{Events} Where Women Cook & a Giveaway

Last Friday, I found myself back at Chelsea Market, not eating my way through all the sweets like last time, but instead meeting the women behind all these great sweets and more.

I was fortunate enough to attend an event to launch a new magazine called Where Women Cook - a new magazine from the same publishers of my favorite magazine Artful Blogging.

I just knew it was going to be good! What drew me to this event were the people that were going to be there. Some bloggers that I had been following were going to be featured in the inaugural issue.

The event was held in a large room right next to Chelsea Market Baskets.

When I got there, the line was pretty long but fortunately it moved quickly. While I was waiting in line, I got to talking to the group of women ahead of me. We instantly hit it off and spent the rest of the event together. I love networking!!

When I got into the event, the first table was set up with magazines and various books written by some of the women who were featured in the magazine. The room was so cute! It was decorated with aprons! Aprons hung all over on every wall. It made the event feel very warm and friendly.

I bought a couple of magazines and made my way to each table meeting the various foodies in attendance. I was so excited to meet some of New York's legendary foodies starting with Amy from Amy's Bread.

Bread just has to be the best food on earth, don't you think??

There were other "women of Chelsea Market", including Mary Cleaver - owner of The Green Table restaurant. Organic. Fresh. Local. And a WINE bar!!

The next table had Serena from The Farm Chicks (on the left) - a blog I recently discovered. I love her blog so I was REALLY excited to meet her in person. Look how cute she is!! She's equally as sweet! Definitely check out her blog if you haven't already. On the right is Celeste Shaw - owner of Cake Bakery. She was equally as cute and full of personality!

The first blog I ever started reading was Bakerella. You may remember me telling you about her book signing I recently went to. Well, a couple of years ago when reading Bakerella, she mentioned she was so excited about going to "the ranch". What ranch I thought?? I felt so clueless. I clicked on the link and all I could think was WOW!!! It brought me over to The Pioneer Woman.

The photos were (and still are) so amazing! Horses, cows, and lots and lots of open land. A far cry from my NY lifestyle!! I was in amazement! I've enjoyed reading her blog and watching her success just go through the roof!! Books, TV appearances, movie deals and who knows what else she has in store! She's been a true inspiration.

Hers was the next table coming up. Ahhhh!!! I can't believe I'm going to meet Pioneer Woman!!

She was very nice - we chatted a bit about our girls and the differences between city life and life on a ranch. I told her how all that open space would just freak me out.

I need my crowds. My takeout. My noisy upstair neighbors!

We took a picture together. Don't we look so comfortable together?!?

These are the women I was telling you about earlier - the ones I met in line. Not to be confused with friends I met "online".

Starting from the left, Angie is a photographer (love that!) so we had a lot to chat about.

Then there's Celeste - we had the cake love bonding us. She organized a Cupcake Camp on The Oregon Coast. She managed to get BAKERELLA to come and do some classes! Must have been super fun!

Dianna was also at the Cupcake Camp. She's an amazing cake decorator that has been on a number of Ultimate Cake Off shows (my older one is obsessed with that show) and she also works at the very famous Carlo's Bake Shop. Woo Hoo!! We had cake AND the NY thing bonding us.

Then there was Geri - she was also part of the group - guess she wanted her own photo with Pioneer Woman. She's a professional drummer (so cool!) and her family has a farm and store called Bertha & Brambles in Freeman, WA.. filled with lots of vintage charm.

I also met the creator of the magazine - Jo Packham.

She was so friendly, and stylish! She has creativity oozing out of her! I'm hoping to make it to The Creative Connection 2011 event this coming September in Minnesota and meet her again!

Then there was Sarabeth. THE Sarabeth. THE Sarabeth of Sarabeth's Kitchen!! (2nd from the left with fellow foodies Molly Wizenberg - next issue's cover girl, and on the right award winning cookbook author & chef Rozanne Gold (super friendly!))

All I can say is YUM!! I love Sarabeth's plum cherry preserves. Mmm Mmm Mmm. I've got to try the raspberry key lime? Sounds soooo good! When I lived on the upper west side, many a times I would attempt to eat Sunday brunch at her restaurant. Many a times, the line was out the door. Many a times, I didn't get to go.

I don't live on the upper west side anymore.

I don't even go out for brunch anymore.

Waaaaaahhh!!!! Poor me.

As I said in the beginning, I bought 2 copies of the magazine and had all of the lovely ladies that were there sign them.

One for me, and one for one of you!!

I tried to keep it organized and have them sign mine addressed to Total City Girl and the other just a general one but I kept getting them mixed up so some of the pages will be addressed to Total City Girl. If YOU are a city girl, this shouldn't be a problem then, right?!?

This magazine is so beautiful! Lots of great photos, interesting stories and of course, recipes!!

