Keeping up with the Blog

Keeping up with this blog has been more challenging that I thought! At the end of the day it seems sitting by my computer isn’t the thing that most excites me, but I am really happy I have it. It’s been a great way to slow down and think about my day, and it will be great to look back and see where I was a year or two from now. This week has been extremely challenging in my business. I have three events that need sponsorship: Pride Brunch, Possibilities Fashion Show, and Crossroads. It has been challenging deciding who best should be part of what event, and then to simply ask for help. It’s a lot easier said than done. I am very excited about each event and I hope that each sponsor involved understands that this will really help them build their business. I know it has helped mine just simply being involved!

Green cleaning isn’t really new at all, in fact, it’s old very old. Most of what our grandmothers used was green simply because it worked and it was what was available. The cleaning companies like any other companies have one main goal: to sale their product! So they do this by introducing new and exciting products for you to clean with. The reality is that these products end up being unnecessarily strong for the task. For instance, usually there is no need to use a scrub like comet or other scrub with bleach in it. When simply using a mixture of baking soda, water, and elbow grease will do the job just fine. Why is that better? Because the bleach in comet can make you sick and is toxic to your nervous system. It also pollutes the environment and ads additional waste just by owning the container. The best thing to ask yourself before you clean is, what is the least toxic way that I can clean this? Here is a list of items I use regularly to clean my home:

Baking Soda – Cleans anything that needs a good scrub.

Dish Soap – In a large spray bottle put 3 tablespoons soap with 3 cups water. This is your all-purpose cleaner.

Vinegar and Water – Equal parts for the best glass cleaner ever! And, the smell goes away when it dries.

Purified Water- I keep a small spray bottle of purified water around for items that are delicate. Sometimes that’s all you need to clean something is a bit of water.

Rags – I’ve almost eliminated the use of paper towels in my home by using rags, washcloths, etc. I tear up old sheets and use those to clean too. I’ve already saved 15 dollars a month in paper towels.

I really hope you will start cleaning green too! Feel free to email me for more information!

Being Green

Being green isn’t as hard as you might think. In fact everyone’s business can be a bit more green by making some small changes. For the next few days I’m going to describe some of the ways Out of Box is green. First off, I love Google so I was so happy to find http://www.blackle.com/ it’s Google, but with a black background. This black background uses less energy than the white background on Google making it far more green.

Here’s what it looks like:

Pride Brunch 2008

I’m really excited about the Pride Brunch that is coming up on June 15th! Tickets are for sale at http://www.iowatix.com/ I need volunteers for this event. If you are interested please email me at pridebrunch@inbox.com and we can send you all the information.

Here’s the details:

What is Out of Box? Day 5: Staffing and Everything Else

Staffing is a key part of any event, and something that can add a huge expense to an event. Out of Box uses contracted employees for their events, and can staff your event too. You can email Out of Box for rates on servers, bartenders, event planners, etc. Another large part of our business is customized services based on the client’s needs. Specific vendor management, finding a location for your event, help in hiring, speakers, talent, coaching. If it’s something that we cannot provide we will help put you in touch with the person, business, or group that can provide you with your need. So this is Out of Box in a nutshell – I hope to be doing business with you soon!

What is Out of Box? Day 4: Marketing

Each event has it’s own set of marketing needs. Not all event planners work with their clients on the marketing of their event. They may simply send the person to a marketing company or to an advertising agency. At Out of Box we’ve created a separate entity called In The Know where we will email to our email list and invite people on Facebook and Myspace. It’s a way of building your event by keeping people in the loop in a more grassroots fashion. If you want to stay In The Know, email intheknow@inbox.com to be added to the email list.

What is Out of Box? Day 3: Design

Taking an environment and making it into something that meets and exceeds a clients expectations can be one of the most challenging aspects of an event. Often times, what the client envisions isn’t always what they receive when working with designers. It’s really the designer’s job to communicate or demonstrate what they plan to do in a way that clients can understand – a lot easier said than done!

Below are a few photos of some of our design work:

A red carpet isn’t just for Hollywood anymore:

Each orchid bud was hand tied on these branches – Did you know that most orchids are edible?

Projectors shot the Liars Club logo on screens that we made to fit in the windows.

