Mommy Diva

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo,copyright, 2011 The Richard Nixon Library and Museum is an intimate facility highly suited to families and children, especially grandparents with young children. It does not overwhelm in size and so is an enticing destination at any time of the year. Every Christmas season we take our grandchildren to enjoy the model train exhibits. Last year there were two rooms of spectacular model train layouts – a densely constructed Lego cityscape with many bridges, buildings and encampments. In the second room was the marvelously imagined tiered landscape with various-sized model trains choo-chooing across a fantasy America dotted with charming towns filled with miniature people. This year’s visit found a smaller, though still interesting, Lego exhibit, which continues until January 28, 2011, with the second room devoted to “Treasures from the Vault:” A collection of valuable gifts given to the Nixon family, but owned by the U.S. government, by many foreign heads of state. The Lego train exhibit is housed in the museum’s lobby all set about with various themed Christmas trees hugging the perimeter of the space. There’s the Presidents’ tree; the First Ladies’ tree; the Asian tree; the USA tree and others. The Lego train curators created a little game with ...

When it comes to world festivals, this diva is honored to have been one of the thousands attending the second annual Taste of Playa 2010.� As incredible as the food was, it was only upstaged by its organizers, putting together the event with competence, grace and passion for all things culinary. Sunday, November 21, 2010, 43 of the Riviera Maya's most talented chefs, restaurateurs, beverage purveyors and specialty food merchants gathered in the Parque Fundadores, just steps from the beaches of Playa del Carmen, to present their signature dishes and culinary creations to over 7000 local residents and visitors to the popular Mexican Caribbean city. The event far exceeded our expectations this year!' reported event Chairperson Nicola Inwood. The small businesses who made up the participants in both the restaurant and marketplace areas truly reflected the international influences that make up the modern Riviera Maya. The local restaurants, bars and food retailers represented this year offered truly world class dishes for food lovers from across the globe who came to enjoy the Caribbean sun and experience the best of traditional Mexican and international cuisine. The Travel Channel's Mark DeCarlo was the celebrity host of this culinary festival and worked through the crowd talking ...

I'm not sure about the rest of my divas, but there was a time when I was NOT the most popular girl in school...  and that time was junior high.  With acne, a heavy Cuban accent added on to my limited English vocabulary, hand-me-down clothes and an afro.. (yes, an afro) I ran to the school bus every afternoon wen that bell rang, only to be confronted with more laughter and snickering... But if Nia Vardalos made it through, so can the rest of us. Take a look at the video message from this fabulous artist to all of you who are still going through it.  Good luck and hang in there!  It gets better.. really, it does. It Gets Better: Nia Vardalos and Rob Riggle “Growing up is hard. None of us ever really feel like we fit in. Most of us are scared. But no one is more scared than the kid who gets picked on every day. Bullies are scared too. That’s why they pick on the kids they think won’t fight back. Let’s talk about it and make schools a safer place for everyone.” -Nia Inspired by Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" Project, Nia Vardalos and Rob ...

By Angela Rocco DeCarlo copyright, 2010 The 1980 Chicago poster I’ve displayed in my home since relocating to Southern California in 1987, shows the city as a child’s crayon coloring exercise. Blue Lake Michigan and green parks are in the forefront while the rest of the US recedes to the Pacific. New York and the Atlantic are seen beyond Asia giving the artwork a vitality which amuses and refreshes, just as the real city does for visitors. First-time guests are astounded by Chicago’s breath-taking lakefront, stretching for miles, awash in sailboats, marinas, pristine parks dotted with notable sculptures, fountains, all anchored by world-class museums set like glittering jewels into the vast parks. That’s the view from atop the Hancock Building…something not to be missed. It offers a superlative shoreline vista. The sunlight bouncing off the lake, enhanced by the tens of acres of open spaces, gives the public buildings a fairytale feel, as though someone sketched them in watercolors. The openness of the lakefront owes a debt to Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. He designed among many projects,  the lakefront parks, skyscrapers and the Chicago Columbian Exposition, 1893. Taking his cue from Baron Georges Haussmann, 19th century city planner of the old Roman city of ...

To celebrate the paperback publication of Susan Shapiro's debut novel Speed Shrinking, you can "speed date" with actual mental health professionals during the month your regular therapist is away. SPEED-SHRINKING is exactly what it sounds like, speed dating with mental health professionals.  Feel like having a drink and resolving an issue at the same time?  These events are geared to help you do just that.  From sex therapists to relationship experts, Speed-Shrinking, created by Susan Shapiro, your $15 cover includes one(1) drink ticket and proceeds go to 826LA, leaving you feeling twice as good about yourself...  well worth the price of admission. Whether you need a new shrink, quick tune-up or some replacement tough love, this line up of nine brilliant gurus will be on hand to meet, greet, and help you get over all your success blocks - and it's for charity!  Books are available at the event through Book Soup. In Susan Shapiro’s laugh-out-loud funny fictional debut Speed Shrinking, Manhattan self-help author Julia Goodman thinks she’s got her addictive personality under control. Then her beloved psychoanalyst moves away at the same time her husband takes off to L.A. and her best friend gets married and moves to Ohio. Navigating her insurance ...