Liz Fields Bridal Runway

The 1st Annual Military Gala by Liz Fields: Bridal Gowns Revealed & Dreams Come True for Lucky Couples in Military Families


Hold onto your wedding veils, San Antonio! In a few weeks, one of the most exciting launch events in the bridal industry will spring to life on-stage and on-camera. The best part is yours truly gets to witness this stylish and heartwarming soiree unfold behind-the-scenes.

Evening and bridal gown designer Liz Fields, who is based in New York, is hosting her 1st Annual Military Gala, a launch extravaganza that will kick off an effort across the country to give away gowns to women within the military family. The gala will be the perfect setting for Liz to showcase her new collection of bridal gowns, destination wedding dresses, special occasions niche designs and evening gowns. But, part of her dream to make military ladies’ dreams come true too.

At the heart of the gala will be military couples which run the spectrum of boyfriend-girlfriend, engaged, and married couples. They will celebrated and treated to a memorable evening of food, drinks, dancing, entertainment, prizes, giveaways and unbelievable surprises. Liz Fields is happy to partner with amazing sponsors like Lacy Pool, the stylist and buyer for Serendipity Bridal, who has teamed up with Kendra Scott and Toni Federici to create the looks. Additional sponsors include the Army Wife Network and Silver Eagle Distributors/Anheuser Busch.

I can’t let the cat out of the bag, but I’ve heard an American Idol Finalist will be performing and my beautiful friend Holly Mills-Gardner, a former Miss Texas, will be emceeing the fashion show and festivities as they unfold. Plus, the entire show will be televised on CMT in the Fall. How fun is that?!


Stay tuned for more details from yours truly, MommyQ…

MommyQ is Getting HGTV’d: Part Deux

 

 

The dust has been vacuumed, the dumpster has been removed, our POD has left the driveway and all of our new pals at HGTV’d have moved on to their next project. I hope it involves a few naps, because those folks are worn out! The BIG REVEAL was this past Sunday and my head is still spinning! I keep walking into my ultra-fabulous, posh, functional and sparkling, new rooms and wonder, “Whose house is this?!? It certainly isn’t mine!” I’m still not touching anything out of fear that I may mess up something. Although the fresh flowers are starting to wilt, so I’m going to have to replace them. Even the flowers are cool. I mean, really? These folks are goooood.

I’d like to give a special thanks to four local companies who helped us survive and enjoy this surreal experience:

#1 – Austin Paperhanging for the stunning, precise and perfect job they did hanging all of our new wallpaper.  You won’t fully understand until you see the room in person. It’s a HUGE area and DIFFICULT job and they did SUPERBLY. It’s mind boggling.

#2 – Aero Designed Systems who installed our brand new AC unit. Yep, our AC broke right in the middle of filming our episode of HGTV’d. It was about 103 degrees outside too. Aero worked quickly and the customer service was outstanding.

#3Let Us Do The Cooking was possibly the highlight of each day. This is a catering company located in Killeen, TX, and they brought us the most mouth-watering, fantastic food I’ve ever eaten. Yes, ever.  (Sorry, mom!) The corn casserole was stupendous, the green bean casserole was heavenly, the desserts were insane, the entrees were perfection, etc.

#4Central Market made the most beautiful & tasty HGTV’d cake. I had to print the logo from the hotel’s black & white printer, but Central Market was like, we’re so awesome, we’re going to do it with all of the red shades anyway! Not only was it pretty, but also yummy! We walked around with red lips all day and didn’t even care. 🙂

 

Here's a pic of the old chandelier coming down. You should've seen how high they had to go to make this happen. My knees were weak!

 

 

Here's a shot of David with Austin Paperhanging doing what he does best. You should've seen the precision. If you ever decide to this, leave it to the pros.

 

 

We took a million pics in front of that truck. We also saw various neighbors posing it with as they walked by...

 

 

Another shot of the gorgeous cake. Central Market knows dessert!

 

 

This pic was taken on my way out of the hotel on reveal day! I was a nervous, excited wreck. This is my annoying thumbs-up pose that I did repeatedly. Yes, that's gonna be a pleasure to watch on TV. Oy!

 

I’m not able to post pics of the finished rooms, but tune in for my next post when I finally reveal our celebrity designer.

What do you think? Do you have the guts to be HGTV’d????

 

 

 

 

 

MommyQ is Getting HGTV’d: Part One

Have you ever wondered what’s it’s like to be HGTV’d? I can pretty much sum it up in one word, AWESOME. For the past five days, my family has been taking an exciting, unbelievable, unpredictable, loud, consuming and mind-boggling journey with HGTV as they redo our multiple areas in our home for the new show, HGTV’d. I can’t give away all of the juicy details, but I can give you a little sneak peek. First, a few FAQs…

How did we get on the show? We submitted a video just like everyone else.  Go do it now! They’re casting in DC/Virginia, Miami and Chicago, people! Why did we get picked? Honestly, I have no idea. We’re totally nuts and fearless? Perhaps. The producers told me we were fun and open to wild ideas and our house had good “bones.” Are the homeowners totally in the dark about knowing who their designer is? Absolutely! We had no clue who our designer was until Tanika Ray opened the truck door.

