When Tara Met Blog: September 2011

PR News Awards 2011

The other week, I attended the PR News Platinum Awards Luncheon at the Grand Hyatt in New York. Disney Consumer Products and my colleagues were finalists in four different award categories, including my video for the Disney Bridal line, which was up for Best Video Program. I'll save the suspense and tell you that I didn't win, however, since it was still an achievement being chosen as a finalist I recieved an honoree statue made of glass for my desk. It's sitting right next to me as I type this.

Our team did win for Best Online Press Room though and since I was the only one on the East Coast there, I had to go up to recieve the award. We were asked to answer the question, what skill helped you to win this award. I of course had a witty response prepared for my own award category, but not for this one. I had no choice but to wing it. I didn't think I was nervous, that is until I actually took the stage and spoke into the microphone. I ended up speeding through my lame response. Embarassing! Grr.

Look here I am on stage and check out how rivited the audience isn't, lol.

The full list of finalist and winners can be found here: www.prnewsonline.com/platinumpr2011

Wordless Wednesday: Lobster feast in Mystic, CT

Bridesmaids girls night in vewing party Part 2

First of all, the Unrated version of Bridesmaids is even funnier than the one shown in theaters! So, even if you saw the film already, definitely rent or buy it and watch again. The bonus features like the gag-reel, line-o-matic and deleted scenes (one with Paul Rudd!) had us laughing all over again.

For our Girl's Night In viewing party for the film, my girls and I all donned former bridesmaid gowns (giving us the chance to actually wear them again), ordered pizza, ate candy and played a little drinking game as we watched.

And here we are trying to look like the poster box art:

Bridesmaids the movie Drinking Game:

From MovieCynics

1 drink – every time someone says “Cake Baby”
1 drink – every time someone says the F word (a lot more in the unrated version)
1 drink – every time someone says something in French
1 drink – every time someone drinks

I also put my wine snobbishness aside and took The Hostess Handbook's advice and picked out some fun girly wine labels - Cupcake Red Velvet, Sweet Bitch Pinot Grigio and Flip Flop Wines Cabarnet.

Wordless Wednesday: Exploring our new home

Bridesmaids girl's night in viewing party

The hilarious comedy Bridesmaids will be available on BLU-RAY, DVD, download, etc on September 20th. If you haven't seen it yet, definitely watch it. Surpassing Sex and the City as the number one female comedy of all time, Bridesmaids stars SNL's Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph and is produced by comedy mastermind Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The 40-Year Old Virgin). My friends and I were laughing out loud in the theater during the whole film, which is why I was super excited when Universal's PR firm Think Jam asked if I would host an at home viewing party. I also love any excuse to have a movie night and to get the girls all together!

Since my new home isn't ready yet though, my friend also named Tara is letting me use her pad in the city to host. Yay!

To get into the theme, I'm asking my girlfriends to wear former bridesmaid dresses to the party. Since despite what the bride says, you never can wear them again otherwise. Thus, at least here's another opportunity. Plus, I figure it will provide for some photos and conversations.

I'm also hoping the DVD version will feature more scenes with the late actress, Jill Clayburgh (Fools Rush In, An Unmarried Woman) since Apatow cut some of her dirty jokes after she passed, which was unfortunately before the film's release (news article here).

Oh, and the film also co-stars Melissa McCarthy, who I love from Samantha Who? I actually got to meet her a few years ago during The Groundings improv holiday show. She was really nice in person too.

Bridesmaids girls night in vewing party Part 2

Cats on a plane!

The part of moving that I was most stressed about was flying with my two cats. Just taking them to the vet in our car is an ordeal. I then read all these horror stories online of checked animals in cargo dying due to the different temperatures or getting lost, that I decided to carry on both my cats and put them under our seats. United charged $125 per cat though, which I think is bull since that under the seat space is already technically mine, no? I was even more miffed to find that we weren't allowed to pre-board, yet parents with babies that got to fly free could. Paying that much extra should be considered at least biz class boarding or something. Boo United!

On top of the cost, we then learned that you have to take your cats out of their carriers and carry them through the metal detector! I'm not sure if you ever held a scared cat when someone makes a loud noise, but it's not pretty. It's like holding Jello with claws. In prep for this we bought little kitty harnesses and leashes for double insurance. However, they were so freaked out that they cooperated when we walked them through. While we waited for their bags to clear the belt though, my older cat Patches started to freak out. She was the one we suspected would be the most difficult as she's scared of her own shadow. Raphael put her on the ground though and held her there until we could put her back in her carrier, which did the trick. My 1-year-old cat Bandit though was too busy looking around to care, in fact, it was hard getting her back into her little cell again. All in all, this went pretty well and I was now wondering why I'd been so nervous these last few weeks.

