Many of my clients are often surprised to learn that one’s risk of cancer, especially breast cancer, can be strongly related to diet and lifestyle. Genetics and age also play a strong part in increasing one’s risk of cancer; those are non-modifiable factors. However, we can control what we eat and how much we exercise (our modifiable risk factors). The research to date suggests that diet and lifestyle are very important in reducing our risk.

Here are some diet and exercise tips to reduce your risk of developing breast cancer:

1) Limit alcohol to less than one drink per day or avoid completely.

2) Maintain a healthy body weight. There is an established link between obesity and increased breast cancer risk, especially if the excess weight is put on after menopause.

3) Be physically active at least 30 minutes per day.

4) Eat a diet low in fat. This means consuming less than 30% of your total daily calories from fat and less than 7% from saturated fat.

Speak to a Registered Dietitian to assess your diet and to get on the road to a healthy lifestyle that reduces your risk of disease. You can find a Registered Dietitian by visiting the American Dietetic Association webpage <http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/home_4875_ENU_HTML.htm> .

Alternatively, contact Janice Holm Dada, MPH, RD, CSSD, CHES of SoCal Nutrition & Wellness at 310.270.8985 or janice@socalnw.com if you live in the Southern California area or are interested in internet-based or telephone counseling if you are outside the area.

For more information about Breast Cancer Awareness Month please visit: http://www.nbcam.org/

Rain or shine the wedding must go on! Yes, there was rain during this wedding, but as you can see through the photos everything worked out beautifully! Christine & Andrew were married in San Diego at The Immaculata Church located on the University of San Diego Campus. The cocktail hour & and outdoor dinner reception took place at the Japanese Friendship Garden, which is tucked into Balboa Park. I love the fabulous garden photos Christine & Andrew took together. The delicious looking food was catered by TK & A. Kathy Wright and Company, created the beautiful floral arrangements to match the colors used in all the paper goods created by the bride herself who is a graphic designer.  Jeff from Moondance had all the guests dancing, or should I say slipping and sliding on the shiny seamless dance floor

Photos courtesy of Victor Sizemore Photography www.vcsphoto.com

Julie from Elysium writes: I can’t wait to share this Same Day Edit from last Saturday at Pelican Hill! After the ceremony at the Mission in San Juan Capistrano, Joe Latter took some photographs on the beautiful grounds and then it was off to the reception! Check his blog and stay tuned for the photos! Everyone had a great time and danced until the wee hours of the morning at the after party. Congrats Alejandra & Damian!

For all of you chocoholics, I have found a treat for you! Christopher Michael makes some tasty and visually appealing chocolates…I know from first hand experience since I have tasted many of them! These chocolates are great gift ideas as they are hand painted and full of flavor. I love the unique flavors of the truffles, you must try the rosemary caramel, caramelized banana, and the chipotle & honey. Some of Christopher’s chocolates have been used for special events such as favors for Jennifer Love Hewitt’s 30^th B-day party, favors in the Grammy’s gift bag, and featured at The Taste of Newport.

Christopher’s Chocolate Shop is a located in Newport Beach, across the street from City Hall, for all our local Orange County readers to check out. Visit www.chrischocolates.com to view all of the chocolate collections.

This is the definition of CLEAN and MODERN and only in 2 colors!  To be able to create this look, we had to carpet the Montage Resort ballroom in white carpet so you can’t be distracted with the patterns and colors.  Drape the walls in white and accent only in espresso with chairs, linen band, menu cards, etc.   The dancefloor was perfectly clean, showing only a decal of the invitation artwork, something Francis Orr worked with Crane’s to create for them. Matt made ordering invitations easy. 

Other elements seen was the fleur de lis which were embroidered on the dinner napkins and created with petals underneath the bamboo four posted structure. Beautiful phaleos from Nisie’s Enchanted Florist were dripping from boxes and Janice’s bouquet.  Linda from the Cake Studio created an amazing 6 tier cake…each slice was half and half, white chocolate and dark chocolate

The grooms cake, complete surprise to Bolaji! Janice had to secretly take photos of Bolaji’s golf bag when she went with him to the range, but then he bought a new bag before the wedding, so we had to redraw the cake. But don’t the items look super real, thanks to the talented hands of Sunny at Filigree Cakes.

Photos courtesy of Joe Latter Photography www.joelatterphotographer.com

What a beautiful setting for such a lovely couple. Holly & Robby’s engagement photos took place at the Montage in Laguna Beach on a beautiful summer day. Holly and Robby displayed the easy breezy California style…I love the flower in Holly’s hair. Stay tuned for Holly and Robby’s wedding photos! 

Photos courtesy of Marc Weisberg www.marcweisberg.com        

Valerie and Jason are getting married next April and having their reception at Terranea. Stay tuned for their wedding….hint, a color that Valerie is wearing in these photos will be seen in the wedding!

