Business Excellence Awards

Shortly before I left for my trip to Scotland I attended the Business Excellence awards in my town.  I was on the committee and Royal Ribbons was nominated for an award.  It was a very stressful time as the Civic Awards ceremony was only 10 days before this event and the workload to make all of this happen was enormous!  Well, maybe not...but I find it impossible to get anything done when I am home alone with the Little Prince.  I'm sure all the moms of small children know what I'm talking about!  Anyhoo to make matters worse, this event was held in the gymnasium of our local rec centre...not pretty at all!  We had to figure out how to make an ugly gym look like a gala on a budget of 500.00!

Fortunately we have a good relationship with the people who put on the hospital gala (Hermes Scarf Friend sits on that board and I know the uncle of the chair of the hospital committee - small town life!) so we were able to use decor from their event this past autumn.  Knowing this little detail I strongly suggested we run with a 'I love NY' style theme so everything would be black, white, and red...the same colours the hospital used six months ago.

We raided the hospital's storage unit for anything we could find to pretty up the place and this is what I came up with for the dessert table I designed and assembled....

Yes we moved the stuff out from under the tables. The silver backdrop is sheets of silver streamer type stuff....we had to put up 4 layers to make it look solid - thank goodness for tall people!  The lampshades are on huge martini glasses...I could've used a drink about that big by the time this photo was taken!

One of my cardinal rules was broken here - the table cloth isnt ironed.  It bothered me all night.  But I was in heels, a dress, and didn't have my iron with me.  If this had been at my house the table cloth would've been ironed. 

Feather boas fill up a lot of space!  Inexpensive and effective!

Everything was red, white or black (dark brown)!

I found red and white striped paper bags so people could take candy home with them.  For some reason we didn't have dessert plates (it was assumed people would use a napkin but I felt if they didn't have a plate they would treat the table like a trough and never leave it....so I went out and got a stack of red paper plates).

Making the best of what little we had to work with.  We had a few extra flower centerpieces so I commandeered them for my dessert table.  The bowls on stands are assembled from pieces found at the dollar store.  I bought white dishes and plates, martini and champagne glasses and epoxied them together to make an inexpensive cake/candy stand!

Our local chocolatier was also our caterer and he donated all these yummy chocolates.  And when I say yummy I mean I assume they were...the guests at the event seriously demolished the dessert table...not a scrap was left and I didn't get one of these chocolates!  He was kind enough to make them red on the top to go with our theme!

I had one of our local bakeries make us chocolate cupcakes with buttercream and red pearls to stay in the colour scheme!

I found all kinds of red, white, and black candy at the bulk store.  Jelly beans, licorice cigars, chocolate covered pretzels, yoghurt covered raisins...

Mini tarts filled with raspberry jam! At least I didn't have to cart any of it home!

The next day was the Little Prince's 4th birthday party so it was a hectic weekend full of cake!

Oh...and I didn't win.  The guy who did win was a shoe-in...but he can't win next year so there's the playing field will be more level!


If you can, please leave your comment here instead of on Twitter. Thanks!

Have a fabulous day!

A Christmas Decorating Tip!

I am a very systematic sort of person so whenever I tackle a big project I take things one step at a time.  When it comes to the Christmas tree I like to get it all set up, then I fluff up each branch with the tree lit.  As I do this I come across all the dead bulbs and rather than stop what I am doing every couple of minutes to fiddle with the bulbs, I mark each one with a bulldog clip or clothespin.  Once the tree is all fluffed, I (and when I say *I*, I really mean the Suburban Prince) can go back around the tree with a box of bulbs and easily find the ones that need to be replaced.  This year we had about a dozen and remembering the light stringing episodes of my childhood when my father 'in the heat of battle, wove a tapestry of obscenities that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan', it will be more attractive to replace the tree than try to replace the strings of lights on it.  At least this year we had an easy time with it.


Have a fabulous day!

Charity Tea Recap & Photos!

Last weekend I attended a charity tea at High Heeled Life's house.  It was called the Serendipity Christmas Tea and we were all asked to bring an unwrapped gift for a teen girl which would be donated to the local charity collecting for Christmas.

 

We were greeted at the door with a glass of champers.  You can see it ready and waiting on the table.  I've decided I need to be handed a glass the moment I walk into any building.

The all important branding and signage!

 

Some great items were collected for the teen girls who need some love at Christmas.

 

Every surface was beautifully decorated - I know the pain of living with a renovation!

 

Sometimes we just work with what we have!

 

Prepare to gain 10lbs just looking at the food - I lost track of how many treats I ate!

Everything was beautifully made and presented!

 

Never be afraid to ask if something you are deathly allergic to is in something you are being served.  Better safe than sorry!  I was told tho, these were amazing!  

 

More food read to be warmed up!  

