When Tara Met Blog: July 2010

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.

A black tie affair

The other week, I went to a beautiful black tie wedding for my husband's business partner and his wifeat the Alpine Country Club in New Jersey. Below are some photos of the impressive touches including a towering wedding cake, a grooms cake shaped as a Patron bottle with a golf ball cork, massive flower arrangements and chandeliers on the tables, monogrammed lights on all of the valances in the hall and golden tableware.

Announcing Blogger Prom 2010

You might remember me blogging about last year's amazing Blogger Prom, well, once again I'm part of the committee putting on the 2nd Annual Blogger Prom!

Last year, the theme was awesome 80s, this year though I'm excited to announce that the theme will be "Hollywood Confidential." Think of the age of glam, film noir and femme fatales. The fabulous shindig will take place at the historic Yamashiro Restaurant in Hollywood on September 22nd for bloggers and their guests only. Invites to come.

Here is just one of the fun blog badges that I created for our new theme :)

I'll be writing of course about the party itself in September, but you can find out more on our Blogger Prom blog, Facebook page or on twitter at @BloggerProm!

Also, shout out to my fellow committee members:
Maya - Shop Eat Sleep
Esther - E*StarLA
Caroline - Caroline On Crack
Marni - Happy Go Marni
HC - LA and OC Foodventures
Lindsay - LAist
Natali - The Liquid Muse

You can see all of us Hurrell'd for Hollywood in our femme fatale mug shot portraits that we took here: http://bit.ly/aVWjK8

I was debating between these two era-esque shots that my friend and I tried to do, but ended up going with the second mysterious looking one.

What I'm not uploading are all the ones where I'm blinking, which was 75% of them, grr. It was fun vamping it up though and if you saw how much makeup I had on when it was in color, it then looks like a totally different kind of photo, lol.

My Jersey Shore

Thanks to MTV, the Jersey Shore has become a water cooler joke, but to me, Jersey Shore means something else, something much more.

It's where I vacationed every summer with my mother and father, cousins and aunts and uncles. It's where I learned to jump waves, where my father taught me how to dive, and where I spent way too much of my parents money on rides, salt water taffy and arcade games. It's also where you can get the best zeppolis and sausage and peppers outside of Little Italy. In fact, I've spent every summer of my life visiting, except for the last four years that I've lived in L.A... until now. Since Raphael's business partner is getting married in New Jersey and we're invited, I took the opportunity to also spend a day and a half in the Jersey shore sun with my family and finally introduce my husband to all my childhood exploits there.

My father, especially looked forward to our summers and taking me over to Point Pleasant for a weekend or longer. His favorite song was Under the Boardwalk, so when he passed away, his sister dedicated a bench on his favorite boardwalk in his memory, so that he'll always be sitting on the dock of the bay in some respect. He was definitely with me in my heart this weekend, that's for sure.

Here are some photos of my Jersey Shore:

My mother and I went on this ride called Skyscraper in Seaside Heights boardwalk that spun us upside down and around at 170 feet in the air, we were laughing, screaming and crying. It was the best ride I've ever been on!

Now, here's a photo that fosters the stereotype though. When I was growing up it used to be called Shoot the Geek or Shoot the Red Sox, but now it's "Shoot the Guido" and has The Situation mask over some poor guy getting pummeled with paint balls.

Downtown LA food tour

Over the holiday weekend, I took the opportunity to explore my new area with a Six Taste Food Tour of Downtown LA and the Financial District. The tour lasted over 3.5 hours and consisted of five food stops with other historic highlights pointed out along the way. I was already full by stop three and could have gone on walking longer to help burn it all off, but overall the tour did a good job of mixing up the sweet and savory bites and pacing out the different resting points. Tickets for the tour cost $60 per person (although I had purchased my tickets through Groupon for 50% off) and came with all the food included, a tour guide, plus a Six Taste map and tote bag.

We met in Pershing Square, which was right next to my apartment and then we headed to our first stop, Pie Boy Pizzeria on 5th and Hill Street. The Executive Chef at Pie Boy Pizzeria is Brian Kiepler, who is the former Executive Chef of Nick + Stef's Steakhouse. We sampled two amazing pressed "pie-ninis," on crispy and warm Pie Boy Pizza bread with blended fontina and mozzarella cheeses. We had one pie-nini with red sauce and another with a white garlic sauce, both were fantastic, that I was sorry to have to leave and go to the next stop.

