At restaurant show, street food is cause du jour :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Food

I can't begin to talk about how proud I am of my friends Matt and Melina in Chicago. Matt's created a movement for mobile cuisine in the city and it's

being recognized all over town! Below is a link to the article in today's Chicago Sun Times all about Matt and his company. Check it out!! Below that is my favorite picture from their wedding! Can you find me????

At restaurant show, street food is cause du jour :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Food

A Bright Spot Wedding

April was a crazy month filled with wedding madness. Bright Spot Events had a wedding on April 24th for a great couple in Rockport, Texas (near Corpus Christi). Everything went perfect and most importantly the bride and groom were super happy!! I have to send out a huge thank you to my Mom for coming in and saving my day! My planned assistant for the wedding had a family emergency the week before the wedding and I was going a bit crazy trying to figure out what I was going to do. Being the wonderful person that she is, my Mom stepped in and flew down to Corpus Christi that Friday and spent the weekend with me as my assistant. I have to say, it's a bit funny to introduce her to people as "my assistant for the weekend, Laurie." She also took some great pictures of the setup process and I've included a few here. Notice the tied ribbon around the napkins and the chair sashes...those were a result of hours and hours of work by she and I. She may never want to help me again, I worked her until her feet bled!!

Below is the link to my Bright Spot Blog for anyone who wants to read more about this colorful wedding.

Thoughts On A Bright Spot

THANKS MOM!!!

A New Car!

Well I have had many requests for photos of my new car so here she is. I bought a 2008 Scion xD. She's so cute, has great gas mileage and as Pam from The Office would say, has lots of cup holders! I think that she looks like she's smiling in the front too! I'm such a girl! I have to throw a shout out to my Carmax salesman. She's awesome so thanks Griff!!

Goodbye Car

Well I'm sad to say that my car has passed away. PJ the Jetta has been a good car but on December 27th she was rear-ended and pushed into another car, essentially we were smashed. So now we have said goodbye to a great car that saw me through many times of my life. She was the first car that I ever actually purchased and so I am said to see her leave me. Below are some photos of her at the junkyard when we said goodbye

So now I'm in the market for a new car. I've been shopping for one at Carmax so I can get something used and affordable. Guess we'll see what happens and I'll go ahead and post what I get when it's done.

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Questions about Mankind

I need something explained to me. Why do some people feel that waitresses and bartenders are a lower level of people. I'm working at Stag's Head Pub and I had two things that happened at my shift last night that I just don't understand. First was at a table of two older gentlemen. Really we're talking about over 60 and they sat down and ordered a pitcher of beer. They started talking to me and asked me what I really do. I didn't understand at first and I asked them what they meant. They said "you know, besides this?" Basically they wanted to know what else I do besides waiting tables because heaven forbid this is what I do for a living. Now I know that I do have something else besides this that I do but still, it would be an insulting question and I think that it's wrong to ask.

The second thing was something that really pissed me off and made me really feel that a majority of people in this world really have no sense of what's right and what's wrong. So I worked a party last night at the bar that was a charity poker tournament. 36 or more guests all with separate checks, all arriving at the same time. I took credit cards to open tabs with most of the guests but there were a few that I didn't get in the rush of things going on. At the end of the night the hosts of the event were sitting at one of my tables having drinks and eating some dinner. I approached them to find one of their guests that I couldn't find that had opened a tab with me and ordered two pitchers of beer. This guest was one of their friends and they tried to call him. They asked me what he had and how much the tab was for. I explained how much the tab was for and that if he didn't pay it I would have to pay for it out of my tips for the evening. Well they asked for their tabs and paid and left. Technically I can't force them to pay for the tab since it was not theirs and I didn't get the credit card in the insanity of last night. Still though, if it was one of my friends I would pay for it and make my friend pay me back, especially if the waitress told me that she would have to pay for it if my friend walked. It's just wrong. I don't understand why they were so apologetic about the situation but still didn't take care of it. So in the end, I bought this guy 2 pitchers of beer. What jerks they all were!!

Thanks Best Buy Warranty

So the Best Buy warranty has finally done me right. After numerous repairs and weeks at a time without my computer they have finally junked it out. That means - they gave me a credit for the purchase price on my computer and I've got a new one. The best part is that the prices have changed since my last purchase so I got a new MacBook Pro for only $21 more than the credit / junk out price! It's a beautiful computer and I'm so in love with it! Now I've spent pretty much most of the day loading in software and updating the operating system. Next step...loading in all of my 29 gigs of files, music, movies and photos. That's going to take forever! Can you guess what my Sunday is going to consist of??

Great News

Hi Everyone! Great news! I booked another bride. I actually booked her a few weeks ago but this is the first that I can get to writing about it. My dear friend Jill recommended me to one of her coworkers who is getting married and she hired me to be her planner. She booked my partial planning package which is my second biggest package! I'm really excited about the plans for this wedding and it's going to be a big challenge. They are getting married on July 10th, 2010 in El Campo, Texas which is about 1 1/2 hours away from my house. They are inviting 600 guests (no that's not a typo) and are expecting about 400 so this is really going to be a huge project for me but that's a great thing. They had already booked a venue which is the El Campo civic center which is basically an old Kmart that has been renovated. They did do a good job on the renovations but the space all tile (linoleum) floors and big white walls. We're gonna need lots of fabric to keep it from echoing and lots of color. I can't wait to make it happen though. Wish me luck!

PS - all of my friends are on notice - I'll be needing 2 to 3 assistants free for the weekend but you'll be paid and I'll take care of the hotel rooms and expenses while there. Any volunteers???