The Met Gala, Mother's Day and My Sister's Single

So in case you were living under a very unstylish rock, the annual Met Gala was last night here in NYC and basically every celebrity in the world was there to show off their fiercest fashion. My best dressed awards go to Emma Stone wearing Thakoon and Rihanna rocking Stella McCartney. These ladies were killing it in their crop tops.

How did we all feel about Beyonce's face net and plunging studded sheer dress? I kinda love it. Golf claps for Jay-Z, who suited up nicely for the occasion in his white tuxedo jacket. Despite his hit "Tom Ford," Jay's dapper look is not by the designer. Both Bey and Jay wore Givenchy Haute Couture by Riccardo Tisci for the Costume Institute Gala and they win my best dressed couple award (sorry, KimYe).

Worst dressed of the night has to be Katie Holmes in this Marchesa mess. I love yellow but this gown is awful. Leave this look to Belle from Beauty and the Beast, girlfriend.

Lupita Nyong'o was another fashion fail in this Prada number, which totally says "Flapper on an acid trip." 

Who's look did you love and hate from the Met Gala? 

Mother's Day is this Sunday and if you haven't gotten your mom a gift yet, there's still time to get shopping! On Sunday, I did a gift guide for Fox & Friends if you need some inspiration.

Check out the segment here for some ideas. As a surprise for my own mom, I put pictures of her in the Pottery Barn frame thinking she'd get a kick of out of having a cameo in the segment, but you couldn't really see them on camera. It's the thought that counts though, right? Love ya, Mom! I wore a Vineyard Vines Derby dress that day, which you can see better in the pic below. Shout out to my roomie Lindsay for waking up bright and early with me at 5:45 a.m. and coming along to help out! After I finished with work, I went to meet my sister Erica for brunch at Agave, who was in town for a meeting about her new song.

My sister is a music teacher as well as a singer/songwriter and her single "Take Me Over" with Tim White is out on iTunes today! Listen to it below and go buy it here...super catchy. Congratulations!

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Talk Thirty to Me!

So this is first ever blog post as a 30 year old! I officially kissed my 20s goodbye and entered a new decade as of Friday, April 25. Am I supposed to feel different? Do I sound older, wiser and more mature?

To ring in my 30th, I wanted to wear something special to celebrate. I didn't want anything that was short or super young that looked like something I wore in Vegas for my 25th (pretty sure that was an Herve Leger knockoff). After looking around in vain for the perfect dress, I ended up borrowing this Yigal Azrouel number from my friend Yasmine last minute for my party at Up & Down. I loved the bright color and how it was sophisticated yet still sexy.

Before the party kicked off, I got glammed with a St. Tropez spray tan at Euphoria and a blowout at Rodolfo Valentin. I did my own makeup using Internet starlet/beauty guru Michelle Phan's Night Life Palette from em cosmetics, which we got at a YouTube event earlier that week. Admittedly, I'm not always amazing at doing a smoky eye but the instructions and guide were easy to follow and the results lasted all night.

Thank you to ShadowPR for setting up my party! And what's a birthday without a few surprises? Apparently, Leonardo DiCaprio was also there that night (thanks for coming out!) and Paper mag and DKNY were doing a party downstairs toasting their cover girl Rita Ora so we got to meet her briefly.

We also ran into James Franco the night before at a Tribeca film fest after party, which was exciting considering my roommates and I follow him religiously on Instagram and think he's hilarious.

All in all, it was a great weekend...thank you to everyone for the well-wishes and coming to celebrate! I'm looking forward to seeing what adventures my 30s will bring. Stay tuned!
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Spring Cleaning: Declutter, Donate and Make Money

When I moved to NYC from LA, I came with just a few boxes. But somehow over the past 3 years, I've managed to accumulate a lot of stuff. Since I was moving apartments, I wanted to declutter and get rid of anything I wasn't wearing or using.

Even if you're not moving, spring is a great time to clean out your home and wardrobe, and you can make money doing it. Win, win! Here's 5 ways to make your declutter count:

1. Sell back designer clothes and items you're not wearing for a Nordstrom gift card. The Fashion Project teamed up Nordstrom to give $40 gift cards to customers who donate 5 or more designer items, plus they'll give proceeds to your charity of choice from the resale. You need to have originally paid $50 or more for each item. You don't even have to leave home: sign up online and they'll send you the shipping materials to send in your goodies, then mail you the giftcard so you can buy yourself new clothes.

 2. Get money for your old laptops, digital cameras and iPods. We all have old clunker laptops and outdated devices sitting around unused. BestBuy offers you an online quote for your old gadgets and a gift card when you bring them into the store to use for new gadgets.

3. Ditch your old cell phone and get a giftcard. You can bring any old phone or tablet to any AT&T store and they'll give you a gift card to use on your next bill or purchase. Verizon is offering gift cards for $100 to $300 for old iPhones in good condition through 3/31.

