Some favorite quotes from today’s inspiring speech: “My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it – so long as we seize it together.” “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still…” “Our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts,” he said to an eruption of cheers and applause. “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone[…]

  

Ever wonder how in the world someone manages to take a mere sniff of a glass of wine and exclaim, “wet leaves, truffles and wild game”. Find yourself dubious? Well, for most wine geeks of the world, we have learned what to look for in a particular grape and terroir. We know the general flavor profiles of a grape and what the earth may bring according to its location on the map. In other words, we have help going in. I’ve decided to do a new series called Cheat Sheet to let some of you in on our secrets. You[…]

  

A few scenes from my recent holiday in the Lone Star State. Not the original Dr. Pepper recipe from Dublin Bottling Works in Dublin, TX., but a Dr. Pepper made with Imperial Cane Sugar- still pretty darn good. As of last year the original recipe is sadly, no more. The factory sold its rights to the recipe to Dr. Pepper/Snapple after much litigation. Read the New York Times story here. The Dublin bottling co. now makes its own sodas, cola’s take on the craft beer, sold at hipster restos and bars in Austin. A happy ending to a sad tale.[…]

  

Have a fabulous weekend. I’ll be busy with the bebes, try to get some winter cleaning done (exciting, right!) and post-bebes bedtime, try out some of the new wines I picked up at Planet Wine- really looking forward to trying the Graham Beck Rosé Brut Sparkler from South Africa- I am in a bubbly mood these days but then again, what day isn’t a great day for a sparkler? I am tempted to trek into DC and take the kids to the National Portrait Gallery as I have not yet been (I know, a crime after being here for 2[…]

  

Meet Natalia Goldman, Volatizing’s very own Clever Girl. This is my new feature on cool crafty-wafty ideas from this creative mom of 4 and one of my besties since college. Go Blue! She’s got oodles of ideas. What to do with all of those ridiculously adorable Christmas cards you’ve collected over the years. Shove them in a box never to be heard from again? Throw them out- Gasp- what would your Aunt Patty think? My ingenious friend Natalia came up with another brilliant crafty idea. She insists that all of her ideas are recycled inspiration but isn’t that the best[…]

  

Ok, I know it’s the New Year and all and this is not exactly a waist-line happy recipe, but I couldn’t resist. I made this little diddy over the holidays at my mom’s place and thought it worth sharing. Because I was in Texas, I wondered what a bit of chile powder would do to this traditional chocolate cream pie recipe. Visions of Juliet Binoche infusing her chocolates with chile from the movie, Chocolat danced in my head and I thought I would give it a shot. The result was pretty delicious. I used Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Dark Chocolate for[…]

  

Last week, we were in NY mini-workshopping a new musical called Revival, about the revival of an 80s mega-musical called Stars- the Galactic Dancical (I know, ridiculous- oh, the 80s) and the revival and rekindle of a long lost showmance/love affair. My hubby Christopher, myself and 2 other creative partners, Paige Price and Michael Paternostro- both Broadway biggies- have spent the last year dreaming up the show and this was our first step in seeing it up on its feet. We were so fortunate to have the very talented Sean Martin Hingston along with some exceptional Manhattan Marymount students to[…]

  

RIP Huell Howser. You brought your viewers much joy and I secretly wanted to be you. For those of you not familiar with dear Huell’s work, he was the longtime charming and folksy host of California’s Gold- a love letter of a travel show to California’s beauty and people. As a former Los Angeles resident, I loved tuning in to watch Huell tour the great Eureka state. His sweet Tennessee drawl always charmed the pants off of even the surliest of Californians as he led us through small towns, natural wonders and the quirkiest of landmarks with a wide-eyed, child-like exuberance.[…]

  

I love this page from Jack Kerouac’s notebook. I especially love his thoughts on so-called Beat pal, Ginsberg. We are off to NY to workshop a show we’ve been working on, so I’ll be off for the next week flexing my creative juices in the dance studio- what fun! I’ll make a pit stop to see Pacino in Glengarry, Glen Ross- seriously can’t wait to see that, see some friends and stroll the bebes down Broadway. It looks to be a beautiful week in NY, I hope you all have a beautiful week wherever you are. I look forward to getting[…]

  

It’s a New Year’s tradition in my household to watch Singin’ in the Rain every year. This tradition was started by my hubby who has been  watching Gene Kelly stomp through the rain each and every Jan. 1 since he was a wee lad. I have to say, if there was any time period I could live in, it would have been the early 50s so that I could have been a dancer in all of those great MGM musicals. I would have been so thrilled to have been the 3rd girl from the left. My career as a dancer was that[…]