point reyes station

this monday i had the pleasure of spending the day in point reyes station. a charming and quintessential norther california town - complete with main street, town diner, bakery and creamery. it was a lovely way to spend a day. 

 im so excited to be doing the flowers for a wedding here in a few weeks. its simply the most beautiful setting. the town is filled with lovely old cottages and rambling gardens... the gardens are as much a part of the inherited landscape as the architecture. 

 black berries ripen lazily in the warm, late summer sun and the town market displays the last of the second crop of strawberries along with sleepy porch seating on which to watch the world go by. 

 it was a great site inspection and im feeling very inspired by the entire setting. i cant wait to get to work. 

flowers for friday

dahlia season is in full swing. i cant seem to get enough. 

i love them mounded into this vintage hotel silver teapot which almost looses its form under the pompom like mass of these grouped dahlia. their subtly varied tones become much more luscious when paired only next to another of its kind. 


happy weekends. 
              xx 

blushing bride

so you all will have to bear with me for the next two weeks, i have a crazy amount of work on my plate. it brings a whole new meaning to the labor day holiday. this is not a complaint, i hate sitting still ... just a heads up that post here may be short and sweet or just not at all...

right now ive got flowers on the brain.... lots of flowers and this arrangement is like an itch i just cant scratch. i keep finding myself thinking about it, the components of the arrangement, each individual but also flowing together as a whole to create such beautiful harmony. its been the first thing i see in morning, as the sun hits my lids but before i open my eyes.... i love that the leaves have been reversed to show their white undersides. 

image and arrangement saipua 

Rilleau Leather

 recently I found a wonderful vermont company Rilleau Leather. It is a second generation family run business with roots in the modernist movement and artists colony of cape cod. Their exquisite craft produce beautiful knotted belts and bags that seem as though they would last a life time. Im enchanted as much with the story of this company as I am the beautiful work ~ 

 i love this belt - it just has such an elegance about it......

 their bags are pretty great too. that rolled knot.....

so long

i want be wearing this skirt. so long... with an almost victorian influence, that beautiful pleated train at the back....................

with this oversized men's shirt, handmade here in san francisco. i think the billowy volume, roomy sleeves & the ability to open the neck wide would create such a feminine silhouette............................

 paired with these amazing boots, just to make sure it doesnt get too formal, too feminine or too dressy...

 with my hair just like this. there is something so very elegant about seeing the back of the neck....... 

and because every outfit needs a bit of sparkle... these earrings & this bracelet. 


what do you think? does it work for you....

interior ideas

ive been playing with a few design ideas for the living room.... here is a recent incarnation. It takes a few key pieces that i have already and builds on those. This storyboard doesn't quite capture the whole idea with elegance but it seems like a good starting point to keep me organized. i must admit that moving into a much larger apartment has been a bit overwhelming but im trying to let the choices i have already made as well as the architecture of the living room guide me. 


couch, chandelier, bookshelf, side table, rug, sheepskin, coffee table, black & white chair, westnofa leather sling chairs. 

flowers for friday

sometimes the simplest things hold the most fascination. i am completely captivated but these gloriosa lilies. so delicate they seem like something out of a fairy tale. i have seen them mixed in with other flowers a million times but i like a few of them grouped in a vase - their elegance and sculptural lines are showcased this way. 


what does the weekend hold for you? 

kitchen table

i had a wonderful visit with my family this last week. it was sad to put them on a plane yesterday. i love getting to show off the bay area - there are so many things to see and do. visitors are always amazed at the varied landscape, architecture and neighborhood flavor in the city.

my favorite activity centered around the new kitchen table. sos & my dad helped me to attach the legs to the top, an old hatch off a liberty ship - it had been waiting for a some time to reach completion & it was amazing to use it for the first time with my family gathered around it. 

in most of the photos it hasnt been oiled yet, but the photo above shows the top after i applied some mineral oil. the wood is so smooth it feels delicious. 

the first meal: its the very start of crab season so i paired fresh cracked crab with fresh corn and a french potato salad & a crisp buttery chardonnay. its simple and easy but such fun- it makes for a lively table.

flowers for friday

 hooray! its friday. this weeks seems to have lagged, but im sure it is just the anticipation of my family's arrival this evening. Im excited to spend a few days with them, relaxing and playing tour guide. I know they are going to especially love the farmers markets at this time of year. I will be taking break from blogging and all shop related things until tuesday. But then ill be back with loads of new vintage and lots of photos from this visit im sure. 


