Wonderfully Busy, Busy, Busy! The year is off to a wonderfully fun and frenzied start for me and I have been invited to some fabulous events and outings that have been keeping this girl-about-town amused 🙂 So, I wanted to fill you in on my latest and greatest whereabouts and perhaps give you some inspired ideas for things to checkout in the LA area. Enjoy!
Louder Than Words Event & My Interview with Ashley Greene
Last week, I attended the “Louder Than Words” emerging talent showcase event at the Avalon Hollywood, CA and I had the pleasure of being invited to interview the gorgeous Ashley Greene, mark Brand Ambassador and spokesperson for mark’s m.powerment campaign. This philanthropic initiative is operated by the Avon Foundation and is dedicated to breaking the cycle of dating abuse and partner violence against young women. m.powerment participated in this loveisrespect.org event as the founding sponsor of the organization’s Youth Advisory Board and I had VIP access to it all. The talent (including Broadway & You Tube stars) was amazing, but the highlight for me was havng a few moments of up close and personal time with the lovely and genuine Ashley Greene.
During my interview with her, I learned that Ashley is passionate about being a positive role model for her generation and this is one of the main reasons she decided with work with Avon. I marveled at her gorgeous skin to which she attributed to both her fabulous makeup artist Mai Quynh as well as her diligent use of mark’s moisturizing and SPF products. I was surprised to learn that Ashley was pretty much a tomboy growing up, and was very different than the glam goddess that sat before me. She was absolutely delightful and a treat to interview!
Cirque Du Soliel OVO at the Santa Monica Pier
Cirque recently returned to the Santa Monica Pier for a limited engagement of OVO, the critically-acclaimed and family-friendly show about an egg and a colorful immersion into the day in the life of an insect. I took my 8 year old son to this fun-loving Cirque and he enjoyed every moment. It had all the fabulous acts you love from Cirque like trapeze, contortionists, and clowns, but this creative performance used the world and perspective of insects to tell this playful romantic story. The bug mannerisms and nuances were mesmerizing and I thought the acting and storytelling from the ladybug and the quirky foreigner bug were among the best I have seen at a Cirque show. Our favorite act was the acrobatic jumping trampoline act that closed the show-the skill, pace and visual spectacle still make me smile. Take your kids before it closes on March 18, 2012. Buy tickets HERE.
Center Theater Group’s Tweet Seats Event for Clybourne Park at the Mark Taper Forum
The Center Theater Group recently invited me as one of a select group of theater lovers and social media enthusiasts to Tweet Seats at Clybourne Park. This was a groundbreaking opportunity to explore new ways for patrons to experience live theater and the goal of this night was to simultaneously bring together two audiences (one at the Kirk Douglas Theatre and the other at Mark Taper Forum) for a real-time discussion, via Twitter, about A Raisin in the Sun and Clybourne Park. These two related productions explore two different generations of characters tip-toeing around the delicate dance of social politics 50 years apart in the same Chicago neighborhood. I found it intriguing to be able (and condoned) to live tweet during a play, it added a fun new layer to the show. I loved hearing other audience members perspectives about the plot as well as behind the scenes tidbits. It slightly distracted my viewing but enriched my overall experience. Clybourne Park is a fabulous Pulitzer prize winning story that is engaging, thought provoking and unnerving-I really enjoyed it!
Over the holiday season, Universal Studios was kind enough to host my son and a couple of his friends for his 8th Birthday and generously gave us the stellar Front of Line Passes which totally MADE our day pleasant and a bit indulgent. Front of the Line Passes provide you with 1-day admission, plus priority access to all rides and attractions, reserved seating at all shows, and behind-the-Scenes access to three of the live shows and let me tell you it is totally worth it! No waiting (or whining 🙂 so you get to do everything you want to do, without any hassles and can easily go back for more.
Our group of boys had a stellar day, they felt special cutting the lines and they really enjoyed the behind the scenes access to WaterWorld where they learned all about how they do the cool stunts (the plane on fire ROCKED!). I haven’t been to Universal in years and absolutely loved how modern it is, especially the virtual rides like The Simpsons which was a hit with our boys, and the new Studio Tour with King Kong 360 3D was out of this world and knocked my socks off! If you haven’t been in a while, it’s def time to check it out again especially with this great special Buy a Day, Get 2012 Free!
International Salon & Spa Expo Long Beach 2012
ISSE is one of the West Coast’s biggest and best total beauty events and I love it! Over 40,000 beauty professionals from around the world attended this show to experience the latest and greatest in hair, nails, cosmetics, esthetics, wellness, massage, and advanced education. Some trends that I uncovered this year included: An emergence of products that cut hair drying time, quicker and more temporary versions of hair extensions, lots of products that emphasize hair health and adding volume, lots of competition in the gel/long wearing nail polish category and a significant presence of semi-permanent, long wearing makeup.
Golden Globes THE Hospitality Suite
I was delighted to be invited to THE Hospitality Suite in Beverly Hills in celebration of the Golden Globes awards this year. I brought along Andrea of Savvy Sassy Moms and we had a fun girls day out sipping cocktails by Ciroc, perusing Alberto Parada’s Sustainable Fine Jewelry, checking out the latest products from Joico and getting fashion advice from the fab celeb stylist Lindsay Albanese, who picked out a hot Seduce Dress for me to take home.
LA’s top Beauty and Fashion bloggers were invited to this Sweet Soirée for networking, pampering, and sugaring demos from the Sugaring Ladies (if you have never tried sugaring I highly rec this kinder gentler method of hair removal). I had fun mingling, sampling treatments and meeting the original Sugar Queen Lina Kennedy. I can’t wait to go back and get my whole body sugared with the generous gift card they sent us home with, sweet huh?!. And if you decide to visit the Brentwood studio to experience sugaring for yourself, mention Romy Raves for 50% off your first visit.
BetterYou Launch Beauty & Fitness Event
Last Saturday, I was invited to the Better You Launch event at the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica (what a great spot and a gorgeous day!) for beauty treatments, fitness classes and connecting with some great health and wellness brands. Better You is an inspired new site that features thousands of independent providers and group fitness classes in the Los Angeles area where consumers can browse and select top professionals in massage, personal training, nutrition, skin care, yoga, and more-all in one spot. At this event, I enjoyed having my makeup done by Blushington in the VIP Suite and also getting the FAB braid (pictured above) from the braid bar girls from Nine Zero One Salon.
LA Blogger Meetup at Blushington Makeup & Beauty Lounge
Andrea of Savvy Sassy Moms, Hollywood Housewife, Me & YvonneinLA
This past Monday evening the adorable Laura Tremaine (don’t ya just love her pink tipped hair?!) aka Hollywood Housewife, hosted a fun blogger gathering at my new favorite beauty hangout Blushington Makeup & Beauty Lounge. We gathered for schmoozing, sipping bubbly, and testing out the fab services at Blushington, which is a brilliant new beauty spot in West Hollywood that offers a full professional makeup application for $35! Totally affordable, no pressure to buy anything and uber talented makeup artists (I’ve been a couple times and have been happy with my look each time.) And it just so happens to be next to the Dry Bar, so for well under $100 with tip, you get a fab professional look for the night. And the icing on the cake was taking home a FAB goodie bags filled with a fun pair of shoes from Sanuk and a chic watch from La Mer Collections. Thanks Laura for making it NOT another Manic Monday 🙂
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You have been one seriously busy lady! Loved seeing you last week – thank you so much for coming. Blogger events always make me smile.