No Ugly Duckling

Hook Up Your Mom this Mother’s Day with Microsoft Goodies!

What?! I can’t believe Mother’s Day is this coming Sunday, May 12. If you’re like me and just realized that it is literally right around the corner, have no fear! I’m here to make sure you hook up your wonderful mama to the 21^st century!

I’ve raved numerous times about the Windows Phone, but it is seriously a dummy-proof gift. What mom wouldn’t want a cool looking phone in some pretty hot colors? (Face it, black and white are just plain boring.) Plus, the bigger screen makes it really easy to use, the browser is really sleek and simple, and the keyboard is more responsive than the iPhone. Win-win!

Better yet, there are so many great family-friendly features perfect with moms in mind, such as:

Kid’s Corner: Only Windows Phone gives little ones their own space within mom’s phone – and away from her stuff – so she can take a few worry-free minutes for herself while the kids are off playing.

Rooms:  This feature lets you create a private space to stay in touch with your family. Rooms lets you share a family calendar, group chat, upload and share photos, videos and even grocery lists via OneNote built-in.  

Camera: Equipped with an easy-to-use camera that lets you snap and share to your social networks in less than 5 seconds flat, the Nokia Lumia 920 camera offers PureView technology that takes in five times more light per picture than other smartphone cameras without the use of a flash, which helps when you’re trying to capture clear memories at a dark concert or at your kid’s ballet performance.

And check out these must-have apps for every multitasking mom:

AboutOne Organizer: Your one-stop family organizer that makes it easy to store notes, receipts, doctor’s contact info, and precious memories so it’s all available at your fingertips whenever you need it.

Pandora: Take a break from the little ones and pop on your favorite station and listen to your favorite tunes, ad free and with free unlimited monthly streaming throughout 2013 – exclusively on Windows Phone.

ShopSavvy: The busy mom is always a bargain hunter! Search for the best prices both online and in store with ShopSavvy. You can even pin your favorite products to your Start screen for real-time updates on the lowest prices.

Baby Monitor: Save the cash set aside for a baby monitor by turning your Windows Phone into one! This app allows you to keep a watchful eye on your little one via audio and video so you can set your mind at ease when you’re in the other room.

Fashion: Follow all your favorite fashion blogs in one place with Fashion app on Windows Phone. Stay on top of all the latest fashion buzz and find your favorite looks straight off the runway.

Allrecipes: Getting tired of those quick and easy kid friendly meals? Find something fun and unique to make the family for dinner. Search from hundreds of recipes and pin your favorites right on your Start Screen. It’s the easiest way to stay organized in the kitchen.

Chase Mobile: Managing the finances can be difficult, but now with Chase Mobile you can keep track of your spending, pay bills, transfer money and deposit checks directly on your Windows Phone.  

Delta: Facing the ins and outs of travel, need a girls weekend or pre-planning your summer vacation with the family, Delta can help provide you with all the latest up-to-date flight information to keep you on track.

MyFitnessPal:  Lose weight with MyFitnessPal, the fastest and easiest calorie counter available on Windows Phone. With the largest food database of any calorie counter, and amazingly fast food and exercise entry, you’ll be summer ready in no time!

So, head to your local Microsoft retail store or microsoftstore.com to score your perfect Mother’s Day Microsoft/tech gifts like the Windows Phone. If mom needs help setting up her phone with all her favorite apps and features like those above, she can swing by the Answer Desk at her near-by Microsoft retail store, where any of the store associates would be happy to help her.

You are so hooked up, Mom! But you ABSOLUTELY deserve it! Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

Also, I want to fill you in on a fun twitter contest @MicrosoftStore that just kicked off. Just follow the Microsoft Store and tweet a picture of your mom with her old phone to @MicrosoftStore using the hashtag #CallMom for the chance to win a Windows Phone (choice of Nokia Lumia 920 or Windows Phone 8X by HTC). You can find the full contest rules here.  Go for it! You may score your mom a fab new phone!

Happy Mother’s Day! Me and my beautiful and wonderful mom in Isla de Mujeres, Mexico

Mom, what color Windows Phone do you want?? It also comes in purple and a cool yellow!

Clear, Beautiful Hair!

I just got back from LA after a fab event sponsored by the great hair care line, Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy. Thanks to my beautiful and talented friend, Stacy Cox (she happens to be the beauty expert for KTLA TV), I was part of an amazing group of 6 beauty and fashion bloggers who were spoiled with some great hair treatments today!

I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to drive up to Hairroin Salon for my 8:30am appointment (where I got my hair styled and blown out). But thanks to my stylist Viv, my hair was beautiful, bouncy, full, and absolutely perfect to meet spokesperson and gorgeous supermodel extraordinaire Heidi Klum at The Grove in L.A. (who looked AMAZING and STUNNING in person, hair included!).

