Sessions of my Obsessions

The Best Curling Iron

2012-09-26T18:48:00.001-07:00

HOLY CURLING IRON! I just got mine in the mail today and tested a few pieces of hair while my son was taking a nap.... And this curling iron is AMAZING! So it is called THE BEACHWAVER and it makes the most awesome beach waves but the awesome thing about this curling iron is it does the hard work for you. It curls your hair with a touch of a button! The website has great how-to videos but it's pretty easy to understand. You have a left and right button depending on which side of your head your working on and you clip your hair and it rolls it up, so fast and so simple for us hair impaired or moms that want a quick way to make beautiful curls fast.

They also have an impressive little hair product called THE WRAP-UP that makes buns a piece of cake. I have tried the sock bun and my hair is too long, it was just really hard for me to do and figure out... This product made it super simple and makes the same bun. You can do a low or high bun. If you purchase these products you won't regret it, and also watch the videos they're short and make it easy to understand. Check out her website Sarah Potempa.

My First Styling Job

2012-03-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

I accomplished my first styling job, after wanting to do it many times just never getting around to it. Thanks to my sister to pushing me to do it and taking the amazing photos! My sister Cheyenne is an amazing photographer that's just getting too busy, my son's not a fan of that! Haha. We also had the lovely and talented Paisley as the model who is absolutely gorgeous and did an amazing job. And we had an awesome hair and make-up girl Erika who made it all come together... It was a great girls day getting dressed up and playing together.

Oh and these are all my clothes... Why don't I where these outfits to the market... ha.

WANTFUL!

2012-01-27T21:17:00.000-08:00

This is an awesome website Wantful. They have created a uniqueness to gift giving. The deal is you go on the website and start to create a gift for whoever your looking for wife, brother, friend, etc. and then go on to answer questions about the person so they can match up gift ideas for them. Then you can select whatever items you think the person would want or you can let the website pick for you, and the items can range anywhere from $30 - $500 ... You get to pick 14 items that they get to choose from... on their own, so they can get what they really want ...from what you choose for them. haha. I think it's awesome because that way your not wasting money buying a gift someone wouldn't really use or want.. And if they don't want any of the items they can donate it to charities. I dig this idea. Happy spending.

YUM!

2012-01-23T21:23:00.000-08:00

I made this last night and I think it's the best meal I've made so far. FILET MIGNON with CARMEL-BRANDY MUSHROOM SAUCE and POTATO GRATIN! I went to the farmers market and got the grass fed beef, along with the mushrooms and the potatoes... It really feels good to cook a whole meal from the farmers market... and it tasted really good! This is my husbands favorite meal steak and potatoes! So I'd like to share the recipe and I hope you enjoy it too.

The recipe serves 4 but I cut it in half.

4 Filet Mignons

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2 teaspoons coarsely cracked pepper

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups of sliced shiitake mushrooms (I used a variety)

1 head of roasted garlic (I used fresh 1 head of fresh)

7 Tablespoons of Brandy

6 Tablespoons of light brown sugar

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons of fresh parsley, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Season beef with salt on all sides. Place coarse pepper in a shallow dish and dip the cut sides of the filets into the pepper, pressing lightly to coat.

Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a large saute pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the steaks andsear on both sides until well browned, 2 minutes on each side. Transfer the steaks to an oven-proofbaking dish and place in the oven. Cook for 8 to 10 minutes for medium-rare.

While the steaks are cooking in the oven, add 1 tablespoon of the remaining butter to the same saute pan used for the steaks. Add the mushrooms and cook over high heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown around the edges, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the mushrooms from the skillet and reserve.

Remove the skillet from the heat and add the garlic cloves and 6 tablespoons of the brandy to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any browned particles from the bottom of the pan. Return the skillet to the heat, being careful that the brandy does not flame up. Cook until reduced by half; this will happen very quickly. Add 2 tablespoons of the remaining butter and the brown sugar, stirring to combine. When the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is bubbly, whisk in the cream, reduce the heat to medium-high andsimmer for 2 to 3 minutes, until mixture is sauce consistency and coats the back of a spoon. Add the reserved mushrooms to the pan and season with the salt, and pepper. Remove from the heat and whiskin the remaining tablespoon of butter and the remaining tablespoon of brandy. Serve immediately over warm steaks. Garnish with chopped parsley.

