Even at a Season Finale Baseball Party....

.....I have to make a (cup)cake riser.

I am the Team Mom for my son's team.

To view all the cute photos from our baseball party,
click here.

Fountain of Couth

Perusing my Lillian Vernon catalog the other day, I came across this cool fountain sprayer thingy for just $40 bucks. I just thought it would be cool for a pool-side event, reception or reahearsal dinner. The hotels have them, now you can too!

(I know couth means manners, but it was all I could think of for the title...)

Get your own mini me for a cake topper

So darn cute!

Go to Nicole W Clark or to her etsy shop to check them out!

Our Easter 2007

I bought this dress at a thrift store when I was still pregnant with her. I loved the delicate pink and green flowers in the pattern, and especially the collar. Back then I thought This is going to hang in her closet FOREVER before she will get to wear it someday.

Well, that day was today. And all day I had an almost sad, melancholy mood and I knew it was because I can't believe she is already big enough to wear a dress I got almost three years ago. Can I get a remote like the one Adam Sandler had in Click and just put my life on Pause for a while?

Here is the tea table I threw together. I wasn't planning on doing a tea, but since dearest hubby was glued to watching The Masters golf all afternoon and me and kids were on our own, I decided to have them help me have an Easter tea. I put a link to view all the detailed photos and menu at the end.

My tee shirt and jeans kinda gal.....
New tights.....already torn.
New shoes.....already scuffed.

I actually have caught number two son's cold and feel very yucky right now, so I won't type out our entire day's activities or the tea party details. If you would like to view the photos from our Easter and the tea party, click here. If you click on Start Slideshow, it will have music and comments on the top left side. Thanks for visiting.

I need to get another kleenex and blow my nose.

Top This

Okay, where was this really cute cake topper when I got married in 1994? I totally would have used this topper, if my DH would have let me!

So, maybe not for your wedding cake, it would be darling for a bridal shower cake topper....

My Cupcake Cuddler

Sometimes it just doesn't stop. It's like a 80's song that is looping in the background of my head.

Creative epiphanies.

It's sometimes annoying and I wish I could turn it off, like the 80's song. So many times throughout my day I will be doing one thing, and I'll have a creative thought and then I'm off doing the new thing to see how it'll turn out. I swear I have Adult ADD.

I have a bridal shower tea party coming up on April 15th, and the bride-to-be wants some "suthern" touches to it and wants a red velvet cake. So instead of the traditional sheet cake, I suggested red velvet cupcakes. But I wanted to dress them up a bit. Just ribbon wasn't enough.

Side note - whenever I hear of red velvet cake, Steel Magnolia's "Nothin' like a good piece of ass" quote from Drum Eatenton always comes to mind. Greatest movie with the greatest memorable quotes, ever!

So the other day, there is a stack of paper doilies on the counter and I had a creative epiphany to make them into a cupcake cuddler.

I took a 6.5" doily, put a water bottle on top of it, and wrapped the doily up and around it. Then I laid the bottle and doily on it's side, then tied the ribbon around it. Done!

Of course I eventually HAD to eat the cupcake (from Trader Joes - so good, a dense very-vanilla cake with cream cheese frosting....mmmm....all 20 fat grams of mmmm!) so it was so easy to just pull the ribbon and eat it off the doily. Pretty and functional!

Can't wait to make them for our red velvet cupcake tier and see what the ladies think of them!

Smells Like Spring

Driving up the main street to our home, there have been some beautiful plum trees that are really starting to bloom. For a couple of weeks I have admired them passing by, but today I actually stopped to take their picture. I am really trying to slow down to enjoy the little things that makes my heart sing.

The perfumed fragrance hit me before I even got close enough to take a picture. I'm glad I pulled over. Seeing it was pretty enough, but to inhale it made it extraordinary....

...and of course it IS my favorite color - pink!

Beau-tea-ful Photos

Received the link to view the beautiful professional photos from Bob Ortiz of the Assoc. of Bridal Consultants Fashion Show and Tea Party from last week.

Bob, you are so very kind for participating and you continue to show off your great talent.

Click here to view his slide show of the event.

Don't Let This Happen to You

If you are a bride, don't let this happen to you:

http://www.brideasylum.com

Hire a Wedding Consultant!!

Be sure to click on the Deleted scenes.

Tea-lightful Valentine's Day

Sometimes the mood strikes to do a last-minute tea. In this case, since I had some leftover sandwiches, scones & sweets from the Assoc. of Bridal Consultant's Tea Party & Fashion Show I decided to not let it go to waste on just a solo tea.

So I threw together this little tea table on my "porch" (we don't really have porches in So Cal - my dream house will have a wrap-around porch). I called some of my neighbor girlfriends to come join me, and luckily they were available!

Along with the leftovers, I served hot Cream Earl Grey tea, sparkling pink lemonade, chicken salad sandwiches, fruit with pink whip cream, and pink cupcakes -"jolla" a Valentine's Day Tea!

We sat and chatted for quite a while. That's what I love about having tea - it forces you to slow down and enjoy good conversation and good friends. Sometimes the last-minute-don't-fuss get together's are the best!

