New Company Coming to town in 2010!!!

For those of you who have been following my blog, I figured I would give you an update on my progress in starting my own company!!!

So far, it has been a successful venture! (Keep your fingers crossed that it continues to go this way)

Ever since I decided to do this...100%...jump right into starting a company, I feel that my brain has been constantly turning with ideas. When I was in LA, I decided to start my company the same day I called my Mom and told her she could get her plane ticket to come drive me back. (I had 3 days to decide whether to stay in LA and move into a new apartment, or head back home.) That was 3 weeks ago today. That same night, I was so excited I could barely sleep. AND that's also when I decided on my company name..... "Young Designs." Young Designs will be an event design and production company based in Maumelle, Arkansas and primarily catering to the southern region of the United States!!! Side note... if you want to plan a tropical destination event, count me in now! : ) I will be officially launching Young Designs in January 2010, but could not hold back from giving you an update till then!

Ever since I got home, I have been getting all the background business done. This includes a little bit of boring stuff, but exciting things too....like designing my own LOGO!!!! SO allow me to present to you....

TaDA!!! I am SOOO super excited about this journey. Feel free to email me any advice, concerns, questions, etc. to... Shawna.YoungDesigns@yahoo.com or leave a comment and I will get back to ya!!!!

Thanksgiving Day!

For Thanksgiving, we headed to my grandparents house for a feast! : ) While my grandmother was finishing up cooking, we headed to the backyard for pictures. Here are the ladies of the family (minus Becky who was cooking) with my grandfather!

And my Lovely family...Me, Dad, Aimee, and Momma! They really are the best! And this picture looks extremely cheesy! haha
We have a tradition of making my uncle, Duane, pose with all of the children. He pretends it is torture, but secretly loves every second of our "Photo Shoot with Duane." Some pictures from his photo shoot might even make his Christmas card to the family! Here is one of our "funny" pics:
All the grandchildren with my grandmother!!! (L-R: me, Aimee, Becky, Hayley)
Cousin Pic: You could technically call this a sister pic, because my little (but taller) cousin Hayley is pretty much like another sister to us! We LOVE her!!
Daddy and his girls!!! Just wish his eyes were open, but this picture def. is one of my favorites of us!!And now....Let the games begin!!! All of the younger cousins headed to the bowling alley for some "exercise" after we ate our weight in fixings. First stop: Bowling...we ended up bowling 4 games! Guess you could say we got carried away!! Aimee was the champion, but I did win one of the games!

Aimee's Victory Dance after a strike!!!

And look who got 2 strikes in a row....

Next Stop: Basketball arcade! We were 1-1-1 after 3 games! Then Hayley and Aimee had one final battle and Aimee won!And my favorite....Air Hockey...

It was an intense match...that I lost...Overall Champ for the night was Aimee!

I am SO very thankful for my family and the time we got to spend together this Thanksgiving. We really are so blessed, and so lucky that everyone was in town this holiday! Hope you had a wonderful holiday as well!

Week Recap!

This week has been super busy at the Young house! My sister flew in on Friday and a few of her friends came in from Mississippi for the Arkansas/MSU football game. Saturday morning started early, we pulled out of the driveway at 8:30 to head to tailgate!

Pictured below: My parents at the game! Luckily I got to sit with them and not my sister! (She had her cowbells with her) The Hogs pulled off a win, and I LOVED that!!!

After the game, all the girls got ready to head out to dinner and....

To see Pat Green, who was playing in downtown Little Rock!

Sis and I at the concert!!!

Sunday morning, the girls headed back to Mississippi, and I woke up to my Dad announcing we had an early morning tee time! AND that we needed to be in the car in 10 minutes to make it there on time. So off to Maumelle Country Club we went....

We enjoyed our family round of golf!!!

I don't know about you, but I sure am!!! Just wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving Day! We are getting all the food ready here then heading to my grandparents for the day! Wish I could write longer but I'm heading into the kitchen to make the pecan pie : )

Happy Thanksgiving! Hope you and your family have a wonderful day! We are all so blessed, and I am thankful for that as well as my family and friends today! Love you all!

Themed Couples Shower

This post is very fitting for right now, duck hunting season has arrived in Arkansas!!!

Friday night, my parents along with 10 of there closest friends hosted a couples shower for Brian Pipkin and his fiance Katy! The Pipkin's are long time family friends of my family, and the hosts wanted to choose a theme that fit Brian's personality. They decided a Duck Hunting themed couples shower would be perfect, and it was!

Friday morning, I met Mrs. Sandy at Maumelle Country Club to help set up for the shower! We had so much fun setting up! Using fall colors, decoys, camo burlap, waders, and flowers the hunting theme came to life in the MCC dining room! Here's a sneak peak at some of the decor....

I was in charge of decorating the two mantel's in the dining room.
How many decoys can you find!?!
Mantel #2:A closer look at some of the mantel details...

Mrs. Sandy also made this gorgeous flower arrangement for the entry way!!!

Save Now

All of the guests really enjoyed the shower! I was so glad to be home in time to help my mom and her friends out for this event! As well as see tons of family friends at the shower. It was such a fun day/night.

The Next Step of the Climb...