What is Out of Box? Day 2: Catering

One of my favorite parts of Out of Box is Out of Box Catering. My goal with Out of Box Catering is to focus on fresh, local, seasonal ingredients combined with fresh ideas to make delicious food that is presented in an interesting and beautiful way. Here is a site with some photos of the food I’ve prepared:
http://outofboxcatering.wetpaint.com/

I have multiple sample menus, lunch menus, and snack menus. You never, however, have to order from a menu. We will customize a menu for your special event or we’ll even use your recipes if you just don’t have the time to do it yourself. Please email me at outofbox@inbox.com for my sample menus or client referrals. This summer we will be purchasing most of our ingredients from the farmers market! We can ever create full organic, vegetarian, or vegan menus for you! I’m having a big birthday this summer, and I’m really excited to feature some wonderful seasonal dishes for my guest to enjoy.

Check out tomorrow’s blog for more information about Out of Box!

Here's a few photos of some of our dishes:

What is Out of Box? Day 1: Event Planning & Management

Out of Box is an LLC (Limited Liability Corporation). I actually set it up by myself with help from Max Cardenas. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be! I’d be happy to help anyone set up his or hers too! The first branch, if you will, of Out of Box is the Event Planning and Management of those events. This is any type of event from a wedding to a fashion show. Here is a temporary site that I put together with some more information about the event planning side: http://outofboxevents.wetpaint.com/

Some of the events that I’ve helped planned have been charity events, costume parties, fashion shows, music events, conferences, art shows, and of course weddings. My fees for these vary on the amount of work and the type of organization. I will customize packages and fees based on your needs.

The next big events I have going on are below:
Style Eyes (Eyewear and fashion show): May 2nd and 3rd
One Iowa House Party: May 8th
Miss Ames: May 8th
Possibilities Fashion Show at Liars: June 12th
Pride Brunch: June 15th (www.myspace.com/gaypridebrunch)
I also have a quite a few private weddings in the next few months!

It’s certainly my busy time of year, but I’m really enjoying being busy and being able to grow and learn from each of these experiences!I hope to see you at these events, please email me if you would like more info (outofbox@inbox.com).

Check out tomorrow’s blog for the 2nd branch of Out of Box!

What is Out of Box, LLC?

As some of you may know I have my hands in a lot of different things. So each day next week I’m going to explain a certain part of my business. Please comment and let me know what your thoughts are!

Our Video For Style Eyes

Check out our video for Style Eyes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p-_0JVTUaI

I hope you can make it!

Fax Me!

It really surprises me when a business either asks for my fax number or tells me that can’t email me, but they can fax me or mail me information. It’s so important for businesses to be able to email. This is the way that business is not only progressing, but has progressed for years. So if you are like me and rather not deal with faxes or even have a fax machine. Here are a couple websites you may want to use.

www.faxdigits.com
At Fax Digits they will give you a free fax number and you can receive incoming faxes for free. It will even send the fax to you in a PDF in your email. They also have some other free services like a free voicemail that is nice.

www.fax1.com
This is another great fax site because it allows you to fax for as little as .12 cents a page. You don’t need a fax machine or software. You just upload the file from you computer or type the text and fax away!

I like to keep a .jpg of my signature on the computer too. That way I can sign documents and fax or email them to people without ever printing anything! Certainly helpful for the ‘Green’ enthusiast like myself!

I hope those sites come in handy for you!

Style Eyes Update

Style Eyes, the eyewear and fashion show that I’m putting together, is really coming along quite well. We are just finalizing the details and getting all the models ready for next week. I have a very busy June so most of May is going to be getting ready for these events. Tomorrow there is a fashion and hair show at Liars Club that I will go to at 8pm. I’m going to check it out because I will be doing fashion and hair show for Sahar’s there on June 12th. Here is a photo of the ad for the show:
If you want to come to Style Eyes or this event; email me at outofbox@inbox.com and I'll get you the details!

I Do!

