hello sunshine

Fellow flower lovers, so sorry I have been MIA. My head has been seeking inspiration and gearing up for a busy spring wedding season. How have you been? Are you still with me here on this journey?

Here's what I have been up to:

First, a HUGE thank you goes out to Brooklyn Bride.  I am beyond thrilled to be named the winner of the Modern Tablescape Design Challenge. YAY! I was honored to be included among such talented fellow competitors.

Last week I made the mistake of "popping" into Strand Bookstore. And by mistake I mean, I did not have a lot of time to waste. Yet precious hours passed by as I strolled the aisles, leafing through their vast collection. At one point I had in my arms around $300 worth of books. I was absolutely certain I needed every single one. But I came to my senses and whittled it down to a couple, vowing to return soon.

If you are not familiar with Strand, let me tell you it is a masterpiece of a place. Opened in 1927, it is still a family owned business with a collection of over 2 million used and new books and occupies 55,000 square feet of space. You can literally spend all day there if you are a book lover like me. 

It turned out that I desperately needed a day like that. I wandering, wondering, discovering day. I use to have those days all the time...before baby, business and household....blah, blah, blah. 

Some of my finds included a book on Redon. (10 bucks!). I was never a big Redon fan in school. I always considered his work too surreal for my taste. But then I got hooked on the flower pastels and from there I am admiring his color palette.  Particularly the use of primary red and blue, which I always find difficult to combine. 

I also grabbed "Flowers from the Royal Gardens of Kew", an exhibition catalogue published in 1988. It has lovely botanical prints I am considering tearing out and framing...eh, maybe. We are trying to teach Ruby that cutting books is a big no-no but then college is a big yes-yes.

 I have been puttering around the new apartment.

 and outside enjoying the sunshine.