Wilton Tent Sale 2012

This year's Wilton Tent Sale starts in one week. As my regular readers know, this event is like a mini-version of Christmas for me.   I just can't wait to get my hands on all that great, discounted cake/candy/crafting stuff!

For those not familiar with the company, Wilton is famous for their cake-decorating and candy-making supplies.  But did you also know they are the makers of all things Copco, the Mario Batali Italian Kitchen line, EK Success products and....MARTHA STEWART CRAFTS?!!!

And during their once-a-year Tent Sale in Woodridge, Illinois, many of the items they make are sold at a substantial discount.  While the selection varies from year to year (some years there have been more craft items, some years it's more about the cake decorating supplies), all items are 40-75% off regular retail prices. 

Here's what I bought in:  2011, 2010 and 2009.  Substantial hauls, each and every one! This year, I'm on the hunt for all things pirate, since that will be the theme for Little Guy's 5th birthday.  These pirate cupcake liners and candy picks are on my "must have" list:

The Tent Sale runs from June 1-19.  On June 1, the sale is open 1-8pm.  After that, it is open Monday through Friday from 9am to 8pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 6pm.  Read all about the Tent Sale here.

My plan is to be there on June 3.  See you there!

Summer fun

Okay, it's still spring, but the free and fun family activities have already begun.  A few weeks ago, I took the kids to the Kane County Farm Bureau's Touch-A-Tractor event. Little Guy and Little Miss had a ton of fun (maybe too much fun--there were temper tantrums as we were leaving) and I was happy to have a free, family-friendly activity to share with the kids.

In the coming weeks, I'll be searching the web and newspapers for more fun, free family events to fill up our summer months.  As I found last summer, there is plenty to see and do around here. 

For tips on how to find free or low-cost events in your community, read this post on Living Well and Spending Less in the Summer.  Happy planning!

NYE cocktails

I'm thinking ahead to New Year's Eve, cocktails, and the possibility of staying up until midnight.  Which I doubt will happen, especially if I indulge in these cocktails, but I'm totally fine with that.

Martha has some amazing winter cocktails and champagne and sparkling wine cocktails.  These in particular have caught my eye (and my mouth):

Pomegranate-Champagne Punch

The Blizzard Cocktail

Coquito

Semifreddo Bellini

Frizzante Mojito



Prosecco Sangria

Don't those look amazing?! I don't want to pick just one, so I might make all of them, get crazy drunk and fall asleep by 9:30.  Which would mostly be a repeat of last year's New Year's Eve for me.

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve celebration!  If I can recover from all these cocktails, I'll be back bright and early on Monday morning with my New Year's Resolutions.  Happy New Year!

Manda Monday--The Auction

My garden dreams are finally coming true because of the one person in our house who couldn't care less about gardening.  No, not Barley, but The Big Guy.  Even though gardening is not his thing, he understood that I have to plant a garden this summer or my heart would explode.  And that's why he outbid a certified millionaire to get my dream garden started. 

Let me back up:  Those of you who have been here for a while know that I am a fundraiser.  This profession includes creating, planning and coordinating formal and fun events.  In April, my organization held an awesome "Under the Big Top" fundraiser that included a live and silent auction, with over 200 prizes to be won. 

One of the live auction items included a shade tree and installation, a rain barrel, and 10 members of the school's football team to do yard work for three hours.  Obviously, I had my eye on that prize ever since the items were donated and paired together.  And The Big Guy knew this.  "Oh, what I could get done with a 10-man crew for three hours!" I'm sure I said that at least once a day in the weeks leading up to the event.

So at the event, I'm working and The Big Guy is along for the ride, alternately helping out when needed and having fun when possible.  The silent auction comes and goes, and The Big Guy is outbid on every single item he went for.  Then, it's time for the live auction.  I'm on the main stage floor with the auctioneer on the elevated stage behind me, keeping track of all bids and the winners.  We come to the "Deluxe Gardening Package."  There are several bidders at first. As the price climbs, bidder after bidder begins dropping out until there are only two people left.  One, of to my left, is The Big Guy.  And the other bidder, directly in front of me, is a Very Wealthy Philanthropist. 

Now keep in mind that at the TMI Household, we do not have deep pockets. Some weeks, it feels like the only thing in our pockets is lint.  Very Wealthy Philanthropist obviously has deep pockets.  And it became quite apparent that he wanted to win this auction prize as much as The Big Guy did. 

The bidding went back and forth several times between these two, while I was positioned front and center to the audience.  As soon as I realized who The Big Guy was bidding against, I almost passed out.  I knew we couldn't afford to go as high as Very Wealthy Philanthropist could, and I also knew that The Big Guy was not going to give up on this package.  Right at the time I shot The Big Guy my best "STOP BIDDING RIGHT THIS INSTANT BECAUSE WE CAN'T GO ANY HIGHER" look (while trying to keep my composure in front of 350 people), a miracle happened.  Very Wealthy Philanthropist stopped bidding, and The Big Guy was the clear winner. 

And that's the exact moment when the garden of my dreams stopped being a dream, and started becoming reality...all because The Big Guy stuck to his guns.

Here's the rain barrel, donated to the auction by the Conservation Foundation:

Tomorrow, I'll share the shade tree installation with you, followed by a detailed account of what happened before and during the epic morning of yard work with the football team.  The transformation that has taken place in my front and back yards is totally and completely awesome. 

Thanks, Big Guy.  xoxo

Bloggers' Night Out!

The BlogHer conference is in New York City this year, and the creative team at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is hosting a Bloggers' Night Out party tonight. 

And they invited me!