Want to get married? Going to get married? Well, now I can plan your wedding, cater it, and marry you! I am an ordained minister from the Universal Life Church (themonastery.org). It’s actually really easy to get ordained you just get on line and do it, and they will email you the certificate. Here’s what it looks like:

South Dakota is really in Iowa

On Saturday I had the pleasure of touring the film site for the new movie South Dakota that is being filmed in Des Moines! It was really neat to see the set and the huge transport vehicles filled to the brim with props! I always thought it would be cool to have access to thousands of props for events and parties! A friend of mine Gina McCoy is working on the set and she let me know that quite a few of the New York scenes will be shot in Des Moines – how fun is that? I couldn’t take too many photos due to confidentiality, but I was able to take a photo of these chairs:

How neat would it be to have a director chair with your name on it! Maybe someday!

Pride Brunch

I’m currently looking for volunteers for Pride Brunch 2008. Don’t know what it is? Email me and I’ll send you a volunteer packet (pridebrunch@inbox.com).
Here’s some basic info for you: If it's hard to read email me and I'll send you the info (pridebrunch@inbox.com).

Billy Joel

Last night was the Billy Joel concert at Wells Fargo Arena, and it was amazing! He had no opening act and he performed with an intermission for over two and a half hours! Oh and it sounded great! He is truly the “entertainer”. Here are a few photos from the concert. I’m sorry they aren’t better quality.
Here’s a photo of Doug and Brenda Renoe the person that took me to the concert:

Here is a photo of the concert in full swing:

Here is another photo of the concert in full swing with a really cool blue tint to it:

Ooops

Well, I invited my Facebook friends to read this blog, and unfortunately I made it seem as if I were inviting them to an actual event. So many were confused. I’ll be more clear next time. For those of you who made it here, the invite was for you to read this – my blog. After all, isn’t that the point of a blog for people to read it? I’ve really excited that I will be heading to the Billy Joel concert tomorrow! If anyone is going, let me know I’d love to get a drink with people before and after. My best girl friend and invaluable event planning assistant Brenda Renoe is taking me to the concert – what a great friend! I’ll try and snap some photos for you, but we’ll see!

Free Martha

I visited my sister yesterday at her office she has been getting Martha Stewart Weddings Magazine for sometime now, and she gave them to me! I was so happy to have those past issues, I can’t wait to spend some time this weekend perusing them, and learning! Here’s a photo of my sister working assiduously!

She just got promoted at her company -- Cheers to Andrea! I must tell you that more and more I’m becoming addicted to Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/). It is such a great site because it’s simple and organized. Okay, some of the applications may be getting a bit out of hand, but all in all; it’s a pretty awesome site. It’s also a key marketing tool for my business and me. I spent some time adding quite a few people today; I’m really hoping to expand my network so that I can let people know about events. Speaking of events, I was booked to MC a service auction on Friday April 25th. The event will auction off Iowa State students that have a service to offer. Should be an interesting night! Here’s a copy of the invite, I hope to see you there!

New Friends

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of meeting two really interesting individuals – Lucas and Jen. Lucas is the winemaker at Southern Hills Winery (www.southernhillswinery.com) and Jen plays in a band and also works at Mosaics a wonderful restaurant in West Des Moines. They both are very musical and enjoy playing together. I’m really looking forward to hearing some of their music and trying some of the wine Lucas makes. Here’s a photo of both of them, and then a photo of the three of us.

June Wedding Planning

This weekend I met with one of my wedding clients who lives in New York. So she was very busy getting as much done as she can for her wedding in June. Here are a few photos of some of the items she was looking at to decorate the reception area.

Model Call

On Saturday we had our model call for Style Eyes the eye and fashion show I’m planning at Sahar’s on May 2nd and 3rd. The model call went by very smoothly and very quickly!! It was really cool to meet with people I knew and to meet the people I didn’t know! Nick Strickland was filming for Channel 8’s website. I’ll post the link when the video is up.

Here’s a photo of the Nick and Nicole filming:
Here's a photo of Rachel, Carlos, and myself (the team planning Style Eyes):

TGIF

Today is the last day of my spring-cleaning week, and I still have a great deal left to do! I’ve sold things on ebay, but I hate the delayed gratification. So I’ve been giving quite a bit away, and I’m also now selling items at the Flea Market on Army Post Road. Yes, it’s simply called the Flea Market. It’s owned by Wheeler’s Auction (a company that buys and sales estates). I’m really looking forward to see how much I sold this month. The proprietor told me that my items are selling very well! I guess they like my junk! So this was my focus today, getting more things in my booth. After all, you have to have things to sale things.