These were delicious - cranberry and turkey I think!

 

Seriously...I would've forgotten to serve the tea!  

Fortunately HHL always has lots of people around to help out!

 

Three different teas with all the fixins!

 

Sugars and honey!

I had eaten so much I didn't even try to top it off with a scone, but everyone else raved about them!

 

Mmmm clotted cream.  'Nuff said!

 

After sugar and champers it's nice to have a glass of cold water

 

Uh huh.  We were expected to eat it all!

 

My favourite cupcakes!

 

Macarons.  NOT Macaroons.  Two totally different cookies. 

Don't try to tell me in America they are called Macaroons.

They aren't.

 

So about those cupcakes....if you are ever invited to HHL's house, ask for the cupcakes.

Treasures from Paris.

 

One of the tables all set for a group of ladies.

 

All the little details were perfect!

 

Every teacup was different!

 

Another table by the big comfy couches!

 

Magazines were laid out...just in case 7 women ran out of conversation!

 

Fresh flowers everywhere!

 

I sat at one of the couches to eat all of the yummy treats. My favourite was the egg salad sandwiches - apparently they contained some highly guarded, secret Italian ingredient.

 

Yes, I photographed other plates too!

 

Thanks for inviting me to your charity tea HHL!  I had a great time with the girls!

After we ate everyone gathered around the big couches and like fun loving women who are no threat to each other we laughed and screeched and cackled and had a great time!  Now we know one of the girls has her family's meals all cooked by her MIL, her husband gets the kids to school and does the ironing and the children sort the laundry.  She gets to read books and take baths (oh and work full time).  We are all a little jelly bean!

At the peak of hilarity there was a tentative knock at the door - the room went silent and one of the husbands was let in....looking terrified!  We sat there looking mostly prim and proper until we forgot he was standing there before we went back to conversations about why men cheat, how to make children say please, religion in the 1st and 3rd worlds and anything else we could come up with!

I was exhausted by the time I got home!  It was a great day for a great cause!

Have a fabulous day!

Autumn around the palace!

Autumn has always been my favourite season so I enjoy decorating and getting everything ready for Thanksgiving, a chill in the air and all of the Halloween fun!

On Thanksgiving day I had every intention of taking photos of everything but I just got too busy with the cooking and entertaining.  I did a repeat of a lot of my Thanksgiving favourites from last year like my acorn cookies, apple pocket pies, and mini pumpkin pies with a single oak leaf on top.

Just before we sat down for dinner I decided to take a few photos of the table before it was ravaged.  An amazing thing happens when I pull out a camera in front of our parents...for some reason they will all get their cameras out too!  If I stopped to take a photo of say, a tree...they would all start taking photos of the tree too, even tho they have no idea why they are taking photos of it.  So, while I was trying to take a few photos of the Thanksgiving table, for the BLOG (!!!), they gathered around and started taking photos too, with no idea what they are doing, flashes going and finally I had to tell them all to stop.  Number 1 because my inlaws need a special battery for their camera yet wont order one so they are in the way yet only able to take 2 photos before the regular batteries die then spend the next 20 minutes complaining about it and, Number 2, my parents have had a digital camera for almost two years yet refuse to get a computer (yes, they are those people) so they have never printed a photo, seen them except for on the little camera screen and for some reason wont take the little SD card to Wallie's to have them printed there.  So honestly, who knows why any of them had to get in my way.  The Suburban Prince says it's like when Japanese tourists see a baby panda.

Anyhooooooo - since Thanksgiving day the cookies have been eaten, the table is back to being the Royal Ribbons headquarters and I found all I managed to get were four photos of the table.  Hmpfh!

 

The Thanksgiving table is full of leaves, pumpkins, acorns and candles!

 

I made spice acorn cookies and packaged them for each place setting.  

The ribbon on each wine glass saying Happy Thanksgiving and can be ordered at www.Royal-Ribbons.com

I love all of my different pumpkins!  Especially the glittery ones!

I added a leaf shaped chocolate to each place setting to keep the autumn theme going!

The wall unit was emptied and then filled with leaf garland and lanterns.

The camels were in this section rather than on the table this year. 

I wont even embarrass myself by admitting how many dark chocolate balls were in this vase compared to when I took the photo!

Little leaf dishes are scattered about the house filled with chocolates!

 

Easiest autumn decor ever!  A large vase, leaf garland, dogwood branches and autumn coloured ornaments!

 

Outside I got mums in shades of orange and yellow - they looked so much better a few weeks ago before the rains flattened everything.  I love my little welcome bears!

I think the steps to the house look great!

 

A splash of pink and a home grown pumpkin!

 

The front door wreath and garland.  We are the only house on the street to decorate.

 

The jack-o-lantern the Little Prince carved last weekend!

Have a fabulous day!