August is finally upon us and we wanted to remind you that Kathy and I will be out of the office August 20-26.  If you have anything that requires a response before then, please let us know as soon as possible.

If you have submitted a Request for Proposal, we are currently skipping and frolicking through the flood of forms we received over last six weeks.  We are reviewing every single one in preparation for our schedule reopening on September 2nd.  Please note: this does not mean your project will begin September 2nd.  This means we will contact you starting on September 2nd in the order in which your request was received. Kathy and I appreciate your patience very much and look forward to discussing your project with you soon.

If you have not submitted your Request for Proposal yet and you are interested in working with us this Fall, you better step on it!    We fill up quickly and can only take a limited number of projects each season.  We’d love to hear from you!

And again, Femmeplates™ are going to be soft launched on August 11th. There will be a select offering of designs to dip our toe in the water before we dive head first in the deep end.  We were busier than we ever anticipated this Summer (I totally skipped my 2-week vacation!) and didn’t get as much spare time we thought, but are enjoying creating designs solely for the purpose of creating them. Now we hope you enjoy them, too!

Don’t forget our little casual cocktail hour at Lei Lounge on August 23rd. If you’re in the San Diego area and wish to join us for a cocktail on a late Saturday afternoon, please swing by the Lei Lounge on Park Blvd. between 5pm and 7pm on Saturday, August 23rd.  We’ll be there getting our tropical drink on, perhaps signing a few books, but most importantly… having a good time!  Look for us in a cabana out back.  Hope to see you there.

I got this recipe in my inbox this morning from one of my favorite sites, CocktailTimes.com.  This looks so light and refreshing… the perfect alternative to the usual beer for 4th of July weekend.  I would mix it up and serve them with unusual grilled sausages instead of the expected hot dogs? Or with grilled shrimp skewers?

Ok, so it’s not totally All-American, but that cucumber-blackberry combo sounds the perfect cure for a long, hot summer.

Mint Summer Nightini

Ingredients:
- 2 parts Stoli Blackberi, blackberry flavored vodka
- 1 part fresh cucumber juice
- Splash of simple syrup
- Mint leaves
Garnish: mint leaves and thin slices of cucumber

Muddle mint leaves and shake all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with sprig of mint and thin slices of cucumber.

We’ll be out of the office tomorrow enjoying our Independence.  Here’s hoping you have some fun in the sun planned.  Happy 4th of July!  Stay cool.