More beautiful lillies and quite tall too!
My favorite tree in the whole world Ginko! yes Ginko Biloba. It is a tree from Japan and I've noticed the places that I really feel happy all have this tree around.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Adding a little beauty to the day
Wild Hollyhocks on the side of the road on the way to my grandparent's farm in Illinois
Wild lillies that were in a random patch on the side of the road.
Dale Chihuly glass sculpture above a rose garden arch at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.
Roses in the garden at MBOT
Wild lillies that were in a random patch on the side of the road.
Dale Chihuly glass sculpture above a rose garden arch at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.
Roses in the garden at MBOTWednesday, June 17, 2009
For the Love of Flowers
If you ever want to "butter" me up or get out of the dog house with me, flowers and copious amounts of them is a good start.
My love of flowers is intense with a capital I. They inspire my work and make me truly happy. More than once I've thought about opening a little flower and garden boutique. Trust me it's on the list of things I want to do in my lifetime.
My love of flowers started with my family, my parents but most strongly through my grandmother. Her abundant flower gardens at the farm were my delight as a child. When I'd play Miss America and pretend I just won, I'd go out to the garden and pick a great big bunch of gladiola's and bound back in the house proclaiming that I'd just won and look at my pretty bouquet! Even today Grammy still has a great flower garden at the farm and I can't wait to see it in a couple of weeks when we visit.
Gardening and having flowers around have made the homes that I've lived in across the country havens. I'd much rather be planting a garden and sitting down in front of it either sketching my next collection or photographing flowers than be most anywhere else. When my husband and I bought our first house in Southern California it looked like the cutest little cottage. It had the basics of a cute little garden but then I went through my rose phase. Over the course of three years I planted 75 bare root rose bushes and planted hundreds of other plants. I loved the smell of the night blooming jasmine with the smell of blossoming orange trees. I loved the smell of gorgeous roses that I could go out and pick anytime. My husband and I would take adventures out to remote places just to visit great nurseries. By the time we sold our little cottage many Realtors referred to the house as "the rose house".
When we moved to Seattle, flowers in many ways were my salvation. Seattle is known for great gardens and nurseries in addition to all the rain it gets. But the summers were beautiful. I loved going to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival each spring because it was my reward for surviving the winters. The Seattle Garden Show was my delight in the middle winter and one of the events I think my husband cringed at. For all the fabulous displays, plants, flowers, and plans that would run through my head, my poor husband probably heard nothing more than the KA-CHING of a cash register a million times over. But at least he was a good sport about it. Molbacks's Garden center in Woodinville, WA became my home away from home. I'd go to buy plants, I go to cheer myself up just looking at the gorgeous plants and flowers when I was feeling blue, and I'd be inspired for that place was my nirvana. Lord only knows how many thousands of dollars I spent with them but it was worth every penny.
By the time we sold our home in Seattle we had completely redesigned and relandscaped the yard. I'd planted twenty rose bushes, 12 hydrangeas, 1,500 daffodils, 500 tulips, had probably 20 hanging baskets (not all at one time), and a thriving container garden going on the back deck too. Unfortunately I didn't get to really enjoy the landscaping job because around that time we were transferred to South Florida. So the new owners (who recently sold the house again) and my old neighbors have enjoyed my work.
Not only was gardening there a passion for me but because of the more often than not grey skies, gardening and flowers enhanced my feelings and perception of colors. Not just colors but the way colors change, their vibrancy, the texture, but the subtle and stunning way Mother Nature works her magic paint brush. For that lesson, I'll always be grateful.
Now that we live in South Florida my garden has been slower evolving than I would like but I've also now added two children to the mix so the garden suffers a bit more than I would like. As I sit at my desk I look out on colorful pentas (Egyptian Stars) in shades of red, pink, white, and lavender. My hibiscus is starting to fire up again for another bloom fest and the out of control potato vine I once thought that was dead has come back with a vengeance and threatens to take out my poor jasmine bushes. Right now we're officially in the rainy season here, not only is it hurricane season but rainy season here be explosive. In the month of May we had 26 days of straight rain, we're talking real rain not some little sprinkles. We're talking major downpours that can turn our little street and yards into rushing little rivers. According to our new digital rain gauge in a 14 day period in May we had over 24 inches of rain. Yikes. My plants of course love this after the winter dry season. You can practically see them grow while it's raining. It's insane.
My recent love though is my container herb garden. I have lovingly tended my pots of rosemary, basil, chives, flowering herbs, arugula, thyme, and mixed greens. They've added quite a kick to my cooking and my daughter loves to eat basil blossoms now and make sure that the herbs are watered and cared for.
Last Saturday, June 13th was my birthday. One of my treats to myself was a bouquet of my all time favorite flower, peonies. I can't get enough of them. I remember living in Seattle I would go to Pikes Place Market and buy just armful loads of them. Peonies, combined with lilac, and sweet peas, OMG, there's no better fragrance in the world!