If you'd like to get this signed issue, just let me know in the comments section. Tell me if you plan on cooking anything special this weekend. I for one will not be, but I did a lot of cooking this week. I made Texas Chain Gang Chili, Chicken & Dumplings, and homemade pasta sauce with meatballs. I'll be taking a break this weekend because next week I have a lot of baking to do.

The deadline for entry is Monday December 20th at 10pm. A winner will be chosen at random and announced on Tuesday December 21st.

Have a great weekend!

Weird!!

While I'm working on my post about the Where Women Cook event I attended last week, I thought I'd share a few quick photos straight from the streets of NY.

When I got off the subway and was walking west on 15th street towards Chelsea Market, I came across this and just had to get my camera out.

I snapped away and stood there in amazement. I felt like there was such a story behind this car.

Does it belong to a hoarder?

Why is this person saving so many newspapers?

Is someone living in there?

Or buried in there?

Rats?

Roaches?

What could it be? I noticed other people stopping and trying to peak inside. I honestly didn't want to get THAT close.

What do YOU think?

{Field Trip Fridays} Laila Rowe

This week I met my friend Pam for sangria and appetizers. We decided to go to one of our favorite places - Cafe Ronda on Columbus Avenue between 71st and 72nd. I'll write a separate post about them another time. One of the reasons I love going there is because of their next door neighbor - Laila Rowe.

Laila Rowe is one of my favorite stores in the city.

Their accessories are fun, fashionable and extremely affordable! Gotta love that! And one more thing, they always have some kind of sale going on!

They hawe lots of bracelets, earrings, rings and necklaces and they are usually organized by color so it makes it super easy to find something especially if you're looking for that perfect accessory to go with a particular outfit.

I absolutely LOVED this necklace!

It had these metal disks with black satin ribbon weaved through them.

I was also eyeing this cameo necklace as well.

Besides jewelry, they have lots of great hair accessories! It's like headband heaven!

Even when it rains in NY, you still want to look stylish. And now you can! Here they have a wide array of rain boots

and even fashionable umbrellas!

Bags, sunglasses and even decorative paper!

Especially with the holidays coming up, Laila Rowe is the perfect place to go to accessorize your holiday outfits.

There are a few locations in the city but I tend to go to the one on Columbus. If you don't live in NY but still want to check them out, no problem - you can go to the Laila Rowe website!!

Their website doesn't have everything you'll see in the store but there's still a great selection.

What's your favorite type of accessory?

{Field Trip Fridays} Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon Inflation

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Ours turned out well. I cooked a lot so I have plenty of leftovers which means I won't be in the kitchen for a few days. Woo Hoo!!

Since I knew I'd be cooking all day and wouldn't have a chance to get down to see the parade, I thought it would be fun to go see the balloons being blown up Wednesday night. I thought it would be a great photo op as well.

When I lived on 78th & Amsterdam, each night before Thanksgiving, the floats would come up Amsterdam Ave making their way into Central Park. I had the perfect view and it was always fun to watch.

My sister and I decided to take the kids down to see the balloons being blown up. We THOUGHT this would be a fun adventure for them. Riding the subway, seeing the balloons, the energy of the holidays in the city. We thought it would be great.

We prepared - my sister left the baby with a babysitter and only took her older son. This was the best call of the night. We made sure they were fed, dressed warm and went to the bathroom before we left. We thought we had all bases covered.

I was really looking forward to a magical evening filled with fun photos.

My girls started out ok.

We started out at 79th & Columbus. There was a huge line set up to go see the balloons.

The streets were crowded but believe it or not, it was a controlled chaos. At least the lines kept moving.

Then it all started:

"This is boring"

"Where are the balloons??"

"My feet hurt"

"I'm HUNGRY!!"

I tried to ignore it and luckily we got a little closer where you could actually see some balloons through the trees.

This was promising. It meant we were getting closer.

We made our way down to 77th street and just had to turn the corner heading east. The balloons were all lined up along 77th street.

It was hard to juggle 2 kids and a camera in this huge crowd. I constantly had to make sure the girls were right next to me. You can get separated in a matter of seconds. This made it almost impossible to get descent photos. It was basically a point and shoot scenario. No time to set up that perfect shot.

On 77th, we managed to see Shrek, Hello Kitty, Spongebob, Ronald McDonald, Kermit The Frog, and a couple of others I didn't recognize.

Then I saw this...

I knew all hell was about to break loose. I had to make a decision - my camera or my sanity. It took a few moments but I finally decided, my camera had to go back in my bag. It was over.

The whining, crying and complaining from my little one was at its peak. I thought I was so prepared! I guess I was wrong.

We got as close to the balloons as we were allowed and I thought seeing Spongebob would elevate her mood.

Nope.

"Pick me up. Pick me up. PICK ME UP!!!!!"

I ended up having to carry her as much as I can, taking breaks every few minutes so my arms wouldn't fall off. We made it to the end of 77th street, had to turn up Central Park West and head back across 81st street where there were more balloons. We whizzed through this side but I managed to see Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear, Energizer Bunny, Pillsbury Dough Boy, Snoopy and others less recognizable.