Potato Gratin

serves 2

1 large russet potato (about 12 oz) peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

1 small shallot

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme or 1/4 teaspoon dried

1/4 teaspoon pepper

pinch of ground nutmeg

pinch of cayenne

2 teaspoons unbleached all-purposed flour

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup grated Gruyere cheese

Adjust an oven rack to the upper- middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat an 8 1/2 by 5 1/2 inch baking dish with veggie oil spray. Place the potatoes in a medium bowl and set aside

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallot and salt and cook until softened, about 2 mins. Stir in garlic, thyme, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne and cook until fragrant, about 30 sec. Stir in flour and cook until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Whisk in the cream, bring to a simmer, and cook until beginning to thicken, about 30 seconds.

Pour the sauce over the potatoes and toss to coat thouroughly. Transfer the mixture to the prepared dish and gently pack the potatoes into an even layer, removing any air pocket. Cover the dish with the foil and bake until the potatoes are almost tender 35-40 minutes.

Remove the foil and sprinkle with the cheese. Continue to bake, uncovered, iuntil the cheese is lightly browned and the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes longer. Let the gratin sot for 10 minutes before serving

Thanks to Emeril Lagasse and America's Test Kitchen

Hope you enjoy!

The New Year

2012-01-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New year! Looking forward to a good year, I've got lots of resolutions! I hope to keep them all.

My biggest one is to be a better mom, wife, friend and blogger. I hope to do more, new things with this blog so stay tuned!

This is also another project I will start.

So kids say and do the funniest things, and sometimes we forget those moments so every time my sons decides to say or do something weird or funny I will write them down on a piece of paper and put it in this jar.... Then when I'm being crabby (which never happens) or sad I will go to this jar and read one of them, and it should put things into perspective!

"Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbor, and let each New Year find you a better man."

-Benjamin Franklin

some of my favorites...

2011-12-04T20:24:00.001-08:00

So some of my new favorites are Eve Lom Cleanser, its a great product, sometimes I get bad break outs and it really cleans the face well. It comes with a cloth and you wash your face with hot water, which opens your pores, and wipe away the face cleanser with the cloth, and then at the end with cold water, that seals up your pores! I really love it!

My other favorite is Guerlain Midnight Secret, it's great! It is a late night recovery treatment and it's a good product, I think too put on every night, but if you feel you go out a lot and don't treat your face good this really replenishes it! I really do wake up and think my face looks good... or as good as it can!

An the last favorite that I'm sure a lot of people use is a good tailor!

I never tried one before and if something didn't fit that well, I'd wear it and not feel good in it our never wear it. So I recently decided to see if a tailor could fix a cute pair of pants that I got, that could be taken in in a few places. And it's genius! The pants turned out great, and now I take anything to a tailor that doesn't fit exactly the way I want it to. And most times its only $15 bucks, depends on fabric and how much your tailoring. I would try out a local place, the best is always to go with a good recommendation, but I just found a random place and I've been going back ever since!

a new bag please!

2011-11-23T21:01:00.001-08:00

The Jordie

The Ginger

The Bunny

The Camille

The Brit

The Barbie

Nikki the designer!

These bags are not only cute they are designed by are really good friend of mine. This is her first line of bags and they are so awesome! There is such a variety with different styles, colors and the fabric and quality is great! She has all different sizes, and perfect size one for going out, the camille, or for us mom's who want to wear a cute bag and be able to put a diaper or two in it, I'd choose the Ginger. I would check them out I know she put a lot of time and effort into the design and quality of these bags. Check them out at Donatienne Designs!

Zucchini Cupcakes.... mmmmmm

2011-11-13T21:15:00.001-08:00

ZUCCHINI SPICED CUPCAKES

3 cups all purposed flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

2 cups packed light-brown sugar

3 cups packed grated zucchini (about 1 1/2 zucchini)

1 cup walnuts ( about 3 oz. toasted and chopped)

Preheat oven to 350. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. In a another bowl, whisk together oil, eggs, vanilla, and zest until well blended; whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Stir in zucchini, then add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in walnuts.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until you stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes.

To finish, use a small offset spatula to spread cupcakes with frosting. Refrigerate up to 3 days in airtight container; bring to room temp before serving!

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, room temp

12 ounces cream cheese, room temp

1 pound (4 cups) confectioners sugar, sifted

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

With an electric mixer on medium - high speed, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Add sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and then vanilla, and mix until smooth.

Thank you Martha Stewart!

PINTEREST!

