My friend, artist Shaochen Wu of Monstera Gold Calligraphy, is branching out into new territory: preserving beautiful flowers in resin – as fridge magnets and paperweights – so they withstand the rigors of everyday life forever, and we can enjoy their beauty and freshness every day!
FLORAL-INSPIRED ART FOR A CAUSE Bloom + Breathe sprung from the desire to share something beautiful with the world, encourage you to pass that positivity on, all while helping our caretakers on the front lines.
15% of all proceeds from the Bloom + Breathe collection are donated to GetUsPPE.org, a non-profit mobilizing nationwide efforts to keep our front-line healthcare workers safe. Bloom + Breathe supports small businesses, your friends, and those keeping us healthy. ?
Have you ever heard of “Kopi Luwak?” It is the rarest coffee in the world, and also the most expensive (up to $700 a kilogram!), and its production method is – to say the least – highly unorthodox: it consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus).
It is therefore also called civet coffee. The cherries are fermented as they pass through a civet’s intestines, and after being defecated with other fecal matter, they are collected.
A specialist offering this coffee right here in the Bay Area is my friend Bill Choi of Travelin’ Joe who actually introduced this exotic topic to me. Contact him for a tasting! ([email protected]). So far, so good…
Only bad thing is that the coffee is now mass-produced by keeping the civets in cage batteries, force-feeding them so they produce, well, you know what. It’s animal cruelty, plain and simple. So IF you indulge in this unique specialty, just make sure to choose the “wild” and not the “farmed” variety. And here is Jack Nicholson enjoying HIS.
Here comes a lifesaver for all you ladies working from home via videoconferencing – you are already juggling ten thousand tasks, from household to homeschooling to keeping everyone “sane” – AND you need to look polished on screen. We know that you don’t have the time for an elaborate makeup, so here is a simple tutorial by our own Jessica Morton of Miabel Artistry. Five minutes flat, and you are ready to face the world!!
A while ago, my company, A Day Like No Other, had the honor to work with the rose nursery where the roses for the British royal weddings are grown: Tambuzi in Kenya. Today I would like to share with you a very impressive BBC documentary about this nursery and their operations. It’s fun to watch, plus their roses are simply “out of this world!”
Title of BBC show – not clickable! Use link provided in text above.
And here is an English country wedding featuring (among others) roses from Tambuzi.
Here comes the first installment of – hopefully – an ongoing series of pet portraits from our SF Bay Area wedding vendor community, proof of what a big heart (for furry friends and otherwise) you all have!
The first one to share a photo for this gallery was harpist Erica Messer, with husband Lincoln in the background. I know them both really well – because I was their wedding planner! Since then, Erica and I have done many, many weddings together…
Erica, Lincoln & kittyErica & Lincoln, just married!
Next up are Leah and Vader, doggie siblings living with my longtime assistant Quan Wu. Vader (a Corgi boy) came first, and he helped to pick his new sister, Husky girl Leah. They have become inseparable!
Doggie Mom Quan – formerly at Thomas Fogarty Winery, now working for Taste Catering
Here is a real outdoor girl: Abby, a red merle Australian Shepherd (WITH tail!), living and hiking with her Mom, real estate whiz Manon Celaya, in the Tahoe area. Despite her outdoorsy and adventurous nature, Abby is super well behaved and calm – a true lady!
Abby, queen of the mountain…
… and her Mom, Manon
To mix it up, here’s the next kitty: Sherbert, an orange tabby girl (I am told that’s a rarity among tabbies!) – and while she’s looking sooo young, she’s actually ten years old. Her “human,” violinist Laura Rubinstein-Salzedo of the Mersonacta quartet (who played for us lately) got her when she was just 6 months old, and she could not be happier with “Sherbs” who has both an Instagram and a TikTok presence!
Playful “Sherbs” in action… and her Mom Laura at work!
On to more doggies! Here is Bacci, the sweet King Cavalier Spaniel boy living with “Kiehl’s Queen” Susan Ciacchella (thanks again, Susan, for all the samples you sent to so many Kiehl’s fans in our community!)
Bacci thoughtful…… and coming home from a snow hike with his Mom
More dogs! Next up is Junebug, an English Terrier, here with her “waitstaff,” caterer Janay McCullough of Avocado Catering (look up her Quarantine Cakes!) and her husband:
Junebug “holding court”…… and cuddling with her parents
Another Aussie for you: four-year-old Cosmo, a blue merle Aussie boy, living with my friend and assistant (and “Doggie Mom for the Day” at my events), Melinda Meier:
Cosmo on his way to his favorite place: a doggie ranch in Half Moon Bay
Cosmo is a personal friend of mine, because he is MY dog’s best friend! The two are currently missing each other very much – normally they share playdates in my backyard every few days, tearing through the greenery at full speed for 45 minutes… so here is the other half of this “Duo Infernal,” our own Bear, three years old, a black-tricolored Aussie, truly Cosmo’s brother!
Waiting for his friend…Helping his Dad with woodchopping…… and in action in our backyard!
Lastly, an incredible cat family and cat story by Teri Menchini of La Bocca Fina Catering (who recently contributed a delicious breakfast recipe). In her own words…
“The past 20 years have brought me:
~ A family of newborn kittens whose mother was found dead in the fields.
