Greenwich Food & Wine Festival 2011

This past weekend, Serendipity Magazine held the first ever Greenwich Food & Wine Festival. Over 3,000 people attended and there was even a dinner Saturday night with live music by pop singer Natasha Bedingfield.  Both being outdoors, The Taste of Beverly Hills and Greenwich Food and Wine Festival had a similar family friendly vibe.  This past June, Ruby Media Group worked on the social media for Westchester Magazine's Wine & Food Weekend. It is great to see Fairfield County holding such high powered wine & food events as well and both events were mega successful and great weekend activities. One thing is clear: wine & food weekends are here to stay in Westchester and Greenwich, and suburbanites demand the highest quality food. My favorite desserts included the truffles from L'Escale and macaroons from Meli Melo. And of course my go to beverage Twelve was there which was an added bonus!

Yacht Hopping at the Delamar

Who knew Greenwich, CT had so many exciting activities going on? This past weekend, I attended the sixth annual Greenwich Harbor Yacht Showcase at the Delamar Hotel.  Spectacular yachts were on sale ranging from 250k to 7 million. The Kick-Off party took place Friday night, and benefitted the Audubon Greenwich and its efforts to restore the Long Island Sound.  The festivities continued into Saturday and Sunday, and I even brought my family back over the weekend. Dinner and brunch at L'Escale over- looking the yachts was an extra treat. The best part- yacht hopping at night from one beautiful boat the next and seeing the interior design of the yachts. Of course everyone had to take off their shoes before stepping foot on the yachts, and only in Greenwich would people leave their $1200 Christian Louboutin's unattended on the docks while trotting around barefoot :) Love it!

Greenwich Fashion's Night Out

Tonight was Fashion's Night Out in Greenwich, Connecticut. Greenwich Avenue was packed as guests lined up around the red carpet at Saks Fifth Avenue, and crowds gathered for a live fashion show. There was even a big pink whale outside of Vineyard Vines! I enjoyed playing the Stylelist fashion app- they said I scored highest so far in the evening on my fashion trivia. Definitely a nice job by Saks Fifth Avenue and all of the participating store owners to bring the Greenwich community together to celebrate NYC's infamous Fashion's Night Out. What did you think about Fashion's Night Out tonight in your city? How did you celebrate?

Photos By Styelist, Chantelle Rowley

Kardashian Wedding Dress

Finally- the wedding photos have been revealed. Were you a fan of the diamond bedazzled headdress and 3 Vera Wang dresses? We want to hear what you thought!

Taking customer service to a new level- BMW Mt. Kisco

On the way back from the Hamptons, I kept notice the service light flashing. I called BMW Mt. Kisco up this morning on my way to the office, and asked them if they could squeeze me in. When I got there, I was greeted by Vince, my service rep who always takes care of me and is the nicest person to deal with! I absolutely adore him! He is great to my entire family and always makes me feel taken care of when I come in frantic and frazzled.  Vince arranged for someone to drop me off to my office and have my car personally dropped off at my office at the end of the day. He also told the driver "make sure you drive her to get her morning coffee at Dunkin Donuts before you drop her off." I couldn't believe it- quite possibly the best service I have ever had. BMW sells luxury- and that includes your service experience. It is reasons like this that I will stay a loyal BMW customer- because of how they treat me, not only because of the quality of the car.  On top of getting a ride to Dunkin for my coffee, the driver also made a special stop to La Tulipe so I could pick up some macaroons for the day and then dropped me off to my office.  Not only did I get superior customer service, I also picked up a beautiful bag of pink macaroons! What could get better then that?

Interns- How NOT to get hired

I recently posted an opening for a virtual internship on Lauren Berger's popular site Intern Queen. I have been getting some great applications so far. I am most impressed with how far resumes have come. Almost all of these applicants have their own personal web sites with links to download their work in word or PDF form as well as a compilation of their online portfolio and writing clips.  Very impressive! Now.. the down side.  Social media is great ( I run a social media agency, so I should think so!) but it is not so great if you use it without caution. Even though I am a "young" boss from the social media revolution, that does not mean it is ok to use slang or profanity in your tweets, blog or in anything you are writing. If I (as a young boss) don't think its cool, I don't think a boss from an older generation and different work mentality would appreciate it either. Also, don't post about what your interviewer asks you during the interview, or what they email  you back! Some things are meant to be kept personal, and this could blow your chance at getting the job. Here's what to do to ensure that you won't get hired.

