Martin's Birthday

Martin had a big birthday! And we celebrated big at Dan Tana's.

Here are Niki, Martin, Rebecca and Jared at one end of the table. Fabulous night with cupcakes from Hansen's!

Becky and Bella FUN!

More happy times in Santa Cruz. This time, Becky took Bella and I to the Boardwalk.

First stop Merry-Go-Round. . .



Smart Bella going for what she wants!



It was the City of Santa Cruz's Clam Chowder Cook Off and vats like these lined the boardwalk in between the Deep Fried Twinkie stands and Carmel Apple booths.



Becky decided that since Bella is 2 1/2 years old, she was ready for her first roller coaster. The before photo:



And during! Notice the sheer joy! Bella LOVED it!

Just like Sophie's Choice

Becky nonchalantly posed the question below to me this weekend. We don't disagree on much, except that she's a vegetarian and I'm obsessed with pork products. And since she has known me for over twenty years, she knew how to make the question impossibly hard.



I chose alcohol. Giving up steak, lamb, kielbasa, pepperoni and bacon would require every morsel of strength in my body, but I could do it. But on top of that, no sushi? Forget it!!

Lucky for me, this isn't real. I'm going to Dan Tana's tonight for Martin's birthday dinner -- that means martinis and veal scallopini -- yeeessssss!

Oscars

Every journalist/blogger/news agency is writing about the Oscars, so in an effort to avoid being repetitive, I shall point out just my favorite part of the presentation.

While watching Zach Ephron announce the winner for Best Original Score, I looked at the nominees faces for a reaction. Hey, there's Amos Newman's client, A.R. Rahman. And look! THERE'S AMOS! AND THEY WON! AWESOME!



The only thing that could have made it even better was if Poppie was in the shot too!

Night Out on Melrose

Thursday evening was jammed with the most fun. I met Kim and Andrew at the very hip, but sadly recession empty, Foundry on Melrose. We were told the bar and restaurant becomes obscenely jammed when the nightly jazz band plays from 9:00 pm to midnight, but we had to move on for our next stop and vowed to return another day.

Keeping with our monthly tradition of dinner and the Improv, Martin joined our trio -- this time without darling Niki because she was in Florida for work, boo! -- at the new spot, All Angelo. The ambiance is described in the LA Times review as "sleek modernist makeover with pale wood beams, Venetian glass sconces and a logical layout" or as Andrew described as "creepy". Kim's recollection only offers the "divine dessert wine", which, on top of her carafe of white wine, led to one sassy lady!



On we went, down the street to RHOC night at the Improv to join Jackie. Adam Richmond threw out some hysterical new material -- in action below -- and the surprise guest was Dane Cook who hogged the stage, but was clearly the star of the night. My cheeks were sore the next day from laughing so much!

Baby, It's You!

Last Sunday, Kim and I went to see a matinee of "Baby, It's You" at the Coast Playhouse on Santa Monica. Rod's producer, Richard Perry, is the musical director, so with the best seats in the house, Kim and I clapped and bopped our heads to the music of The Shirelles, Dionne Warwick, Chuck Jackson and many others from the 1960's. The musical is based on the remarkable life of Florence Greenberg, a Jewish housewife from New Jersey who needed more for her life, so she started Scepter Records. Next stop for the production, Broadway!

I love the Hamptons, too!

Aaron Ekroth, aka Adeeb's Aaron, sent me this funny photo from the West Village. I love the colors and also love that they spelled the last name differently than my client's (Stewart)-- saves me from answering questions from the NYPD Graffiti Department! It wouldn't be the first time I have had to approve painting bills for client's wall defacement, but I think my confidentiality agreement doesn't permit me to say anything more. . .

Anyhow, check out more "Rod Stuart Loves the Hamptons" here. Do you get it? If so, explain it to me!

Monkeying Around

I was invited to watch "The Wrestler" the other night at Reagan & Christian's. The door was open, so I entered their apartment. And voila. This is what I walked in to see. Shock, terror, and hilarity flashed over me and I still got the camera out super fast!

I'm Touched!

It's been a grueling week at the office. A co-worker has been in a bad, depressed mood and has been behaving in pretty abusive, nasty manner. It's difficult to be around especially when there is so much work to be done.

Anyhow, yesterday there was a flower delivery from the Artiste for me. The card thanked me for my hard work on a particular project in the past week. Just the pick-me-up that I needed. Talk about perfect timing! Aren't they pretty?

Octuplets

As I pulled up to my appointment last week, every major news station van was parked in front of the building I was going into, and then I thought, "oh no, they've found out about my. . ." But of course, when I pulled up, no one swarmed my car, so I realized I was off the hook.

