My first big fat celebrity event...

I've mentioned on the blog a few times that I volunteer with an organisation called Baby2Baby, and Saturday was the Huggies sponsored Garden Party, which was in celebration of the fact Huggies have donated one million diapers to families in need in Los Angeles.

This preparation for this thing was NUTS. I went in to Baby2Baby a few times through the week (on one of these days, in a completely unrelated event, I met Jessica Alba, who is lovely and was lugging boxes around like a total champ, despite the fact she is the tiniest person I have ever encountered.) We were busy sorting and moving boxes and writing labels and all sorts through the week. The tension was definitely building, and Wednesday was pretty stressful. Thankfully, by Thursday things were a whole lot calmer and our outfits had been compared and everyone was happy and excited.

I arrived at a beautiful house in 90210 (Beverly Hills is actually a 5 minute drive from my house. This is hilarious to me) and I was decidedly nervous about fitting in to a high-flying crowd. I'm a 'jeans and flip flops' kind of girl, rather than 'fancy Beverly Hills Garden Party' type. As it was, I needn't have worried. Everyone was friendly and the sun was shining and the gorgeous garden looked so magical.

I was on the craft table. This will come as no surprise to you if you know me well. I love a good craft activity. We were making clay hand prints and mini-terrariums as Mother's Day gifts*. It was such good fun, and the kids were all adorable in their fanciest finery (which I helped cover in paint.) Some naming highlights included a 'Sheriff', a 'Rome', 'Camp' and more than one 'Stryker'.

There were a whole lot of celebrities. Like, everywhere you looked. Sadly, I didn't really know who half of them were, cause I only watch New Girl, Criminal Minds, baseball and basketball, but the twitter feed was pretty helpful for sussing it out! Since I only talked to a few of them, and mostly just watched them, and everyone always wants to know what they were 'like', I decided to make some snap judgements.

Most Dedicated Mum

Ellen Pompeo with her ADORABLE little girl Stella. She spent an absolute age making crafts with her daughter, and had no interest in anything or anyone else. It was so sweet to watch.

Ellen Pompeo with her wee girl (source)

Most enormously pregnant on a hot day

Poor Busy Phillips. By lunchtime it was so freakin' hot we were all dying. None of us were 8 months pregnant. Her daughter was super cute and she spent a lot of the morning giving interviews about her work with Baby2Baby, which was very sweet of her because I'd have sat with my feet in the pool and demanded people bring my Ice-cream if I were her.

Busy Phillips and Sarah Chalke (source)

Most amazing laugh

Sarah Chalke, aka Elliot from Scrubs. She is super elegant and lady like (with much darker hair these days) but with this big honking laugh that made me snigger. She also played basketball with her son in 7 inch heels, like a proper trooper.

One I stared at not knowing who she was

I was really grateful that I could wear sunglasses since I had this habit of staring at people in a 'do I know you?' kind of way, to which the answer was invariably no, you're on TV. The one I properly had that feeling with was Sasha Alexander, who was Pacey's sister in Dawson's Creek, or if you've watched TV since 1999, is currently in Rizzoli and Isles, which, as I'm sure you've guessed, I don't watch.

I didn't take any pictures, since the camera on my phone is rotten and I didn't bring my camera.Instead, I'm using Paparazzi shots from the internet. I did take a picture with my Baby2Baby friends in front of the screen- once I get a copy I will post it for hilarity value. All in, I had a really lovely afternoon. The food was amazing, the crafts were fun and the whole event helped raise awareness of the awesome work Baby2Baby does, something I am really proud to be part of. Now we just need to start planning for the summer event...

*Mother's Day in the US is on the 12th of May. I feel very smug that my mum already has her card and I don't have to panic about it...

My favourite places...

I'm back! Having been so super unwell, the thought of blogging was just too much. But I am now back, madly topping up my tan in preparation for my trip back home, sleeping a lot and eating out in an attempt to put back some of the insane amount of weight I lost. 

I thought I'd update you on some of the new places we've discovered recently, all pretty famous in LA but new to us! 

Milo + Olive

I went to this bakery in Santa Monica for my friend Hillary's birthday breakfast, and it was delicious. I took husband this morning for some cake and coffee, and it did not disappoint. It's pretty pricey, but you can see into the open kitchen and see for yourself how much care and attention is put into the food. We were pretty amazed to watch one of the chef's hand cubing cheese to go on the pizza. Perfect.

The Omelette Parlour

Another Santa Monica staple, this looks a bit like a twee tea shop from the outside, and we had walked past it before. We were desperate for breakfast on Main Street one day and had the most amazing breakfast sitting out on the gorgeous patio. We were instantly sold. The portions are ENORMOUS and fed husband for about 3 days, and it was the price as a diner like Denny's. New favourite breakfast spot for sure.

The Apple Pan

I just happened to come across a show on the Food Network a few weeks ago about the best burgers in LA. The Apple Pan was the host's favourite, and it is really close to where we live, so we had to check it out. It is seriously old by LA standards, and they have been serving the same burger since 1927. It's cash only (unheard of in LA) and the staff have worked there forever (and average of 35 years...) The burger was delicious. It had a whole lot of really delicious sweet relish on it, which is normally not my thing at all, but I was totally sold.Husband had a Hickory burger (only been on the menu since 1947- amateur) and he was a BIG fan. Finished off with the biggest portion of apple pie ever, we were so excited to find such an awesome spot nearby.

It's hard when people are visiting to know where to take them- we want something uniquely LA and seem to forget all our awesome local spots in the planning. We will definitely be taking our friends to some of these places in the summer. Can't wait for guests!

M I A

Sorry it's been a while, I've been ill. Proper, gut-wrenching will-it-ever-stop vomity ill. I ended spending the whole of Saturday in the ER getting IV fluids and antibiotics and anti-sickness meds to get it under control. I'm definitely starting to feel better, but it's going to take a bit of time to recover. 

In the meantime, you should watch this, created by my brother's mate Jordan, who works in advertising. I woke up singing it this morning...