Life right now is wild. A 24-7 work schedule, a house in chaos, and a holiday looming on the horizon is only the beginning. As summer winds down my fall calendar fills to the brim and things suddenly get foggy. That's where I am right now, overwhelmed by the mounting to-dos, but thankful for a reprieve in the summer heat. The nights are cooler now and that's where I take my solace. 

This bouquet is an outward expression of my current state of mind. A little unkept, a little dark, but with light around its edges. I created it for my friend Maddie's most recent workshop and stole it away for a couple of minutes to shoot these images. Again this is symbolic of life right now. Every day I try to carve out a couple of minutes to do something for me, if only to keep my sanity it tact. This blog post is one of those things for me.

As I write this I'm watching a new-to-me television show I'm completely obsessed with, The Newsroom. We marathoned season one a couple weeks back and I finally convinced Ryan to watch season two with me. I like it because it reminds me there are bigger issues in the world worth my attention. The trivial issues of my day-to-day life pale in comparison. I'm starting to look at the world with a new perspective. Wouldn't it be nice if all TV lead to bettering our lives. Here's to dreaming.

    BLOOMS USED

1. Dahlias
2. Celosia (2 types)
3. Wax Flower
4. Statice
5. Spray Roses
6. Lysimachia Ciliata Purpurea
7. Wisteria

Ryan's fortune cookie this evening is my new mantra for this season of my life- "There is are no shortcuts to any place worth going." I may just keep this mantra for always. - b.

We're just now approaching the middle of winter, but I'm already dreaming of spring. Though I can't quite pull out the sandals yet, I can fill our home with the smell and look of spring thanks to early blooming flowers, mainly flowering bulbs. 

Flowers bring such warmth and light to my life, and their presence in our home helps keep the coldness of winter at bay. One of my favorite early bloomers are tulips. From my earliest days these flowers have been a favorite because of their saturated colors, delicate build, and sweet scent. They are the perfect feminine embodiment of the coming (eventually) season.

The pink, dusty mauve, and white blooms only further the illusion of spring for me and add a bit of Parisian flair to our tiny north Philadelphia row home.  

In other news, I'll be making a lot more of these arrangements very soon. My friend Maddie is hosting a bra making workshop this weekend and guess who's providing the floral decor? -b.

Decadent centerpieces just make life better, and there's no better time to make an extravagant flower arrangement than the holidays. I chose colorful blooms in non-holiday specific hues to make this bouquet, making it perfect inspiration for just about any holiday. With Christmas just around the corner however, let's just call this inspiration for your yuletide gatherings. 

I originally created this arrangement for our small and quiet Thanksgiving feast, but as that holiday is now two weeks past I'll spare you the recap of our mostly cheese, protein and bread stuffed holiday and instead turn you attention to the flowers. Imagine if you will (for reference) that this centerpiece was actually larger than our 11 Llbs turkey. I'm not exaggerating, this centerpiece was huge! Now let's build backwards from there.

The only thing I knew for sure when first thinking about this centerpiece was that I wanted to use a large vintage brass vessel I'd recently found at a thrift store to hold the flowers. I then knew I wanted to create a design that felt natural, languid and punchy against our wood dining room table and mostly orange-brown food. This thing had to bring our meal to life!

We went to Whole Foods to source the flowers (I haven't had much luck elsewhere in Philly) and I found magenta peonies, bright pink spray roses, yellow solidago, flowering dill, lamb's ear, clover, and a small seasonal mix of other blooms. I like mixing a lot of different textures when arranging flowers and I feel like each arrangement I create becomes more complex than the last.

To start, I put a glass flower frog in the center of the vessel- the glass frog has bigger holes to the meaty stems on the peonies and lamb's ear. I then filled the vessel 3/4 the way with water and started laying out a base of leafy filler around the edges. After the base felt nice and full I started adding the bigger blooms into the flower frog and filled it out from there. It's important to add a lot of varying heights in the flowers and to constantly turn your bouquet as you work so that no side is left unfilled. I tried not to cut things down too much and instead let the stems droop gracefully out from the vessel creating a bouquet that is as relaxed as it is elegant.

I think my love of full, big bouquets is just beginning to blossom. - b.