WELCOME 2013!

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Gigi in Holiday, Party, Recipes, Thoughts Comments Off

Happy New Year, Everybody!

The past year had some exciting moments, as well as a few setbacks. I am welcoming 2013 with open arms. For many the New Year is a time for renewal, a chance to start over. I think about all the things that have happened this past year, my daughter graduated from college, the start of Gigi’s Meanderings, our family trip to South Africa, a few of the highlights. 2012 also had a few challenges, my breast cancer scare and helping my daughter relocate to New York City.

While I’m not a resolution kind of girl, I do like to embrace a theme for the New Year. My theme for 2013 is “Making each day count”. What this looks like to me: Taking time daily for simple rituals that enrich my life and the lives of my family and friends. We live in a society where everything is rushed, between texting, emails, facebook, instagram etc. we are getting away from traditional forms of communication. We have hundreds of facebook friends, but when was the last time you had tea with a friend, just because? Spent a few hours with a friend doing nothing? Pulled off the road to take advantage of watching a beautiful sunset? I will be sharing these moments with you and hopefully you will share with me and we can keep each other inspired and reminded to make each day count by doing something simple to enrich your day.

I celebrated NYE with good friends,lots of delectable tidbits and chilled flutes of bubbly. 9-ish my guests began arriving armed with beautiful desserts and savory appetizers, we had everything from black eyed pea soup to spinach balls. I made my favorite salad inspired from one I used to order from Marston’s in Pasadena. It is always a crowd favorite.

Gigi’s Marstons salad

spring mix salad greens, mandarin oranges, green apples cut into cubes, avocado cut into cubes, green onion, candied pecans, golden raisins, (optional feta cheese) toss with a poppy seed dressing.

I made tiares for all the ladies, should have took pictures of these, they were adorable. We toasted, listened to my mix and conversed and welcomed in the New Year. I love entertaining at home, and plan to do more little gatherings this year.

I look forward to blogging 2013 and sharing my thoughts and discoveries on living a rich fulfilling life.

Xoxo,

Gigi

As promised a few pics from NYE.

Gigi & Molly

The Ladies

Zapatos

The Fellows

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NEW YEAR’S EVE?

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Gigi in Holiday, Party 2 Comments

New Year's Eve

Love this Nancy Wilson song.

When I was younger I used to celebrate New Year Eve’s at venues with outrageous cover charges and lots of strange people. During the phase when the kids were little we did celebrations at home with other families, since securing a babysitter on New Year’s Eve was always a challenge. Once the kids were older we would sometimes go to a favorite restaurant and have a “special New Eve’s” dinner and come home in time to watch the ball drop and go to bed. This year I decided to have a small gathering with local friends who also were not doing anything. A variety of hors d’ oeuvres, petite desserts, lots of bubbly, music, and good company are the ingredients for the evening.

my online invite

I did an “evite” from Paperless Post–Love them! The evites are so unique and have a little flair. Normally I am an “old school” invitation kinda girl, but these I like.

Love this. I need to take down all my Christmas Decorations and come up with something for New Year’s Eve. Love the sparkly drink stir things.

pretty champagne bar

cute top

I would rock this with some jeans and a cute strappy high sandal.

Some fun New Year Eve Table decor check it out here.

A few more ideas I found looking around on the web.

Well I have a lot of work to do to pull this together for Monday! So with that I’m going to get busy. I promise to post pictures.

HAPPY LAST WEEKEND OF 2012!

Xoxo,

Gigi

3 Gorgeous No-Fail New Year’s Eve Party Outfits

Muse Costume Ball at LACMA Stanley Kubrick Exhibit

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Gigi in Art, Dining, Party 5 Comments

Gigi

What an incredible evening! This was our first adult Halloween party since our “dating period” and that my friends was a looooong time ago. Our Halloween was always spent trick or treating in the neighborhood and or giving out treats. This year however we were treated to tickets to the 9th annual Muse Costume Ball at LACMA which included a sneak peek at the upcoming Stanley Kubrick exhibition. We started our evening with dinner at Ray’s, which was featuring a wicked halloween menu. This was my second time dining there and I love that the menu has a nice selection of farm-to table seasonal fare.

Servers at Ray’s

These two were our servers, dressed as the twins from The Shining.

Gigi & Her Pet Hubby

With only hours to come up with a costume for the ball I decided on my version of a “dominatrix Goddess”. I borrowed a long black cape from my friend Denise, used my black lace full body suit for my base, got a pair of black sequined shorts from TJ Maxx, black corset from my “pole dancing class”, black lace gloves, over the knees black platform boots, a sassy “Rihanna” red wig, and my black fascinator completed the look.