Lately (In Brief)

I know that it has been a long, long time since I've been around. You should see my reader, it's a mess but probably full of beauty. Anyway, things are brewing in my little world. Stuff that I hadn't planned on doing until next year. Goals are being re-evaluated and most importantly new roads have been introduced. Last month I took what ifs and small dreams and finally turned them into something tangible (and funny enough in the month where it all began some years ago). And I have the paperwork to prove it. I won't share anything just yet because it's still a work in progress. But I wanted to pop in to say hello. We will catch up sooner and not later.

The Little Branch Workshop | I Went There

I totally wasn’t going to but here I am posting about a floral class I took this past Super Bowl Sunday. Yes, I went to a floral class on Super Bowl Day and I liked it.

I still made it in time to our friend’s house for the get together and better yet buzzed with excitement from this very first class of new set workshops by Los Angeles area floral designers, The Little Branch. My friend Kate from Floret Cadet brought this class to my attention and I'm so glad she did because it was pretty much awesome.

I had heard of The Little Branch before and really liked their work. The designers, Annie and Meg, starting these workshops after noting the lack of floral classes here in SoCal. Held in a cute studio located in Lincoln Heights complete with snacks and mimosas (hello!), the focus of the class was on garden-style arrangements using floral foam (an item I have to admit, I don’t use often). Kate did a great write-up of the class that you can read here. Note: If you have no idea what I look like, I’m the girl in a stripe sweater with the errant ponytail. Ha!

I do want to add few of my two cents. The flower selection for the class was not only fabulous but we were also able to get more if we felt an arrangement needed it. I totally understand the economics of why some floral instructors can be a little conservative when it comes to the ingredients but I do love that the flowers for the class where indeed for our use and therefore we were free to get more.

The studio space was ideal. Large, open, with lots of natural light, and if you’re like me and live near the 110, easily accessible and with lots of parking to boot.

These workshops will be monthly with a new topic each class. I love to take as many opportunities to learn new styles to broaden my range a bit. The next one is March 25th and I signed up for it at the class but you can also do so here too.

arrangement and photos by me

Tease...

Sorry for being a tease, but for reasons unknown I gave myself an extra hour that didn't exist to put together today's post. Instead, I will post it tomorrow since I will be out wrangling flowers all day at the ranch (an explanation to the ranch will come in a future post). Until then, here is a small teaser for Thursday's post:

Photo and Arrangement by me

February (belated)

So far, it’s been very good.

Friday, I had the place all to my self so I brought home BBQ for dinner (baklava cheesecake for dessert), had a Blue Moon and watched censored episodes of Sex and the City. Ab Fab episodes would have been better but beggars can’t be choosers. Yes, that night warranted a mention and it was the perfect cap to the first week of the new month.

I’m just going to lay it all out there: January blew. I wasted precious time moping about something that while needed, I didn’t necessarily want and ultimately didn’t get. Once again, I am annoyed with myself for even setting myself up like that. However, on the flip side, yesterday I was met with what should have been a disappointing outcome but instead I took that rejection for what it was: constructive criticism. I totally acknowledged what was told to me and noted it as something that needed improvement. Funny, how that works.

Either way, I do have plans to share something wonderful that I took part in this past Sunday. Initially I wasn’t going to blog about it but I loved the experience so much that I decided to not be so greedy all of the time. It will come tomorrow and to give you a hint: flowers are involved, obviously.

Floral Fantasy featuring Chantal Stafford Abbott by Leda & St.Jacques and styling by Anthony Mitropoulos for Elle Korea December 2011 via Mode

Pierre-Joseph Redouté

I've been on a floral arranging hiatus thanks to a shot auto focus on my 50 1.4 (I've been debating whether to post the lone not-so-great images of my last arrangement). However, I've been continuing my education through other means (read: working in a floral studio) which has lead me to really think about form. Lately, I've been taking a look at floral paintings and have become quite attracted to the work of Belgian botanical illustrator Pierre-Joseph Redouté.

All prints by Pierre-Joseph Redouté from Art.com

Club Monaco

I've been a good girl for not buying any clothes until I hit my weight goal but these pieces from Club Monaco's Spring 2012 Lookbook are killing me softly. Polkadots (my favorite), ombré, neutral colors -- I pretty much want every thing in my closet, yesterday.

Aline Weber & Othilia Simon for Club Monaco Spring 2012 Lookbook via Fashion Gone Rogue

Monday Musing Now With Twitter

I’m just going to put it all out there: My name is Jessica and I am shy person. Or should I say a shy introvert cause really they are two different things. Anyway, I have no idea where the shyness came from. While my nuclear family is small, my extended family on both sides has always been big. Then there was my Father’s friends. Nigerians LOVE to party so there were always get togethers every weekend and of course there were other kids around. I should be a social butterfly but instead I’m the bewildered moth that moves awkwardly towards the light.

Blow Up by Tim Walker for W April 2011 via Holtermann Design

Anyway, this year I decided that I would continue getting uncomfortable by opening myself up more online. I have this weird thing about social networking that probably skirts the line between oldster and hipster. The former: a thanks, but I’ll stick to Friendster Myspace Facebook. The latter: ...but I don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. However when Twitter came out I didn’t quite get the appeal. Even up until late last year I hesitated. Then I realized I can’t live in a bubble for too long, so now after setting up an account last year, I have finally decided to use it. You can follow me here. I’m still trying to get used to the site. I’ve already encountered spam, a phishing attempt, and a new design layout so I feel like my hazing is somewhat complete. Plus, I have to remember I can’t blog about everything here so Twitter seems like the natural supplement not to mention another way to connect with others. Oh, and battle my pesky shyness.

Happy MLK Day!