It’s almost time for US Open Tennis!

The biggest sports and entertainment event of the summer returns to New York City’s Flushing Meadows in Queens for the 2011 US Open. Beginning on Monday, August 29th through Sunday, September 11th, defending champions Rafael Nadal and Kim Clijsters will attempt to repeat their 2010 triumphs.

Free US Open Experience on August 23rd

I highly recommend US Open as a sporting event to go to, and now anyone can have a change to give US Open experience a try – for free. US Open offers FREE admission during the US Open qualifying rounds and the chance to see their favorite players take center court on Tuesday, August 23rd, a week before the main draw tournament. The qualifying rounds will be completely FREE to the public and for the first time, the entire USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will be up and running for the qualifying rounds and you can experience US Open for free. The world-class tennis and entertainment, wonderful restaurants, special events and attractions – all without having to buy a ticket to the US Open.

Arthur Ashe Kids Day

Every year during US Open, the event also organizes the Arthur Ashe Kids Day for kids. The day is filled with entertainment, performers, fun games and of course tennis and kids can play in the SmashZone and meet with the players. The Arthur Ashe Kids Day is on Saturday, August 27th this year.

This year I am traveling during the kids day and we are not able to take the kids, but I would love to go on Tuesday for the free day – anyone interested in coming with us?

June 8th, New York’s Half Gallery opened their newest exhibition, A Ways A Way. The quaint studio, located on 208 Forsyth Street, overflowed with friends, family and guests for opening night. Room was sparse, resulting in attendees spilling out onto the sidewalk to continue the jovial reception.

The showing, curated by Meredith Darrow and Devendra Banhart, features nine artists whose art is heavily influenced by alternative disciplines such as, music, tattoo artiststry, fashion design, or commercial photography.

The effect is an intriguing observation into the individual artist’s creativity and his or her ability to channel that inspiration into various forms. For instance, three pieces by artist and Los Angeles- based designer, Angeline Rivas, show an aptitude for graphic design that is repeated in her bold tees she creates for the fashion label Cavern. Scott Campbell, known tattoo artist and founder of Saved Tattoo, is another good example. Campbell’s work portrays a butterfly attained by meticulous detail and laser-cut dollar bills. These are just a couple of the multi-talented souls that were presented.

All artists presented include: Devendra Banhart, Scott Campbell, William Eadon, Kevin Long, Megan Marrin, Keegan McHargue, Fabrizio Moretti, Angeline Rivas, and Adam Tullie.

Angeline Rivas
Untitled, 2010
Ballpoint pen on paper
30 x 22 inches
$3,500

Scott Campbell
Untitled, 2010
23 x 27 inches
$ 6,500

Half Gallery – A Ways A Way Exhibit
The exhibit runs until July 8th and can be viewed free of charge.
208 Forsyth Street, New York City
Hours: Mon-Fri 10-6 PM, and by appointment

If you would like further information about the artists or purchasing a piece you can contact halfgallery@info.com

Written by Skimbaco Lifestyle Fashion writer Hallie McKay. Hallie has also written for the Seventeen Magazine.

Located at 3 West 18th Street, City Bakery is the quintessential sugar junkie’s haven. The bakery hosts an array of treats that span the spectrum of sweet and savory.

City Bakery’s reputation is largely founded on its mouth-watering chocolate chip cookies; melt in your mouth pretzel croissants, and its famous gourmet hot chocolate topped with homemade marshmallows. The cookies, which are baked every 30 minutes, are delicate bites of heaven that can be smelled blocks away. If you crave more of a salty treat, then the pretzel croissant is for you. This flaky concoction mixes sweet and salty for a satisfying result. Finally, City Bakery’s renowned hot chocolate lends itself to annual tasting festivities in the fall, in which patrons line the block to gulp down the gourmet treat and devour the handmade marshmallows.

City Bakery is more than just your common New York sugar dive, however. This place is also a highly trafficked lunch spot among those in the Union Square and Flatiron district. Their lunch selection offers a salad bar stocked with produce from local farmers and organic distributors, as well as prepared dishes from Chef Ilene Rosen. City Bakery is open seven days a week, and has another location, Birdbath, in Greenwich Village.

Visit it!
The City Bakery
3 W 18th St
New York, NY 10011
tel. 212-366-1414

I just found this amazing deal from The Dirty Shirt – the Radio City Christmas Spectacular tickets on sale!

I know it may seem like Christmas is so far away, but this is a deal you do not want to miss. Four tickets for $199 and you’ll even get free food and drink vouchers (That equals at least 30% of savings). You can exchange the dates until October, if you still don’t have all your holiday plans together (who does?). Use code JUNEFOUR to get the discount. Buy now.