Trying to approach the door to Utta, the body sculpter, I squeezed my way through reporters and camera equipment. Why? The doctor who inserted (perfect medical term) the 8 embryos in Nadya Suleman had his office on the same floor. The man needs to lose his medical license. I can't believe my tax dollars are going to be paying for an Angelina Jolie-want-to-be's crazy, reckless whims! I'm going to take a box of eggs and let them rot for a week or two and then pelt his door. Who's in with me?

Back to Utta, the body sculpter. I only go when Arnold doesn't feel up to it and he gives his appointments to me since he will have to pay for it anyhow, but I swear, that German woman can change your life. She prods, pushes, kneads and pummels. And I bruise all over. But I have never seen my bod look this good. If you've got a lot of money to burn (she is shockingly expensive), I highly recommend two or three sessions with her. Big heart to Utta!

VDay Party

Big appreciation to Shawn & Austin for hosting a fabulous Valentine's Dinner. Shawn, as usual, prepared a extraordinary feast. And also as usual, it was a riotous evening of laughs.


Shawn & Austin


Andrew, me & Sean


Chris, Sean and Kim -- part of the two-time LOSING team of Outburst. Although I'm still amazed at Kim's cookie dough pull for all ten points.


Justin feeling the thrill of victory again on OUR winning Outburst team!

Valentine Cards

My favorite Valentine cards from the Uncooked line.

** Before you, I used to hate Valentine's Day. But now that we are together, I love it more than anything. Even more than you. **

** Sometimes I think that instead of being a person, you should be cut up into little pieces of heart shaped candy. That's how sweet and tasty you are. **

And my favorite. . .

** It's Valentine's Day and I'm so happy we are together. But if you ever leave me I'll kill you. Like, literally, I'll stab you. **

Happy Valentine's Day to you all. Wishing you a day full of love. xoxo

Poppie's Success Continues

Click on the links here and here to read how Poppie Couture remains the coolest line of bags for us fashionistas.

Today's Quote

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." By Leonardo Da Vinci

Grammy Night

First stop, the EMI / Stand Up For A Cure post-Grammy party at the recently opened SLS Hotel. I was invited by my Dad's bf, Leo Corbett, and it was such a thrill to catch up with him and his wife, Lynn. They've been my favorites since I was 12 when I started spending a week each summer with them in the big, exciting NYC.

Lynn chatted up Nicole Kidman, while we drank organic vodka and had ridiculous caricatures done. Katy Perry stole Paris's thunder and an adorable kid from Varsity Fanclub introduced himself to me.

Just as the party started to get extra throbbing, I departed for the next soiree. Can you guess from the picture below where it was?



Yeah, that would be Prince's palatial estate where a mere 50 of us were treated to a 3-hour performance in his downstairs living room that commenced at midnight. Oh yes, you read that right. Me, shaking it up next to Whitney Houston, Tyler Perry, Chris Tucker! Prince and his mostly female band played non-Prince tunes like the Rolling Stone's"Miss You", Sly Stone's "Thank You For Letting Me Be Myself", Beatles "Come Together", The Cars "I Like The Night Life, Baby," and Tommy James's "Crimson & Clover". Literally, Prince was taking guitar solos five feet from my face. Unreal. Love Grammy weekend!

Clive's Pre-Grammy Party

That time of year again -- my favorite professional party -- Clive Davis' Pre-Grammy Soiree. It was so incredible that I have no idea where to start, so I am borrowing Whitney Pastorek's words from EW.com. Really, she really captures the evening. But the pictures are mine!

Vicky Blake, Tom & Arnold, and me

The annual Clive Davis pre-Grammy party is a giant star-spackled cruise-ship extravaganza, and last night Whitney Houston was its headliner, anchor, and fire drill coordinator rolled into one. Her presence electrified a room full of people who had just spent three hours eating chicken and downing wine within napkin-tossing distance of Prince -- a room full of people who'd already heard stunning performances from the likes of Jennifer Hudson, Kelly Clarkson, and the man formerly known as Puff Daddy -- and when she at last appeared in the Beverly Hilton ballroom, celebrity planets like Jamie Foxx rushed the stage to orbit her sun.



In a leopard-skin minidress and fluffy cape of the Chaka Khan school, Houston revealed she's back in sparring shape; when she opened her mouth, what came out was strong and controlled (though, admittedly, she was still trading more on the theatricality of our anticipation than the power of the golden pipes she used to possess). So psyched was the crowd that it hardly seemed to miss the big notes in edited arrangements of both "I Will Always Love You" and "I Believe In You and Me," and the fact that Houston's backup singers had to carry much of "It's Not Right But It's Okay" did not dim the dance party. By the time the long-dormant star got to "I'm Every Woman," the mid-range of her voice was full of confidence, her body language full of bounce, and the entire music industry was on its feet with its hands in the air to celebrate Houston, as she celebrated the man she called "my father," Clive Davis.



