Yoga...maybe?

I know people who do yoga. I know people who teach yoga. I know people who swear by the innumerable benefits that come from yoga. But I've never heard of a more convincing argument to do yoga than what I heard a couple days ago. Actually, it wasn't what I HEARD, but what I SAW that opened my eyes to the true power of yoga.

I visited my salon for a haircut and could not stop staring at the guns on my stylist. I finally had to ask, "How did you get your arms to look like that?" She said it was yoga. Not just any yoga, though...Bikram yoga. It's the sweat-like-a-pig-in-a-106-degree-room-and-burn-calories-like-there's-no-tomorrow kind of yoga. It's like regular yoga, but cranked up a notch or two (or ten). She said you have to get used to being in a room full of people sweating out all the toxins in their bodies and the accompanying "scent" that goes along with it, but it's the best workout regimen she's ever had.

I'm a believer. Maybe not a follower, but a big believer.

Avalanche of paper

Who else but a good friend would help you sort out paper for five hours on a beautiful Saturday afternoon? Lucky me, I had two good friends who were up for the challenge and pitched in with this enormous task, spurred on by the promise of a free lunch. The nice photo above with the organized stacks of paper? That's a teeny, tiny drop in the bucket compared to the mountains of cardstock that I had amassed in the last four years. Next step is to package everything up...one of my friends has already secured some "pre-sales" of miscellaneous scrap packs on reserve for her crafty coworkers.

The biggest, most heartfelt thank you goes out to my girlfriends who realized firsthand my true obsession with paper. I owe you another lunch...and my first born child.

Love the LOVE!

This is the new LOVE stamp that was issued by the USPS last month! Isn't it fantastic? The King and Queen of Hearts tops my all-time list of favorite LOVE stamp designs. I'm kind of inspired to design an invitation set around this lovely design...hmm...

Remember the time...

Got up extra early this morning to get a headstart on my day, but immediately got sucked into the VH1 Michael Jackson video retrospective.

My parents won't remember this, but they turned me onto Michael Jackson tunes by way of a cassette tape that they gave me on my birthday way back when. It was "Thriller" and it was awesome. I played it over and over and over again...partially because it was the first tape that was my very own (aka no sharing with my older brothers) and partially because it was so addicting. Putting socks on my feet and teaching myself to moonwalk on the linoleum floor of our kitchen soon followed although I was never confident enough to break out THAT move at the quarterly "jam sessions" held at my elementary school.

Ok, gotta go...getting sucked back into the videos again.

Putting my iTunes on hold

Have you Pandora'd yet? I can't remember how or when I first visited the Pandora site, but all I know is it was love at first listen. For those not in the know, Pandora is an internet radio. That's the most basic of explanations. But the cool part for me is that I create stations based on artists that I like and the Pandora wizard (I'm envisioning an all powerful man dressed in robes who lives in Oz) plays music by other artists that you'll probably like. If Pandora plays something not to your liking, just give the tune a thumbs down and the site promises never to play it again. Ever.

On this sunny, breezy Aloha Friday, I'm tuning into my Coldplay station featuring Coldplay (surprise!) and other Coldplay-esque bands like The Fray and Third Eye Blind. Ahhh, perfect.

Don't look directly into the light...

Twice a year, The Wedding Cafe hosts a popular series of workshops that attracts hundreds of brides and grooms. I participate in the Invitation Showcase, naturally, and love meeting everyone and catching up with my fellow invitation designers. At the end of each workshop, we have a Q&A session and today I'm sharing my favorite tip.

Possible snafu: Even the most well-meaning guests could forget to write in their names on the response cards before mailing them in.

Easy fix: Before sending your invitations out, write a tiny number in the corner of your response cards that corresponds to your numbered guest list. Example: Aunt Fran is #3 on your Excel spreadsheet....write in "#3" on the back of her response card. If forgetful Aunt Fran mails back a blank card, you'll know who it's from!

Better fix: If the thought of a hand-scribbled number on your pristine response cards makes your stomach turn, enter the UV SECURITY MARKING SYSTEM -- aka, the SPY PEN. This pen uses an invisible ink of sorts that is only revealed with a UV light. Useful, relevant, and its cool factor is through the roof!

Here's a shot of the packaging:

The UV light:

The pen:

The test: I scribbled a "secret message" on the corner of my glossy business card.

The big reveal:

Look for this cool gadget at your local office supply store...it'll be in the same section as those pens that detect counterfeit bills. For local O'ahu girls, check out Fisher Hawaii on Cooke St. I saw a handful of them in stock about a month ago!

Sweeeeet!

The wedding of my "cupcake clients" hasn't even happened yet and I'm already anxious to see their photos! Over the past couple of weeks, I've been immersed in all things SWEEEEET in prepping all the custom stationery for the reception. The sweetfest kicked off with recipe card invitations (photo coming soon!) and wedding guests will be rewarded with a celebration fit for Willy Wonka himself.

One of my favorite projects is shown above - a hanging sign with blinged out letters and giant cupcakes. Everything was trimmed by hand - sprinkles and all! Loved seeing the bride's reaction when she saw it for the first time.

Hope to have great photos to share from this delectable wedding!