Project You Magazine, Love Yourself Issue, Good Times by Project You Magazine

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Good times Oscar Viewing Party! By Elizabeth Mascali and Dawn Sandomeno

Click here for the recipe!

VEGETABLE QUESADILLAS February 26th, Hollywood will roll out the red carpet for the little gold man and all the big stars will be in town. Why should stars have all the fun? Join in on Hollywood’s celebration and host a Red Carpet Viewing Party in your home. Simply follow our tips for creating your own event that’s sure to be the hottest ticket in your town. It’s easy, all you need is a comfortable viewing area and our menu and tips – the entertainment is free!Serve a spectacular cocktail and star-studded bites to make your party guests feel like stars for the night. projectyou

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Oscar Viewing Party! VIEWING PARTY BASICS

1. Make sure your television is in good working order. If you have a DVR, program it to record the pre-show red carpet events and awards show. Now you and your guests can watch at your leisure throughout the evening. 2. Focus on your “viewing area”. Create a comfortable viewing area in which all seats allow

on backs of sofas and chairs for guests to snuggle as the evening goes on. 3. Have cocktails and appetizers ready to serve guests when they arrive. 4. Welcome guests with a signature cocktail, followed by buffet style “easy to eat” fare. Tell guests to make themselves comfortable and help themselves to additional beverages and food throughout the evening.

PartyBluPrintsBlog.com

Welcome guests with a signature cocktail, our pick is a California Margarita (a nod to where Oscar lives), and something to nibble on, Shrimp Shots and Fresh Guacamole with Tortilla Chips and Crudité. Follow this up with the main feature, Vegetable Quesadillas. Pace yourself and your guests with the menu so everyone has time to eat leisurely throughout the 3+ hour show. As the show continues, award guests “Red Carpet” Red Velvet Cupcakes. And for the finale, finish off with popcorn, a staple for any viewing party!

SIGNATURE COCKTAIL California Margarita Ingredients ❑ 2 oz. simple syrup ❑ 2 oz. fresh lime juice ❑ 3 oz. gold tequila ❑ 2 oz. orange juice

A Role Mommy Magazine l February 2012

THE MENU

for a good view of the televised event. Bring in extra chairs, stools, ottomans, beanbag chairs, and oversized pillows for additional seating. One of the greatest treats growing up was eating in front of the television; so indulge your guests and make it easy for them to dine by offering surfaces and coasters for guests to rest glasses and plates while viewing. Place cozy blankets

Good times

Oscar Viewing Party! STAR-STUDDED BITES RED VELVET CUPCAKES

Red velvet cake and gold sprinkles are two great ways to make your cupcakes Oscar worthy. It’s a sweet treat that’s easy to eat! Make sure to select a fun and festive baking cup that won’t bleed or fade with the red velvet cake mix.

Click here for the recipe!

SHRIMP SHOTS

FRESH GUACAMOLE WITH TORTILLA CHIPS & CRUDITÉ Ingredients: ❑ 1 box Red Velvet Cake Mix (plus ingredients listed on box) ❑ 1 can vanilla frosting ❑ gold sprinkles

ACTIVITIES

Instructions: Prepare cupcakes according to box instructions. Allow to cool thoroughly. Frost and “accessorize” with gold sprinkles. As the awards continue, treat guests to a viewing party must-have, popcorn! Serve it with your favorite movie theater snacks.

Create a Paparazzi Memory. As guests enter your home, trade them their coats for a cocktail. Snap each guest’s picture at the door. Instead of printing the pictures for your guests, load them up on facebook or your blog. Send out a note the very next morning to your guests inviting them to enjoy the pictures and join in on the “Morning After Recap”. Print out voting ballots for each guest (they are available online before the ceremony). In advance of the awards show, have guests complete their ballot. Keep a tally to determine who was right on the money with the winners. ■

Elizabeth Mascali and Dawn Sandomeno are party and lifestyle authors, bloggers, and social media hostesses. Their first book, PLAN TO PARTY, (Yorkshire Publishing) offers ideas from their blog andis a go-to resource for home entertaining. projectyou

project you By Carley Knobloch

Tech Will Keep Us Together y husband and I met over matching Apple laptops nearly 17 years ago and technology has been part of our relationship ever since. We sent each other steamy love e-mails over AOL in 1994. We brought a Gameboy on our honeymoon in 1997 and played Tetris all the way to Italy. And a typical date night often ends with a stroll through the Apple Store (or, as my husband calls it, “foreplay”). Tech has always been a shared passion, and our mutual coveting of the gadget du jour is has always gotten us both a little hot under the collar (a little like a three-way, but with USB ports).

RedStamp: You don’t need to wait until Valentine’s Day to use RedStamp to send little love notes to your honey. Beautifully designed, the iPhone app makes easy work of sending everything from birthday cards to thank you notes... and their “love” designs have slots for photos, so you can send him a preview pic of the red velvet cake that’s waiting for him when he gets home... or the real dessert he’ll be getting in the bedroom.

