Victoria's Favorite Finds: General

The Deen Bros. Get Fired Up: Grilling, Tailgating, Picnicking, and More

Victoria Keelan — Thu, 17 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Well it's about that time...time to dust off the grill and get it fired up.

While grilling tends to be simple there are some great recipes to spice up your staples. My favorite grilling cookbook comes from Paula Deen's delightful sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen and it's called "Get Fired Up".

Last year I got to spend some time with Jamie and Bobby and I learned a ton of great grilling tips. I can now make a mean Beer Can Chicken plus I learned how to make grilled pizza and Jamie told me to soak a cedar plank in wine overnight before adding salmon and it tastes incredible! Things I never even knew you could grill are covered in "Get Fired Up" (you've gotta try the smoky grilled guacamole!).

The recipes are easy to follow with the Deen boys adding in helpful and educational tips on every page. They don't stop at grilling either, they also tackle tailgating and picnicking. And then comes the desserts. Grilled pound cake with fresh berries, grilled S'mores and my favorite Grilled Chocolate and Heath Bar Quesadillas.

Yum!

Stranger Than Fiction

Victoria Keelan — Wed, 16 May 2012 10:36:00 GMT

Will Ferrell returned to his old stomping ground last weekend to host Saturday Night Live. Seeing him revive some of his old characters reminded me of how much I really like Will Ferrell.

It also reminded me of how much I dislike his movies. There's one incredible exception, however, a movie that he did with Emma Thompson, Dustin Hoffman and Maggie Gyllenhaal back in 2006 called "Stranger Than Fiction."

This is my favorite Will Ferrell role ever, probably because it’s a completely different side to him than the Ricky Bobby’s that populate most of his career. Will plays an IRS agent named Harold Crick, who lives a solitary and boring life until one day he hears a voice inside his head that is literally narrating his every step he takes. Emma Thompson plays the writer who miraculously gets inside his head and Maggie Gyllenhaal plays a hipster chick who owns a bakery that Harold is auditing.

Sounds weird, yes, but it’s super entertaining plus it's Maggie Gyllenhaal as you've never seen her before and Queen Latifiah and Kristen Chenoweth round out the amazing cast.

The Drunk Diet

Victoria Keelan — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Now that swimsuit season is rapidly approaching girls aren't the only ones freaking out about dropping a few lb's.

Most diet books are geared towards women, if not in the content then at least in the marketing but there's one book that hit shelves recently that all guys will feel comfortable following: "The Drunk Diet: How I Lost 40lbs...Wasted."

Now you're probably thinking, who would write a book called The Drunk Diet?? The answer is Rock 'n Roll DJ Luc Carl, who not only has worked in a bar for years but has partied like a rockstar (alongside actual rockstars!) for many years and found himself 40 lbs overweight.

Luc, like most people, didn't know where to turn for help so he started reading diet books and says they all said the same thing: if you wanna lose weight, you have to stop drinking. Not an option for Luc Carl! He says in the book: The Drunk Diet is me giving the finger to every other Diet book on the shelf. If you don’t like it, write your own [bleeping] book.”

Find out more about the Drunk Diet here!

Age Reversal

Victoria Keelan — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Even though I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable when it comes to finding the best and most effective products, I still feel like I'm not doing all I can do to stave off wrinkles and other signs of aging.

I got the answer to all my beauty prayers when my dermatologist Dr. Neil Sadick of Sadick Dermatology Group came out with a lifechanging book called The New Natural: Your Ultimate Guide to Cutting Edge Age Reversal where he tells you exactly what types of products and ingredients you need for every stage in your life.

The New Natural is all about using the best products, treatments and injectables to help women avoid going under the knife. Dr. Sadick even gives you guidelines on how much you should be spending on procedures like Botox and Restylane!

The New Natural is available on amazon.com and ready to download on your Kindle.

It's like having a personal consultation with one of the best Derms in the city!

Soldier Dogs

Victoria Keelan — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:49:00 GMT

When it was reported on the news that a dog had led a Navy SEAL team into Osama Bin Laden's compound to kill him, I remember being completely fascinated by the story.

The video footage of what looked like a German Shepherd leading the charge became watercooler chatter in offices around the country. Turns out the dog is named Cairo and he's a Belgian Malinois and like many other dogs serving in the military, he's an unsung canine hero.

Thankfully the story of these remarkable dogs is now being told in Maria Goodavage's book Soldier Dogs. The dogs are trained to use their incredible senses to give soldiers a leg up inremote places like Afghanistan, where they are currently being deployed to sniff out roadside bombs. The dogs go ahead of the troops to detect the bombs and then they alert their handlers. Everyday they save human lives and sometimes they sacrifice their own to do it.

