June 28, 2012

the berks

Let's clear something up. The Berkshires are in Massachusetts. You may not know this because people don't seem to know this. But they are not in NY or CT, they are in MA - east of the hudson river and the catskills. It's amazing how much natural beauty is within a 3 hour drive from big city life. The Berkshires are incredibly gorgeous. Like freak you out pretty. The air is so fresh and crisp and clean. 5 minutes outside in that clean, fresh air and I felt vastly healthier. Wished I had brought my yoga mat and was dreaming up quinoa recipes. No joke.








So, what was I doing there? No, I wasn't trying to talk my way into living at Kripalu though the idea crossed my mind. I had the pleasure of assisting the lovely and talented Ariella on a wedding. The experience was pretty darn fabulous. The people, the environment, the flowers, the pizza breaks. It all felt a bit surreal. I've learned a ton from Ariella in the last 6 months. I was fortunate enough to be a part of her Maui workshop back in February and since then things have been clicking a bit more. There's a real ease about her work. Her flowers define effortless beauty and watching her work is quite calming. We all (at least the florists) know this work requires a TON of effort but slowing down the pace in your mind and focussing on the what's happening in front of you is really transforming. "Loosen it up," is something Ariella says often. So simple and so spot on. Loosen it up. The flowers, the arrangement, the hold, the focus, the mind. It's just flowers. Looking forward to assisting Ariella on a few more events this summer. I'm one lucky duck, that's for sure.



June 24, 2012

hey nicole, check out these bouts

My friend Nicole has a thing for bouts. She's in Australia right now and I miss her a lot. She's been there for a year and a half and will be there for another some odd months. She's training to be in the Australian military. No, she's not. She's cooking a lot of test food for her pretty rad biz Green Bellies. (That right there is what we call a plug). Anyway, Nicole got married a few years ago and I was living in Oregon at the time. Her wedding was in Philly. The logistics (because weddings are truly only about logistics) were too tricky for me to do all her flowers, be in her wedding and not lose my mind. So in an effort to do something for the big day, I made some bouts and corsages. I still feel guilty about this. I should have made all her flowers. If it were today, and she happened to be getting married in Australia, the logistics wouldn't scare me. The moral of this story that seems to be going nowhere is that Nicole's favorite floral part of her wedding were the bouts. And since then, she keeps tabs on the bouts I be making. I try to make them pretty enough for her high standards. 




PS - I didn't really like those bridesmaid bouquets, cole. I lied and said I did. But I didn't.

June 18, 2012

monday catch up

I keep meaning to talk about the chicken coup in the neighborhood. I'll have to save that for next time because it is so strange and interesting, I dare not write about that tale with tired eyes. On a completely unrelated note to chickens, I've been wanting to show you these ridiculous coral charm peonies from a few weeks ago. I had a bunch of them leftover after a peony mishap that goes into the whoops file. I gave handfuls and handfuls to my studio neighbors and grabbed some remnants to make one big puffy cloud of pink magic. These flowers are insane.




Some of the last hellebore and ranunculus of the season. I'll miss you. Until next year...