A Role Mommy Magazine l February 2012

Now that we’ve got a couple kids and a mortgage, passion about technology (or anything else) has given way to exhaustion and myriad to-dos. The steamy love e-mails have given way to bedtime inbox management, each of us on our respective laptops, eyes glued to screens until we both pass out. Not. Hot. I’m not giving up on tech, though— I think we can find a way to re-ignite the spark (to re-kindle over Kindles, if you will). Here are some of my favorite tech tools to reheat your love life this Valentine’s Day:

Spotify: What do Journey, vintage Phil Collins, and Spandeau Ballet all have in common? They all made appearances on my best make-out mix tapes. Back then, if you wanted to make one you needed to buy all the albums that the songs were on and then record all the tracks you wanted on a blank cassette tape. Thankfully, today we have Spotify— just help yourself to millions of songs, assemble them into limitless mix tape playlists, and listen whenever you want. Upgrade to premium and you can access them from any mobile device and even play them when you’re not online. Share them to Facebook too (unless you’re still listening to A-ha, in which case, don’t). Spotify, FREE (Premium service $9.99/month)

Foodzie: This online marketplace has become my go-to destination for gift giving, because of it’s unique artisan food selections. It’s perfect for finding great Valentine’s gifts too— the way to a man’s heart, after all, is through his stomach (albeit via his smartphone). Not sure that your man thinks food is sexy? I have two words for you: Bacon Jam. Yeah, baby. Skillet Street Food Bacon Jam, $29.95 for 4 7 oz jars.

Courtesy of vendors

Good times

Carley Knobloch

Courtesy of vendors

Digitwirl.com

Lark: When you’ve got small kids and the day starts at the crack of dawn, nothing is sexier than a good night’s sleep. Which is why my husband often has to dodge pillows (and profanity) if his alarm clock wakes me up any earlier than necessary. Fortunately, the Lark solves the problem— it’s vibrates to wake you (and only you), and it even tracks the quality of your sleep and coaches you to better rest. Cause nothing says, “I love you” like an authorized sleep in. Lark personal alarm & sleep coach, $99.95 ■

Carley Knobloch is a personal tech expert and founder at Digitwirl. com, the go-to source for busy women who are too busy to read manuals and want technology to “just work”. Digitwirl brings together Knobloch’s obsession with all things tech, her passion for problemsolving, and her knack for curating the best resources for her audience. When she’s not scouring the virtual globe for next revolutionary gadget or life-changing website or app, she can be found doing the running man while playing Just Dance 3. Her husband and two children are often allowed to play too. projectyou

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Create a Luckier Life

You don’t need a shiny penny or a rabbit’s foot…..finding good fortune is a m atter of fine-tuning your thinking. By Jeanne Muchnick

here PSSST: Click d o for more go luck tips.

Jeanne Muchnick has published hundreds of parenting and lifestyle articles for various publications and websites including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Woman’s Day, Parents, and Westchester Magazine. Tonight, she’s having her “famous” mustard chicken for dinner (go to her website for the recipe.) 28

– yet -- but when it happens, you’ll realize how lucky you are. The Result: By looking on the perpetual good side, it keeps you positive. People are drawn to “up” people.

Lucky Strategy # 3

See the Good in the Bad: Turn unfortunate situations around by imaging how things could have been worse says Richard Wiseman, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in England and the author of The Luck Factor. My friend, Jenny, is one example. She thought getting fired was the worst thing that could ever hapLucky Strategy #1 pened to her until she realized TheDinnerMom.com Write a script. Think of a manthat what it really made her do tra -- a saying that you repeat to was re-evaluate her situation. yourself every day -- in the mirShe’s now the owner of a yoga sturor, in the shower, or driving you dio -- a far departure from her days in car, i.e. I am lucky; I am blessed; I deserve sales, and couldn’t be happier. good things to happen to me. The Result: Looking at the glass as half The Result: Every cell in your body will full as opposed to half empty makes you feel it, causing you to draw luck into your less likely to dwell on your ill fortune and life. Believing that today is your lucky take control of the situation. day can and will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, says Jill Spiegel, a Minneapolis, Lucky Strategy # 4 MN-based luck expert and author of The Listen to Your Gut: Act on hunches. Pocket Pep Talk. My friend Jean wasn’t happy living in Westchester, New York, and so decided to Lucky Strategy # 2 up and move to Laguna Beach, CA where Expect good fortune. Don’t doubt your she knew no one. That forced her to open luck. It may not happen today, or tomor- up more to people. The end result? She row, but it will show its face. Think of each met her future husband. They’re now the situation as a story that’s still unfolding, proud parents of two girls. i.e. you got a flat tire that led to a chance The Result: You make more effective demeeting, or you missed a turn on the high- cisions when you tune out what everyone way, that led you to a new area. You might else is telling you and really listen to what not know the ending to your new “chapter” YOU want. Your gut is always right. ■

