Preparing for Halloween

Preparing for Halloween really starts back in August when I start receiving the costume catalogs...we ponder them for a few weeks, make a decision, order them in September and stare at them all of October! Decorations go out October 1 and then the pumpkin patch and pumpkin carving is to follow. That is typically how it goes. This year we have been in a mad dash to get everything done. The costumes were ordered in plenty of time, but the decor went up a little late and the pumpkin patch was almost a near miss due to the rainy weather we have had this month. I am glad we decided to fit it in when we did, or I am afraid it would not have been done. The ground is so soggy and I think we caught the pumpkin patch on the one good day!








Also...normally the Sunday before Halloween Charlie's aunt and uncle host a big pumpkin carving contest. It gets VERY competitive and is lots of fun. This year, however, it was cancelled. Rob and Nina had just gotten married the night before and since everyone was so tired from the weekend, I guess it was decided that we wouldn't have it this year. Also, it wouldn't be the same without having Rob there. He always amuses us with his same little pumpkin face every year and he is always soooo confident that it will win. So this year, we just did our own little pumpkin carving at home. Sarah had requested a scary face...not too scary...but scary.






I can't believe that Halloween is in 2 days! I am thankful the rain should let up for Saturday night and I will be taking lots of pictures as usual. What's on the costume menu this year you might ask????? Sarah is Little Red Riding Hood and Lauren is a little ladybug. What is on your costume menu??

Once Upon a Time....

Once upon a time I lived in LA and was a wedding coordinator. Actually I was more of a hotel catering manager, but for one gorgeous August day....I was a wedding coordinator. Having just planned 3 parties in the last month, I have been reflecting on the life I used to have in the wedding business. I thought that I would share with you a little insight into the wedding that was my first one that I took upon, outside of my day job. The bride was a good friend of mine. In fact, she worked at the same hotel as I did in Redondo Beach: The Portofino Hotel & Yacht Club. I was the catering manager and she was the wedding coordinator.

Here is the gorgeous couple: Shawn & Katie

Now let me back up a tad....I moved to LA to be in the TV industry, but the first year I moved out there I found myself planning my own wedding and falling in love with doing that. I quickly realized that the wedding business was my passion. The Portofino was known for weddings due to our location on the ocean and we averaged about 4-5 weddings a weekend. Most were just receptions, but I would say a good 40% were ceremonies too!
So here I am...someone who had planned her own wedding (big TX wedding with 300 guests), someone who currently managed about 200 weddings a year, and someone who was ready to take on the "big day" for someone else...all on my own!

So Once Upon a Time...Here is where she decided to have her wedding!

The gorgeous St. Regis Hotel Monarch Beach in Dana Point, CA! It doesn't get much better than this folks.... She had a gorgeous August day, she had a perfect sunset, she had all her close family and friends there, and she had planned the perfect wedding! I felt like I was more than prepared, but wow...I clearly was not 100% flawless on my wedding planning duties. I attribute most of my short comings to the fact that I didn't not hire an assistant. I thought with all my experience that I didn't need one, but quite the contrary. Having had all my experience, I should have known that I needed a helper. The location, although spectacular, was S P R E A D O U T! The bride was getting ready on the opposite side of the property from where the reception was which was in a different location to where the ceremony was. I also had the photographer taking photos all over the place. Being the one woman operation I was, I didn't have any fancy "Walkie Talkies" or anything, nor anyone else to be sending commands too. Had I had an extra person, I could have cut down on my cardio time running around everywhere and could have double checked the details more. We had a small snafu with the seating (which could have been avoided had I had an extra 20 minutes to go over it one last time) and we had a near miss with the surprise bag-piper almost not becoming a surprise anymore. All in all it went as smooth as it could, and luckily the wedding was at a 5-star hotel and I had an easy going bride that was my friend. At least I wasn't too worried she would hate me forever if I made a few small mistakes. I just of course didn't want to make any!

Katie, had very good taste and knew what she wanted. If I had to pick a theme for her wedding, I would say Shabby Chic. It was so much fun thinking of ideas together and thankfully we both liked this look. Here are some of the details we had fun planning.



We also had a great photographer. He was also a friend to both of us. I knew that photography was one area that was particularly important to Katie. I went with her and we interviewed easily 5-6 photographers before she decided to go with Troy at Epic Imagery. In the end, we both new he was professional, did beautiful work, and was was all around great to work with. We knew what "we" were getting. There is just a good feeling you get when you know you can count on the photographer to be on time, do good work, be fun to be around, and capture the moments! Here are some of my favorite shots that he took. I am sure Katie has her own set of favorites, but these I really love.

I love how he captured the detail on her dress, the flowers, and her ring. So Pretty!

