Hi friends! Earlier today I shared my awesome experience at Bloggy Bootcamp Phoenix! In that post I mentioned that I had the amazing opportunity to wine and dine with one of the #BBCPHX sponsors, Mirassou Winery! The folks at Mirassou invited us to the Graze Desert Grille at the Zona Hotel & Suites.

Executive Chef Keith Osmundson worked with the folks at Mirassou to put together amazing wine pairings to bring out the best in the Mirassou line.

• First Course: Grilled firecracker shrimp with avocado cream paired with Mirassou Sauvignon Blanc
• Second Course: Pacific Rim braised pork belly with a ginger soy glaze paired with Mirassou Chardonnay
• Third Course: Southwestern grilled chicken ravioli with a duet of red and white wine sauces paired with Mirassou Pinot Grigio
• Fourth Course: Beet jam crostini with fig & goat cheese and balsamic reduction paired with Mirassou Sunset Red
• Dessert Course: Triple chocolate cake with ghost chile chocolate cream paired with Mirassou Cabernet Sauvignon

It was all so delicious! The pairings were amazing and each course brought out the flavors in the different wines. Now, I’m not a big drinker, but I’ll enjoy a glass of wine, sangria or a margarita here and there. But I was just saying the week before I went to the Mirassou dinner that I could no longer drink red wine, that it was just too strong and bitter to me. However, I have to say after trying the Mirassou reds, I’m transformed! Their wines, even the red, are smooth and approachable. In fact, I liked the reds more than the white! I think my favorite overall is the Mirassou Pinot Noir, but I think my favorite pairing was the dessert course of  the triple chocolate cake with ghost chile chocolate cream with the Mirassou Cabernet Sauvignon. Yum!

I have to say, and not just because I had a night of free wine and food, that I am truly a Mirassou believer! It may just be the only wine we have on hand from now on! If you’re interested in learning more, please head over to Mirassou.com! They have a wealth of information online, including a store locator, wine education, food & wine recipes and more! The Mirassou family also has an amazing story of starting and developing the winery over six generations! It really is a great history, and you can read more about it online as well! You can also find Mirassou on Facebook!

So head out and discover your favorite Mirassou today!

Disclosure: Mirassou treated us to dinner and drinks at the Graze restaurant, but all opinions are my own!

Hi friends! If you’re a Phoenix local, have I got a treat to share with you! It’s time for the Annual Shine Project Benefit. And this year it’s on April 20th at the new Phoenix Fashion Week hub to raise college scholarship money for at risk Phoenix youth. It’s going to be a really fun Girl’s Night Out event where women will come get pampered in the name of charity and tickets are only $60! Here are a few more details:

The Shine Project 2013 Benefit
Sponsored by: San Tan Ford and Frances
Date: April 20th from 6-9 PM
Where: Phoenix Fashion Week’s new Fashion Hub!

A girls night out and women only pay $60 a ticket to come get their hair, nails, makeup and brows done all in the name of charity (prices go up after April 13th). We have fun salons from around Phoenix like Saskia salon coming to do services.

Music, food, raffles and silent auction will be there as well!

If you can not attend, please consider purchasing a ticket to donate to one of The Shine Project’s students so they can have a fun night out.
100% of the money raised will go to scholarships.

For more event info and to purchase tickets go to: www.shineproject.eventbrite.com and for any questions or to donate items contact Lindsay at theshineproject@gmail.com

Want to know more about The Shine Project? Check out this video and support this amazing cause!

Hi friends! If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen a few pictures come across of my outing last night! I had the opportunity to attend a fun blog mixer with some of my favorite local gals to check out the Grand Opening of a brand new DownEast Home & Clothing store in Gilbert, AZ! Now you have heard of me talk about DownEast before, when I shopped their clothing store a few months ago. But DownEast Home & Clothing is so much more! The new store offers name brand home décor and furnishings (at 40-90% off national prices), DownEast furniture, name brand apparel and DownEast Basics clothing! That’s A LOT of goodness under one roof, folks!

And that’s not it – to celebrate the new opening, DownEast is offering a chance to enter a “Shopping’s More Fun with Your Friends” giveaway from Friday, January 25, to Friday, February 8, 2013. Customers can register for the giveaway at the new DownEast Home & Clothing store in the San Tan Shopping Center in Gilbert. The giveaway will award one lucky winner a shopping spree valued at $200 and also present a $50 gift certificate to each of four friends selected by the winner. The winner does not have to be present at the time of the drawing on Saturday, February 9, to win. More info HERE!

So what does that mean? It means if you’re in the Valley, you WANT to go check out this store and all of the amazing deals! And you WANT to go enter this giveaway! Trust me, there are so many things you will want to spend that $200 on! Good luck!

Attention Southern California friends! If you follow me on Instagram, you surely know that I just got back from a weekend near you! And you know what? I’m thinking seriously about coming back at the end of this month. Why? For the Penelope Lane Fall Boutique and “Mini” Blog Conference! You can find more details about the conference on the Penelope Lane Boutique Blog, and be sure to “Like” their Facebook Page too, to keep up on all the events!

There’s such a great line up of speakers for the conference, but if you can’t make the conference and live in the area, be sure to stop by the boutique! You don’t have to attend both! And with over 45 handmade crafters and vendors at the boutique, it will be one event you won’t want to miss.

So check it out today, and who knows, you may just see me there!

A couple of weeks ago I had the awesome privilege of attending a fun blogger event at DownEast Basics at the Arrowhead Mall in Glendale. If you don’t know about DownEast Basics yet, they’re a fast-growing leader of stylish and affordable women’s clothing. And though I had only seen their clothing and accessories online before the event, I’m happy to report that their store was chock full of bright, adorable and fun fashions!

They had everything from dresses to skirts to amazing tops, and a huge section of denim (which was a whopping 40% off)! Great colors, great prints, and lots of fun accessories to top it all off. I had a hard time deciding what I was going to go home with! As part of the event, we were provided with a $25 gift card to spend. How fun is that? So after trying a few things on, I ended up picking a cute boyfriend white and blue striped cardigan. Who doesn’t love a cute little cardigan? And since I’ve brought it home, let’s just say I’ve already worn it a number of times! Great quality and just so cute!

I also had a chance to see many of my local bloggy gal pals, my girls and A Night Owl contributors, Jen from Life According to the Streets and Rachel from Harding Happenings (in picture above). I also had time to chat with Jamielyn of I {heart} Naptime, Destiny of A Place for Us, Andrea of Worley House, Laura of Pink Cake Plate, Sarah of Clever Pink Pirate, Sarah of Mom Endeavors, Kelly of Eclectic Momsense, Vanessa of See Vanessa Craft, and got to meet one of my sponsors, Megan of Shaping Up to be a Mom! Such a fun evening and want to thank DownEast Basics for putting such a great event together!