Archive for November 2009
The holiday party season is in full swing and with it comes mistletoe, tree lightings and of course cocktails! When planning celebrations, Hood River Distillers recommends making the drink menu creative and seasonal with concoctions that highlight a party’s theme and set a festive tone:
SnowPak: This layered cocktail packs in three distinct flavors to warm guests up. Select your favorite tall, narrow, clear glass, preferably a liqueur glass, chilled carefully. Layer in this order:
1/2 ounce Monarch coffee liqueur
1/2 ounce Knickers Irish Cream
1/2 ounce ULLR Nordic Libation
Did they breakup?
Posted on: November 29, 2009
- In: celebrity | dating
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It’s rumored that uber-cute couple, Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal, have broken up. However, Reese’s rep told reporters today that “It’s not true. They have not split.”
The couple first began their romance in 2007 when the two co-starred in the film Rendintion. Hopefully the two can keep it together.
- In: baby | celebrity
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Heidi Klum’s husband, singer Seal, posted photos of their new daughter Lou Suola on his website, www.Seal.com. In the family portraits, baby Lou is shown with her mother, her father, and in one shot she’s surrounded by her three older siblings — Leni, 5, Henry, 4 and Johan, 3.
MG Hits 200,000 Hits!!
Posted on: November 26, 2009
Thanks to all the Marvelous Girls who’ve helped this blog reach 200,000 hits in less than a year! Couldn’t have done it without you.
XOXO,
Marvelous Girl
Savvy shopper alert!
Posted on: November 25, 2009
- In: budget | fashion
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Are you looking for the perfect holiday or bridal shoes? Of course we’d all love a pair of Louboutin heels, but that could set you back several hundreds of dollars! Luckily Marvelous Girl found a few great knockoffs out there:
Coloriffic makes a pair of glitter slingback peeptoes in silver or gold for $50-$90. The least-expensive pair we found was at EllaParkBridal.com.
Forever 21 makes a pair of gold glitter peeptoe pumps for only $23!
Chinese Laundry makes a hot pair of sequin peeptoe pumps in black or navy. The least-expensive pair we found was $79 at Heels.com.
It’s not everyday you get to feel like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. So whatever the event, now you can click your heels three times for a fabulous evening…because you saved some straw along the way.
Though the thought of holiday leftovers can conjure up images of bland hot turkey sandwiches or reheating the main course, it can actually be easy to transform the holiday spread into entirely new, great-tasting meals. Chef Ryan Scott, former cheftestant of Bravo TV’s Top Chef, has some tips for helping to make holiday recipes delicious the second time around.
“Leftovers sometimes get a bad rap, but with a little planning and creativity, it’s easy to create recipes worthy of becoming new holiday traditions, ” said Chef Scott. “Before heading out to pick up those last-minute ingredients for the holiday feast, take stock of the pantry and make sure you have staples like rice, eggs, frozen vegetables, and chicken broth and stock on-hand. If not, pick them up while you’re out – that way you won’t have to make a special trip to the store later.”
Here are a few other tips from Chef Scott:
- Freeze leftover stuffing and use it to make stuffed pork chops, or serve it as a weeknight side dish – it’s one less thing to think about when trying to put dinner on the table during the hectic week.
- Leftovers aren’t just for dinner! Poached Eggs with Stuffing and Ham is a simple twist on the classic eggs Benedict using leftover stuffing cakes instead of English muffins, sliced ham and a simple mushroom gravy.
- Instead of hot turkey sandwiches, try making Turkey Sloppy Joes, a twist on a family favorite that’s perfect for kicking back and checking out the weekend’s football games. They also make great sliders if you have leftover dinner rolls from last night’s meal.
- And finally, since there’s nothing better than coming home to the comforting aroma of homemade soup simmering on the stove, try combining leftover meat, vegetables and rice with 100% Natural Swanson Chicken broth to create a hearty soup, such as my Asian Turkey Soup.
For more delicious leftover meals and cooking tips, visit www.swansonbroth.com and www.CampbellsKitchen.com.
Old Navy open on Thanksgiving
Posted on: November 25, 2009
- In: budget | fashion | Women's News
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So you can’t wait for Black Friday to jump-start your holiday shopping? Well, Old Navy will be open on Thanksgiving day from 12 -7 p.m.
