Well, sort of–okay not really. A couple weeks ago I did something that I’ve been wanting to do for a really long time. I attended a class at the Little Flower School. Coincidently, a reporter and photographer from the New York Times happened to be covering the class. So, last Thursday I was quoted and pictured in the home and garden section of the paper. It looked a little something like this.
See this awkward looking girl right here?
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That would be me. Surprisingly enough a couple of people actually found the article on their own and contacted me about it. I think the weirdest connection was a guy who I studied abroad with read the article while he was on a train in Tokyo and then facebook messaged me about it. Crazy! Anyway, you can read the article here. Below are my feelings about the class.
I’ve been longing to take one of these classes since they started popping up everywhere in the blogosphere, so you can imagine how excited I was when there was an opening in a class during the time that I was in Brooklyn. I was a bit terrified when I arrived because I really don’t have much experience when it comes to arranging flowers. In fact, usually when Peter buys me flowers I let him put them in the vase for me—wait, does that make me a terrible woman?
Anyway, I was immediately entranced by all of the beautiful flowers.
And despite my fear of doing horribly in the class, things turned out really well. I got a lot of hands on instruction and the teachers weren’t afraid to jump in and make suggestions. Everyone’s arrangements turned out beautifully and they were all very different. We each got lost in our own little worlds for a few hours and when we looked up the room was covered in discarded stems and wild looking little bits of art. It was amazing and worth every penny.
I can’t imagine having that many flowers at my disposal any time ever again. Two fabulous things came out of the class. First, I remembered how wonderfully satisfying it is to spend time away from the computer and create something tangible. Second, I realized that as fun as it is to make flower arrangements, doing one and getting it right takes quite a bit of time. Peter and I had originally thought about doing our own flowers for the wedding, but after having a little bit of hands on experience, I’m happy to outsource this task. Plus, Sarah recommended a florist who is just starting a business in Austin! How amazing is that?! Maybe I will recommend some of the really great flowers that we got to use like this scabiosa pod:
and this one:
and this black basil:
Okay, here’s one last picture of my arrangement from the Little Flower School website. I will venture to say that its a bit more advanced than my last stint with flower arranging.
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Gush! I’m envious of this beautiful world that Nicolette and Sarah get to work in.
I’m looking for a lot of inexpensive white china. I would love to find this pattern or something similar. Does anyone have any ideas on where to look in the Brooklyn or Austin areas?
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Ebay is proving itself to be rather expensive.
All of the light fixtures in our house have a copper patina finish. It’s interesting, because they actually get uglier when you dust them. The finish is unpleasant in every room in the house, but paired with the silver faucets and accessories in the bathroom it was downright unsightly. I forgot to take a before photo until I was already removing the fixture from the wall, so please forgive the bad picture.
We spent a few days browsing light fixtures and realized that we would spend about $100 to get the same look in a different finish, so we did what any sensible person would do and spray painted it.
After shutting off the power and disconnecting the wires, we were left with this.
We carefully taped off the part of the fixture that house the light bulbs.
After just one coat of Kilz and a few light coats of spray paint, the fixture was looking a hundred times better.
I have to be honest: I love it. It really goes with the light and airy vibe that we’re hoping to achieve in our new space. Plus, the picture shows what else we’ve been doing for the past two days. Things are starting to come together beautifully.
I think the best part of this project is that I was playing electrician/painter while Peter was cooking for a party. I guess we’re not the most traditional couple. He was excited because he got to try new things in the kitchen and I was excited because I got to learn how to connect all the wires. Win-Win.
So, what do you think? I was a little apprehensive about using something flammable to paint a light fixture, but after looking into it more and testing the temperature of the fixture when it’s warm, it should be fine.
Peter and I are finally both feeling better. We’re pretty behind on returning emails and phone calls so if you haven’t heard from us in a bit, we’re sorry and will get back to you really soon.
The bathroom project is being dragged out much more than I ever thought it would. This is partially due to us getting sick and being really busy and not have time to knock out as many tasks as we thought we would and partially because we keep finding other things to fix. About a week and a half ago we had to call a plumber to fix a leak mostly because both the knobs outside and the knobs under the sink that turn the water off no longer worked. I’m all for trying things ourselves but without the ability to turn off the water neither of us were going to attempt it. So on we go. I can’t wait to get to the accessorizing part of the project, but after painting the bathroom closet we submitted to the fact that the actual bathroom really needs a paint job as well. The previous owners decided to use a flat paint and it left the walls looking like this.
See all those tiny cracks?
And because the main readers of this blog are my dog-obsessed soon-to-be -in-laws, I will show you all this photo. Peter and I went over to our friends’ house for dinner on Saturday. In addition to cooking us a fabulous dinner, they invited our Poms over to play with theirs. Here is a group photo of the dogs with Anita and Peter working to get them to all stay still. Ours just look like black little smears. The concept of not moving is way too hard for them.
So much fun!
How was everyone else’s weekend?
I have to say that the most satisfying thing I’ve done in a really long time was to take our window from this
To this:
I’m not going to lie, a lot of happy jumping and a joyful trip out to the garbage can to chunk the rotting piece of mess away forever ensued. Obviously we need to put in a new window cover, but that will come soon.