The bond between Soldier and dog is one that will melt your heart and make you squeeze your dog a little tighter. Soldier Dogs is a must-read.

Take a look!

Espolon Tequila

Victoria Keelan — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Cinco de Mayo is over but that doesn't mean we stop drinking margaritas. In fact, I have always felt margaritas are the perfect cocktail for Summer!

When I'm craving that authentic margarita taste that you can only get from making one from scratch then I dive right in and start mixing away. There's one major problem I've encountered with making margaritas though: good tequila is really expensive and cheap tequila tastes like lighter fluid.

I know it doesn't make sense to spend 40-60 dollars on premium tequila when you're just going to add a bunch of stuff to it, but what other option do we have? Those pre-mixed tequilas are so loaded with sugar they're a "hangover in a bottle."

I finally found a great-tasting 100% pure agave tequila that won't break the bank. It's called Espolon and it's bottled in Jalisco, Mexico, the tequila capital of the world. I bought a bottle of the Blanco for about $25 and it was so smooth and impressive it's definitely my new favorite. My new mantra: "Save money, drink more Margaritas!"

Check it out!

Florence + the Machine:Unplugged

Victoria Keelan — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Remember when you could turn on MTV and actually hear music coming from your tv? Teen moms screaming at their babydaddy may be music to some people's ears but not mine. I miss seeing videos and most of all I miss the Unplugged series.

Growing up, waiting to see who the next artist or band would be to get stripped down to acoustic guitars was delightful torture for me. The Unplugged series gave artists the creative space to reinvent their songs, cover their favorite songs plus it was the first time many hard rock bands went acoustic in public. In a word, it was genius.

Unplugged is making its way back into the spotlight, albeit very slowly. The latest unplugged performance is from British group Florence + the Machine. When I first heard Florence Welch's voice I remember telling a friend I thought she was the Grace Slick of our generation. Her vocals on Unplugged don't disappoint. A great mix of old and new songs plus a cover of the fantastic Johnny Cash and June Carter hit "Jackson" makes this Unplugged unforgettable! Now on iTunes.

SleepThru

Victoria Keelan — Tue, 08 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

When you look at the sleeping statistics of Americans, it's pretty grim. We just do not get enough sleep and this leads to a lot of health problems.

There are a lot of sleep disorders, but the one I seem to suffer from the worst is waking up in the middle of the night. I have no problem falling asleep but about 4-5 hours later I'm wide awake staring at the ceiling. I've tried all different kinds of sleep remedies, even prescriptions, but nothing has really solved the problem.

I started researching natural herbs and decided to try a few. Valerian root capsules, whether swallowed or made into tea helped me relax at night but I still woke up a few hours later. Next up was an herb grown mostly in India called Ashwagandha root. I went to Whole Foods and got a bottle of SleepThru which also has Magnolia bark and Passionflower blended in.Two capsules 30 minutes before bed and I was finally sleeping through the night!

(Herbs are serious business so be sure to check with your doctor first!)

You can find SleepThru online here!

Enamel Initial Cuff

Victoria Keelan — Mon, 07 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

When I buy a gift for someone I like it to be as personal as possible and nothing gets you on the right track faster than
a monogram.

This Mother's Day I will be shopping for my mom on www.cwonder.com. This site is so filled with amazing gift ideas, all at super reasonable prices, the hardest thing is actually choosing just one gift.

Since enamel bracelets are so hot right now I was thinking that would make a nice gift for my mom, whom we fondly refer to as 'Fancy Nancy'. I saw some enamel bracelets that I liked from Coach but they were kind of pricy and they have the letter "C" on them. If I want a letter all over a bracelet for my mom, it should be an "N", which is exactly what I found on CWonder.com.

A gorgeous slim green enamel cuff bracelet, trimmed in 14-karat gold plate and prominently featuring a singular capital "N" on the top of the wrist. It looks like a cross between Coach and Hermes but only costs 48 bucks!

Buy them online here!

Affordable Patio Furnature

Victoria Keelan — Fri, 04 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

I've been prepping for the Summer and my biggest project has been furnishing my deck.

As I shopped around through multiple stores and online sites I found that the prices for outdoor furniture range from cheap to crazy expensive. There were some pieces I found from various stores that looked exactly the same but the difference in price was literally hundreds of dollars.

So after a lot of confusion and comparison shopping I finally settled on two pieces from target.com that I couldn't be happier with and they didn't break the bank. I started with a loveseat from the Rolston collection which comes in a weatherproof chocolate brown resin wicker. I was so impressed when it arrived because not only was it bigger than I expected (it amply seats two) but it's also super comfortable.

The other great purchase from target.com was the chaise lounge from the Belmont collection in the same brown resin wicker. The nicest feature is that the backrest flips down completely flat so it doubles as bench seating for guests.

Now I'm ready for summer fun!