So when my friend Bryce Gruber told me that she was going to get Vajazzled as part of an early Spa Week kick off event I really didn't think much of it.
It was around the same time that Martha Stewart had Shelia Kelley from S Factor on the show and Kelley got Martha to do a little pg-13 pole dancing. But today's tale is a little more adult....
So if you're under 18 please don't continue reading and if you're under 18 and that warning translates to oh I'm gonna see something I shouldn't, sorry all the pics are SFW (safe for work) and with out further ado I give you a single photo of Bryce Gruber of THE LUXURY SPOT after she got Vajazzled, but if you want the full story and even more pics including the process I suggest you visit www.theluxuryspot.com asap.
So what is Vajazzling you ask?
A play on bedazzling and a part of the female body, Vajazzling is the adornment of crystals and beads to the bikini area after waxing. According to the Completely Bare website, " Accessorizing your privates is the hottest rage. From crystal flowers to customized favorites, you too can now decorate your own jewels.Whether it’s a special occasion or you just want to sparkle everywhere, you can choose from an assortment of real Swarovski crystal designs so you can shimmer and shine."
Earlier this week the ladies of Los Angeles were introduced to Alex And Ani, a super fun and eco-friendly line of jewelry known for their signature expandable bangle bracelets designed by Carolyn Rafaelian.
The event was hosted by the hysterical Heather McDonaldand took place at the home of Mark Young in The Historical La Fontaine, which was designed by Leland Bryant the same architect who is responsible for our favorite hotel in the world, THE SUNSET TOWER.
The 50 or so guests got to experience Alex and Ani's "Bangle Bar"where they were able create their own set of bangle bracelets from the brand's plethora of choices.
When they arrived the crowd could be called classy and refined but once they hit "the bar" suddenly it was a room full of bangle-bandits! Think black friday at a Wal-Mart if only that Wal-Mart happened to be on Robertson or Rodeo.
But none the less everyone seemed to be having a great time drinking cocktails provided by O.N.E. natural experience thanks to the lovely Lucy Render-Caplan and healthy fair provided by Joey Santos and his team at Fit Food. If an armful of free bracelets wasn't enough to make these woman feel great, they all received a gift card to Sheila Kelley S Factor to embrace their inner goddess.
Heather brought along some of the funny friends she works with including Chuy Bravo, Jen Kirkman,Sara Colonna, and Natasha Leggero. Other VIPSs included Sharona Alperin (aka My Sharona), Alexis Blum, Stacy Broff, Mary Loomis-Shrier, Liz Roman, the amazing Alisa Starler and a gaggle of girls who call Ken Baker their boss. We're told Jillian Reynolds would have loved to have joined her gal pals but Cedars has this thing about going to a party 48 hours after having a baby.
Earlier today, nearly 80 people including our good friend, the hysterical and oh so talented Heather McDonald joined Kris Jenner and her daughters Kim, Khloe, Kylie, and Kendall to host a baby shower for Kourtney Kardashian, at the family's home in Hidden Hills, California.
At the sensational shower guests enjoyed hand dipped chocolate covered strawberries from BERRY ELEGANCE.
At the conclusion of the celebration, guests received a Le Sport Sac weekender stuffed with all sorts of goodies including we pilatesshirts and scarves, a bottle of Essienail polish in a limited edition color called "Little Baby Dash", a handblown glass personal tea maker and flowering tea set fromPrimula, a gift card from Sheila Kelley S Factor, a signature expandable bracelet fromAlex & Ani as well as other great gifts from brands like Amala, Ellen Sirot,Epicuran, Real Kidz Shades and more!
For the ride home, guests were given a Berry Elegance treat bag filled with white cholocate covered pretzels, a Kardashian family favorite. From what we hear, custom hand dipped chocolate strawberries and treats from the Studio City based delicatable edible emporium were also served at Khloe's recent nuptials.
Lambent Services is an amazing company that I’ve been working with since the day I started calling my apartment Suite GA back in 2006.
They offer part-time personal assistants on an as needed basis and their PA’s can do pretty anything you can think of. Seriously the list of things they won’t do has maybe 4 things on it, all of which are pretty much self-explanatory.
From building a database, to booking travel my travel, to sitting home waiting for the cable guy while organizing my closet all while I was out at meetings, to sorting receipts before I go to the accountant are just a few of the plethora of things I’ve had Lambent PA’s do for me these past few years.
I use Lambent all the time in various capacities and it’s usually easier to have them send over an assistant than to get a cab in midtown around say 5:00pm.