But, sadly, I can't go for the following reasons:

1. It's a Thursday night, and I work.  Believe or not, blogging is not my job.  I actually have a 9-5 gig where real, live people are subject to my crazy stories and random outbursts.  While they might appreciate a break from me, my job duties will not allow for a quick jaunt to NYC for a two-hour event.

2.  Little Guy and BabyGirl must be cared for.  Since that caregiver must have opposable thumbs, this leaves out Barley.  Actually, getting a babysitter wouldn't be that big of a deal, but I would miss them and I think they are still way too young to have mommy away overnight. 

3.  I got the invitation a week in advance, and no accompanying plane ticket.  Maybe it got lost on the internet? Plus, I really need more time to plan.  I'm just a planner, you know?

4.   See the last sentence of reason #2. 

5.  I don't have anything to wear.  Unless this event is all about denim capris and t-shirts, which I seriously doubt.

Lots of fellow Martha fanatics will be there, and I look forward to seeing all the pictures on their blogs.  Have fun, everyone!  Say "Hello" to Martha for me!

Thank you cookies

Recently, I planned a donor/volunteer appreciation event for work. It was hosted by a board member in his home, and featured catered hors d'ouervres and bar service. The evening was lovely.

In order to add my own touch and show the host how much I appreciated his support, I made Thank You cookies for all the guests.

I used a simple sugar cookie recipe, but substituted lemon extract for the usual vanilla extract. Yum!

The cookies were packed in cellophane wrappers and taken to the event in a basket. Here, the basket is simply for transportation purposes--it was the perfect size to hold all the cookies upright and snug, but not smashed, for the trip.

The cookies were displayed on a nice silver tray at the site, and guests grabbed one as they headed out the door for home. I know I've said it before, but cookies make such great favors. They can be made to fit any occasion and theme, people enjoy taking them, and they are so tasty. Yum!

Visit to the Four Seasons Chicago

As part of my job, I occasionally tour various hotel/meeting sites in Chicago to scout an event locale. Today, I went to the Four Seasons Chicago, located across from the John Hancock building, for a tour of their renovated ballroom and lunch.

The staircase up to the ballroom is amazing. It might be my favorite feature.

The baby grand piano overlooks the stair landing. The piano is available for use by any group coming into the Four Seasons--just bring your own piano player.

The artist behind the renovation did a skyscape as the background for the chandelier in the ballroom's lobby.

The renovated space includes a built-in registration desk for groups needing to do their own check-in of event guests. As someone who has spent a great deal of time doing just that, it was nice to see that the Four Seasons had put some thought into this.

This lobby area, right outside of the ballroom, is perfect for a cocktail reception. The bar set-up is behind the mirrors, and there is another at the opposite end of the room.

The renovated ballroom is beautiful. I toured the space last year, and the main color scheme was pink and taupe. Nice for a wedding in the 80's, but not very useful for other events.

Now the color scheme is a nice tan and muted green, with accents of gold and blue. It is much more neutral and can be a suitable background for a greater variety of events. For those who think background things like wallpaper and carpet don't matter, I would tell you to think again. When you have a beautiful, well-kept meeting space, you don't have to spend much money decorating it. The room will speak for itself. And in this economy, things like this can make a difference when choosing an event site.

The Four Seasons Chicago has a variety of furniture throughout the various lobbies and spaces, including lots of china cabinets that showcase antique dishware. It is both elegant and homey.

I was impressed with the renovated space. Lunch was nice, too. :)

Event recap and awesome vendors

Several weeks ago, I wrote about a work event I was planning at the InterContinental Hotel in Chicago. The event went very well. I, and my colleagues who planned the event, could take all of the credit for this. But that credit is not all ours to take, and doing so would leave out a tremendous group of people: our vendors.

One of the most important things you can do to have a successful event is to choose great vendors: the photographer, venue staff, florist, graphic designer and everyone else has to be top-notch. When you have top-notch vendors, you can trust them to do a terrific job, so you can focus on the point of your event (getting married, fundraising, movie premiere, whatever). And in this case, I had top-notch vendors who were absolutely amazing.

Monika Lee does all of our photography. Monika is one of my favorite vendors to work with, as she strikes the delicate balance between professional and fun. And how she works is just incredible. One minute, she is seated for dinner. The next, she is hanging off the balcony to get a perfect shot. And the thing is, none of the guests ever even notice her hanging from the chandelier. Monika gets the picture but never gets in the way of the event. And that is much appreciated by everyone.

Kehoe Designs does our centerpieces for the dinner tables. They make amazing creations, and they can work with any budget.

This year I brought a new vendor, Jean, into the mix. Jean is a graphic designer and we are quasi-related. I had seen several samples of her work in the form of the awesome announcements and invitations she's made for her family over the years. Jean is even in the process of starting her own company, Purple Door Press. So when I asked her to do the invitation and program for the event, I knew she'd do a good job.

But Jean didn't do a good job. She did a SPECTACULAR job by creating original and unique materials for our event. One guest purchased tickets based on the invitation design alone. So, not only is Jean a super-awesome gal pal, but she is an amazing talent. And super-wonderful to work with. Thanks, Jean!

Our event was at the InterContinental Hotel. I've worked with Leonardo (Catering Sales Manager) for several years and he is a pleasure to work with. In fact, everyone at the InterContinental is a pleasure to work with. The setting is beautiful, the food is delish, and the service is beyond. Beyond!

Our banquet manager, Tomasz, manages the event from start to finish. He manages it so well that once the event begins, I am largely free to enjoy it, rather than run all over the place making sure people are on schedule and doing their jobs. During the cocktail hour, I expressed my appreciation to Tomasz.

When dessert was served, Tomasz returned the favor.

When you give love to your top-notch vendors, they often give it right back. In the form of "Chocolate Decadence Cake." It might be the yummiest love there is.