~ Fast-forward 10 years later to a mommie with 4 babies, left behind by her owner in a move… Can you believe that!
~ 6 years later, the cutest little orange kitty who needed a home, even though I said ‘let’s find it a home’! Her mommie kittie dropped it off at a friend’s home.
~ And lastly the cutest fluffy kitten that just showed up at my back door at just about 6 weeks of age… I think a stray mommie must have dropped her off. The word was out, ‘We take kittens here’!
With a current count of 7, I found the sign and took it down!”
Thank you all for sharing your wonderful companions and heartwarming stories!
This is one of the very rare occasions that a professional magician reveals one of his tricks – but as Nathaniel Segal (aka Magical Nathaniel) is one of our Bay Area wedding vendor community, he shares it with us all today as a special treat. Maybe you parents watch and learn it first, then teach your kids? So they have something to share and show off to their buddies on Skype?
My longtime friend and colleague Gabrielle Feuersinger of Cake Coquette fame made a time-lapse video just FOR US!!! How nice is that?! In case you were wondering how long it takes Gabby for the elaborate decoration of one of her masterpieces, now we know: exactly 27 seconds – on timelapse!
You’ll have to look twice and watch a couple more times to see it all what she’s doing, but even then we’ll probably miss a good part of her skill and artistry. In any case – get inspired for your own edible art!
Please click the play button to see Gabby in action.
Here is the finished masterpiece close up:
And if you need even more inspiration, here are some of Gabby’s recent creations for you to swoon over!
As we are preparing you for your next virtual cocktail party, we thought of including a tutorial on a really stunning makeup! My longtime friend and colleague Jira of Wowpretty Salon (whose hair and makeup stylists have transformed countless brides into red carpet-worthy beauties) is contributing a tutorial on how to do it – one of her stylists is taking you through it step by step:
What about you try it out and send us “before and after” photos? We want to see it!!
Our friends Jim and Stephanie invited us “over for cocktails” last week, and it was just lovely! We all dressed up, joined in a zoom.com meeting (more of that later), and had our cocktails while catching up on things.
So… here are some of my favorite cocktails with recipes!
The Cosmopolitan:
INGREDIENTS
2 oz vodka, 1 oz cranberry juice cocktail, ¾ oz fresh lime juice, ¾ oz triple sec
Orange twist (for serving)
PREPARATION
Combine vodka, cranberry juice, lime juice, and triple sec in a cocktail shaker. Fill shaker with ice, cover, and shake vigorously until outside of shaker is very cold, about 20 seconds.
Strain cocktail into a martini glass and garnish with the orange twist.
The Mojito:
INGREDIENTS:
10 fresh mint leaves; 1/2 lime, cut into 4 wedges; 2 tablespoons white sugar, or more to taste; 1 cup ice cubes 1 1/2 fl. oz white rum; 1/2 cup club soda
PREPARATION:
Place mint leaves and 1 lime wedge into a sturdy glass. Crush the mint and lime with a muddler; add 2 more lime wedges and the sugar, and muddle again. Do not strain! Fill the glass nearly completely with ice. Pour the rum over the ice and fill up with club soda. Stir, taste, and adjust sugar if desired. Garnish with the last lime wedge.
And… my favorite: the Chi Chi
INGREDIENTS:
3 oz vodka, 4 oz pineapple juice, 2 oz cream of coconut (e.g. Coco Lopez), 1 tsp (or more) confectioner’s sugar, 1 cup crushed ice
Pineapple pieces and Maraschino cherries for garnish
PREPARATION:
Combine first five ingredients in a blender; process on high speed until combined, ca. 30 sec. Pour into chilled glasses, garnish with pineapple and cherry. Serve immediately.
Lastly, the meeting format! These days, it’s videoconferencing, and we used zoom.com – free for up to 45 minutes. Just have everyone sign up for it ahead of time, send a zoom link to your event in time to all your friends, and… oh, we forgot. Dress up. And the ladies: “doll up!” Stay tuned for that – the “Barbie Doll” makeup tutorial is in the works!!
Do you know Kiehl’s? Do you use their products? I guess you do!
Did you know that Kiehl’s started as a single pharmacy in Manhattan at Third Avenue and East 13th Street in 1851? And these days, they are EVERYWHERE and offering pretty much everything (even including dog care products!!).
I am a super lucky person, as I have a special friend. Susan is not only a wonderful neighbor, friend, confidante; caring, warm-hearted and generous… she is also the Kiehl’s Sales and Training Manager for the Bay Area and Northern California (that’s HUGE, actually). AND she is offering free Kiehl’s samples to our local wedding vendor community!!
Susan has samples of the following:
Cannabis cleanser, Ultra Facial Cream, Midnight Recovery, Powerful Strength line reducing serum for the face, Rare Earth Mask (shown in action on Susan, below), Pure Vitality cream.
All you have to do is to email her at [email protected], and she’ll ship the samples of your choice to you. Isn’t that fantastic?! All she is asking in return is your permission to pass your email on to Kiehl’s for future promotions.
UPDATE on 4/21/20: due to overwhelming response, Susan is currently unable to fulfill further requests – BUT she’ll be back with more samples in a couple of weeks, and she’ll have Mother’s Day specials for you, too! STAY TUNED!!
