Great Grammy Get-Ups & A look at NY Fashion Week

I love the Grammys. Although the tone this year was a bit somber due to the passing of Whitney Houston, it was still a good show. The performances were great: especially the Foo Fighters, Coldplay with Rihanna and Sir Paul McCartney--and Jennifer Hudson's tribute to Whitney was so nice! She did an amazing job and I am sure there wasn't a dry eye in the audience.

Actually, I love any awards show. My mom & I love to watch them together and gawk at all the glitter. I love watching all the pre-show stuff too; where the celebrities are strutting down the red carpet for all of us to judge their chosen outfit for the evening. Sometimes I try and guess the designer...a hard and usually failed attempt. Especially this year! I was intrigued by the trend of modesty this year at the Grammys. I mean granted, it IS February. But the Grammys are in LA.... anyway, it was kind of nice to see such lovely garments prove that you don't always need a plunging neckline to be attractive. Minus Rihanna and a few others, most celebrities went with something rather conservative.

My absolute favorite look of the night was Paris Hilton's Basil Soda gown. See it here. It was SO elegant and had lovely detail. I was blown away when I saw Paris Hilton in something so classy! My second favorite look of the night was Kelly Rowland. Here is her beautiful dress. She is always so pretty! I loved the detail! My third favorite look was Carrie Underwood. She is one of my favorite's anyway. Although I think she always plays it safe on the red carpet, she always looks well put-together. Here was her gown: a gorgeous & a bit vintage long sleeve/high neckline/cut-out back gown. So lovely.

And then there are the usual celebrities that bring trashy get-ups to the party. It was no surprise to me when Nikki Minaj showed up looking like a couture red-riding hood and escorted by a pope-look-a-like. Who does that? And don't get me started on her controversial and terrible performance... take a look.

And Katy Perry never fails to look ridiculous. Although her gown was quite elegant, she went with blue hair to finish off her look. What is wrong with her? She is a pretty girl...I don't think she's that talented, but people like her... do you really have to have blue hair to be unique? Here she is.

Sasha Gradiva...who is she? and what on earth was she wearing??? look.at.this.mess. wow!!! what goes through some people's minds??

And last but not least...Fergie. Oh, Fergie. I personally think she looks a little man-like...and the middle part has GOT to go. How old is she anyway?? But at the grammys she had her hair in a simple ponytail, a nice change from her super straight locks divided in half exactly with her middle part (her hair is usually simple) and then donned an extravagantly hideous gown. Might I add, an electric orange, SEE-THROUGH gown. Check it out.

The men looked pretty spiffy. Minus the Foo Fighters....always a bit white trash with their clothing options...what do you expect though? I don't care what they wear...as long as they perform :) John Legend looked fantastic! And LL Cool J was rockin' the sweetest velour jacket & signature cap.

Oh, the Grammys. You never know what you might see. I wonder what kind of gown I would pick? aside from the all the outfits...I HATED that Adele won like everything...not sure what all the hype is about with her. But good for her--she apparently had voice surgery and this was her big comeback. The tribute to the Beach Boys was pretty fantastic--Maroon 5 rocked it! Nikki Minaj's performance was....weird. And terrible. Chris Brown's performance was also disappointing. I LOVED Rihanna's performance. She is so good!! Basically, it was a good night. Good times watching the Grammys with the madre.




SIDE NOTE:


This blog is more like a journal entry for myself. I love everything about fashion and try to keep up with it...so this is my record of this past NY fashion week. I wanted to remember some of my favorite looks; I was so impressed! So feel free to read or not-read.

