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Monday, March 31, 2008

Now you can subscribe to The Flirty Guide Idea Page!


Ever wish you could find out when a new Flirty Idea has been added to The Flirty Guide? Now you can! TFG is pleased to let you know that we are now offering RSS on our Idea Archive Page. Just click on the feed sign above or in the left hand side bar on the Flirty Ideas Page. Be among the first to know what's new!

Sunday, March 30, 2008

It's my Birthday and I want cake, and cookies, and marshmallows!


Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! You might be so jealous after you read this post.

So for my BiRtHdaY my new "tradition" is a once a year trek to the Ferry Building in San Francisco to go to Miette, a French bakery. CLICK HERE to view what I got last year.

Oh My GOSH! I love this place so much. It's one of my "happy places" I think about when I need to think of a happy place.


So this is what this flirty girl does on her Birthday. She goes dessert shopping and has lunch with friends. My hubby and I headed up to SF to pick up my "gifts" then met Armando and Chris for lunch at one of my favorite restaurants, Betelnut. I was so surprised! They had got me this spiffy cake stand at Miette so I used it for my B-day photo shoot! So cute huh?


The ritual consists of arriving at Miette and buying every single thing that appeals to me. So in this post you can see everything I purchased this year.

The very nice woman who was packaging up my goodies asked me when I was serving all of them as two needed to be refrigerated. Serving them? I told her I wasn't serving them to anyone! They were all for me to eat in the next 48 hours. LOL

And talk about self control. I didn't eat anything (well except for one thing) until I got home so I could take all of these pictures to share with all of you! If you know me and live nearby I might even consider sharing with you... Just let me know what you want a bite of and I'll save you some :P

Here's what's left:

Layer Cake: Gone
Cupcakes: Gone
Browned Butter Cake: Gone
Chocolate Macaroons: Gone
Meringue Cookies: Gone
Marshmallows: Gone
Brownies: Gone
Scharffen Berger Cake: Gone
Lemon Tart: Gone
Banana Loaf: Gone








The Ferry Building in San Francisco


Here was my cupcake for the road. Which didn't even survive to the parking lot. Heh heh. Yummmmmmm it was sooooooooooo goooooooooood!


Friday, March 28, 2008

A Jewel Has Many Facets

One of the "Brides of March"

Ever know someone and think you have them all figured out? Then one day they say or do something and you're like "WOW I didn't see that one coming!" Well that's what happened to me the other day when my colleague and friend Jewel Savadelis sent me a link to a new video she and her husband Chuck had just put online.

Now for those of you who have never watched the video trailers on Savadelis Films.com? You MUST go and watch them right now. They're only a couple of minutes long. Be sure to watch "Come What May" and "Nature's Bride." They're my faves. They are the kind of emotional and wonderfully romantic trailers I've grown accustomed to seeing from Savadelis films. I'll wait for you here...

...............................Hum..............................
.................................de................................
...............................dum...............................
...............................dum...............................

OK, so how awesome were they? Can you even imagine having a wedding video like that? I mean seriously! If you're getting married and are fortunate enough to find them available that could be you... Hmmmm I'm getting off topic here.

So back to the other day.


The Brides of March. I'd never heard of them. Turns out this is an annual event held in San Francisco and Chuck and Jewel went up to film the goings on that went down that day in the city. Take a peek, it's only 3 minutes long. It's a creative, free spirited, and just a wee bit racy documentary. You just never know what you'll see in San Francisco.

As the title of this post says "A Jewel has many facets" and this video has taught me to never again be surprised by the facets and creative range of what Jewel and Chuck Savadelis are capable of.


I would love to put on my gown and run with the brides next year. Though I don't know how far I'd get in my actual wedding gown. It was, and still is, much too beautiful to tromp through the city in. I might have to go pick up a fun run gown and hit the pavement with the girl and guy brides next March. At least I know where to get a veil. LOL

Visit Chuck and Jewel's TFG page and watch their new "Fever" video by CLICKING HERE

Visit their website www.savadelisfilms.com by CLICKING HERE

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Flirty Idea: Glowing Shrimp on Ice


From The Flirty Guide

... How do you make a pile of shrimp look elegant?

