
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Dress Dilema Resolved!!!!

Monday, November 23, 2009
It's Monday! Weekend Recap & Photos!!



Friday, November 20, 2009
Arch Decorations


I'm not too sure if I'm going to use the Caribbean Blue where the White is and accent it with the Fushia where the Black is or visa versa. I'm going to play around and see what looks good! Thursday, November 19, 2009
Today's Verse of the Day
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.
— Romans 14:19 (NIV)
Thoughts on Today's Verse...
"Make every effort!" That's quite a challenge. But notice where that exertion is to be focused: peace and mutual edification. Both sides of this exhortation are two way responsibilities. I must pursue and share peace if I am going to have it myself. I must edify, and be open to being edified, if mutual edification is going to happen. In other words, we live with other people in God's family. He wants us to be responsible for making relationships work in our spiritual family. He reminds us it will require strenuous effort. But, isn't that true in every family relationship? Love means sacrifice, effort, and concern for others. When we share our love willingly, however, we're much more likely to see it coming back to us!
My Prayer...
Dear Heavenly Father, forgive me for my impatience and selfishness. Defeat the bad attitude of competitiveness that I often display in arguments and disagreements with others in your family. Energize me by your Spirit to see areas where I can be a blessing and an encouragement to others. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
A little bit of this and a little bit of that!!!!
The most exciting thing about this client is the fact that as of right now, I AM NOT DOING HER WEDDING CAKE!! Woot woot! Strickly Event Planning/Coordinating!! Yes! Way less stress for me!! I can concentrate on the party process with more enthusiasm!!! SCORE!! Don't get me wrong, I love, love, love doing cakes, but at some weddings, I like to just be able to be the coordinator and delegate, delegate, delegate!!! :)
As for my upcoming wedding, although I'm not "on track" as most timelines indicate, I am fairly comfortable that we'll get things in gear soon. I mention this quite often, and I know we have a ton of things to do, but I'll get them done slowly but surely!
This week marks our 21 weeks, as I mentioned in my previous post. Twenty freaking one. Wow, time has been flying by at a rather fast pace. I like to pretend that I'm all calm, cool and collected during this time, but honestly, I am totally freaking out! Seriously freaking out.
My mission of late is to find some type of power cord/strip that isn't too expensive to put in the Welcome Bags for our cruise guests. The cabins on board the ship doesn't have many accessible outlets, so for those who need to charge multiple items like cameras, laptops or even to use multiple things like a blow dryer and curling iron, etc. need to have outlets available. So.... I'm on the prowl for those.
Here's another issue that's been lurking in the back of my pretty little head........I have the itch to go dress hunting again. NOT THAT I DON'T LIKE MY DRESS, but I just want to see if maybe there's something else out there that I like. :) I know people advise against this, but I sooo want to go looking!!!
In the area of non wedding related items, I have another Cake order this weekend. It's a fairly simple order so I am not stressing out in the least!! I do have a birthday cake order for a little girl who is turning 2 years old in a couple of weeks ~ and here's a sketch of what her parents are envisioning....
I'm pretty excited because I did this little girls first birthday cake as well and it was a Castle Cake! :) So, it's a tradition that I do her birthday cakes from here on out!!! I'll even do her Quincenera Cake and her Wedding Cake too! :)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Little Mermaid!!

I spent my morning making a Little Mermaid themed cake! :) It was so much fun to make. Alot easier than I expected!! I find it so much easier to work with Whipped Topping rather than Buttercream in some instances. However, Whipped Topping makes things "fatter" or "fluffier" if you will. AND, Whipped Topping requires refrigeration!!! Ha!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
22 Wednesdays from today......
So, totally not wedding related ~ I have had this MASSIVE headache for the past week and a half. Seriously. I have it a while back and it lasted for approximately 3 weeks, and another occasion where it lasted over a month!!! Constantly, every single day, this headache has lingered on... sometimes really intense, other times mild but there. UGH.... why can't it just go away!!! I've tried several different over the counter meds, and none have worked.
Thanks to several other blogs of late that I've read, I've been inspired to "go green" and try and make my own laundry detergent. As well as diswashing detergent, all purpose kitchen cleaner, scouring powder/paste (like Comet) as well as floor cleaner and fabric softner!!! Woo Hoo! Not only will it save $$$$ but it's environmentally safe and eco friendly!! I'll keep you all posted on the results!
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
T-Minus 162
Today, I met with a prospective bride and her fiance. Their wedding is July 3rd ~ it's a local wedding and they're looking for more or less a Wedding Coordinator mostly for the Rehearsal Dinner and Day of Coordination. However, they'd like for me to essentially plan the event ~ she has a ton of ideas already and they have a lot of the vendors lined up (they have tons of connections) but there is still a lot of little detail that they want just taken care so they have less to worry about. I'm excited for them since I know the Groom to be. I'm looking forward to this wedding ~ it's going to be a really nice one!!
In the last two days, I've received two client's for cake orders as well. One is for this weekend ~ fairly easy cake ~ Little Mermaid / Ariel themed cake for a 4 year old's birthday. Then in 3 weeks, my favorite little girl is turning 2 years old and since I did her Princess Castle cake for her first birthday last year, I was asked to make her cake again this year! Here's a picture of her cake:

This year's theme is going to be Dora the Explorer. Hmmmm...so many ideas ~ I've done several Dora character cakes but I want this one to be different you know?!? I have a few weeks to come up with something.
Also, despite the fact that the Holidays are coming up rather quickly, this means that wedding season will be upon us just as quick! I'm hoping that I get at least one wedding a month (cake wise) and for the wedding season ~ January thru October ~ I'd like to do at least 5 weddings (planning wise). I have two on the books that I'm currently the Event Planner for so that means three more and I'll have reached my goal.
I do have 3 brides in which I am doing their "paper" stuff; i.e. Save the Dates, Invites, and/or Programs. So, that will be fun too.
Oh, the one wedding related thing that we accomplished last week is that we figured out the hotel situation with regard to the day before our cruise and the day we come back from our cruise! :) Yay!!! We will be driving down to San Diego late Saturday evening so we will be staying overnight Sunday and we will also be staying overnight Friday when we come back from the cruise. So excited!
Well, that's it for now ~ hope you all had a great Tuesday!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
23 Wednesdays from today......
I've spent a couple of weekends over the last month with family who live about an hour and a half away, but we never seem to get together except when my Grandmother flies in from Hawaii once a year. How sad is that?!? These are my Aunts and my Uncles. My dad's sisters and brothers. Granted, when my parents divorced, I was very young. I didn't get to grow up with this side of the family, but nevertheless we've kept in touch throughout the years. Who would have thought that we'd all live this close together in CALIFORNIA of all places; after having grown apart and all going our seperate ways through the years. Kinda ironic.
I love having family this close. I'm going to make it a priority to see them more often. :)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Slowly but surely!!

With 169 days left before Catalina Island I took the time out to finish wrapping all of the Palm Fans. I ran out of the Pinkish ribbon so I made a mad dash to Michael's but low and behold they were all out. So I got the Blueish ribbon instead. I think they came out okay. I just have to figure out what I'm going to put on them now to finish them off. I thought of hot gluing a big Sea Shell on there but when I started to do it, it just didn't look right. I'll figure something out and then post another picture of it! :)
I'm also working on the "Gile Wedding Party" and "Gile Wedding Guest" cabin door hangers. I have the template all finished and I actually made a mock up one, but have to do a little tweaking on it still. Again, I'll post a picture of this when it's completed.
Although I'm not accomplishing all of my goals that I've set to have completed that's wedding related, I'm slowly but surely crossing them off of my list. Which is a good thing!!
Next on my list:
* Ceremony Music for Gina (flutist);
* Ceremony Wording;
* Menu for both California and Minnesota receptions;
* Who's who brochure for Welcome Bags;
* Welcome letter for Welcome Bags
Monday, November 2, 2009
23 Mondays from today.....
I didn't do much wedding related activities this weekend. Boo!!! I had intentions of ording the Bridal Party bouquets, however we were absolutely busy with family get togethers instead. I'm hoping that I'll get to them today for sure!
I'm going to spend today cleaning up around here since we weren't hope virtually all weekend! I'm also going to be spending some time in the Kitchen making some Rice Crispie Treats for Brian. He's been hinting around the last couple of days that he would really like to have some. :)
I'm also going to try something different ~ I have a "Signature" cake that I do and the orignal name is called "Better than Sex", however for my business we call it "Better than Everything". (I just couldn't see putting the original name on my webiste at all!!) Anyway, I'm going to make these into cupcakes and see how they turn out. I have them offered on my Website, however I've only had orders for the cake itself and none for cupcakes. So, I'd figure I'd whip some up and see how they turn out. :)
I think maybe later today the only wedding related task I'll get to may be going through some of these boxes here in the den (which is now referred to as the wedding room) and see if I can't get these things a little more organized. Plus, I'm missing some Starfish Charms and can't seem to find them anywhere!! I hope by cleaning this area up a little I might get lucky!!! :)
So, right before I turn in for the night, I decided to dabble in a little DIYing. Something quick, fun and easy ~ so I took one of the palm fans and tried to see what it would look like with the ribbon wrapped around the handle. I personally like the way it turned out. I know some brides wrap the entire handle all the way to the where the handle meets the fan, but I think I'll either put a silk flower there or a bow of some sort; perhaps even hot glue a sea shell or starfish . I'm undecided at this time, but I'm sure whatever I decide, it'll look nice. I'm not even sure if we really need these palm fans for the ceremony, but I like the idea of having them available. I know our ceremony is at 11 a.m. and it'll be early Spring so it may be a little bit on the cool side ~ however..... I like them! :)
Friday, October 30, 2009
Bridesmaid's Bouquets