It has been an exciting week in my opinion! Full of new trends and great fashion! I have been combing through the different runway shows that have gone on the past several days at NY Fashion Week (Fall 2012 Ready-To-Wear) and have pretty much been in love with most collections. It seems that I always like the Fall lines better rather than the Spring ones. I am pretty partial to the Fall time fashion anyway. If you missed it, and care to see it, I found that the NY Times website has great coverage of the different shows, sorted by designer, for your viewing pleasure. Some of my favorites were:

Alice & Olivia (very feminine with girly accents like lace, sequins & ruffles)
Jason Wu (awesome! very structured. looks like he is getting in touch with his chinese background)
Victoria Beckham (is there anything I don't love about her?? she had a very clean Fall line. She used a lot of muted colors but also threw in pops of bright blue & red. Her clothing always looks so put-together.)
Creatures of the Wind (definitely a bit weird, but so unique. I loved some of the prints used and the use of lots of different fabrics.)
DKNY (very matrix-esque. She used a lot of leather and high collar looks. Very nice though...always Donna Karan!
Carolina Herrera (so pretty! but crazy hair on the models!!)
Marc Jacobs (never fails to amaze...or surprise! lots of weird furry hats--and an even weirder set-up. He had a cartoon-like background for his runway and had his models walk the runway to a song from the Oliver soundtrack....BUT he had lots of amazing coats for Fall--he's a genius.)
Zac Posen (lots of beautiful gowns and lots of beautiful necklines)
Rag & Bone (probably my favorite show--AMAZING prints and fantastic construction! A little edgy too. Love!!)
Rachel Zoe (of course!! my second favorite. Her collections are always beautiful. Loved all the fur accents (typical!) and the well-tailored look)

I hope that if we do end up in NYC that I can attend Fashion Week! That would be a dream come true :)

What I've been Cooking Lately...

It's a peculiar thing, cooking for another family daily. But it's all part of the job description. And although I was at first a little daunted by the task of cooking for a family that has not only travelled & lived all over the world, but has also grown up eating authentic indian cuisine, and one that frequents fine restaurants. AND on top of that, the mother of the family authors a food blog with her sister. A family that truly loves and appreciates good food...I realized that I can start with the basics and work up...and I slowly have built my confidence in the kitchen and have improved a lot!

When I began working for this family (a YEAR ago!), the mother would leave me recipes for the week and I would just cautiously follow them to a T. But shortly after she found that I was capable of not burning dinner or her home down, she gave me a little more free reign. The only stipulation being that the meals are healthy in nature. From then on out I have been able to decide on the recipes for each week and make a grocery list for the things I will need. What I love about this family is that there are no limits. They have this attitude that I can try whatever I please. "The kitchen is mine! (well, until 7pm)" I could write "live lobsters" down and they would deliver. So, needles too say, I have been able to make a lot of different dishes over the past year and really explore tastes, combinations and exotic flavors; a task I don't believe I would have been able to do with a budget like mine & stu's at the moment.

Every week I look through all kinds of sources for recipes. I seriously have hardly repeated a recipe (unless I get a large ovation from the family) over the past year. I enjoy the challenge of trying new things. I have taught myself, either by trial and error or through the aid of "youtube," many techniques including everything from how to cut a butternut squash to the best way to de-seed a pomegranate. The mother of the family has an entire library of cookbooks, from all kinds of cultures, so my menu usually ranges in nationality each week. I also use websites like pinterest, allrecipes.com, cooks.com and epicurious (app) a lot.

I also use a variety of meats, fruits and veggies. I use the standard rule of a protein, a vegetable and or fruit and a starch as the base for my menus. Their family is very health conscious for a number of reasons, so I hardly use red meat. I cook a lot with chicken breasts, ground turkey, pork and fish (all kinds). They make good money so they always buy the "fancy" organic chicken which I LOVE. It makes life easy, it's always very clean and I hardly even need to cut it up. One time I put "salmon fillets" on the grocery list, thinking they'd just buy like frozen fillets and I ended up having to skin fresh salmon from the butcher...an interesting experience.