After seeing a segment on the Today Show about how tricky rebates have become, I realized that I had totally forgot to send in the rebate on my new blackberry.
I had a bunch of other things I needed to get done but just didn’t have the time so I made a call to my good friendJill Glist, Founder of Lambent Services and THE EXPERT when it comes to personal assistance and outsourcing. About an hour later, Jessica was downstairs.
I said hello, handed her the bag from AT&T, pointed to the box where I toss all my receipts and the rest is history.
I didn’t even know I owned and Exacto knife,somehow Jessica did.
Below is a list of what Jessica was able to accomplish during our 4 hour session:
1. Rebate on my blackberry (100.00)
2. Rebate on a printer from staples (30)
3. Returned the empty inks I had been saving (15)
4. Got continental to refund the baggage fee being that I had used a continental branded credit card to buy my ticket (60)
5.Returned a few things that I had only 30 days to return, it was the 29th day
6.Got me a credit from godaddy for something I bought that never needed or could use had paid 6 months in advance.
7. She was able to get me a credit from Time Warner for the 3 days that my wireless didn’t work. It wasn’t a lot but hey it’s still money in my pocket.
She also did a few organizational things for me like made a spreadsheet that all has all my frequent flier account numbers, bank account and routing numbers, and the customer service numbers for anyone I’d ever need to call. Then the best part, she saved them in my phone.
Jessica also set up mobile banking for me and now all I have to do is send a text and I can get a balance and see if a check has cleared or was cashed.
No more entering my account number, last four of my social and zip, and verifying the date and amount of my last depsoit, It's *BAL hit send and were good to go.
She also went through all slew of websites that I have logins for and updated all my info, one constitant username, no more is it stephenbender, bendrestephen, stephenbender25. (not tht it's any of those well at least not anymore.
She then saved them all in a file and printed a copy which she taped to the inside of a cabinet door in my kitchen. Brilliant!
I’m never going to have to google “Time Warner Los Angeles online bill pay" while sifting through my "paid bills" folder to find that totally random 16 digit account number ever again.
In the four hours that Jessica was mine I had rebates, checks, credits, and other money coming to me for more than 500 bucks.
Even more so that omni-present pile of mail on my desk is going to be a lot smaller now that Jessica made nearly every bill and account statement I get paperless.
Now the only thing left to do is decide Drachman or Gotlieb as the answer to the childhood best friend security question since all my passwords were reset.
Maybe I’ll just go with Favorite Author. That's one question whose answer never changes.
For your own personal angel or assistant give Jill and her team at Lambent Services a call at 212.979.8700 or check out their site www.lambentservices.com
When we first came across Maison Le Grand a few months back we were thinking this is kinda cool, pesto in a little pouch.
Then we tried a few of the varieties of the products offered by the Montreal based brand that makes fresh artisanal all natural vegetarian or vegan pestos, tapenades and aromatic sauces; we were wowed.
Our first go around we went simple, boiled some whole-wheat penne, untwisted the cap to the 4 cheese and nut pesto and voila dinner was ready in all of ten minutes. We had at least two bowls in our first sitting and came back for more.
Keep in mind prior too we wouldn’t exactly put pesto on our short list let alone a shopping list.
Next up their mild olive and sun-dried tomato tapenade, which we planned on serving at a party we were hosting. While prepping for the party we spread some on a few crackers and damn this stuff the real deal. The texture was spot on and it had just the right amount of zing. That's when we knew these guys were onto something.
Next thing we knew we were standing in a towel with the fridge open eating this tasty treat right out of the package. Lucky for us we had an extra pouch on hand that we had picked up at Whole Foods earlier that day to serve at the party, we tend to have too much of everything when we entertain.
For the party we drizzled some olive oil and sprinkled some sea salt over a baguette, threw it in the broiler for about a minute and then sliced in to small slices. We took out a plate, squeezed some tapenade into a small bowl smacked it down in the center and arranged the toast around it. Everyone, even those who claimed they didn't like tapenade were raving about it. One guest proclaimed, "So Long Salsa, Buh-Bye Bruchetta."
For easy entertaining or when we were feeling a little adventurous but need a jump start these all natural artisanal pestos, tapenades, and aromatic sauces which are sold in re-sealable 100 percent recyclable pouches are kind of perfect and at about 6 bucks a pop are more than worth it.
We plan on marinating some scallops in their lemon confit aromatic sauce one of these days but chances are being were so busy will stick to the simple stuff for now.
Maison Le Grand products are sold at Whole Foods, Zabars, The Fresh Market and other specialty stores nationwide.
