Farewell to two dear old friends...

I am so sad to report that our beloved Mr. Noahnie and his brother Meema have both passed away. Those who knew Noah and us will understand how a keystone of our family has been pulled out from under us. Noah was a great cat, a great friend, so loyal and sweet, the inspiration for a T.V. craft show and many songs and jingles, Meema was the undercat, the unlikely champion, with a voice, the clearest blue eyes and a sweet essence. Their spirits lives on in all of us...after almost 15 years together, our hearts are sad, but both of their health conditions had seriously declined and it was time.

Explaining death to a 2. 5 year old has been a heartbreaking part of the process-but I think we are going to make it. Time does numb the sadness a bit...

Creative Women Collaboration

(All photos in this post by the lovely and talented, Brea McDonald) Dear friends of mine, and fellow wedding professionals, Brea McDonald, Dawn Kelly and Meg Simone recently participated in an exciting project for women filmakers recently in the Bahamas.

I am so proud of them, I wanted to share the story and to encourage women everywhere to fulfill our creative selves.

Professional event filmmakers and photographers from across the globe gathered recently on a cruise to the Bahamas for POSH 2010, an educational workshop and retreat for women. Inspired by their shared experiences in their visual industry, the group spontaneously decided to use their creative gifts to craft a short film illustrating the positive power and passion of women in the film industry.

Shot on location at POSH 2010, “Women Create” was directed by Maura Coleman-Murray and Kara Jensen, filmed by Maribeth Ratajczyk and Luiza Perkowska, and edited by Meg Simone. All 42 POSH 2010 attendees collaborated on the piece.

Welcome Baby Everett!

A dear friend of mine, Sara of Griffin-vites just had her baby boy, Everett York O'Brien and I couldn't be happier for her! She is a going to be a super incredibly wonderous mommy-she is divine and so stylish, even in the throes of late pregnancy! Here is little beautiful Everett in his bed with his quilt!

(Geneve Hoffman Photo)

Earlier this summer I attended a baby shower for Sara my gift was an "Everett a quilt" in his colors of Scandinavian blue, cream, white and oatmeal. It was my first time making my own quilt binding and I can say I think I will never go back to store bought!

(Geneve Hoffman Photo)

Being a stationery designer, I thought Sara would appreciate some seat binding and vintage yo-yos to adorn the outside of the gift!

Welcome aboard Everett! I can't wait to meet you!

New Hamspshire Lakeside Wedding

Clients of mine, Laurie and Spencer were married on Lake Winnepesaukee in New Hampshire recently and Style Me Pretty published their wedding story and images, you can read the post here. So exciting! Maine Seasons Events provided planning, coordination and also event design in collaboration with Laurie the bride and Susan of Lakes Region Floral Studio.

Here is the list of people who helped me to make this wedding a success:

Flowers, centerpieces, ceremony decor, tent decoration: Susan-Lakes Region Floral Studio

Photography- Mat & Ash

Venue: The Margate Resort

Tent & Rentals: Eric-Lakes Region Tent

Music: The Ariel Band

Catering: Curt's Caterers

Custom Linens: Divine Inspirations

Congratulations Laurie & Spencer! It was a treat to plan your wedding with you!

Summer Garden Design on Style Me Pretty!

My dear friend Corbin Gurkin recently photographed a table top design I created, along with another dear friend, Judy of Flora Fauna, who created the incredible floral arrangements and bouquets, and low and behold! It was featured on Style Me Pretty's main page on Monday, what fun!

You can see all of the pictures and read the story behind the design here. Thank you Corbin and Judy, always a pleasure to work with you both!

How lucky I feel to get to work with such incredible talent and such incredible women every day.

Sometimes all a girl needs is a few people to say, "Let's do it!" or " Why not?".

I love seeing an idea come to life in reality and watching it take shape, as I set it up and incorporate the work of other creative souls. The communication process to get from an idea in my head, sprinkling in some ideas of other people's heads, to a real design is such a positive challenge. Here is a challenge for all of you: do something creative. Today! Just try it and let me know what you come up with!

Love & Lobster Coastal New England Weddings

(Photo: Brea McDonald Photography)

My old friend and guru photographer, Emilie Sommer has started a new blog called Love & Lobster, Coastal New England Weddings. Aside from the cute graphics, font and colors, it is filled with good details, and as always, in true Emilie fashion, filled with useful and great information.

There are links to great finds, pictures and articles with fun wedding ideas, trends and vendor features which give an inside and informative look into the workings of Maine wedding professionals.

You can read another of my dear friends' features here, Judy of Flora Fauna reveals things in her interview that I didn't even know about her!

(photo by Flora Fauna)

Another talented colleague, Joanne of Joya Beauty was also featured, one of the reasons I love living and owning a business in Maine-the great network of professionals who support each other, celebrate and encourage each other.

(Photos, L: Audra Photography, R: Flora Fauna)

And Love & Lobster recently featured Maine Seasons Events and yours truly in a vendor interview, so if there is anything you want to learn about me, my process or inspiration as it relates to wedding design and planning, hop on over to Love and Lobster and read my interview. Love & Lobster may be a new blog, but is already making waves!

(Photo: Brea McDonald)

Missing in Action

It is hard for me to believe that it has been since May 23rd that I posted....tisk, tisk! I have been so intentionally busy and anyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I am a habitual life stuffer. I tend to pack as much living, activity and creativity into every possible second as humanly or inhumanly possible...so I am back, to fill you in on a bit of what has been going on around here.

Summer has been filled with weddings, and I am wishing I could share some delish pictures, but those are slated for bigger blogs than my own, so we will have to wait on those a bit. I will post then when I am free to do so, I can't wait to show and tell the details!

We have managed to get the camper out on the road a few times, you know, in between weddings and meetings and photo shoots, and sometimes last minute. (Don't forget to bring a can opener when you go camping, even if you decide to go camping the night before you leave!)

There has been some hiking, swimming, adventure and sweet childhood summer memories in the making...we are watching our baby grow into an almost 3 year old, with a wit, tenacity and determination to rival even my own.

There have been tide pool explorations, many, many flower identifying lessons, swimming/floating exercises, ice cream shop visits, sandcastles and countless hours of e-mail, wedding designing, planning and execution.

There have been some major garden installations, changes, and additions, and we are also preparing ourselves to lose one of our beloved 15 year old cats to kidney cancer...

I will be back as often as I can in the coming weeks, this is my busiest month of the summer with a wedding every weekend, so stay tuned, I didn't fall off the face of the Earth!