I'm a little sad today, my bouquet of peonies is finally dying. I'm sad to see my favorite blooms go because we don't see them very often here and when you do find them they are expensive. But I have two new little basil plants to plant today. So that is my silver lining for the day.
Lesson for the day, treat yourself to some flowers and be grateful for Mother Nature's work. For it truly inspires us all.
My love of flowers is intense with a capital I. They inspire my work and make me truly happy. More than once I've thought about opening a little flower and garden boutique. Trust me it's on the list of things I want to do in my lifetime.
My love of flowers started with my family, my parents but most strongly through my grandmother. Her abundant flower gardens at the farm were my delight as a child. When I'd play Miss America and pretend I just won, I'd go out to the garden and pick a great big bunch of gladiola's and bound back in the house proclaiming that I'd just won and look at my pretty bouquet! Even today Grammy still has a great flower garden at the farm and I can't wait to see it in a couple of weeks when we visit.
Gardening and having flowers around have made the homes that I've lived in across the country havens. I'd much rather be planting a garden and sitting down in front of it either sketching my next collection or photographing flowers than be most anywhere else. When my husband and I bought our first house in Southern California it looked like the cutest little cottage. It had the basics of a cute little garden but then I went through my rose phase. Over the course of three years I planted 75 bare root rose bushes and planted hundreds of other plants. I loved the smell of the night blooming jasmine with the smell of blossoming orange trees. I loved the smell of gorgeous roses that I could go out and pick anytime. My husband and I would take adventures out to remote places just to visit great nurseries. By the time we sold our little cottage many Realtors referred to the house as "the rose house".
When we moved to Seattle, flowers in many ways were my salvation. Seattle is known for great gardens and nurseries in addition to all the rain it gets. But the summers were beautiful. I loved going to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival each spring because it was my reward for surviving the winters. The Seattle Garden Show was my delight in the middle winter and one of the events I think my husband cringed at. For all the fabulous displays, plants, flowers, and plans that would run through my head, my poor husband probably heard nothing more than the KA-CHING of a cash register a million times over. But at least he was a good sport about it. Molbacks's Garden center in Woodinville, WA became my home away from home. I'd go to buy plants, I go to cheer myself up just looking at the gorgeous plants and flowers when I was feeling blue, and I'd be inspired for that place was my nirvana. Lord only knows how many thousands of dollars I spent with them but it was worth every penny.
By the time we sold our home in Seattle we had completely redesigned and relandscaped the yard. I'd planted twenty rose bushes, 12 hydrangeas, 1,500 daffodils, 500 tulips, had probably 20 hanging baskets (not all at one time), and a thriving container garden going on the back deck too. Unfortunately I didn't get to really enjoy the landscaping job because around that time we were transferred to South Florida. So the new owners (who recently sold the house again) and my old neighbors have enjoyed my work.
Not only was gardening there a passion for me but because of the more often than not grey skies, gardening and flowers enhanced my feelings and perception of colors. Not just colors but the way colors change, their vibrancy, the texture, but the subtle and stunning way Mother Nature works her magic paint brush. For that lesson, I'll always be grateful.
Now that we live in South Florida my garden has been slower evolving than I would like but I've also now added two children to the mix so the garden suffers a bit more than I would like. As I sit at my desk I look out on colorful pentas (Egyptian Stars) in shades of red, pink, white, and lavender. My hibiscus is starting to fire up again for another bloom fest and the out of control potato vine I once thought that was dead has come back with a vengeance and threatens to take out my poor jasmine bushes. Right now we're officially in the rainy season here, not only is it hurricane season but rainy season here be explosive. In the month of May we had 26 days of straight rain, we're talking real rain not some little sprinkles. We're talking major downpours that can turn our little street and yards into rushing little rivers. According to our new digital rain gauge in a 14 day period in May we had over 24 inches of rain. Yikes. My plants of course love this after the winter dry season. You can practically see them grow while it's raining. It's insane.
My recent love though is my container herb garden. I have lovingly tended my pots of rosemary, basil, chives, flowering herbs, arugula, thyme, and mixed greens. They've added quite a kick to my cooking and my daughter loves to eat basil blossoms now and make sure that the herbs are watered and cared for.
Last Saturday, June 13th was my birthday. One of my treats to myself was a bouquet of my all time favorite flower, peonies. I can't get enough of them. I remember living in Seattle I would go to Pikes Place Market and buy just armful loads of them. Peonies, combined with lilac, and sweet peas, OMG, there's no better fragrance in the world!
I'm a little sad today, my bouquet of peonies is finally dying. I'm sad to see my favorite blooms go because we don't see them very often here and when you do find them they are expensive. But I have two new little basil plants to plant today. So that is my silver lining for the day.