A Role Mommy Magazine l February 2012

Jeanne Muchnick

©www.istock.com/ studiocasper

ver feel like you’re having one of those days? Or years? No matter how many jobs you toil at, men you date, or lotto scratch-offs you rub, you’re doomed to lose? Meanwhile, your younger sister (bless her gorgeous, little heart!), never seems to struggle with ANYthing! It’s like she’s has this lucky star shining on her, while you simply have nothing but misaligned planets. Think its all predetermined fate? Think again. According to experts, making your own luck is easy. All you have to do is alter your attitude. Some strategies to get that blessed star beaming on you:

Good times

By Brad Bessey

Affirmations for parents:

©www.istock.com/ H-Gall

Planting Seeds

hen it comes to loving ourselves, nothing is more powerful than planting positive seeds in the gardens of our children’s minds. There is no such thing as a neutral thought. That’s why it is so important that as parents, we truly watch what we sow. As we head into spring, let’s do a little gardening. Are the seeds we’re planting today ones that will grow and nourish our souls, enrich ourselves, our children and our world? Or, is the garden we’re cultivating filled negative, doubt-filled self-talk - the spiritual weeds that could overtake the garden of our minds and our families? There’s a line in A Course in Miracles that says: “The truth in you remains as radiant as a star, as pure as light, as innocent as love itself.” It’s easy to see this innocence when we look into the eyes of our newborn baby or when out of the blue, our four year old says, “I love you daddy.” But, do we see that same brilliance and hope in ourselves? Not often. As we grow up, weeds creep into our garden. It’s a small thought, an off-handed remark, a seed is planted and bad thoughts grow: “I’m not smart enough.” “I’m fat.” “I’m such a loser.” As adults, there’s much to be done to transform our limited beliefs in ourselves into powerful ones that can help us achieve our hopes and dreams. For our children, the work we are doing is not transformation, rather formation. We help them determine how they will view themselves to-

day, tomorrow and for the rest of their lives. I believe affirmations play an integral role in the process. In the Oscar-nominated film “The Help,” set in Mississippi in 1963, the character Aibileen, played by Viola Davis, is an African-American maid and nanny to two year-old Mae Mobley. Aibileen says to Mae Mobley, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” The toddler repeats the affirmation and it becomes a mantra of self-love for them both. Here’s how we began using affirmations in our house: One morning, my son, who was almost four at the time, woke up early and snuck down to the living room where I was deep in my morning meditation. He asked me what I was doing, I told him. And, not ready to end my practice, I asked him if he wanted to join me. He asked, “But, daddy, how do I meditate?” “Well,” I said, “close your eyes and take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.” And, as he sat, eyes closed, breathing in and out, I told him this: “Gabriel, there is a reason you were born. You have talents and gifts that are special to you and only you can share those with your friends and the world. It’s our job to play and explore and learn and discover them, together. So, say these words, ‘I am a gift to the world.’ ” He did and then he repeated it a few times aloud and then sat in stillness by my side, while the seeds of self-worth began to take root. ■

“I model love and respect for my children, by being kind to myself.” “Every moment is a gift today, even when it comes wrapped in a tantrum.” “I have excellent parenting instincts and trust my inner-wisdom to guide me.” “There is perfection in imperfection. I am the perfect parent as I am.”

Affirmations for children:

“I am awesome.”

“Today is a great day.” “I make good choices.” “I use my words to express my feelings.” “I am loving and kind.” Brad Bessey is a writer and television producer who lives in the Hollywood Hills with his husband and four-year-old son, Gabriel. Brad was Executive Producer of The Talk on CBS, and was CoExecutive Producer of Entertainment Tonight. projectyou

project you Alma Schneider

By Alma Schneider

TakeBackThe Kitchen.com

Alma Schneider is a Licensed Clinical Social worker, food writer and chef . She is the founder of TakeBacktheKitchen.com, a blog and consulting business helping people overcome their practical and psychological obstacles to cooking. She lives in Montclair , NJ with her husband and four children 30

Something Pink

Here’s a simple and healthy recipe to get you started, pink for Valentine’s Day!

Beautiful Beet Dip: Ingredients: ❑ 1 cup 0% fat Greek yogurt (Fage brand is best) ❑ 1 15 oz. can sliced beets or 1 1/2 cups peeled, boiled beets ❑ salt and pepper to taste

A Role Mommy Magazine l February 2012

Instructions: Puree beets in a food processor. Stir in yogurt (DON’T puree yogurt because it will get watery) and add salt and pepper to taste. Serve with pita chips,healthy crackers or vegetable sticks. ■

Worried about how to get dinner on the table when you’re NOT a cook?

So were these other busy moms...who found solutions in Dinner for Busy Moms (Plain White Press): Your book is chock-full of wisdom and humor. I really appreciate how your advice helps assuage the guilt I often feel when I serve takeout…again. I now have a firm conviction that no matter what ends up on the table, my family and I will eat dinner together.

—Marsha G., New Rochelle NY

You have made brilliant use of other’s tips, etc. Your approach to the whole book is fabulous. This should go viral.

—Laurie Z., San Francisco, CA

I started the book at 1 a.m. and finally put it down around 2:15 a.m... LOVE IT! ... makes me want to head out to the grocery store and fill my empty cabinets!

—Jenn K., Indianapois, IN

Go to www.thedinnermom.com for more info.

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