What a week

This past week has been chaos. And if I’m completely truthful, I’d say that last week was chaos too.

First let’s discuss last week…
Doofus (the event assistant) put in his resignation last week Tuesday. It just so happened to be the day that his three month probationary contract expired. This couldn’t have been a better explanation of a Catch 22 if we tried – he wasn’t doing a great job so we were happy that he resigned, but we had a wedding in Durban that Saturday and he was going to be driving down in the company vehicle transporting our props etc. The rest of Tuesday was spent trying to “plug holes” by finding an alternative driver, ensuring all the things he was supposed to have done were done, etc. It was a stressful day! He arrived at work on Wednesday, after he and The Boss had gone to coffee on Tuesday evening, and announced that he would be assisting with the wedding and then would be leaving after that. Crisis semi averted. Now we needed to get help in to assist with the chaos that was this week. Luckily we managed to find an appropriate “new” events assistant and brought in another events co-ordinator to assist.

Now to the chaos of this week…
Event number 1 was a breakfast on Tuesday morning at 08h00 for 8 guests. Luckily it was a small number of guests as we only got confirmation on Monday morning. This meant running around sourcing caterers, flowers, getting the decor ready, etc.
Event number 2 was the styling of rooms at a bank for their exclusive clients to sign new credit cards or such like. We only received sign off of the quote yesterday afternoon which again meant chaos in getting the relevant props from suppliers, flowers delivered, etc in time that we could setup at 4pm yesterday.
Event number 3 is a 50th birthday that took place this afternoon. When we were first briefed on it, it was going to take place at the client’s private home. The relevant suppliers were provisionally booked so all was in order. Then last week the venue changed to a restaurant in Morningside. So we had to cancel some suppliers and change other orders to suit the new venue. Then at 2pm yesterday, it was moved back to her private home again. Chaos ensued! We needed to get in touch with all the suppliers and get them booked for the last minute change. It took some serious effort in getting the bar and catering services booked as well as the necessary tables and chairs delivered in time.
Event number 4 is a wedding that takes place tomorrow afternoon. We had the final meeting with the client on Wednesday afternoon and she decided then that she needed table numbers. So again, more chaos in trying to get an urgent printing job done with our already busy suppliers. On the brightside, all other aspects of her wedding are sorted so this last minute hitch didn’t matter that much.
Event number 5 is a 50th birthday party also taking place tomorrow except it’s an evening function. This client has been particularly difficult and demanding. We were approached with this event a couple months ago but she has been so disorganised that everything has been last minute (I am still waiting for the table seating plan). She requested last night that she no longer deal with me because I’m rude. Gary made me feel better about this snotty comment by saying, “some people just mistake rudeness for efficiency”. Thanks my Sexy.
And finally, event number 6 is a small teaspoon exhibition that is taking place at our offices. Everything was setup during the day yesterday with the opening taking place last night. They are exhibiting today until 6pm, and again tomorrow from 10am until 1pm. I am “running” this from my desk as not much needs to be done from my side other than letting in the visitors.

How’s that for chaos?!

Hope your week(s) has been better than mine!

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

Murphy’s Law

This happened to me! Although it wasn’t an ex boyfriend. And I didn’t look as bedraggled like she does.

This moment of horror happened to me while I was at the Rooms on View expo that took place in May this year. The entire day had been spent running between our offices and the Sandton Convention Centre delivering brochures or relieving my boss to “man our stand” when he had to attend meetings. The boss called me in a panic around 5pm saying that he needed a few bottles of champagne to be delivered before 6pm. I then rushed around the office trying to get the last few office related things done before taking a few bottles out of our stock and running to my car. I managed to get to the convention centre in time but now had to carry the bloody heavy box of champagne bottles from the underground parking all the way to the exhibition space. It was a mission! I managed the tortuous trip and arrived at our stand red-faced and out of breath. After placing the box on the floor, I stood up and was met with the perfectly made-up face of a girl I used to go to school with. You know, the popular girl with the perfect teeth and the perfect skin and the perfect hair and the perfect everything. I tried to divert my gaze as if I didn’t spot her but it was too late! I had been seen! In all my red-faced, breathless, unglamorously dressed glory. I allowed for a quick conversation before urgently mentioning that I just had to go because there was still a lot to be done blah blah blah. And I hot-footed it out of there as soon as I possibly could!

