July 3, 2009

Happy Birthday America!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Fourth of July and takes the time to remember what a great country we live in and even though she is struggling right now we shall persevere. We are a nation of strength, diligence and compassion and that is what will and always has gotten this great nation of ours through all her tests and trials.

Enjoy your family and friends this holiday weekend and don't forget to take a moment to remember those who have sacrificed and who are sacrificing for this great nation of ours. Freedom is not free and anything worth having does not come easy.

God Bless America!

{photo courtesy of Shane Horten}

July 2, 2009

Face Paint Recall

I just received this information from the Event Planners Association; and have attached a copy of the actual FDA recall notice for your information.

FDA Alerts Consumers to Recall of Water-Based Face Paints
Fun Express, Inc. recalls children’s face paint associated with adverse events

The Food and Drug Administration is advising consumers to stop using certain cosmetic "Face Paint" items labeled as distributed by Oriental Trading Co., Omaha, Neb., due to adverse event reports of skin reactions in children. These items were distributed nationwide.

The FDA has learned of a cluster of adverse events in children exposed to various colors of the face paint. All exposures occurred on the same day at an organized event and included rashes, itchiness, burning sensation, and swelling where the face paints were applied. Significant microbial contamination was indicated in most of the products in testing by an FDA laboratory.

The following Face Paints manufactured by Shanghai Color Art Stationery Company Limited, Shanghai, China, are being voluntarily recalled by Fun Express Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Oriental Trading Co.:

Item Number Product Description Universal Product Code (UPC)
85/2077 Blue Face Paint 8 8760048110 7
85/2078 Purple Face Paint 8 8760048112 1
85/2079 Red Face Paint 8 8760048114 5
85/2080 Orange Face Paint 8 8760048116 9
85/2081 Black Face Paint 8 8760048118 3
85/2082 Green Face Paint 8 8760048120 6

Fun Express Inc. is recalling the face paints from the market and FDA advises consumers to stop use of these products and discard them or return them to the retailer.

The FDA encourages consumers and health care providers to report any adverse events from face paints to the FDA as well as to state and local health authorities.

Adverse events and product quality problems can be reported to FDA's MedWatch Adverse Event Reporting program:

  • online
  • by calling 1-800-FDA-1088
  • by returning the postage-paid FDA form 3500
  • by mail to MedWatch, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20852-9787
  • by fax 1-800-FDA-0178

Photo: Product Label: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/cosadv.html

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm152301.htm



Dang Economy


Dang this darn economy. A month or so ago I was contacted by LAX, yup thats right Los Angeles International Airport to prepare a holiday decorating price quote for them. This was to be the first year that they had ever done holiday decorating at the airport. After doing many happy dances, and telling everyone around here that I was going to decorate for the world I got my price quote done.

Just the idea of decorating LAX for the first time was so exciting and it wasn't that I don't decorate for some great clients, but the people who would be seeing my work would be coming from everywhere, it was pretty cool.

BUT my bubble burst and I just got the call that due to the economy they were going to wait, dang it, dang it, dang it. But I totally understand and I look forward to the opportunity next year, things will change they have to. But dang it, dang it, dang it!!

Photo credit; photobucket.com



July 1, 2009

Fancy As Nancy Party


Yeah finally had a chance to get the Fancy as Nancy party photos up! Trying to be organized in the middle of my third custom party in 4 weeks with another one in less than two weeks and another one after that and another one after that in 3 weeks............whew now I'm tired again just thinking about them all.

I would love to make a nice collage of photos for the blog but unfortunately time does not permit, I'm anxious to get the Beach Party photos up from a few weeks ago. So instead of a nice photo collage here is the link to the photo gallery .

The chandeliers are new to my arsenal and I love them because you can use them with a light bulb in them or take the whole light bulb attachment out for day time use. Which is great because it would look silly with a light bulb hanging in it and not turned on. They were a fabulous find and I can't wait to use them lit up. Before we added the feather boas to the canopy the canopy was looking very sexy and ready for a grown up night time party. Although having said that there was a guest at the party who thought she would like to have the whole set up complete with feather boas for her 65th birthday tea with her girlfriends and the funny part is I can so see it........ so you never know Fancy as Nancy might turn into an adult party theme as well.

June 23, 2009

Part 2: The Beach Party

While I'm still sorting through all the beach party photos I thought I'd share with you part of the party entertainment. While trying to rack my brain what would be a good show for a beach party something clicked..........beach, frisbees, dog show! BRILLIANT if I do say so myself. This is the type of entertainment that you have to have a lot of room for and lucky for me we did. The next problem was finding a frisbee dog show, I had never used one before and no one I knew had either. Just an FYI there are not many out there and the odds of finding one available at the last minute are pretty much second to none. But I was determined..........and the Client was willing. Lucky for me I found Disc Dogs in Southern California.



All these dogs are family dogs and loved all the attention. What was so neat to watch was how anxious they were to get out there and perform. You could tell they loved it. Unfortunately I don't have a super fast camera but did manage to get a few photos of the dogs airborne.

It really was a very cool show and not everyday you have a client with that much space available for this type of entertainment. The dogs don't normally perform on sand but they did a great job considering they had to deal with not only the sand but the wind.


After the show the children had a chance to visit with the dogs. I would definitely say the kids had a blast (and the grown ups too). Thank you Sung and everyone at Disc Dogs you were great!!
If you have 100 feet x 30 feet of space I would definitely recommend having a frisbee dog show at your next event.

June 22, 2009

Part 1; The Beach Party

What looks wrong to you in that picture.........Hmmm maybe a few dark clouds??? Mean looking sky, maybe you think it is in the evening and is getting dark? NOT, that is 12:30 p.m. in the middle of the afteroon in the middle of June at the beach............go figure

It finally happened..........13 years I have been planning events and have never been rained on. I have come close a couple of times but knew in advance to be prepared. It finally happened no advance notice and rain out of the blue, all morning, right up to afternoon. And of all the times to get rained on in the the middle of June at the beach.....What the heck!

It would have been one thing if I even had a clue we might get rain, then shame on me for not being prepared, but get this the weather report while it was raining never mentioned rain and said 0% percent chance of precipitation. We waited and we waited for the rain to pass and no sooner would it stop raining it would start raining again. And it wasn't just rain it was wind and rain so even the things we had under cover were getting wet. We waited patiently until we could wait no more and we quickly had to come up with a Plan B, needless to say quite a few things changed rather quickly. Thank goodness we had a client with some room............

Stay tuned......to be continued