1. Send writing samples with profanity or slang

2. Send links to your Twitter page and then have profanity on it (at least delete this before sending over the links to a potential boss)

3. Tweet about what the interviewer asked you publicly during your interview (on Twitter) and tweet if you haven't heard back from the interviewer yet (This puts added pressure on the interviewer to write back on your time schedule, NOT theirs) This also shares public interview questions which are supposed to be kept privately. Another reason this is a bad idea? Because it upsets people who may not have heard back from the person hiring before you

Moral: Think before you tweet, and clean up your writing samples/social media profiles before applying for a job. No one wants to read profanity who may be hiring you- unless they are "into" that type of thing. If you are applying for a corporate job, chances are they aren't. While you may be "expressing" yourself, you are also making it much harder on yourself for an interviewer to overlook these things. Make social media work for you, NOT against you!

Taking off a few inches

I am a big shoe aficionado. In fact, there is nothing I love more then a gorgeous pair of Christian Louboutin patent leather pumps.  But recently it has come to my attention (after numerous chiropractor visits) that I am having some serious lower back pain (all at the young age of 24!) So, I am putting this shoe fetish of mine on hold for now- and trading in the heels for trendy flats. As much as I love these pumps, I will admire them like beautiful artwork- from afar. I will keep you posted on the trendy flats I find- flats are cool and sexy too!

Gabby Bernstein publishes second book- "Spirit Junkie" to come out 9/12!

The lovely Gabby Bernstein is launching her second book "Spirit Junkie" on 9/12 and I can't wait to read it! Gabby Bernstein, author of the bestselling book"The ING Factor" is a friend, fellow YEC member, spiritual advisor and all around awesome sober chick. I totally love Gabby, I watch her videos every day (and make my interns watch her Vlogs too!) and am in full support of any new projects she is working on! Gabby is a total gem to have in my life- and now you get to have her in your life too through her new book! Congrats Gabby!

 

2011 Hampton Designer Showhouse

During my weekend adventures in The Hamptons, I had the pleasure of checking out the 2011 Hampton Designer Showhouse in Bridgehampton. I really enjoyed it and got some great decorating ideas from all of the different designers! I highly recommend you check it out next weekend for some great tips to spark your creative juices!

Interns & Social Media- What NOT to post on Twitter

While it is great to work with interns that are social media savvy, you also need to pay close attention to their streams.  I encounter so many companies who specialize in reputation management, yet when it comes to what their interns are writing, they have no idea. Interns, if you are going to post about your experience, try to make your postings positive while you are there, and even after. Your employer will 9 out of 10 times go back through your Twitter stream to read what you have written. Here is what NOT to post:

1) Last day of my #internship. Can't wait! Freedom
2) Working around the clock.
3) Can't wait until 5 pm arrives

While this may look "cool" to your friends, it does not look "cool" to your employers who are managing and investing time into training you.  These messages can also very easily be mis-interpreted. For example, you may be excited that your internship is ending and you have some free time left in the summer, but to your employer, it looks like you hated the internship the entire time.  Also, employers will look at the time stamps. They DO NOT want to see that you are tweeting personal posts while you are supposed to be working for them during office hours. While these may seem like minor details, they can make or break if you get asked back again next summer..

What celeb TV character are you most like?

What celeb TV character do you most accurately portray in real life? For me, I would have to say I am most like Jeremy Pivens character "Ari Gold" from Entourage. In fact, I will never forget what my closest friend in college (at BU) said I was the only person he knew who was most like Ari. While most people may be put off by Ari's character, I think he's great. Here's why:

1) Ari cuts to the chase
2) Ari is all business
3) Ari runs the most powerful agency in Hollywood (and he's good at it)
4) Ari is a family man
5) Ari knows what it takes to get to the top
6) Ari has a great lifestyle
7) Ari is always digitally connected
8) Ari knows he's the boss
9) Ari knows good talent when he sees it
10) Ari always looks stylish

Granted, Ari is a fictional TV character, but he still rocks in my book. I think his character shows the struggles of running an agency while also running a family life, and while his wife may not always appreciate his abrasiveness, he always means well and is a good guy at heart.

Entourage Embraces Sobriety

Great to see Vince getting sober in this season of Entourage. So far, Entourage is doing a semi decent job of showing the up and downs of early sobriety (Vince semi relapsing) and the end of the producers life in tonights episode. If it was a truly accurate portrayal of getting sober- not sure that Vince would be having a party his first day out of Promises.. Granted they showed the party with sober girls..but it would not be recommended to be around all of those people drinking so early on. Do you think Entourage is doing a good job of portraying early sobriety this season?

Keeping up with Abbe!

So excited to be Featured on A.S.K Abbe- "At Home with Kris Ruby" She is a total rockstar. If you are a fashionista or into style, definitely check out her blog. She is a great writer and totally cute (and a former intern!)