Truckin' It

This past weekend, Ashley's family threw a party to celebrate her younger sister's graduation. They rented a taco truck called Taco Pacifico for the occasion. Everyone got a kick out of it when the truck came rolling up the driveway, ready for a good time. The taco experts set everything up, so it's super easy and no-fuss for the host. The truck not only has chicken, beef and fish tacos, but also offered burritos, nachos, quesadillas and churros. The truck does not provide drinks, so Ashley and her mom found a great sangria recipe from Bobby Flay to compliment the Mexican Fiesta theme. We would totally recommend Taco Pacifico to anyone throwing a big bash. And the best part? Unlimited guac.

Ready for a good time

Taco cheesin'

Hittin' up the truck!

This whole food truck thing has gotten immensely popular in the last few years and is the latest craze with weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs and other private events. It has also become a staple at music festivals, sporting events and beach towns. Mary's favorite food truck of all time is the Ditch Witch in Montauk. This particular truck has been around for years and is practically a national landmark in the area.

A Montauk tradition

Even established restaurants are starting to catch on, branching out to create mini, moveable versions of themselves. Luke's Lobster, for example, now has the "Nauti Mobile" and can now be found roaming the streets of Manhattan. 

Lobster rolls on wheels

In our important food truck research, we stumbled upon this great food truck finder for all you hungry New Yorkers. Next lunch break, skip Seamless and go find some trucks.

Glamping 101

Collaborating with the American Prairie Reserve on their recent gala, we found ourselves fascinated by this new glamping fad. In case you aren't familiar, glamping is basically a "luxury" "camping" experience- and yes, that does exist. From the photos we saw, the Kestrel Camp looked chic, comfortable and inviting. Of course, this isn't the only way to experience the Prairie, but the idea of having gourmet food and cocktails brought to you in the middle of the wild land sounds like the kind of camping we could get involved in. 

Unfortunately for us in New York metro area, we don't have easy access to the grasslands of Montana, but we do have some pretty great woodlands and mountains that are a short car ride outside of the city. It got us wondering, where are the glamping sites that we have easy access to in our area? And how fun would it be to plan a glamping birthday party, anniversary, or girls weekend? 

Here is what our team of detectives at the No. 1 Ladies have dug up:

1. Firelight Camps Ithaca, NY 

Owned by Food Network star and the woman behind Frisch Kitchen, Emma Frisch and her husband Robert have made this camp site into the ultimate "luxury" "camping" experience. If you are a foodie you will be in heaven, as Emma and Robert love to make communal s'mores and delicious breakfasts. Not only that, but there are games such as bocce ball on site. The camp is located on the grounds of a luxury hotel, and the glamping guests have access to the August Moon Spa. Basically, this campsite provides (almost) as much comfort as a resort.

2. Blue Hills Farm  Narrowsburg, NY

This glamping site is much more secluded than Firelight, and a great option if you want more of a woodsy "one with nature" experience. Surrounded by the Catskill's and Pocono mountains, there is a great river for fishing and trails for hiking. After a day's worth of nature based activities though, you can come back and crash on your large queen bed or relax with a book on a chair in the spacious and chic living room. Guests can also wander into downtown Narrowsburg, where there are quaint shops, restaurants and art galleries. 

3. Camp Orenda Johnsburg, NY

Orenda is a happy medium between the secluded, one tent camp of Blue Hills and the chic, community feel of Firelight. Located in the Adirondacks, the site offers yoga, kayaking, archery, white water rafting, rock climbing, caving and even has wifi (thank god). All food and beverages are included in your stay, with fresh farm to table dining. Not to mention, check out where you would stay....

We don't know about you, but we are planning an MK trip already!

Our Busy Spring

Although we had to put the heat on the other day in the MK office, we are confident that the long sunny days of summer are right around the corner. For us that means shorter work days for some much needed relaxation and time to gather inspiration for our next event season.

As we wind down, we thought we would take some time to reflect on the crazy spring we had. From an extravagant wedding to the prairie grasses of Montana, it has really been a whirlwind. Take a look at some (but certainly not all) of what we have been up to...


Edible Schoolyard NYC- David Chang, Tom Colicchio, April Bloomfield and New York's top chefs all came together at 23 Wall Street to help to transform the hearts, minds and eating habits of young New Yorkers through a seed-to-table education. Raising just about $1 million dollars, the event was a huge success and sold out a week before the event. Guests enjoyed a live auction with lots that gave the winners the opportunity to bake with Karlie Kloss and host a private dinner party with Andrew Carmellini.

Edible Schoolyard NYC/Paul Quitoriano

Edible Schoolyard NYC/Patrick McMullan

Edible Schoolyard NYC/Daniel Krieger

Edible Schoolyard NYC/Daniel Krieger

Edible Schoolyard NYC/Patrick McMullan

Edible Schoolyard NYC/Patrick McMullan

An Evening of Music- Alec Baldwin, Daisy Soros and Dietlinde Maazel joined world famous pianist Lang Lang, among other performers, at the the Metropolitan Club in support of the 2015 Castleton Festival this spring. The Castleton Festival, located in the rolling hills of Virginia, is a summer music festival that brings in renowned artists and has grown to become a world class performance venue and an unparalleled training and mentoring program for emerging opera stars, instrumentalists and conductors.

