Halloween costumes...

Yes, I dressed up my pet for Halloween.  Meet Chica, the fire dog!

Cute, huh?  Unfortunately, she's not as crazy about her Halloween costume as I am... both she and my husband are thoroughly embarrassed.

Happy Halloween!

Flowers...

I have strong opinions about flowers (being the Flower Lady's daughter and everything....)  I have probably seen hundreds of wedding bouquets, and I think this is gorgeous and I'll bet it smelled amazing:

Sweet peas and peonies... my favorite flowers.  I planted both when we moved into our house two years ago but I haven't had much luck with the peonies yet.  The sweet peas do really well.  I need to try planting some sweet pea seeds now because I hear they like the mild California winters, and I definitely need to work on the peonies... I would so love to grow a bouquet like this next summer!

(Via Style Me Pretty, photo by Ellie Grover Photography)

Business cards!

It rained here all weekend... not good.  It gives me headaches and my dog gets moody (seriously- she really hates rain).  But it was kind of cozy and it gave me a chance to start a few projects I had been meaning to get around to.  I had been thinking it would be nice to have some business cards.  Since I don't really have a need for them yet, I decided to keep it simple and try printing my own.  Paper Source, my favorite paper store, carries paper in every size and color, including business card size, so I bought a pack in blue.
Then I got out my calligraphy supplies and played around with different logo ideas.  I played around with incorporating little flowers into it, but my taste is pretty basic and flowers seemed a little busy.

So I settled on one of the logos I had written, scanned it in to the computer, played around and figured out how to turn it brown (I liked the combination of blue and dark brown), and typed in the rest of the information.  I decided to go simple- logo on one side, name and contact information on the other.  I have a great Canon printer that seems to print any size paper I put in, so it was really easy and now I have 25 business cards.  I'm not sure yet when I will use them, but it's not a bad start!  

The cutest fall salad...

I saw this on The Kitchn today:

It is a vertical pear salad from The Novice Chef (which I'd never heard of, but looks like a really great food blog).  Isn't it the cutest salad you have ever seen?  So creative, and I love fruit in green salads.  It would be SO great at a fall wedding dinner.  I was thinking of doing soup instead of salad for the first course at Thanksgiving this year, but I love this so much I may have to reconsider...

Wedding etiquette... lesson one

I sent my best friend Heather the link to this site and she e-mailed me and said, "I think you need to do some posts on etiquette – maybe even a whole section – people need to know a reception where you ask for your guests to pay is not ok!"

Yes, it's true... I actually know someone who received a wedding invitation this summer with an RSVP card that asked guests to select the meal... as well as the prices and acceptable forms of payment!  We thought this was an obvious NO, but apparently it's not.  So lesson one is don't charge people to attend your wedding.  Really.  It is not appropriate and just makes people uncomfortable.   I know weddings are expensive but charging people is not the answer.  They want to share in your joy-- not pay for it!  You don't have to do dinner.  If cost is a very serious issue, I think a punch and cake reception after the ceremony would be a great low cost alternative.  You could do cupcakes, cute napkins, and maybe some cute bags with confetti for a fun send off.  Get creative-- just don't charge your guests!

Let them eat cake... for free!

Fall...

We just got back from a road trip to the Eastern Sierra. Fall is a pretty quiet time of year there but it is beautiful, don't you think?

The dog is not a huge fan of camping but liked certain parts of the trip:

Martha's Oreo Tower

This was in the September issue of Martha Stewart magazine:



I love it!  I really wish I had an occasion to make one, but the how-to says it takes 20 packs of Oreos.  Unfortunately I don't really have an occasion for it because our dinner parties are rarely more than 6 people.  What about a cookie bar at a wedding though?  This would be the cutest centerpiece ever!
(Image credit: Paul Costello for Martha Stewart Living, September 2010)

Easy Mailbox Update

Our old brass mailbox has annoyed me since we moved in.  It is in bad shape and doesn't match the door handles, knobs, or anything else, which are all stainless steel.  I found some nice ones online but they were expensive and I wasn't sure I would want one that stuck out from the wall.  Then I was browsing the spray paint aisle and found this:

It seemed like it would be worth a try, so I taped off around the mailbox,, sanded it a little bit, and sprayed.

   This:

   Now looks like this:

For a $6 can of spray paint I am pretty pleased with the results, and after a few months it is still holding up well!

First blog...

I inherited pretty nice talents from each of my parents-- analytical abilities from my dad that I use in my day job and a lot of creativity from my mom.  She has had her own floral and wedding planning business since I was a little kid.  She always called herself the flower lady, and along the way I helped her and picked up a few things-- not just how to make a corsage, but how to do things like calligraphy, set a fancy table, make a bed with the sheets just so, tie a great bow, and brainstorm other creative projects.

I have been able to put the creative talents to use every now and then, and increasingly frequently lately, doing little calligraphy and design projects for friends getting married, having babies, starting their own businesses.  It is a fun stress release for me after work and on the weekends, so I have decided to follow in my mom's footsteps and start a little business.  "The Flower Lady's Daughter" seemed like an obvious name.  This site is for my projects and other creative ideas.

The flower lady and her daughter