Tag Archives: MamaIsHaute

Sonoma and Napa: Wind Down and Wine Up!

Posted on by
Reply

          Truly Julie and MamaisHaute having a royal of a time at Castello di Amarosa!The rolling hills…the neat rows of grape trees that look like well uniformed soldiers…the pace of life that trickles as slowly as cabernet legs on a fine wine glass…Sonoma and Napa are exactly what a New York City girl needs to wind down and wine up! It’s hard to believe just 40 minutes or so from San Franciso is this dreamboat of a place…where boozing and comparing the sweet grape nectars of different years, vineyards, and myriad of grapes is pretty much your only task for the day. I breezed through 3 vineyards for wine tasting: Spring Mountain, Barnett, and Chalk Hill. Spring Mountain had my favorite wine of the whole trip..the “Elivette”. I smile just thinking about the taste…which could only be described accurately if I had time to list 100 adjectives. Barnett is located on top of a hill so it has dashing views, plus it’s still family owned so it has that charm. Chalk Hill is cool because it offers horseback riding…though, if you want to cantor or trot, they’ll only let you in the pavilion. All the rules for riding at Chalk Hill made me really miss my experience in Uruguay where I got to gallop freely on a beach. But I guess the US is a lawsuit happy place…pun intended…tighter reins. I also squeezed in a pool day at Calistoga Ranch. I splashed around with my nephew by day..and by night…dined at The Lakehouse. Just look at this crab cake…it’s so beautiful and sculptural that it looks like it belongs in the MOMA. I often get asked if my blog pictures are all my own. YES. And while I was a bit tipsy during my stay in the wine country…it was hard to take a bad photo of this picturesque place. Wine goggles or not…Sonoma/Napa are worthy of every praise. I’ll drink to that!

Fashion Week: Why It’s More Than Just Fashion & More Than Just a Week

Posted on by
4

Truly Julie looks like a kid at a candy store at the Number:Lab fashion presentation. Fashion Front: Grace Sun dress.
With Hurricane Irene past us, there’s another storm brewing: NYC Fashion Week. My sister, Grace Sun, calls it her “Super Bowl” (check out her hilarious write up here), and others call it frivolous, superficial and a waste of $$$. An average runway show at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center costs $250,000 and upwards, which is an exorbitant amount of money given a runway show usually lasts 10 minutes tops. But a lot happens in those few minutes. For example, you can do some serious “star gazing”, case in point: Iman, Nigel Barker, Kanye West, Carey Mulligan, Tim Gunn and Carolina Herrera, as well as celebrity clothes mongers (e.g., Kim Kardashian).

 Simon Huck, Jonathan Cheban, Kim & Kourtney Kardashian, and Scott Disick atJill Stuart runway show. I took this picture from my awesome seat. Thanks, Alison Brod!

For me, Fashion Week is more than just fashion and the impact of that week, which certainly lasts a whole lot longer (the trends established at each FW will be played out for months if not years). Whether it’s dance, art, music, writing, speech etc…I love anything that celebrates your ability to express yourself. Fashion is a way for me to tell the world, without ever opening my mouth, that I’m fun, daring, sophisticated and confident. The argument that fashion is superfluous cuts both ways. Yeah, sure, it’s what’s on the inside that matters…but the way you express yourself through your style, in an instant, tells people who you are. Fashion–the ability to showcase your personality through clothes– is very powerful.  One woman who’s discovered this force is Vogue editor, Anna Wintour. Grace and I had a fun run-in with her at the Rag & Bone show last year (find it here). And in the below gallery, pictures galore of my Fashion Week adventures from previous years; and on the following sites, some colorful examples of expression: WhoWhatWear.com, The.Satorialist.com or MAMAisHaute.com. But really, inspiration can come from anything! So as we gear up for Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2012, just remember, your style and fashion can be your voice….so sing a song that will make people stop and listen! As the proverbial saying goes, life isn’t a dress rehearsal. Dress. To. Kill.

Grace Sun (MAMAisHAUTE.com) and Truly Julie backstage at Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week, about to attend Yigal Azrouel and Michael Kors. Fashion Front: Truly Julie wears Yigal Azrouel knit dress.

As you can see from Grace’s Spring/Summer 2011 presentation last year, she understands first hand how to empower women with clothes. GraceSunDesign.com. Fashion Front: Truly Julie wears Grace Sun blouse, vintage shorts, and Balenciaga boots.

Once Upon a Time…

Posted on by
12

Truly Julie (left) at age 5 with sister, Grace Sun (MamaIsHaute.com).


Yeah, yeah, that’s a home haircut alright. Truly Julie (left) knitting at age 4.

I often think about what a weird profession I’m in…fun and exciting…but strange. I mean, I realize the minute I pop up on TV, someone is probably criticizing me. Imagine thousands of people being able to see you do your job at work. Wouldn’t you feel like a fish in a tank? There are countless ups to my job, but there is one significant downside of doing such visible work: it’s an easy target for searing scrutiny. But I really don’t think I could’ve been anything other than a broadcaster…or what I like to call a “very vocal storyteller”. My family, including my sister Grace, who’s in these pics with me, says from the minute I was born, I was effervescent, energetic and beyond extroverted. Grace says that I’ve always had an old soul, which made me quite a precocious kid. At the the playground, I would not only befriend other kids, but their parents as well. Some of my mom’s closest friends now are the once random strangers I brought home from the playground. Even now, I have friends who are in their teens to those in their 60′s. What can I say…I was knitting at age 4.

As to how I survive the subjective, fickle TV business? I have two older sisters who always keep me in check AND I have been raised on what I call “Korean tough love”. For example, my dad (may he rest in peace) would call me after my live shots and say, “What happened to your hair?” That was his way of saying, “Hey, I’m proud of you and I’m up at this early hour to watch you.” I realize I work in a cut-throat industry, but storytelling is like my air. I’d rather be scrutinized than not be able to share.

(For more on how I became a journalist, check out: “About Julie”)