Lesson for the day, treat yourself to some flowers and be grateful for Mother Nature's work. For it truly inspires us all.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Back at it!
Hi Everyone,
March though now has been a complete blur! My son turned one at the beginning of April and 31 days later my daughter turned four. Between birthday parties, school parties, a retirement party for my daughter's teacher, and playdates, I have to say I've been wiped.
I have been in the studio creating more work for licensing and for pieces that will soon be going up on my etsy store.
I'm working on a top secret project that I hope you all will enjoy. We hope to unveil it in by the end of the year and it has my creative entertaining and creative lifestyle juices flowing.
In the mean time it has been not just rainy season here in South Florida but should be renamed monsoon season. Recently we had a 14 day stretch were we received over 24 inches of rain. But that is summer for you here. It's the best place in the winter and the place you want to escape from the most in the summer.
Now that things are settling down again I'll be posting more regularly. Please keep in touch!
Have a creative day!
March though now has been a complete blur! My son turned one at the beginning of April and 31 days later my daughter turned four. Between birthday parties, school parties, a retirement party for my daughter's teacher, and playdates, I have to say I've been wiped.
I have been in the studio creating more work for licensing and for pieces that will soon be going up on my etsy store.
I'm working on a top secret project that I hope you all will enjoy. We hope to unveil it in by the end of the year and it has my creative entertaining and creative lifestyle juices flowing.
In the mean time it has been not just rainy season here in South Florida but should be renamed monsoon season. Recently we had a 14 day stretch were we received over 24 inches of rain. But that is summer for you here. It's the best place in the winter and the place you want to escape from the most in the summer.
Now that things are settling down again I'll be posting more regularly. Please keep in touch!
Have a creative day!
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Great day at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden's Orchid Festival
Today was one of total bliss for me, I got to be surrounded by some of the most gorgeous orchids in the world. I took my daughter Molly and off we went to see them. I was very good, I only looked and didn't go on a mass buying spree as I have been guilty of the past several years. The orchids never failed to impress their beauty on me.These are just a tiny sample of the over 500 pictures I took at the festival. You will see several of them put into my Bliss Seeker Ink photo card collections and up in my Etsy.com store soon. As soon as they are up and my new etsy store is ready to go I will put the word out here, on twitter, and on facebook. Then you can buy yourself (and everyone you know for that matter!) the perfect orchids - all the beauty and none of the work!
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Awesome Cold Killing Chicken Soup
Okay so I spoke too soon earlier this week, we've had a plague relapse around here and I'm so sick of being sick. So yesterday afternoon I whipped up some positively delicious chicken soup that is doing it's darnest to get me well!
Carin's Cold Killer Chicken Soup
This recipe serves 4 but can easily be doubled.
1 package Matzo Ball mix
1 1/2 containers 32 oz chicken broth
2-3 shallots minced
3 garlic cloves finely minced (you can omit or reduce the number of cloves depending on your garlic tolorance. The boiling of the soup really mellows out the taste of the garlic and gives great flavor)
1/3 - 1/2 cup fresh finely chopped parsley
6-7 baby carrots or 1 large carrot finely chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
1/2 teaspoon fresh finely chopped rosemary (forget the knife I use kitchen scissors for this- easy!)
The zest and juice of 1 lemon, mince lemon zest super fine.
1 cup finely chopped or shredded chicken breast. (I used left over roasted chicken)
1 cup whole wheat rotini pasta. (I used Barilla Plus Pasta for this recipe)
DIRECTIONS
1. Make up the matzo ball mix per mix instructions up to the point of cooking the matzo balls. I make mini matzo balls, making the raw matzo balls no larger than a quarter in diameter.
2. All other ingredients except for the pasta go into a large saucepot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add in pasta and raw matzo balls turn down heat to medium and let matzo balls and pasta cook for about 12-15 minutes.
3. Once matzo balls and pasta are cooked the soup is ready to eat. The matzo balls will be floating on top when done. If you want to really be decadent add a spoonful of goat cheese chevre over the top for a creamy yummyness to your soup.
4. The soup can easily be stored in the fridge or frozen. When you rewarm the soup you may need to add some more chicken stock or broth to the soup as pasta and matzo balls act like sponges with the remaining soup broth.
For the 15-20 minutes of chopping and making matzo balls it sooooo well worth it when you taste it. Nothing from a can could ever compare. Enjoy! Let me know how you like it!
Carin's Cold Killer Chicken Soup
This recipe serves 4 but can easily be doubled.
1 package Matzo Ball mix
1 1/2 containers 32 oz chicken broth
2-3 shallots minced
3 garlic cloves finely minced (you can omit or reduce the number of cloves depending on your garlic tolorance. The boiling of the soup really mellows out the taste of the garlic and gives great flavor)
1/3 - 1/2 cup fresh finely chopped parsley
6-7 baby carrots or 1 large carrot finely chopped
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped thyme
1/2 teaspoon fresh finely chopped rosemary (forget the knife I use kitchen scissors for this- easy!)
