Being Busy Feeds My Creativity

I have to tell you that I have not been very good about blogging for the past two months because I have been so blessed with being busy in all areas of my diverse business. I was hired in the beginning of August by four separate clients for 5 completely different events in September, and 4 of them were within 3 days of each other and they were large events as well. It was wonderfully fun and I felt honored to be hired by these amazing people to trust me with their events. I have a few photos below of the events. The phtos are not that great or detailed, but I was so busy making sure that the events were going on smoothly since I had coordinated everything from the invitations to the food to the flowers that I didn't have time for good photography! The first 3 photos below are from the grand opening of St. John & Myers Antique & Period Jewelry here in Lexington. Their jewelry took my breath away, and working with Olivia and Louis Scholz, the owners of this magnificent establishment, delightful as well as educational, I just love jewels! If you would like to see more photos of this event, you can go to http://www.topsinlex.com/

The photo below is from the Miller home in Nicholasville, KY. The night after the St. John & Myers grand opening, the Miller's hosted a political fundraiser for one of our state Senators and they hired me to bring it all together. It was fantastic and any time that I can be around Clay and April is a pure joy and honor as well!

Eastern Kentucky University has become an incredible client recently, hiring me weekly for large events. The day after the Miller event, EKU needed 30 of the flower arrangements below.
The photo below is an arrangement I did for a wedding table setting for EKU. I love these color combinations!!!
The photo below is of a silk arrangement that I did for a client who has a very large home and a grand entry with a spiral staircase. They wanted something really pretty for fall, and I just loved the way that it turned out, and thankfully, so did they!
The trio of flower arrangements below I made for a client last week who placed her home for sale and she wanted fresh flowers for her dining room, kitchen & powder room. She has a more modern style of decorating so I had a lot of fun with her arrangements & she was thrilled with the way they turned out.

I wanted to show you one of the arrangements that I made this past Friday, I loved it so much. It was a gift for a clients mother and he wanted something that she could take back home with her to Indiana and enjoy for a while. I loved the container that I found, and the flowers looked stunning and soft spilling out of it. The next time I see her ( she hired me for her daughters wedding in November), I am going to ask her what she is using the container for...
In between all of the flowers and event planning, I have also been making jewelry. I started making jewelry about 13 years ago and I sold to Nordstrom as well as other stores around the country and some overseas as well, but when our second child was born, it just got to be too much and our girls have always come first with me, so I turned my energy in other directions. I have had a lot of fun lately playing with these pieces and I have listed some on my website, so be sure to take a peek when you have time. Below, are a couple of photos of my latest designs...


So, now I am off to meet with a client and then go & pick up some more sterling wire so I can finish up a couple of more necklaces, and then I have to pack orders and take them to the post office....I must say, I am enjoying being busy, it is a joy & when the girls get home from school, I am all theirs. It does not get much better than this.

I wish you all joy, peace & love,

Sanya

What's In A Name?

Okay, this California girl is going to admit something, I had never been to Hobby Lobby before today, and I cannot believe what I have been missing. I could have stayed in there for at least another hour scouring each aisle, but time was not on my side. You see for the last 3 years the name has kept me away, it reminded me of the 80's ducks and powder blue (sound familiar?), but I could not have been more wrong. Scroll down below to see some of the treasures I picked up today....
An etched mercury glass vase for $5.00, two iron crown hooks for $3.00 each, the crystal and fleur de lis decorative piece for $3.50, and my favorite, the cut glass container....$15.00.
Hobby Lobby is like Home Goods, Michael's and Garden Ridge all wrapped in one, but even better! On my way back home, I stopped at Home Goods and nothing compared to what I had just walked away from, and since they got a new shipment in today, I will have to make time to go back tomorrow to see if I can find any more treasures....I cannot believe that I lived here for four years and never went in!
Now, I will admit, the cut glass container did not come this way, I added the crystals to it myself. When I was on vacation back in CA this past winter, one of my best friends had pieces like this all over her home, and she let me know that they were expensive and she could only get them from a home show that another friend of hers had occasionally. Well I was bound and determined to find them and scoured the wholesale Mart in Atlanta and not one vendor had them. My mother in law, being the extremely intelligent woman that she is told me that she was pretty positive that those had been bejewelled by the seller herself, so when I came across this gorgeous piece today, I could hardly wait to get home and get to work! Now that it is all done, I think I will fill it with some pretty pink bath salts and put it by my spa tub so that I can see it each day. The moral of the story being, don't judge a book by it's name, or its cover for that matter, since in this case, their logo does their store no justice. It is worth going ladies!

XO~
Sanya

Summer's Sweet Ending

I must admit that I always look forward to fall each year. I love the cooler nights and the anticipation of the turning leaves and crisp mornings. I will miss the days at the pool with our girls, (for those who ask why, pools are only open here in the "south" from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and the sun in the pools heater. Unheard of for a native Californian, but I am getting use to it), and the "freedom" of summer, but I am so glad that they are back in school and on a bedtime schedule and that the sun is setting earlier each day. This a picture of the sunset Sunday evening from our backyard. The girls love sunset, and posing even more, can you tell?
Another thing I love about summer winding down? It's football time. I love football. I grew up going to every UCLA sporting event as a child. It was such an fun thing, one of my fondest memories of family time, is tailgating with our friends that held season tickets as well. My mom worked for a bank in Westwood, CA for 20 years and handled all of UCLA's athletics, so my brother and I really felt the perks of that. We got to meet and spend quality time with incredible athletes, many of whom went pro in different sports, so needless to say, staying up late to watch Rick Neuheisel, who often ate dinners at our home while he was quaterback at UCLA, lead the Bruins to a win last night, is worth being very sleepy today. Our girls love football too, so going to the UK games with them is fun as well. I hope that they can grow up with some of the same sweet memories that I know my brother and I did.
Lastly, I have been busy creating lately. I made these mosaics for the website and I will hopefully be posting them sometime this week in the In The Pink Exclusives category. I had so much fun with these, and I am so happy to be using some of my broken china pieces that I have not been able to bring myself to throw away. Ugh, I can barely write those last two words.....

Well, I hope you are all looking forward to fall with sweet thoughts and saying goodbye to summer with a smile knowing that there are good memories to be made in the months to come.

XO~
Sanya