It’s called Gobblepalooza, where shoppers will enjoy great deals (50% off all outerwear, $15 sweaters for the entire family and buy 2 t-shirts get one free) and fun in-store festivities (Rock Band anyone?). Also, The first customers in line will receive a free Rock Band guitar! Plus everyone can enter to win a $200 shopping spree.
And starting Black Friday, Old Navy will open at 3 a.m. until midnight. For more details on participating stores and hours, click here.
With inventory levels expected to be low this year, according to industry research firm IBISWorld, savvy shoppers will need a leg-up on the season to ensure they get all the gifts on their list. Otherwise, the last-minute shopper could be left in the dust.
- In: business | fashion | Women's News
- 4 Comments
I’m usually a big fan of Nordstrom, but my recent transaction with the company has made me NEVER want to shop there again! Why you ask? Because it took six weeks, ten phone calls to customer service, three calls to UPS and a letter to Nordstrom’s corporate headquarters to get the coat I purchased!!
I don’t know about you, but I find that sort of service unacceptable. I ordered my coat on Sept. 20 and didn’t receive it until Oct. 30 , when I was told it would arrive in 5-8 business days!
So what went wrong? Apparently the coat left the Nordstrom’s warehouse via UPS. From there, UPS “tried” to deliver the package to my second-story apartment but couldn’t find my unit (out of an eight-unit building). Shocking, I know.
Seeing that the UPS carrier was too lazy to walk up a flight of stairs – that’s a story for another day – there was no package notice left to alert me that the coat was sent back to Nordstrom.
So, Nordstrom sent out ANOTHER coat and the cycle with UPS started all over again. But here’s the kicker…Nordstrom failed to inform me (the customer) of the status of my order. So in the meantime, I’m calling the company’s customer service and getting the runaround. On three occasions customer service promised me the package would arrive the next day and it never did. On two occasions they promised me a return phone call and never called back – infuriating!
Finally, four weeks after my purchase I got a UPS slip on my apartment door saying the package couldn’t be delivered. I called UPS and they said the package had been sent back to Nordstrom. So I called Nordstrom and they finally explained the troubles they were having with shipping and asked me for an alternative address to ship the coat (which they should have done weeks prior). I gave them my work address and the package still didn’t show up for another 10 days!
The most disturbing part of this whole story is that I probably would never have received my coat had I not been such a squeaky wheel. Also, I had asked for a refund for all the time I spent tracking down this coat (40 days) and Nordstrom wouldn’t give me one. If I were you, I’d think twice when ordering from this company. Unless you have the time to order you swimsuit in February so it’s there by June.
And let’s not let UPS off that easy. The icing on the cake is that I got a UPS delivery a week later to my second-story apartment. What’s that all about?! Do their carriers pick and choose the packages they want to deliver? If Nordstrom was smart it would switch to Fed-Ex.
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Hysteria has hit the nation this season with the threat of the Swine Flu and people are looking for immunity. But who needs to get the H1N1 vaccine and who doesn’t?
You may think that the elderly or others with a week immune system are the people who need vaccinated, but that’s not true according to Herd Immunity. The theory proposes that “the higher proportion of individuals who are immune, the lower the likelihood that a susceptible person will come into contact with an infected individual.”
In simple terms, to prevent the spread of H1N1 those who work in high-traffic areas (think hospital and school workers) are the ones that should be vaccinated.
The vaccine therefore acts like a firewall, preventing further transmission of the disease to the rest of the population. The goal is to vaccinate the “spreaders” – those likely to give the Swine Flu to others – rather than grandma and grandpa who hardly leave the house. In doing so, when grandma and grandpa decide to leave their house, the grocery store bag boy isn’t giving them H1N1 because he was vaccinated.
Get it?
- In: business | celebrity
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Oprah Winfrey recently announced she will end her daytime talk show in 2011 to reappear on the Oprah Winfrey Network – her OWN cable company.
Winfrey made the decision because there were more and more viewers watching less and less of network television and she saw her audience dwindling. In short, there are just too many choices too many other places.
With a station devoted solely to Oprah, what can we expect? 24-hour programming of Oprah-deemed-worthy movies and books? Is O-TV the new Lifetime or Oxygen?
Marvelous Girl Has Moved! 