New York | Table for Five

BlogHer Day One – Thursday Recap

August 6, 2010 By Elizabeth

You GUYS. I’m in New York! So, here’s what’s happened so far…uneventful plane rides except for the condensation rolling across the ceiling of the plane from Detroit to LaGuardia, I took a video with my camera but haven’t uploaded it yet. It was like when you open your freezer and that mist rolls out? Once we got up in the air it went away but it was still weird.

Oh, and of course when I landed at Detroit from Lansing I was at one end of C terminal, and my flight to LaGuardia was at the completely opposite end of A terminal, so I had a bit of a hike to get there. But it was all good.

The guy who picked me up from the airport was from Michigan, what are the odds, and he was so great. His name is Tom Rhoades, and he’s an actor who works for this car service that hires new actors on purpose so they can drive established actors back and forth from the airport and make industry contacts. He got a job working for Angela Lansbury because he picked her up from the airport!

I cannot believe how many people there are, how many cars, how many taxis. Every street is jam packed!

My hotel is on the corner of 53rd Street and 6th Avenue. I met up with Dawn as soon as I arrived and we were both starving so we set out to find something to eat. We only had to go right across the street! We ate lunch at this gyro stand yesterday, it’s one of the most popular stands in the city, only $5.50 for this HUGE gyro. I don’t like lamb so I had chicken that he was grilling right there with onions and peppers, in a warm fluffy pita bread with tzatziki sauce. SO GOOD. After work people line up for an hour to eat there. And there’s a fountain across the street that looks like the head of a dandelion, it’s so cool.

I met Dre from Click Communications, she’s the one that sends me all the great Disney DVDs to review. It was great to finally meet her! After standing outside for 45 minutes though, I’d had enough of 92 degree heat and humidity so I headed back in and up to my room to freshen up for my Bumble Bee Foods Bee Squad event.

Our event went so well! Chef Scott made three fantastic appetizers, I’ll post the recipes on MomCooks when I get home. There was also delicious meats and cheeses, vegetables, and a dessert tray. We had a great turnout of people, too! I wore black wedge sandals and by the time it was over my feet were KILLING me. I was so glad we had a shuttle bus!

From there I came back to the room and collapsed. I turned out the light, put my head on the pillow, and next thing I knew it was morning. Oh yes, and I grabbed the WRONG USB cable for my camera, so I can’t upload any photos! I have my camera set on a smaller photo size so I can take more pictures, but unless I sit near someone with an external card reader, I won’t be able to upload anything until Sunday night

Next up, Friday Recap!

Filed Under: BlogHer '10 Tagged With: blog conference, BlogHer '06, New York

Confessions of a Shopaholic Blu-Ray review

June 30, 2009 By Elizabeth

The movie “Confessions of a Shopaholic” is based on the book by the same name, by author Sophie Kinsella, but the movie changes the book’s plot considerably, while still maintaining the basic idea. Isla Fisher (“Wedding Crashers”) plays Becky Bloomwood, a young, single gal who loves to shop. Walking into a store is like walking into a holy place for Becky, and if the clothes are on sale, even better.

Unfortunately, what she doesn’t like doing is opening her credit card bills and paying them. Her roommate Suze (Krysten Ritter of TV’s “Breaking Bad”) helps her out by not cashing her rent checks, but when bill collector Derek Smeath (character actor Robert Stanton) begins pursuing Rebecca with a vengeance, she realizes she’d better start paying her bills.

Her dream is to work forÂ fashion magazine Alette, but she takes a job at another magazine published by the same company, a magazine with the ironic name “Successful Saving”.Â There she meets ultra-suave Luke Brandon (British actor Hugh Dancy), who offers her a job.Â Becky? Writing about saving money? Hilarity definitely ensues. But if you are a fan of the books, keep in mind, this movie does not follow the plot of the book really at all.

The day of Becky’s job interview, she stops at a store first and finds a beautiful green scarf, which she decides is an “important scarf”. This scarf, she rationalizes, will be what sets her apart. She will be the Girl in the Green Scarf. That scarf will, in fact, play a very important role in the movie.

Other parts in the movie are played by Joan Cusack, John Goodman, Leslie Bibb, John Lithgow, Fred Armisen, Lynn Redgrave, and Kristin Scott Thomas.

