Category: SocialLuxe Lounge
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Thursday, August 23
The 2012 Slow Churned SocialLuxe Lounge!
Wow. I can’t believe it’s been three weeks since the Slow Churned SocialLuxe Lounge in New York City. Time flies when you’re finally able to relax and catch your breath after months and months of craziness!
The Par-TAYFor those of you who don’t know what SocialLuxe Lounge is, it’s this crazy idea my friend Allison concocted in 2009. She decided that we should throw a party for bloggers. We were like, “Sure, why not? How hard could it be? Allison would never lead us astray!” Well…it was hard. But it was worth it. And Allison certainly did not lead us astray. In fact, while the parties we’ve held each year have been amazing, the best part of it all has been the relationships I’ve developed with Allison and Marie, my SocialLuxe business partners. I am blessed beyond measure having these two ladies in my life. Working with them on something so hard/fun/time-consuming/awesomesauce has created a bond that will NEVER BE BROKEN! Yes, I’m getting all cheesy and melodramatic on you. I can’t help myself!
Marie, Allison and IOkay, enough blithering, onto the party!
This year our title sponsor was Edy’s/Dreyer’s Slow Churned ice cream. They were our dream sponsor and we were delighted to work with them. First of all, I totally buy their Slow Churned ice cream all the time. For real. Secondly, they were helping to raise money for Operation Smile. All summer they’ve been encouraging people give a smile and change a life! Each time someone uploads a smiley picture enjoying Slow Churned to the Edy’s or Dreyer’s Facebook pages, $5 is donated to Operation Smile. Our party was the official New York City stop on the Reason to Smile tour and we were able to get lots of photos of lots of smiley faces! You can upload your own photos (and get a free scoop of ice cream!) by clicking here!
Vanessa Lachey joined Edy’s/Dreyer’s to help put smiles on our party guests’ faces. She was DARLING. Seriously, so sweet and nice and maybe the cutest pregnant person ever. She came all the way from L.A. even though she was 8 months pregnant. Go Vanessa! She said that ice cream and helping kids was a no brainer!
350 wonderful, amazing, talented women bloggers came to the party to eat ice cream, get primped and pampered and have some fun. Each time we do this shindig there is a moment when I look out at the packed room and just feel happy. It is seriously FUN.
Between great music, the BlogLuxe Smile Awards, amazing and hardworking volunteers, cute waiters, fun gift bags, celebrities, delicious food, fancy drinks, massages, gorgeous flowers, make-up, paparazzi, henna, the red carpet, and fabulous bloggers, it was a night to remember!
In addition to Edy’s/Dreyer’s, we had other great sponsors at the party as well. I need to give them a shout out because the party would not be possible without them and they were all fabulous!
Jill Zarin, of Real Housewives of New York fame and as spunky and fun as you would imagine, was there with BISSELL to show off the new Spot Bot. I am one of the lucky few who will be receiving a Spot Bot of my very own and I can’t WAIT to get my hands on that thing! Seriously, we have a spot in the girls’ room that needs some serious love right now. Hurry, Spot Bot. I need you!
Spot Bot on the Go; Real Housewife meets a Pioneer Woman!Summer Baltzer, of Design on a Dime fame and gracious and lovely, was at the party with Wilsonart HD. They have these totally cool laminate countertops that are beautiful, super resilient and affordable. I wish I had a kitchen of my own right now to fill with these counters!
UNREAL Candy was also at the event and everyone was super excited about their unjunked treats. Let’s not talk about how many peanut butter cups were ingested by one Jane Maynard in a 24-hour time period.
Ubisoft was there to help our guests get their dance on with Just Dance. And Netflix did some giveaways with a fun Twitter quiz. Lots of fun to be had!
And, one of the best parts for me was having my sister Anne, sister-in-law Cora and brother Christian there to help out. It was awesome having them there and I got to fulfill all of their biggest dreams…Anne met Jill Zarin, Cora met Ree Drummond and Christian met Vanessa Lachey. They all went home happy.