We made it out of the crowds, back over to Broadway and 78th and went to New Pizza Town, my favorite pizza place in my old neighborhood.

As if a miracle occurred, the mood changed and everyone was happy again.

Pizza. The miracle drug.

Who was that demon I was with for the past hour?

I learned my lesson. Next year it's just, me, my older one and my camera.

Have you ever been to this event? What was your experience? Did you go to the parade?

"Blogging Your Way" NYC Meetup

Recently I took an online blogging class called Blogging Your Way. It was way more than the technical stuff you need to know about blogging. It went much deeper than that. I really enjoyed it and feel like I am more focused because of it. You will definitely be seeing some new changes here soon!!

So, as the class was coming to a close, I thought it would be a fun idea to organize a meetup with fellow NYC students so we can meet in person rather than only having an online friendship. I put it out there, got some responses and set the date.

We decided to meet a couple of days ago at Flute - a champagne bar in midtown. I thought it would be a good location because it's very cozy and comfortable. Instead of just "hanging out at the bar", they have little nooks set up with couches and coffee tables. Would be a perfect spot for "date night" as well.

It ended up being 5 of us. Two more were supposed to come but unfortunately one person got sick (awww) and the other had a biz meeting. (yay - work it !!) We'll have to catch them next time around.

It was really a special night. 5 strangers getting together starting out with handshakes and 3 hours later ending up embraced with hugs. It was so interesting to hear every one's story, their lives, why they started a blog, and of course discussing the class.

Before the evening was over, I had to snap a picture of these great women.

First up is Christine. Her blog is called Happy Lady Decorates and she's all about interior design.

Suzanne from Cinderella Patch - a city girl that loves crafts! Could it get any better?!?

Ivy from IvyAllOver. Ivy shares her beautiful artwork on her blog. She even had one of her pieces featured in the winter issue of Artful Blogging magazine - one of my favorite mags!!

Then there's Johanna (the H is silent). Her blog is called The Shutter. We both share a love for photography.

We also asked the server to take a picture of all of us.

Our first offcial in-person get together. Looking forward to our next one!

Do you do any networking in your area? How do you feel about getting together with strangers?

*** Self Absorbed Superficial Side Note ***

Isn't it funny when you look at photos and there's one with you in it, all you notice is yourself?? I KNOW you know what I'm talking about! I just have to say, I looked like a completely different person 12 hours prior to when this photo was taken. Only you curly haired obsessive crazy people out there like me will relate. I put so much effort into my hair that day. It looked GREAT when I left my apartment early that morning. I even got compliments from strangers!! The weather in the city was threatening rain all day so it had that cold wet humidity going on. By 7pm, it had no chance.

Thanks for listening.

Had to get that off my chest.

I'm on to more important things now - tomorrow's field trip!

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Bakerella Book Signing Event

One of the first blogs I started to follow is Bakerella. She makes the cutest cake pops! If you don't know what a cake pop is, think of a small ball of cake on a stick. I made them a couple of times. I made rainbow cake pops and patriotic cake balls. If you have time you should also check out Bakerella's blog. Lots of inspiration!

So when I found out she was going to be at Williams Sonoma for her NYC book signing, I just had to go. I wanted to get her book when it came out but figured I'd wait until I meet her.

I'm not really someone that cares about autographs. Normally I couldn't care less. But I am someone that just LOVES books! I'm also so happy for her. From reading her blog, I've really watched her success blossom. It's very inspiring and motivating!

My birthday was exactly a week ago and my girls gave me a gift card to Barnes & Noble. They also know how much I love books! So, since I was early to the book signing, I figured I'd head over to B&N, buy my book there with the gift card, then come back to Williams Sonoma to get it signed. Sounds like a good plan, right? I thought so also until I got to W.S. and they told me she'd only be signing books purchased at their store. Their rules, not hers.

Errrrrr!!!

Had to buy another copy!!

Waiting on line wasn't too bad.

I got to chat with some nice people.

This woman was just ahead of me.

We had a nice little chat Turns out she's a nurse and a runner. Can you guess what her blog is called? Nurse On The Run!! So appropriate.

As you get closer, you see 2 big trays of cake balls.

They look pretty good! They had red velvet and Golden yellow. I chose the yellow. I shoved it in my pocket and waited until after I met Bakerella to try it. The last thing I wanted to have happen was to have cake bits stuck between my teeth!! Wouldn't be pleasant for me, or Bakerella!

Now it's my turn - there she is waiting for me!

When it was my turn, I handed my camera to a William Sonoma worker to take our picture. There was also a professional photographer taking pictures as well.

We smiled,

we chatted

and then it was all over in just a few minutes.

I left with my cake ball in my pocket and my book signed.

Have you ever been to a book signing event? Who was the author?