What was your “moment”?

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

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How I Met Your Father

Continued from part 5…

A recap…
At the beginning of 2008, His Sexiness and I started dating. We had an unromantic first date but he thoroughly spoiled me on our first Valentine’s Day. We spent every possible moment together and when we weren’t together, we’d sms each other or he’d call to chat.

My 24th birthday arrived after we’d been dating for nine months. I don’t remember telling him that I LOVE and ADORE my birthday but I do remember the extent to which he made my special day even more special.

My birthday happened to fall on a Wednesday so I was at work when I received an email at 10h00 with the subject of “Listen” from His Sexiness.

Below the pic of us was a link to a website. It was clue #1 as to what my present was. A cryptic riddle was sent via sms later that day which formed clue #2. For the life of me I cannot remember what clue #3 was. What I eventually figured out was it had something to do with music (clue #1) and that it had something to do with the colour pink (clue #2). Now this got my imagination soaring! Could it be a pink teddy bear that played music? No, don’t think he’d pick something like that. Could it be pink cupcakes with music notes in the icing? Nope, didn’t think so either. I eagerly anticipated the end of the work day as I knew I’d be seeing His Sexiness and knew I’d finally be able to understand his gift.

But unfortunately that evening I was told that my gift hadn’t arrived yet. I was left in limbo – anticipating, waiting, wanting time to hurry up…

The next day (Thursday) I was at a venue supervising the setup of a huge fun day event that was taking place on the Friday. I was quite bored waiting for the stretch marquee/tent to be erected and for the various games to be installed. The next moment I get a call from His Sexiness. I complained about not having had lunch yet and being stuck at a setup. And he immediately offered to pop past with a quick bite to eat. So there I sat, waiting for his arrival with with my stomach grumbling and growling.

He arrived with the tell-tale paper bag of his favourite fastfood store and I immediately tucked in. After our lunch was done he told me that my gift had arrived and would I like it now. Of course I said yes because I just had to put my imagination at ease. Off he went to collect the small package from his car. He arrived back at our temporary lunch area and tells me that he hadn’t had time to wrap it properly because he’d just got his hands on it. And I think, “Great! Less time on unwrapping and more time on finally knowing what it is!” He hands it over, and I finally see that it’s a pink iPod (one of the new editions). I am in love! I protest a lot about how he shouldn’t spoil me so much but at the same time loving the fact that he wants to spoil me! The best part of all… He whipped out his Macbook, connected my new iPod and installed all his music on it so I could use my new gift right then and there while at the boring setup!

Continues in part 7 soon…

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What a day

I know I shouldn’t moan because being busy is a good thing. It means the money’s coming in, the day is going faster, and there isn’t any clock-watching. BUT it’s not good when I’m so busy that the first bathroom break I manage to get is at 6:30pm when I finally am able to leave the office. My day went like this…

1. Last minute Larry:
Some background: we were contacted yesterday about a small cocktail function taking place THIS Thursday. I duly put together a costing and got this through to the client yesterday afternoon.
This morning I received an email saying that the costing needed to be changed to include more decor (this after being told yesterday that they only had X amount of budget). Between the many calls from the client and the constant changing in brief, the telephone became my neck’s #1 enemy – my neck was in such pain from lodging the phone between my ear and shoulder. And after the final change in brief, I amended the costing once more. And just when i thought it would be finalised I received another call from the client where I neededto put her at ease that “yes, the decor is perfectly suited to the event” and “yes this is what The Boss suggested”. She finally sent through the signed documents confirming the event just after 5pm along with the invoicing details. And my last move was to draw up an invoice and send it through for full prepayment.