Anyway, here are some photos from the day. I’ll write a more thorough post about the hair care products shortly, but I wanted to send this out so that any L.A. locals in the area know that they have approximately 2 hours left to head to The Grove today (before the event ends at 6pm PST). Join Clear Hair at the #RightEnd salon for a free blow-out, and get the secret to strong, beautiful hair. 

Just one of Clear’s billaboards featuring the gorgeous Heidi Klum!

And here she is in person! WOW! Here are a few of us with Heidi (From L to R: Stacy from The Style Goddess, the television personality and sweet Stacy Cox, Heidi Klum, me, and Lacee from LaceeK)

Shout out to Viv, my amazing stylist at Hairroin Salon!

Stacy and Heidi workin’ the stage at The Grove!

Paparazzi! 

Cute Katie from the PR agency! She and her crew did an amazing job coordinating all of this today!

Last but not least, look at all these great Clear Scalp & Hair Beauty Therapy products to try! My hair is gonna love it!

Healthy and Yummy Quinoa Cookies

Two Sundays ago I headed up to Los Angeles to visit with my dear friends Paul and David for a fun Academy Awards soiree. I love those guys and it has been quite a while since I last saw them even although we all live in SoCal. (Alas, the Orange Curtain really does exist due to the crazy traffic).

Anyway, I never like to show up empty-handed so I made a batch of chocolate chip quinoa cookies to ensure I could provide both yummy and healthy goodies since both they and their friends are in such good shape.

The cookies were a hit! One of their friends even said I could sell baggies of these at Equinox gym promoting a “quick, delicious protein snack.” Hmmm… literal food for thought.

Regardless, here is the recipe. If someone decides to mass produce these and make a thriving business out of it, let me know. :0

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 large ripe bananas
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup COOKED quinoa (don’t forget to cook it first)
• 1 cup uncooked oatmeal flakes
• 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• ½ cup brown sugar

• ½ cup dark chocolate mini chocolate chips (or use carob chips for an even healthier version)
• pinch of sea salt

Directions:

• Preheat your oven to 380°F
• In a large mixing bowl, mash bananas with a fork.
• Add pinch of sea salt, vanilla, cooked quinoa, oatmeal flakes, coconut flakes and brown sugar.
• Mix until well combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop batter onto the cooking sheet.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes.
• Remove from oven and let cool.

The ingredients are simple!

Don’t forget to line your cookie sheet with parchment paper! This is very important so they don’t stick.

Cool them on a wire rack. So delish!

Tech Out Your Workout!

This past Wednesday night I met amazing celebrity fitness and diet guru, Harley Pasternak. If you don’t know who he is, let me clue you in.

Harley is a Los Angeles-based Canadian personal trainer, public speaker and NY Times best-selling author known for the 5-Factor Diet, a popular diet and fitness lifestyle. His clients include Rihanna, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Hilary Duff, Megan Fox, Robert Pattinson, and Kanye West (who coincidentally was also the best man at Harley’s wedding).

The wonderful people at Microsoft were holding a fitness event so off I trekked with my friend Nikki to go up to L.A. at the Westfield Mall in Century City. Of course, I was over an hour late due to the obscene amounts of traffic, but it was well worth the drive.

Harley and the Microsoft team were so super cool. I essentially arrived after the event was practically over, but Harley gave me a personal lowdown on how to tech out my work out! I’ve never been so psyched to try out all these things. I am going to be in the BEST shape ever!

First, I found out about the cool app Runtastic. I am downloading this app ASAP. I also really dig the Xbox Music feature on the Windows Phone. Harley was playing Kanye’s “Clique” so now I’m really into this song – it’s a great song for working out! Finally, Harley now has a Hollywood Workout for Xbox 360 with Kinect so you can train like an A-Lister in the comfort of your home. I still don’t have an Xbox but I’m thinking it is time to finally invest in one so I can be as fit as Rihanna and Megan Fox!

It was a fun evening. Best of all, Microsoft was generous to hook me up with some workout essentials (including cool earphones, a New Balance pedometer, and a fab Lululemon gym bag). Plus, I got a copy of Harley’s latest book, “The Body Reset Diet” which has yet to hit the shelves. Signed and autographed! Thanks Harley! Thanks Microsoft! Too cool…

Check it all out and more at microsoftstore.com.

The Surface is pretty amazing. And so is the Windows Phone.

Here I am with Harley and Chris from the Microsoft team!

My signed book! What?! No adobo chicken? That will be a tough one!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day, all! It’s a beautiful and sunny day in SoCal and they’re predicting temps to get to 79 degrees tomorrow. So, love may be in the air and for me, the fragrant smell of roses (thanks, hunny!), too, but so are warmer temps… and for that, I’m thrilled and euphoric!

On this day, I thought I’d share some quotes I found on Pinterest that I thought were worth sharing… because what is love without self-love?! Love yourself first. Well, love God first. But then love yourself. I have found that if you do this first, you will find the capacity to love a lot of people!!

And like The Carpenters sang, “what the world needs now is love sweet love… it’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.”

Happy Valentine’s Day, my loves!