The Outlets at Orange

 It used to be that one of the rare places to score a Marc Jacobs at outlet prices, anywhere near Southern California, was a drive to the Nevada State Line outlets. Then, sometime in the past decade, The Block at Orange became the Outlets at Orange and up popped a Saks Off 5th and a Neiman Marcus Last Call. 

Thank goodness because I just can't make that drive like I used to! When I was invited to the Outlets at Orange Tweetup, I gathered my posse, which now consists of my 13 month old, my mom and my sister and we went to see what OAO had to offer.

The main event consisted of a mixer in front of the AMC theater where we tried appetizers and drinks from a few of the OAO eateries, saw numerous fall looks from the various retailers. As a special treat, a local fashion school was challenged with creating a dress made from the bags available at the outlet stores. 

Here are a few of my favorite Outlets at Orange offerings:

Neiman Marcus Last Call

Last Call has a huge, almost overwhelming, selection of clothes, household goods and accessories. A huge selection of classic fashions that will be wearable season after season. They had an impressive selection of Diane Von Furstenburg and Herve Leger, which I will definitely be revisiting when Project Get Fit is a success. (Not an official project, just what I like to call my health efforts in my head.)

Here are a few of my finds: Quilted gold toe flats are perfect for holiday parties and office wear. This leather motorcycle jacket by Vakko Leather has non-leather inlays on the sleeves and the sides making it more breathable than the typical leather jacket and more forgiving with holiday weight gain. Drink dispensers and silver tierred platters are perfect for holiday entertaining. Quilted sweaters and woven leather clutches are perfect for casual but luxe fall dress. 

Cafe Tu Tu Tango

This has been one of my favorite restaurants at the Outlets at Orange since it was called the Block at Orange. I celebrated birthdays and had my fair share of sangria at this wonderful gem. Imagine my delight when the #OAOTweetup featured Cafe Tu Tu Tango's wonderful sangria! They also had their beef skewers, which, quite obviously, my little one loved. 

Before: Beef Skewers.

After: Toddler demolished.

Market Broiler

There is only so much shopping, cocktails and appetizers I can handle before I need an actual meal. You'd think the appetizers were enough to fill us up but really, they just really whet our appetites. I know, #firstworldproblems

But what's a gal to do when watching her weight and looking for a family friendly establishment? Enter Market Broiler with their delicious fresh baked sourdough, kid friendly offerings and healthy options. The #OAOTweeup goodie bags included a coupon for a free appetizer so we ended up returning this generosity by ordering everything that caught our eyes. We tried everything from the Mahi Mahi to the trout, calamari, steak, shrimp and salmon. The service was terrific and the waitstaff was Oh. So. Understanding.

I cannot express how important that is when dealing with a very active toddler. Thank you Market Broiler, you shall see me again.

Saks Fifth Avenue Off Fifth

The idea of discounted Marc Jacobs, Jimmy Choos, Calvin Klein, Rebecca Minkoff and Sperry makes me weak in the knees. Literally, I was floored at the number of high end designer labels that exist in this store to the extent that I just started shouting out labels to my mom. She was understandably confused.

Hands down, Saks has the best selection of designer handbags. When other stores talk about their designer handbags, they almost never mean the designers that Saks has. It is unreal.

Here are a few of my finds for this fall:

Calvin Klein houndstooth coat to go from the office to date night without missing a stylish beat. Metallic Jimmy Choo stilettos because despite my mommy life, I still associate my most memorable nights on the town to a pair of unnecessarily high heels in an eye catching design. Those who know preppy casual know that Sperry Top-Siders are the end all be all of weekend footwear. This is the sneaker alternative for the 1%. And of course, purse after swoon worthy purse, Saks delivers the handbag goods.

Now excuse me, I'm just going to go and drop some hints to my husband about what I might want for Christmas.

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Mozzarella Arugula Pumpkin Seed Bruschetta Recipe

What one word, when spoken as the summer heat starts to fade, immediately reminds you that Fall is coming? Pumpkin, of course. From lattes to microbrews, when the pumpkin is upon us, Fall has arrived.

Pumpkin Seed Oil, however, is a new one for me. Nutty in flavor, rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, pumpkin oil is big on flavor and health. Why had no Fall season before informed me of this product?!

When Emile Noel offered to send me one of their non-GMO, organic, fair trade bottles of oil, I chose PSO because I had never seen it on shelves before! (Recently, I saw it at Trader Joe's, however, during the great pumpkin wave.)

Then I went to the farmer's market and the bread guy had loaves of Gilroy garlic bread. My favorite greens purveyor had beautiful arugula. My fridge had some leftover fresh mozzarella from a pizza we made the night before. A recent health kick provided some pumpkin seeds tucked away in my pantry.

This, my dear friends, is the result.

Mozzarella Arugula Pumpkin Seed Bruschetta

Ingredients:

8 slices of garlic sourdough

1/4 cup of olive oil

2 cups of arugula

8 slices of fresh mozarella

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil

2 tablespoons of honey

1/2 tablespoon of mustard

3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds 

Look at that garlicky goodness.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat a grill pan on high heat. Slice garlic sourdough in roughly the same size as the mozzarella slice. Brush each side with olive oil. When the pan is hot, place as many slices as will fit onto the grill pan. When desired darkness of grill marks is reached, about 3-5 minutes each side depending on the heat of the pan, flip each slice over and repeat. Continue until all the slices have pretty grill marks on each side. 