The zest and juice of 1 lemon, mince lemon zest super fine.
1 cup finely chopped or shredded chicken breast. (I used left over roasted chicken)
1 cup whole wheat rotini pasta. (I used Barilla Plus Pasta for this recipe)
DIRECTIONS
1. Make up the matzo ball mix per mix instructions up to the point of cooking the matzo balls. I make mini matzo balls, making the raw matzo balls no larger than a quarter in diameter.
2. All other ingredients except for the pasta go into a large saucepot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add in pasta and raw matzo balls turn down heat to medium and let matzo balls and pasta cook for about 12-15 minutes.
3. Once matzo balls and pasta are cooked the soup is ready to eat. The matzo balls will be floating on top when done. If you want to really be decadent add a spoonful of goat cheese chevre over the top for a creamy yummyness to your soup.
4. The soup can easily be stored in the fridge or frozen. When you rewarm the soup you may need to add some more chicken stock or broth to the soup as pasta and matzo balls act like sponges with the remaining soup broth.
For the 15-20 minutes of chopping and making matzo balls it sooooo well worth it when you taste it. Nothing from a can could ever compare. Enjoy! Let me know how you like it!
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Getting Inspired and the search for clarity
Wow, okay well that title seems like kind of a lofty statement. The last two and half weeks our house has been plagued by, well, the plague as I call it. It's been sickville and we've been up to our eyeballs in everything relating to being sick. I have two young children under 3 1/2 years old. And when they bring it home from their school or classes odds are one way or another you're going to end up with it. And boy have I. I was doing so well earlier in the school year of not getting or shaking off colds quickly and easily, well that has come back to bite me. I've managed to catch the last three colds my kids have had. It hasn't been pretty and it's made me cranky and restless.
So now that we're all on the road to recovery, kids are better and back in school and classes, and my husband and I are getting better but still kinda hanging on to the lovely cough this cold brought, it's time for reenergizing and a total break from all that is sicky related. Clarity, that's what's desperately needed around here.
What I'm feeling is time for mass spring cleaning! Disinfecting any sick germ related thing out. Clearing out the old to make room for the new to come into my life. I'm finishing up the taxes for last year, cleaning out the studio and the office, just yearing for lots of bare space to create new collections and be inspired to create vibrant new projects. For my friends and family, this is no shock, they know that I'm not completely happy if I don't have a million irons in the fire and flying mach 5 with my hair on fire.
So what am I craving you ask? Bright, bold, clean, beautiful, unabashed color! Forget pastels, forget muddy, forget cold unemotional color. Give me bright happy reds, stunning bright pinks, bright turquoise-y blues, bright spring grass green, crisp bright whites, deep navy blues, deep bright yellows, yellow orange, yes, I want them all! And I will happily play with them all after I finish the tax stuff today, finish cleaning up the desk and office that I took the strong arm to lat night and pushed everything on the floor. It's time for a clean fresh start so I can tackle my deadlines that have been pushed around due to being sick and be bright and productive and happy again.
It's been really cold for South Florida standards the last two days. Today it's bright and sunny, still cold but atleast it's sunny. Sunny is good.
I'll let you know my progress...stay tuned!
So now that we're all on the road to recovery, kids are better and back in school and classes, and my husband and I are getting better but still kinda hanging on to the lovely cough this cold brought, it's time for reenergizing and a total break from all that is sicky related. Clarity, that's what's desperately needed around here.
What I'm feeling is time for mass spring cleaning! Disinfecting any sick germ related thing out. Clearing out the old to make room for the new to come into my life. I'm finishing up the taxes for last year, cleaning out the studio and the office, just yearing for lots of bare space to create new collections and be inspired to create vibrant new projects. For my friends and family, this is no shock, they know that I'm not completely happy if I don't have a million irons in the fire and flying mach 5 with my hair on fire.
So what am I craving you ask? Bright, bold, clean, beautiful, unabashed color! Forget pastels, forget muddy, forget cold unemotional color. Give me bright happy reds, stunning bright pinks, bright turquoise-y blues, bright spring grass green, crisp bright whites, deep navy blues, deep bright yellows, yellow orange, yes, I want them all! And I will happily play with them all after I finish the tax stuff today, finish cleaning up the desk and office that I took the strong arm to lat night and pushed everything on the floor. It's time for a clean fresh start so I can tackle my deadlines that have been pushed around due to being sick and be bright and productive and happy again.
It's been really cold for South Florida standards the last two days. Today it's bright and sunny, still cold but atleast it's sunny. Sunny is good.
I'll let you know my progress...stay tuned!
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