Thursday, February 26, 2009

Enjoy the Tropics in the Chicago suburbs

Now that the snow has stopped, we're being inundated by rain. ARRGGHH!! Make it stop!!

So, it's time to tell you about one of my favorite places, Tiki Terrace, right here in Des Plaines. Who knew! My family and I have been there several times - my daughter has requested her birthday dinner to be there for the last two years in a row. As a matter of fact, here she is, posing near the stage. This place is truly an escape to the islands.

The food is really good - I love the coconut chicken. And even though I have never been a big fan of coconut, the coconut cake is amazing!!! And I mean every one of the exclamation points (even that one)!

Last summer I participated in the 2008 Windy City Ukulele Festival held at Tiki Terrace. It was incredible! I am a complete uke novice, but I met the most wonderful people at the fest and saw the best performances. In this picture I'm at Tiki Terrace with Ukulele Tonya, a fun, fantastic, patient teacher, and Seeso, the ukulele guru of whom I'm a HUGE fan. But all that's a whole other post.....

My whole point for this post is to tell you about a wonderful place where you can escape from the nasty weather and step into an island paradise. Best of all, Tiki Terrace is available for WEDDINGS!! See, there was a point to all of this!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Kudos to the artists in my life

I have received so many compliments on my logo, that I must now give credit where credit is due. You see, I had nothing to do with the design, which is a very good thing. If it were left to me, I'd probably wind up with a chartreuse plaid lettering on a tie-dye background.

So, I must give kudos to my wonderful, amazing friends at TaMaYo Design, who came up with my logo. Not only are they brilliant artists and fabulous people - they have fabulous taste. I am forever grateful for their talents!

And the name Tamayo sounds kinda like "tomato." Go figure.

Monday, February 23, 2009

More cupcakes!!

After my post about wedding cupcakes the other day, I became obsessed with having a cupcake. And I mean Obsessed. So, after the kids' piano lesson I announced that we were going to the bakery for a "special treat." Wouldn't you know it - they only had two cupcakes left. So unfair! Not wanting to fight one of the kids for it (and I was willing to fight), I convinced the kids that the smiley-face cookies were bigger than the cupcakes. Yay for me! I was able to get the cupcakes for "Daddy and me." However, we all know that, if the cupcakes were really good, Daddy would never even have seen a crumb. Well, I'm sad to say the cupcakes were a huge disappointment. The cake part was just average, and the frosting was actually chocolate-flavored whipped cream (that's so wrong!) and, to add insult to injury, was pretty skimpy to boot. Oh well..... I'll just keep fantasizing about the perfect cupcake until I break down and bake some.

In the meantime, I've discovered the Cupcake Project, a blog chronicling one woman's personal cupcake challenge: baking wedding cupcakes for her friend's Big Day. It went so well that she did it again. The website also has cupcake baking tips and recipes!!! I am IN LOVE with this blog!

I am definitely going to make the Margarita Cupcakes this summer. I already know that I'll be making these for my friend Pam, fellow dessert lover and a fan of the occasional margarita. I can picture us enjoying them (with the necessary related beverage, of course) with our girlfriends on a nice summer evening - minus the kids and the husbands. Ahh.... can't wait for the snow to melt!

Well, for now I'll keep trolling the Cupcake Project, drooling over Stef's creations. If I ask, do you think she'll be my new best friend?

Friday, February 20, 2009

There's a run in my nylons! and other little disasters...



So, your best friend is at your wedding in her new little black dress and killer heels - and then the unthinkable happens! Gasp! Her nylons have a run!!

Well, knowing her, she'll probably just trash the pantyhose and dance the night away. But, if it's Aunt Gertrude with the run, we may have a problem.

It's the Restroom Courtesy Basket to the rescue!!

Your wedding guests will be relieved in times of trouble to know that you have provided a basket of necessities.

What to include? At pineapplegirl.com you can find a list of items to include. She suggests one for each restroom. And don't forget to include a note indicating the items are there for guests to use, compliments of the bride & groom.

Suggested items include nylons, hair spray, antacids, pain-relievers, band-aids and breath mints.

Boy, I wish I had those spare nylons when Aunt Gertrude's hose got caught on my chair!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Cupcakes - my secret shame



Okay, I have a confession..... I was the one who ate the last Valentine's Day cupcake. I couldn't help it. It kept calling to me until I couldn't stand it anymore! I cannot resist the siren song of a delicious little chocolate cake topped with a swirl of frosting. It was decorated with a pink candy heart saying "thanks." How pathetic is that? It wasn't even trying to stop me....

So now that I've revealed my obsession, you can imagine my delight when I discovered the world of wedding cupcakes. Yes, that's right - Wedding Cupcakes!

You can get the lowdown on the phenomenon from
weddingcupcakes.org. And no, I did not make that up.

It's a very cool website and covers everything from cupcake recipes to displaying your cupcakes, and even Croquembouche. Hey, I didn't know what that was either, until I went to the website - and if you don't know, I'm not going to tell you. (Just click on it- you know you want to)

I think cupcakes are a fabulous idea for weddings a
nd wouldn't be too hard as a do-it-yourself wedding project. I'm certainly no cake decorator myself, but fresh flowers can do wonders to make any baked dessert beautiful. My only advice - don't skimp on the frosting!

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Happy Valentine's Day!



I've always been a collector of quotes - don't ask me why. But, in honor of Valentine's Day, I'd like to share my favorite quotes about love . Enjoy!


"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." -Rumi

"When you are in Love you can't fall asleep because reality is better than your dreams." -Dr. Seuss (who knew!)


"Love is born with the pleasure of looking at each other, it is fed with the necessity of seeing each other, it is concluded with the impossibility of ever being apart." Jose Marti

"The sound of a kiss is not so loud as that of a cannon, but its echo lasts a great deal longer." - Oliver Wendell Holmes


"To keep a marriage brimming, with love in your loving cup. Whenever you're wrong, admit it;Whenever you're right, shut up." -Ogden Nash


"If you judge people, you have no time to love them." - Mother Theresa

"Love is a canvas furnished by Nature and embroidered by imagination." - Voltaire

Monday, February 9, 2009

A picture is worth a thousand words....

..... but what if the picture is actually made up of words??

Check out wordle.com to create your own word art!


Tuesday, February 3, 2009

What a great blog!

No, I'm not referring to my own.....

Today I heard about a very cool blog called Word Arrangement's Blog. I'm especially excited because it contains an interview with one of my Celebrant colleagues, Celia Milton. Celia has some great tips for couples who are planning an upcoming wedding.

The blog is by poet Chloe Yelena Miller, the creator of WordArrangement.com. Chloe creates beautiful, personalized poems for couples, especially for weddings. Her blog is addicting - don't say I didn't warn you! I just spent waaay too long reading stories about other couples' weddings, especially the Inauguration-themed celebration.