I also put down on the grocery list what extra produce I will be needing. I say "extra" because this family is part of an organic produce delivery program. Once a week a company called "absolute organics" delivers a cooler full of fresh, organically-grown and might I add, gorgeous, produce. Right to their door. They leave a cooler out in the morning, and I bring in the filled cooler when I arrive in the afternoon. For around $30 a week they get a variety of fruits and veggies. All of it organic, all of it fresh, and all of it IN-SEASON. People forget that strawberries in December should not be available. Sometimes grocery stores carry things that have been chemically altered so that they may be sold out of season. Gross....So, I love this "absolute organics" company and want to belong to this kind of thing when we have kids. You get a lot for your money! For example, this past week (for ~$30) they delivered like 5 pears, 5 apples, a package of blueberries, 1 bunch of lettuce, 6 carrots, a head of cauliflower, a bunch of kale and 4 potatoes. Pretty good huh? And it changes weekly. I'm sold. And this has introduced lots of produce to me that I was not familiar with; like all kinds of chard and kale, acorn squash and delicious pluots (part plum part apricot).

Ok, so I've been rambling. I just have really grown to love my daily cooking life. And I just find food so interesting now. So, here are some recipes that I have cooked lately that I found especially delicious. And easy! I never make something that overwhelms me because I have a lot to do in a little amount of time at work.

1. Spanish Tilapia from food.com--I served this over orzo and sauteed up some lacinato kale in a bit of olive oil with minced garlic and salt and pepper. Simple, but yummy!

2. Glazed Chicken Drumsticks from cooks.com--I served this with brown rice and edamame. The family has lived in Singapore & Hong Kong, so they love asian food. They also have a lot of asian cookbooks and ingredients like rice vinegar and sesame oil. It opens a lot of doors...

3. "Mexican" Chicken--the kids really loved this one--I served it with spanish rice that I cooked from a box (it was a busier night) and added a little avocado and black olives to the chicken when I served it. I also used less cheddar than called for on the chicken (it doesn't need a whole lot--this dish has a lot of flavor).

4. I love quiche and it's way easy to make so I tried this quiche last week: Quiche Lorraine--although quiche is a little on the heavier side, this one uses milk rather than heavy cream so it helps a little. You could also use a whole-wheat pie shell. I added broccoli florets to this as well to get a green veggie in there. Bacon is a good fat according to Dr. Oz (haha) but I still tried to cut up the leanest parts of it when adding it. Also, I didn't serve anything in addition to the quiche because it is so filling by itself, although a salad might have been good. (The kids I nanny hate salad so I hardly ever make one.)

5. Baked Salmon. The kids I nanny LOVE salmon?? How random is that. So I made this the other night and sliced up some potatoes, drizzled them with a bit of olive oil and added salt and pepper. (I cook a lot of things this way--it's simple, quick and delicious. Asparagus with olive oil, s&p is the way to go!! Put it in the oven for a few minutes where it is still cripsy but has had time to soak up the flavor is the only way I eat asparagus anymore!) I cooked up some kind of vegetable, I can't remember what though...

Luckily they haven't demanded any indian food. Thank goodness...it always looks a bit complicated. Although I LOVE indian food and wish I knew how to make it. They probably wish I wasn't so white and could do them a favor and cook like they were at home...however, I did learn one trick from one of their indian mothers who came to stay. She told me that a simple base to many indian dishes is 4 ingredients: cumin, curry powder (either fish or meat curry powder), tumeric and ground fennel. I used these 4 one day and just rubbed some halibut fillets in the mixture and flash-fried them in some canola oil for a minute or so on each side and then baked them...they were SO SO good. This combination is AWESOME. Try it!!!

 I also cook a lot with teriyaki sauce. Either pre-made (light) in a bottle or I make my own with soy sauce, a little brown sugar & mirin (chinese cooking wine): easy and super yummy. I make lots of stir-fry dishes with chicken or shrimp, veggies, sometimes I add noodles. I love woks! I don't make a lot of pasta...if I do, I use whole-wheat. I wasn't the biggest whole-wheat pasta fan until recently. But if a recipe is done right, you can't really tell the difference. Spaghetti happens every now and again though because its so dang easy. I add lots of veggies to the sauce however. I love to use cauliflower. There are a lot of good recipes for it and it is a good replacement for a starch like potatoes.

