats to Jill!

Coupon Code: Even if you do not win you can still receive 10% off your purchase at http://www.epiladyusa.com/ by using my blog code “TMB”

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Big Man Bakes Cupcakes

Real men bake cupcakes? Well, that seems to be the case at Big Man Bakes in Downtown L.A., which is owned by William "Chip" Brown and features his own recipes.

On Saturday, my LA Cupcakes MeetUp group visited the 9-month-old cupcake shop and met the big man behind the store. At 6 feet 5 inches (see photo on right), Chip easily charmed our group with his friendly personality and yummy cupcakes. Chip shared with us that he started baking in college while he was studying science without the help of refurbished laptops like most kids used these days. He started with a Betty Crocker cookbook that his mother gave him when he went off to school.

I particularly enjoyed his chocolate and vanilla cupcakes, which were moist and flavorful. The chocolate cake was almost like a gooey brownie, and the vanilla cupcake had a hint of almond extract, which I'm also partial to. His red velvet cupcake meanwhile won 1st place for "Best Traditional" cupcake at the LA Cupcake Challenge this year and several of my members echoed the praise. I took plenty of pictures to later show my friends on my laptop so they could know how good the cupcakes looked.

At Big Man Bakes the minis cost $1 (or 6 for $5), while the XL cupcakes are $3.25 each. Flavors include Red Velvet, Carrot Cake, Double Chocolate, Old School and Coconut. Their are also specials like pumpkin spice and lemon from time to time and are announced on the shops Facebook page.

For more photos check out the photo gallery from the meetup and you can also see the big man on CNN in this video.

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The new guy in Sex and the City

Back at the Global Green Pre-Oscar Party last month, I got to speak with actor Max Ryan, who will be playing "Rikard," Samantha's latest love interest in the new Sex and the City 2 movie coming out on May 28.

Although I didn't recognize him from other movies, I liked his style coming down the media line as well as his fashionable leather jacket paired with a black turtleneck. When I heard he was going to be in the latest Sex and the City movie I immediately waved him over and was soon captivated by his sexy smile, English accent and light green, hazel colored eyes.

The 43-year-old actor is a little bit older than Samantha's previous guy, Smith (Jason Lewis) who is 39, but obviously still young compared to the 54-year-old actress. You go girl! Obviously the request from Sex and the City fans for Samantha to move on to another new hunk didn't fall on deaf ears.

I asked him about how it was being a guy on the set with so many females around and he said, "It's good to be a guy (laughs). It's pretty something else I have to be honest with you. It's a pretty unique situation to be in, thrust into the delves of these very beautiful women that are extremely powerful."

Although Max wasn't allowed to talk much about his role in the upcoming movie, he did say his character was from Europe, is an architect and as already mentioned, plays Samantha's love interest.

There was some down time on the press line, so I also asked to take a photo with him:

Other celebs expected to make appearances in the sequel include Miley Cyrus, Liza Minnelli, and Penélope Cruz, not sure of their roles though. Oh, and Aiden (John Corbett) is back, but I've always been a Mr. Big fan.

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