If you’re dying to get a gander at more photos of the event (I know you are, I can see it in your eyes), visit our Flickr page!
Three cheers for SocialLuxe! {And now I’m going to take a nap. Phew!}
Posted by Jane Maynard at 1:43 pm 10 Comments
Categories: fab faves, SocialLuxe Lounge
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Friday, August 10
This is what I’ve been up to…
Last week I co-hosted the Slow Churned SocialLuxe Lounge with Allison and Marie. It was a BLAST and I’ll write more about the party later…but today I had to share the video of the party. Because it’s awesome (we love Russ and Reyn) and because I like embarrassing myself and letting you see me dance.
The 2012 Slow Churned SocialLuxe Lounge from jane maynard on Vimeo.
SocialLuxe just about kills us every year, but then the party happens and it’s amazing. And then we see the video and all we can do is smile.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 10:34 am 7 Comments
Categories: SocialLuxe Lounge
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Thursday, August 19
The Avery SocialLuxe Lounge and an amazing weekend in NYC!
I’m finally sitting down to write about the 2010 Avery SocialLuxe Lounge. Ah, SocialLuxe. Even now, two weeks later, I don’t know where to begin! The party was a-maaaaaay-zing. Our sponsors were wonderful, the location was off the HOOK, and throwing the party with Allison Czarnecki and Marie LeBaron was by far and away the best part of it all. I simply feel grateful for the chance to be a part of it.
Allison, Me, Marie – The Dream TeamWarning: this is a long post. But it’s FUN and represents a year of my life, so I just gotta make it a big ole monster post of SocialLuxe fabulousness. (If, after all of this, you are still dying to see and read more about SocialLuxe, we have a pretty sweet Flickr page here, and we’re collecting posts about the party here.)
Pre-party preparationsThe Avery SocialLuxe Lounge took place on August 5 in New York City at Arena, near Bryant Park. We had 350 wonderful bloggers in attendance, including this unbelievable list of VIPs. UNBELIEVABLE, right?
The Bloggess (Funniest BlogLuxe Award Winner, 2009 VIP), Megan Jordan (Velveteen Mind), Christine Koh (Boston Mamas)This year Avery was our title sponsor for the event. They were wonderful. Their conference survival kits for each guest were adorable and totally useful to boot. We absolutely adored working with Avery.
In addition to Avery, we had a whole slew of amazing sponsors. Frito-Lay, International Delight, Stride Rite and Ghirardelli were all at the party, providing their own unique and fun twists. Celebrity designer Heather Thomson was also there helping women to feel yummy with her Yummie Tummie line. (These waiters were also wearing Yummie Tummie products…which they admitted to loving.)
This year we featured a very special non-profit organization, Drop In and Decorate. They were at the party to meet bloggers, educate them about what the organization does, and gave guests the chance to design cookies to benefit the Center Against Domestic Violence of New York. Drop In and Decorate is definitely worth checking out, so click on over to their site!
SocialLuxe is all about the pampering. Hair, makeup, henna, manicures by OPI and the most fantabulous aromatherapy massages by Aveda really rounded out the evening. I could have sat in that massage chair for hours.
The swag was sweet, too. It was SO fun giving each guest a giant bag full of wonderful goodies. From totally delicious smelling Scentsy products to totally classy gifts from Cambria Cove to totally awesome face cream from StriVectin to totally rockin’ headphones from Skullcandy…and so much more. It was nuts!
This is what stuffing 350 bags looks likeShabby Apple provided the three hostesses (including myself) dresses for the weekend. I can’t even tell you how many compliments I got on my Frida K dress. I sure was glad I was wearing it that night…made me feel all confident and stuff. And, confession time, I wore it again two nights later.
SocialLuxe was a TON of work, but it was worth it, for so many reasons. Oh, and I won the Tastiest BlogLuxe award with dear sweet Ree, The Pioneer Woman! Yippee! (Don’t miss the list of all the winners here.)
