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The Holidays are officially here and San Diego has so much to offer to get you in the spirit! Lynsey put together some of our favorite holiday activities around town.
Friday Five- December in San Diego
1. How The Grinch Stole Christmas
Come enjoy one of America’s favorite holiday fables, Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Now playing at the Old Globe Theater until December 26th. Tickets will range between $42.00 – $72.00 per person. Get your tickets fast, because it will sell out!
2. Ice Skating
Be active this holiday season by skating at one of San Diego’s out door ice rinks! The Hotel del Coronado is celebrating the sixth anniversary of Skating by the Sea! The oceanfront Windsor Lawn is transformed into a spectacular ice rink until January 2nd. Three-hour sessions cost $20 for adults and $15 for kids ages 10 and under. The two-hour matinee session costs $15 for adults and $10 for kids ages 10 and under. Skate rentals are available for $5. Part of the skating proceeds will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego. What a great way to get in the Holiday spirt!
Horton Plaza also has holiday skating under the city lights until January 11th. Come with family and friends bundled up in your warm winter coats, caps, and mittens! The price is $14/$12 per person and part of the proceeds will benefit Children’s Hospital.
3. December Night in Balboa Park
December Nights in Balboa Park is a time to enjoy San Diego’s largest free community festival in San Diego. For two nights (December 3rd and 4th) Balboa Park will he having holiday entertainment, wonderful food, and beautiful holiday lights. The festivities will be going on Friday December 3rd from 5:00-10:00 pm and Saturday from 12:00-10:00 pm. Participating museums will be offering free admission both nights from 5:00-9:00 pm.
4. Holiday of Lights
Come see the largest animated drive-through light show on the West Coast at the Del Mar Fair Grounds. Enjoy the Holiday of Lights Show driving in your car, or on the holiday hayride and enjoy it the old fashioned way. The price is $14.00 per car, for up to 5 people. The holiday hayride is $10.00 per person and includes: the light show, hot chocolate or cider and a holiday cookie. The light show will be playing until January 2nd Sunday-Thursday 5:30-10:00 pm and Friday-Saturday 5:30-10:30 pm.
5. San Diego Bay Parade of Lights
For two Sundays in December come see San Diego Bay Parade of Lights! The parade of boats will start at Shelter Island (5:30 pm), Harbor Island (6:00 pm), The Embarcadero (6:30 pm), Seapoint Village (7:00 pm), and the Ferry Landing on Coronado (7:30). On December 12th and 19th come sit by the water and enjoy the amazing holiday boat parade. If you own your own boat, get in on the fun and be creative! There are awards for the most lights, creative use of lighting, music, crowd engagement, and many more.
Happy Black Friday!
Happy Shopping!
Happy Holidays!
In continuing with our week of THANKS, we are grateful for Thanksgiving Cocktails. Spice things up a bit with a few of our favorite holiday treats…
Cran-be-Granate Martini
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) vodka, chilled
2 cups (16 ounces) cranberry juice cocktail, chilled
2 cups (16 ounces) pomegranate juice, chilled
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Directions
In a large punch bowl or pitcher, combine all the ingredients.
(You can cover and refrigerate for up to several hours.)
Add ice and ladle into martini glasses or plastic party cups.
Mulled Red Wine Sangria
Ingredients
1 bottle Spanish red table wine
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup brandy
3 tablespoons sugar
1 orange, thinly sliced
1 lemon, thinly sliced
Directions
Combine wine, juice, brandy and sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat and heat until the sugar has melted.
Add the orange and lemon slices and let simmer for 5 minutes.
Serve in heat resistant glasses.
Pilgrim Cocktail
Ingredients
1 cup orange juice
1 cup cranberry juice
1 cup vodka (non-alcoholic substitute: sparkling water)
Mint sprigs, for garnish
Directions
Mix all in a chilled pitcher filled with ice.
Pour into chilled glasses and garnish with mint. If desired, place a dollop of leftover cranberry sauce in the bottom of each glass before filling with Seabreeze mixture.
Persimmon Margarita
Ingredients
1 3/4 oz. tequila reposado
2-3 non-astringent persimmons, such as fuyu
1/2 oz. simple syrup (1:1) or agave nectar
1 oz. lime juice fresh-squeezed
Cinnamon-salt (1:1) for the rim
Minced hot peppers to taste—
Rim a cocktail glass with a mixture of cinnamon and salt
Directions
Spread the mixture on a salad plate, wet the rim with a lime wedge and dip it in the mixture.
In a blender or juicer, puree persimmons (skin and all), adding simple syrup to taste.