It’s a totally once-in-a-lifetime type of surreal experience. The demolition was one of the wildest aspects. It’s pretty wild to have parts of your house torn apart when you know what’s going to happen. Imagine how crazy it is when you DON’T know what they’re going to tear down. I’m in awe of the entire team, because they are incredibly respectful of us and our home, not to mention how much thought and effort they put into each design idea. I encourage you to submit a video and see what happens. Trust me, it’s an experience you will never forget.

I’ll be dishing about it for the next few days, so stay tuned. Well, I gotta be sequestered. I’ve been kicked out and the big reveal is tomorrow!!!!

They tore out useless walls. We didn't realize they were useless, but we learned...Ha!

The noise was insane! The buzzing, whirling & hammering. The kids were troopers!

Our home was transformed into a fully functional TV set. Our kitchen was a huge work station, our yard housed a tent for meals and carpentry and our guest room was the make-up room. Yeah, you know I loved that part!

Get a load of this banister. You'll understand more about this when the episode airs, but OMG...I love what I'm seeing thus far!

 

Stay tuned for Part Two! I’ll talk about our TOTALLY RAD designer and what it’s like to work with ridiculously talented and funny peeps.

Top 10 Most Annoying Things About The Voice

The Voice Winner

First of all, I’m a HUGE fan of the show. In fact, my husband and I both watched it religiously. We totally freaked out when we realized we missed a show last week. But with all of the fabulousness comes some unfabulousness. In honor of my love for this new show, I will point out its flaws. Just like I do with my husband. Think of it as constructive criticism, NBC.

# 10 – Carson Daly’s smug looks. He always smiles like he knows something really funny, but the rest of us aren’t in on the joke.  And it’s something like you have a piece of Arugula in your teeth and he’s secretly laughing at you, but he’s not gentleman enough to point it out, leaving you to look like a fool. He’s that kind of smug.

#9 – CeeLo without sunglasses. It’s just too weird to see his eyes. He looks much cooler with glasses, so there should be a rule about that. It’s like he’s a total rockstar with glasses and just a normal guy in strange outfits without them.

#8 – Twitter updates with Alison. I get the whole “let’s incorporate social media into a live to show to make it appear really live” idea, but it doesn’t work quite right. The room likes a telethon or something. To make it more cutting edge, they should talk about the bad tweets referencing Christina’s crimped hair or her big mouth or her intoxicating personality. Remember, what makes social media real is the fact that you can’t control it.

#7 – Not enough Adam Levine. This guy is a total babe in a bad boy/hottie/rockstar way. You now, like Carson wishes he could be. We need to have more one-on-one air time with him. Maybe NBC could do a “Deep Thoughts with Adam Levine” a couple of times per show. He just looks so adorable in his tight little shirts and tight cardigans and skinny jeans. More Adam, NBC. More. Adam.

#6 – Less theatrics on stage. I totally agree with Blake. Those goofball dancers are totally ridiculous and unnecessary. They’re incredibly distracting, just like the absence of CeeLo’s enormous watches. I did like the performance with Vicci and her drummers, but the shadow dancing is way too cheesy. I also thought the Mad Max-inspired duet with CeeLo and Vicci was like an explosion of Velveeta. Serious cheese.

#5 – Christina’s hair. One of my hilarious friends @WendiAarons tweeted this, “Christina Aguilera’s hair is so pretty. I wonder what it’s made from.”  That pretty much sums it up for me. The only thing worse than Christina’s awful hairdos was the stress her boobs must have been feeling, knowing they could be popping out on national TV at any moment. Those braids – the big one on side and the tiny one on the other – forced me into therapy. They looked like alien tendrils and now I have nightmares about them.

#4 – Too many bald women. If there had only been one, it would’ve been totally neat and hip. But with two beautiful bald-headed women battling it out, they kind of killed each others’ thunder. It’s like when my husband and I get ready to go out to dinner and inadvertently wear the same color, looking like the world’s dorkiest couple ever. I can tell him to go change, but Frenchie couldn’t tell Beverly to go grow some hair real quick.

#3 – The way Carson Daly holds a microphone. He looks like a creepy dude trying to choke a …uhm, er…wait a second. Sorry, already griped about him.

#2 – CeeLo without both watches. In addition to the sunglasses, he should have to wear two diamond encrusted watches at all times. I saw him with one on each wrist in one show, so it was distracting to see him without them. I was thinking,” Poor CeeLo. Is he having financial trouble? Where’s the other watch. Did he pawn it?  I’m worried about CeeLo, gosh darn it. Is he okay? CeeLo!?!”