What are your plans for the weekend?

 i couldn't resist using this big old bottle from the shop for a field inspired arrangement. Bottles can be hard to work with as the narrowness of the neck forces everything into a very upright position but i chose materials that I thought would behave well in this situation as well as having narrow stems. 
I used gooseneck loosestrife, a soft lavender lisianthus, and a variety of euphorbia. the euphorbia bleeds milky sap when cut and can be a little irritating to the skin, it also needs to be seared at the cut - a few passes of a lighter will do. 


Have lovely lovely weekends everyone!


xx

fruits of labor: summer pasta

this recipe is a combination of a few found in the july 2011 issue of martha stewart living. with all of the fresh vegetables at the moment it was hard to stop at just one recipe....though i would have liked to use a spinach based pasta for color contrast. 

Summer Pasta:
2 tbsp evoo

1 tbsp butter 

3 large cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper 

1 lb of orichette pasta (cooked al dente and 3/4 cup of cooking water reserved)

10 ounces of yellow wax beans or green beans 
 3 ears of corn (steamed and shaved)
1 lemon juiced and half zested into strips (a non-serrated vegetable peeler works best) and slice into match stick sized pieces
3/4 cup of finely grated asiago cheese
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1/2 cup of fresh torn basil




bring a large pot of water to boil - add ears of corn and cook until tender, aprox 7 minutes. remove from water and set aside, with water still boiling add yellow beans and cook until just tender. Remove from water and plunge into ice bath to stop cooking. with water still boiling add a tsp of salt and then add pasta. cook until al dente


while pasta cooks - heat oil in a large skillet over medium/low heat add red pepper and garlic, sautee until golden brown 3-4 minutes. add lemon strips and sautee another minute. add butter, shaved corn and beans toss with cracked black pepper. toss to coat, when butter is melted add lemon juice. cook another 2 minutes and then add cheese, reserved pasta water. toss in pasta and torn basil last, coat well and plate. 

inspiration

todays inspiration came it these forms ........... sting, silver, stoneware and oats.

place

if you havent already guessed, the kitchen is one of my most favorite places. this one, by designer sharon simonaire, feels quite like home to me.

image: domino

painting in dutch: erin spencer

i first found erin spencer's work while looking for a beautiful and meaningful wedding gift for one of my very dearest friends. when i came across her paintings of the sea it was love at first sight. the heavy textured brush strokes evoke all of the unrest of the sea but with a spectacular feeling of calm. erin painted the most beautiful harbor scape of portsmouth, nh -the town where my friend and her husband met and live- as a wedding gift for them.

her landscapes are incredibly beautiful too, they always seem to hover on the edge of verdancy. I love the palette of these.  i regularly check erin's gallery, painting in dutch and etsy shop. she is always working away at something and its exciting to keep up with her and her work.

table scape

its a new week! a fresh, clean start for anything you want to achieve. Im incredibly excited to welcome my mom & dad, brother & cousin to san francisco at the end of the week. It will be the first time they have seen the new house and I cant wait to spend a few days hanging out, visiting the farmers markets and other sights with them. I have been working on making a new kitchen table and im hoping my dad will be able to help with the final touches so we will all be able to share a meal there together. 

     I love this table above... a simple kind of grandeur ~ full of beauty but the kind that highlights the lovely occasion of sharing food and friendship together. 

image: design attractor  

flowers for friday

hydrangea always remind me of summer. they grow everywhere i have ever lived ~ different varieties, different colors~ and sometimes they dry just perfectly in the vase. only their color fading slightly, the sweets reminders. 

i love the huge fully formed petals of this purply blue variety but honestly i chose it as a perfect compliment to the unique studio pottery bowl i found recently at the strangest estate sale. its reminds me of something from the sea, a piece of coral perhaps but it also oddly reminds me of a brain.... it can sit like a little piece of sculpture or be overturned to perfectly hold water and few of these hydrangea.

i also wanted to share a few posts from around the blog world. its not something that i have thought to do before but there were many this week that i enjoyed so very much. so here goes.....

a beautiful post from illseenillsaid on the sweetness of summer's bounty.

a gorgeous reincarnation of pieces our grandmothers used poppytalk

a few little touches at 16house that make magic happen 

& a first glimpse at a new season unabashedapparel

happy happy weekends! 

xx