Puree with hot peppers, if desired. In a shaker, combine tequila, 1 1/2 oz. persimmon puree and lime juice.
Shake with ice and strain into the rimmed glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.
Variation: Pour over crushed ice or blend all ingredients with ice for a frozen margarita.
These adorable Paper-Source DIY place cards are just another reason to be thankful this holiday season. Each of the place card kits include all the assorted pre-cut paper products needed. You’ll just need scissors, double sided tape and a glue stick to complete the charming projects. Perfect for a small dinner party or a large family Thanksgiving feast!
We are thrilled to welcome Lynsey as our newest intern and member of the LBE team!What are you most excited about with your new internship?
I am really excited about how much I will learn, from the initial planning stages to the big day! It is exciting to think that I will be working with such a talented team.Tell us a little about yourself….
I recently moved from Wisconsin to sunny California after graduation from UW-Green Bay. Family and friends are very important to me. I have a passion for art, design and sports. My interest in event planning started in college where I worked as a wedding planner assistant at a botanical gardens.Why do you want to get into the event industry?
I enjoy helping others, and want to be a part in making their special day. Event planning lets me use my eye for small details to make the day truly special.What will you bring to the LBE Team?
I will bring a desire to learn, an ability to be open and listen to the ideas of the clients, while sharing my love for art and design.Describe your personal style?
My style is contemporary, with a burst of color. I usually follow the trends, but always add my own personality to things.Favorite Color
My favorite color is Pink !Favorite Season
Favorite Season is Summer, I love the warm weather.Favorite Magazine
My favorite magazine is Woman’s Health because fitness is in important aspect in my life. I have set a goal to run the Carlsbad half marathon in January with my mother.Favorite Book
I love Emily Griffin’s Book series: Something Borrowed, Something Blue, Baby Proof, and Love The One You’re With. They are all a must read!
Grooms Advice {dot} com had Michael Andrews guest blogging on the top 5 men’s wedding attire trends for 2011. Michael is Founder and CEO of Michael Andrews Bespoke – New York’s Designer Custom Tailor that crafts high-end yet affordable menswear with a modern flair.
Michael Andrew Bespoke’s Top Five Groom’s Attire Trends for 2011
1. For formal weddings, we are seeing a real trend toward slim fit one-button midnight blue tuxedo with peak lapels. Dark blue looks richer under evening light and provides a better contrast against the black satin on the lapels. When the jacket is cut trim through the waist, the peak lapels help accentuate the shoulders for a flattering silhouette.
2. We are also seeing a strong trend toward less formal weddings. Roughly half of the wedding outfits we make are suits instead of tuxedos. For destination weddings and daytime summer weddings, we see a lot of cotton and linen suits. For evening weddings, we are doing a lot of charcoal grey and midnight blue suits.
3. We are also seeing very few tuxedo shirts with traditional pleats or a bib front. Most guys are opting for a more simple, updated style. The most popular is a classic spread collar shirt made in a rich piqué fabric that gives the shirt a more luxurious and formal appearance. The hidden button front offers a clean, formal look and eliminates the need for tuxedo studs.
4. A return to the bowtie. For the past few years, long black ties had eclipsed the traditional bowtie in popularity, but we have seen the bowtie come back strong this year. Opt for an oversized velvet bowtie to make a statement.
5. The perfect groomsman gift: matching custom shirts and ties. It gives a degree of consistency to the wedding party while still being personalized to each groomsman.
Thank you Michael Andrews and Grooms Advice{dot}com!
This week, the name of the game is etiquette and we are focusing on invitation enclosures. The first signature piece of your wedding that your guests will receive should be of the utmost importance. With the help of Martha Stewart and the Emily Post Institute, we have highlighted the five essential pieces of the invitation suite.
Friday Five- Essential Invitation Enclosures
1. Event Card- If you’ve planned extra events for all the guests — a welcome dinner, rehearsal dinner, a round of golf on Saturday morning, a post-wedding brunch just to name a few — it’s a good idea to put this information into the invitation as well. This information can also go on the wedding website, but that that’s not a substitute for a direct invitation.
However, if not everyone is invited to everything, use separate invites. Including those events in the invitation may lead your guests to think that everyone is invited, creating awkward situations when a conversation reveals that someone was left out.
2. Response Card- Even though they’re not required, hosts have been providing reply cards in self-defense for so long that now most guests expect them — with stamps, even. If you decide to use one, you can choose a separate card with self-addressed envelope, or a postcard. Give them a deadline, and a place to write their names and whether they’re coming. (Smart tip: Since people sometimes forget to write their names on the reply card, number your guest list, and then lightly pencil the proper number on the back of each reply card before tucking it into the addressed invitation.)
