A Sunny Sunday Afternoon

I have to admit that I am typically not a fan of bridal showers. I find them too cutesy and nauseating. I can only stand but so many silly games like "Make a Wedding Dress Out of Toilet Paper" or "How Many Words Can We Make Out of the Bride's and Groom's Names". Less I forget, there is the gift-opening. It's like a kid's birthday party only the presents are boring and the bride is feigning excitement over a garlic press or citrus peeler. I have such an aversion to bridal showers that I carefully instructed my maid-of-honor Cicely to NOT throw me a shower. Additionally, I have not attended a bridal shower in 8 years. When I am invited, I courteously send a gift off the registry and make an excuse that I am busy.

Today I decided to foray back into the world of bridal showers. I have somewhat ulterior motives for attending this shower. First, I have become good friends with the Bride, Wendy and her Maid-of-Honor, Janice. Secondly, I designed the invites. Lastly, when Janice told me her plans for the event, I was impressed and intrigued. Janice styled a beautiful event in the backyard of her new home. The overall look of the event was based on yellow, white, and black color scheme with the use of a damask pattern. It was beautifully executed. Rather than describe it, here are some photos.

The beautiful tablescape
Linens (with exception of the damask tablecloth), tableware, glassware, tables, and chivari chairs were rented from Town & Country Rentals.
Paper floral napkin rings were made by Janice ala Martha Stewart.
Flowers by me (Recognize them from my previous post?)

The favors - Lemon-flavored Mexican Wedding Cookies
Janice custom dyed the fabric. Debra special order the cookies. I designed the tags.

One of my other attempts at Floral Arranging.

The food was amazing. I am, of course, a teeny bit biased. I volunteered Rob to cook for this party. He's a catering chef and I told him he needed "practice". Janice wanted an upscale picnic. Rob created a delicious, light Mediterranean spread.

Here are some photos of Rob and the food:

Rob in action


Grilled Halomi cheese with Rustic Bread


Fresh Taboleh, Hummus, Pita Chips, and Lavash bread


Dolmas, Olives, Marinated Mushrooms, and Marinated Artichoke Hearts


Roasted Eggplant with Feta over a bed of couscous

Luleh (marinated ground beef) and Salmon Kabob


Roasted Vegetables


Janice's Israeli Couscous Salad


Dessert - Cake by Jordana

I have to say I was more than pleasantly surprised. Janice requested we wear black, yellow, or white in any combination. This made for great photo ops. We only played 1 game "How well do you know the bride", which was was the source of much hilarity. Apparently, Wendy had quite a good time in her single days. The gifts were interesting and not your typical bridal party fare. The alcohol was plentiful. The majority of the party was spent gabbing and hanging out. As you can tell from these photos, a good time was had by all.

Janice & Wendy

My photo op with the the bride-to-be

In case there is any doubt as to how good of a time I had, this is how late I stayed.

A litlle dose of sunshine

Here's a sneak peak at what I've been up to this weekend. A trip to the flower mart yielded this.
I love yellow it is one of my favorite colors. It reminds me of my childhood. Yellow is one of my mother's favorite colors as well. There is more to tell about these flowers. For now, just enjoy their sunshiny goodness.

Cherry Blossoms everywhere!

This is Scott & Aileen. Photo by Bumatay Studio

Aileen and I started chatting when she asked me about the printer who printed my Wedding invitations. In the course of our conversation, I offered to design her invites. They are having their wedding at the chic Shutters-on-the-Beach Hotel in Santa Monica.

Her requests were for me to use pink, chocolate brown, and a touch of sage green... oh and lest I forget... use cherry blossoms. I bought some clip art, which I restyled in Illustrator.

Here is the final product.
Photos have been adjusted for privacy.

Outer Envelope with design
(Due to technical difficulties, I was only able to Gocco a few envelopes)

Invite Enclosure tied with Light Pink Fabric Cording

The Big Reveal

Close up of Invite


Overview of Invite Suite

Close-up of RSVP with Gocco'ed Envelope

Close-up of Directions Card

Cat N' Fiddle GTG

Today's GTG was in Hollywood. It was organized by Jordana, who isn't exactly sure how she ended up with GTG planning duties. Nevertheless, she did a great job in selecting Cat N' Fiddle in Hollywood. I don't spend much time in Hollywood. So, this was a change of pace. Cat N' Fiddle is a British pub. As such, I ordered the Fish & Chips. I was very disappointed. The portions were small for the price. Both the fish and the chips were soggy.

