Food and Drink and Prada

This has been a fun week.

Remember the Prada Fragrance give away contest I had a while ago? Well, Jamie over at PARALLEL FIRST was the winner, and this week I actually got to meet her to hand over the prize. It is so neat and sometimes strange to get to meet another blogger--someone that you have only known through blogging. Jamie is just as she seems to be on her blog: smart, vivacious, HILARIOUS, pretty, ETC. She is seriously hilarious. I know she is funny on her blog, but in person she made me cry with laughter. As I told her, I do believe she holds back on her blog. If you are ever out with Jamie drinking (it could happen), please get her to tell you the story of her and her boyfriend riding in a rickshaw in Milwauke at Summer Fest. First she was in a rickshaw...then as the story goes along, she says it was really more like a poor college student under the bridge put together a picnic basket and a wheel barrow to make a "rickshaw" just to get a few bucks from drunk SummerFest patrons. Picnic basket and a wheel barrow--I laughed till I peed. I found Jamie's blog through JONNKIER'S BLOG. Jonniker once helped out a friend of mine in need--and for that I am forever thankful to her.
Here we are after I bothered some lone drinking boy to take our picture. I think Jamie was mortifed...I think we made his day. Jamie seriously has the prettiest skin I have ever seen close up. We visited for 3 hours and never once could I find a pore on her face. Jamie, I need to know your skin care regimen and sunscreen. She also brought me some candy to take home, so my husband loves her now. I had a great time with Jamie, and I hope we can meet up again to talk bangs, travel, men, our dogs, and rickshaws.

Thanks Jamie!!

Next week I hope to post about my new love for Killian and Divine fragrances that I got in New York.

My friend Pat at DOODAD KIND OF TOWN and I had a day of shopping and eating in Chicago on Saturday. We ate at TABLE 52 which is owned by Oprah's former chef, Art Smith. It was good. I plan to write a review of that later.

This weekend I am on the road for research, work, and fun.

Beautiful day to all.

(photos property of MonkeyPosh LLC)

Busy.

Ok--so I have been surprisingly busy this week. I have been meaning to do a blog post for about 5 days now. There has been too much going on-work, fashion week duties and preparations, endless errands, etc. So to finish up on the NYC trip...

We went to see Young Frankenstein because I love Megan Mullaly, Roger Bart, and Andrea Martin. Save your money folks. It had a few funny parts, but not funny enough to make up for the high cost of good seats.

This was in Rockefeller Center when someone told me I looked like Carrie Underwood--WHAT?

Must be the big hair. New York has good water or something because my otherwise insane hair always acts nice while I am there. By the way--it is big like that because of the wind. By the way again--I do not like Carrie Underwood at all, but I am Southern-so for someone to say my hair may resemble someone with big old Nashville hair makes me happy.

This is me in the biting wind and bitter cold with my Duane Reade Couture bag in front of Carolines. I love comedy and I love Carolines.
This is a shot of Lake Michigan from the plane back into Chicago. It was so cold that the lake was frozen. That freaks me out, so I had to get a pic of it. I am so sick of winter.

On another note, I spent Friday and Monday in Chicago shopping and eating with old friends and meeting up with the darling and hilarious Jamie -who won the Prada. More on that later.

Have a great day.

(all photos from MonkeyPosh LLC)

New York With a Fork!

New York was a blur of beauty, musicals, shopping, research, etc, but in this post I want to talk about FOOD. We ate at some great NYC restaurants and such, but I did not have my camera at some of them. This post is all about a few of the delicious and delightful haunts we visited.PASTRAMI--Enough said. KATZ'S DELI is delicious! My husband and I struggled over cheating on our beloved Second Avenue Deli (which has moved from it's historical original location at 2nd and 10th --oy the heartbreak of that) but we decided to take a chance on Katz's. In addition to adoring my pastrami sandwich, I loved the sweet potato knish and the cole slaw with the sweet mayo. The cole slaw seriously tasted like ice cream. Can you even imagine? Leave it to a Jewish Deli to make mayo that tastes of ice cream. I think all my life's dreams just came true in that last sentence. Jesus, I love Jews.
My favorite hotel in NYC has to be the Peninsula on 55th and 5th. I have stayed in many places in NYC and for location, convenience, staff, and accomodations I more often than not choose the Peninsula.One night they brought me this to the room:

It was a trio of delicious sweets. I loved the presentation, and of course I loved the goods. It was gratis--cause that is how they roll at the Peninsula. When you are a return visitor, they treat you right.