The Blu-Ray edition has two discs plus a digital copy.Â The bonus features, which are also on the standard DVD, are Bloopers, Deleted scenes, and the music video “Stuck With Each Other” by Shontelle featuring Akon. Special Blu-Ray features include two more music videos and a Behind-the-scenes featurette about the wardrobe (designed by Sex and the City designer Patricia Field) and New York Fashion.

Thanks to Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, I have these exclusive Fun Facts to share with you about the making of this movie!

**The film shot inside of some of the most exclusive stores and boutiques in New York, including Barneys New York flagship store on Madison Avenue, Henri Bendel on Fifth Avenue, Scoop and Catherine Malandrino in the Meat Packing District, Alessi (upscale housewares) in Soho, and Kleinfeld (elaborate bridal shop) in Chelsea.

**The film also shot inside some of the most historic buildings in the city, including legendary British architect Lord Norman Foster’s Hearst Tower (the only film to ever be allowed to shoot there) on 57th Street and 8th Avenue; 45 Rockefeller Center (the building that features the statue of Atlas holding up the world at its entrance); the Grand Salon inside of the 1931 Jumeirah Essex House hotel on Central Park South; inside and out of St. James Church (1884) on Madison Avenue between 71st and 72nd Streets; inside of the Beaux Arts and Art Nouveau styled Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank Building (1908-12) on Chambers Street in the Wall Street district; utilizing the exterior of St. Anthony of Padua on Sullivan Street at the intersection of Greenwich Village, Tribeca and Soho, founded in 1866.

**In the film, costume designer Patricia Field selected clothing and accessories to adorn Isla Fisher’s Becky Bloomwood, including Balenciaga, Marc Jacobs, Christian Louboutin, Alexander McQueen, Zac Posen, Miu Miu, Salvatore Ferragamo, Prada, Christian Dior, Todd Oldham, Gucci and Matthew Williamson, among others.

**Sophie Kinsella was on the “Confessions of a Shopaholic” set nearly every day as associate producer, consulting and watching her beloved creation of Rebecca Bloomwood come to life. Not so coincidentally considering the massive international sales of the “Shopaholic” novels, Kinsella was often approached by excited fans on New York, Connecticut and Miami locations as if she were more of a movie star than an author.

Rent or buy Confessions of a Shopaholic on Blu-Ray or DVD today. Tell me in a comment what you thought of the movie if you already saw it!

Movie Review | ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic’: When Retail Therapy Can’t Cure What Ails You (movies.nytimes.com)
Confessions of a Shopaholic: Relic of an Economy Past (time.com)
“Confessions of a Shopaholic” (salon.com)
Confessions of a Shopaholic: stylist Patricia Field dresses actress Isla Fisher (telegraph.co.uk)

Filed Under: DVD and Blu-Ray reviews Tagged With: Becky Bloomwood, Confessions of a Shopaholic, Greenwich Village, Hugh Dancy, Isla Fisher, Joan Cusack, New York, Wedding Crashers

Site review- The Exit Store

April 19, 2009 By Elizabeth

Here’s something I bet most people don’t think that much about but can be found in every building everywhere- EXIT SIGNS. Building codes require exits to be clearly marked, whether it’s an office building or restaurant or school. Talk about something we take for granted! We assume that in any public building, we will be able to figure out quickly where the exits are, and that’s where The Exit Store comes in.

Until I reviewed this site, I had NO IDEA how many different kinds of exit signs there are. They come in “thermoplastic”, steel, and aluminum. They can be self-luminous (some kind of glow in the dark material so that the sign glows without need for batteries or an external power source), or lit with LED bulbs. For “high abuse” areas like correction facilities, apartment buildings, and schools, exit signs can be made with tamper-resistant materials and even housed behind steel cages.

Different cities have different requirements for compliance, meaning that The Exit Store carries exit signs that are New York compliant as well as Chicago compliant. This is a scary yet comforting thought- what would you do if you were in a building during an explosion? (YIKES) You’d want to be able to find your way out, right? The Exit Store has an exit sign category called “explosion proof”.

The Exit Store has something for every budget, from value priced to a designer series. They work with governments, schools, businesses both big and large, profit and non-profit. Their site says they can work to find a price and product to suit any need. If you’re reading this and have a need to purchase exit signs for a building, I hope you’ve found this post useful. We might be in a recession, but some things will always be important.