Monday, October 26, 2009
24 More Mondays
My goal for this week is to get the following done:
* Bouquets selected for bridal party and order;
* Decide if we're going to DIY the Bouts; if not, order them w/ the Bouquets;
* Finish up the Ceremony Wording (forgot to add the ring exchange in there);
* Find ceremony music for the flute and send to Gina (flutist);
* Work on both California and Minnesota Reception Menus;
* Hand deliver the rest of the MIB's that need to be handed out;
* Re-organize my Bridal Binder;
And I'm sure there will be more added to this list as I remember. Happy Monday!!!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
6 MONTHS!!!!!
Yesterday I received the Tea Light Lanterns that I purchased from a former Knottie. :) Here's what they look like. The ones I got were the white ones. I'm so excited! :) I'm trying to decide if I am going to use them for just one or both of the receptions. I'm thinking I will do both. I'll just have to pack and ship them ahead of time to Minnesota after our California reception so I don't have to take them with me on Airplane! :) I have 20 of them, and I'm not sure if I'm going to use them all, but w
e'll see! Monday, October 19, 2009
T- Minus 184
I have a ton of little things I want to get done this week. First and foremost, I want to get our den cleaned up and de-cluttered! I've thrown so much wedding related things in here and it's totally unorganized. So, my goal for the next couple of days is to go through all these boxes of WR stuff and organize it! AHR stuff, Welcome Bags and contents, Ceremony stuff, DIY projects stuff, etc. I work so much better when everything is organized so I'm thinking this is why I've been so discombobulated in my planning!
Here's a list of DIY projects I want to do: (keep in mind said list will only get bigger)
* Tags for the Welcome Bags
* Door Hangers for the Cabins
* Labels for snacks/goodies in the Welcome Bags
* Monogramed Aisle Runner (????)
* Bouts
* Welcome Letter
* Palm Fans (?????)
* Crossword Puzzle for Welcome Bags
* Sand Ceremony Frames
And here's a list from memory that I still have to do: (keep in mind there are a ton of other things I can't seem to remember at this moment)
* Complete Ceremony wording (which I thought I had done, but forgot some important parts)
* Find Ceremony music for our Flutist
* Make appointment to have wedding dress hemmed
* Get menu for both AHR's finalized
* Order my bouquet
* Order BM's bouquets
* Decide on whether or not we're going to have a Candy Buffet for sure and if so:
- Purchase the bowls for the candies
- Decide on what to use for guests to take these home in (ie: take out boxes or bags)
- Decide on what type of candies to have
* If not going with the Candy Buffet, decide on what to have for a Favor
* Decide on whether or not to have B-Pics done
* Get marriage licence (no earlier than January 25th to be on the safe side)
And millions and millions of other things!!! The next 6 months will absolutely fly by!!!
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Candy Buffet

I would prefer the majority of the bowls to not have the "stem" or "base" on them. I found the kind that I like back in Minnesota, however, I didn't get them. They were only $1.99 and I should have grabbed them while I was there, but I wasn't thinking!!
Monday, October 12, 2009
"Bridesmaid" Dresses

The dresses below are dresses that I want to get for the Cruise ~ Monday night is the Bachelor/Bachelorette party, Tuesday night is the Formal/Captian's Dinner!!


I can't wait until this Cruise, I can't even begin to tell you all!!!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
More to share!!

And here's a picture of the Wedding Day Timeline. Again, the color's are off here as well.

These will both be put in the Welcome Bags for our guests that are cruising with us. And additional PhotoShare Cards will be placed at various tables throughout both of the At Home Receptions.
I seem to have finally grasp control on this wedding stuff. I'd been feeling a bit overwhelmed the past couple of weeks, actually months, but I think I've got it dialed in. Slowly but surely everything is falling into place. With the Holidays coming up really quick, I know we'll lose some days, if not weeks of planning ~ or at least that's what I'm anticipating. We shall see.
I'm debating whether I want to tackle the job of DIY'ing a Monogrammed Aisle Runner. Do I really need one of those?!? I'm not so sure that we do. But it's something I think would be fun to make. :)
Maybe a Banner instead of an Aisle Runner? Ahhh, who knows. For now I think I'm "under control" when it comes to wedding related stuff. I'm going to concentrate on the Reception stuff now..... that seems to be where the work needs to be done. Coming up with Menu's (that sounds official) when in all actuality we're having casual buffet style foods / set up at both AHR's!
I love it when a plan comes together!!!!!!!!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
T minus 198

Friday, October 2, 2009
What a fun day!!
We got to go to the last home game of the San Francisco Giant's 2009 season! Woo Hoo! We had a wonderful time and it was very hot