Penny and I

This was the first year that the Recording Academy officially recognized Clive's party, which led to what I assume was double the talent -- and double the fawning introductions as NARAS president Neil Portnow and Davis traded off at the podium. To be honest, the fawning introductions are kind of the best part, giving the whole thing a nice bar mitzvah/business conference vibe totally incongruous with any rock & roll aesthetic one might muster. Portnow opened the night, describing the event as "steeped in elegance," and Clive Davis as a "national treasure." He then brought Bill Maher to the mic, and the comedian did some quick hits on Springsteen's scrotum-smashing Super Bowl appearance and Michael Phelps' pot scandal ("Obviously, you can smoke weed and be at the top of your game") before honoring the man of the hour with possibly the greatest transition of all time: "... the fire marshal had to close down her vagina. Anyway, I'm here to talk about Clive Davis, ladies and gentlemen."

After all that introductory ado, the man who Maher called "the greatest enabler of music for two generations" at last stepped to the podium, kicking off America's fastest-growing new game show sensation, Who Is Clive Davis Introducing Right Now? It's an easy game, and fun to play at home: Someone rattles off a string of compliments or achievements or nonsensical hyperbole ("the next Kenny Rogers!"), then says the name of a celebrity who is in the room; everyone else tries to guess who they're going to say. Clive's first three were heart-stoppingly awesome: Paul McCartney, Prince, and Sly Stone, who was wearing a red tartan suit and what looked to be a skunk for a mohawk. At his appearance, the entire room gasped, possibly because no one is ever quite clear on the whereabouts of Sly Stone. And then Clive introduced "the greatest white soul singer of all time": Rod Stewart, in a less-exciting plaid suit, who brought us all back to the realities of space and time and whose rendition of CCR's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" sent our cruise sailing into the night.

Kings of Leon

I'd be here all day if I wrote out everything that happened over the course of the evening, plus it would sound like I'm bragging, so let's just hit the highlights: Kings of Leon doing "Sex on Fire" in a hotel ballroom; Natalie Cole's introduction spotlight revealing that Sly Stone had already escaped; Davis receiving the President's Merit Award from Portnow; L.A. Reid hollering at the sleepy crowd to "Make some noise!" and "Say amen!" before getting in on the W.I.C.D.I.R.N? action by introducing Diddy as "an important man"; Diddy and Faith Evans performing a passionate "I'll Be Missing You" as Biggie tribute footage rolled on the big screens and the cynical among us tried not to see it all as a big ad for Notorious; Diddy reminding us all to "stop and appreciate what we have, because we don't know what tomorrow will bring," and then calling himself "the happiest motherf---er alive"; the random lottery of Foo Fighters, Herbie Hancock, Jonas Brothers, Trace Adkins, Wayne Brady, and will.i.am being acknowledged back to back to back; Clive introducing Kanye West and having Jamie Foxx stand up and wave instead. ("Ooo-kay," muttered Clive, in his Brooklyn drone.)

The performances kept coming: Kelly Clarkson did "My Life Would Suck Without You" and rather blew the doors off the joint, then reminded us all she came from a karaoke show with a great but unnecessary rendition of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart." (P.S.: Brace yourselves for a Jessica Simpson-style uproar about Clarkson's weight, coming soon to a tabloid near you.) That left Jennifer Hudson -- who not only looks but seems great in the wake of the tragedy that struck her family last fall -- to knock everyone's socks off with "Spotlight," then sit on Barry Manilow's piano bench and save "Weekend In New England" from itself, and us from "Weekend In New England." Trust me: Were Whitney Houston not last night's climactic scene, everyone would have walked away from the party talking about Jennifer Hudson, and word from inside rehearsal at Staples this morning is that she's gonna bring this Grammy telecast to its knees.


Jennifer Hudson & Barry Manilow

Sadly, I took the end of J-Hud's performance as the right moment to go outside and look for Slash -- that's not a euphemism, I really did want to find Slash; he was lounging on the balcony but ran away before I could talk to him -- and so accidentally I missed Kanye taking the mic and delivering a rambling apology for being a jackass. This, I regret. Apparently, he used the word "humbled." Again, I will regret not hearing this for the rest of my days. But though I'm almost certain it was his intention, not even Kanye could steal the night's prime focus away from Houston, and by the time Clive Davis had finished introducing every single person he knew who was currently in the ballroom of the Beverly Hilton and Houston finally appeared and Ricky Minor and the band started up those first notes of "I Will Always Love You," nothing mattered anymore but the sight of the greatest pop diva in pop diva history reclaiming her rightful place at the top of her game. Well. Okay, not the top. But closer than she's been in a long, long time. I say it was a triumph. And it's not just because they gave me wine and let me sit that close to Prince. Good party, dude.

Unlike Whitney, I did talk to Slash. He offered me a Marlboro Red which I foolishly accepted and then felt dizzy after two drags, so I excused myself from the patio and fortunately I didn't miss Kanye's insightful and surprising apology.