4. Donate for a tax break. If you take your used clothes to your local Goodwill or Salvation Army, they'll give you a receipt to fill out for a tax deduction come April.

5. Donate old prom dresses for a discount on new designer clothes and to give another girl a chance to go to prom. If you have once worn homecoming, prom or bridesmaid dresses, Becca's Closet is a great charity to donate to for less fortunate girls to wear, and you can get a discount to Nicole Miller as well as a tax write-off when you give a gown.

If you live in NYC, Becca's Closet is having a Spring Fling fundraiser party this Wednesday at Hotel Chantelle with open bar, apps and awesome raffle prizes. Come party for a purpose!

For more closet cleaning and organizing tips, check out my segment for Fox & Friends. Happy Spring!

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Warming Up With The Rock in Florida

I love living in New York City, but during this time of year, I miss my LA days just a little bit. As a born and raised Jersey girl, I like to think 5 years of California living didn't completely make me soft, but I'll be the first to admit this winter has been brutal, with constant blizzards, single digit polar vortex days, massive slushpuddles and dirty snowbanks at every intersection.
So when I was invited to a set visit for Wake Up Call, The Rock's new reality show filming in South Florida, the answer was obviously yes. I've never gone on a set visit before so I figured this was a good opportunity to see another aspect of the television business and get some much needed vitamin D and sunshine. Win win.

While I've watched my fair share of reality TV (don't judge), I haven't ever really seen them filmed from a production aspect. There's so much prep and setup that takes place long before cameras even start rolling. When you're watching one single scene in a show, there was likely hours of work that went behind capturing it.
Wake Up Call premieres this fall but the premise of the show is that Dwayne Johnson, who was arrested multiple times himself before turning his life around, gives "wake up calls" to real-life people in need of help, whether it's a deadbeat dad or struggling business owner. Through his interventions, he helps people admit mistakes, face challenges and improve their lives. You definitely see an emotional side of the participants on the show as well Dwayne, who's a father himself. During our interview at the conclusion of the day, he revealed what gave him his own personal wake up call and memories of working on the Fast and Furious franchise with the late Paul Walker.

There are also guest stars involved in many episodes. On the day I visited, it was Juicy J from Three6Mafia...or you may know him from Katy Perry's current hit song "Dark Horse."

He took the red eye from LA just to be there (maybe that explains why he wore sunglasses indoors the whole time.)

The rapper dished about making the crazy music video for "Dark Horse," which comes out this Thursday, and features Katy as an Egyptian princess wearing a grill, as well as those crazy rumors about him getting Miley Cyrus pregnant.

I'll post the links to coverage when the stories are up on Cambio. I also got to hang with my parents, who live down here most of the year, at the pool today so that was an added bonus. I'm currently blogging from the Ft. Lauderdale airport since my flight back is delayed, but at least they have free wifi. Next time I'm posting, I'll be back home but I'm bringing some warmer weather with me, I promise!

Just like in any long-term relationship (my three year NYC anniversary is in March), every now and then you just need a break and some perspective to appreciate what you have, and this trip was the perfect time to reflect, recharge and refocus. Thank you to TNT and The Rock for having me and I'll see you soon, NYC! 

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Super Bowl Sunday and Awkward Moments

Happy Super Bowl Sunday from New York City!  I've gotten to cover Super Bowl in the past in other cities such as Phoenix, Dallas, Tampa and Miami but this year, the game came to me. Last night was DirecTV's annual Super Saturday night, which always features a live performance and this year definitely didn't disappoint. Jay-Z was the scheduled performer and not only was he awesome but Beyonce even joined him for a song too!

I am seriously obsessed with these two! Cutest couple ever. Justin Bieber is also in town for Super Bowl and was spotted skateboarding through the 11th Annual Leather and Laces party, which we went to on Friday. At least it's better than drag racing while high on weed and Xanax, right?

In other celeb encounter news, I got to sit down with the cast of That Awkward Moment recently, including Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller. The movie is sort of a rom-com from a male perspective about three best friends who vow to stay single in NYC.  Living in Manhattan, you recognize a lot of the places they filmed and can definitely relate to some of the situations! You can see some of the interviews below:

For all those wondering, yes, Zac really is just as cute in person as he looks. I also realized I never wrote about my Sundance trip because I got sick afterwards and was trying to catch up on work and get better for this weekend, but it was amazing. The weather was perfect and our house crew was the best. I finally got to ski this year, too!

I've also been busy apartment hunting as I'm moving out of my current place, which I've lived in for 3 years. I'm happy to report that after a week of searching and seeing depressingly shoebox sized apartments, two of my best friends Katie, Lindsay and I found a spacious and charming new place with an awesome bar right off our lobby. Success! We celebrated last night with a delicious dinner at Benjamin Steak, where we sat by Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick who were on a dinner date. You can tell they're still totally in love. 

