WINGS Event: 2 of 2

I had the honor to meet Katie Workman at the WINGS charity event over the weekend. For those of you who are not familiar, Katie is the author of The Mom 100 Cookbook and founder of cookstr.com.

Here is a video clip of her on the Today Show last week making one of her recipes:

Katie was beyond sweet, down to earth, and as fellow mommys we found ourselves chatting about our kids. ;) I realize that her cookbook does not have gluten free recipes, but you can sub everything in her book for the gluten free option and get great results. I have already tried the recipe from the video above and subbed the elbow pasta for gluten free elbow pasta and it tasted AMAZING! This one will for sure be in heavy rotation at our house.

*I followed her recipe but reduced it by half (we are only 4 people ;). I also extended the cook time by 15 minutes to allow the gluten free noodles to cook properly. I strongly suggest you pick up Kaite's cookbook and test this one out! 

I'm super happy to now have a signed copy of her book and can't wait to try and share more of her recipes with you! 

WINGS Event: 1 of 2

I attended an event for the charity WINGS (women in need growing stronger) over the weekend and had an amazing time. It was called Tastes Take Flight: sip, sample, and shop and I did just that!
I decided to break it down into 2 posts. Today: Shopping and Sampling (food and wine), and tomorrow's post: meeting Katie Workman.

Here is what I wore to the event:

Dress: H&M, Lace Vest: Dots, Shoes: Shoemint, Ring: C/O Sole Society, Blue bracelet: Kristin Hassan, Watch: Fossil, Bag: Coach, Earrings: Erin Gallagher's Gem Bar

Outside the ballroom there was the WINGS resale shop, book signing (tomorrow's post), and 1 shopping vendor. Inside the ballroom was were all the other food and shopping vendor's were at. My aunt (Margaret McSweeney) also hosted the event and had cooking demos going on front stage while people were walking around sampling and shopping. So fun!

There was so much food to try (but I got it done! lol). Here are a few of my favorite treats:
Cheesey Bread from Wild Asparagus (Barrington, IL): This stuff way beyond amazing. Melted in my mouth! 

 Eggplant Bruschetta from Agio Italian Bistro (Palatine, IL): What a lovely twist on bruschetta! I've never thought to make it on top of fried/baked eggplant before, but I now NEED to try to recreate this! ;)

Ratatouille from L'Eiffel Bistro (South Barrington, IL): I loved this one! Perfect bitsized goodness.

 Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling: This was one of my favorite wines I sampled. It was sweet, crisp, and I actually bought myself a few bottles.

I did some resale shopping and found 2 great tops! The mint halter I found for $9 and the Talbots cardigan with tags on it (retail $89) I got for $25! AMAZING!
I also got this beautiful brown linen jacket (level 99) from a store called Grass Roots.

Here are some more photos of what they carry over at Grass Roots (205 South Cook St. Barrington, IL 60010). The owner Todd was so cool and he and his wife also supports a lot of local and US brands and vendors. I SUPER love the leather cuffs which are all made of vintage belts! They carry everything from Big Star to Free people and have rock & roll onsies and diaper bags too! I will for sure be hitting this shop up again. Really loved their style! 

All and all I had an amazing time. I hope WINGS raised a lot of money and I look forward to their next event!
Check back tomorrow to see my meet and great with Katie Workman! 

WINGS Charity Fashion show

For those of you not familiar with WINGS, it stands for Women in need growing stronger. It's a wonderful organization that's mission is to "provide a continuum of integrated services in an effort to end domestic violence and homelessness one family at a time." 

This past weekend I attended their 5th annual resale fashion show at the Meadows Club. It was beyond amazing!

Here is what I wore:

Dress: MNG by Mango, Belt: Express, Necklace: Jewelmint, Earrings: Express, Cuff: C/O Kristin Hassan, Shoes: Shoemint

First up, meet the show's stylist, say hello to my cousin, and get my raffle on! There were so many amazing raffle and silent auctuin items up for grab. There were also TONS of clothes, coats, bags, and jewelry for sale. Plus it's for such a great cause how can you not go a little nuts! ;)

We entered the ballroom for lunch and the fashion show soon after. I think I was most excited for the fashion show because my cousin was walking in it (she was the last to walk twice and had this amazing designer outfit on for her second walk that was up for auction. Here shoes were designed by James Sommerfeldt (Project Accessory season one). So gorgeous!

After the show I got to go backstage and get some photos of that amazing dress close up. SWOON!

ps, how gorgeous is my cousin?! I can't believe I use to babysit for the beautiful woman that stands here today! (man time flies! okay, back to this amazing outfit :)

I am kicking myself in the butt that I didn't pick up one of the furs that were there. They were real and priced between $100-$300, some crop, some medium length, and some floor length! Luckily if I change my mind I can go to one of their 3 retail shops and really get my shop on. They also accept donations so make sure if you live in the Chicago land area you check them out!