3. Reception Card- When the reception will be held at a venue other than the ceremony site, a reception card lets you move extra information like the address onto another sheet — this is especially useful if you want to include the address. Reception cards used to be enclosed when some guests were invited to the ceremony only; those invited to the reception as well got the card tucked into their invite. But this option is generally considered not to be polite anymore.
4. Map and Direction Card- In this day of in-dash GPS units and online map services you can embed in your wedding website, a paper map for a single location may seem unnecessary and wasteful. (If you decide not to enclose a map, do include the street address on the invitation.) But when you want to tell your guests about the neighborhood (great restaurants for lunch, the best place to park, sites that are of a particular interest to you), an edited map can be a charming addition.
5. Website Enclosure - In the technological and ecological age, mentioning the wedding website on your invitation is completely acceptable. Place the web address, or URL, in the lower left corner of the invitation, in the spot traditionally used for noting R.S.V.P. information. If your invitation is getting crowded, a business-card-size enclosure can convey this data (it can function as an at-home card as well, giving people your post-wedding contact info for their address book).
Added Bonus (because it is Friday and everyone deserves a bonus!)…
Do’s and Don’ts of Wedding Invitations
Wedding Invitation Do’s
- Do allow plenty of time. Plan enough time in your schedule to carefully address, assemble, and mail your invitations.
- Do get organized. Develop a system for addressing and mailing your invitations. Prepare by gathering the names and addresses of everyone on your guest list. Arrange each piece that goes into an invitation in a stack, in the order it will be picked up, assembled, and inserted into the envelope.
- Do ask for help. Invite friends, family or bridal attendants to help assemble invitations.
- Do use the names of all guests when possible. It is much warmer and more welcoming to use the correct names of those who will accompany your guests on invitations instead of “and guest.”
- Do use Correct Titles. It’s flattering when invitations are addressed correctly. This means using appropriate titles and spelling names correctly. When in doubt, ask before addressing.
Wedding Invitation Don’ts
- Don’t forget to include any appropriate inserts, such as maps, directions or hotel information for out-of-town guets.
- Don’t include registry or gift information with your invitation. It is in poor taste to insert a list of places where the bride and groom are registered or a checklist of the things they want and don’t want.
- Don’t use a standby guest list. When possible, invite your entire guest list at the same time rather than waiting to see how many people accept before sending out a second round of invitations. When the guest list is carefully planned, and when you consider the likelihood that 10-20 percent of invited guests typically send regrets, this approach is much more straightforward than using a standby list.
- Don’t address invitations with labels. Always address wedding invitation envelopes by hand, even when inviting hundreds of guests.
Going along with our tasty treat theme, we thought we would throw in a beverage for good measure.
SIPP is an organic beverage with multiple levels of flavor, no artificial ingredients, no preservatives and caffeine free. It offers sophisticated flavors and the fun of the classic soda you love, but without the health hazards of chemical preservatives, artificial colors and other additives.
Yummy. Earth Friendly. Sophisticated. Fun.
Put this at your bar as the upscale organic sparkling beverage for those guests not consuming alcohol.
OR…
add a little liquor and create your very own eco chic cocktail
Here are some of their recommended recipes.
Posmo Berry Sparkler
2 oz. organic vodka
4 oz. organic pomegranate juice
1 oz. fresh lime juice
1/2 oz. organic agave nectar
1 oz. SIPP – Mojo Berry
In a shaker add ice, vodka, pomegranate and lime juice with agave nectar. Shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain into a highball glass with ice. Top off with SIPP and garnish with a thin lime wheel. Enjoy!
Ginger Blossom Gimlet
2 oz. organic cucumber vodka
4-5 leaves of fresh basil
1 oz. fresh lime juice
1 oz. SIPP – Ginger Blossom
In a shaker muddle basil slightly with a muddling stick. Add ice, vodka and lime juice. Shake vigorously for 10 seconds. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Top off with SIPP and garnish with a thin cucumber wheel. Enjoy!
Late night sweet treats and comfort foods are a trend we are loving right now. Why not take it to the next level and drive in your late night munchies on a food truck. With so many options for delicious food trucks in Southern California we’ve highlighted some of our favorites…
In ‘n’ Out Burger, From a grilled cheese to a double-double this truck will keep all of your guests happy after a fabulous night of drinking and dancing! Sodas and potato chips are served upon request (sorry no fries).
