Orange Is the New Black: What would you do with your last 24 hours of freedom?

In honor of the July 11 premiere of the new Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, I was given the challenge by SheKnows.com to talk about what I would do with my last 24 hours of freedom.  The series focuses on a woman who is sent to prison because of her relationship with a drug smuggler. 


With only 24 hours to enjoy my freedom, here is what I would like to do:

Location: While I thought I would immediately hop a plane to Bora Bora, my dream destination, the flight takes too long. I don't want to waste my 24 hours on a cramped flight and have to pay for my luggage. So, I am off to Malibu just 15 minutes down the road from my humble abode. I figure a beautiful view is all I need, so this oceanside home should do the trick. All of my friends and family can visit while I chow down on my favorite meal.

Food: As a gal from New England, there is nothing better than a Maine lobster. I would make sure to eat a two pound lobster dripping in butter with a baked potato, corn on the cob and steamers with even more butter. A glass of champagne and a bottle of wine to toast my last day of freedom will also be on hand. Some other items that might make it on to my glorious food table include truffle mac and cheese, homemade bread with butter from Napa Rose restaurant and cannolis from Mike's Pastry in Boston.  If I'm going to have face prison food, I'm going to make sure my meal is good, expensive and high in calories.

Rachel Roy dress, Christian Louboutin shoes, Express NYC clutch

Fashion: I want to spend my last day in the outside world dressed to impress since the orange jumpsuit isn't going to do much for my pasty complexion inside the jail cell. Here's the outfit I picked out to enjoy on my last day of freedom. I wanted something cute and flirty with a really expensive pair of shoes I would never buy for myself in real life. Oh, and a splash of color with the clutch....orange really is the new black.

Relax: A massage, a facial and a mani/pedi are a must for an important day like this. I'm not sure they do extractions for your pores in prison. I want to be as relaxed and laid-back as possible, I imagine the inmates are rather intense, don't you think?

Sleep:  I want the Westin Hotel to send me one of their signature Heavenly Beds so I can sink into a comfy bed because prison sure isn't a five-star experience. I could snuggle with my significant other and slumber away after I've eaten my weight in food and massaged every muscle to say goodbye to my freedom. There is nothing better than a good night's sleep.

What would you do with your last 24 hours of freedom? Let me know in the comments below. 

Check out the new series “Orange is the New Black” on Netflix. For more information check out SheKnows.com.



This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Food, Inc.

Now that I am off of the road for the summer, I am focusing on eating better, eating local, and working out a bit more.  Now, don't get me wrong, you know I love my bacon cheeseburgers and cupcakes, but I am making an even greater effort to read labels, eat food with fewer ingredients, and don't let the corn growers try and fool me by changing high fructose corn syrup into corn sugar.  Sorry, farmers, it's just not natural.

I spent part of my Sunday shopping for organic goodies at my local farmer's market.  For $22.25, I was able to buy fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, cherries, spinach, flowers, spicy red pepper hummus, fresh feta with sun dried tomatoes, and spinach and feta tortillas.  Everything was locally produced, organically raised, and I know exactly what I am eating.  I am tired of reading labels of processed foods with a huge list of chemicals, it bothers me that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) finds this okay.  I am pretty sure it is no coincidence that we have seen an increase in cancer and other illnesses as processed food has become the norm in our grocery stores.

If this topic interests you, now is a good time to add the 2009 documentary (and Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary), Food, Inc., to your summer Netflix list. I will warn you, it is not for the squeamish, but I can bet you that it will change the way you eat meat and chicken. It sure had an impact on me.  While you cannot always control what type of meat you eat at a restaurant, you can sure shop for meat/chicken without hormones or antibiotics for your own home.  Grass fed, wild caught, and humanely raised will be words in your grocery shopping vocabulary after watching this documentary.  If you want to argue the cost on the organic meat with me, I will argue the cost of your medical care in the long run.  Give it some thought and let me know what you think.  Have you seen Food, Inc.?

*Update* 3 Suggestions for Healthy and Affordable Eating:
1.  I always hear that organic is too expensive.  It's not.  Check out your local farmer's market or go to Walmart. (This is the only time I am going to recommend Walmart, kids.)  Walmart has a strong and affordable organic produce line in their super stores.  These are the Dirty Dozen in produce, these are musts for organic. (The article also includes the Clean 15 where you don't have to worry as much.)

2.  Plan your meals.  Do you want the best recipes and the easiest, fastest way to prepare delicious meals for both carnivores and vegetarians?  Check out Sam The Cooking Guy.  Every recipe is amazing and simple.

3.   Coupons!  You know I am the queen of coupons and sales, I hate to pay full price.  Here is a great resource for organic coupons:  Focus Organic.

Feel free to share any other tips I might have missed.

Mad Men Delayed

Photo courtesy of AMC.

It's very rare that I love a show to its core:  Sex and the City (SATC), Gilmore Girls (GG), and Mad Men. While I can watch SATC and GG in its entirety in reruns and from my DVD collection, I am left hanging from Season 4's finale with Mad Men. Yesterday, AMC and Matt Weiner announced that I have to wait until 2012. The rumor I heard from an inside source is that March 2012 is the earliest we will see the show.  So, they are telling me it's okay for fans to have to wait 12 months until a new episode is revealed and the answers to my questions are resolved.  Is anyone else worried about Don Draper?  He was in the middle of an alcoholic breakdown!  What about Peggy?  She's so strong, yet so secretly fragile.  And Sally Draper needs some guidance!  Heck, by the time they start filming Mad Men again, Kiernan Shipka (Sally) will have grown six inches. So, in the meantime, I am in mourning.  I guess I will Netflix Seasons 1-4 and milk every episode until Don Draper pours another drink and enters my living room with a swagger.

Here are a few Mad Men posts to tide you over until 2012....yeah, right.
1. Mad Men Withdrawal--you are going to suffering through a lot of this in 2011.

2. Mad Men Monday--some fun places you can find little Mad Men nuggets of information from QVC to my interview with Kiernan Shipka at the Saturn Awards.

3. Emmys, Part 2:  Photos with my favorite gal, Kiernan Shipka, at the Emmys gifting suite.  Maybe I will run into her again during the Kids' Choice Awards gifting suite?  I will keep you posted on any Mad Men sightings.

Now the big question is:  What are you going to do with your Sunday nights this summer/fall?