Springing forward

With daylight savings being just a few days away, something fantastic has also re-set its seasonal clock around here. The abundant winter rain that dumped this year made our funky succulent-ed entry really bust out with big time juiciness! Once shriveled jade plants, aeoniums, echevarias and aloes are now thick, thriving and fat with moisture. And, along with their new found lust for life, these plants are also hosting a variety of critters. My darling cat "Bones" (aka "Itty Bitty"- not so bitty any more) has made many new chewy friends and has thoughtfully introduced them to the rest of the household; usually when and where we least expect it. Examples - like right after dinner, or at 2:30am via the bedroom window (over my side of the bed, of course) or placed orderly next to my gym bag where her victim lays maimed, wiggly or dead as a door nail.

Her favorite new friends include: earthworms, some up to 6" long; alligator lizards, usually missing a limb and/or tail and the real fun novelty of late is a 3" long potato bug, ewww! This link should do the trick for those unfamiliar with this elusive, mysterious bug-thing... http://uploadwikipedia.org/wikipedia/ommons/1/1e/mahogany_Jerusalem_cricket.jpg . Darwin, my friend, I guarantee our crazy coastal niche would have impressed you!

But seriously now - cats, critters and natural selection aside, the important thing to share with my blog followers is that I often harvest succulents from our rain-soaked front yard. I find they make a fine ingredient in many a floral recipe. From boutonnieres to centerpieces - their effect is stunning, surprising and always invites both touch and comment. Heck, talk about shopping "local', eh? Lucky me! Oh, and my cat too. Photo courtesy: http://www.barnettphoto.com/

Cheers,

Adrianne

Window shop

Whenever I need new ideas for floral creations, I look to window displays. In college, my favorite art classes were Color Theory and Exhibition Design...so no surprise that I find new color trends in their retail settings down right fascinating. Some people watch gobs of TV (my husband refers to this gizmo as the box with the little people inside), I watch out for color relationships -everyday! Yes, I totally agree, nerd alert.

One of my favorite places in Southern California to go "window shopping" is Anthropologie http://www.anthropologie.com/ . For those not familiar, this is a women's apparel/home furnishings store specializing in the modern-bohemian-chic aesthetic...amazing textiles, fashion designs, unique jewelry/accessories and inspired store displays. Beyond the impressive use of color, their merchandising gurus often focus attention on repetitive textures and shapes. Last week when I saw their recent display utilizing two other of my favorite things - recycled products and bicycle wheels - I blew a micro chip getting super snap happy with my little green camera (ask my pretty gal pal, Dawn - think I may have embarrassed her!). The tops of plastic water bottles were cut into flower blossom shapes, then airbrushed and splattered with mixed pastel colors , then layered and mounted on to chrome rims and spokes of old bicycle wheels. And then lastly, layered upon themselves...so damn clever!!! Check this YouTube video to get the gist of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBmXMol9Qus

I have always wanted to teach art. Perhaps someday my crazy class will be called 'Color Theory - Recycle Scratch and Sniff 101' - a course combining light industrial design, recycled goods, methods & materials and lots of glorious colorama! Are you in or are you out?

Auf Wiedersehn,
Adrianne

Channeling my inner Bollywood

Every time I eat Indian food something funny happens. Well, besides my brow perspiring from the punjab heat, I swear my type 'O' negative blood turns Hindi positive! That joyful song from "Slumdog Millionaire" goes off loudly in my head, my pasty pigment changes to a lush caramel-ish toffee color, I am clad in a fine silk sari (green, of course) and my wrists are jangling with copious silver bangles. Alas, I am awakened upon leaving the restaurant to the bland reality check: Adrianne, you are merely an American mutt, a mixed up specimen of German, English, Irish, French and Cherokee. Kind of hard to extract any inspired sensual experience from that bag, boo...courtesy of Mom and Dad's collective gene pools I suppose. Hmmm.

Thankfully, on occasion, I do luck into creating flowers for an Indian bride and/or groom. The jewel tones, spicy hues and unexpected textures of the culture really flip my global lid.

Event coordinator, Kelly Aull of Mint Weddings http://www.mintweddings.com/ brought 2 fine clients my way, Pamela and Craig...she being Indian and he, French Canadian and THEY = foodies! All the tables were named after exotic spices, so cool. Custom chocolates made with cardamom, chili and curry were abundant, while clove-spiked orange pomanders were placed on everything that stood still and don't get me going on about the cake - doi!! Artero Photography http://www.artero.com/ captured the event at the San Diego Natural Natural History Museum http://www.sdnhm.org/ where the most beautifully dressed Indian women of every age swirled about the dance floor - a rainbow blur of brilliant turquoise, saffron yellow, marigold orange and watermelon pink. Aaaaaaahhh, such magic!

