Knowing is only HALF the battle.....

Here I am, sitting in Grendel's Coffee Shop, enjoying my second cup of joe. Free of charge! Thank you lovely staff at Grendel's. I should be happy. It's 6 minutes till 10am and I still have not set foot in the office. This is my dream! To wake up early like the rest of the American workforce, but instead of going to work, strolling to my favorite coffee shop and drinking refill after refill of delicious coffee, while shopping for boots online and searching for new DIY trends. What could be more fun!? Right...nothing. Nothing could be more fun.
Unfortunately today is not a complete dream scenario. I find myself sitting here, in Grendel's on Burnside and 8th waiting for my car to be fixed. $195.00 later, shiny new knock sensor pumper thingy, my car will be good as new. $195.00 dollars later. I'll drive away happy?
I'm new to paying for car repairs. I've been fortunate to have a dad that works on things. Unfortunately, the current man in my life is what you call the "new" man. He can't fix anything, but he's aware of this fault and embraces it. MB's husband, my other roommate Peter, is also a "new" man.
Peter and Kim share the same lack of ability to do anything...manly, such as cut the grass, build a fence or fix a car. One thing the New Man can do is research the crap out of anything on the internet. This is an ability I've picked up after spending time in the New man's environment.


In the case of the broken Forester, research may have been a bad idea. What I found online after diagnosing my cars illness is that fixing the problem requires a $50.00 part and 5 minutes under the hood.



Jack Pot! Or so I thought. One component was missing from my 145.00 savings...an "Old" man. You see, the New Man would have no idea how to accomplish such a task. WTF! What good is research if you can't do anything with the information you find. Answer me that NEW man! So here I am...$198.00 later. Three cups of coffee and one Knock Sensor part installed and good as new. Sure, I'm not at work planning parties and helping the world go round. Instead, I'm jacked up on caffeine and poor. Happy Thursday:)

I'm going to Festoon this place if it's the last thing I do!

It's time for a little education. Event education that is. I'm here to provide you with super sweet design terms and ideas that will turn any party into a 'PAR-TAY!'

Today's lesson involves Festooning!
Verb: Adorn (a place) with chains, garlands, or other decorations: "the room was festooned with balloons"
Now that is a fantastic definition. I found it when I was doing some research on my newest obsession : Floral Sheeting!



I recently popped into Twill Boutique on SE 21st and Division. Lovely little Portland Boutique. Cute clothes, unique selection, friendly sales person and my very very favorite thing!! A creative, handmade window display. Window displays make me happy. Good ones that is. Bad window displays make me mad and scratch my head. Someone is making good money to make that viewing space boring and yucky when I would gladly spruce it up for pennies!

I may or may not have had a few drinks that day. Which led to me chatting the poor sales girl's ear off about new materials that can be used in designing window spaces. I said things like:
"this material is so versatile. It can be used to refurbish an old chandelier or transform a simple table top into a sparkle extravaganza!"
"It's a wholesale item, but I'm confident if you google it you'll find a vendor willing to sell small quantities. Oh wait, you own a business. You can buy wholesale. I'm an idiot.
and finally -
"It's comes in every color under the rainbow! Or you could always spray paint it to match those pillows. Don't you just love spray paint?"

I was talking to her about my new favorite material: Floral Sheeting. It's the shiny (or matte) material you see on the sides of floats in your favorite parade. I'm obsessed with the stuff. That brings me to "Festooning." What a great word. If you use this Floral Sheeting, you can say that you are festooning. Knowing this makes me want to throw out all other art supplies, minus zip ties (god's gift) and only Festoon with floral sheeting!
I'm confident Floral Sheeting is the new black. It's cheap, comes in huge rolls and is a great DIY find. Now I wouldn't just Festoon anything in your home with floral sheeting. Steer clear of your headboard unless you're trying to channel Liberachi. But in an event decor sense...it's fantastic. Here are a few photos of the correct way to use floral sheeting.

These Table setting were created by one of my FAVORITE Portland designers/caterings at Vibrant Table.





Now here a few more examples or uses for Floral Sheeting:






Those were bad examples....


Here is a shot of someone really enjoying being around floral sheeting. I wonder what creative use she is going to come up with?



I'm currently working on three table-scape designs for Bravo Live + a table-scape competition in September. I'm almost positive I'm going to use floral sheeting on the chandeliers. So hold tight! I promise to post some pictures of the process and finished product.

That's it! Now you know all I know about Floral sheeting. Go get your Festoon on!

