Haunt Me Still by Jennifer Lee Carrell
I’ve been traveling for the past two weeks, wonderful wonderful days of work + play in my home city of Los Angeles. I’m energized and inspired after spending time with some of my best friends in the wedding industry, after getting lots of great counsel and advice from people who know what makes me tick. I have been jotting down ideas and goals, pages and pages of them, but my number one priority now that I’m back with my {lovah} in Colorado? Finish organizing my office!!!
It seems a little silly to finish this project when {lovah} and I have decided that we’ll be moving when our lease is up in two short months, but I figure that the more organized my office is now, the easier it will be to pack and relocate when the time comes.
I still need to clean out my files and do some purging, but things are coming together. I have loads of styling jobs and lovely weddings on the horizon, but I also have dozens of projects from the past few months to share with you. I’ve missed blogging, and I’m looking forward to getting back in the saddle!
Images | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
I realize it’s nearly time for another weekend… ah well. I wanted to revive this old “regular” that I used to do in years past, so I remembered to take pictures all weekend long! And then forgot to post them. Oops!
Coffee. Lots of it.
Still getting used to drinking decaf (currently eliminating caffeine & alcohol, doctor’s orders, to help with my altitude-sickness).
Streaming KPCC from Los Angeles (because Denver’s NPR station is BAD).
Ironing kitchen towels (ironing can be so therapeutic).
Delicious breakfasts by {lovah}.
Some lawn mowing.
And leaf-raking, and stick-picking-up, and bush-trimming, and lawn-clipping-bagging (oh ps. that yard that we wanted so much? hate it. miss our tiny yard and our gardeners like CRAZY).
Screen-installing. Home-airing.
Happiness is: discovering you have a lilac bush in your front yard!!!!!
Spring-bringing. Into the house, that is.
Nature-reveling.
There was also a lot of eating out, with several misses but at least one really tremendous hit. More about that meal at a later date!
Images by Lauryl Lane.
Somehow I feel much better-informed if I read the paper versus picking random news stories to read online… After my morning run, the paper and a cup of coffee is imperative.
Images | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
Breakfast. The most important meal of the day. Harney and Son’s Hot Cinnamon Spice tea is a perfect way to the start the day…
Paired with porridge (Trader Joe’s Hot Cereal), fresh banana, orange-flavored dried cranberries, a large spoonful of greek yogurt (adds creaminess + flavor), and a dash of pumpkin pie spice. A well-rounded breakfast.
Don’t forget the pretty Bunnykins dishes!
Images | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
Romancing Miss Bronte by Juliet Gael
Ah, blogging. I’ve been having an existential crisis lately over blogging and what it means to me and why I do it and how it affects me and blah blah blah… I won’t bore you with the details. (I wrote a 700-word post explaining my thought process over the past few weeks, but when I re-read it, I thought, “this is just the sort of crap that I skip reading on blogs,” so ta-da, none of that!).
Every few years I have to take a break from blogging, re-evaluate, try to get over feeling weird about having so much of my “self” available on the interwebs… You know. Self-inflicted crisis. This time the whole thing was instigated by Pinterest, and I had a few freak-out moments resulting in asking Pinterest to remove all the images that had been pinned from my blog/site (literally there were HUNDREDS of them / Yes, Pinterest quickly removed them). Then I had the no-pin meta-tag added to my site. I hope my fears about Pinterest are unfounded– my friends tell me that I need to chill, and they’re probably right (they usually are), but for now, I’m taking a Pinterest sabbatical.
I’m also shifting the focus of this blog. When I started blogging over seven years ago, my blog was my online diary. As more people read it, I became less personal. Then I started my business and the blog shifted into a way to showcase my work. Lately I’ve felt burdened to write regularly and post as much work as possible, but the truth of the matter is, I just don’t have the time for that.
I love blogging. I’m compelled to blog. But I don’t like sticking to a schedule, I don’t like feeling like I have to post something every day, I don’t like the pressure that’s associated with being a “blogger.” So I’m shifting the focus away from business, and back to daily life. I’ll blog less about my work and more about what I’m eating, what I’m reading, what I’m inspired by. As a stylist, I recognize that “work” and “daily life” are essentially synonymous for me, and that’s okay. The point is, I need to take the pressure off of myself. The blog will remain public, but it’s no longer linked from my business website. I imagine most of you reading this are the family and close friends who are subscribed via RSS feed and have been reading this all along…
Thanks for bearing with me, thanks for commenting and communicating and making me feel more like part of a community.
Good on ‘ya. And 400+ words is better than 700+, right? Back to pretty pictures and fewer words, stat!
Image | Styling by Lauryl Lane.
I love Mondays. I know that many people consider Monday their least favorite day of the week, because they have to go back to work after a few days of “personal” time. But for me, Mondays are the start of something fresh and new. They are a clean slate. I often work weekends since I’m in the event business, so perhaps my schedule is a bit skewed… But I love the fact that Monday restarts each new week, full of new ideas, new discoveries, new potential.
It’s a little warmer out this morning, and the sun is shining. I know winter isn’t over yet, but the warmer days every once in a while remind me that we’re on the cusp of spring. Spring– the season when everything springs back to life. I cannot wait for it to arrive! In the meantime, I have some exciting styling jobs on my plate this week and a best friend coming to town for a visit! Hope your week looms ahead with many things to look forward to, as well!
Larkspur, rosemary and monkeytail… promising that Spring is just around the corner!
Although you may have seen this rehearsal dinner featured on the Grey Likes Weddings blog, I had to share some of my own favorite images from this incredibly beautiful event. When Jana and Michael hired me to design the florals and decor for their wedding weekend, I was ecstatic. It’s not every day that I get to design a rehearsal dinner, wedding and sunday brunch, for the same couple and with the same aesthetic, but each with completely different themes. Pulling off three different events in three days was a lot of hard work, but it was a glorious and extremely rewarding challenge. Of course, working with Gianna of Chic Celebrations made it all the more enjoyable. When I collaborate with Gianna, beauty is inevitable.
This was my first time, however, to work with Brittany Rene, and I am absolutely in love with her stunning images. She did a magnificent job capturing the tablescapes, but I also love how she shows the transition of light from the set-up when the sun was still high, through “magic hour” as the sun set and then the darker shots during the party. Thank you, Britt!
The theme was an “upscale fiesta,” and in keeping with that theme, I used brightly colored florals in reds, yellows, oranges and pinks, with lots of saturated greens. Floral varieties included dahlias, anemones, zinnias, kangaroo paw, solidago, celosia, decorative chili peppers, geranium leaves and smilax.
The rehearsal dinner took place in the motor-court of Sitting Bull, the original lodge on the Hummingbird Nest Ranch property. The old brick building with it’s tiled roofs surrounded the cobbled-drive of the motor-court, and three long tables were set up in a “u” shape to facilitate a family-style feel to the plated meal.
A guitarist provided background music to set the tone for the evening. Live music elevates every party!
Each table featured a variety of floral arrangements at different heights, as well as pillar candles and a runner of fresh greens and florals.
As the sun began to set, the candles and strung lights glowed, creating a soft and inviting ambiance.
The party went on late into the night, and as I worked about a half mile up the road, designing the pieces for the next day’s wedding reception, I could hear the happy voices and much laughter. It seemed like an absolutely idyllic evening. If only all wedding rehearsal dinners could be such fun!
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