I love this one of Katie and her mom. They both looked gorgeous that day!

Here are a few of the beach shots taken at sunset

Now the reception was tons of fun. I mean planning wise....I didn't really partake in the party! All the guests seem to have had a blast, though. We had fun playing with the romantic roses, the crystals and all the shabby chic muted colors. We mixed dark brown into the scheme and it balanced it out nicely. Especially since there was a lot of dark brown in the room to begin with. Most times when you have a hotel wedding you have to consider the colors on the walls and the chairs.....unless you plan to pipe and drape the entire room and create a whole new space. In this case we decided our colors worked well the color scheme and we brought in chivari chairs. Here are some of the other reception specialties:

The signature drinks! Yummy!

Her cake was gorgeous and was so pretty sitting on the crystal cake stand.

"How sweet it was of you to have come" was what the sign read at the candy bar!

I had the most fun doing this wedding and helping Katie plan her special day. It confirmed 2 things for me...1.) that weddings are a lot of work and don't tackle a big one all by yourself, and 2.) that I love weddings and always will. Maybe one of these days I will get back into it. In the meantime I will just enjoy planning parties of any kind for my family and friends!

All photos courtesy of Epic Imagery, Los Angeles.

Alpha Chi Omega Founder's Day

Happy Founder's Day to all my AXO sisters out there today! Hope you have been able to attend some sort of celebration to commemorate the occasion! We held the Ft. Worth celebration last week at the Iota Lambda house at TCU. The collegians did a very nice re-dedication ceremony and we had yummy Perotti's lasagna and cheesy bread for dinner! (Boy I sure do miss those TCU days!) On another note....I sure am looking forward to the Iota Lambda reunion in April 2010! Please go to our website to RSVP and buy tickets! If you need the link again....please e-mail me!

U2

It doesn't get much better than U2 when it comes to concerts. This was my second time seeing them and they did not disappoint. I feel like Bono's voice sounded better when I saw him 8 years ago in LA, but hey...it was still amazing! The set/stage was awesome! By far the best set up for a concert I had ever seen. I seats were "behind" the stage, although it was a 360 degree stage. They were still great. They came to our side a lot and at the end they walked all the way back and stood there for quite awhile, so I was able to get some awesome shots! They have an unlimited amount of great songs to choose from and I feel like they played them all. Not since the Foo Fighters have a seen a more entertaining band that seemed to play on and on, one great hit after another!

The Muse, the opening band, was also great! My husband REALLY wanted to see them and to be honest I was not that interested. Once they came out they really rocked the place and turns out I already knew most of their songs. I was pleasantly surprised at how great they were!

It was a great night and the new Cowboys stadium (which I think is a tad over-the-top and a bit ridiculous since "The Boys" are mediocre this year) was still AMAZING and huge and very nice!

New Blog: Le Petit Hameau

As most of you may or may not know, I work part time at my in-laws European gift shop over in Keller. It is called Le Petit Hameau (the little hamlet). I have also started a blog for them! I know, big shocker there! I have become so in love with blogs, that I decided to take on a second one! So I just wanted to share the blog with you guys and I hope you become a follower of it in addition to this one! Here is the blog link: www.le-petit-hameau.blogspot.com
I just blogged today about some of the great Fall items we have!

The blog will mostly feature products that we sell in the store, but it will also feature posts on travels to Europe. There will be times of the year that they (not me) will take buying trips and I will write about their adventures! So keep posted and if you live in or around Keller, please stop in and say hello and see all the pretty things!

Miss Spider Sunny Patch Party

For Lauren's 2nd birthday, I decided to go with a Miss Spider theme...little did I know (after I had my heart set on this idea) that it would be near impossible to find anything Miss Spider out there. This is such a cute show and so perfect for this age, that I feel like they are really missing the boat by not marketing it anymore. If it were not for the Nick Jr. printables and some creative work on my part and the bakery's part, this party would not have been very successful. At least decor wise! Lauren had over about 3 of her friends and they all have siblings that are Sarah's age so it made for a nice sized party. Her are the photos and the specifics!

Theme: Miss Spider Sunny Patch
Food: Palio's Pizza & Salad
Drinks for kids: Apple juice, lemonade, milk
Cake: The Cakery (Southlake) The bottom part was white cake with white butter cream and the Miss Spider was chocolate cake with white butter cream! Heavenly!
Colors: Played off of the lime green and yellow colors mostly, but it was a very colorful party
Decor: I made my own buggy friends out of small colored paper lanterns, craft poms poms, pipe cleaners and felt. I found one place online that had one package of Miss Spider "blow-outs" and they had the cute bug antenna "party hats". My husband made the Hollow Tree tree trunk out of construction paper. The rest was really balloons and crepe paper
Flowers: Yellow tulips and multi-colored gerber daisies
Games: Bean bag toss, bowling, parachute, Velcro ball & catch game and lots of printables to color and play with from Nick Jr. I also had a Miss Spider video playing to keep them entertained while at the party table.