Click here to view the photo gallery.

T Cups & A Lines

The "Fashion Show & Tea Party" for the Association of Bridal Consultant's (known as ABC) Orange County Chapter held at the salon I Do Bridal Couture & Formal Wear was a success.

It was a lot of work, and due to a limited budget, I was not able to have any servers/helpers, soI was definitely popping the Advil Geltabs! I'm getting too old for this kind of physical work. Anyone know of a reliable starving college student looking for some part-time work? *wink*

A couple of emails of thanks from the steering committee:

Hi Risa,
I can't thank you enough for all of your hard work on the beautiful tea on Tuesday. You really did over do yourself. Everything was just perfect. All the gals were so impressed with the great tables and food you presented. I am so appreciative.
Thank you again, Melody

Thank you Risa, for putting on an amazing tea party! It was so fun for the coordinators, and we appreciate all of the work and time you put into creating a stylish affair.
Cheers To You, Marla

Thanks for having me be a part of it!

We are waiting for the professional photos from Bob Ortiz but in the meantime, Click here to view a few of the photos I took.

A Mary Poppins Birthday Tea Party

This was a special birthday party for Lauren, a four year old little girl. Generally, I don't plan children's parties, but when the mother contacted me via email from their home in London requesting assistance because she wanted to have a Mary Poppins theme party at their home here in OC - instantly I had creative visions and agreed to plan the event.

Since Mary Poppins was during the Edwardian era, that is the inspiration I took ideas from - so I hired a professional silhouette cutter, a Barber shop quartet, set-up a ice cream parlour to make it feel like a Farrell's. The "domesticates" (the ladies who served the tea and food) were dressed in ruffled aprons and mop hats, and the vendors were donned in striped vests, skim hats and sleeve garters.

There was a special appearance made by Bert and of course, Mary Poppins. As she arrived, the quartet was singing "It's a Jolly Holiday with Mary". After she was introduced to our little guest of honor, she presented her a sparkly tiara on a satin pink pillow and a birthday girl sash (items that I provided to give to Lauren).

In the front courtyard the guests enjoyed stuffing and dressing teddy bears (the original teddy bear was introduced in 1908 during this era), some decorated a kite craft, a balloon twister fashioned carousel horses that the children had tied around their waists, a face painter created little works of art on their faces and hands, and the silhouette cutter was lightning quick with his scissors.

Then the guests were invited to the back yard to lovely tables set and ready for tea! The two children's tables had centerpieces made of carousel horses that I had made from a nice lady who creates all sizes of stuffed carousel horses. They were made into the same colors of the horses in the movie. But I had them sitting on mirrored turntables, so they were all rotating 'round and 'round (the pictures of them don't do justice!). Hanging from the patio cover were lace parasols (like the one Mary had in the Jolly Holiday sequence) that I ordered, and they were so cute with the ribbons flowing in the wind.

After enjoying the tea menu, the guests were invited to return to the front courtyard and were greeted with a "sweet shoppe" full of candies. Bert & Mary assisted with a couple of games I thought up - one was a tea bag toss, and the other was a spoonful of sugar relay game where the children had to fill up large teacups with sugar.

For the event finale, the guest of honor was presented with a beautiful cake made as a merry-go-round accompanied with cupcakes made by Wonderland Bakery. The guests were given take home party bags filled with gifts consisting of Mary Poppins dolls, a Mary Poppins double-decker bus, a candy tin shaped like the bank where Mr. Banks worked, the Mary Poppins CD of music, and the Mary Poppins DVD movie.

Professional photos were taken by

Kathleen Clark of KCP Studios.

Floral arrangements were provided by

Fantasy Floral Designs.

Click here to view the photo gallery.

Holiday Party for Iteration2

It was a great start to the holiday season with coordinating the corporate holiday party for Iteration2.

The event was held at the beautiful Madison Restaurant in Long Beach. The guests were greeted with champagne, and the live music of Anthony Jasso and band.

After filling up on sushi and an elaborate buffet of holiday entree foods, they enjoyed a decadent chocolate and caramel fountain station for dessert.

The guests got to take home the beautiful gold & glittered stars that were at each setting.

Click here to view the photo gallery.

Sherry's Bridal Shower Tea Party

I was contacted by Amy, who wanted to plan an impromptu bridal shower tea party for her friend, but we didn't have much time. Sherry, the bride-to-be was getting married in three weeks!

The lucky couple had a whole six week engagement. They had met in a singles church group function, fell in love and knew that they both had found "the one".

This love story hits close to my heart, as the same thing happened to me and my husband. We met at church, and from our first date to our wedding date was nine months - we had a three month engagement. Twelve years later we still can't believe how fast our courtship was, but it's still stronger than ever!

So I felt very privileged to be a party of Sherry's shower, and you could feel the love amongst her friends and family during the special event. While Sherry finished opening the gifts, the groom-to-be arrived towards the end of the event and while waiting he hung out in the kitchen with me and the servers, and I enjoyed talking with him and hearing their love story.

I created the floral centerpieces for the guest tables and the buffet arrangement.

Click here to view the photo gallery.