Our First Collab: Ladies & Ladles X Inviting Writing

My mind is always racing with business ideas. I started a dog-walking business when I was 8, and I had my kid kit ready for babysitting as soon as I was old enough to be certified by the Red Cross (because who would hire me if I wasn’t an accredited 11-year-old babysitter?). After my first daughter was born, I mentally invented a baby product and saw myself pitching it on Shark Tank. Now, I have a few visions floating in my head—one involves a beautiful space for women to gather, learn simple cooking tricks, and hear from inspiring women. When I told one of my mentors about this idea, he said, “Why wait for the space? Start now.” So, I took that advice and hosted my first event last week.

I come from a family of talented women, so I asked one of my sisters, who happened to be in town, if she wanted to join forces and host the event with me. Elizabeth is the owner of Inviting Writing, which offers custom traditional calligraphy and brush lettering. She hosts workshops and creates all kinds of goods in Southern California, and she’s just a warm and jovial presence, so I thought she’d be the perfect pick for this first collaboration.

Elizabeth had just hosted a festive workshop in which participants practiced brush lettering on pumpkins, so I asked her to repeat that class for my guests. I decided I wanted to offer a super simple and casual soup/salad/sando combo, something gals didn’t have to sit down to eat. This concept is one my dear friend Hilary knocks out of the park every December at her fancy holiday cocktail party. 

I have yet to feature Hilary on L&L, but I home her skills many nights a week when I’m in the kitchen. Hilary is a mom of four boys who can, for example, take leftovers, add a little fancy salt and an egg on top and suddenly it’s the most gourmet thing you’ve eaten all month. She’s pure magic in the kitchen and in life, as she is the type of friend who will drop a warm cinnamon roll at your door in-between all the activities that accompany four young boys.

More on Hilary later, but back to the food. I made a tomato soup recipe Hilary shared with me, which happens to originate from the Pioneer Woman. I altered the ingredients and claim it as my own, now, which is legit in terms of recipe copyright law, I promise. I planned to have the ingredients out on display and to do a little demo of just how easy it is to pull this soup together.

HERE’S WHERE MY FIRST ERROR IN JUDGMENT OCCURRED.

I didn’t really practice the demo or what I was going to say, so when the ladies showed up, I wanted them to dig in and eat so we could get to the hand lettering. Everyone arrived at 7:15, and I felt like most people wanted to fill their bellies and begin, so I blazed through this portion of the evening. I wanted to say a few more things about Hilary and have her share some entertaining tips since she’s my muse in this department. 

If I could go back, I’d show a step-by-step of this, what I call, “fancy tomato soup,” and I’d show how I finally learned not to burn the dang grilled cheese and which bread/cheese combos work best. I might do one of those time lapse things on Insta for this.

I made one of my sister-in-law’s salad dressings to top my go-to salad “recipe.” I probably should have had these ingredients out, too, as I always love gathering new, easy dressings and salad topping ideas. Next time, I want to have recipe cards as take-aways, also. 

My mom came to the event and brought a kale salad and some lemon bars, and two of the wonderful women in attendance brought desserts, too. I felt spoiled with all the unprovoked food love that came rolling through the door. Some people just know the way to one’s heart.

I turned the evening over to Elizabeth, and can I say, she really shines as a teacher. She told us about how she learned hand-lettering from an aunt (who’s really like a second cousin to us?), how she took to the craft and got called to the principal’s office to address certificates and things as a kid. She’s taken on a lot of fun projects, everything from wedding invitations to storefront displays and even the style name branding on her husband’s line of sunglasses. Her calligraphy has even been featured in PEOPLE magazine.

Elizabeth had workbooks and pens for everyone and took all of us through the brush lettering alphabet. We chatted, drank wine, laughed, and learned a new skill. Not bad for a Thursday night, huh?

Next time, I’ll be better prepared with my portion of the evening, and I really want to open up the floor for more discussion and conversation about things like finding the time to work on your craft, whether you’re working full-time or taking care of kids or just stuck in a rut and uninspired. 

Thanks to all who attended. Truthfully, you were guinea pigs. Thanks for being a great audience and helping both of us realize what works and doesn’t, what we should add, take away, and do differently at our next Ladies & Ladles event. Thanks for making a little pie in the sky dream come true, although on a smaller scale and huddled around my Craigslist dining table rather than the Pinterest-worthy kitchen and lounge space of my dreams.