Empowering women and home-based businesses in our neighbourhood!

What a great idea and concept - last night I participated in the Stonebridge Ladies Night Out event that showcased a variety of home-based businesses. The event was held at the Stonebridge Golf and Country Club and the turn out was fantastic - over 200 came to show their support. I met lots of very interesting women - both as attendees and as exhibitors in various stages of their business.

The exhibitors in the room ranged from Esthetics from Peacock Esthetics and Make Up Artists to to creative design ideas from Uppercase Living. Right beside me was Jennifer Bailey, a very talented photographer with beautiful images to showcase. We were able to chit chat over the course of the night and although she does mostly family and newborn portraits, I truly hope that we are able to work together on an event. On the other side of me was Amy from Stampin Up who started her business 6 months ago and she's only in her 20's. It's always great to see women entrepreneurship thrive at any age.

Between the laughs, drinks and food, I did end up making a deal with one woman who visited my table - her proposal...if I can find her a potential husband, she'd hire me as her Wedding Planner in a heartbeat - potential for a new service ;)

Thanks to all the ladies for a great night...looking forward to the next one!

AS A FOLLOW ON TO THIS EVENT...MY PICTURE IS IN THE BARRHAVEN INDEPENDENT - WOW THANKS!!!

Unique touch...seasonal and sustainable

I had the pleasure of attending a great event tonight that featured menu samples from the Whalesbone Catering Company. On this rainy night, I ventured out to find myself at the corner of Kent and Arlington joining over 80 others to check out first hand what the Whalesbone Catering offers its clients. We were treated to sample delicious seasonal food, local wines and Kichesippi beer. There was the opportunity to try an oyster while they were shucking.

What I thought was interesting was that I found out they are "Ocean Wise" Certified -this means that "when sourcing suppliers for oysters and finfish, they are conscious of the status of the stocks, and also the method of harvest or catch." This is truly unique for a full service catering company. It is apparent that they care that much more in the food they serve! Not only was the food a delight, I also had the pleasure of meeting Kate, Chief of Catering & Event Coordinator. Not only was she fun to talk to but her style and grace in speaking about the Company's uniqueness and service sold me. Definately looking forward to working with her and her staff on an event very soon!

And some bragging rights for this them is that their very own Charlotte Langley will be competing in the Gold Medal Plates competition on Tuesday November 16th National Arts Centre.

If you have a chance, you should visit their Oyster House at 430 Bank Street - maybe I'll see you there one night for dinner.

Picture perfect...

Often I recommend to my clients that they choose a photographer carefully. It is very important that they need to feel comfortable with this person - not only will they be spending a lot of intimate time with them, they are expected to capture the couple's most beautiful and memorable moments. If my clients are not comfortable with the photographer they've chosen, the pictures won't lie - what a huge disappointment it can turn out to be.

This advice is easy enough to provide to my clients but this last Sunday I realized how hard it was if you're like me. I avoid (at all cost) having my photos taken but recently I gave in. My thoughts, "How hard could this be?". Low and behold, even my dear friend Nat of NDS Photography was not ready for the challenge - poor lady she didn't know what she was up for.

I thought it would be even better if I invited our newest addition to Beyond Events, Allison, to join us that afternoon. Unlike me, Allison adores having her pictures taken so she was enjoying every minute - what a gorgeous lady ;)

Although the first 15 mins were a slow start (for me), the rest of the afteroon was filled with Allison cracking jokes and Nat making funny faces (yes like a child having their photo taken...I too needed distractions to make me smile naturally). We ended up having a great time, walked around the Byward Market area, and took some fantastic shots while the weather was gorgeous!

Expert photographers are worth the money spent...they are able to position and direct you, figure out the best lighting (use it to their advantage) and best of all make someone like me smile and forget that photos were ever taken!

THANKS Nat and Allison for a great time!

Paint Canada Pink Week 2010!

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure event is the largest single day volunteer-led event dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research AND 95% of net proceeds from our Run stay in the region they were raised in - GO OTTAWA!

This year I had the pleasure of volunteering as the Promotions Coordinator and I could not have done it without the great support from local Ottawa businesses. Many businesses were excited by the idea of "thinking pink" and in helping us promote breast cancer awareness!

The events planned for the Ottawa-Gatineau area took place from July 18 - 25, 2010 and were mostly hosted at the Hazeldean Mall.

1) The week started off with our official kick off and went right into our first event of speed networking presented by Fuchsia Factory.

2) We had free cupcake decorating for kids sponsored by Little Cakes.

3) For the young at heart, we coordinated the Hazeldean Mall Walk club to join us in walking laps around the mall - 3 laps around the mall is equal to 1km and that 15 laps is equal to 5km or the length of the Run on Oct 3.