May my next dinner at "Monsoon" transport me straight to a steamy Bollywood movie set via a creaky bamboo rickshaw with sassy mango lassi in hand. I could get used to that.

Cheers,
Adrianne

Valentine's Day - what's that?

Right, the questions of all questions...what is the origin of this lovey-dovey holiday?

Lets go back to 270 A.D. During this time the iron-fisted emperor, Claudius, was enlisting men to fight in his mighty, manly wars. These poor, sensitive male recruits, however, didn't wish to leave their sweethearts to wage battles in far away lands. This angered the feisty Claudius, hence he forbid any marriages to be performed and cancelled all engagements - the nerve!

Cue in Valentine, a popular and kindly priest, who secretly arranged marriages within his church. Claudius, armed with a anger for this sort of romantic, gooey disobedience, promptly jailed Valentine and sent these poor love struck men to fight in his bloody wars.

Here is where my little funky history lesson gets interesting. Now the People Magazine twist on all this was that while incarcerated, Valentine fell in love with the jailer's daughter, hmmmm. He wrote her woozy, swoony, beautiful love letters signed, "from Your Valentine". Awwww! Basically, he made a martyr of himself...and, so naturally, he is known as the patron saint of lovers and for those wishing to marry. Hence, a holiday was born!

Sooooo, get on it love struck lads - a romantic expression speaks volumes! Got flowers? For San Diego ordering information, please send an email inquiry to: info@asmithfloral.com. We'll get you set up for sweet love this Valentine's Day.

Cheers,

Adrianne

'The Road Not Taken'

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost

I awoke Thanksgiving morning to a brisk and invigorating invitation. A fine day for fresh air before the traditional pig out...and Bothe Napa Valley State Park was calling us. With my husband, my best pal and 3 other friends hoofing it upward on a spongy path - we found ourselves in the shadow of a north-east facing ridge; tree covered with redwoods, maples, sycamore, manzanita and a myriad of mysterious oaks - not my usual acorny suspects from Southern California. It had rained earlier that week, and a dampness hung to the golden leaves littering the trail and creek bed. Moss clung to every thing dead, decaying or free from direct sunlight. Textures so fern-ladden and fuzzy I swore I was on some kind of Trekkie planet...you know the one with the "tribbles"? Or, in that weird fantasy film "Legend" with once naive Tom Cruise (pre sofa stunt on Oprah and the Scientology) and scary Tim Curry (from Rocky Horror Picture Show) as the evil beast, cue in the unicorn! AND, then along came the fungus! Seriously, we may have seen 30 different varieties of mushrooms...it was quite magical and mysterious. Was I really there or was it just a beautiful dream?

Cheers,

Adrianne

Gad zukes, Scooby...these are real mums!

Ok - I am so fired up... Exquisite Weddings Magazine table top decor photo shoot countdown, less than 20 hours!

I had such a freak out when I saw these 6" diameter China mums (a.k.a. - "chrysanthemums grandes") last week. When I picked them up from my wholesale floral peeps today I may have popped a vein in my eyeball and said, "Zoinks!" They are so frickin' fat and gorgeous. Mustard colored, and I don't mean "French's Mustard"...FYI, that's not real mustard. "French's Mustard" is only legal to those US citizens under the age of 12 who, sadly, via the disgraceful permission of their weak parents are allowed to slather this stuff onto their hotdogs! Thankfully, this sad and forbidden condiment does not exist if you were blessed enough to be born and raised in Europe, right? Heck, they even let their fine Euro youth sip wine at the ripe age of 12! So, the mustard yellow I am refering to is "dijon-esque", a sophisticated muted Euro-yellow w/a hint of grey meets apricot at a swinging, yet spicy party - do you know that of which I write? Hope so. More photos to follow...tomorrow is going to be so groovy delicious, I can taste it!

Tonight, I shall dream of REAL mustard colored mums - aaaaahhh. And, maybe, of cyclist George Hincapie too...hee hee. Look him up google style :-)

HINT: Someone needs Scooby snack!

Cheers,
Adrianne

gad zukes, Scooby! These are real mums!