does domino do flowers?

just checking because seriously, these are so great. yes, we love Zooey. But i think i might like the weedy flowers better? Is that bad?







I love them because they are rustic but just sophisticated enough. and they look like they would be easy-ish to replicate on your own... i mean, as opposed to balls of roses or 4 foot tall centerpieces, if you know what i'm saying.

Hoot & Heart did a few similar arrangements (similar to the first one, that is) for us and they were just beautiful. I still have a ton of dried pieces I salvaged before we left for Australia. I'm kind of a nostalgia junkie that way.

ANYWAY, point is: you could make something similar to these yourself if you were doing your own flowers.

And also, if you haven't seen The Go Getter starring Z.D., you should. It's a beautiful little road movie (shameless plug coming up) produced by a friend of ours. And M. Ward does the soundtrack. Which is perfection.

our wedding: DIY succulent centerpieces

Kay, I'm just going to jump into the week here with a long wedding post. Ready?

These are easier than you think. I swear. But of course it means collecting a cohesive body of vessels, growing big pots of succulents for months before you're ready to harvest, and then being willing to pretty much massacre them, PLUS go to the nursery to buy extras to fill in the spaces. But I think it's kind of worth it!







Utter carnage on the back patio. Which was accentuated by my use of the huge coconut-hacking cleaver for the flower foam. You'll notice that the big pots are nearly cut clean of plants. But the best part about succulents is they just grow back. So loyal, they are.






So here's how you do it. Procure vessels. Buy flower foam. Soak flower foam in water. Cut pieces of foam to fit into vessels. Hack apart succulents. Arrange clippings into flower foam/vessels in pleasing manner. If necessary, fill space around the outside of the vase/pot with either little pebbles or spanish moss. VOILA!

Thanks to our super florist for both agreeing to share the centerpiece load with me AND giving me excellent pointers on putting these babies together.

My mom still has tons of these around her house in San Diego and they are totally happy 2 months later. She mixed them with poinsettias and cyclamens for Christmas-y spice and they looked great over the holidays. If you're not attached to your vessels (or you don't plan to resell most of them like I do) these would be excellent favors for your guests. I've got a few around our house too and they seem to be pretty happy, even the ones I actually planted in soil, in the pots with no drainage. (For these you need to start with a layer of pebbles below the soil so the roots don't rot, FYI).

Allow me one eco-friendly soapbox moment... succulents you grow and arrange yourself make the earth soooo happy. Having hundreds of roses imported from Ecuador, not so much. And yes, we did have a lot of our flowers done (most excellently) by our florist, Hoot & Heart, but for the most part they try to source organic, in-season flowers so we feel okay about that.

Maybe I should do a little DIY tutorial on these... would that be useful to anyone out there?

friday morning...

filtered light, sun, fog.



hope everyone has a happy wintery (whatever that means for you) weekend.

pretty, simple wedding dresses

Kay, i KNOW i'm already done with the bride thing... but i have many important friends who are not. My friend Katya is looking for dresses now so OF COURSE i immediately volunteered to go dress shopping with her. It's like once you are married you are a wedding expert who must spread your magical wedding knowledge dust on all who plan weddings after yours. I hope my friends tell me when they've had enough.

Nicole Miller 09



These dresses have potential, no? I was doing "research" for Katya, I swear. I am such a good friend. Sacrificing precious internet surfing time on wedding dresses...

urban craft center in santa monica

I stopped at Peets on my way in to work this morning and was AGAIN reminded of this super neat little addition to Santa Monica: the Urban Craft Center. I can't wait to really check it out... as in, go inside instead of taking creepy stalker-like iPhone pictures through the glass.





Being that one of my 2009 resolutions is "remember how to sew," I think I'll need to investigate their classes. I mean, I at some point did know how to sew, but I don't do it enough and the whole bobbin thing just mystifies me for some inexplicable reason. But I do have a sewing machine, so I am fully committed dusting it off this year.