The next stop took our group of 10 down an alley in the Old Bank District to the hidden Lost Souls Cafe where we sipped on a creamy ube (purple yam) Philippine milkshake and tasted their sweet bread.

Then we moved on to some Sweet Grilled Cheeses at Syrup Desserts accompanied with a strawberry jasmine iced tea, which was very refreshing.

Four our fourth stop we visited Soi. 7 a pretty thai restaurant for a spicy cucumber salad (too spicy for me though), plus vegetable Pad Thai and an amazingly crispy calamari appetizer that tasted so good on it's own I didn't even try the dipping sauce. I'm looking forward to coming back here as they have an extensive tea and sake menu that Raphael and I want to try.

Lastly, we had cerviche and empanadas at the modern Latin cuisine restaurant Ciudad.

Overall, my favorites were definitely Pie Boy Pizzeria and Soi 7 and had a lovely time exploring the area more and of course eating our way around it.

Six Taste also offers food tours in Arcadia, Little Tokyo, San Gabriel Valley, Thai Town and Santa Monica and range between $55-$65 per person depending on the particular tour. We hope go on their Little Tokyo tour next since it's also nearby us. Which tour do you want to do?

Top 5 Summer Beauty Must Haves

With summer here, I'll be buying t-shirts, shorts, bathing suits and summer dresses, but I also like to take the change in seasons to spruce up my makeup wardrobe as well. Goodbye mattes and dark winter colors, hello glossy, bright and sparkle! Below are my top 5 summer beauty must haves for Summer 2010:

ShineBlast Lip Gloss with 16 shimmering shades to choose from you'll surely find one to deliver a brilliant, glossy finish and perfectly polished pout. This added summer sparkle also tastes yummy too, not that I'd recommend eating it, lol, but it's still tastes good when smacking your lips and it's not sticky or heavy feeling like some glosses can be. It's also tiny enough to fit in a small summer clutch and I know this is corny, but I even feel more fun and confident with the powerful shine on. Each gloss from COVERGIRL costs $7.49.
Kiehl’s Dermatologist Solutions Super Fluid UV Defense SPF 50+ With summer of course comes the sun, which is great for the vitamin d and outdoor activities, but bad for the skin. In fact, besides the harmful health side effects, UV rays can speed up the visible signs of chronological aging, thus the another reason for sunscreen. However, high-protection sunblock formulas can also be quite thick, heavy on the skin, interfering with your daily makeup or grooming routine. They’re great for the outdoors—not ideal for the office, which is why I hate applying sunscreen to my face during the week. With Kiehl's Defense though the formula features five sunscreens and is light, oil and fragrance free and leaves no visible residue on skin. To activate the ingredients though, shake before applying. You can purchase a bottle for the summer for $32.00 at Kiehls.com or at their Santa Monica (1516 Montana Ave) or Beverly Hills (100 N. Robertson Blvd) stores.
Another way to protect your skin outside of sun block is with Farmaesthetics Cool Aloe Mist, which is a Beach Bag Must-have for summer. This spray is a multi-purpose product to restore and protect skin by helping to cool you down when you've had too much sun exposure since nothing heals or relieves inflamed tissue better than Aloe. The lavender oil in this product also helps to take down the inflammation, while aloe vera reduces the dehydration, and the bergamot oil disinfects. It's also good for a spritz after a workout or to put on before applying makeup. The 4 oz cobalt blue apothecary bottle with fine mist sprayer costs $19.
Polly Foot Primer is the ultimate summer solution to high heel summer shoes and also sandals that sometimes rub in funny places. Basically, it's an invisible primer that reduces friction between you and your favorite shoes. You can apply the lip balm like stick to the tops of your toes, sides of your shoes or back of your heels as often as needed. My feet are ultra sensitive and most of my cute summer shoes end up rubbing my heels and leaving red marks, but luckily I have found that putting on this balm helps act as a light barrier though. I've now kept to storing the veneer at my desk at work. Polly is available at Fred Segal for $15 and other specialty stores as well as online at Glamourjunkie.com for $17.
Smoky ShadowBlast Eye Color is a two-step system for creating that smokey eye look of makeup artists, but with vibrant color coordinated shades like bronze, citrus flair, plum, a silvery blue and more. One side of the double-ended stick is soft and rounded to shade your eyelid as a base, while the other side and color is thin and angled to accurately apply liner. Best of all, I like the color lift that it provides and the shiny and bright summer look. Also, $7.49 each and from COVERGIRL.

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