So anyway, I just thought this would be an easy way to share some recipes and keep them for my own remembering. I enjoy cooking now although I don't feel much like cooking when I get home from work...haha! If you have any healthy and tasty recipes, please share! Email me: juliebriggs09@gmail.com or leave me a comment. Bon appetit!

A Baby Shower for Mrs. Ferguson

I recently had the privilege of throwing one of my best friends, Jamie Ferguson, a baby shower for her first little boy, to be born anytime between now & March 1st (she has had a crazy pregnancy and may be induced soon). Jamie already has 2 lovely little girls, Skylar (4) & Stella (2), who are also Stuart and I's goddaughters. 

Jamie and I have known one another since 7th grade! She is a blessing in my life and we have been with one another for all of life's major and minor events, including all kinds of boyfriend dilemmas, college, Jamie's wedding, the birth of her first child, Skylar and my wedding. I had to miss Stella's birth (I was in Idaho). 

Here is us at Jamie's wedding in 2006! 

This new little bundle of joy will be named, Stuart Parker and we are just STOKED to have another Stuart in the world! Jamie & her husband Dylan are going for the whole "S" thing with their kids and I think that all of their kids' names have been adorable, although I am a little partial ;) I am pumped that I will be in NC for the birth of Stuart! 

I had never thrown a baby shower before and I have to say that I was a little nervous...especially because all of Jamies' kids' parties are always so dang cute. She always has a theme and really goes all out with the food. I spent HOURS on Pinterest; saving ideas and coveting elaborate & expensive showers done by strangers...but I had a budget. Like a "I am a nanny and my husband works for a restaurant and we are trying to save thousands of dollars to move to NYC" kind of budget...I had to narrow it down to a few adorable things and rule out a lot of things I wanted to do...It was going to be THE baby shower of the century!! haha...but I have to say, with a L O T of help from my little baby shower elves (ahem--Jessica Howle, Lara Stroud, Jenna Sistrunk & my Mom), I think I pulled off a pretty great shower. Here are some pictures:

Invites: I learned to tie a new kind of bow and loved how they turned out! 

 And then they just slip into this cute little envelope thingy (sorry about the blurry picture...and the fact that our camera date is STILL wrong...)

 Onesie in the works...we cut out like 50 of these cute little guys and then cut out an additional 50 random shapes like ties, bowties, elephants, ducks & stars....THANKS Stu--he drew out all of our little templates ;) Then we hung them up on clotheslines that hung above the shower and secured them with clothespins.

Ok, so our venue wasn't my favorite (a little crowded with extra tables and random stuff), but it was FREE thanks to my Mom & Stepdad letting us use their church's fellowship hall. Yes, a boy baby shower and PINK walls...hahaha. But here is a shot of some of the onesies hanging.

Centerpieces: this is where I struggled...I could not for the life of me find something affordable/cute/fitting for centerpieces. So I settled for a few rubber ducks and a white candle holder that was also free (they belonged to the church)...so I just tied a blue bow around them and called it good. Anyone recognize the blue runner and idea of a bow around a candle holder? It was our wedding reincarnated! Same runners...same idea with the candle. Easy as pie. Blah...but easy. Whatever.

Cupcakes: I did not want to do a cake. For one, cute cakes are expensive. And two, baking is NOT my strong point. Or decorating rather. So, I settled for baby face cupcakes I stole from pinterest. Ok, I did NOT like how they turned out...they just looked SUPER homemade...you know what I mean?? The eyes looked a little scary and I think the light blue pacifiers were too light against the flesh-colored frosting...flesh frosting was, interesting, to make...here are the ghetto baby cupcakes: If you care to take a shot at these, I found the pacifiers at the dollar store (4 to a pack)

Duck punch: I thought it turned out pretty cute. I LOVE the boyish ducks I found. Although in this picture the ice cream is awkwardly melted and it doesn't look so much like a bubble bath anymore...but it DID! The vanilla ice cream added last makes it look like the ducks are in a blue bath with bubbles :)

 Second drink option: chocolate milk! I saw the idea to have milk at a baby shower on pinterest, of course, and loved it! Milk...at a baby shower! Duh. Adorable. But I didn't want to have regular milk because I didn't think many people would want regular milk. So I opted for chocolate. This was probably the biggest project for the shower! My bff Jess randomly had like 16 starbucks frappacino bottles saved up...over time, she didn't like drink 16 in one sitting or anything. But, she had saved them...and then we found this cute idea for milk bottles online using those same frappacino bottles! They were the perfect shape. We washed them, spray painted the lids blue, used "goo-gone" to take off the starbucks label (that stuff WORKS!) and then labeled them as "MILK." ;) cute huh?

