Utterly Engaged hosts an annual party where they have a tablescape competition- pretty cool stuff. This year, the theme was to chose two countries that Shelter Box donates to. UE supports this charity, which is pretty awesome, a total win-win. If you haven't heard of Shelter Box, be sure to take a look! I originally met the gals of Gather Events through 100 Layer Cake, so when they contacted me to do the florals for their table, I immediately said YES! Their inspiration board was so pretty. Literally when I opened the PDF, I said aloud to no one in particular, Wow, this is so beautiful. They chose Turkey and Australia with a palette of oranges and blues with lots of texture. Turalia had espresso beans in votives, tassels attached to menus, cork charges, Turkish towels - I mean, the whole shabang. Sweet and Saucy created awesome mini cakes that represented the Turkish cityscape. I loved the whole idea, incorporating cake and flowers on a candelabra centerpiece- hello sensory overload. They asked that the candelabra centerpiece represent the Australian desert, with a lot of oranges, using protea and air plants. It was SUCH a fun challenge. So... how did we do it? Kristine and I used protea, air plants, orange ranunculus, sunset safari (K kept calling it sunrise, ha!), balsa wood flowers, and blue thistle to tie in the blue and desert feel. When I saw the orange reindeer moss, I just knew that this was going to come together exactly as we envisioned. Now, that doesn't happen exactly like that all the time, and we created this entire piece relatively fast. The girls of Gather really put the word design into event design. They came up with SO many details it's unbelievable. They found three separate candle holders and had them welded together and then attached tiles, both white and patterned. Very creative! First, we attached small patches of floral foam. Then, we placed the moss all over to create a base using very thin gold thread wire. We placed the flowers into the foam, and then created small bunches and wired them on to the places that had blanks in them. I put some water tubes on the delicate ranunculus and then concealed it with more moss. Here's Robin and Sarah securing the candelabra at the venue. A nice close-up Instagram photo. Lots of details! We put some small flowers in the candle holders. Voila! Our beautiful "Turalia" tablescape. So how did we place? We didn't! At. All.
Yes, you read correct. The other booths were adorned with crystals and feathers, and all of that stuff that isn't really me per se. I felt like Simon Cowell or Tom Coliccio secretly screaming, Don't do it! Don't add one more vase, one more bunch, one more whatever it is to your table. You are going to ruin it! Okay, I'm being a bit harsh, there were some tables that were really cool and creative. My favorites included a butterfly backdrop (didn't place), a beach type theme (didn't place), and some creative bouquets, including one inspired by a ski cap. Of course Kristine and I were bitter. Wait, what?! I felt like a mom on Toddlers and Tiaras freaking out that my little darling didn't win. The Gather girls were like, ah well, lets go dance. Much classier. Then again, when I used to nanny I'd make the kids play Connect Four until I won (they would laugh, but oh yes, I was dead serious). I'm just slightly competitive. A week goes by and then I get a text from Robin, with really good, no GREAT news! And it was an analogy for life, or something like that - just when you think something's over, it turns into something even better. Stay tuned.
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So I know that it seems as though I'm constantly having breakdowns and crises, weekly (perhaps daily...) - and that's true. However, I had a realization this morning, driving bleary eyed from downtown to the store, that I'm dealing with a child, a toddler having a tantrum.
The terrible two's are for real, sometimes your little one is a gem- a surprising delight. You question why you considered trading your single bar-hopping days of freedom for the slavery of constant anxiety. And then other times you want to drop it off to the first person in sight, hand over your bank account information, website back-end, clients, I mean all of it, and say there, now it's your problem. Although I have admittedly had a freakish amount of baby dreams lately, which I blame on stalking high school "friends" and by friends I mean Facebook friends, popping out child number 2 and posting their damn baby pictures incessantly to the point of feeling like I'm raising their child, I do not have children. This "thing" I'm referring to (although I probably will call my children little things) is my baby Flour. Oh how she's grown up so fast. We're now on move #3 (starting in El Segundo, venturing to West LA, Palms area specifically, and now out of Fairfax/Pico and Lawndale), so of course the thing is all frazzled. She had a childhood like an army brat. We've fought, we cried, we laughed, we've done more events, weddings, design classes, and I'm not accurate on this, but thousands (yes thousands) of deliveries. Now in year #3, Stella is getting her groove back. While the terrible two's lead to some pretty amazing things (seriously, completely, and overly blessed), I know that this is the year where Flour stops having tantrums, and now can talk back to her mama with full sentences. Doing flowers is much different than running a flower business, however when I am doing flowers I say, oh yes- I do indeed like it after all, so yeah, that's probably a good thing;) My friend Vanessa of Turquoise is the ultimate entrepreneur. This lady has spun charity with work in such a brilliant way, I can only dream of emulating her perfect formula. I cannot keep up with this one! She's on FIRE - All.Of.The.Time.
She's also amazing at what she does - I LOVE her modern interior design look (probably because I'm surrounded by antiques at Herman Schwartz where Flour LA HQ are located out of). She asked me to do some arrangement for her latest charity venture The Teen Project. We were happy to oblige! She wanted something modern, so we did a lot of pom pom green mums with a hint of orange ranunculus. Notice those same mirror vases I used for the CBS segment. I swore my Ikea days were over. Then Alex and I moved this Fall to a lovely apartment right on the marina. If I can't live in Costa Rica (visit the Costa Rica Chronicles to read about my journey), then living here ain't so bad. After being on a never-ending mission to find the perfect desk, I succumbed (temporarily) to Ikea, quick and dirty.
I took their $60 desk, added those fun mirrors above, and two white file folders (one Flour, one Taxes - fun!). There's my Lucy and Desi photo that I creepily framed as if they were my grandparents, and have had with me for the past 10 years. She's a reminder to be a "first-rate version of yourself rather than a second-rate version of someone else". I think we all want to leave an impression on the world, in some form or another, and she epitomizes that. You can see the little succulent in a tin silver cup. I made 3 of these, but gave 2 away on the fly. There's my degree from UCLA behind a cat buddha Whitney brought back for me from Hawaii. And of course, my trademark for The Flower Chef. I filed this myself, AND it got approved. I guess that's a special feat;) You become more independent, smarter, and self-reliant during the first phases of bootstrapping a business. My old Macbook, on it's last leg, from which I'm typing on now. Endless reminders on scraps (I use Highrise for CRM and Google docs for tasks, yet still have endless follow-ups!). There's the binder about Bulk Books, that I've browsed twice and have not yet had a chance to conquer for my book Dine and Design On The Fly. A vanilla candle that's old, but that I somehow can't throw away. A pair of aviators from a kiosk by Starbucks, and a new red lipstick. Visit my pinterest decorating board about finally decorating! I will be adding a ghost desk chair, and decorating our living room in the coming weeks in a palette of light blues, sage, cream, stark white, and mirrors. Rose Bowl or bust! |
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