And here are some names that Whitney didn't mention, but I saw in the Ballroom.

Duffy * Fantasia * Rhianna + Chris Brown (looking happy together just hours before the altercation.) * Miley Cyrus * Taylor Swift * Katy Perry * Barry Manilow * Kimora Lee * Kjimon Honsou * David Spade * Estelle * Carrie Underwood * John Voight * Quincy Jones * Leona Lewis * Paula Abdul * Randy Jackson * Chris Daughtry * Val Kilmer * Antonio Banderas * Melanie Griffith * Russell Simmons * Dwight Yoakam * Faith Evans * Brett Ratner * Penny Marshall * John Stamos * Evander Holyfield * Sheryl Crow

I am sure there were more, but I could only remember so many!

Remedy

I'm working on the Artiste's next potential album which may be soul music. It is very early in the process, so there are lengthy discussions on all sorts of artists and hit music. Today, the Artiste mentioned "the Hudson's boyfriend's song that made him famous," which after some decoding meant the Black Crowes' remix of Otis Redding's 'Hard to Handle.' This reminded me of my favorite Black Crowes song. . .it was released long ago, but don't you think it is timeless?

Fabulous!

Great news from Jet Blue! Click here to read about the price wars at LAX for trips to NY and Boston among Jet Blue, Virgin and American. I never need an excuse to go East, but now with round trips as low as $230, I'm hitting Manhattan and the Connecticut coast like a true bi-coastal gal!

Did I win the lottery?!

It's a Chinese custom to never, ever mention the good things in your life. For example, when a baby is born, everyone says the baby is so "ugly" for fear if they boast, they will be punished by the gods. This posting will be written by my Irish side.

If I knew at the beginning of the week when I was pelted over and over again with a flurry of hideously terrible, crushing news that the end of the week would turn out this well, I wouldn't have suffered so!

Last night I went out with a two friends -- one is a writer, and therefore told the best stories and had me howling with laughter. And somewhere between the giggles and chuckles, the tide of my misfortune reversed direction. . .

Today, woke up early and felt surprisingly perky. Then cruised over to Giler's to meet his housekeeper, Abeila. I'm house sitting his gorgeous home since he'll be out of the country until July. The conversation went something like this:

Giler: Abeila comes on Mondays and Fridays which is great so she can clean up after your weekend parties. [Um, awesome!]
Abeila: Leave me a note with a grocery list so I can do the shopping for you. [Sorry, what?!]
Giler: And then she will send the receipts to my business office. She can cook for you too. [Pinch me!]

And the weekend is full of party hopping at Grammy events, so my next update should be juicy!

Here comes the bride. . .

T.J. knew the moment he saw Lindsay that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. So after dating for about seven months, he proposed on one knee in a puddle of rose petals on Friday night! After screaming, more screaming, and even louder screaming, she replied with an emphatic yes. Moments later, Lindsay's Dad, Coleen and the kids, plus TJ's parents from Massachusetts, and Jerry & Terry walked in to celebrate with the newly engaged duo. Congratulations!



Here's Lindsay's "dream" ring -- princess cut and very, very large!

They Got Me!

I ran a red light. I cruised right through it, and by the looks of it below, with a smile on my face. My LA darlings, beware of the Robertson and Beverly Blvd intersection!





Someone save me a seat at traffic school!

Super Bowl XLIII

"It is all Kim's fault." That was the line passing our lips on Saturday and Sunday and it was our chant on Monday morning at 5:45 am.

As per usual, Kim and I had a day's worth of fun planned for 'Girls Saturday'. Manis/pedis, lunch and "Revolutionary Road" with honorary 'Girls Saturday' members, Shawn & Austin. It was a gorgeous day, so we dined outside to the sounds an acoustic musician who wanted to take advantage of the sun and it's sun-loving audience.

2:30 pm was quickly approaching, but our plates were still full, so Shawn offered to buy tickets in advance. When he returned, he looked at our beloved Kim and said, "Girl, the movie started 20 minutes ago. You had the time wrong."

Plan B. Continue to enjoy the day. Have a drink on the patio. Catch a different movie in 45 minutes. No big bump in the road.

Zut alors. We began discussing where the most fun place to watch the Super Bowl would be. Some of us liked to watch at home where you could focus on the game and actually hear the commercials. Others liked to go to parties because Super Bowl food is 2nd only to Thanksgiving. And another liked to watch at a bar for the high energy of the crowd. . .high energy of the crowd. . .big crazy, wild, hideously fun crowds. . .football and fun crowds. . .don't even think it. . .please don't say it. . .

VEGAS

We were on the 6 pm flight.

We should have gone to the movie. If only we had the time right for "Revolutionary Road." Kim, it's all your fault!