Vintage Ranch Wedding...

I'm not going to lie.... this was an absolutely perfect wedding....

fall in the vineyard (sigh)
These are photos from the guests that attended Mark & Kaylin's wedding... the professional ones from the photographer have yet to come... (I can only imagine!) I was the finishing coordinator for this event, taking duties away from the bride the day before the wedding, working with the vendors and of course all of the aesthetics... Again another job I loved doing! The wedding went off with out a hitch... on time, guests all attended too, and a peaceful bride... may I say job well done!

This reinventing Amber is coming along well....

Potluck

I decided it was time to share some pics from the set design project recently completed (truth is, I have finally figured out how to play with my photo program!). I thoroughly enjoyed this segment of design. It was completely different than anything I have ever done and brought out a new level of creativity. Needless to say I loved it! Unfortunately it's not fees-able as a full time career for me at this point, but most definitely something I intend to dabble in. Hopefully I left enough of an impression to be remembered by!
Next week we have our "wrap" party and will be get to see the final release of the pilot.... fingers crossed all went well!

First pic is of course the film marker.. It lists the director as well as the director of photography. These guys were great to work with not to mention their crews were top notch. The middle pic is one of my favorite sets... This was the "stoner's" pad.... hence the haze in the room! And the last pic was of my film debut as a caterer! I have a ton more to share but not sure if I will ever get around to sharing, as I have so many other stories to tell...

Au revoir... À bientôt

Just wanted to take a sec to say thank you to my little sister. The past few weeks went by way to fast but I loved the time we got to spend together. Fingers crossed March comes around quickly... Love ya to death... and "dang Gina"... we looked good!

Shiny New Toy...

I love the analogy of the "shiny new toy". This phrase has been rummaging in my head these past few weeks and today I've decided to get it out! According to the Urban Dictionary, I know such a reliable source, the "shiny new toy" is "the new kid at school who gets all the attention because the kids all want to know what they're like". Eventually this "effect" wears off... but for now, I am the shiny new toy, well sorta! Allow me to elaborate... (as if I wouldn't)

A few weeks ago I attended a backyard BBQ of one of my cousins. He is a few years younger than me, however his sister is just my age. Last year he married a wonderful gal, and from time to time all of the cousins get together, in fact I think I have shared a few photos of our gang. Anyways, I am at their house in the backyard sipping wine and chatting away. The majority of the guests are young professional couples with a few little tykes running around. For the most part there were three single gals, myself, my cousin (the sister of the bday boy), and an additional girlfriend of the bride, and one single guy. Keep in mind these two girls are a part of this group, and have been since high school. Here I come as the "shiny new toy" who has only recently been around since their wedding, and my new found free time of being a single gal! I of course mingled well and talked with whomever, held a few babies, played a few games... basically I was social and didn't hide in a corner. I had intended on staying the night as it was a bit of a drive back to my place and I had the liberty of enjoying myself. At one point I had a conversation with one of the husbands as we were standing next to the stereo, mind you his wife was there the entire time!!! We were going back and forth about music and he was scanning through my iPod as it happened to be the one we were listening to at the time. I was sharing some of my favorite bands and telling him about the Gomez show I just went to with my parents. Well turns out his wife cornered my cousin in the kitchen flaming mad, apparently I was throwing myself at her husband! Umm darling, you were sitting right there... and the conversation was all about music! I happen to NOT be on the prowl for married men. Luckily my cousins' laughed it off and we continued our evening just fine. PS... the other married men were WAY cuter!

Now for the more recent event...

Monday night I joined my friends' group, (the firefighter neighbor guy... from last year) on an outing to a concert. There were a total of 14 of us limo bound to see the Foo Fighters. Again there were couples and a few of us "single" folk. All of the males were either firemen or police officers... which I came to the realization earlier this year, are NOT my type. Again I was the shiny new toy to this group and it was oh so obvious. Luckily for me I randomly ran into a couple of girl friends while waiting in line and managed to escape the group for the majority of the concert. I had consumed a few drinks but stopped early in the evening and continued with water for the rest of the night. Obviously driving wasn't an issue as we had a limo, but I did have responsibilities at home with my critters and an early morning with work. The limo ride home got interesting to say the least... this group likes to have fun, and believe me I am all for it.. but I happened to be stone cold sober and they were "saucy" drunk! I had been receiving the majority of the attention from three single guys, I was polite but also cautious to not lead anyone on. My friend... the one person I knew of the entire 14 people managed to come over and chat for a bit. We caught up on some small talk, nothing serious and again in a frickin limo with 12 other people ... and what would you know.. his girlfriend ends up crying in the corner.

Note to self... dont be the "shiny new toy"... with a bunch of drinking females!

Ladies I am not on the prowl for your man. In fact I am currently not in the market for ANY man! Focusing on myself... and being selfish doing so!

Catch up...

I've got an incredible amount to catch you up on... and a scattered brain to go along with it! Unfortunately more recently life hasn't been that great... but just prior to my recent turmoil, things were chugging along.

Currently I am in the midst of getting my sweet Malcolm back to good health. He is my 11 1/2 year old black lab and admittedly my first baby. He is such a sweet love and I am doing all in my powers to keep him around a bit longer. I came to terms a few days ago that I would be putting him to sleep, and it broke me. I've been through so much these past few years, and he has been my one constant, always there for me. When tears were flowing he would do his best to cheer me up.

For now I leave you with this and hopefully my spirits will lift so I can get back to writing.

TGIF

Friday, thank goodness... wasn't sure I was going to make it through this week! I managed to survive my Canada trip and U.S. customs kindly welcomed me back to the States. I have not been my chipper self these last few weeks and it's catching up with me. The tell tale signs of Amber being unhappy have kicked in. The house is not nearly as spotless as it usually is... The manicures and pedicures have gone along the wayside... and my gym membership is getting a little dusty. I'm just not focusing on my upkeep! It's funny how something flagged me on Facebook today and reminded me what I was doing a year ago. Apparently I was at the shooting range falling in love with a gun!

Luckily in the midst of my pity party my sister came to stay a few days. We are throwing a dinner party tonight for my usual gang. This is generally my method of motivation! It forces me to do something I love, eat, drink, entertain and cook... while also making me clean the house! So I am headed to the market to gather some goods and get to work....

Read an article the other day by Bethaney Frankel... and strangely I got something out of it.. I've never been a fan of hers, actually knew nothing about her but this is something I will elaborate on later...

Bye for now.

Oh Canada...

I am sitting in my hotel room getting settled for bed. I am in London, Canada, just outside of Toronto on a business trip. I picked up this distributor in July and they have invited me to their internal trade show/expo to educate their sales force and meet some of their key dealers. I do this every year in Texas, but this is my first trip to Canada, as this is a new distributor. Nothing exciting there, other than the fact that this is a new group for me, and I'm the new girl in town! Of course I've only just arrived and haven't really set up... but not too shabby!

On a side note, I met a really cute guy on my flight out here. Go figure... apparently I tend to do better in confined spaces with captive audiences! This guy happened to be traveling to Toronto for a film festival... and I happen to NOW be a set designer! Crazy, I would have never had anything in common with this guy until now. While the conversation was casual, we did manage to trade magazines... he gave me his InTouch, and I gave him my Rolling Stones! (strange!) I now know all of his contact info including his address, and he knows mine! We all know what happened last time I contacted someone I met on a flight... let's see if I get the courage to do it again!

For now I am going to focus on my trade show... I mean c'mon... French Canadian... I'll have something in common with my sister!