Grill marks for days.

2. Place all slices of garlic sourdough on a cookie sheet or baking pan. Layer mozzarella slices on each of the bread slices. When oven reaches 350 degrees, place the cookie sheet in the oven. Leave in the oven for 10 minutes or until the mozzarella is slightly melted but not bubbling. 

3. While the mozzarella is melthing, whisk together the white wine vinegar, pumpkin seed oil, honey and mustard into a dressing. Throughly coat the arugula in the dressing. Top the melted mozzarella slices with the dressed arugula. 

4. Garnish the top of the toast with pumpkin seeds. Serve immediately.

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Happy Halloween

We celebrated our son's first trick-or-treating experience with a low key dinner at our place. Happy Halloween!

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Leather Nova Leather Conditioner Review

This is a supplemental product to the Leather Nova review I previously posted here. Because Leather Nova sent me the products separately, I am reviewing them separately but really, this works best with the Leather Cleaner. It can, however, be used alone with good results, unlike the Leather Cleaner. 

Regardless, I cannot say enough good things about this leather conditioner & restorer. It is a must use after deep cleaning leather. It truly creates a supple, almost new feeling leather without the expected greasiness many other leather conditioners leave behind. It is also non-toxic and environmentally friendly!

I do have to note that if you are looking for something that will restore well worn leather, this will not get your leather item back to a well finished or buffed looked. Once the leather takes on a worn, almost suede like consistency, the Leather Nova line, nor likely any leather cleaning/conditioning product will restore it to new. I didn't lower the rating based on this but it's an important point to know about leather care. 

I recently learned how important it is to maintain leather goods to get the most out of high end leather handbags and this is a perfect product for that purpose. Also, it is great on car interiors. My leather seats have taken a beating in the California sun and this leather conditioner has been amazing at giving those seats new life!

Rating: 5/5.

Before pictures can be found here.

After: Leather Nova Leather Conditioner

Cleaned and Conditioned

Looking vintage in style but not in age. 

Deep luster and color restored to areas of the shoes not completely worn down.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Leather Nova Cleaner and Conditioner & Cleaner Review

Something about becoming a mom flipped this cleaning switch in my head. All of a sudden, I've been buying all kinds of cleaners and cleaning products. Maybe it's that now there's a little person making sticky little messes in places I didn't even know could get sticky. How does a toddler manage to create so many glue like substances?

When the nice people at Leather Nova offered to send me their entire line of products to try, I jumped at the chance. If you saw the interior of my car or the milk stains on the little clutch I put in my diaper bag, you would too. 

But wait, you can. I took a few different leather items from around the house to test out the cleaners.

Before Any Cleaning or Conditioning

Scuffed Vintage Envelope Clutch

Worn in the Rain Rockports

Milk Stained Coach Wristlet

After: Leather Nova Conditioner & Cleaner


This is a great product for monthly leather maintenence for well finished leather. I tried it on a dirt stained pebbled leather Michael Kors bag (not pictured), a milk spotted Coach leather wristlet, and a scuffed vintage leather envelope clutch. I recommend it on smooth, untextured leather because it really takes out stains and scuffing perfectly on these types of surfaces. It makes well finished smooth leather supple and new. On brown leather, it brought back the deep color that fades as the leather dries. 

It's not as effective at removing stains on pebbled textured leather but if I had maintained the bag with monthly cleanings instead of trying it on aged stains, I think it would have prevented a lot of staining issues. I wish I could get a clear picture of the before and after of the pebbled leather but it just didn't display the differences very well.

Overall, I am very pleased with how easy and effective the 3 in 1 is and will be using it regularly on my handbags, leather ottoman and leather car interior as it can be applied and left. The product is one of the few leather conditioners that doesn't leave an oily finish (very important when dealing with leather seating and accessories because oil stains are a nightmare on clothes) and is advertised as non-toxic environmentally friendly!

Rating: 5/5 

After: Supple and clean!

After: Removed a lot of scuffing and put back dark leather luster.

After: Leather Nova Cleaner


This is a great product for deep cleaning leather. I would recommend spot testing the product on a part of whatever leather item you are cleaning because it can be tougher on very soft leather. Also, the product label recommends spraying directly on the item but I found applying the solution to the included microfiber towel and then rubbing it in a circular motion on the item you are trying to clean to be more gentle on the leather.

The reason I am not giving it 5 stars is because I tried it on grey pebbled leather and it caused some discoloration in the test area. But when I tried it on Coach leather and vintage leather, it worked incredibly well, especially in combination with Leather Conditioner & Restorer from Leather Nova.

Also, this is not a stand alone product. To get desired clean, supple, new looking leather, the Leather Conditioner & Restorer is a MUST. Otherwise, this is a FANTASTIC deep leather cleaner. It's non-toxic, which is very important to me since I have a toddler at home and often put my leather goods in my baby bag.