We went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and the Rockettes last year and it was amazing, both the kids and I loved it. Last year was our first Christmas close to NYC and I have to say Christmas in New York is magical and I recommend visiting New York City during the holidays (read more about the Holiday time in New York).

Mom’s Nite Out was an idea of Maria Bailey, the CEO of BSM Media , host of MomTalkRadio, author of several books (Mom 3.0 is my favorite) and co-founder of NewBaby.com and recently launched MomTV.com.

On May 7th millions of moms nationwide had a well-deserved Mom’s Nite Out. Thanks to hundreds of bloggers, tens of sponsors, malls, restaurants, hotels, website partners and above all, thanks to The Ultimate Mom, Maria Bailey.

What started as one mom’s idea to do something good for the other moms spread into something huge. Even in the largest events the “made with love” could be felt on Moms Nite Out. The at-home-parties, the cocktail parties, the comedy nights and even at the large mall events – they all shared the same feel, this one night was for us moms. To be celebrated and to be cherished with each others.

I had an honor to spend that night with Maria Bailey and co-host the New York City party at the beautiful settings of the Wyndham hotel with her and Kim Orlando of Traveling Mom.

Amazing New York City area moms filled the room, and I had an opportunity to meet the first time Debbie of Mamanista, Joy Rose of Mamapalooza, Debi Silber, the Mojo Coach, and Ms Latina, as well hang out with friends like Emily of The Motherhood, Amber, the Jersey Momma, Amy, the Selfish Mom, Carol the NYCityMama, Daisy of Blue House Blogs and Wendy of Babies Gotta Have It.. and so so many other amazing women (sorry that I left you out, not intentionally, I couldn’t list all 50 guests!).

The Propel Fitness Water sent a Propel team to help us to set up and greet our guests. We had custom Mamaritas made out of Jose Cuervo tequila, and We Take The Cake and Little Debbie took care we all had the best of the cakes or 100 calorie snacks for dessert. We raffled giveaway prizes every 15 minutes and over 600 viewers attended our party at the Mom TV where we were livestreaming the party. I also raffled away spa day at the Dashing Divas day spa, sponsored by Pledge Multi Surface Cleaner, and I held another great VIP spa party last week.

We had a talented photographer Carol Barnstead taking photos, and here are some of her photos of the night. You can see all of her photos of the Mom’s Nite Out NYC party.

And we had swag… and boy did we have swag! Our swag bags had gifts for (gasp!) over $1000 per bag! So many companies and especially mompreneurs wanted to be part of our night and celebrate motherhood and sent gifts for our guests. We had e.l.f. make ups, baseball tickets to see Brooklyn Cyclones, Vintage Body Spa’s bath products, Super Goop! sun lotion, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM t-shirts, Name Your Tune CDs… And one amazing gift from The America’s Personal Family Lawyer Alexis Martin Neely and her Family Wealth Planning Institute – every guest got a gift certificate for one time visit with a Personal Family Lawyer for legal consultation – great for example for all the mompreneurs and bloggers to set up their business.

Thank you so so much for all of our sponsors. It meant so much to me to be able to host this special night for moms with Maria and Kim, and then on the top of it send the guests home with Mom Logic bags filled with goodies.

The best for me – seeing the look in the moms’ eyes when they saw the gift bags and their contents, and hearing “I’m a single mom, and I haven’t had a night out for years.. this IS the Mother’s Day for me and one of the best nights I’ve ever had”.

See you all again next year on Moms Nite Out!

Thank you so much for the following sponsors
who donated products for the bags:
* Mom TV * NewBaby.com * Mom Select *
* Blisfully Domestic * Carolina Pad * Children’s Orchard * Clear Ears * HP *
Brooklyn Cyclones * Duncan Hines * e.l.f. EyesLipsFace.com * French Foods *
Family Wealth Planning Institute * Little Debbie
* Little Remedies * Log Cabin Syrup * Mom Logic *
Name Your Tunes * One Step Ahead * Precious Moments
* Propel Fitness Water * Super Goop! * The Shandle * Today’s Moms *
Traveling Mom * Vintage Body Spa * 1-800-Flowers *

I had an opportunity recently to meet the wine expert Anu Karwa, founder of in-home and corporate wine tasting party company Swirl Events and writer of the fresh, fun wine blog SwirlSavvy. Anu is so nice, I could have talked forever with her, but more than that – I would love have her pour her wine knowledge in me (and some wine naturally). I asked her some of her wine party tips if we all can’t hire her for our wine parties, and she was so nice to offer a few tricks and tips and also a wine consultation giveaway! Yes, one you you will get to go wine shopping with Anu! Anu is based in New York City, so if you are in NYC area, you will get to meet Anu, but if not, the consultation will be via email or phone.