The weekend didn’t stop there. The BlogHer conference was just as overwhelming as ever, with over 2000 bloggers in attendance. The highlights of the weekend for me were two more parties.
Ree (The Pioneer Woman), Jaden (Steamy Kitchen) and Elise (Simply Recipes) held a cocktail party on Friday night, where I finally met Matt Armendariz from Matt Bites and got to hang out with the David Lebovitz. And I’m officially in love with both of them.
Some of my closest and favorite blogging friends, at Ree’s party…Kristen, Me, Allison, Rachael, Marie and Kami (Photo from Justin Hackworth)And on Saturday night I had the chance to attend another cocktail party hosted by NATE BERKUS. He was super sweet and I love him now even more than I did before. I honestly can’t wait to see his new show in a few weeks.
Oh, and then I danced the night away at Sparklecorn, one of the official BlogHer parties. I haven’t danced like that since college. It was a BLAST. (And I make a brief appearance in this video, thankfully hidden behind some crazier girls than I…)
I’ve gotta say, New York City treated me well.
Oh! I almost forgot. Not only did I get wined and dined in NYC, but I also became an official minivan mom. That’s right, I had me a Swagger Wagon for my East Coast trip this summer. Toyota provided me with a Sienna to use the whole two weeks I was out East. It was fabulous having it on our family vacation on Cape Cod and, surprisingly, it was even more fabulous to have it in New York City for SocialLuxe. It hauled people and boxes of stuff equally as well and I don’t know what we would have done without it. And, once ‘Jersey Jane’ kicked in, I could handle driving that van in the city as well as any cab driver.
Cate and Anna loved having the van…they sat in the way back the whole time we had it and Cate was enamored with the sliding doors. And, because they look too cute (and hardcore!) in Skullcandy headphones, we of course had to do a rap album cover photo shoot.
After all, this is a swagger wagon…and my girls know how to swagger. No diggity, no doubt.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:55 am 31 Comments
Categories: fab faves, SocialLuxe Lounge, the goods, travels
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Monday, June 28
Time for the shameless begging to begin…2010 BlogLuxe voting has begun!
I’m a co-hostess for the Avery SocialLuxe Lounge, which will be held on August 5 in New York City! Each year we announce the winners of the BlogLuxe Awards at the party…and last year I was honored to be a winner in the Tastiest category, along with one of my most favorite people in the whole wide world, The Pioneer Woman. Voting has begun for this year’s BlogLuxe Awards, so of course I have to put in a shameless plug and get you to vote for This Week for Dinner in the ‘Tastiest’ category!You can vote on the Avery SocialLuxe Lounge website once per day through July 12. Just click here and follow the instructions. It’s painless, I promise.
And be sure to vote in the other categories as well! There are some amazing blogs nominated!Posted by Jane Maynard at 3:52 pm 4 Comments
Categories: SocialLuxe Lounge
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Tuesday, August 11
Reflections on BlogHer and the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge
It’s been over two weeks since the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge and BlogHer, and I still haven’t wrapped my mind around it all! It was an amazing weekend for so many reasons.
First off, as I wrote about already, the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge was A-MAAAAY-ZING. It was one of the most exhausting experiences of my life, but also one of the most empowering. Six women in three different time zones virtually coming together, bringing to the table unique talents and pulling off a FANTABULOUS event in a city none of us live in. I still can’t believe it really happened. (Check out our adorable personalized SocialLuxe M&Ms…just one of the many fabulous touches of the night!)
The once-upon-a-time-I-wanted-to-get-an-MBA side of me was also fascinated watching so many companies recognize the value of the blogging community and trying to tap into that in unique and effective ways. I felt like our sponsors did a great job at that. The Swiffer team was really fun and Kodak interviewed bloggers and posted the interviews online. And that’s just scratching the surface of the cool things the different sponsors did, not just at our party but throughout the weekend.