Thankfully, the conversation and company made up for the lackluster food. The layout of our tables allowed for more mingling. We all played musical chairs. I started on one end of the table and ended up on a different end. There were a lot of newbies at this event, which lead to the realization that this will be my last Knot GTG. I had a great time meeting a few more people and catching up with a few people that I hadn't seen in a while.

However, I'm starting to feel as thought I should no longer be posting on a wedding planning board. My wedding was 8 months ago and I'm starting to feel like Mrs. Havershim sitting in a room with rotting wedding cake. For a last GTG, this was a good one.

Go,go gadget, Gocco!

This is a Gocco Printer.
A good friend graciously lent it to me.

Don't let its bright colors fool. It is not a toy. It's a home screen printer.

You use two special light bulbs to "flash" a screen.

Ink it up and you're ready to go.
This a preview of a job that I'm working on.

I love Gocco. I want one. BADLY.

Quirks and Eccentricities

I've been tagged by

Jordana, who was tagged by Diabolina!

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules in your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.

Here are my quirks.
1. I constantly wiggle my toes. My best friend and my husband think it's hilarious. I wiggle my toes in a frequency and style that is similar to the way a dog wags its tail. When I'm happy, I wiggle them quickly. When I'm upset or nervous, I curl them under. I am told I even wiggle them in my sleep. It's a completely subconscious thing.

2. I love caramel. Caramello Candy bars, Gourmet caramel squares, dulce de leche sauce. You name it I'll try or buy as long as it has some caramel in it.

3. I love roadracing. Not Nascar, but F-1 and LeMans Races. If we were a little more well-off, I would love to join an amateur racing league. I love to drive fast. Although with traffic, it's rare that I get to go that fast.

4. I love flowers, but cannot stand roses. Rob can buy me any kind of flower, but not roses. Roses almost always immediately end up in the trash. I believe roses received negative connotation during my college dating years. Roses in those days were the universal apology gift. So to me, roses say "gee, sweetie I fucked up". Sad, but true.

5. I am a gadget girl. If I could afford it, I would be an early adopter for everything. If it is electronic and requires batteries, I want it. At any given time, I have on my person an ipod (I own 3), a digital camera, and some kind of internet device (Mac Powerbook or ipod touch). Most of our friends and family consult me before buying anything electronic. I am THAT obsessive about electronics.

6. I grew up in Virginia and went to school in Georgia. During that time, I picked up a slight Southern accent. Let me emphasize that I don't sound like Scarlett O'Hara. I apt to use certain phrases suddenly surface like "ya'll" or the ending consonants of words disappear like "sittin" or "waitin". Whenever I've been drinking, am overexcited, or I am in a locale considered Southern, the accent returns. It is freakish because I am Filipino.

I tag these bloggers:
1. Just Chic Events

2. Elizabeth Anne Designs
3. Neleh S., my good friend and our wedding photographer

4. Nataly Lemus, who I blog stalk
5. Shine Pet Photos, whose work I recently discovered and have hired to capture photos of Dottie.
6. Jonilyn Photography, who we've hired to do our Anniversary photos.

Dinner with the Girls

"Dinner with the Girls" is a phrase that is new to my phraseology. As I previously stated, I haven't had many girl friends. Now, I am happy to say I have quite a few interesting, intelligent and supportive friends. We've decided to meet once a month for dinner to discuss our husbands/fiances, wedding planning, gossip, and life in general. Every month the group seems to get bigger and I am not complaining. Each person has something to contribute. We haven't exactly decided what to call our monthly dinner. I had started to call them "Non-Knot GTG" because we all met through the knot and are now meeting outside of the knot. Substitute names are being kicked around. I am waiting to see what sticks.

I planned this one. I invited everyone to meet me at Lala's Argentian Grill in Studio City. I was in the mood for skirt steak with chimichurri and some red wine. We got there at 7 and much to the chagrin of our waitress we stayed until closing at 11. A few of us stood in the parking lot and talked until almost midnight.

The funniest part about this is that I was in the doghouse for not calling Rob to let him know I was going to be out that late. He stayed up waiting for me because he was "worried". Sometimes, my husband cracks me up.

The 10 of us.
(From Left to Right) Marisa, Janice, Jordana, Ali, Joe,
Jenny, Keren, me, Wendy & Paola

Joe

Marisa & Janice

Jordana waiting for the right shot.

Wendy & Paola

Keren snapping a photo

Me & Wendy


Ali is hosting the next dinner. I can't wait to see where she picks.