Funerary Arrangement & Whoopie Pies

I made this today at Sprout Home for a lady's funeral. 

 I then rewarded myself with the most delicious treat from One Girl.

Kim, thanks for introducing my latest best & baddest sweet thing.

Fire Island

I've been busy this month, mostly removing sand from my toes and diving in the ocean waves. Been busy grasping on to the final month of my honeymoon Summer out on an island in the town of Kismet.  

I bet you didn't know the definition of Kismet is Fate or Destiny in Turkish, it means luck to Serbo-Croatians. I didn't know that either...

 

This card from Screech Owl pretty much sums up what I have been doing at my beach house named Make It So. Really truly no better joy comes from being in a house with a bunch of my pals at the beach. My handsomely tanned husband can be seen making a pitcher of margaritas or flexing his grilling techniques all month long. 

Now please do not think I have lost all complete grasp of real (working) world. I have not dropped the ball on making bouquet magic happen. I made this purple bouquet for a bride at Sprout Home this Friday. 

  

Less knuckle and force and more freefall in form.  (you can quote me on that)

That's kind of the lesson I gathered from this summer.

Basically, Fall I am ready for your biggest shot. 

Kids

...say the darndest things. Stacy Fraser, your kids are are totally great.

 Pink Chicken 

Bouquet Of The Day

Wedding Season is on it's way! Here is the first of a series of what we hope to be a busy love filled season.

I made this bridal bouquet for Sprout Home. 

 

Photography by Ramsay de Give 

Colorado

Rocky Mountain High. That's what John Denver likes to call it. 

I visited my friend of 13 + infinity years, brought with me rolls of 120 film, played with double exposures, and came up with these dreamy pics.  

Hiking Red Rocks

Sea of wild flowers in Colorado. 

Hillary's pup Oswald

State Capitol

 Cheesman Park

Thank you for another mind blowing time Jen Giorgio. 

Also, If I piked your interest check out my other photographs in my Travel Picture Gallery

Another Bouquet For Today

Bouquet Of The Day

Italy Part 3: Positano

In particular where we stayed Le Sirenuse. 

Cactus, Ficus, Jasmine, Lemon trees, Monstera's all growing like wild with nothing messy about it. 

Lemon trees growing inside above and around the walls. 

I definently got the book & movie The Leopard from all of this. 

This is a great classic Italian novel. The movie, while slow to follow is beautiful in costume and setting.        Now I really understand what Dolce & Gabbana was really speaking about when I made this                 BLOG ENTRY. 

Italy Part 2: Capri

 Since this was my honeymoon and a moment cherished between the two of us, I'll let these pics show the undescribable.

 

Then rent this fantastic classic set on the Isle of Capri.  

Sophia Loren! so saucy! Little Vitto really steals the show though...

  ...and when you go for a visit pick up a bottle of this perfume and send me a card with a spritz of this scent.

Then you will really know what I'm writing about...

Bouquet of the Day

Photgraphs by Scott Wienman

Italy Part 1: Rome

Has it been that long since I have written here? By the looks of it my dedicated readers numbers around two, so you couldn't have missed me that much. Alas, I know that simply is not true since for the first half of my blissful honeymoon, and its best day spent in Rome comes from one you. My client, whom I have sent bouquets on behalf of did something pretty magical to kick off our Italian honeymoon.

Gail, her husband Tim, and their deliciously nicknamed son Memo have spent the past four years in Rome working for the British Embassy, and my husband and I were given a behind the scenes tour of just that. We were welcomed passed the machine gun toting guards and gates to drink champagne in their Roman Aqueduct house, wander the gardens of The British Ambassador's residence, and descend into an eerie ancient Roman crypt.

 

This crypt was discovered on the embassy grounds and you can literally see bones of Romans. Eeek! The city is filled with undiscovered archeological sites. 

It got better too! We zipped off in their little car to Palazzo Venezia where we saw Rome from the highest view. It was pretty great seeing the Pantheon from up top. 

Then Gail helped in my quest for fabric! She translated Italian, winked and bargained with the salesman, and we agreed on the best textile for my love seat.  

To celebrate they took us for the best gelato I have ever eaten, a real local spot. 

I feel so blessed to have my new international friends! We will see you many times again!!   

Grazie Mille!

Lu Lu Love-Seat

For those of you who have been over to my place lately you have heard about this piece of furniture, this is my love seat. My husband refers to it as  "we need to get rid of thing.”

I’m not going to lie, I found this sofa for the biggest deal of all - free.  On a cold rainy March night I saw it next to the trash in front of the National Arts Club. In my drunken blur I was certain this was a beautiful piece. People get drunken goggles towards people, I’ve developed one for furniture.

By sheer will I dragged this sofa the two blocks and up two flights of stairs. It was something similar to when you hear those stories about an accident and someone picks up the car to save a life, “jaws of life” sort of thing.

For fear of the dreaded bed bug, have you read this article??  I stripped all the upholstery & stuffing, bleached the remaining frame & springs before I brought it in. Yes, I stripped a sofa at 3AM in my buildings entryway.

