Thursday, May 8, 2014

A Dream Fulfilled

It may seem minor, but today, I filled a dream of mine, working from bed!

When I started working for myself a few weeks back, I kept thinking, one of these days, I'm going to get up, make coffee, and get right back in bed with my laptop.  Meetings/site visits/etc. have prohibited that from happening until today.  And I have to say, man, this is a nice, comfy way to work!

It's the little things...

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Here We Go Again!

I started this little ole blog a few years ago and had so much fun with it.  However, solely writing about my favorite things while enjoyable, seemed to lack a bit of direction.  Inevitably, I lost steam about two years in and my blogging faded as my work/social life bloomed.

Now that I've jumped ship on a full-time job and wandered into the scary world of working for myself, I think I've finally found a direction again for the blog.  I'll be sharing some of what I've worked on over the past couple of years and also where I hope to go!  I hope my remaining readers will enjoy all that Ryder Sloan Events has to offer!

Here are some gorgeous images from our clients Sera and Sean's NYC wedding at Public from November 2012, oh yeah, we're takin' it way back to get started!  All photos by the talented PhotoJJ.


More images featured on Jenny J's blog HERE and Style Me Pretty.  

Thanks guys and Happy Hump Day!




Saturday, March 30, 2013

Ryder Sloan Events

After years of dreaming, I have finally started my own event planning company!  Ryder Sloan Events is now open for business!  Well, officially, as of November I was open but now I've applied for the LLC, created a website, had a custom logo designed, helped two lovely brides to plan their nuptials and even have one more on the books.  So far, so good.

With the creation of the new website, seen HERE, I was encouraged to include a link to my little ole blog here.  I agreed, however, I'm incredibly embarrassed as I haven't actually blogged since last May.  So here we go!  Back in the blogger game.  Hoping to keep it up although no promises.  My RSE Facebook page HERE is definitely the best way to keep up with the new company.

For my first post back though, I thought I'd share an image per month for the last ten months I've been away.  Hope I still have some readers out there, if not, this will just be a fun exercise for me at least to remember a great year :)

June: Purchased a new camera for my trip with KTW to Tokyo!  Trip was amazing, will try to share photos soon, unfortunately they're on another computer so my new camera will have to do, it's pretty right?

July: Saw Mates of State at the Independent (officially a groupie now I think after five shows), their opening band was The Stepkids and we loved their white screen, white outfits and crazy graphic light show.  This would be so fun to do at an event, great backdrop! 

August: Did day-of coordination on my own for the first time for an Amy Nichols Special Events wedding who I've been freelancing with for almost two years now.  It was such a magical day and furthered my desire to pursue my own company!  

 September: Went to Berkeley for the Edward Sharpe Show, proclaimed it one of the best experiences at a concert that I'v ever had.

 October: Hosted a Halloween party, glittered some pumpkins and used blue hydrangeas to decorate.

 November: My first wedding under Ryder Sloan Events for sweet Sera and Sean.  We even did all the florals seen here on the floor of their room at the Bowery Hotel. I lived in NYC for five years and never made it to the flower mart, bucket list item checked!

 December: Sorry for the grainy photo...hosted dinner for my Cookbook Club and was able to use those same glittery pumpkins as place cards.

 January: 2nd Ryder Sloan Events wedding for Jenn and Ben, first sword arch at a wedding.  Love this so so so much!

February: Family visited and we spent a day in Napa.  Their trips are always bittersweet, I hate dropping them off at the airport.

March: Perhaps our biggest news, we've bought a condo!  We get the keys Monday and start renovations right away.  Looking forward to sharing some before and afters!

It's good to be back, thanks for reading!

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Back...Out of the Saddle?

Blogging takes time, and right now, I don't have it :(

However, I've felt such guilt lately over not posting enough here.  And I've worked really hard on this blog over the past three years to completely stop.  So, I've found an alternative!  I'm going to move over to tumblr for a while...I think it will be a better forum for me to post quickly and still share the inspiration images and ideas that compelled me to start blogging in the first place.  So this is not a goodbye, but more of a see you over here ->  My new tumblr blog!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Back in the Saddle!

Three months ago, I wrote my last post.  This is by far, the longest I've gone without blogging and my, how I've missed it!  Let's get right down to business, where the hell have I been for the past three months??!  Well, I'll tell ya!

- Got a full-time job at Sweet Lauren Cakes.  So no more crazy days of traveling all over SF each day from one job to the next, I get to sit at one desk, go to one office, and get one paycheck.  I am beyond thrilled to finally have some regularity to my schedule, although I will continue to also do freelance events, mainly with Amy Nichols because she's oh so fab and, I still can't get enough of weddings and events!  So now you've been warned, there will be lots more cake pop talk around here, think you can handle it?
Cake Pops at the Winery SF for a recent Today's Bride event.

-Started RCIA classes at my church.  Actually, I started these back in October.  They've been a big time commitment, every Thursday night for an hour and a half, plus all of the readings we're sent home with...but it will all be worth it when this Saturday night at Easter Vigil mass, I will finally have my long-awaited Confirmation in the Catholic faith.  Woo hoo, go Catholicism!  Honestly, I do take this very seriously though, and I'm thrilled to be making the commitment.