2011-11-12T21:16:00.001-08:00

This is a fun website that ultimately lets you collage things you like! You can PIN things you like from certain websites and things you see that maybe you want to keep track of. But also it's a community of people you know and it shows the things they love too. So it opens your eyes to new cool things and websites! I'm starting to like it more than Facebook! It's more creative and inspiring! I hope you check out Pinterest it's been my new obsession! ;)

Falling Whistles - Dannijo collaboration!

2011-11-10T20:26:00.001-08:00

BE A WHISTLE BLOWER FOR PEACE! Is the message that Falling Whistles wants to relay about whats going on in the Congo, the worlds largest war! You have to check out the website and read the story, which is heart wrenching, because I don't have the words to describe it. They have whistles that you can get an wear to show your stand for peace in the Congo, but they also collaborated with designer Dannijo, which are the top 5 designs, which are amazing and every dime goes into helping out. Please at least check out the website!

Alex and Ani

2011-11-09T20:14:00.000-08:00

So while spending a good amount of time in Boston I happened to do a lil shopping... oh come on a lot of shopping! They have so many great stores and our hotel was connected to a mall, which should be illegal! While on one of our walks we saw this cute store that said Bangle Bar, I was in! They have so many cute bracelets, along with necklaces and rings and earrings. We fancied the bracelets and how you can stack them and they just look awesome! They have silver and gold and all sorts of different charms, and cuffs. I clearly bought a few and I decide they were so cute, to buy some for christmas gifts! Alex and Ani has retail shops mainly on the east coast but they have their jewelry in quite a few boutique shops and they are online too.

The Perfect Book for the Holiday Season!

2011-10-27T19:23:00.000-07:00

tuscan melon filled with raspberries and red wine syrup

four-plus pounds of truffles

faux escargot pastry swirls in a garden trowel

al fresco feast in a wine-crate hamper

strawberry shortcake trifle

cardamon coffee can cake

amaretti cookie clone

mixed berry ice pops

herb-stuffed eggs in a wheat grass nest

This book is great if you love giving gifts that are homemade and are from the heart. Not only does it have great recipes it also gives instructions on wrapping them. It's easy to pick and choose what recipes you can and want to make with info on prep, level of difficulty, and cost. They have recipes for all different occasions, it's such a good book for the crafters. I gave an example above with the mango and tomatillo salsa, how it's presented, such pretty pictures and easy instructions. This recipe would be a great house warming present or a gift for someone hosting dinner. This book is coming to book stores near you at end of October, it would be a great gift too.

Doc Marten's....How to wear them, since there back!

2011-10-24T20:50:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to my sister-in-law... Doc Marten's have already come full circle! I use to wear them in grad school... I still love them though, and they've come back in about every color you can imagine, stripes, polka dots,leopard, neon. As a good friend of mine would recommend, they do need a bit of breakin' in... although you can purchase them already worn in. I really think they go with everything, you can wear them with feminine dresses to add a little edge, or with tights, skinny jeans, boot-cut, some tall socks with a skirt or shorts! I recommend getting a pair, and saving them for your kids, cause they'll prolly come back around again!

Clothes, clothes everywhere...

2011-10-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

So now and days I feel like there is no reason to have badly dressed kids! There are so many options out there, at affordable prices. I tend to simplify with the little ones, instead of picking the loud shirts that a lot of companies make for kids, with writing all over them and huge pictures, which kinda turn me off. I try and find things everywhere from JCPenny's, Zara, H &M, Gap, they all have cute stuff you just have to find them. Even carter's and Children's Place have good things. I find it fun to dress the little boogers up, so happy hunting!

Rag & BONE!

2011-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

These are my new favorite jeans! They fit like a dream. They have great styles and washes. It's hard to tell in photos, so if you get a chance try them on, you'll love'em. They come from the designers Marcus Wainwright & David Neville, who make up Rag & Bone who have a great high end collection of men and women's clothing, shoes and accessories. What's nice is their jean prices are similar to all the other competitors. You can find them on their website, or Intermix has a great selection or Saks, Nordstoms...

EVOZ - the new baby monitor!

2011-10-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

This baby monitor works with your smartphone (right now I think they only run on iphones), they're no range limits, like the normal monitors, as long as you get service I guess... You can also get the data on how much your baby's crying and sleeping which can help you figure out how to improve it. What you need: 2 iphones/ipad/ipod, one for the baby's room connected to WIFI and one for the parent that can run on WIFI or 3G, but they also have a monitor you can purchase if you don't have 2 iphones or if you don't have WIFI at your house. I think this is awesome for busy parents! Check it out on Evoz

Alexa Chung's Madewell line is here!