I thought I would get really overzealous and attempt to reupholster this piece myself, but decided to leave it to the experts.

The one extra DIY’ing effort is I will go directly to the source and get my fabric in Rome. I leave this week. After reading about this place Fratelli Bassetti Tessuti in the NY times I'm hooked.  With virtually no fluency in Italian I will dive into a sea of color and texture in an attempt to by the most luxurious Italian fabric for our love seat 

 My husband rolls his eyes at me but secretly must love it? After all this will be my honeymoon gift. 

Emeco Coca Cola Chair

I got a flower check and splurged on this chair in white. 

COCA-COLA AND EMECO CREATE ONE-OF-A-KIND CHAIR MADE FROM 111 RECYCLED PLASTIC BOTTLES

Book It!

This 250 paged marvel of a book landed on my lap and I can't put it down. If you are at all catching my blogging drift I suggest treating yourself to a copy. It will make you love the weirdness of NY, and other cosmopolitan places even more. Heck! you may recognize a face, or have been to a place. 

Click Here to read Todd Selby's blog. 

Click Here to read the latest NY Times Article-brilliant!

Indoor Plants

I’m just going to put it out there and say- I know a lot about plants. Mostly the indoor kind. Having spent the past couple years in the garden center, Sprout Home I have had many a success and more failures of the plant variety. The best tidbit I have learned is there is a type of plant for every personality. I know that with my touch and go busy busy NY lifestyle I don’t want to be all that concerned with watering, and when I do tend to my green things I don’t mind the occasional misting, pruning, and fertilizing. I consider these little green growers and extension to my own hygiene habits. That’s just me, but I also don’t want to bother with tough plants, With all of that people ask me more frequently about plants. 

Below is a listing of the plants I have in our growing arboretum, or also known as my apartment.   

 1. Jasmine 1.5yrs old

Oh I really adore you. Even though you have yet to bloom, if not ever. You grow like cursive,  vines so pretty and light. 

Bright indirect light

Keep slightly moist

Mist frequently

2. String of Pearls  1.5yrs old

My go to favorite I can forget for a minuet and remember these little delicate pea like pieces of green.

Full afternoon to strong morning light. 

A Succulent so let it fully dry out between watering. 

3. Ficus, Rubber Plant 2yrs

An excellent air purifier and very easy to maintain. Dry out between watering. 

Full to part sun

 4. Dracaena  3yrs

My biggest of the bunch, beats getting curtains to cover my big windows. 

Dry out fully and give a big soaking. Indicator of over-watering yellow tips on leaves. Under watering floppy leaves. 

Easy plant 

5. Insane Prickly Pear Cactus 1yr

I have a love hate with this cactus. I keep neglecting it and it keeps getting bigger and gnarlier. 

Full sun, drought like watering

 6. Jade Plant 3mnths

Full sun dry out between watering, is a member of the cactus/succulent family.

 7. More Cactus

8. Ferns 6mnths

Pretty little guys with an endless assortment of types. Keep moist, mist frequently 

 9. Fern, Lemmon Button 3mnths

Dido

 10. Begonia 3mnths

Dry a bit between watering, part sun

11. Coleus 3mnths

The name of this plant makes it even cooler. 

 12. Basil

Full Sun, Lots of water. Pinch off and never let is blossom if you want to eat it, bitter!

 13. Arugula

Dido

Tucson Featured on Design* Sponge

My hometown made it on one of my fave blogs! Check it out and we will all go for a visit, prefferably in the winter.

Tucson Time

Gatsby

Somehow somewhere another great american classic came to mind when doing this wedding. Last week it was Great Expectations, this week:

I think the Palm House of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden lent itself to the idea. 

 

"A phrase began to beat in my ears with a sort of heady excitement: 'There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy, and the tired.'"
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 4

"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning-- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 9

Let's just say both weddings  were great, and I dressed for the occasion. Here I am in a floral frock nearly camouflaging myself in the bouquet. 

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"All right... I'm glad it's a girl. And I hope she'll be a fool--that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 1

Baby Farah's Bouquet

...has me wanting to eat lots and lots of sherberty desserts. 

Ciao dolcezza!

Patching Things Up

A lot of times flowers do what words cannot say, this bouquet was one of those.

For added interest I put my new shoe in the shot. 

I'm so excited about my two feet in these, and what  Osborn Shoes is all about. Treat yourself to a pair, you wont regret it! 

Pip & Estella

I had the pleasure of helping flower up and set for this wedding.  The space was weather worn sweet, textured, and perfectly encapsulated the couple getting married. Books, travel, and time were the repeat themes of the space. Located in Long Island City the Metrolpolitan Building is a hidden jem with multiple floors of endless curiosities. The owner herself, Eleanor Ambo is quite the trip, very much of the Miss Havisham personality. 

"... think for a moment of the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day." Chapter 9, Great Expectations

"... no man who was not a true gentleman at heart, ever was, since the world began, a true gentleman in manner... no varnish can hide the grain of the wood; and that the more varnish you put on, the more the grain will express itself." Chapter 22

 "'So,' said Estella, 'I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me." Chapter 38