April 2012 - The Culture Mom

30Apr

Review: Dear Daughter: The Best of the Dear Leta Letters by Heather Armstrong

Time has never flown faster than these last nine years since I became a mother. Sometimes when I try to remember certain parts of my children's early years, it's hard. The memories are getting blurrier and blurrier, and they are still quite young. That's why I really enjoyed reading Heather Armstrong’s “Dear Daughter: The Best of the Dear Leta Letters”. It took me back in time to a time that was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I read the book on a plane and spent the next hour and a half dreaming about my first child and what it was like Read More

28Apr

Six Degrees of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

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Sculpture of Danny Thomas, the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Ahh, the power of social media/social good. If you haven't figured out how important it is, and how important the relationships you make online are, you will like this story. My relationship with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital all started with a simple blogger event at Build a Bear in NYC last year. I wrote about an event that inspired me to no end nearly a year ago today. The occasion was for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s launch of its Cause for Read More

26Apr

Do Women Want to be Submissives? A Look at Fifty Shades of Grey

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On a recent trip to London, I took a trip to my favorite UK bookstore, Waterstone's, and roamed the shelves. As I searched for books to bring home that I can't get in the U.S., a book caught my eye that I had been hearing a lot about. Yes, Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James. I had been following the talk about this book for some time and quickly swept up a copy of the book and brought it back to the U.S. But I have a confession. I had heard the words "porn" and "bondage" in passing but really didn't know what I was getting myself into. I'm a mom Read More

24Apr

Simplify Your Life with Fresh Direct and a Giveaway ($50 gift card)

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One of the best parts of Associate Producing the upcoming NYC show Listen to Your Mother is finding out about companies and brands that I need to know about to simplify my life. As a working mom, I am always seeking a way to ease the demands of everyday life...and save money. So, when Fresh Direct agreed to become a major sponsor for Listen To Your Mother, I listened when the crew began calculating how much they had collectively spent using this delivery service. They are such big fans that the total was more than $20,000. Seriously, my ears and eyes Read More

23Apr

Review: Dark, Twisted and Intriguing Venus in Fur

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David Iver's Venus in Fur is one of the most intense 90 minutes of showtime I've experienced in some time. It starts out as what appears to be an innocent, unplanned audition. As the two main characters are acting out a dramatization of the 1870s novella “Venus in Furs,” by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the story takes a sudden turn and involves revenge, S&M and torture. Nina Arianda plays Vanda, the actress auditioning for the lead role, and Hugh Dancy plays the playwright, Thomas. The two of them have an interesting chemistry, although their Read More

20Apr

Joining the Faces of Rosacea Campaign

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No one is picture perfect – not even celebrities – but everyone can get educated on skincare, especially if you suspect you have Rosacea. Rosacea is a condition that I didn't know very much about until I started working on a MamaDrama campaign involving Rosacea called FACES OF ROSACEA. Did you know that over 16 million Americans suffer from Rosacea, a vascular condition caused by inflammation with symptoms that include facial redness, pimples and irritation? Yet only 10% of sufferers are being treated! As soon as I heard about it, I started to see Read More

17Apr

Behind the Scenes of Listen to Your Mother

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I've learned so much working on Listen to Your Mother NYC. I'm working with the most amazing women you can imagine on a production we all care about, and been involved in all aspects of the production. From auditions to casting the show, from finding rehearsal space to the planning the actual rehearsals, to finding the venue for the show and scouting the Upper West Side for the cast party and so much more. I've been milking the experience as much as possible and have been absorbing the knowledge of the phenomenal director, producer and cast, and most Read More

17Apr

Not doing it All…and Realizing That’s Okay

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Having just returned from two weeks away (I was in England, if you haven't noticed and yes, my children did come back with slight British accents), I feel somewhat overwhelmed. Work deadlines, dance recitals, violin practice, dance lessons, swim lessons, homework, state tests. So much to keep track of. It's never easy to jump right back in after being outside our everyday norm. Before we left, I was worried about how I could pick up and leave so many things. But my husband wanted to to go to the UK, as he was homesick and wanted to spend Passover Read More

15Apr

Muse, Lover, Wife, Mother – The Paris Wife Review

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When I picked up my copy of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain, I was intrigued by the endorsement by Nancy Horan, the author of Loving Frank, one of my favorite novels of the last few years. It reads "The remarkable novel about Ernest Hemingway's first marriage is memorizing. I loved this book." The cover does a good job of revealing something about the period the book was based on, the 1920s. It shows an outside bistro in Paris. The woman facing forward, the man's facing the other way, both dressed in clothing from that era. I Read More