Monthly Archives: February, 2012
About an hour from Denver, nestled into the mountains, lies the quaint, historical mining town of Georgetown. When two of my best friends visited over the holidays, I was quick to suggest that we make for the mountains, despite the cold and falling snow.
When I first agreed to move to Denver for {lovah}’s job, I thought Denver was IN the mountains. Imagine my surprise when we landed at the Denver International Airport, which is in the middle of a barren, depressing flatscape. I thought we’d accidentally landed in Kansas. I was very disappointed to find that Denver is about as flat as my home neighborhood of Silver Lake is hilly. So the obvious response? Head to the mountains as frequently as possible!!!
As {lovah} and I are fascinated by history and nostalgia, we find Georgetown to be particularly endearing. The facade of main street is almost untouched by modernity, apart from the ability to string colorful holiday lights across the street, which is, of course, utterly charming.
We visited just a week before Christmas, and with the snow falling softly, the little town really did appear to be a magic winter wonderland.
My favorite destination in Georgetown is the tea room. On a little side street, it is also home to a store full of miniatures– the type of miniatures you’d use for making dollhouses! The tea room is kitschy but delightful, with beautiful mis-matched china, funky lace linens, and, thankfully, individual space heaters for each table!
With a very wide selection of teas to choose from, each of the four people in our party decided on something different. Four pots of wonderful tea led to hours of sipping and conversation…
We also enjoyed delicious tea sandwiches, in traditional English style, along with scones and clotted cream, and other wonderful delicacies.
The potato soup was the most flavorful I’d ever had! I am now determined to replicate this soup because it really was extraordinarily good.
My favorite tea ended up being the White Avalanche, which has the unusual added element of coconut, a flavor I’d never had in tea before. Erin was the one who chose this particular blend, and I’m ever so glad she did. She also purchased a tin of the loose tea for me, and I’ve been enjoying it for months now.
By the time we finished our tea time, it was dark out and we set out to begin the rather treacherous and nerve-wracking drive home, as the snow had picked up a bit and I’m not a fan of driving in the snow… but we made it home safe and sound, and I’m already pining for another little excursion to Georgetown and the Saint James Tea Room!
Saint James Tea Room
614 Rose Street
Georgetown, CO 80444
303-569-3100
You might recall a year ago that I blogged about styling a cake for Joy the Baker. It was a blast to work with Joy, totally fun, and we had some good laughs over how very unglamorous these photos shoots are behind the scenes. If only people knew…
I’m not going to lie, I was a little devastated when the cake I styled failed to pass muster with Joy’s editors. You see, it was supposed to be for the cover of her new cookbook. I was sooooo excited about that. I’ve had my designs on the cover of a magazine… not once, but twice. That’s a pretty big deal. But the cover of a Joy the Baker Cookbook? That made my little heart go pitter patter pumpernickel.
Alas and alack, it wasn’t to be. The cookbook editors went a different direction. They put Joy’s sweet face on the cover. Don’t get me wrong, Joy deserves to have her face on the cover. It’s a good face. And she’s a seriously adorable person. But I do wish she were holding MY styled cake and not a cake with sunflowers on it. Ah, well. The sunflower cake in no way detracts from the cookbook, and I’m planning to pick up a copy today. I urge you to do the same. I’ve tried many of Joy’s recipes and have loved every single one (the whole wheat chocolate chip cookies are YUMtown). The cookbook is full of 100 all-new, never-before-seen, recipes for deliciousness.
And, well, I suppose the cake I styled can live on in infamy on this, my little bloggity-blog. At least I can look at it, and that makes me happy.
Oh, you still here? What are you waiting for? Go get the Joy the Baker Cookbook, stat!
Images by Joy Wilson | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
Monday again. Back to the grind. But such a pleasant grind!
I must confess the Academy Awards were a bit of a disappointment. Apart from the actual awards (most were quite well-deserved, in my opinion), Esmerelda Spalding’s heavenly vocals, and seeing my girl-crush, Rooney Mara, looking exquisite… well, the show was a let-down. And I was a little devastated by Billy Crystal’s racist remarks. I was reminded why I left the film industry, and why I love the wedding industry so very, very much.
Fun stuff to come this week: flowers, yummy baked goods, and copious cups of tea. Just a few of my favorite things!
The Academy Awards are tomorrow, will you be watching? It’s one of my favorite evenings of the year, the chance to see Hollywood royalty (and many of my clients!) all dressed up in their most formal attire, coiffed, bejeweled, and utterly entrancing!
Every year I hope to see more flowers. Not that there aren’t bajillions of flowers at The Kodak Theatre on awards day (I’ve watched the floral installations before and they are UNBELIEVABLE!!!), but we rarely see the film talent wearing corsages, boutonnieres, or any other floral adornment. With The Artist as one of the number one contenders for Best Picture, I’m really hoping that there will be a return to “Old-Hollywood” elegance this year. Might we even see some classic carnation boutonnieres??? Fingers crossed!
Carnations have gotten a really bad rap in the past, and I understand why. Poorly designed, as they almost always are in supermarket arrangements, they look like crap. But with the proper care, good mechanics, and unexpected accompaniments, carnations really can shine. And as a boutonniere, a carnation can conjure up images of the elite brotherhood of gentlemen who wore a carnation “buttonhole” every single day in England around the turn of the century. Oh dear, now I’m going to imagine myself in the world of Downton Abbey again…
Happy Weekend!
