Funky Flowers and Travel Lately

{day-old bridesmaid bouquet}

My darling friend Abby said "I do" this weekend, and plenty of friends were bridesmaids with me (including Stephanie, Jashley and Faith). It was a stunning winter wedding involving bare branches dripping with strands of crystals, succulents, vintage mink stoles (for Stephanie and me) and a palette of peacock colors. The bride incorporated peacock feathers into most of the decor, including the flowers. The pictures are of my bridesmaid bouquet the next day. Mini-mums, spider mums, cymbidium orchids, monkey grass and peacock feathers made for a striking, playful and irreverent arrangement. The bride's bouquet included all of those flowers and feathers, plus black lilies and flower-shaped succulents.

The wedding festivities kicked off Saturday, my first day back from spending three weeks with my gracious in-laws in Mexico. Brad's mom and step-dad have just completed the construction of their extraordinary home in San Miguel de Allende, and Brad and I were all too happy to take a working vacation to help break it in. Some friends joined us; Taylor is a photographer, among other things, and he was so kind to take incredible photos of the home as a thank-you for allowing him and his wife to spend a couple of weeks in the house. A sneak-peek is below, and later I'll share a Web site Brad is building for potential rentals of the home in the future.

{city view from the rooftop}

{corner view of the home's exterior}

{the center courtyard, plus three stories}

I think Brad and I have determined this is the year of "weekend trips." I want so much to visit Jordan and the Middle East, but along with starting a new job come fewer vacation days. Fortunately, I'm able to work while traveling, as we did in Mexico, so we're planning a few weekends when we can fly out on a Thursday evening, work remotely most of the day Friday, and site-see Saturday and Sunday. A few of our potential trips include visits to:

• Las Vegas
• New Orleans
• Chicago
• Boston

I'm itching to see San Francisco, but Brad assures me I'll want to spend more than a long weekend in the City by the Bay, so I'm tabling that idea for now.

Any other destinations you'd suggest adding to the list? I've never been to any of the locales I listed, and I'm open to your ideas!

New 'Do and a Throwback

New haircut... Modeling the coif du jour with my feather headband, natch.


Brad seems to like it! Hahaha. :-) Such a goober.

I had a lot of fun tonight with this site, "Yearbook Yourself." You upload a photo of yourself and see what you would have looked like in days gone by, from 1950 - 2000. Check me out as a high school senior in 1992... Awesome!

So what about you? Were you destined for another era? Check out 1982... It's a trip!

Birds of a Feather

The friendship shared by me and my kindred spirit, Stephanie Gahm, is legendary. We live parallel lives and know each other backwards and forwards. I could go on and on about how much I love this lady and why she’s so very precious, but instead I’ll focus on one of our mutual affinities: feathers.

Feathers? With all Stephanie and I have a common zeal for – Paris, Austin, Urban Outfitters, trying new things, men with last names beginning in “G” – I’m going to write about feathers?!

Well, yes. You see, feathers are one small piece of a litany of evidences showing how this girl and I just get each other. I have to give credit where credit is due. Stephanie actually pioneered a feather trend, fixating upon peacock feathers and incorporating them them into her wardrobe and accessories, design aesthetic, and more. She even considered working peacock feathers into the floral arrangements and bouquets at her wedding, which I still think would have been brilliant. Here’s a photo of Stephanie sporting her fabulous peacock earrings as we waged a chopstick war:



Stephanie knows about my recent fascination with vintage half-hats and clips. I scour eBay for these lovely little sartorial wonders about once weekly, usually sans success. Recently I’ve marveled at the ability that Kenley from Project Runway has for scooping up and sporting similar pieces, and I’m trying not to be annoyed with her for stealing my next great fashion statement… Sequins, feathers, knit or mesh – I LOVE half-hats.

I found on my doorstep today the most delightful little package with the most delightful contents: an Urban Outfitters headband with feathers on one side, very much resembling a vintage hat!!! And of course, my kindred spirit Stephanie sent it to me. I turned the feathers up on one end to give it some added "oomph" and proceeded to execute an impromptu photo shoot. Forgive the salmon cardigan that clashes with my wondrous headband.




Now trying to channel the mystique of a silver screen hussy:



I LOVE it!