#1 – Lack of a tacky trophy. With all of the glitter, sequins, shadow dancing, costumes and alien tendrils, there should’ve been a huge trophy presented to the winner. How do you know you’ve won something unless you get a crazy, horrific, worthless trophy in the shape of The Voice hand-with-microphone? The first thing that should go through your head after wining is, “Holy crap! I won!” The second is, “Where am I going to put this awful thing?”

In all honesty though, a huge congrats to Javier Colon. I honestly believe he has won the toughest singing competition ever. His duet with Stevie Nicks was epic. Dia Frampton is a stunning, unbelievable star too. My heartfelt congrats to them both! Until next season…

New Video: Getting Squatchy in Austin

When life hands you lemons, scream like a squatch. What? That doesn’t make sense to you? You obviously haven’t been watching Finding Bigfoot on Animal Planet like we have. We had squatch on the brain during the filming of this video short. I can honestly say alcohol and drugs were not involved either. We were stone-cold sober and just having fun. Come on, parents (and siblings of parents) are allowed to do that every once in a while…

 

Wanna hear the real fake real fake real bigfoot roar?Join Bobo and his friends every Sunday. It’s hilarious.

Marths Speaks Talking Dog Soup

Martha Speaks Dog Days of Summer: Viewing Party & New Episodes

Marth Speaks PBS
What do you get when you combine alphabet pasta, 10 dogs, 10 excited kiddos, aliens that drink lemonade through their ears and vocabulary words? Well, a Martha Speaks viewing party, of course. Thanks to the fabulous folks at PBS, we had a “sneak peek” viewing party of two new summer episodes that will begin airing tomorrow, June 27th on PBS.

If you haven’t met Martha yet, this is a great opportunity to introduce your children to this clever and well-spoken canine. This week will feature new episodes of Martha enjoying outdoor activities like camping, canoeing and watching fireworks with her friends. We got to see Martha’s Slumber Party of the Weird and The Long Rotten Summer/The Case of the Shattered Vase. In addition to the entertaining stories and great vocabulary words, kids also learn why they shouldn’t watch scary movies right before going to bed. (A lesson I should revisit myself.) Look at those cuties playing with their new plush Martha pups!

New Martha Speaks Episodes

Summer Fun Week:
Monday, June 27th – Martha’s Slumber Party of the Weird (2 parts)
Tuesday, June 28th – Martha puts Out the Lights (2 parts)
Wednesday, June 29th – Escape from Flea Island/ No Dogs Allowed
Thursday, June 30th – Martha in the Hold/Get Along, Little Doggies!
Friday, July1st – The Long Rotten Summer/The Case of the Shattered Vase

Click, click, click:
Don’t forget to visit Martha Speaks online for terrific games
. My son’s new favorite? Make The Band. It’s hilarious!
Watch my son’s impromptu interview about why he loves Martha Speaks
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Martha has gone mobile! You can download Martha Speaks Dog Party App.

 

Disclaimer: PBS did supply me with a DVD of the new episodes and 10 swag bags. My opinions are my own. If I didn’t personally love this talkative pup, I wouldn’t write about it. Promise.

Family Movie Night: Field of Vision Airs Tonight on NBC

Walmart and P&G movies

“Sometimes being a leader is tougher than winning.” That’s a pretty important lesson for children to understand. Thanks to Walmart and P&G bringing back Family Movie Night, the made-for-TV movie, “Field of Vision,’ will bring that message home. The movie boasts a star-studded cast like Faith Ford (Murphy Brown) and tackles serious issues like bullying. It will air tonight (June 11th) on NBC at 8pm ET/ 7pm CT.

I was lucky enough to attend a behind-the-scenes movie event as a guest of Walmart and P&G a few years ago and after speaking with the producers, writers and actors, their passion for family-friendly entertainment was evident. Family Movie Night films like “Field of Vision” address topics relevant to all families in an attempt to provide not only a fun experience for the viewers, but an opportunity for parents to start a dialogue with their kids about these issues. As the mom of two young boys who, I appreciate their dedication.

Here’s a synopsis of the movie:

Through mysterious footage captured on an old malfunctioning video camera, Sinclair High School’s star quarterback, Tyler McFarland, learns that some of his teammates have been bullying Cory Walker, a troubled new transfer student. Aware that sharing this information with the coach might get his friends kicked off the team and ultimately cost the school the state championship, Tyler must choose what’s more important: winning or doing what’s right.

As these events unfold, the camera also reveals more surprising footage to Tyler’s kid sister Lucy… She learns that Cory has a secret past, unknown even to him. Now Lucy must convince her mom (Faith Ford, Murphy Brown) and family that the camera’s revealing insight is not a product of her imagination as she enlists their help to find the answers Cory so desperately needs. It’s a compelling and intriguing story that shows both the challenges and rewards of doing the right thing even when it’s tough to do.

Tune in tonight on NBC and don’t be afraid to start a conversation!

Walmart and P&G did provide me with viewing materials, so I could participate in this Family Movie Night event. All of these opinions are my own.