My Favorite Restaurants. And By The Way, Art Supplies Are Edible.

I wrote about my favorite restaurants in L.A. this week for UpTake. I started off my post with a mention about the time I ate an eraser. Maybe not the best way to start off an article that's sharing my culinary opinions, but there you go. (Also, if you know of where they serve the most badass margarita in your city, go on over and leave a comment on my UpTake post. I'm going to do a compilation list later this month):

We were asked to write about our favorite restaurants this week, and the only difficult part will be writing a post that doesn’t go on for five pages. My list is long and varied, and I’m always up for trying new things - including half a Pink Pearl eraser that I once ate on a dare when I was working at an ad agency. It definitely didn’t taste like chicken...Read More...

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UpTake, a new travel search engine, opened to the public today. Check it out - it's a great site, where you can find everything you need to plan a vacation, from girlfriend getaways to pet-friendly travel (you can finally take your gerbil to Belize with you.) Plug in your destination, what you're looking for (lodging, things-to-do, etc.) and whether it's a family trip or just a getaway. And voila - you might just come up with an adventure more interesting than that Soap Opera Cruise with the cast from Passions. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Also, you can read my weekly posts there where I regale the traveling world with tales of all-you-can-eat nachos and men in tights. It's almost too much goodness in one place, I know.

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My Perfect Mother's Day Weekend

Happy Mother's Day! Hopefully you are relaxing in your pajamas and ignoring the stack of dishes in the kitchen while your husband and children feed you bonbons and champagne. As for me, I wrote about my ideal Mother's Day weekend for Uptake this week:

There’s a column in the Los Angeles Times every Thursday called ‘My Favorite Weekend’ where celebrities write about what their perfect weekend would be. Predictably, 99% of them start with breakfast at the vegan Real Food Daily, involve a vigorous hike in Runyan Canyon and end with an organic chai latte at Urth Cafe. I sometimes wonder if this is just the PC version from their publicist, and the celebrity featured is actually having an Egg McMuffin and a pack of Marlboros for breakfast before passing out until Sunday night.

Since Mother’s Day is coming up, I decided to write about what My Favorite Weekend would be. As you’ll see, without a publicist to speak of, pork products and sedentary activity prevail…Read More...

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tags: mother's day | happy mother's day

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A Baby Shower!

I was asked to be a part of a virtual baby shower for three wonderful bloggers who are all expecting their second child. The theme? Advice for moving from one child to a crowd of two. I was happy to oblige, and put the date down on my calendar.

Then a funny thing happened on Friday - my computer crashed. But I was too busy to deal with it, because it was time to pick up both my girls from school. It's a delicate dance, involving cell phone calls, inquiries about after-school activities and pick-up locations at two different schools. Kind of like a James Bond movie, but without the fast cars, martinis and international intrigue. Okay, maybe only the cars and the intrigue are missing.

I finally wrangled them back home, but by then it was time to hop back in the car and take off for an event we were scheduled to go to. This required me to go through my standard before-leaving drill, which consists of standing at the front door and yelling things like, "Did you brush your hair?" and "Do you have your bag?" and "Do you have a snack for the car?" Except with two of them, I have to yell everything twice.

When we got home, it was time to start the evening ritual: bathing, pajamas, teeth brushing. But first there's the arguing over who has to shower first, and then the accusations over someone wearing the other's pajama bottoms without asking, and then the bickering over the last strand of dental floss. I take two Advil, one for each of the two headaches I have.

When they're finally ready for bed, the hunt is on for the two books they were reading but have now mysteriously disappeared under an avalanche of stuffed animals and dirty clothes. I finally have to put an end to it by insisting they each pick out another book to read, just for tonight. There's grumbling, and it's loud since it's coming from the two of them.

But then? I get to hear "I love you." Twice. From my two beautiful girls. And I realize how lucky I am, and how great it is to have these two incredible gifts in my life.

And here it is, late Sunday night and I realized I still had to write a baby shower post, but my computer was still down. So here I am, on my laptop, writing this at 3am. Advice? The only thing I can think of right now is to get some sleep, and prepare to have everything multiplied by two, including, and most importantly, the love.

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Head on over here to see how you can participate in the baby shower, and have a chance to win some great prizes donated by Cool Mom Picks while you're at it.

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