Photos courtesy of Samuel Lippke www.samuellippke.com

I took this off of Elysium site: “Happy Tuesday! We have another guest blogger today! Enjoy!

“Josh and I got married in May, 2009 at the beautiful St. Regis Resort in Dana Point, CA. While we met and fell in love in California, the vast majority of our guests were from the Midwest and East coast. Therefore, it was especially important to us that our location be at a vacation resort, our weekend be packed with events, and that everyone walk away happy that they had made the long journey to join us in California for our big day.

The festivities started off with a bridal luncheon on Friday at Las Brisas restaurant for the girls and a golf tournament at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Golf Links course for the boys. Following a fabulous rehearsal dinner in the St. Regis’ wine cave for the wedding party, we hosted our version of a welcome open house in the presidential suite at the St. Regis. Guests enjoyed hors devours and cocktails in the spacious indoor/outdoor setting while enjoying the fabulous view of the St. Regis pools, golf course, and the stunning ocean. Saturday morning, wedding day, began with an early morning 5K “Dash to the Altar” run/walk for our guests that took them along the St. Regis grounds and the beautiful Laguna bluffs and coastline. Saturday evening’s ceremony on the Grand Lawn at the St. Regis was immediately followed by cocktails on the terrace to an instrumental medley of California music and then a fantastic fun-filled reception in the Monarch ballroom. Since our focus was on our guests having a fabulous time, we arranged the timing of our reception to reflect a dance party with food rather than the traditional dinner party with dancing. What a fantastic decision! The California wedding weekend concluded with Josh and I sending our guests off with a full belly and a giant thank you at our al fresco “Morning After Champagne Brunch” held Sunday at Club 19 at the St. Regis. We could not have been happier with the entire weekend and the opportunity to share our love with our friends and family.

Our most cherished memories include watching the triplets walk ALL the way down the aisle, our unbelievable band that kept everyone both amazed and dancing all night long (who knew they could play songs that just came on the radio one week prior to the event!), our fantastic silhouette artist’s favors, our adorable welcome bags complete with whimsical Laguna Beach maps, the navy skirts on our head table chairs, the lighting and draping, all the AMAZING flowers, and finally, ending our night dancing to the song California encircled by our guests. We were just so fortunate to begin the rest of our life together at such a fabulous and beautiful party surrounded by our most cherished friends and family. The weekend was nothing short of perfect!! But perhaps my most fantastic memory of all was having both the opportunity and solitude to watch the guests arriving at the wedding and Josh and his groomsmen lining up undetected from above in the presidential suite. It is both a feeling and a memory that I will never ever forget: one of sheer and utter gratitude.

Thank you to all of my unparalleled vendors that made our wedding day beautiful, elegant, and most importantly, fun for all whom attended. Thanks to our wedding planner, Jeannie Savage, the day went by smoothly, neither Josh nor I had a care in the world, and I can honestly say we had the time of our life!! THANK YOU!! And thank you to each and everyone of our family and friends who chose to share their time with us on our biggest day. We love you!

Now it’s time to enjoy our life as husband and wife… with fantastic photographs from Ben Chrisman, a gorgeous ceremony painting by Rich Flynn (he finished it by 10PM!!), and an unbelievable video from Elysium productions to continue to remind us of our love, commitment, and our fabulous wedding day from this day forward!”

by Jennifer Grabiner

These shrugs are such a wonderful addition to an outfit for all brides/bridesmaids entering the fall and winter season. Etsy vender, Holly Stalder, is the talented designer of these hand-made, unique shrugs. I love all the details in each of Holly Stalder’s pieces, making each shrug its own piece of art. I also love the vintage/antique flare to these shrugs!  It’s so much fun finding one-of-a-kind accessories off of etsy! 

Check out more of Holly Stalder’s collection on her home page at www.hollystalder.com

Do you love this color combination like I do? Pale aqua and Crimson Red….complete contrast but oh so perfect together! Stephanie and Sam were married last month at the Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel in the Pavilion room. Although it’s a long room it works out well with no band and varying table shapes. The entree was mouth watering, seared filet mignon, sweet onion basil balsamic sauce, poached main lobster, sweet english pea sauce and butternut squash ravioli. Stephanie and Sam were the sweetest couple, demure and easy breezy, full trusting. The buttons were darling on the bridesmaids bouquets, another amazing find when Sunny was shopping. Sunny from White Lilac adored Stephanie and was super excited about the color combo and had a blast down to the napkin fold.

And thanks Victor for taking great rooms shots and invite shot, I love how the paper goods are set up….sometimes the invites are all on top of each other and you can’t see the wording, but when laid out this way, it can be documented in the wedding album. Nichelle from Details A La Carte designed all the paper goods.

Photos courtesy of Victor Sizemore www.vcsphoto.com