When Tara Met Blog: October 2010

It's that time again...

I know it's not even Halloween yet, but I'm already starting to shop for my annual holiday cards. When I moved to L.A. I started to use photo cards instead of traditional paper Christmas cards since it provided my family and friends on the other coast with an updated photo, it didn't require that I go to the store and with photo cards you're not as obligated to write a whole litany on them either.

Here are some holiday cards from Christmas past:

This year, besides having a photo of Raphael and I (maybe at Disneyland), I'm so going to be that girl and add a photo of my two cats dressed in holiday attire. Yes, I'm sure they will look miserable, but I'm so looking forward to it, lol.

These are the my three favorite holiday card designs from the new Shutterfly holiday collection:

The Mod Snowflakes, I love the colors!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas is one of my favorite holiday songs so I was also drawn to this one:

And since I'm out in Cali I thought thees Peppermint Palms would be fitting too:

What do you think?

Attn bloggers, do you want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly? Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free holiday photo cards this season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

This post is part of a series sponsored by Shutterfly. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

The Women's Conference, Night at the Village

I look forward to October every year, since it’s the month for breast cancer awareness and The Women's Conference - The Nation's Premier Forum for Women. For the last three years, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend The Women’s Conference hosted by California First Lady Maria Shriver. 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. More than 150 extraordinary speakers like Michelle Obama, Bono, Oprah, Madeleine Albright, Billie Jean King and Gloria Steinem come together with 14,000 women to be educated, inspired and empowered. Every year, I walk away rejuvenated and feeling part of a community and ready to make changes in myself and in society.

Despite growing up in a time where it was passé or embarrassing to call yourself a feminist, I saw my own mother deal with the Glass Ceiling and sexual harassment and I found myself drawn to learning more about strong women in history, reading outside of my classroom text books that didn’t provide much insight on that front anyway. I remember a young boy once taunting me saying, “What are you some sort of feminist or something?” I responded, “Yes, aren’t you?” He made a look as if I was crazy, but I pushed ahead and said, “A feminist is someone who believes in equal rights for women. Don’t you believe in that?” Gaping, he had no response.

This conference though isn’t just about feminist issues, but world issues covering topics like using your voice to change the world to women having the right to choose...between work, 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.

Last night, I attended the conference's Night at the Village event and once again heard celebrity cook, entrepreneur and author Paula Deen speak. I was really moved by her frank conversations last year about starting her business in her 40s with just $200. However, this year I didn't hear any new as it became more of a conversation between her and Giada De Laurentiis about food being a common denominator.

Maria Shriver spoke briefly too and let the audience know that women have power. She said women come up to her saying that they feel powerless to make a change in the world. Maria answers that 80% of purchase decisions are made by women and 54% of politicians in government today were voted in office by women and that's power! We have more influence than we realize. She also said to not let the current economy deter you from your dreams, because great ideas and great companies are born in tough economic times like these.

Next up, I was surprised to find Jessica Simpson. I was like WTF? But I didn't know about her VH1 series, The Price of Beauty, which is about finding real beauty inside yourself and how different nation's look at beauty. She also reflected about being under the press magnifying glass and how airbrushed magazine covers are and that she doesn't look as pretty as she does in those photos. She also mentioned always being compared to Britney and Christina since they all became famous at the same time and that she felt competitive, but now realizes that "the only competition is with myself." Her next project she says will be about facing fears.

Academy Award winner Jane Fonda looking as fit as always took stage. She discussed how working out helps her to feel connected to herself and keeps her more present and in tune with her body. She says there is no need to run marathons, but it's important to just stay active. She's also been working with under privileged adolescents in Georgia. In this line of work she says "hope" is the best contraceptive to teach as it's important to help teens to see that they have a future and not get pregnant young or do drugs. I thought that made a lot of sense and was a powerful idea.

High Tea in Beverly Hills

Today, I visited the American Tea Room in Beverly Hills for their Weekend High Tea ($50; reservations only). Unlike traditonal indulgent high teas, which I love, this was more like a class or a wine tasting where the room's passionate owner David, talked for an hour about the history, preparation and varieties of tea without even taking a breath. With discussions about tea fermentation, harvesting and oxidation, it's no wonder why I thought it was similar to a wine tasting.