It looks like their schedule comes out this week. yay.

pretty winter garden decay

Due to the massive distraction that was our wedding, I severely neglected our garden last season. In fact Brock actually forbade me from spending time in the backyard on the weekends. Probably for good reason. Here's how the week would go...

Monday night, me freaking out about number of things on my list for wedding, Tuesday tired from work, overwhelmed, drinking wine on couch to relax self, unmotivated to do anything (due to 1/2 bottle of wine), by Friday state of panic because I'd completed exactly nothing in the space of a week. Saturday morning: gardening time!

See, so that's what your other (often better) half is for... to remind you that you were nearly in tears all last week because you had so much to do (but refused to do anything), so it would seem reasonable that you should take Saturday and Sunday to make a teeny bit of headway with the wedding project. NOT spend the entire weekend weeding and mulching and taking pictures in the backyard.

Hrrrrmphf.

Anyway, he was right, and now the vegetable patch is a brambly rotting jungle along the back fence. But in the early morning light, it's kind of beautiful.













The squashes won't stop coming. These were waiting for us when we returned from Australia. And there are still a few more on the way, though we'll see how they do with the recent cold and rain.

Luckily now I'm allowed to get back out in the dirt and start over for next season. This year we're doing raised beds. Yay, projects!

lust-worthy leather pants

I don't normally post photos from the Sart, because you know, EVERY SINGLE ONE is fantastic. And yes, he makes me hate my closet, want to become a french woman, grow 5 inches, etc etc. But for serious, these pants are insane. I need them. I think they might complete me.



Where would one find such pants? I had an epiphany. CUSTOM-made. duh. I mean of course. You can't possibly find pants this fantastic and made of leather unless they were made especially for you. Must plan trip to Paris in order to purchase such pants from master tailor. Okay, no. But maybe someone in LA makes custom leather garments? I will report back.

photo from the Sartorialist, obv.

DIY gocco thank yous

part of our rather luxurious stay-cation (after we returned home from mammoth) included serious craft time. Most importantly the thank yous. I want to write them, I do. And our present-givers/wedding-goers definitely deserve them, but it's such an long slog to get through them all, trying to make each one personal and not totally robot-like.

At least we have them printed:







And to tell the truth, I'm getting sort of tired of our wedding designs. It's much more fun to make something new and different, like our new years cards! which came out perty cute. I shall post those soon. It will be my reward for signing the last thank you.

(jenna's calligs, of course)

our wedding: the ring bowl turned ornament

Confession: I had a ring bowl made. But we didn't use it. It's just that I love Paloma's Nest too much to pass it up. We didn't have a ring bearer or flower girl, instead Brock's brother and best man carried the rings in his pocket. It seemed a little awkward to make a 29 year old guy carry a teeny ceramic ring bowl down the aisle, you know?

And from the beginning, I knew we'd mostly be using it as an ornament on our tree. My parents have an "our first christmas" ornament on their tree and I've always kind of liked the sentiment.

I had the Shakespheare quote that we used on our programs and in our ceremony stamped into our bowl. I like that it doesn't say our names or our wedding date or any traditional wedding-y thing. Instead it's just a pretty, handmade reminder of our wedding and our vows and the awesome time we had that night.



love love love Paloma's Nest. And I promise this is the last Christmasy post.

hwy 395...

a perfectly beautiful vintage road trip, no matter how many times we take the drive.









I've been up and down this stretch of California at least once a year (mostly more) since we moved back to this thoroughly excellent state when I was 5. It took me a long time to appreciate the Eastern Sierra, in it's old time desolation and dirt and pine and peaks, but now i just ADORE it.

Also, if you have an iPhone, and you don't have Camera Bag, you are missing out on the most excellent application/activity/photo medium/car trip game ever invented. I can't control myself. Everything must pass through Camera Bag. Everything.

Happy New Year all!