It's also superior to Armor All for cleaning car interiors. It is exactly what I was looking for to clean handbags, shoes, furniture and leather car seats!

Rating: 4/5

After Cleaner, Before Conditioner. Must use the conditioner!!

After Cleaner. Clean but dry. 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Motivated to Get Fit

There seems to be a progression in mom life where we go from becoming new moms and taking care of our new babies and one day, we wake up and realize that breastfeeding didn't take off all the baby weight and we're going to have to do something about it.  For me, luckily, this coincided with a few goodies coming to me for free, as though the universe was telling me that I really should lose that pouch.

Here are a few of the things that are really motivating me to make some healthy changes.

Garmin Vivofit Fitness Band
I received this for my birthday off my Amazon wishlist. Among all the fitness trackers, like Fitbit and Jawbone Up, this is the only one that doesn't need to be charged or have the battery replaced for an entire year! Do you know what that means? It means no forgetting it on the charger only to be left off for months.

It is also waterproof, not just water resistant, which means that pool time heart rate monitoring is a go. Also, it includes a chest strap heart rate monitor.

The calorie tracking syncs from My Fitness Pal (MFP), which I think the best calorie tracking app and website. It also does calorie output adjustments in the MFP database so it will correct erroneous exercise calorie counts to what is actually burned!

FlavFusion 26 Oz Infuser Bottle
I received this from FlavFusion to try and will review in detail later. Water is so very important for health but especially so when starting a new fitness routine or wanting to lose weight. Often, however, water is boring, espeically for those used to sugary drinks. Infusing water with fruit and herbs is a great way to make water less boring without adding sugar. 

Victoria Secret Incredible Sports Bra 
This came as an Influenster Vox Box along with sport leggings. I had always heard that dressing well for the gym or workout is motivating but stuck to my yoga pants and t-shirts gym uniform while the Lululemon clad ladies strutted their stuff through yoga class. It was a mistake to understimate the movitating power of looking hot while working out because, let's be honest, part of the getting fit picture is a bit of vanity. Embrace it. Everyone wants to look their best.

The Incredible is simply amazing. Comfortable, doesn't cause a uniboob, and is so extremely figure flattering. It also comes in specific bra sizes so it will cup and hold the "girls" perfectly during a workout. The capris and tights are also phenomenal. Even during the heatwave last week, a walk in VSX black tights was cool. Plus, the fabric has a light weight spanx feel and really shapes the legs and butt in a flattering way.

I also stopped into my local Victoria Secret to see what else was new and was surprised at how much Victor Secret has changed. Aside from having an entire PINK store for VS clothing across the path in the mall, the store is so much more than just lingerie now. Swim suits, comfortable sleep wear and a wide variety of workout clothes offerings caused me to walk out with a few more items of sports clothes than I expected!

Now I'm off to get a short walk in because my Vivofit is telling me that I've been sitting for too long. 

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Fall Beauty Buys

I have fallen into the mommy frump mode. Actually, that's putting it lightly. I have not been taking care of myself in the least. I haven't bought new shampoo and conditioner so I'm left with using this Everyday Shea that makes my hair oily and stiff or my husband's Clear Men's shampoo, which leaves my hair tangled and lifeless.

Pantone Scanner

My dog ate my face brush so I've been exfoliating with my typical aspirin scrub but not doing a good job of face washing since I've also run out of face wash. All my BB cream has been used or lost and I just don't have time to layer moisturizer under sunscreen plus primer or powder or whatever multistep process I used to use to create the illusion of flawless skin.

My scanner results

When I found myself at Target and the mall this weekend, I stocked up on the bare essentials, realizing that I would going to have to build up my beauty basics this fall.

I also found out that Sephora has a skin matching system that finds the foundation and creams that best match a user's skin tone using a pantone scanner! I ended up getting to try a few that were just perfect. No more guess work. And since it's my birthday month, they gave me a little birthday present of Makeup Forever samples too!

CeraVe Hydrating Cleanser: This is a very affordable cleanser that is highly rated and leave my skin feeling soft and supple after washing. Experts recommend not spending too much on cleanser because it's only on the skin for a minute before being washed away. $10.40 - Amazon.

OGX Thick and Full Biotin and Collagen Shampoo and Conditioner: This shampoo does a great job of thickening while also staying light weight. I did not expect that for such a low price. $5.74 - Amazon.

Facial Cleaning Exfoliate Brush: Everyone is using a Clairsonic these days but I am terrible at charging things! I haven't made the leap so I'm staying analog with this fine bristled brush that does pretty well. $8.99 - Amazon.

SEPHORA COLLECTION Pro Allover Powder Brush #61: This brush can be used on wet or dry cosmetics and when I tried it in the store with BB cream, I ended up using less BB cream than I normally would if I had just applied by my hands. I figure this splurge is going to save me money in the long run. $46 - Sephora.

Benefit Cosmetics BIG EASY Better Than BB: This was the big winner in the Pantone-Scanner-Match-My-Skintone Game because it matched, boasts a 35 SPF and had great light coverage. Just enough to balance my skintone while being light enough not to notice it is there. $41 - Amazon.

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