I promise to be a better friend

Lets give this one more try. I began writing this blog at the beginning of the summer. I had intended to use this blog as a way to display my current work and vent about brides, queens and evil catering companies that make my professional life a living hell.
Then things took a turn for the worse. Wedding season began and my life spun aimlessly out of control. I not only left my blog behind, I also lost touch with friends, forgot what the inside of my gym looked like, vented about coworker drama till I was blue in the face to my poor boyfriend and worst of all ... Shattered all dreams of inheriting my dad's ageless hair when I found Grey strands on my precious head! Dear God! What has this industry done to me!
All things considered, I did have a pretty kick ass summer when it came to pumping out events. I sometimes feel like the things I do are meaningless. I spend a lot of time convincing people I'm so busy and so stressed out, but wondering if these tasks are worthy of losing my sanity. At the end of the day, things that seem so meaningless and silly to you and me, means the world to a bride or a little girl on her birthday. The journey to the finish line needs some practice, but seeing my hard work and planning come together after days, weeks or months of planning is a high that's well worth the sweat and tears. I'm coming to terms with the fact that I may or may not lose my hair when this is all over....in the meantime here are some photos of things I've done, people I've seen and.... other stuff that has consumed my summer. Enjoy!

First things first...Lets pimp this abandoned warehouse -




One of the two Gypsy Weddings I designed and set. They really love gold. Let me be clear, I'm not proud to show off this work. Just proud that I lived through it.



6 months to plan, 1 week to set. We transformed the Downtown Hilton into 6 themed-out party spaces. Should have known the Glow bar and Karaoke stage would be the biggest hit.







Transformed a western ranch on Sauvie Island into a western ranch on Sauvie Island




The Food Cart Phenomenon W&K style....






I redecorated the 8'x 8' showroom space in my office, a lot.





AND FINALLY....Lovely MaryBeth and Peter celebrated their Portland wedding reception in our backyard. We were lucky enough to transform the space into one of Peter's dream scenarios, Tecate cans and a food cart that served quesadillas. YUM






I promise to do my best and continue to post more boring photos of event design and a few cute photos of things like this -

TGIM....that's not right

Happy Happy Monday! It's close to the end of the day. This is the only reason I would ever say Happy Monday. There is nothing happy about Mondays. Especially Mondays filled with quote requests from tiny baby 21 year old brides who have no idea what they are looking for. I can't tell you how much I love hearing things like this:
"did you see that one episode of Platinum weddings? I want that, but better"
Most people might not understand a request like that. A large number of weddings on the show PLATINUM WEDDINGS are valued at over $500,000.00! People throwing enormous sums of money around like it's confetti. Don't get me wrong I love to watch this program and yell at the TV screen. I can't help feeling sick to be somewhat attached to this industry. Luckily I live in a part of the United States where being "Green & Thrifty" is chic!
Two weddings I've been attacking for the past few months fit the Green & Thrifty mold, but today I came across a bride that was all kinds of confused. That's what this show does to the clueless. Shiny, glittery things go in and what comes out is indescribable! I imagine her wedding will look something like this:



This balloon arch is a perfect way to embellish any cake table....





Luckily the guests were so distracted by our brides dress (boobs)....they missed Cinderella's helium filled town car.

All joking aside....I'm a nice person. I'm just tired of convincing these brides that they probably don't want Ruched Silver Lame runners with fake hot pink gerbera daisies, encrusted in swarovski crystals. I'm pretty sure I've lost all readers...


One final Happy note!
My handsome boyfriend and I FINALLY went to the Grilled Cheese Grill on Alberta yesterday. We've been talking about going for the past six months. Oh man was it good. I was way to scared to get what they call "THE CHEESUS BURGER" Luckily Kim has bigger balls then me. Instead of buns it's surrounded by two grilled cheese sandwiches. Hello heart attack. I think it's a perfect way to soak up beers from the night before. Just as long as you're able to nap the afternoon away. Gotta love the carts!


http://www.grilledcheesegrill.com/

How do I begin....

I'm going to begin my new blog by saying I love a lot of things that most people don't. Most people being dudes. Mostly my boyfriend Kim. You'll learn a lot about him on this little design adventure we're about to take. Although Kim may not be titillated by the transformation of a vintage ashtray into a lovely succulent planter, I am! And I'm hoping there are LOTS of people out there that feel the same way. So this is my way of not letting my evil teacher boyfriend oppress my creative juices! For those of you that find my interests, not so interesting. You may find some enjoyment from these well written masterpieces, here http://birdunderrocks.blogspot.com, here http://angieisstupid.blogspot.com and finally here http://cakegelatinwine.tumblr.com.



Enjoy!