One of the best things BY FAR of the whole trip was eating at PERILLA located at 9th and Jones right off Bleeker. It is the new venture (opened in May 2007) of Harold Dieterle--the talented and handsome winner of the first season of Top Chef. HERE is a little YouTube video tribute to Harold. The music choice makes me chuckle.

Perilla has a very cool, modern vibe. I would not necessarily call the food Asian-Fusion but it definitely has an Asian lean. The menu is original and delicious. We started with the pork belly. The name alone--pork belly- kinda made me cringe, but my husband assured me it was "just like thick bacon". Indeed it was like thick bacon--thick, fatty, flavorful bacon-what is not to love? For dinner I had the grouper with plantains and my husband had the roasted duckling. It was beyond the beyond. My husband's meal fit somewhere in his top 5 favorite meals of all time, which says a lot because my husband has eaten a lot of unique meals in many restaurants and many different countries. He even said that meal almost made him forget about the wreck (see post below) he had the day before. His only complaint was that "Harold carries cheap whiskey". Crown Royal, Harold--CROWN ROYAL!

This is me all proud of my Perilla meal (and my slight Merry Edwards buzz). To top the meal off we had the frozen chocolate mousse served on a graham cracker with a scorched marshmallow on top--DIVINE. I look forward to my next meal at Perilla--and next time I will be sure to book a manicure at JIN SOON natural hand and foot spa-which is only a couple doors down. Hopefully next time I can swoon over Harold too. I love a man who can cook.

Delicious day to all!

(all photos from MonkeyPosh LLC)

Wrecks and John Henry

I am home from New York, but it has been a whirlwind.....Friday when my husband was driving to work, he was hit at 40 mph by a less than honorable person--WITH NO INSURANCE. He was hit so hard from behind that my car (he was driving my car) hit the car in front of him--so now the front and the back of my car are both banged up. Thank God my husband was not hurt, but now it is a flurry of insurance and estimates and rental cars and stress. ACK! I will post more on my trip tomorrow, but today I present you John Henry. John Henry is a fan favorite of legendary status amongst my fragrance friends. I have known him for years. He is always such a lovely man full of wit, wisdom and all beautiful things. I spotted him and there was much hugging and hand lotion.

This trip to NYC was all about food, fragrance, friends, makeup, musicals, and freaking cold weather. More on that tomorrow.

Lovely day to all!

(photo from MonkeyPosh LLC)

The Big Apple

I am off on a quick weekend trip to New York City. It will be part work -but mostly play.

Have a wonderful weekend and Happy Martin Luther King Day to all.

(photo of the view of NYC from the Mandarin Oriental New York property of MonkeyPosh LLC)

Sunday Night Wanderlust

For some reason, Sunday nights always lend themselves to wanderlust for me. My greatest love in life is travel. I will not be satisfied till I see the world. So here I am with a glass of wine dreaming of all the great places in the world I have yet to see. In honor of my chronic wanderlust, I give you photos of my trip to Rome. Titan Fountain.

The Coliseo (as the Romans call it).

View from the Coliseo of the colorful street and my hair.

Vine covered passageway to one of the many gorgeous churches. The Vatican and Saint Peter's Square.

Me in the amazing St. Peter's Basilica comtemplating the confessional.

Inside the Coliseo.
Very cool Roman bathtub.


We stayed at the St. Regis Grand and every night they had a snack waiting for us in the room. This night it was pecorino cheese, breadsticks, and Chianti--delicious.

This is me at the Fontana de Trevi. The fountain is gorgeous, but even more so at night, however be prepared for lots of people and be aware of pickpockets.

