A free $90K wedding? Where was I when this contest was offered?

Philly.com and Events at ISM are giving one lucky couple a wedding at the newly enhanced Independence Seaport Museum, to include catering from Culinary Concepts, a custom wedding dress, flowers, photography and some gorgeous wedding bands. It sounds positively dreamy.

You can go ahead and check out all the couples vying for your vote at http://philly.upickem.net/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=10465&s=1821310&i=1&m=X#SD.

After checking out all the photos of these wonderful and loving couples, I can’t help but feel a bit teary-eyed that so much lovin’ is going on! Huzzah!

a young woman staring at all her clothes

This season, if you are like most people, you would like to lose weight, turn your pasty-white skin into something more sensual and get toned and firm. I am firmly in the category of “all of the above” plus, my modest spring cleaning goal this year is to expand my closet space. If closet space is gold, I am pathetically at mud level. For those who know me, this is a rather a desperate and impossible mission which gets tackled with regularity and equal futility.

There are three factors to squarely blame for my condition. First, I am a bit of clothes horse (my husband furrows his eyebrows at this point and say “bit”?) and I am a true sentimentalist (you know, clothes can be your friends/memories) and also I am my mother’s daughter (don’t throw that away! That’s real wool!).

The result? My drawers are groaning and overflowing. Both of my bottom chest drawers are broken; too much stuffed inside.

Since it has been so darn cold and there is nothing else to do on the weekend, I started to clean in earnest. Out came the memories, like a dirty old grey sweatshirt with the words “Jackman Rebels” emblazoned across it. I must have gotten this from some high school story I covered way back when I was a street reporter. I can’t even remember. But I would never get rid of this shirt. Just think, I might have to get back into investigative journalism someday and need to pose as a high school student (my husband now lifts his chin slightly and then drops it while saying sotto voce “not”")

How about my Hello Kitty t-shirt? It’s pink, really cute and shows my belly. It was worn during a time of extreme adolescence. I mean 30 in L.A. is like being 18, right?

How about my high quality oversized “Oprah” sweatshirt, which has endured dozens of washings? The Queen of Daytime TV gave it to me personally after I interviewed her at her studios in Chi-town. I brought it home, and swore to keep it pristine. But my then boyfriend started wearing it. There he was: handsome guy wearing an Oprah sweatshirt. Sort of like George Clooney wearing a “I’m single, serious, sensitive and thoughtful” shirt. Needless to say….a veritable chick magnet. Funny, how often he wore it while we were dating. He wore it all the time: at home, to the market, on his way to do errands, on overnight trips. Hmm! Now he married to some heiress, probably because of that sweatshirt. Of course, I can’t throw away this damn sweatshirt! The memories, the memories!

The bright spot in my journey to ultimate closetdom is that I am planning a covert takeover of my husband’s closet. He doesn’t know it yet. He may never know it. I studied his habits, and he rarely looks down at the lower left part of his second closet. That is where I plan to “borrow” some space by stowing my “masculine” and darker colored clothing, larger jackets and sweater, so they blend right in. This would indeed be a victory of sorts. Yes, a hollow victory, because I really didn’t clean anything up, but a successful one, because I did garner more space.

You see, dear reader, I cannot empty my drawers. I have too many stories of which to “draw upon.” Argh!

What you give as a gift says a lot.

So this Christmas, I receive several interesting presents; lots and lots of scented products. Is someone trying to tell me something?

I gave my daughter’s babysitter a collection of eye shadows and lipgloss from Sephora. She was initially happy, but then she says, “Do you really think I need all this?”

Good intentions go far.  Sort of. My husband says, “Honey, I got you something for Christmas that is battery operated for the bedroom”.  We have been married for 6 years, so I gamely, diplomatically say, “OK” (first part of word is neutral, middle part goes way down, and then the last part goes way up.)

I know it can’t be what we are all thinking (Yes. You were thinking of it too), especially since he said it in front of my step-daughter.

Turns out it is a Zeo Personal Sleep Coach (battery operated, ahem), which uses a wireless headband, a bedside display and set of analytical tools to figure out and analyze the quality of your sleep.

I don’t need a machine to tell me that I sleep lousily. The baby keeps me awake with coughing and crying. Right when I am REMing, someone decides to flush the toilet above our room. Later in the night, when I am having the dream of a lifetime: my house is clean, I am three months ahead with the video production, my belly is a 6 pack…a scream pierces my happy place. The baby is awake and here we go again….reality!

Immediately after I open the Zeo, which looks like a high tech alarm clock, I am thinking these thoughts. So I ask my husband if this Zeo machine is returnable. He looks crestfallen. OK. I say. Again. I will try it out tonight.

Out of 100 points on the Zeo machine, whereby 100 is the best quality sleep, I score a 21. That makes my convictions about my poor quality of sleep even more concrete. The number makes me depressed. I know I didn’t sleep well, but this machine brings it home to me and gives me failing grade.

My husband is very eager to analyze my sleep patterns. He is convinced that there is some hidden, high tech answer to my travails. There isn’t. When the baby sleeps through the night, when I get more (any) exercise, and when I am not reading a great book before bed, I can sleep on time and so beautifully. There is no high tech answer!