Sprinkles Cupcakes, A Los Angeles favorite with a shop coming soon to La Jolla! Cupcakes always bring a smile to guest’s faces and this sprinkles mobile couldn’t be more adorable. (@sprinklesmobile)
Chop Soo-ey, The newest member of the Cohn Restaurant Group. Owner David Cohn has teamed up with executive chef and partner Deborah Scott to debut Chop Soo-ey, which showcases Scott’s Asian fusion cuisine and her passion for barbecue. DELISH! (@choptruck)
MIHO Gastrotruck, With a changing daily menu this retro food truck is a San Diego favorite. MIHO offers fresh, homemade, gourmet versions of your favorite gastropub fare. MIHO uses seasonal produce sourced as locally as possible, all natural, sustainable meats raised without hormones or antibiotics. (@MIHOgastrotruck)
Joes On the Nose, If your guest are full from a great dinner but you still love the idea of a mobile treat, Look no further! Espressos, Lattes, Mochas….the list goes on and on for this seriously delicious bright orange organic coffee truck. (@joesonthenose)
The Best thing about all of these amazing food trucks is you can find them around town on a daily basis. Check them out on twitter and follow their daily tweets for locations and fun twitter specials.
We have officially fallen back on the clocks which means the days are getting shorter. Winter is right around the corner and along with that comes a whole new season for beautiful blooms. We have gone through and selected some of our favorites.
1. Amaryllis
2. Star Gazer Lily
3. Cosmo
4. Anemone
5. Jasmine
6. Casablanca Lily
7. Bells of Ireland
8. Camellia
9. Forget Me Not
10. Protea
11. Narcissus
LBE is smitten with Corinne of Zenbi Salon. Our brides love what her and her team create when it comes to fabulous hair. The salon is in Rancho Bernardo but we also find the Zenbi team on location.
Always professional, always styling… Thanks Corinne!
What is your favorite part of the industry?
Where do I begin….. Working in the beauty industry, and in our salon in particular, is so incredibly rewarding! To have the opportunity to invoke confidence in a persons life through the way they look is priceless. The trends are ever changing and for us, its constant stimulation to continue our education and offers a new opportunity to “re-light” that fire within. We really have great people who work at our salon and they all have a distinct passion for certain areas of the beauty industry. What’s great about our working relationships is that any technique, style or product concoction we learn as individuals, we are all willing to share to help each other succeed; in the salon world that’s actually quite rare.
In all honesty, I believe that beauty is only a portion of what you should walk out of a salon with. At our salon we want to create an “experience” and I believe our salon really captures the essence of a “day-cation”. When you drive through the gates that open up to our business complex you really feel like you have escaped your morning of hustling the kids to school, your grocery list or your job and have arrived… relaxation!
Having a passion for creating beauty in a complete strangers life, whether that be through an amazing hair or makeup creation or through a 2 hour bout of relaxation (or what I like to call a hair-apy session) is truly amazing. We’re just down to earth people who love what we do and love sharing our passions with and through our clients.
If you weren’t in the event industry, what would you be doing?
I would love to explore the world of photography. Witnessing countless transformations, emotions, and so many other amazing events in the salon, I have developed a passion for capturing those moments. For now, they are simply photos kept in my head, but I would love to actually capture that, “I cant believe… I look so good, I’m getting married, my hair can do this!” in photographs. Those moments we encounter in the salon are so inspiring, it makes what we do so much more fun. So, for now, Ill continue with awesome hair creations and being a part of making those moments happen.
Where do you draw your inspiration? Are their specific resources?
There is inspiration everywhere…. magazines, through the product lines we use, endless education and academies across the world, our fellow stylists and just in the everyday conversations with our clients. As someone with a MESS of hair, I often find inspiration in the morning styling my own hair. What would make my life easier and potentially transition into making that possible for our clients?
What is one piece of advice you would give a bride?
Schedule a trial run for your hair and makeup, We’re always confident that you will walk out of the salon looking picture perfect, but we never assume we know what that means to YOU. It’s your big day and a chance to see what you will look like is priceless. It also gives you the opportunity to wear that look for a day and send us any revisions or raves about what was done to ensure we get it just right! Oh, and have a mimosa!
What are some of the trends you see for 2011?
Volume is never out of style! Channeling the 60′s with a more modern, textural effect is all the rave. Simple curls, partnered with a texturizing product (like Bumble and Bumble’s Surf Spray) to “mess” with the glam of the 60′s, makes this a perfect look going into 2011.
bustle
Liz
Amy