2. The I-don’t know-about-timelines Company:
This particular company is a pain in the butt! They are known to spring briefs on you at the last moment and need the costing and concept before the close of business on the SAME day they sent the brief. Now I work pretty quickly but when you’re working on numerous proposals and costings, a same-day turnaround is not always possible. Now in this particular case there are a few events in the pipeline… The one event (which is taking place next week) required feedback from the client so I could amend the costing in order for it to be signed off to confirm the event, an invoice to be made and the necessary supplier orders done. I finally managed to get this costing updated and sent off just after 5pm. And while I was finalising this costing, I was being hassled for the costing for their new event… This new event brief was received late this morning and they needed the costing etc by…you guessed it…the end of today. I managed to get everything through to them before I left at 6:30 and as I was switching off my PC I spotted another email from them for another new event and…no prize for a correct guess…they need this proposal and costing soonest tomorrow.

Add to this a phone that rings non-stop, meetings to sit in on, other events that need supplier confirmation, meetings to setup, dealing with a Doofus, triaging emails, and and and…

On the brightside I have an amazing fiancé who welcomed me home in the best way possible. I arrived to a wonderful bear hug and was then escorted inside to a closed bathroom door. I could hear the soft sounds of a bath being drawn and upon opening the door (or rather having the door opened for me) I discovered a candlelit bath awaiting my tired body. It was awesome and definitely the highlight of my day!

I’m hoping tomorrow won’t be as bad as today. I’m hoping I’ll have time for a bathroom break at least once during the day. I’m hoping to have a proper lunch and at least two cups of tea. I’m hoping tomorrow will be better than today.

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

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A Charity Event

Yesterday the annual Hospice Charity luncheon took place at Summer Place in Hyde Park. As it was a charity function, we were contacted a few months back to ask if we would like to decorate a table or two. These tables would then be sold to corporates/socialites so they could attend the event where many great prizes were up for grabs.

The theme to this year’s event was “Deja Vu”. And after much discussion between the Boss and myself, we decided on a ballet oriented theme – Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake revisited. The below interpretation is described as ballerinas who have just finished a rendition of Swan Lake, and in changing out of their tutus, have thrown their shoes in a pile so they can rush off to the after party.

The decor showing the pile of ballet shoes in the centre of the table with a few shoes cascading down from the chandelier above:

Last week the Boss had asked me to attend the function on his behalf and market the company a bit. And to tell you the truth, as much as I was excited to go to such a wonderful event as a guest, I was worried about who I was going to bump in to. You see the company I previously worked for had also opted to decorate a table and I was worried about the repercussions of them seeing me there. But evidently I had nothing to worry about – when I saw my ex colleague we chatted for a bit before we both went our separate ways.

The luncheon was jam packed with local celebs and socialites. Top Billing was there, as well as a few other media, to interview a few of the designers about the tables and the ideas behind the decor etc.

Socialite Edith Venter with Janez of Mens Health fame and now Top Billing presenter:

I spotted these on another table and thought how wonderfully different the idea was to place flowers in a hand-made beaded shoe rather than the ordinary vase:

The event was wonderful! In addition to the gorgeously decorated tables (each of the 25 tables were unique), there were gifts sponsored by Honey Accessories for each guest, gorgeous items for the auction section of the programme, and spot prize giveaways. These spot prizes took the form of a piece of paper slipped under a baseplate or chair cushion. And YAY for me, my luck was in luck! I won a Honey Accessories gift hamper which consisted of a red handbag, bracelet and necklace. And on top of everything, on departure we were each handed an Annique giftbag which contained a lipstick, nail polish, gift vouchers etc. I felt thoroughly spoiled by the time I left yesterday! And it was great to feel like a guest when I was actually a ‘designer’.

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

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Dumb Blonde

Today my dumb-blondeness outdid itself!

My boss was in a meeting with a lady that is known to take her time and outstay her welcome. And with us being so hectic at the moment, my boss and I decided that she could only have 30 minutes of his time. So…there I was sitting at my desk, working away furiously while they were meeting, when the phone rang. I answered it the usual way and heard my boss’ voice in the background. I put down the phone and went through to our boardroom and announced that he was phoning me by mistake. And as I uttered these words I clicked! Her time was up and my boss was trying to get me to come through and tell her she needed to leave but I didn’t quite get the message. I could have kicked myself!

Hugs & Kisses
Jessica Giggles

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