Yay! She bakes, beautifies AND does ballet!

I’m sure a lot of you beauty-junkie Momoverettes already know all about my left coast pal Rebecca Giles. For those who don’t, here’s the 411 on this chic, hilarious, multi-faceted mama of two:

1. She is a major, major skin whiz and owns a stunning beauty emporium on the Pacific Coast Highway – vroom vroom – called FIX Malibu.

2. She is a pioneer in “medical skincare” and her great products are beloved by many taste-makers, including my imaginary bestie Rachel Zoe. Apparently Rach loves the Wish Wash. Who wouldn’t? It’s utterly divine.

3. She originally thought she’d be a straight-up doc, and did her residency training in general surgery at University of California at Davis Medical School. But thankfully for a whole slew of celebs and civilians who need her skin help, she switched gears to beauty.

4. She is spearheading a bake sale to benefit Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, which will be held this Sunday, 11 December, at the Malibu Country Mart. Prior to med school, Rebecca spent two years volunteering in the bone marrow transplant unit of Stanford’s Packard Children’s Hospital, which is why this cause is especially dear to her heart.

I e-chatted with her about the insane amount of baking she and her gorge kids are doing to prep for the sale, her desire to help build awareness about children’s cancer – and her upcoming polka debut at the Malibu Ballet! I didn’t see that one coming, but Madame Giles never ceases to surprise.

Dana: Why do you suspect the awareness level around pediatric cancer is so low? Is it because people just automatically think “grownup” when they hear “cancer”?

Rebecca: I think that may have something to do with it. The National Cancer Institute quotes a statistic of 1 to 2 in every 10,000 kids getting a cancer diagnosis. Unless you’ve been personally touched by it in some way, it’s quite possible that it seems like a rare thing. But it isn’t. And if you’ve been in the thick of it, it becomes your whole world. I wasn’t yet a mom when I did all that volunteering in the pediatrics cancer unit at Packard. Now that I have kids of my own, I get knotted up thinking about the suffering all of those families endure.

I can’t fix that. But I can put on my apron, fire up the oven and bake some cookies to raise money to make it better. That’s where I think the genius of this organization lies. It’s accessible, immediate and just brilliant.

Dana: Any ideas how many moms will be partaking in the sale at Malibu Country Mart?

Rebecca: I have so many moms helping – from publicizing it at our local schools, on TV (I’m on FOX News LA at 6:15 this Friday morning–oy!) and online, helping with pre-orders of the cookies (we’re already selling them in advance, through the local restaurants here, the schools, and–if you can believe it–the hot Pilates spot in town).  I have another team helping to bag up the treats, then more moms still on the day of the event itself–including my pal LeAnn Rimes and her family. Probably 30+ moms, all in.

I actually will miss two hours of the sale on Sunday, since I’m in the Malibu Ballet’s production of the Nutcracker. Yes, you heard me.  My daughter Ava is a party girl in Act I for the first time ever (it’s a “big girl” role) and she begged Jason and me to be her parents. Back in October, I gave in to her pouty begging, thinking, “How hard could this be?” Turns out we have to polka, we have to waltz, and there’s some acting involved. I am entirely unqualified for all of the aforementioned activities.  At any rate, I will exit stage left on Sunday at 2:00 and head back to my bake sale. I plan on ditching the 19th century costume, though. I’m actually in four performances of the ballet this weekend, and I’ll be baking every free minute in between them.

Welcome to my kooky cookie life…