Nature’s First Green is Gold

Juse like Robert Frost’s poetic masterpiece nature’s first green popping up from the ground is like gold to all of us Midwesterners who our truly sick of the winter. Here is a photo of some of that green creeping out of the seemingly dead ground.

Some wonderful chives that will be ready to eat in a few weeks!

Today, I began thinking about my garden and talking to some of the people that are going to help me with it this year. Together we are going to create a plan for the garden, a plan for flowers, and for my yard. I’m really excited this year because I plan to do a lot more in the garden than in years past. I’ll keep you posted on the progress!

Day Three Spring Clean

It’s been just a short week since someone broke into my home, and I am feeling much better. I’m still following the great security advice that I referred to in last week’s blog, and it’s really helped me have a greater peace of mind. This is the third day of my Spring Cleaning focus and it’s really great to see the results! Those boxes have been emptied, papers are put away, keepsakes safely stored, etc. Today I created a new craft and I thought I’d share this with you. I used to have well over 200 belts! I’ve simplified down to about 20 or so, and about 50 or so belt buckles. I keep the belts that I use every day in my closet and the rest in a drawer upstairs. Here is an interesting and convenient way that I’ve started to store my belts. I take fan pull chain that I can buy at True Value. You can get as much or as little as you need with their bulk chain section. Then I buy the appropriate fasteners. I measure out about 6 or 7 inches depending on how long you want it, and then put a hook like the one in the photo below on it and there you go! A great place to hang your belts (see the next photo). I get the hooks at Menards, but you can get those at any local hardware store. Let me know if you try it!

The chain and hoook:

Happy April Fools!

As it starts to get even nicer out side there are going to be more fun things to do! My friend Gina McCoy is creating one of those fun events. It’s called Blondes Have More Fun… It’s on Friday April 11th at Aura. Check out the marketing for this event:

I think it looks great!

Another great event that is just around the corner is on Saturday May 10th called the Subjective Circus. This event raises money for the Des Moines Social Club. The mission of the Des Moines Social Club is to have a space for the residents of Des Moines to congregate, eat, drink and live out whatever artistic passion they may desire, bringing together all walks of life. You may come for a dink. You may come for a meal. You may come for a show, a class, a conversation. It sounds so wonderful! Their goal is to be open sometime in January 2009 at 1408 Locust Street. Here’s a website where you can get more information about the Social Club and it’s founder Zachary R. Mannheimer,
http://www.subjectivetheatre.org/

Here's a poster to the Subjective Circus:

As for day two of my spring-cleaning, today I’m going to go through a few old boxes filled with random things and papers! This should be fun! Here’s a photo of my task:

Spring Cleaning!

This week I’m going to be focused on Spring Cleaning my office (even if the weather isn’t playing along)! Each day I’ll tackle one new project and tell you about it! Today I decided to take all my hanging files and alphabetize them. Something I should have done ages ago! I also plan on cleaning up some of the “extra” things that are hanging around on or in my desk. Like my collection of pens from everywhere! I put them in a large (jumbo) sized Ziploc bag and I’m selling them at my flea market booth. Did you know I had a booth? The Flea Market is simply called that Flea Market and its on Army post Road across from the Fort Des Moines on the North side of the street. It’s really a great place and has many great “sleepers” for the collector! Just in case you didn’t know a “sleeper” is the term that antique collectors use when they find a little treasure that’s being treated more like trash. So I hope you can join me in my Spring Cleaning Week, and make comments about what you’re doing each day! Here’s a photo of me at the Flea Market that appeared in Juice not too long ago (I ended up purchasing the fabulous couch I’m sitting on!):

A smashing success!

Smash, a retail clothing and design business in the East Village of Des Moines, had their Grand Re-Opening yesterday evening. They expanded their space by removing the wall to their neighbor’s space. It’s really great to see them expand especially since the East Village has lost a couple of its clothing retailers in the last few years (Shaffer’s & Melrose). There were a few pieces of clothing I really wanted to buy, but I wasn’t in the mood to try anything on. I’ll go back during the week when it’s less busy. They are also displaying local artist Frank Hanson’s work. He has shown at Moberg Gallery and Star Bar also. I really like his work!