Although I consider myself a tea snob, I enjoyed the class and learned a few fun tidbits and tried some really exceptional blends. No tea leaf was left unturned as we sipped five different teas (white, green, oolong, black and rooibos) with food pairings.

I learned that tea, discovered in 3500 BC is the 2nd most popular beverage in the world today. Also, that in Asia Cha or Chai means tea, which is why so many teas end in cha like Matcha Green Tea or Sencha and Chai teas, etc. I knew this already, but most of the other people there were enlightend to learn that Rooibos or Red Teas and Chamomile Teas aren't really teas, but florals or spices brewed like teas. No actual camellia Sinesis tea leaves are included.

So, if you'd like to learn more about teas and are in search of the right tea for you, this tasting is for you. Now, in it's seventh year, the shop also sells loose leaf teas and accessories.

I got nothing

No, seriously. Nothing. No fodder for a new blog post. I'm one day away from my 6th year blogaversary and here I am with nothing to blog about. No red carpet to discuss, no woe or victory, just a blank blogspot draft.

Next week, is the Women's Conference though and I have lots of events planned this weekend though so stay tuned.

Love, Loss and What I Wore

I recently saw the play Love, Loss and What I Wore at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. The play is written by one of my favorite screenwriters, Nora Ephron, who wrote When Harry Met Sally. She co-wrote this play though with her sister Delia Ephron, who teamed up with Nora to write the films Hanging Up and You've Got Mail as well. Unlike those films this isn't a love story. Actually, I take that back, this is a love story, but between girlfriends and that shared bond.

The play also starred notables--Lauren Hutton, Glenne Haedley (Mr. Holland's Opus, Dick Tracy) and Edie McClurg (Ferris Bueller's Day Off ). The show consists of five women sharing quick intimate stories from their lives, but using memories of clothing and accessories that they had over the years like a prom dress, an interview suit, wedding gown or a Madonna-inspired piece to trigger their different tales of love, loss and self discovery.

Although I enjoyed the funny girl gab, I made the mistake of taking Raphael with me, who was one of the four men stuck in the audience for 90 minutes. When the cast yelled out "the bra" and started to share stories of picking out their training bras with their parents and other embarrassing bra stories, I definitely felt uncomfortable for him, but soon found myself relating to the actresses woes too much to really stay that way for long.

I actually remember discussing this topic with my college roommate years ago, the power of clothes (not just smells) to trigger a memory. For instance, I'll never forget the cranberry colored button up dress shirt that I was wearing when I found out my father had passed away. I don't know how I could remember what I was wearing with everything going on, but I do. It was the first time I wore that shirt and the last. I could never bring myself to select it out of my closet again after that day. Thus, the memory one shirt could conjure up. What outfit do you remember?

CSI: NY in Downtown LA

On Friday evening in downtown Los Angeles the weather was still a balmy 68 degrees out, yet there was snow on the ground.

I of course did a double take while walking to happy hour that night. As I tried to clear my eyes I became even more confused when I saw festive holiday lights strung on the trees throughout 6th Street. The store windows had holiday scenes in them too and for a second I had to think, what month is this? I then noticed the camera equipment, trailers and yellow taxicabs with New York plates parked along the street. Apparently, they were filming a holiday episode of CSI: NY and thus, snow in L.A. a la Hollywood style.

See the shots that I took from my mobile. What do you think? Does it look like DTLA or NYC?

Although, having lived in Manhattan, I've never seen such a fancy nut cart before, usually they are sold in big metal things not cute vintage wooden carts like that.

Unveiling Disney Wedding Dresses in Chicago

Last weekend, I was in Chicago for two days, although considering I was mainly in my hotel, the conference floor and in taxicabs, I couldn't really be sure if I was in Chicago or not. Although, the one time I had to walk a few blocks for a meeting, I got caught in the Windy's rain, so there was that.

Why Chi-Town? I was there to unveil Disney's new bridal gowns by Alfred Angelo at the National Bridal Market. Each of the seven wedding gowns are inspired by different Disney Princess characters-Ariel, Aurora, Belle, Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White and Tiana.

Take a look at the following video I produced, which I'm pyched to say has over 1 Million views in just a week!

My favorite is Snow White's gown, I think it's so dainty and elegant, although my actual wedding dress resembles the upper corset/bodice of Cinderella's wedding dress. How about you?