san francisco mabel joy

currently on a brief trip working and planning big things for 2012 in san francisco. longer post with photos and news to come, but for now, one of my favorite songs about this crazy amazing town.

HOLIDAY PARTY

what are you doing on monday?

can i tell you?

going to our holiday pop-up party!

it's at spartan/bows + arrows on monday from 6:00 until 9:00. you can find:

wreaths and garlands handmade by me for you to deck the halls

cocktails made with bellocq tea to keep you merry and bright

charcuterie and leather gift sets by tool & tack to... jingle? i don't know if i can keep up this holiday lyric thing. whatever, they're really cool and make great gifts.

also, plenty of delicious snacks by local butcher, salt & time

more info here

angelwing

my latest love, an angelwing begonia. also, this poem.

real holiday post to come. we're making wreaths and garlands for holiday events and homes, be sure to order yours ASAP at mk at lorettaflower.com

more on that, very soon.

you ain't goin' nowhere

had to borrow this from lauren based on our conversation last night... not sure if true love would be possible with someone who didn't love the byrds.

side note: my new favorite way to stay warm is to turn the oven in my tiny kitchen up and bake something for whoever is at my house. gluten-free galettes/goat cheese/acorn squash/caramelized onions. that's what homey nights are made of.

thanksgiving re-cap

thanksgiving break was filled with work--deliveries all day on tuesday and wednesday, flowers for a lovely clarksville family's thanksgiving table, potted herbs (with hand-made plant markers) for another event at westwood on friday. more deliveries on saturday.

got to spend a brief moment with family at the ranch on thanksgiving day. snuck away with my cousin, who is six months younger than me, lives 1500 miles away, and is the closest i've ever had to a sister. i missed her terribly. we sat on the steps of an old church down the road, drank shiners, squatted in the woods, and talked about our lives as if they were best-selling novels we couldn't put down.

long, lazy, new york times-reading sunday brunch with two of my very favorites. dinner every night at my house with friends. these quiet and cozy pockets of my personal life reminding me of the calming, balanced rhythm that stems from a life of work that you love.

because her beauty is raw and wild

more shots by julie cope of the november wedding at lambert's we did.

it got a little wild, and i am into it.

cuba

inspired by friend and photographer megan griffith's shots from her recent trip to cuba. really loving that washed-out, almost neon yellow, the soft and true blues, and vibrant rosy tones.

big thanks

a huge thank you to grace at design sponge for the post on loretta.

three years ago, i was humming along in my account executive career when i came across design sponge and was totally floored. i found sarah's regular design sponge column, took her class, and decided to start loretta. seeing my name on the blog was a dream moment for me and wonderful early birthday present.

have been sitting on these images for a bit, and am excited to share them--bridal bouquet, boutonnieres, and bridesmaid bouquet from a gorgeous october wedding.

all photos by Julie Cope.

why don't they let us fall in love

a few quick shots snapped in passing moments from the very beautiful wedding of sally & kyle this weekend. the peonies are back, sending the flower market into chaos, but lighting up my days. it was a long and strenusous week getting everything prepped, but we leaned hard on the girl groups of the 60's and sure enough, phil spector's music has some kind of magical power that can be very renewing. have to say i am extremely grateful for my assistant, beau. a poet, a scholar, a damn fine floral designer.

amaryllis & french marigold

just in case you mistakenly thought i was cool

i'll just go ahead and get a little fangirl on you...

this weekend

this happened
and, oh yes, that is (the back of) my head.

photo cred: ryangoslingatfunfunfunfest.tumblr.com

happy halloween

some studio shots

lovely friend and talented wedding photographer julie cope stopped by to take a few shots of my studio a couple of weeks ago while i prepped for a shoot. i love how perfectly she captured the late afternoon light that filters in. thanks, julie!

all photos by julie cope of julie cope photography.

october

approximately one month after it's official start, fall has finally come to texas. every year, we walk around from april to october dying of heat exhaustion, asking "when? WHEN?" and everyone plans some halloween costume in accordance with the unrelenting heat and every year halloween weekend brings a wallop of cold modesty, sending the "sexy angels", "sexy postal workers", and "sexy john deere tractors" into the awkward bulk of an overcoat.

blame it on the full moon in mid-october, or the changing temperatures, or the fact that everyone is just now settling from the austin-brooklyn-portland exchange program that happens en masse at the end of the summer, but things have shifted. there was a fire at our house. people are breaking up, people are getting together, people are losing touch and finding new patterns for getting by.

we're pulling out our coats and sweaters, we're realizing we may not have been the same size we were last fall, we're still sorting out which boots look okay with which pants. we're purging our lives, whether we want to or not, acknowledging that certain changes were perhaps imminent and could no longer be ignored. we start believing in ghost stories just a little bit more, but that doesn't mean we can't face what's yet to come. we bundle up, switch to whiskey, and lay a little bit heavier in our beds at the end of the day.