After getting my failing score of 21, my husband re-reads the directions and declares I must wear this wireless headband on my noggin’ for 6 more days to get an accurate reading. Accurate? You sleep like crap. That will be the conclusion to the sixth degree.

Will keep you posted on my sleep strategies, if you aren’t snoozing already.

Happy New Year and Good night!

My New Year’s resolution? Write more blogs! (My producers are saying…ya, right, hold your breath)

We have so much fun here at SnapGlow.TV. As Executive Producer, I oversee every aspect of the production of our videos and our photo galleries. The pace is fast and furious so it is sometimes hard to sit down and recount it all.

So much for that lame apologia!

Alrighty now. With the weather changing from cold to colder and the wind whipping our skins into tangled, mangled flesh…it’s time to spoil ourselves a little with big results and on a tight budget.

That said…we are working on a delectable story that involves delicious foods, like almonds, oatmeal, berries and mint tea. It’s all about using wholesome food to not only nourish your insides, but nourish your face as well. We interviewed the lovely Elina Safin of AboutPhace (www.aboutphace201.com) whose devotion to perfect skin is obvious. She calls herself a Gourmet pHacialist. And you wouldn’t believe what she can do with baking soda!! Cheap and highly effective is the best way to describe it. Just the way this SnapGlowGirl likes it.

This video airs later this month. Hold your breath!

View gallery

Boyds, Piccolini and South Moon Under provided the clothing. I was reluctantly enlisted to be one of the models, after a gorgeous blonde mom and her Teutonic children bowed out at the last minute. It was all about featuring the hottest holiday fashions for sexy moms and their kids. Yes....it’s hard to believe, but it's a snap to be chic with kids! (Even as my daughter smears her peanut butter fingers all over this post. Over and out!)

Okay, you’re tall (nearly 6 foot 6) and blonde,  and a prodigious talent. Oh, yea! And you design the hottest hotels in the world, have a deal with Target to help huisvrouws like me furnish our homes and your favorite projects are being spotlighted at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. If this artist was a gal, you might be tempted not like her, but you wouldn’t be able to help it.

I just interviewed Marcel Wanders, the Dutch rock star powerhouse about his design philosophy and how to bring good design into the home. Look for our video in the next few weeks. He’s a charmer.

His exhibit created especially for the Philadelphia Museum of Art is funky, playful and fun. The opening night cocktail party is where I’ll be tonight checking out the scene at the Perelman Building of the Art Museum. Tickets at 215-235-7469 or online at philamuseum.org. The exhibition runs from this Sunday through June.

Good design makes us happy.

More images

Here are some happenings of designers and restaurants we’ve featured here on SnapGlow.TV:

Matthew Izzo will be holding a trunk show for Philadelphia-based designer, Strangefruit on Saturday, November 7th from 12-5pm at 151 North 3^rd Street in Philadelphia. Strangefruit was one of the featured lines at Philadelphia’s Fashion Week. Sleek and very wearable shapes.

At the Random Tea Room and Curiosity Shoppe at 713 North 4^th Street in Philadelphia, the new tea selection this month includes a popular Argentinean roasted Yerba Maté blend that people can’t seem to get enough of.

Additionally, they’ve got a wide selection of new herbs that they’ve added to the menu. These herbs can be steeped on their own, or added to one of their pre-existing herbal infusion blends for an added flavor and health boost. They are positively herbatious! (If that is indeed a word) They’ve already updated their new herb selection three times within the last five weeks. Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!

More images

Women so often have to be brave. But you don’t have to go it alone.

Whether it is facing the death of a loved one or a child, or dealing with rejection in a career quest or problems at home, there are several online resources and centers to help you muster the courage to wake up the morning and face another day.

If you are going through a difficult time, or know someone who is, there’s a wonderful website called www.onebravechick.com. This dynamic trio of founding “brave chicks” wanted to celebrate all women and each of their unique stories; a company that would celebrate any woman, anywhere, who needed a shot in the arm of courage;— anyone who looked life in the eye, and said, “That’s all you got? Well I’m still here. I’m One Brave Chick.”

Another wonderful place is Peter’s Place at www.petersplaceonline.org. As a center with a supportive environment to help grieving children and families in Radnor, PA, this dynamic organization will have their autumn fundraising event called “An Affair of the Arts, to be held Saturday, October 24th at 7pm in the Northern Liberties at the Baltzell Design Center. Tickets range from $150 to $1,000. Founded in 2001 in memory of 10-year old Peter Mosbach, Peter’s Place provides a range of programs and services including providing peer support for grieving children, teens and their caregivers; peer support for young adults; and grief training and education for schools and health professionals.

The fundraiser will feature food, music and entertainment as guests bask in the creative works of top artists. You’ll feel good about being around the company of caring and loving individuals. You’re not alone. Check it out!

You can register online at: https://www.kintera.org/AutoGen/Register/ECReg.asp?ievent=327094&en=fwIYJbNQIiL1JbMVIoLUI6P0IsL8IrO4JhISLcNVIkJ6InMZImJfH