Why Irvina's Pearls?

It all started with my niece. My sisters and I ( I have 4 sisters) were all talking about my niece starting Jr.High. One of my sisters said, "It sucks she's going to have to go through all of that girl drama, beauty drama, body changing junk. Don't you wish you could just save her from it?" I thought wait a lip-lickin second why can't we save her from it? We have all been through the same stuff, every woman has. She shouldn't have a hard time going through any of it; if we are here to help her through it. To give her our "pearls" of wisdom if you will. I mean that's what got me through those times. My experienced older sisters who said, "This is how I did it. This is what worked and this is what sucked." So there you go. This is "Irvina's Pearls." This is how I see it:I don’t claim to know it all, but I do know that when I fall over board into bone chilling water (that is screw up) I usually get hit in the head with a clam that has a beautiful pearl inside. Thus I am given a new pearl of wisdom! I don’t even own expensive pearls, but I am rich in experience. I’d like to share the wealth. Take what you like from what I know. I have plenty of pearls to share. I wouldn't be here today had the people in my life not shared their pearls with me. Happy digging. xoxo Irvina

Moisturizer & Sunscreen? Aren't they the same?

No! as in "Heck NO!" I didn't know you had to moisturize your face AND put sunscreen on it. Well newsflash ladies....YOU DO! Ilearned from the sweetheart named Debbie Sue at the Clinique counter at Nordstroms in South Coast Plaza. She is the sweetest gal ever! Go see her and tell her I said, "Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeee!" Debbie Sue say that you want to 1.) Keep your face hydrated. Your skin will look fresher and fuller and hydration prevents wrinkles. You keep hydrated with a moisturizer like this one...

2.) You want to put your sunscreen on afterwards to block out the sun.Which is very important to prevent skin cancer and wrinkles also.

So one keeps you moist the other keeps you lets say, "shaded." I'm a visual person. I'm going to guess you are too...You want to always think of your skin as a plant. The plant will stay beautiful as long as you keep it "moist" and in the "shade" for most of the time :) Did you girls find this helpful? Would you like me to talk about other beauty stuff. Let me know :) xoxoxo Irvina

Summer Party Idea!

My friend Lana is amazing! She is always throwing amazing parties with the best themes, details and of course food. This weekend she threw a party called, "Child hood favorites." Everyone was to bring a dish that was their child hood favorite food. It was so cute to see what people brought there was an assortment of Tater Tots, chili, puddings a grasshopper pie for dessert...which was phenomenal and of course there was Vodka Kool-Aid. As you can see I put a lot of effort into the "happy" fruit salad above. "NO one likes a sad salad :)" There were very cute tins full of candy through out the house and of course conversation about childhoood memories came up. A very cute idea that you might want to try this summer! xoxoxo Irvina

Quote of the day "On Soaring"

My roommate April (the cutie on the left of the other cutie) put this quote on our white board today:"No bird soars too high is she soars with her own wings."
I thought about this quote as it is written literally. I thought if I was to take a bird with me up to Mount Baldy she might die. I don't know the first thing about birds. I'm thinking altitude probably affects them all differently and what they eat depends on the species. That bird has a better chance of living if it's on it's own. It is born with the nature to take care of itself. We are all kind of like birds. Deep down we all know our strengths and our limits. It's when we are in touch with them that we are free like the birds. What do you think?

Fake smiles suck!

Fake smiles suck! I know you agree with me. Tell me the last time you framed a picture of a person who is smiling as if to say, "Yes, liver and fried onions is my favorite meal." Everyone has thier issues with cameras, most of it starts with a mommy that has said "say cheese" one too many times while the kid is trying to recreate Noah's ark in the privacy of their bath tub. Well, here are a couple of tips to get that genuine smile in no time!

If someone doesn't want to smile...no worries. Just "Get em' when their not lookin'. My favorite photos have come from the times I stayed super quiet and payed attention to when people laughed. The blurryness of some pictures adds character.












And other times you need to talk A LOT in order to help people forget there is a camera here. Here with my nephew Chris I told him, "Did you know that I am a real live princess?" He said, "No you're not. You're Aunt Nini" I said, "Seriously Chris, I'm a princess. I own this beach too. So if you want to take any shells home you better ask me first cause I'm having a party with all of the mermaids in the ocean tonight and they need some shells to make "shell bikinis. for the party" As you can see my story got a way more genuine smile than "cheese" ever would of.

This one is my favorite! Scream at them! Here I totally caught my friends off guard. I started screaming and jumping up and down and rallyed them up. They played along...and look at that. A very cute picture. Do you have any cute picture taking tips? Comment below. I'd love for you to share! Happy shooting and framing :) xoxox Irvina

Quote of the day: On "Love"

I believe we all shape eachother to be the people you are. Well I am proud to say I know my friend Jess.(This is her. Isn’t she cute?) We were just chillin’ in LA the other day and she was telling me about a movie she saw and she said there was thisone line that just summed up her whole life for her it’s: “Love is not a emotion it’s an action. Love is not something you feel it’s something you do. It’s not what you say it’s actions which tell someone you love them.” I couldn’t agree more. You know it makes me question the people I have said those words to and the people who have said them to me. I mean why is it that the people we love are sometimes the people we put last?

There ain't nothin' Chocolate can't fix!

My dad just celebrated his 21st birthday for the 66th time (I know )So I took him to his favorite restaurant in the whole wide world, “Cafe Irvina.” Where the service looks just as good as the food Well that’s what he says. Anyway, so the order from the birthday boy was a “healthy yet delicious”meal. My dad is recovering from colon cancer so healthy is important. For the main course we served Sea Bass Puttanesca from Rachel Ray’s Magazine….soooooo good! On the side we had asparagus with a homemade digon dressing and for dessert we had (what was supposed to be) chocolate pecan cake. However in Aunt Irvina style I was doing a little too much chatting on the phone while I baked and a little less paying attention to the directions. Short story- I used DOUBLE the amount of cream I needed for the cake. Which means I had less than half the amount of cream for the frosting…Bummer….SLIGHTLY! But, I licked my fingers and didn’t give up. As you can see I didn’t have much frosting so I smothered the sucker with a ton of chocolate syrup. Like I always say, “There ain’t nothing chocolate can’t fix!” The result? My dad said I needed to have some children to cook for and I said, “You show me tall, dark, smart and hansome and I’ll show you filet mignon” Ciao kids!

Chocolate Praline Cake:

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans

1 package of chocolate cake mix

TOPPING:

1-3/4 cups heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 teapoon vanilla extract

2 very “focused” eyeballs on this recipe!

In a large saucepan, combine brown sugar, butter and cream. Stir over low heat until butter is melted. Pour into tow grease 9-inch round baking pans. Sprinkle with pecans; set aside.

Prepare cake mix batter according to package direction. Carefully pour batter over pecans. Bake at 325 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 minutes; invert onto wire racks to cool completely.

For topping, beat cream in a mixing bowl until soft peaks form. Add sugar and vanilla; beat until stiff.

Place one cake layer, pecan side up, on a serving plate. Spread with half of the topping. Top with second cake layer and remaining topping. Sprinkle with a whole lot of chocolate syrup! Store in the refrigerator until it’s devoured. Serves 8-10 chocolate lovers