- Joined a cookbook club with three girlfriends.  I don't think we've officially chosen a name for ourselves yet but when we do, I'll be sure to share.  We've also started a Tumblr blog to record all of the recipes we try.  I'll occasionally link to that as well!  Tuesday night, we have our first dinner where we get to share the recipes we've tried over the past few weeks from Deborah Madison's "Greens Cookbook."  Greens is a wildly popular vegetarian restaurant here in SF down at Fort Mason.  Everything I've tried from the book has been superb!  At our dinner, we'll choose a new cookbook for next month.  My, our boyfriends are lucky...KTW has gladly tried all of my recipes and offers helpful tips like "mmm" or "this is awesome!"
Maple Mousse ingredients, this was scrumptious with chopped pecans sprinkled on top.

-Speaking of KTW, we've moved in together!  It's been a lot of fun so far and I'm newly obsessed with decorating the space.  Must reign myself in though because...

-I've also started looking for a car.  Although I love our apartment, it is super far from my work.  We're also constantly wishing we had one. So many fun places nearby for day trips, Napa, Tahoe, Santa Cruz, Carmel, the list goes on.  Unlike NYC, in SF, we've decided, a car is a must.  My dream would be one of those new cute little Fiats in mint green.  But my budget says prob not gonna happen...someday...


-Hmmm, what else?  I read the first book from Hunger Games.  THAT took up three days of my life!  On to the second one!

-We're now planning a trip to Tokyo this summer.  KTW has work and I'm tagging along :)  Must renew passport asap.

-I watched Martha Marcy Mae Marlene and became obsessed with Elizabeth Olsen and her haircut, so I copied her and chopped off all my hair, having a lot of fun with my new 'do.

"Oh hay!" 
(I'll be honest, it took me about 76 tries before I got 
that "natural hanging out on the couch looking cute pic.")

So anyway, I hope that explains why I've been a little pre-occupied.  I'm not able to promise I'll won't go MIA again, but for now, I'M BACK!!

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Travel Lists

Back in January of 2010, I wrote this post listing the places I had been in the past year.  It was my plan to do it in January 2011 as well but surprise, surprise, I forgot...so now, I'm challenged with remembering all of the places I've been since January 2010, here goes:
- New York, NY
- Montauk, NY
- Washington D.C.
- Isla Mujeres, Mexico
- Savannah, GA
- Milwaukee, WI
- Nashville, TN
- Huntington, NY
- Santa Rosa Beach, FL
-2011-
- Nashville, TN
- New York, NY
- Palo Alto, CA
- Monterey, CA
- Carmel, CA
- Pebble Beach, CA
- Big Sur, CA
- San Francisco, CA
- Sausalito, CA
- Sonoma, CA
- Lake Tahoe, CA
- Saint Petersburg, FL
- Atlanta, GA
- Santa Rosa Beach, FL
- Milwaukee, WI
- Boston, MA
- Phippsburg, ME
- Portland, ME
- Rye, NY
- Napa, CA
- Chicago, IL

And here are a few places I'd like to go in 2012, and the hotels I dream of staying at when I go :)



Palm Springs, CA @ the Viceroy


Oahu, Hawaii @ the Moana Surfrider

Portland, OR @ the Hotel Monaco


Seattle, WA @ the Alexis Hotel


New York, NY @ the Greenwich Hotel...a girl can dream...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Holidays, #1 Belated T'giving

I failed to write a proper post after our visit to Milwaukee over Thanksgving so I'm going to
do so now, everyone's getting a little tired of Christmas blogposts right? 
 Well, no, me neither but here goes anyway!

Thanksgiving table-setting, we all loved our cute pilgrim place cards 

Bloody Mary, Milwaukee Style, ouch!

After all of the Thanksgiving feasts, we drove down to Chicago for the day, and went promptly to the RL Restaurant for more eating of course...the restaurant is absolutely gorgeous, feels like you're in Ralph's home, definitely a must if you're in Chicago!
 
Cloud Gate presiding over the seasonal ice-skating rink.

Playing with a Felix Gonzalez-Torres candy sculpture at the Art Institute.  Please take a moment to read the link and meaning behind this piece of artwork, quite poignant.

 ...and another Gonzalez-Torres.  Would love to see something like this at an event!  Could be easily and fairly inexpensively done with a bag of mardi gras beads.

Ginormous chandeliers at the entrance of the Public Hotel, designed by Ian Schrager.
 Our reason for going to the hotel, the infamous and recently updated Pump Room.  Check out that domed gold leaf bar, so beautiful in person.

 And the adjoining restaurant, these orbs of all different sizes and shades were fascinating and provided the restaurant with such a nice warm glow.

So that was Thanksgiving, minus a few hundred other pics I took...maybe by Valentines Day, I'll eventually get Christmas pics loaded!  Hope yours was filled with family and friends!