Holiday Host Gift Guide

As you know by now, I firmly believe in the etiquette of bringing a little something for your host or hostess when you arrive to a party.  With the holidays in full swing, it's fun to go above and beyond the typical gifts like a bottle of wine or bouquet of flowers. Earlier this week I shared my idea of preparing a pretty mason jar full of Spicy and Sweet Glazed Nuts.  Here are a few other gift ideas I've come...

Holiday Host Gift: Sweet & Spicy Glazed Nuts

As the holidays approach, our calendar is filling up with parties!  White Elephant parties, Ugly Sweater parties, and Work parties.  Each year The Hub's company hosts a fabulous holiday party at an awesome venue with a fun theme.  They've done Vegas, Roaring '20s, '80s Prom, 1979, and this year's theme:  Truman Capote's 1966 Black & White Ball. We had to do some research to figure out what this meant. ...

Top Chef Birthday Challenge: Fry Off!

We capped off this Thanksgiving weekend by celebrating The Hub's birthday.  Our original plan was to have everyone over for an afternoon BBQ, but Mother Nature intervened.  Instead, The Hub decided to put together another Crockpot Creation (recipe coming tomorrow!) for our friends and move the activities inside. Following in the tradition of my 2008 Top Chef Birthday Party, we decided to have another cooking...

Don’t Forget The Earth! Thanksgiving Tips From Patty Preachy

Hello Fans of The Haute Housewife. Patty Preachy here.  You're about to get schooled. I'm willing to bet that most of you don't think about the environment when going through your daily routine. Am I right? Of course I am. I always am. Well, you're lucky I'm here because I'm going to help you live better...and I'm going to make you smarter and better looking. This Thanksgiving you can thank ME for helping...

Black Friday Deals for 2010

My most memorable Black Friday was back in 6th grade when my Doc Marten shoelace got caught in the escalator of Tower City Mall, halting all shoppers for a good 5 minutes.  Pretty embarrassing for a 12-year old.  I've made it through many Black Fridays since, but I have to tell you, I haven't ventured out into that circus in probably 6 or 7 years.  And while I don't ever think I'll be the kind of parent who lines...

FoodBuzz Blogger Fest Re-cap

Last Saturday, Kate, Darcy and I attended the Taste Pavilion at the 2nd Annual FoodBuzz Blogger Festival.  Held downtown at the Metreon, the event was full of amazing food and drink vendors hoping to be featured on food blogs.  We stayed for a few hours, sampling almost every dish and checking out quite a few wines.  Here were my personal highlights: Three Twins This is actually the second time I have had...

Team Coco

Like a lot of people, I stopped watching late night talk shows quite some time ago.  But in high school and most of college, I watched Late Night with Conan O'Brien almost every night.  I've always found Conan to be hilarious and charmingly awkward, so there was no hesitation in siding with Team Coco during Conangate '10. After reading great reviews of his national comedy tour, Legally Prohibited From Being...

Restoring my Sanity

Last week in D.C., I attended Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on the National Mall.  The purpose of the rally, which was not affiliated with any particular ideology, was to gather the "Busy Majority" who do not usually have time to go to rallies and are sick and tired of media taking every issue to the political extreme. The rally was....crowded.  CBS News estimated...

It’s a Britney Spears Sex Riot!!

Is it me, or was the Britney Spears Glee Episode the best one yet?  I mean, first of all, John Stamos had a big role and (yes) I still love him.  But I was also very happy to see Heather Morris (who plays Brittany S. Pierce) get the attention she deserves on the show.  Kate informed me that she was once a back up dancer for Beyonce, and damn did it show!!  She is a pretty amazing dancer and was the only cast...

The Girl Who Read the Trilogy

With our Book Club on hiatus, I needed some new books to fill my summer.  I traveled quite a bit and wanted some books that would be entertaining, but a little brainless.  The Stieg Larsson's Swedish Murder Mystery Trilogy that has been all the rage seemed to be the perfect fit. All in all, it was a very entertaining, smart series.  Here's a hint...Book 1 is a stand alone piece, although the character...