Here are the wine expert Anu Karwa’s top wine party tips: 

1. When throwing a dinner party, hand out glasses of Prosecco, a lightly sparkling Italian wine, as guests walk in the door.  It gets them in a festive mood and keeps them busy while you finish up last minute details.

2. When throwing a party or for a wedding, you want to budget 1 glass of wine per person per hour for each person who you think will drink wine (others will drink soda, beer, cocktails, etc.) To help you budget, you get about 5-6 glasses of wine per bottle, depending on how generous your pours are.

3. Want to throw an alfresco spring soiree? Then bring out the rose and chill it lightly.  One of my faves is the Crios Rose of Malbec. It has the kick of a Malbec but the ease of drinking a white wine.

4. A cheese plate is a natural complement to a wine themed party. Choose four stylistically different cheeses. My favorites are a fresh chevre (a goat cheese that works lovely with Sauvignon Blanc and Rose), a D’affinois (tastes like Brie but is even smoother) to pair with full bodied white wines, a Piave Vecchio or Manchego for medium-bodied reds like Pinot Noir, and then an aged Gouda to pair with highly concentrated, bold red wines.  

If you don’t know some of these wines Anu mentioned in her tips and you want to learn more about wines, attend the wine consultation giveaway!

WINE CONSULTATION GIVEAWAY

This giveaway is for a two-hour consultation or personal wine shopping experience in New York City with Anu Karwa, the owner/sommelier of Swirl Events www.swirlevents.com, a wine tasting party company with a fresh, hip approach located in NYC.  If you are outside NYC, it will be a phone or email consultation.

Get her expertise to stock up the wines your home, choose the wines for your wedding, bridal shower, birthday or other big celebration. Anu will answer any other type of food & wine pairing question you might have. And if you’re located in NYC, she’ll be your personal wine shopper! And I hear she always throws in a bottle of wine to help you celebrate!

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY :

1. Check out Anu’s blog Swirl Savvy and leave a comment which blog post is your favorite and leave a way for me to contact you.
2. Subscribe to my feed to keep in the loop. Leave a comment if you did.

RULES:
Deadline for comments/above: April 15th midnight EST. US only. Winner will be announced on April 16nd. Thanks to Swirl Events for this giveaway!

PS. Check out the 6 months’ supply of RAGU tomato sauce giveaway too!
 

The Jimmies rocked the 92YTribeca on Sunday! 92YTribeca is an arts and entertainment venue located on 200 Husdon Street, NYC, and The Jimmies were performing part of 92YTribeca’s B.Y.O.K. series.

The concert was at 11 AM, and I think due the daylight savings time it felt even earlier than that. Well, an hour earlier. I had hard time getting kids up the bed on time, it’s over an hour drive from where we live, but we made it. We all were happy that we made it on time, and saw The Jimmies. The Jimmies is now The Best Band Of All Times according to my three children.

My kids (who are 6, 7 and almost 9 years old) were pretty much double the age of the other kids in the audience, but The Jimmies isn’t just for tots, their songs are a collection of different music styles, from reggae to rap and from country to pop, and I can almost guarantee even every parent can pick a song they like to listen (even when the kids are not around).

I loved how the 92YTribeca was dressed up for a kids’ concert.

… and how The Jimmies let the kids be part of the band
with these home-made maracas.

After the concert we had an opportunity to talk to the band, and I am so impressed how the band members took time to answer all of my kids’ questions, and play over and over again with my kids with The Jimmies personalized Whoopie Cushions and the bubble machine. Little did they know that my kids had never owned a whoopie cushion before and it was like the best thing since spreadable chocolate and my two youngest ones just wouldn’t let the band members alone after getting such an amazing gift from them. The lead singer Ashley is so nice, perfect with kids, and I am a fan of The Jimmies for life, just from speaking to her wonderfulness.

Kris, Gaby, me, Ashely of The Jimmies and Isabella

After the concert we met Jyl of Mom It Forward, who was in town for the weekend. We had brunch the Triceba way, at the Bubby’s, and we loved seeing pictures of Jyl’s two children, who are around the same age as Kristian and Isabella, and we were already planning on a family meet-up in Park City Mountain Resort in Utah later this year. I couldn’t have planned a fun Sunday with kids and friends any better! Only one bad thing… now my kids have been bugging me that they Have To join twitter, because that’s where Jyl (@Jyl_momIF) and Ashley (@pluckypea) are too!

Isabella, Jyl, Gaby & Kris

PS. Check out the NYC Mama’s blog post about the same concert