Through Your Eyes, The Second Morning

The second Pink Tarha Mornings went by quickly and smoothly. We have a bigger crowd this time, just a little bit more from the first one and we have a guest speaker who knows a lot about our chosen topic... PHOTOGRAPHY. Do you know how many photography clubs are in Riyadh? A lot and yes, we will come up with a feature on them one of these days but for now, we had a workshop led by professional photographer Nikoll Long-Carr. You should really visit her site and learn more about this remarkable woman. 

The second workshop titled "Through Your Eyes" is a full basic photography workshop that was held in Piatto Restaurant in Exit 5 here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The 'Mornings' are making quite a stir now especially after the feature in Balitang Middle East. You still have to pinch me sometimes for me to believe I just watched The Pink Tarha ladies on tv. Anyway, here is a photo diary of the second Pink Tarha Mornings. Whenever we have this event, everything just moves forward rapidly that it's already over before I can grapple with reality.

Piatto Italian Restaurant

Piatto Restaurant in Exit 5, once again, opened their second floor 'courtyard' for the second Pink Tarha Mornings. We love how they setup the place for a bigger crowd this time. The sponsors of our pastries and baked goods were given a long table. The Piatto management has always been supportive of our endeavor and again, we'd like to express our gratitude to its management, esp. to Sir Steve, Sir Majed, Sir Albert, and Sir Neil, for giving us this opportunity. This venue is, as always, perfect!

A different set of colors

I deviated from the usual pink this time around and used bright colors of lime and orange. If you see our site for Through Your Eyes, I used a different set of digital papers for decorations and sign ages. Even the badges you see above use summery colors. I think it suits a morning event as well. We'll always love pink though. ;)

We usually arrive around 8 o'clock in the morning to prepare the venue and our stuff. Early risers much? Haha! The Pink Tarha ladies didn't have a dress code but Eyecandy, Shoegarfreeruby and I came in shades of peach. Sampaguita Pride had a summer dress with bright yellow details. It wasn't a requirement for the ladies to arrive in pink but some of them did. Yeyyy! ;)

Shoegarfreeruby, fresh from her vacation, is manning the registration area.

Sampaguita Pride having her cuppajoe.

Our sponsors arrived looking fabulous with their equally fabulous baked goodies. Cielo Algaeed arrived with her husband, Mr. Abdul, and went on arranging her Paris-inspired dessert buffet table. We love seeing her work progress over the months.

Cielo Algaeed of Cielo's Sweet Treats

The bubbly and very energetic Cecile Bautista-Perez arrived next with her family in tow. They arranged her lovely setup of cupcakes, nibble bars, cake pops, and chocolates. And yes, we fell easily in love with her baked creations.

Cecile Perez of Dolce Cecilia

There was an abundance of sweet treats and glorious pastries!

Cake pops!

Seems like cake pops are all the rave these days. You should try these yummy balls of sweetness! We also had guests who brought their own baked goodies to be shared. Aren't we lucky to have lovely and generous participants? ;)

Thanks, Meg Tillah, for the cute and colorful cupcakes + cookies!

Thanks, Nadia Tariq!

The ladies getting some coffee + pastries before the start of the program.

The ladies started trickling in to the venue around 9 o'clock. They were welcomed by R who was in-charge of the registration. This time, our folder kits are yellow! Woot! So bright! Haha! The guests are free to roam around the place, have coffee and pastries, and get to know the other ladies.

Let us begin the session!

Eyecandy as our host for today's workshop.

Nikoll Long-Carr on how to hold the camera properly.

Always ready with a smile

The participants listening intently.

A few raffle prizes in between

One of the new things we incorporated in this second event is having a raffle draw. The prizes include Saudi Arabia bags from Camel Corner, ID lanyard (so limited it was only one, haha!), MNG clothes, and a gift voucher for Four Nail Spa and Salon. Nikoll added one of her framed photos too featuring the Kingdom Tower.

Nikoll on photo tips and tricks

Nikoll with her framed photos

After the lecture session, the exercise session began. Nikoll roamed around to help out the participants and answer any of their questions. Brunch was also served during this time so they can capture the food, if the ladies want to. There's a photo contest happening after the event. You can check out the photos here.

Nikoll giving Nadia a few pointers

One-on-one session

The ladies enjoying their brunch

E and P with the ladies who are also interested in Toastmasters

One thing we learned from the first Pink Tarha Mornings is to allot enough time to distribute certificates and take a photo of each participant in the process. So we did just that! We get to keep the photos, of course, as our souvenir for another successful event.

Awarding of certificates

Thank you, Nikoll!

Shoegarfreeruby, Eyecandy, Sampaguita Pride, and Sundrenched

The Pink Tarha ladies are very much in debt to all the people who made this event possible! As you've probably read in our Facebook page, we had a lot to be thankful for... including you dear readers! ;)

Thankful to our friends who helped and supported this event.

Thankful to our sponsors, Whites Pharmacy and Volvo.

Thankful to our lovely participants!!!

Again, we'd like to THANK everyone who's supported and helped and cheered us on in this endeavor. This wouldn't be successful without you.

Want coffee? Own the mug too! ;) One of our souvenirs for this event.

Whites Pharmacy has provided ample samples for this event. They came in a cute box too! ;)

A few might be asking why we're holding the Pink Tarha Mornings. What do we get from it? What do we gain from it? Friends. That's what. And with that simple reason alone, we hope to be able to hold more Pink Tarha Mornings in the future. Stay tuned! ;)

The aftermath... Thanks Jou for being our photographer for the day! WOOT!

After all the guests have gone and the our friends have also left for the morning, Eyecandy and I usually have an egress report of some sort.We deal with the packing up and reviewing the event while having our proper lunch (we cannot eat properly during the event... must be the nerves, haha!). It's like having an immediate SWOT analysis of the event. Nothing formal just a quick recap so we can make the future events better. 

So, who's excited for the next Pink Tarha Mornings? We're thinking of bringing The Pink Tarha Mornings to Alkhobar and Jeddah! What do you think? Hahaha! Ambitious much? ;) ~ Sundrenched