Our Director of Catering, Lea Mcintosh, suggested ice bowls. Not one, but two of them. And to top it off they were lit up from the inside so they were clear, and cool and glowy all at the same time. Here is one of our two shrimp bowls. The obvious benefit is that they kept the shrimp cold. The bowls themselves weren't that expensive, relative to the price of the shrimp that is. And it looked sooooooo cool! READ MORE


Photos: Todd Rafalovich

The Sanctuary

Sometimes I wish that I could love wine the way everyone else does. Those of you who have read my ice wine post know that I don't drink alcohol. In fact for over two years my bottle of ice wine has been happily living out it's life here at the The Flirty Girl Wine Sanctuary. It's companions include 6 other bottles of wine and 2 bottles of champagne. A friend told me the other night that the bottle is mocking me from beneath it's coat of dust. LOL It probably is. It knows it can mock me with impunity because I'm quite certain I will never pop the cork and get schnockered as I had once planned.

I hope the ice wine isn't becoming over confident though. I may never drink it but may pass it along to any one of my friends who enjoy partaking in alcohol infused libations.

One friend that I would love to give it to unfortunately lives on the East Coast. After much Googling I've come to the conclusion that there is no way for me to legally ship it to her. And I am no law breaker. So unless she comes to California for a visit, another friend will someday silence the ice wine and stop it from so smugly thinking it has years or decades to live here at the sanctuary. It's days are numbered. It just doesn't know it.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Intro to HTML that's Geeky but Cute!

If you know anything about HTML (HyperText Markup Language) code you'll probably find these earrings really cute and funny. If you don't know html? Probably not so much.

For those of you unfamiliar with how HTML works, whenever you want to denote the start of an action you use these brackets <>around a word or letter used to describe the action. When you want to stop the action you repeat the command but add a forward slash before the word or letter which means to end the command.

Here are some html basics:



Back to the earrings... head = where the meta information like keywords, the page title, website description and more can be found. But if you have an earring on each side of your head I guess it could mean one side is the beginning and the other is the end. Of your head. To purchase the earrings you can CLICK HERE and go to the designers shop on ETSY.com. It currently says the item is sold out but also says you can contact the designers "nicholasandfelice's" to find out when they will be available again.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

DIY Flirty Projects

IMO (In my opinion) part of being flirty is all about being a "Can Do" kind of gal. Over the years I've learned how to do a lot of things. From designing my couture bridal accessories to changing a flat tire or patching a hole in a roof... Ummm after I drilled it open from the inside out, ooops! I own a power drill, climb ladders, and use my imagination to come up with fun new projects to work on.

I love beautiful things. I also love taking something old and giving it a new purpose in life. So I decided that I wanted to create an everyday DIY feature for those of you, who like me, like to create beautiful things yourself, even more then just buying them.

Some of the projects are from inexpensive new materials and can be finished in a single sitting with all of the instructions posted at once.

Others, like the chandelier, can be found at second hand, thrift, and antique shops are more expensive and can take days or weeks to complete. For larger more expensive projects I'll post one step each week so you can follow along as we go.

At first I was going to keep them in a separate section, but decided that putting them into the Flirty Ideas category would work best. As the site becomes more developed I'll also be adding more party ideas too!

I hope you enjoy them. If you try any of the DIY projects please send me a photo of your creation. I'll post it on site!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Créme de la Créme was a huge hit!

I'm happy to report that the Créme de la Créme Bridal Rendezvous was a huge hit! The brides and grooms showed up in force. I had an absolute blast talking to everyone! In fact I hardly had time to take a breath I was talking so much. LOL. The event was held at the Toll House in downtown Los Gatos. With a beautiful outdoor patio and an intimate ballroom the Toll House is a wonderful choice to host a wedding or private party.


Here was our Flirty Booth at the showcase. We gave out goodie bags again and sponsored another fun contest. Prizes included a custom flirty illustration created by mwa and printed on the winners choice of fun products. And another 4 winners received iTunes gift cards sponsored by "The Only DJ" Carl Mindling.





These are the adorable floral magnets Nancy Crain of Favorable Expressions put together for our Goodie Bags. One was a silk flower ornament, the other a picture frame. Sooooo cute!

