Five Things Friday…Survey style

Naava and I want to wish you a happy Friday

Want to know what’s really great about this particular Friday?  My Dad is visiting from Wisconsin! He arrived last night and it was only his 2nd trip on a plane!  Amazing, right? 

Since I haven’t seen him since last May (2010), we have a lot to catch up.

So to keep this short and sweet, I’m borrowing the Five Things survey that’s been floating around and last seen on Julie’s blog – thanks Julie

Last five people I talked to on the phone (this is hard since I never talk on the phone):

1. Piperlime.com – issues with a gift
2. Zach
3. My Dad
4. Shuttle service from Zoo wedding
5. Wedding vendor

Last Five Meals I Ate:

1. Dish Dash falafel wrap (mmmm so good)
2. Steamed mixed veggies with marinara
3. Vanilla Chobani with TJ’s maple shredded wheat crumbled on top
4. Homemade pizza english muffin with bag of SmartPop (healthy I know)
5. Think Thin Creamy PB bar and a medium banana

Last five places I’ve traveled:

1. Philadelphia, PA
2. Denver, CO
3. Boston, MA
4. Tahoe, CA (NV)
5. Denver, CO

Next five places I will go (as you can imagine, baby will limit foreseeable travel )

1. Carmel, CA
2. DC area?
3. Vacay to Spain maybe?
4. Argentina is high on the list
5. Thailand?

Last five workouts:

1. Dog walk last night
2. Weights on Wednesday
3. Mixed cardio (elliptical, precor, and treadmill) on Thurs
4. Looong Stanford walk on Sunday (where photo above was taken)
5. Short cardio / weight mix on Saturday 

Five things making me happy right now:

1. This awesome little boy doing the boogie in my belly
2. My Dad visiting
3. Going to La Fondue tonight
4. Cooler weather (bring on the boots!)
5. Pumpkin salsa soup for dinner tomorrow night

Tell me a few things making you happy right now!

Glimpse into what a wedding planner does

Hello, hello!  Many of you have repeatedly asked for me to talk about my “other job” – Wedding Planning! 

Yep, I am a professional trained Wedding and Event Coordinator.  After planning my own wedding in 2009, I was inspired to see if I could make this a money-making endeavor since I had enjoyed it so very much.  Besides, it capitalized on all the things I already do as an Engineer, which is manage schedule, budget, and performance (= event execution).  Easy peasy, no? 

In many ways, yes, it is!

October of 2009, I took a week long class given by the Association of Certified Professional Wedding Consultants (ACPW), which has been in place over 20 years and is nationally recognized.  Prior to the class I spent well over 60 hours preparing and doing homework, such as designing a wedding from beginning to end, conducting interviews, and finding multiple vendors for about 25 different areas of suppliers.  Phew! 

I loved the class.  Loved!

But being a wedding planner is tough work.  You lose all your weekends from about April through October to attend events. And what’s more, you have to market, market, market – yourself!  That may come easy for some, but the amount of networking events, social networking exposure, and legwork that is required is endless. 

And the pay, well the pay can be big if you put your heart and soul in for years.  Wedding planning can be quite lucrative, but to be frank, most wedding planners won’t break $50K/year. 

(There is no way I can recap everything, so I’m going to cut out a lot – feel free to let me know in the comments if you want to know more)

Early 2010, I started my own business called Engineered Elegance by S (below is the logo I helped design):

I got my business license and enlisted by bestie as my partner.  All was good.  I had contracts in place, packages to order (Ballet Flats, Kitten Heel, and Stiletto were the 3 main ones )

We quickly made business cards and set out on the networking circuit, which often included meeting with various vendors at wineries, beautiful mountain locations, etc.  And of course, there was food to test, cakes to nibble on, centerpieces to ooo and aaahhh over and officiants to chat with.  Let me tell ya, this was fun stuff!

But just because you do this, weddings don’t just fall in your lap.  You have to continously reach other to others, hand out your business cards, follow up with phone calls, assist for free until you have clout. 

And frankly, that takes a LOT of time.   Time I didn’t have the luxury of like I thought / hope I would

So I scaled my expectations and decided to carry out my wedding planning as it fit in my life.  And even if that just meant small consulting jobs here and there and assisting weddings when I had a  free weekend, that was A-Ok. 

In fact, it was perfect.

So when last weekend’s wedding opportunity popped out many months ago, I took it!  I loved the couple, their vision, and how this ‘extra job’ would bring me happiness in my life. 

Zoo recap wedding will come next week – this post is too long!

Preview:

WIAW–quick and dirty

Hey there…

I’m writing this on Tuesday night and, well, I’m feeling very overwhelmed.  I feel like I have a million things to check of my to-do list and all are contingent upon other people replying or doing that part.  I hate that.  It makes me feel all anxious and squirmy inside.  Yick.    Perhaps I am starting to need more help in my 3rd trimester pregnancy state – so um, yeah MEEP! Help!

But I still want to connect with all of you!  Today it’s just going to be quick and dirty style – no fluff, no muss.

As always What I Ate Wednesday is courtesy of Jenn at Peas and Crayons – this is like week 5 billion and it is still going strong!

I have been going to town on NuGo bars lately.  Well that’s not true…meaning lately, since I always eat a few a week, but it’s been day after day.  Saturday I had a NuGo slim to tide me over at the wedding I coordinated and Sunday I snacked on this after my (very ho-hum massage).  It was super chewy and quite tasty, but I the Slim bar one for longer lasting hunger satisfaction.

As I’ve said before, I like taking pre-made things and mixing in some fresh ingredients for a little pizazz, which is exactly what I did with the ingredients below:

Though I haven’t dug into this delicious pack, it’s on my list after I complete the rest of September (remember I was overdosing on PB and had to stop myself for awhile).  But PB&Co Mighty Maple, here I come…nom, nom, nom   (6 pack from Amazon for ~$25).

And finally, I decided I want to try to decorate my own cupcakes for my baby shower and needed some good tools. Thanks to my friend Jillian at Sprinkle Massacre, she led me to these: (adorable dog not included)

What’s your favorite PB&Co flavor?

Any good decorating tips?

Best thing you ate today?