Hello Blog Readers!!!

Many of you have asked if I will keep doing the "climb" blog now that my internship is over. The answer is YES! It just so happens that this theme works perfect for "what's next" with my career.

"It's the Climb" was designed to follow my journey from having a passion in events to experiencing my event design and production internship in Los Angeles, and now the next step is.... STARTING MY OWN BUSINESS!!!! : )

I am SO very excited to tell you that I have decided to launch my own Event Design & Production company here in the southern region in January 2010!!!!! And you, fellow blog readers, will get to witness each step of my climb in starting and launching my own business.

This decision was a no-brainier for me the last week I was in LA, doors were closing there as more doors were opening in Arkansas and surrounding areas. I really felt like this was the perfect time to start my own company! I hope you will keep reading my blog and staying up with my climb as I develop a new small business based in Maumelle, Arkansas that caters to the entire Southern Region! Thank you all for your words of encouragement, advice, and recommendations. I truly appreciate them all! Hope you enjoy my next step in "It's the Climb"....

Headed back South

As most of you know, I am back in Arkansas!!!! Why? You will have to wait for my next post to find out...

Thursday, November 12, I left LA and began the 26 hour journey back to Arkansas. The journey was BEAUTIFUL!!! And actually went by pretty fast.

I left LA looking at the ocean driving down the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway)....

And drove 4 hours to Las Vegas to pick up my sweet Momma from the airport! We then went over to Harrah's and had some Starbucks : )

And met up with my Great-Aunt, my mom's aunt, Aunt Linda, who just happened to be in Vegas working that week! We were so excited she was there. We had a fun girls night in Vegas! After a great dinner at the Oyster Bar (in Harrah's), we walked along the strip, and even did a little shopping! Here is us in Caesar's Palace...

We gambled just a little, didn't win much/didn't lose much, then went to the Piano Bar in Harrah's to enjoy a little music! You should have seen these two when Tina Turner's "Rolling On The River" was being played! They definitely are two fun ladies : ) And lucky for me, genes run good in the family. Aunt Linda and I got to witness my mother being "hit on," and yes, we were the two rolling laughing against the wall, as this guy was using a pick-up line on my married mother! He wanted to "take her on a journey" LOL she quickly informed him she was married! Such a fun night! My Mom and I were so glad we got to see Aunt Linda too!!!

Friday, we headed towards the Hoover Dam...isn't this view gorgeous!?! We had a little traffic while we were waiting to go through the security check point!
Check out the Bridge they are building over the Hoover Dam!

Once we got to Kingston, Arizona, we hopped on the "noun" (person, place, thing) that knows me the best.....Interstate-40 for 1,400 miles crossing into New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas!It really was such a fun trip! My Mom and I got into Arkansas Saturday night right as the Razorback game was coming on the radio! So the last 2 hours of our ride were very enjoyable, as the Hogs were working hard to beat Troy and become Bowl eligible!!!

Thank you Mom for driving back with me. I had so much fun with you! Love you!

Warner Bros Studio Tour

Something I had thought about doing the entire time I lived in LA, was to go on a studio tour. Way back when I did the Stars of Hollywood tour, my hilarious tour guide said that WB was the best studio tour. So I took his advice and headed to Burbank....

It was my last full day in LA, so I wanted to do something worth remembering. I am so glad that I picked the WB studio tour. It was really neat to see what all goes into "tv/movie" production. Here is my tour documented in pictures. Hope you enjoy it!

This was originally built as the "casino" for Oceans 13! Since that movie, they have repainted the building and can use it in many forms. Including: Hotel, Police Station, High School, etc. There are several pieces of the "city." They change the decor to make it look like whatever city they need it to be. The "city" at WB includes lots of different outdoor settings that can be used to capture multiple scenes. The options really are endless....

This area of the city, use to be the ambulance driveway in the first few seasons of ER. They filmed here before they built the "hospital." Why? They were unsure how successful the show was going to be.

Fun Fact: This wall was made famous by....the upside down kissing scene in Spiderman! Here is the actual Hospital from ER!

The town of Gilmore Girls, which is now used as the town for Eastwick!

Can you guess what this corner building used to be.....LUKE'S Diner from Gilmore Girls! Eastwick tv show was filming while we were there...

Famous building in Casablanca....

"Central Park" in Los Angeles....

Coldcase films at the WB studio lot. Here is a pic of how the outside of the set looks when filming is occurring. Lots of trailers.

The tour included a "Car Show Room" displaying a few of the more popular cars that have been featured in the movies. Here are a few of them:

Scooby Doooooo.......

The Bat Mobile from the Dark Night...can travel up to 110 mph.

The following picture is for Ashley Hale!!! Bet you can tell which movie it is from!

This should remind you all of a great tv show....FRIENDS!!! The Central Perk Coffee Shop is set-up in one of the warehouses for people to see! Jay Leno actually gave the WB staff this idea. He wanted to interview the actresses and actors of the show in the coffee shop, so they re-set it up. Then he recommended them to keep it up and show it on the tour. Such a great idea!

Hanging out in the coffee shop...

Look whose parking spot...I spotted!

Such a fun tour, I definitely recommend it if you are ever in the area!