The other night, I was lucky enough to attend Women in Need”s Home for the Holidays benefit, and was blown away by the good will and gracious, amazing people I was surrounded by.
Designers like Diane von Furstenberg and celebrities including Justin Timberlake each designed one of 29 different model houses tto be auctioned off to support the cause.
Check out the video below to learn more:
Women In Need (”WIN”) is an amazing organization - it has existed for over two decades, and raises money to help find housing and living assistance to homeless women and their children in the New York City area.
I was blown away by the charity and good will of this organization, and I want to do everything I can do to support them. Clearly, I cannot do much in the way of raising money - but I can in the way of raising awareness, and I hope all of you go to check out their site immediately.
Calling all foodies, Food Network fans, and master chefs of your own kitchens!
On Nov. 3, the Food Network and NAMCO BANDAI Games released a brand new cooking game for the Wii – Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked. If you haven’t heard about it, the game features Food Network personality Susie Fogelson, of The Next Food Network Star, and Food Network Kitchens chef Mory Thomas – and teaches you 30+ real Food Network recipes and the skills and culinary tricks you need to execute them with precision.
In honor of the launch of the first and only video game developed in collaboration with the Food Network, NAMCO BANDAI Games and the Food Network has teamed up with A Little Alytude to giveaway culinary cornucopia prize pack that includes a copy of the game, plus tools of the trade and other fun Food Network and Cook or Be Cooked branded items to help you take the cooking skills you’ve learned in the game into your very own kitchens.Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked Prize Pack
- 1 copy of Food Network: Cook or Be Cooked for the Wii ($39.99 retail value)
To have your chance to win, share one dish you’ve always attempted to create - and not yet succeeded at! Deadline to enter is November 27. Earn extra entries by RT-ing on Twitter, and following me (I’m @alywalansky). Good luck!
Last week, I hung out with the Trapiche wine team at BLT burger for a tasting/lunch demo. It was SO fun, and so educational.
Imagine a world where you pair Extra Brut with potato, cheese and jalapeno nachos. A world where it WORKS. (I call that Aly-land.)
As the lunch went on, we tried six different varietals of sliders, and the accompanying wines. You know how wine tastings are normally filled with suits eating cheese? Try jeans and t-shirts and dirty jokes as we ate gourmet burgers of fancy beef or lamb or salmon. Hog heaven (except we ate no pork).
The wine is delicious - and an amazing value - the Extra Brut I speak of was barely over $10, and I found myself wanting more of it as I moved on to fried pickles and French fries. I want to go to Argentina…and hang out with sexy Argentian wine men named Gustavo all day long, sipping Malbec and enjoying life.
The economy may not be recovering yet, but check it out: We can benefit from that!
PricePickle.com is one of my favorite new sources for free coupons. Stores are issuing deep discounts in the form of online-only coupons to attract consumers for the upcoming shopping season without affecting revenues at their local bricks-and-mortar stores.
“There has never been a better time to shop online than this holiday season,” stated PricePickle.com founder Keith Ramirez. “Retailers are hungry for consumers’ business. The trend in recent years has been toward online shopping during the holidays, so that’s where we’re finding the discounts. It’s the perfect opportunity for people to make the holidays affordable without sacrificing the quality of life to which they have grown accustomed.”
Here’’s some great deals I found on the site:
– 20% off an entire Hot Topic order
– up to 50% off printers at HP.com
– five personal training sessions for $89 from 24-Hour Fitness
– free iPod engraving at the Apple Store
– $15 off an order of $100 or more at Macys.com
– 30% off select fine wines at Wine.com
– up to 50% off select Barbies and action figures at ToysRUs.com
– $400 off a hotel-plus-flight package at the Disneyland Resort hotels
through Southwest Air
Women’s Wear Daily’s Bridget Foley sits down with designer Isaac Mizrahi as he heads to QVC for “Isaac Mizrahi Live,” slated to make its debut December 4th. Mizrahi will feature his own favorite goodies, from handbags and berets to toggle coats to cheesecake, in a launch price ranch of about $32 to $300. He talks about his selections, Martha Stewart as an inspiration and building a brand name.
On the credibility of his selections he will feature on air:
“To me, they’re very important, wonderful things,” he said, adding that he did “1,000 tastings.” He maintains they make perfect sense within his repertoire. “I have been building and building and building over the past 10 years. I have been doing a TV show with a lot of cooking segments, working with Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali. It has made me quite good at tasting food. I’ve been a judge on ‘Iron Chef.’”
His role at QVC is not as a camera-ready pitchman. He is involved in the design process from start to finish:
“I create, that’s what I do. I’m an artist. I’m a designer. Household name – that was the Seventies. Now it’s brand name. As I build my brand, I think about Martha Stewart and her very upward trajectory. She has always been a great inspiration to me.”
Cyndi Lauper and Lady Gaga have been named the latest faces of the MAC AIDS Fund, reports today’s Women’s Wear Daily. The newest campaign, “From Our Lips,” will break on February 25. MAC Viva Glam Gaga Lipstick and Viva Glam Cyndi Lipstick will launch in North America on March 18 and will go global after, with 100% of the proceeds being donated to the MAC AIDS Fund.
From Courtney Cox’s new show Cougar Town, California’s Miss Cougar Pageant and Sugar Ray’s album Music for Cougars, 2009 is definitely the year of the cougar. The November issue of DETAILS takes a look at older women and the young men who love them at the first-ever national Cougar Convention.
So, as you know, about a month ago, I was invited by the Wedgwood family out to Washington DC to celebrate the brand’s 250th anniversary.
Check out some pix my friend Kimberly from MomintheCity.com put in a slideshow. They are totally fun!
I learned so much at the event, and shortly after I returned home, I was sent two 5-piece place settings of the ever-classic Wedgwood white. I was beside myself with excitement, as a single girl nowhere near marriage (le sigh) I have no idea what the future holds…how do I know what decor I’ll want what may be 5 or 10 years from now? But the white will go with anything, and will be easy to add to!
One of the important things I learned though is that the days of our grandma’s china cabinets are over. Beautiful china is to be used, and is incredibly durable. Throw it in the dishwasher, show your kids the beauty of an elegant family dinner…it’ll serve them well in the future.
And you may want to add to it too - because one reader will receive the exact same gift I received - two 5-piece place settings of your own, in Wedgwood white! To have your chance to win, please share what you would do with this beautiful addition to your home, and why you need it! Deadline to enter is December 1. Please earn extra entries by ReTweeting this contest. (I’m @alywalansky on Twitter)
Imagine a world where you pair Extra Brut with potato, cheese and jalapeno nachos. A world where it WORKS. (I call that Aly-land.)
I learned so much at the event, and shortly after I returned home, I was sent two 5-piece place settings of the ever-classic 