If you want to see more pictures of our the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge, click here to see our Flickr page.
The BlogHer conference was amazing, as well. The sessions were great, the keynotes were fantastic…but the best part was meeting so many charming, thoughtful, funny, intelligent, inspiring and kind people.
The highlight of the weekend was attending a food blogger dinner with some of the most amazing women I met all weekend (see list below with links to their blogs). I had gone to a lunch earlier that day where I met Kalyn from Kalyn’s Kitchen and Lydia from The Perfect Pantry. After chatting with them for a bit they said, “Do you want to go to dinner with us? Trust us…you WANT to go.” Boy were they right. The bloggers I met at that dinner were wonderful, supportive, inspiring. It was a truly lovely evening.
Oh, and did I mention I met the oh-so-nice Carson Kressley…who told me I was stunning? And did I mention I love him?
Another fun highlight was seeing Paula Deen speak, and (thanks to Allison who is a champ at wrestling down microphones) I got the chance to ask her a question. Maybe one day when I feel like embarrassing myself, I’ll post the video. I fell in love with Paula, who was an absolute DELIGHT and genuinely loved talking with everyone.
Can you see why I haven’t written about my BlogHer weekend? I haven’t even scratched the surface, but my fingers are tired, so I’m stopping.
Here is the list of food bloggers I met at the dinner I went to. Enjoy browsing their sites!
Kalyn Denny – Kalyn’s Kitchen
Elise Bauer – Simply Recipes
Kathy Strahs – Panini Happy
Kristen Doyle – Dine and Dish
Maris Callahan – In Good Taste
Cora Sedlacek – Cora Cooks
Deb “Biggie” Hamilton – Lunch in a Box
Gudrun Enger – Kitchen Gadget Girl
Jennifer Leal – Savor the Thyme
Ree Drummond – The Pioneer Woman Cooks
Jaden Hair – Steamy Kitchen
Sandie Hale – Inn Cuisine
Alanna Kellogg – Kitchen Parade
Sara Rosso – Ms. Adventures in Italy
Kelly Schmickle – Barbaric Gulp
Stephanie Tolle – Iron Stef
Stephanie O’Dea – Crockpot 365
Anne Marie Nichols – This Mama Cooks
Hetal Jannu – Show Me the Curry
Anuja Balasubramanian – Show Me the Curry
Krista Nannery – Londelicious
Roni Noone – GreenLiteBites
Kim Sacha – Building Blocks Show
Lydia Walshin – The Perfect PantryPosted by Jane Maynard at 5:00 am 9 Comments
Categories: musings, SocialLuxe Lounge
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Saturday, July 25
Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge & BlogHer ’09
What a WEEK. I think I’ve slept an average of 3 hours a night for the last four nights. But it’s been worth every lost wink of sleep!
The Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge was unbelievably fabulous. This Week for Dinner WON the Tastiest BlogLuxe Award, along with the oh-so-lovely Pioneer Woman Cooks, whom I had the chance to meet & spend a little time with last nigt! Thanks to all of YOU for getting me into the Top Five…and to the VIP judges for selecting my blog as a winner!
Oh, and Ciaran Blumenfeld and I appeared on CBS 2 Chicago this morning! Roseanne Tellez interviewed us for a segment on mom bloggers. Here’s the link!
More to share, of course, but I’m going to bed. Finally. But first, BIG THANKS to Swiffer, Kodak (who gave away the ZI6 HD pocket video camera in all of our swag bags!!) and all of our amazing sponsors! We could not have pulled off the party without their support.
And love and hugs to my co-hostesses for SocialLuxe Lounge – Allison Czarnecki, Marie LeBaron, Jennifer Sbranti, Beth Feldman and Ciaran Blumenfeld. It was truly an amazing group of women to work with.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 1:06 am 20 Comments
Categories: SocialLuxe Lounge
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Saturday, July 18
Time to ‘swif swif’ with the Swiffer Wet Jet!
The Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge is literally right around the corner! I can’t believe it’s already here…and I’m getting super excited. The music playlist is ready, my SINGLE dress has arrived (it’s lovely!) and I’m ready to party!
Swiffer® is the title sponsor of the event. As part of the sponsorship, they sent each of the hostesses the newly redesigned Swiffer® Wet Jet® with Antibacterial Solution. Cate and I gave our new Wet Jet a test run today, with great success! Here are the reasons I am really liking this new Swiffer Wet Jet:
1) The pole is stronger. You can get much better leverage and it just feels nice and sturdy. I am so happy they made this improvement!
2) The scrubbing strip has been moved to the front of the mop, which is nice and handy.
3) It’s battery operated! I had a similar wet mop years ago that had tubes I needed to rinse out, and the little trigger that was kind of ‘iffy.’ The Swiffer Wet Jet has a nice, simple, battery-powered button that sprays the soap through dual-action sprayers (fancy!). There are no tubes, no messy bottles to pull in and out spilling all over the place. It’s just smartly designed.
4) Cate is in love with it and wants to clean all day long!
Seriously, she loved “Swiffering” the living room and would have all day if we didn’t make her stop to eat! And look at all the dirt she cleaned up! The floors were mopped just three days ago with a traditional mop…I can’t believe all the dirt the Swiffer Wet Jet picked up! (Should I be embarrassed for sharing this picture? Oh well!)
Big THANKS to Swiffer for a great Wet Jet and for being the title sponsor for our party!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 3:00 pm 6 Comments
Categories: SocialLuxe Lounge, the goods
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Thursday, July 9
Girls’ Night In/Pamper Collection from pingg!
I know, I know…I keep bugging you about pingg. But until every online invitation I receive in my Inbox is from pingg, I won’t stop pestering you!
pingg is one of the sponsors of the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge that I am co-hosting in 2 short weeks! I’m excited to announce that pingg has created a girls’ night in/pamper collection of invitations and e-cards inspired by the Swiffer SocialLuxe Lounge! How cool is that?
Here are a few of the designs from the collection. Now, go plan a fun girls’ night…the invitations are ready to go!
Quick disclaimer: Until now, I have not received a penny from pingg. And while they are one of the sponsors of the party…I honestly and truly LOVE THEM, sponsor or no sponsor. The more I use the pingg service the happier I am with it. Okay, disclaimer over.
Posted by Jane Maynard at 2:41 am 3 Comments
Categories: fab faves, SocialLuxe Lounge
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Monday, June 29
One More Week to Vote!
Hello dear readers! Okay, there’s just ONE MORE WEEK of voting for the BlogLuxe awards. I really want to get into the top 5!!! I’m close…so go vote! Click on this link, then click “Tastiest” and scroll to find This Week for Dinner. Voting is easy, free and you don’t have to register to be a member of anything. You can vote ONCE A DAY, so you’ve got 7 more votes to put towards a good cause…that would be me. Thank you!!!! If you all go vote this week, for sure I’ll make it into the top 5. We can do it!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 12:07 pm 1 Comment
Categories: SocialLuxe Lounge
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Tuesday, June 16
Win a Golden Ticket to BlogHer!
Remember my wicked awesome party I’m co-hosting at the sold-out BlogHer conference?
Do you want to go? To the party AND the conference? Now’s your chance! Be sure to check out the “Get me to BlogHer” contest sponsored by Whrrl…you could win a trip to BlogHer! I’m crossing my fingers that one of YOU wins. BIG THANKS TO WHRRL! Be sure to check them out!
Posted by Jane Maynard at 3:56 pm 3 Comments
Categories: SocialLuxe Lounge
Hello! My name is Jane Maynard and you've landed yourself on my blog, This Week for Dinner™. Every Sunday I share a weekly menu...and then count on you to share your own! You'll also find other deliciousness that I hope you'll enjoy!
