a ranch bday party

a party on a ranch calls for lots of great food [juicy succulent bbq, anyone?], comfortable atmosphere and lots of sunshine. we had mostly all of those things on saturday at the song ranch [minus the plenty of sunshine]. decorating for mr. song's 60th bday party was a lot of fun. i got to climb up trees, hang things from the branches, get bark dust strewn all over my face, and come face to face with many of mother earth's creepy crawly creatures. not to mention the fact that i got to make many fluffy citron-hued tissue pom poms! they took a while to make at first, but after a few, i got the hang of it and production was in full swing with my helper jean .. it only sucked a little bit when i cut my fingers with very sharp utility scissors.

the ranch itself is such a beautiful place to have a party. it is a working horse ranch, with a couple of dogs running through the premises to keep the wild animals that come down from the mountains at bay.

here are a few snaps of the ranch:

[one of many ancient oak trees on the ranch]

[succelents native to the ranch]

[catalina the 3 year old female horse]

[valor, the older male horse]

[camellias in bloom]

tomorrow i will post full recap photos of the party. but here is a preview ..

more to come tomorrow~

new hobby: calligraphy

i'm developing premature rheumatoid arthritis via my latest craft/hobby/venture: calligraphy. my achy shaky hands have produced rather mixed results thus far. but never fret dear friends~ i will perfect at least ONE script by the month's end! here, i practice writing guest names for the party coming up on saturday. you know what's funny? i am a true stickler for proper spelling and grammar. but because i am OVER concentrating on the form of the letters, i find myself frequently misspelling words as i eke out the calligraphed words. case in point, you can see that i wrote the word "lacey" .. and right next to it, i attempted to repeat the same word but ended up with "lae." i stopped myself when i realized i was going down the wrong path! ^ ^ calligraphy takes serious concentration and a steady hand, that's for sure!! all those books i was able to check out from the los angeles public library have been very helpful! this is one hobby that you don't need a video or personal tutorial on. i also stumbled upon a great calligraphy studio by laura hooper. she is frequently featured on some of my favorite blogs. truly beautiful work! every craft, whether it's calligraphy, floral art or interior design, is a true labor of love and dedication.

cheeseburger cupcakes

sheer genius!! cupcakes that look like mini cheeseburgers~ from twig & thistle.

update

it has been quite a few [busy] days since my last post. i've been working on finalizing the logo. business cards will soon be printed and the website will enter phase one.

yesterday i was at a job site looking for design direction and color inspiration. i found it everywhere .. from the succulents growing abundantly on the premises, to the wrought iron horseshoe towel hooks and the vibrant colors of the compound's bungalows. shopping resulted in a lot of crisp white and citron. those colors will coordinate beautifully with the sunny lemon shades of the table setting, along with the fluffy cream and verbena hued flowers of the centerpieces.

this week's task at hand is to master the art of tissue paper pom-pom making. wish me luck! i will post results of my craftiness.