4) We also catered to the animal lovers at the Pink wag n' walk at Bruce Pit - dog biscuits donated by Hazeldean Mall and the pink poop bags were compliments of our Co-Run Director, Paul.

5) The final weekday we had the pleasure of NDS Photography to sponsor one free 5x7 for each child that booked an appt with her at the mall - those little muchkins in pink were so cute!

6) Saturday and Sunday were information days and we heard some great stories and some not so happy ones but the message reached out to many and that's what counts for PCPW. Cupcakes for both days were donated by Chrystal's Cupcakes - yummy!



The whole week was fantastic and a real eye opener for the PCPW committee... it became much more apparent to me that breast cancer is alot more common that I had thought.

Many thanks to those special people who took time out of their personal lives to volunteer, sponsor and show their support for CBCF. I'm so lucky to be surrounded by such charitable human beings.

To find out more and see which businesses or to join our facebook page, please visit Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure - Ottawa-Gatineau. Next year will be even better as it'll be our 20th anniversary and I can't wait!

Photo courtesy of: Julie Bazinet our official CBCF CIBC Run for the Cure photographer, NDS Photography, Amna Hakim, and our other amateur photographers such as Susan Enns ;)

Official Kick off of Paint OTTAWA Pink Week

Sunday July 18th marked the official kick off of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's Paint Canada Pink Week 2010. As the Promotions Coordinator for PCPW, we chose to host our events at the Hazeldean Mallto create awareness and initiate individuals and teams to register and begin their fundraising!

We had a great afternoon warming up with Wayne our infamous Pink Fairy, admiring the beautifully designed cake (with a life size running shoe) created by It's a Matter of Cake, and enjoying the company of our special guest speakers MPP Lisa MacLeod and Councillor Marianne Wilkinson. The coffee was plenty at the Second Cup and the sound system and DJ were generously provided by Quality Entertainment.

I have to give a shout out to K6 Media for printing off some PINK running shoe prints to decorate the mall floors that led people to our booth. They were a lot of fun and kids loved jumping on them like hopscotch!

I met some inspiring people, some survivors and others who know of someone dealing with it now. The goal of this week's events was to reach more people and inspire local businesses to show support by thinking pink! We had a Paint your storefront pink contest sponsored by KISS FM and Y101 - to find out which businesses participated this year pls visit our CBCF - Ottawa- Gatineau facebook page.

We were also mentioned on the local CTV news and Metro Ottawa came out for an article they printed the very next day.


Our official photographer for the week is Julie Bazinet - many thanks for the photos!

Beyond Events' mention in Wedding Bells

What an honour and privilege to be mentioned in the latest fall & winter 2010 edition of the Wedding Bells magazine as a "Planning Wedding Whiz". Check it out!

Event better is to be mentioned with someone I have worked with before. I'm proud to say that I have had the pleasure of working with Byron Brydges who is a professional photographer that captures "fashionable, editorial-style" moments of a bride and groom's wedding day. Way to go Byron!

Thanks so much to the editors for choosing Beyond Events. Couples make sure to use this magazine as a resource tool for ideas from real weddings, fashion, beauty tips and travel ideas - available both print and online!

CIBC Run for the Cure Oct 3 - Go Team Go!

True to my heart and the cause I've chosen to participate in each year is the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure. This will be my 2nd year as Team Captain of "Boobies United", last year was in Toronto. It's truly a heart-warming but highly emotional experience that I think everyone should try at least once. Not only is it a relaxed run/walk event, it is so much fun to be surrounded by a sea of pink feather boas and pink bras!

To start my fundraising early, I hosted a small private Potluck for the Cure at my home with my close family and friends. Ladies indulged in relaxing spa services provided by Genesis Mobile Spa of Ottawa. Our Stella & Dot consultant, Amy Mclean, showed some beautiful jewellery to spoil ourselves, and we had the pleasure of trying wonderful, delicious dishes - shared amongst fabulous ladies with tickles and giggles. AND we had a gift prize and swag bag for each person to take home.

All in all it was a fantastic time and all for a great cause. I even managed to recruit some walkers to join my team!

If weddings and events weren't enough, I am also the Promotions Coordinator for the CBCF CIBC Run for the Cure in which we are encouraging local businesses to Paint Canada Pink from July 19-25th. There are already a host of businesses that have signed up and KISS FM will be hosting a contest to win $2000 in free online advertising! To find out more information about PCPW, please join our Ottawa-Gatineau Facebook fan page.

Interested in participating in PCPW, joining my team or finding out more information about the October 3rd event, feel free to contact me.