This summer I hope to travel more to fun and exotic places. One of my main goals of 2008 is more travel. Do any of you have any fun trips planned for 2008? If so, please share with me.

Beautiful day to all.

(all photos property of MonkeyPosh LLC)

I heart Belle Gray!

I have been a fan and customer of Lisa Rinna's store, BELLE GRAY since she opened about 3 years ago. I was in Chicago recently and I saw the most stylish girl carrying the most gorgeous bag and I had to ask her what it was. Turns out it was the Caldwell Bag by Goldenbleu. I asked her where she got it and she said Belle Gray. I came straight home and started checking out all their new stuff on line. I am in love with this Goldenbleu Caldwell Patent Handbag. I love the big button details and the gorgeous blue color. I also love this Madison Marcus 3/4 Sleeve Blouse. Again, the color is like the above bag and I am in love with it. Demure yet sexy! This is the Oh Deer Toffee Houndstooth Pump also found at Belle Gray. It is so classic and "sexy secretary".

I am always looking for lovely clutches for nights on the town and events. This Laura Merkin Eve Clutch is gorgeous. It is all about the patent leather this season and this color is to die for.
Love Love Love this bag! This is the Goldenbleu Marni Croc Handbag. It would so not be practical for me to carry a white bag as I would have it filthy in no time, but this one takes my breath away. It reminds me of a vintage doctor bag and I am always searching for a cool looking doctor bag purse. Beautiful!

Belle Gray also carries their own line of candles. They are named after Lisa Rinna's daughters with Harry Hamlin -the Delilah and the Amelia candles. My favorite is the Amelia. So warm and delightful. I have ordered this candle about 3 times from the Belle Gray website. The throw is great and they last a long time. *They seem to be out of the candles on the website, but if you call the store they will ship them.

You can click here: BELLE GRAY to find all items posted.

You can also call Belle Gray direct at:

866-423-5534 -- or -- 818-789-4021

Belle Gray has 2 locations. One in Sherman Oaks, CA or the newer location in Calabasas, CA.

(all photos from Bellegray.com , all swooning courtesy of MonkeyPosh)

Hi Lisa!

And the winner is.....

First off, I would like to thank everyone who visited MonkeyPosh and entered to win the Prada fragrance. I meant to do the drawing yesterday, but I was busy at the vet with my elderly dog. More on that later.....but today I put all the entries in a hat....and I drew out the winner.......and the winner is........JAMIE --who has her own sassy blog here: PARALLEL FIRST . I have never met Jamie, and I am not sure how I started reading Jamie's blog, but she is smart and has a wicked sharp wit. She is also very pretty and has an adorable pup named Doc....AND she is soon going to smell like crisp linen in the Prada! Another great thing about Jamie winning is that she lives in Chicago, so rather than mail the fragrance to her-- maybe I can just meet her for coffee and give it to her then. That would be double awesome. Anyways--Congrats Jamie!

On another note--Please send my dog, Forrest some good vibes. Bless his heart. He is old and arthritic. He has become quite aggressive lately too--probably due to the pain is in his back legs. The vet said he may also have a form of doggie dementia. Everyone who has ever met Forrest would say this comes as no surprise. He has always been a little "special". He is very cranky and has started to bite in his old age--this is how Forrest looks most of the time now-He almost refuses to go outside in this cold weather and he has bitten both my husband and me for trying to make him. He also snaps at little Finley a lot. Because we love Forrest and we want the family to live in blood free harmony, we had to resort to this:

A muzzle. It breaks my heart, but he is much more calm and humble in the muzzle. It sucks to get old. By the way, he has had every test (blood, liver, etc) done under the sun and he is healthy other than his old joints and cranky disposition. He is also on a new medication now for pain and clear thinking. Hopefully he (and his attitude) will improve soon.

Thanks again to everyone who entered to win the Prada, and since so many people asked-- the color on my nails in the post below is Maybelline Salon Finish Nail Color in Rouge Red.

I plan to do many more giveaways here at MonkeyPosh in 2008 so stay tuned!

Beautiful day to all!

(all photos from MonkeyPosh LLC)