Here are a couple photos of the new space:

On a personal note…

Well, I was robbed… again. This is my second time being robbed since I’ve lived in my current home. This time it was really scary because the person came into my home while I was sleeping and entered my bedroom to steal my laptop! Insane! I have a great security system, but I did not have it on. I wont make that mistake again. There is a very important business lesson in this too. I was able to get back on-line with all my files in tact because I back up my hard drive. This is so important since so much business is conducted with the computer, and we never know if theft, a fire, a computer crashing, or some other horrible circumstance may take our precious files away! There are quite a few options when backing up files. I really like http://www.xdrive.com/ it’s a service provided by AOL that gives you a generous amount of storage. The best part? You can be anywhere in the world to access your files. I hope none of you experience the intense violation of someone coming into your home while you are there to rob you. Here is a link to a home security check list provided by Martha Stewart: http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=3906ce908332f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=security&rsc=image_7
Here are a couple photos of the damage that the robbers caused the first time I was robbed:

The Power of the Blog!

It is really amazing how powerful a blog can be! I’m really just finding this out! Since my post on Monday about my cousin who is trying to break into the editing field I’ve received four different emails with specific ideas for my cousin. The first was an email from Amy Jennings from YPC (www.ypcdsm.com) who reminded me that YPC would be a perfect group for my cousin to get connected! I also received an email from Bryant who works at the Laura Mercier counter at Von Maur and owns Artistry Source a make up freelance company (www.artistrysource.com). He mentioned to me that his sister would be a great resource for my cousin because she has many years of editing experience and is well connected in Des Moines. Maybe I can even interview her for my blog! Thank you to everyone who is already reading and keep the emails coming! Feel free to comment on the blog too!

DSM Men’s Book Unveiling Party

On Tuesday I went to DSM Magazine’s unveiling of their Men’s Book with my good friend Rachel Eubank. It was a delightful time and a very good networking event for me! I really enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new ones, and getting the first peak at one of Des Moines’ premiere publications! The magazine looked wonderful, and has great information in it for men and for women! Definitely check it out!

Here’s a photo from the party of myself and Brooks Reynolds taken by fellow blogger Carla Marcellus (www.carlakay365.blogspot.com) :

What you see is what you can get – maybe even wholesale!

I’ve recently been asked to help plan Style Eyes a wonderful eyeware and fashion show that will be held at Sahars. It will be Iowa’s largest eyeware show! There will be ten vendors (all the best) showing off hundreds of styles of frames. I think for me it’ll be less a mater of finding a frame and more a mater of picking a frame from so many choices! We are currently looking for models for the event (5 male and 10 female) so if you are interested or know someone who would be let me know (outofbox@inbox.com)!

Here’s an invite to the event:

I hope you can make it!

What next?

During Easter with the family I talked to my cousin who graduated last year from college and is now trying to find a career as an editor. She lamented that it is extremely challenging for her to find a job as an editor when everyone is looking for 3-5 years of experience. I talked to her about getting that experience with non-profits. They typically can’t pay someone to edit so they rely upon their staff and volunteers. I let her know that she could pick a few groups to contact to see if they needed help with editing. Often time’s non-profits have press releases, new letters, and articles that needed editing. So her next question was, “where do I find these non profits?” I recommended to her to get on Juice’s website (a local weekly publication in Des Moines) to find these non-profits and groups. Here is a link to some of the local groups that you too may want to get involved in:
http://www.dmjuice.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=juice&template=proguide

Here’s what it looks like:

Simply click on the drop down and choose the group that looks most interesting to you, and from there you can check out their website or contact them.

Happy Hunting!

My first blog... Well, my second one.

This is technically my second blog. I did start one on Myspace, but I never kept it going. I really didn’t feel a great urge to blog about my life and I didn’t feel that Myspace would be the best spot for it. So I have turned to Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/). It took me less than 5 minutes to set up my blog and I was ready to write!

Here is what their homepage looks like:

I feel that this is really going to help my clients and potential clients achieve a better understanding of what I’m all about. One of my main goals in this is to create more profound relationships with clients and to help clients and readers learn more about event planning, catering, and running successful business.

Thank you for checking this out, and I do hope you keep reading!