Last month I arrived at my pal Zoe’s house exhausted. That day I’d completed the 6 hour drive to the Bay Area from Los Angeles, then hadn’t stopped a beat before hosting the San Francisco launch party for Sage Living. Zoe had generously offered to put me up for the night, and I couldn’t wait to hit the mattress in […]
You guys. I’ve done something I may live to regret. In a rush of enthusiasm, I invited ninety (yes, nine, zero, ninety!) guests to a holiday cocktail drop-in at my house. I’m not sure what possessed me. Perhaps I’ve been emboldened by my recent entertaining photo shoots and wanted to do the real thing. Or perhaps it was that […]
Guys! Thanksgiving is almost here! I always look forward to this holiday, but I’m more anticipatory this year than ever. Tonight I’ll be hopping a plane to Reno where much of my family lives. It’s our first Thanksgiving since my grandmother’s passing, and while it will be tough without her, I’m incredibly grateful that I get […]
I have spent my life on a noble quest for that most elusive and alluring of entities: the perfect bite. My search lies dormant for much of the year only to be renewed with assiduity at Thanksgiving and Christmas. The concept is so simple—with all my favorite foods on one plate, surely it shouldn’t be difficult […]
Friendsgiving is pretty much the best holiday to come along since National Donut Day. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and I adore sitting down to a bountiful Thanksgiving meal with them. But my friends? Well, they’re the family that I’ve chosen, and there’s something extra special about gathering together to honor how grateful we are […]
I’m a very healthy eater. I’ve never met a salad I didn’t love, and last year I gave up desserts and haven’t looked back. Yet I’m still plagued with health issues that are directly related to sugar—specifically, candida overgrowth. I’ll spare you the gory details, but suffice to say that some seriously uncomfortable symptoms flare up if […]
Releasing ‘Sage Living‘ certainly has been a wild ride! It’s been a little over a month since the book’s release, and I’ve experienced exactly the roller coaster of emotions that you’d expect: pride that I’ve achieved such a huge career milestone, anxiety that the sales won’t meet expectations, joy that the book’s message of intentional […]
This morning I had breakfast with Kara Dykert of the lovely lifestyle and food blog By Kara Elise, and I gotta tell you guys: this gal is one to watch for sure. You definitely know her work already. As the head of events at Darling Magazine, Kara has spent the last while concepting and producing the stunning Darling Dinners […]
Last month I discovered something new about myself: I love to teach! I worked with Tillamook to create and conduct a food styling workshop for some of their most loyal fans, and it was a total blast from start to finish. I adored creating the curriculum, setting up, and most of all, meeting and sharing […]
When my grandmother passed away last July, she left quite a legacy. From her ability to coax a flourishing flower garden from a desert landscape to her appreciation for a good practical joke (she once sent my uncle a box of dead mallards when her beloved Cal Bears slaughtered his Oregon Ducks in football), she was […]
Pizza is a powerful food. People will do anything to get it. Remember the ability of a pizza party to galvanize your 3rd grade class into completing whatever task was assigned? It’s also universally loved. I’m confident that I’ve never met someone who doesn’t like pizza.(Confident because I’d definitely remember that meeting, and I’d probably […]
How do you get your daily coffee fix? Are you patient and methodical as you pour perfectly heated water over your carefully measured beans? Do you wake up and hit ‘brew’ on the Keurig so you can get that sweet java into your system as quickly as possible? Or can you manage to wait until you […]