Castleton Festival/Patrick McMullan 

Castleton Festival/Patrick McMullan

Castleton Festival/Patrick McMullan

The World Science Festival Gala- The World Science Festival is always a fun evening with great entertainment and food. Great Performances really hit it out of the park this year with their chocolate planets, made especially for this event. We also brought in renowned mixologist Aaron Polsky from The Mulberry Project and The Greenwich Project to stir up custom cocktails for our guests. As always, our favorite part of this evening is the view.

World Science Festiva/ Jenna Bascom

World Science Festiva/ Jenna Bascom

World Science Festiva/ Jenna Bascom

World Science Festiva/ Jenna Bascom

World Science Festiva/ Jenna Bascom

World Science Festiva/ Jenna Bascom

An Evening on the Prairie with Tom Brokaw- Stop what you are doing and Google American Prairie Reserve. This is the coolest organization, aimed to create the largest privately funded national reserve that will be 3 MILLION acres in size. A lot of big names such as Host Committee member Michael Keaton and Tom and Meredith Brokaw are catching on to it, and if you are into the new "glamping" craze, you need to check out their Kestrel Camp.

American Prairie Reserve/ Patrick McMullan Company

American Prairie Reserve/ Patrick McMullan Company

American Prairie Reserve/ Patrick McMullan Company

New and Improved...mkeventstudio.com

We are excited to announce that our new website has officially launched!

MK is moving on up in the world wide web, and just in time to kick off the spring gala season. Things we love about it are the photo albums, which we will keep updating as the year goes on (and if we can get the coding down!) and we love the new splash of poppy red in our color palette. Mary, Emily and Joann had some fun with it and took a little rendezvous day trip to Shenorock Shore Club to take some glam head shots. Overall, we had some great laughs conceiving of the site and hope you enjoy!

www.mkeventstudio.com

Lettuce Turnup the Beet

We are currently working on a fun project that centers around educating children in urban schools on the importance of nutrition and eating well. The organization's spring benefit is in April, and once we began to have decor conversations, the Pinterest pinning became so hard to pull away from. We found some fabulous inspiration for the benefit, but also thought these ideas could be fun for garden parties, tea parties and spring celebrations (we are so sick of the cold!!!!!!!):

 We love the idea of a farm stand gift bag station. Guests could be given a bag and then go to town filling them with goodies.  

Wet your whistle: cocktails in watering cans.

Use seed packets as escort cards. Or you could always "seed yourself."

Glam up some garden benches with chic throws and pillows.

Time to party!

And the Award Goes to...

We love a good award show here at MK and what better way to kick off the award season than with some Tina & Amy, George & Amal, a Chrissy Tiegen stink face and a Downton Abbey win? Overall, we were surprised by most of the winners and are excited to check out the new movies and shows that took home the big awards. But mostly, as usual, we want to talk fashion. We took inventory and after a lengthy lunchtime debate came up with our top picks:

Ashley's pick: Emma Stone in Lanvin. The pantsuit is like the cooler, edgier version of the evening gown and has been everywhere this season thanks to designers like Stella McCartney, Saint Laurent and Narciso Rodriguez. You can always count on Emma Stone to look of the moment, and she can pull off looks that many people definitely cannot. Shout out to Lorde for also going this route.

Emily's pick: Julianne Moore in Givenchy. The metallic and feather combo in theory is a definite risk, but here it's a red carpet home run. The Best Actress winner for her role in Still Alice smartly went simpler with her hair and smoky eye look. We can't wait to see what she wears at the Oscars because this one is going to be very tough to beat. 

Mary's pick: Naomi Watts in Gucci and Bulgari. Naomi has such a timeless look about her, and we love that she went with a timeless designer and a timeless piece of jewelry. This yellow color is such a standout and was also gorgeously worn by Leslie Mann. Gucci seems has taken a backseat to some younger designers recently, but not with this piece. The look would not be complete without Bulgari's signature serpentine. 

Other honorable mentions included Sienna Miller in Miu Miu (controversial, we know, we don't care), Emily Blunt in Michael Kors and and Kate Beckinsale in Elie Saab. 

Our worst dressed list includes (dare we say it- we love them all) Jennifer Anniston, Tina Fey and Rosamund Pike. 

Beth in the Barn

Things got really exciting over the holiday break. Mary's sister and MK's resident creative guru Elizabeth Nagle, (or Beth as we call her) got prints of her fabulous paintings featured in Pottery Barn! You can now go to the website and order replicas of the originals, titled Baby It's Cold Outside and Optimistic. Way to go Beth!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Optimistic