2011-09-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

Yup! I met her.

And were totoally BFF's!

Here's some of her collection.

This jacket reminds me off...

Of this jacket/dress she wore...

So while in Boston, Alexa Chung stopped out here to open her line, so I went and checked it out! It's all super cute, love it all. I wish I could've gotta a picture with my lil man too, but someone who doesn't take a nap isn't too pleasant to bring shopping, and there was also a really long line... She really incorporate so many pieces in her line... Doing this post makes me want to go back and get few more things!

Some of my Fav's for Fashion week.

2011-09-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

The Row

J-Crew

Alice & Olivia

Oscar De La Renta

Diane Von Furstenberg

Diane von Furstenberg

...and Diane von Furstenberg

Phillip Lim

L.A.M.B

Marchesa

Jason Wu

I'm loving all these designers pieces!

Rihanna! -style icon-

2011-09-11T18:43:00.000-07:00

I just love her style and boldness, she is so ahead of everyone else! Between her vibrant hair color, accessories or her crazy mixing and matching she just has STYLE, whether she is running around town or going to an event. Not many people can relate to it, like it's too over the top for them, but what I like to do is take little pieces of what she does and do it to make it fit for me and my everyday life.

Chewbeads...genius!

2011-09-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

So the perfect gift or purchase if you have a teething kid! Chewbeads is a genius idea, we recently found them in a cute store in Boston and they looked so cute but were soft and seemed perfect for a teething baby. Its a great gift for any mom, and you can package a bracelet and necklace in whatever colors you'd like. They have a breakaway clasp for safety reasons and the bracelets also help you with figuring out which side you nursed on last... if you can keep track of that, for me, I'd forget to change the bracelet...

New clothes for the kiddos.

2011-09-05T05:07:00.000-07:00

Appaman is a great kids clothing line. My dad introduced me to this line by getting some jackets for my little guy, and I can't wait for it to get cold, so he can wear them. They have shirts, pants and accessories for boys and girls but I'm a huge fan of their outerwear. I love their clothes too because I like to dress my dude as I would dress my husband.. if he'd let me... haha!

Polka Dots.

2011-08-27T22:20:00.000-07:00

Stella McCartney Winter Collection

Inspired by Stella McCartney's winter collection, I've been thinking about polka dots! Whether you where a dress filled with them or you and a touch of polka dots to your wardrobe .... or maybe even your lips. I think it's a must to buy a piece or two for your fall wardrobe.

happiness

2011-08-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

So I just got this book... and let me preface this by saying I have only started the first chapter... It's a lot harder to read a book with a lil person running around. But I'm really excited about this book. For some people this book would be silly to read, they have happiness built in them, but for me it's something I need to work on (among many other things). In the first few pages she talks about putting yourself, along with your marriage or relationship at the top of the list. A quote "my own personal happiness, nourished by the time I take for myself, benefits my children. I've read the scientific studies that prove this... So out with the gilt, and in with the joy." This is something hard for me to apply but I'm excited to try, and the more I read the more I agree, because I believe you learn from example. She introduces 10 key steps to help you set the stage for your children's happiness. And I also recommend this to read while pregnant... you can never start to early. You can get this on Amazon

Alexa Chung -a style icon-

2011-08-14T22:55:00.000-07:00

She has unbelievable style, and it is just effortless... well it looks effortless. Okay well she used to model so clothes hang well on her, but she has written for British Vogue and and been a TV Host (It's on with Alexia Chung on MTV). She is a fashion icon, Mulberry a designer handbag line, named one of their purses after her, she has created a line for Madewell and Anna Wintour has described her as "a phenomenon". All those things aside she has great style and I love looking at what she wears, so I can try and incorporated pieces of it in my style. Damn those Brits, they are always steps ahead... I secretly love them, clearly. She has an upcoming show she will be hosting call Thrift America on PBS, which will teach Americans how sift through thrift shops like she does... I'm excited!

The Updated Bouncer...Finally!

2011-08-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

This is the Mamaroo Bouncer! This the newest technology for a bouncer... It moves like us mom's, its not just a rocker or a vibrating seat it bounces up and down and sways from side to side, they studied how us mom's move and they tried to imitated it the best they could. You can speed up or down the motions and you can also hook your Ipod up to it or use some of their built-in soothing sounds! My lil man's too big for this but I'll hope to get one for the next one and you should too at Giggle or Mamaroo