Besties and now roomies!

Success! If anyone has any great mover recommendations, holler. In the meantime, I'm off to get ready for the game. GO BRONCOS! 

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Golden Globes and Sundancing

The Golden Globes are tonight which means awards season is officially here! Back in my days living in LA and working at E!, I was covering the carpet and parties in person.

Awards season was always lots of fun but by the time Oscars rolled around in March, you're pretty exhausted! There's something nearly every Sunday starting now and culminating with the Academy Awards, such as the Grammys, Independant Spirit Awards, Screen Actor's Guild Awards, etc. It's a lot of late nights running around in heels and then coming home to transcribe your interviews and post your stories ASAP, not to mention finding dresses to wear to everything. So I'm actually pretty happy to watch at home from my couch in sweats for once.

Of all of the awards, Globes was always my favorite one to cover for a few reasons. It's more relaxed and casual than Oscars, and they serve booze to the celebrities during the show, which means everyone's in a pretty good mood.

It's also the most convenient, since everything is held in one place. It all goes down at the Beverly Hilton hotel. The awards are held in the ballroom and all of the after parties are on the premises too, making it much easier to hit as many as possible without having to drive and valet. It's one stop shopping! With all of the stars in one place, you never know who you might run into the lobby or bathroom. I remember when I bumped into Josh Duhamel and Fergie one year when it was actually raining (a rare occurrence in LA) and Josh was holding up the train of her dress as she walked so it wouldn't get wet. How cute are they?! I can't wait to see what everyone will be wearing this year.

One thing I'm not missing is the Sundance film festival, which kicks off this week in Park City. I'm going back for the third time and can't wait for another great year. In addition to the movies, there's lots of parties and events. And this year, I made sure I actually have enough downtime to the hit the slopes, which I hear are amazing and not crowded during the fest, since everyone's seeing movies and hitting up the swag suites. Last year's highlights included interviewing James Franco about his BDSM documentary and taking a gondola at night to the top of the Canyons to reach one of my interview locations, which was definitely memorable.

My tan from my Christmas in Florida is long gone but I don't want be the palest person in the hot tub at our house, so I've been on the hunt for a good self tanner. St. Tropez's new mousse which is formulated for sensitive skin is a winner. It's super quick to apply and dry, doesn't have that weird scent some of the other kinds do and will leave you with a natural glow instead of a Snooki-esque complexion.

You can see St. Tropez's golden tans for yourself on some celebs tonight at the Globes. Breaking Bad's Anna Gunn, Wolf of Wall Street's Margot Robbie and Sosie Bacon, Kevin Bacon's daughter and Miss Golden Globes 2014, will all be sporting custom spray tans by St. Tropez when they hit the red carpet.

Happy watching! Check back this week and weekend for more straight from Sundance.

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Happy New Year! 2013 Highlights and Inspirational Interviews

Happy New Year! 2013 was an amazing one where I got to continue and grow my freelance journalism career, travel to lots of fun places for both work and play and meet many wonderful people. I welcomed 2014 at a huge Host Committee party at 55 Gansevoort thrown by myself and some other friends.

Before ringing in the New Year, I joined Fox & Friends again to recap the biggest celebrity moments of 2013. You can watch the segment here...love her or hate her, you have to admit that Miley Cyrus definitely was a hot topic all year. Twerking is working, at least in terms of making headlines and getting people talking (and I'm not gonna lie, her new album is pretty good.)

I also had the pleasure of interviewing Tracy Anderson, fitness guru and Gwyneth Paltrow's trainer and BFF, for SheKnows' January Girl Crush. I met Tracy at her NYC home and she was so sweet and fun to talk to, not to mention in amazing shape for having two kids.


Hear the petite powerhouse and single mom explain why she hates juice cleanses and the best thing about having Gwyn as a best friend. After our sitdown, I took one of Tracy's famous cardio classes at her Tribeca studio and it was an intense yet fun workout.
For anyone who doesn't know me, I'm an avid reader (I think I'm the only one of my friends who carries a library card and actively uses it) so I also picked up a book she recommended for some New Year's reading called Within by Dr. Habib Sadeghi. I'm only a few chapters in but it's about the mind body connection and how it relates to weight loss and achieving your ideal self. The science behind it is fascinating and argues that we have complete control over the thoughts and feelings we create and the power of positivity. Good food for thought for 2014 if you're into that sort of thing.

Thank you all for reading my blog and articles over the years and for your support! I feel truly blessed for all of the fantastic people in my life and that I get to make a living everyday doing something that I love. Wishing everyone all the best for a wonderful year ahead filled with happiness, health, love, prosperity and peace. Here's to making all your dreams come true in 2014!

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