Chicken Salad on bakery rolls: Stu also made this! He wanted to...and it was simple and super delicious.

Dipped pretzels in white chocolate and milk choclate

 The spread also included a veggie plate with onion dip & cookies and cream hershey kisses (which are wrapped in blue!)

 Nametags/favors/'wishes for baby"

Favors:  I wanted a shower favor that was usable...I hate when you go to a baby shower or wedding and the favor is something random you will never use or keep. So, I found a cute website with ideas for baby shower favors and found the idea to use bath salts. Women love pampering and who doesn't love a good bubble bath? So, I found these little plastic bags and filled them with lavender-enriched bath salts.   Again, my bff Jess came to my aid and designed this ADORABLE label to staple over the bags. 

Close-up of the favor (a little blurry): It says, "We shower baby Stuart with gifts of blue, But this little Shower gift is just for you!"--Get it? Baby shower/Shower gift? As in taking a shower/bath with bath salts... I thought it was clever.... ;)

"Wishes for Baby": I found this really cute little mailbox in the dollar section at Target. I left out little slips of paper for guests to write wishes for Baby Stuart and then for them to stick them in the mailbox to give to Jamie & Dylan. Sort of a little keepsake.

                                           

We played three games at the shower. I am usually anti-games for any kind of shower. Just because they can get WEIRD. Especially baby shower games. Like the candy  bar in the diaper one? Or the eating of baby food one? But what else do you do with a guest list of women ranging in age and how they know Jamie? So we played 2 games after everyone had chatted a bit with one another and eaten. And then 1 after gifts and before everyone left. The first game was called "What's in Mommy's Purse?" This game was funny--you received points for things you have in your purse (ranging from normal items like drivers licenses to strange things like hand guns and underwear) and who ever had the most points won. It was funny to see what people carried in their purses. And how many people carried their social security cards in their purse! That was worth 25 points because you aren't supposed to do that! I was like the only one who knew that....if you get your purse stolen=identity stolen as well! 


The second game was a baby trivia game filled with interesting facts about birth and babies. It was fun to hear the debates between moms about what comes first/develops first/etc. 


The last game was all about the mom-to-be and was called "who knows mommy best?" It was basically a bunch of questions about Jamie's interests. Each game had a winner or two and they received a cute little notepad shaped like a pregnant woman and it said "About to Pop!" and even had a little white pencil tied to it with a bow. I wish I had won one...just kidding. I didn't play...anyway....Natalie (my sister-in-law won 2 games but gave her second prize to the runner-up and then one of Jamie's cousins won the last game. We were all surprised that Jamie's Mom got a lot of the questions wrong, haha!

Game time. Here is Jamie working on her purse game!

The ladies...and Dylan in the back video-ing the shower...and "watching" Skylar & Stella (who we set up a movie for! Genius right??)

CUTE Jamie :)

 Gift time! Skylar (left) and Stella helping Jamie :) How cute are their matching dresses?? Love those girls!

Diaper Genie! What Dylan registered for...haha

Jamie & I

I think that the shower went well. Jamie didn't have too many guests show (more food for us!) because Dylan's family all lives in Virginia and Jamie & Dylan now live in Fayetteville (Dylan is stationed there for Army)...but Concord, NC is where Jamie grew up and her mom and dad have a lot of family here that came. Jamie was happy with it and thats all that matters! We had a good time and are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Stuart Parker Ferguson! Hurry up little guy :)