Image | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
Yesterday I awoke to another eight inches of snow. On top of the 2+ feet that still remained from the last snowstorm, everything seems devastatingly snowy to me. I find it both funny and sad how quickly the novelty-aspect wears off. The sun is shining today, so hopefully it will melt, melt, melt the aforementioned snow. In the meantime, I’ve been going through pictures and remembering times when I was warm!
When I needed an escape from Los Angeles smog (which I now miss, believe it or not!), my favorite excursion was to drive the two hours up into the mountains, and rent a cabin in Big Bear. Whether getting a bit of color on the porch, or sitting in front of the fire on a cooler evening, everything about Big Bear is relaxing. I love the hustle and bustle of urban living, but sometimes it’s nice to take a break, breath the fresh air, revel in the beauty of nature, and recharge.
A view like this is a tremendous stress reliever!
And besides my own home, there isn’t anything more cozy than a cabin.
Nothing says “relax” like a beer tasting.
Alpine sledding? Sure, why not!
Hiking? Yeah, I dig that!
Taking the ski lift to drink in the gorgeous scenery? Yes, please!
And it’s pretty magical to look up at the night sky and see it filled with stars!
Big Bear is a skiing destination during the winter and it’s quite lovely to visit then, but I prefer it during the off-season, when it’s perfectly sunny and warm, wonderfully green and blue, less crowded, and exceptionally serene.
Images by Lauryl Lane.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle could not have said it better. The little things ARE infinitely the most important. Many people think of flowers as a “little thing.” Or a luxury. I suppose they could be categorized either way. But whether “little” or “luxury,” they make the world a brighter place. I can’t imagine living without the ability to fashion and cultivate these gorgeous bits of nature into works of art.
Hand-tied bouquets are always my favorite. Always. Without question.
I also love boutonnières, and long for these to come back into vogue for more frequent use than weddings!
But centerpieces, where would we be without centerpieces? They make any dull table gay. They bring the outdoors in. They remind us of the beauty that surrounds us.
Oh sweet fleurs, I adore you. You cheerful red and orange ranunculas, you delightful textured balls of scabiosa pod, you perpetually-blooming stars of bethlehem, and you luscious cedar: yum. Yummy yum yum!
One of my dearest friends is Megan Gonzalez of MaeMae Paperie. I’ve been a big huge fan of Megan’s work for years now, and my move to Colorado finally presented me with an opportunity to commission my very own MaeMae original!
Megan designed these darling cards for us– they were printed as postcards, both front and back, and then we slid them into see-through velum envelopes for a little protection in the mail.
I sent “inspiration” images to Megan of the Rocky Mountains that we drove through on our trek to Denver, and she translated the snowy mountains, green pine trees, and blue, blue skies into these fun, graphic drawings.
Oh Megan, how much do I love your work? Let me count the ways….
If you are as enamored with MaeMae as much as I am, than get thee to the MaeMae Trunk Show! It’s sure to be a day of total fabulousness. It’s Saturday, March 17th at Urbanic Paper Boutique on Abbot Kinney in Venice, California. Put Megan and Audrey together in a room, and I have no doubt there will be MAGIC in the air!!!
It’s been so fun lately to see more emphasis on beautifully designed baby showers and kid’s parties. Weddings aren’t the only big life events that deserve a professional touch, and in some cases, even more attention can be paid to detail for a gathering like a shower or birthday party, since the guest list is almost always smaller than a wedding and allows for a more intimate setting. Thanks to Baby Lifestyles for featuring our chic green and white baby shower! No bunting at this shower- it was a truly elegant soiree! Find out all the details on Baby Lifestyles!
In celebration of Valentine’s Day, here’s a sneak peek of a bouquet I fashioned for a recent collaboration. More on that later. For now, isn’t that ombre effect exhilarating? Hope you’re spending a beautiful day with the one (s) you love!
I feel like every day should be Valentine’s Day, if this is truly a day of celebrating love. Sammy and I were cuddled on the sofa last night, discussing what we should do today. Sammy said something like, “we celebrate our love EVERY day.” And he is so right.
This past year has been the hardest year for our relationship despite 9 years of togetherness. The difficulty mostly had to do with us being separated so much. The cross-country move and my many commitments in L.A. caused us to be apart for a total of nearly two months. Yeah, that time was broken up, but it sure added up. Neither of us had been apart for more than a week or two per year for any of the previous years since we first met during our junior year of college. It was rough. It led me to cut back on the number of destination weddings that I’m willing to commit to each year. And it made us think about how short life is and wonder if there is ANYTHING more important in life than being together?
We think not.
When most I wink, then do mine eyes best see,
For all the day they view things unrespected;
But when I sleep, in dreams they look on thee,
And, darkly bright, are bright in dark directed;
Then thou whose shadow shadows doth make bright,
How would thy shadow’s form form happy show
To the clear day with thy much clearer light,
When to unseeing eyes thy shade shines so!
How would, I say, mine eyes be blessed made
By looking on thee in the living day,
When in dead night thy fair imperfect shade
Through heavy sleep on sightless eyes doth stay!
All days are nights to see till I see thee,
And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.
William Shakespeare
Sonnet 43
Image | Floral Design | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
{a+t}’s wedding | miss havisham chandeliers