This is a photo of mwa with the creator and sponsor of the show, Nicole D'Ambra. Nicole is a professional wedding coordinator and had just returned from a trip to China where she was one of 3 event coordinators, chosen as keynote speakers to represent the United States wedding industry at the Chinese International Wedding Expo.


Here are two photos of lighting by Enhanced Lighting and Sound. They clearly show the range of lighting options that are possible from whimsical...


To breathtakingly elegant.


Here is a gorgeous pink lighting wall wash in the background of Marizette Paperie's display. Marivics Card Company and Babycakes Design have undergone a fusion creating a brand new invitation company combining two of the Bay Areas best businesses into one brand new company!


My friend Bonnie Harper from One World Designs was there. Bonnie and I met years ago and have been friends ever since. Bonnie, like myself, creates custom jewelry, hair ornaments and other accessories for brides. In another world we could have viewed each other as rivals, instead we chose to be be friendly colleagues. I hadn't seen Bonnie for a few years so it was wonderful to catch up with her before and after the show and see all of her new gorgeous accessories.


And of course there were some TFG professionals at the show. David Ethridge of A Video Reflection just happened to be across the way from me. His display was gorgeous! I'll admit it. I had booth envy. OK, here's why. Look at the area behind Dave's booth. It's a really cool arc with a custom sign hanging from it. Now look behind my display. See the difference? Can you imagine how great my display would look with a cool backdrop like his made with our flirty colors? Oh it would be sooooo cute! Someday, someday.






Gorgeous! Gorgeous! Gorgeous table designs by Nicole D'Ambra! The flowers adorning the entire show from ballroom to terrace were designed and provided by Asiel Designs. Every time I turned around there was Jonathan setting up yet another stunning display. In the ballroom, the lobby, the terrace, their wonderful arrangements were everywhere. The table settings were from Classic Party Rentals and the table linens by Wildflower Linens.

Here was my favorite. It was the "Flirty" table.


And the "Elegant" table...


The "Rock Star" table...




More TFG peeps! Carl Mindling, always the team player, came to lend a hand setting up the show. And that's Jenny Voight from Satura Cakes who had just arrived to set up her display but stopped for a quick photo op. Yummmmmm Satura cake. I think I'm due for a visit!


A classic tiered cake by Satura Cakes.


LOL I LOVE these photos! More TFG Peeps! That's wedding coordinator Jean Marks and DJ Ron Grandia having fun in the photo booth! How memorable would that be? Renting a photo booth for your reception or event and letting your friends ham it up for the camera. Jean stopped by to say hello, and Ron, like Carl, came just to pitch in and help out.


The Photo booth was provided by Photoworks Interactive.

I also had my first cup of chai tea made just for me by Travlin' Joe. I got some great photos and will tell you in great detail about my cup of tea later this week. For now I'll tell you it was fabulous and I loved it!


The linens for the show were provided by Wildflower Linens. From ruched to sequined to beaded table covers, and beautifully draped and bustled chair covers, their pieces were simply stunning. Seriously, a lot of their table covers are made of the same fabrics couture evening gowns could be made of. One look at their samples and all you can think is "WOW" the possibilities are limitless!


Feet in the Sand Pedicures was a new company I met for the first time yesterday. I've only had one pedicure in my life. It was great. My feet had never looked so pretty ever before, or ever after that time for that matter. My friend and colleague, Jewel Savadelis and I had a girl's night, got pedicures then went out to dinner after. It was great fun! We might just have to do it again.


I also met Mura Wines for the first time. Winemaker Ron Mura was awarded the Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 Best of Show - Red Wines at the San Francisco Bay Area Wine Competition Some of you might find interesting that their wines are low in sulfites & histamines.


Another well established company that was new to me was Balcy's Fine Jewelry. I'm sure if I shopped for diamonds I'd have been familiar with their company as they are another local business located in Los Gatos. Sadly, I've only bought myself diamonds, once, years ago. It was a tiny, estate band with itsy, bitsy channel mounted stones on it's face. Being engaged I had to get used to wearing a larger stone on my hand. When my husband proposed one of the first things I told my friends was "The ring is too big" to which they replied I could have it resized. I laughed and said no I meant the stone was too big, for me. For my taste. They all thought I was crazy. Looking back I have to agree. I love my ring now. Exactly the way it is, with the once too big stone and all :o)