The Invite

The "party room"

The place settings

The wonderful cake

Her cute cupcakes left over from what she took to "school"

Drink boxes to match decor

The goodie bags: I could not find 10 of the same Miss Spider book at any bookstore, so I did a mixture of books to accommodate the different ages and genders. Also add some little slinky's and glow in the dark bracelets in lime green. The girls got a sunflower in their bag!

My homemade bugs and colored lanterns

Buggy facts I printed off of Nick Jr.

The printables to color and a "I promise to be good to bugs" certificate

All sitting down for pizza!

Me with my sweets!

It is no secret that I love parties! Especially kid parties! Let me know your favorite themes and ones that have been successful! This sort of thing is the sweet part of life!

SHE'S TWO!!!

My baby turned 2 today. There are times it seems like it has flown by and other times it seems it hasn't! I think Lauren is a wonderful 2 year old. She is my "wild" child, but deep down she is a sweetheart. Tonight she had a wonderful Miss Spider Sunny Patch Party. (I will have lots of pictures to post soon!) She loved her party and all her friends! I think she had a great day.
So she will have her Dr. appointment next week for the specifics, but here are the things that you probably really would want to know:

1. I have heard her count to 13, but others have heard higher
2. She is speaking pretty clearly with some phrases, such as "I love you", "Night, night, mommy", "More juice (milk), please", "Your welcome", "Thank you", (she is very polite) "My turn", etc...
3. She eats well with a spoon/fork and can drink out of a small regular cup
4. Her favorite food is "roni and cheese" (macaroni & cheese) She also likes applesauce, bananas, grilled cheese, garlic bread, spaghetti, Life cereal, waffles, and ice cream!
5. Her favorite show IS the Fresh Beat Band (I must admit, I sort of like it too) She also likes Barney and Sesame Street
6. She likes to do gymnastics with her sister in the living room. She does the cutest little "bridge"
7. She LOVES the Little Gym and likes to swing on the bars
8. She also LOVES her daycare and likes her music class
9. Her best friend is Addison
10. She loves to read books, play with balls, dance, and paint
11. She also likes to NOT sleep at night, but at this point I have almost gotten used to it.
12. She is still potty training and is getting better all the time
13. She is such a doll at age 2 and we are very fortunate.

I remember the day she was born very well. Her birth was soooo much easier than Sarah's was and I remember it stormed that night. (We are expecting storms tonight, too) Lauren was such a sweet baby when she was born. Precious and so beautiful. Happy Birthday my love!

Award

So this is a relatively new concept for me....getting an award for my little journal I like to call my blog! My friend Holly over at 504 Main was very nice to send me a little award the other day. Thank you , thank you! Holly is one of my friends and fellow wedding colleague from LA. She no longer lives in the LA area, but is the author to many wedding books and a fabulous wedding coordinator! She also has another blog all about weddings. Please check this one out Hip Weddings, too! Holly was the first person to give me an opportunity in the wedding business and the one that hooked me up with my first wedding related job. I owe a lot to her for showing me the ropes and believing in me when I had no wedding experience. Having done my own wedding by myself counts for something, but we all know that just because you plan your own, does not make you the next Martha Stewart or Colin Cowie (even though we think we are!) So Holly was great at giving me opportunity and teaching me a lot. We had lots of fun back in the day doing weddings in LA!

So anyway.....back to the award. I have been bestowed with the Friend Award.

The rules to this award are:

*This award is bestowed on to blogs that are exceedingly charming.

*These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends.

*They are not interested in self-aggrandizement.

*Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. *Please give more attention to these writers.

*Deliver this award to other bloggers who must choose others to pass it on to and include this *Cleverly-written* text into the body of their award.

So I have chosen to pass this award along to a couple of my other blogging friends.

Jenny - The Blah Blah Blahger - I have chosen her because I think she has an awesome blog with lots of great postings on many different great topics. I know that her blog is something she is passionate about and I just want to support her.

Ryan - America's Bridget Jones - I have chosen Ryan because I think her blog is unique and tons of fun to read. Her take on certain topics is just hilarious and generally spot on.

Both of these ladies were fellow AXO's with me in college and I have enjoyed their blogs very much! Congrats!

Really, the best award I can have, though, is just to know that people enjoy reading what I have to say. So please sign up as a follower and thanks for the support!