On the flight they only meowed a few times and no one seemed to notice. I started feeling like a smug and proud parent. Granted, Bandit kept flipping her carrier over and was kicking around under our feet, but I figured that was to be expected.

Then, two hours left into our flight, I felt fur rub against my ankles. I of course jumped to action and let out a little squeal when I saw my cat looking up at me outside of her bag. I quickly scooped her up onto my lap just before she darted. However, she was not liking it. It was a struggle holding on to her. I tried wrapping her in the airplane blanket, but she kept trying to bolt.

After examining her carrier, we were horrified to see that she had ripped right through it. We had trimmed her nails the night before, so suspect she bit the area and had been gnawing at the mesh for awhile. We spent over $50 on the stupid Sherpa Backpack Pet Dog/Cat Kitten Airline Carrier, so I was immediately pissed at the company for causing this situation. How can you call it an airline carrier if it can be torn asunder by an 8 pound cat, who is normally a very gentle cat. She's never even bit or scratched me. Now, however, she was like a possessed kitty.

We didn't want the flight attendants to discover our little escapee as we weren't sure what they would do. We feared they'd have animal control waiting for us at the gates or that they'd want to land somewhere else or something. When they walked by with drinks, we put our blankets over Bandit and pretended to sleep.

Although there was room in Patches' bag, we didn't want to put Bandit in there with her in case she ripped that one too and then we'd have two cats loose on the plane. It was the longest two hours of our lives as we tried to conceal and control her. We were also busy scheming about how we were going to get her off the plane without her running a muck in the airport. Luckily, we had brought two pillows on board with us, so we wrapped the carrier in the pillow cases and forced Bandit back into the bag during landing and prayed that she wouldn't tear apart the pillow cases too, and then where would we be? The pillow case held though even as we nervously waited for our luggage and during our drive to our new home. Phew!

So, if you're ever flying with your pet, I'd like to give you these words of wisdom. Use sedatives... for both you and your cats. Or better yet, avoid flying all together!

NY Fashion's Night Out with Miss Piggy

I've only been back in New York for one day now and my photo is on Fashionista.com and MetroMix for their Fashion's Night Out coverage! I'm the one in the blue Gonzo (The Muppets) SpiritHood.

Why was I wearing that though? Well, SpiritHoods, are animal-inspired faux fur accessories for men, women and children. Celebs like Pink, Kim Kardashian and Vanessa Hudgens have all been spotted in these furry animal hoods. And on Oct. 3, Disney and SpiritHoods are releasing limited edition Muppets inspired ones ($99-$169). To start the buzz going for the new collection of hoods based on Kermit, Gonzo, Animal and of course Miss Piggy, the hoods made appearances at all the hot Fashion's Night Out parties in New York last night.

I was already attending Opening Ceremony's FNO party at the ACE Hotel in Chelsea, because Miss Piggy herself was appearing and greeting her fans there and my team helped put it all together. As a result, I got to hang with Miss Piggy and Animal for the day! It was so cool. When the puppets are talking and being animated, you forget they aren't real. I mean, of course they are real!!

So, since I was going to be at Opening Ceremony's FNO event, I was one of the lucky SpiritHoods model. If you ever want attention, just wear these fuzzy hoods. I'm not kidding when I tell you that at least two dozen photographers and guests asked for me to pose for photos. As a result, I was reading Fashionista.com today and there I was, lol and my friend in the Kermit hood found the MetroMix one. I can't wait to wear one skiing this season. Can you spot Miss Piggy the Muppet in the first photo below?

Here are some behind-the-scenes pics of the shoot:

So yeah, it was a whirlwind 24 hours, moving across the country with my hubbie and two cats (that story for later) and then kicking off New York's Fashion Week, but these pics make it all worthwhile :) It was a fun welcome home too!

Goodbye Karaoke

Nothing like singing your goodbyes away with a farewell Karaoke party with friends from work.

My coworkers kindly decorated a private karaoke room in Koreatown with Disney balloons representing the different accounts that I work on. Add in some bottle service, crazy Korean eats, boas and some good tunes to bad music videos and you got yourself a fun night.

I kicked off the party by singing New York, New York. Apropos, no? I should of done New York State of Mind though as I definitely couldn't belt out Frank's song well. Hopefully the leg kicking made up for it.

The song that has stayed with me the last few days though was the Thong Song. Ahh I still can't get it out, but it was silly to all sing to though.

We of course ended the night with Don't Stop Believing. This one I really got into:

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