Food & Wine

  • Blog, Health & Wellness, Home & Food, Reading

    Tips On Living The Chic Life From Molly Sims New Book ‘Everyday Chic’

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    everyday chic molly sims

    *This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Proceeds go to keeping this site running.

    Molly Sims is back with a brand new book, ‘Everyday Chic‘ and in it she shares her secrets and tips that will help all of us live the chic life.

    everyday chic molly sims

    I love a good lifestyle book. Especially one that’s gonna help me in more than one that’s practical and easy for me to use myself. A couple examples of this are one thing in/one thing out for organizing closets and desk drawers. I don’t know about you but I’m always looking for a place to neatly store something when in fact I should be looking to store it in the garbage or in the donation bin. There’s also ways to step your house party game up from themes to decor and food.

    And that’s not all, Everyday Chic is also gonna to teach you:

    • Family-friendly meal hacks and time-saving techniques.
    • Party planning like a professional, so you can party like there’s no tomorrow.
    • Strategies for creating a zen-like space and kicking clutter to the curb.
    • The accessory rule for your house—always remove one piece from any room you’re decorating.
    • Prioritizing the positive without getting hung up on the perfect. Perfection is a unicorn!
    everyday chic molly sims everyday chic molly sims
    This is the perfect gift between girlfriends. And I’d also recommend Molly’s first book The Everyday Supermodel: My Beauty, Fashion, and Wellness Secrets Made Simple.
    “Organization is like weight loss. Go lean.” – Molly Sims (click to tweet)

    *This event was hosted by The Moms Network and they were kind enough to gift me with a copy of Molly’s book. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

  • Blog, Home & Food

    Home Cooking With Valerie…No Not Me, I Mean Valerie Bertinelli

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    *This post contains Amazon affiliate links. Proceeds go to keeping this site running.

    I know you guys didn’t think you were about to get cooking tips from me. No friend. I’m talking about another Valerie. Legendary actress, Valerie Bertinelli. She has a brand new cookbook out with more than 100 recipes that are sure to be a hit with family and friends.

    valerie bertinelli

    With the holiday’s quickly approaching this 265 page book of deliciousness couldn’t have come at a better time. Especially for my family as we don’t cook traditional holiday meals. We don’t have turkey and gravy. We lean more towards chicken (leg or breast), fish and pasta dishes. Which is why I love this book because the recipes are so varied and put awesome spins on family favorites.

    After flipping through there are a few recipes that I can’t wait to try like:

    valerie bertinelliBLT Pasta (page 171)
    valerie bertinelliKey Lime Martini (page 92)

    The Moms hosted an lunch event with Valerie in NYC to celebrate the launch of her book and when I arrived the food was already gone. GONE! This truly speaks to how great the recipes are. It pretty much let’s me, and you know if you’re cooking Thanksgiving (or for anytime of the year) from this book the table will end up like this.

    Now that your palate is ready do it and yourself a favor and get a copy of Valerie’s Home Cooking today.

    *This event was hosted by The Moms Network and they were so kind to gift me with a copy of Valerie’s cookbook. Thoughts and opinions are my own.

  • Blog, Home & Food

    How to Host Your Own Crafts and Cocktails Party at Home

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    I recently attended a crafts and cocktails party hosted by the Crafty Lumberjacks at Freshmade in New York City. Founded by holiday enthusiasts Andrew and Dennis who met while traveling together on the National Tour of Fiddler on the Roof! The Crafty Lumberjacks mission is to bring D.I.Y. holiday decor ideas from their home to yours!

    I’m not crafty craftswoman by any means, but what I loved about the entire premise of the event was that you didn’t have to be. Yes, I was surrounded by artistic types that in no way made me feel self conscious. That’s how laid back and fun the event was. It allowed me to tap into my hidden creative side, without worry about what the person next to me was making.

    This particular crafts and cocktails event was Halloween themed and  came complete with everything you would need to create your spooky masterpiece. There was one small unpainted wooden house, one candle and one small skeleton.

    craft and cocktails

    And because you can’t be at Freshmade and not cook I had the opportunity to create my own chocolate covered pretzels. I don’t have a pic of those because I stuffed them in my face before I  could do so. But there were other treats.

    crafts and cocktails

    crafts and cocktails

    The event lasted from 7 to 9 and it was a perfect way to help me unwind.  If you’re in the area or they host one in your town I totally recommend going. You will have a blast!

    But what if you don’t live in the area and you can’t attend? Don’t fret – you can host your own! With holiday season upon us here are a few tips to help you plan your own holiday themed crafts and cocktails party at home.



    FYI: I also suggest getting a table cover to put down it will keep the paint off your furniture and make for easy clean up at the end.

    Once you have your supplies you can organize your friends for a potluck style gathering or you can buy simple finger foods like chips, dip and fruit/cheese platters. Oh, and don’t forget the wine and other cocktails.  It wouldn’t be a crafts party without it.

    *I was provided one complementary ticket to the Crafty Lumberjacks event for the purpose of this review. All thoughts are my own. This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

  • Blog, Home & Food

    New York Pix 11 Savings Squad: How to Shrink Your Grocery Bill

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    grocery bill pix11 valerie pierre mommyrandr

    I appeared on New York PIX 11 Savings Squad – How To Shrink Your Grocery Bill. The segment hosted by Kirstin Cole spoke how “the average U.S. family spends about $800 a month on groceries“.

    grocery bill valerie pierre mommyrandr

    I spend less than that because we live with my mother-in-law and she cooks twice a week, saving me two days of groceries and I don’t cook on Saturday’s, we have take out. Which still counts toward food just not in the supermarket category. For the days I do cook, I meal plan for the week and I try to save money any way I can. As I stated in the segment, I shop using store rewards cards, clipping coupons, using store apps like Cartwheel for Target, I bulk shop once a month at BJ’s for meat and other popular items for the kids and I always shop sale items.

    Kirstin enlisted the help of Lynnette Khalfani Cox, the Money Coach, to teach families additional ways they can shop smarter in order to keep up to $1,000 in their bank account at the end of a four-month period.

    Lynette gave these tips to help save money:

    • Leave the kids at home. They are attracted to bright packaging which can be more expensive.
    • Avoid the pre-cut fruit. If the store has to cut it for you then you can bet it will cost more.
    • Know your seasons for fruits and vegetables so you know when and when not to buy them.
    • Shop the unit price, which is the cost of one unit of measure of an item. You could be spending more for less.

    Read the complete story for all of the tips in detail here and watch the segment below.

    For the entire month of June, I will be tallying up how much we as a family spend on groceries and other household goods for the month and try to save a minimum of $600 by shopping using Lynette’s techniques.

    Do you know how much you spend a month on your grocery bill? What are some ways that you try to save money?

    Thank you, Kirstin Cole, Lynnette Khalfani Cox and the NY PIX 11 team for the opportunity to participate in the Savings Squad segment.