a red hook wedding

When Jen called me to say that her and Nick got engaged last December she asked me to be her florist and her Maid of Honor (in that order!) ...then she said they were going to move to Red Hook and have the entire shebang here! Two months later they were living in a house 2 doors down down the block from us! It was the most fun (and most exhausting!) weekend ever. The hyper-talented Robert Sukrachand's photos show all the details! Exclamation point, Exclamation point!


As MOH, I was tied up with other things most of the day...Joelle and Amanda did an amazing job hanging and decorating this huge grapevine wreath which the ceremony took place under...

We got ready at my place. Literally everything happened within a 1 block radius...

I love this photograph of Jen and Nick on the pier so much. Robert is the best, book him now foolz!!!!


Reception at Botanica...


I got to hold my very own bouquet like a real lady! Tables had short mercury glass cups with mixed flowers and amaranth and artichokes trailing down the centers.


Such a fun weekend. All the photos over at Robert's blog.

fine! red wedding, ok?

beautiful reds from last weekend. but tonight - another night where i'm drinking coffee during cocktail hour...working late on a fun project coming soon...

october roses

A recent visit to the BBG resulted in some rose-rejuvination for me...plus two tranny's eric shot in Paris.

A parsec is an astronomical unit of length equal to approx. 3.26 light years.

Here's to mookie; Maker of dinner, Buyer of carpets...

There is something happening in the kitchen right now involving panko and kale, but the important thing is that it's happening without my direct involvement. I am sipping a glass of Viognier and admiring my new carpet which Eric snagged at auction last week. Another Berber rug, but he only had to go to Jersey for it this time. He keeps reminding me that he used his own money to purchase it. As opposed to the little sack of Saipua gold coins he brings with him to such events? Anyway, now my room has even more orange and more carpeted surface area to collect pet hair. A win-win, if you will.

We have two weddings tomorrow. All was calm and peaceful when I left the studio.

PS Our first flower school class was a blast - have you checked the photos?

ps. there are a bunch of questions i've been meaning to answer for everyone, random - but hopefully this will help:

1. nicole - the ring is bloodstone, from Erie Basin
2. the dress we believe is vintage vintage Thierry Mugler
3. The little robins egg blue berries are from Porcelain Vine
anything else i'm forgetting, let me know

one thing leads to another.

autumn pinks

by now it's clear i have a penchant for pink this autumn. i even bought a pair of pink tights recently. i'm like a walking bottle of pepto bismal. yesterday i went to the city. i walked the highline - i had not been there since mid-summer, and it's even more beautiful now, but then again, i'm a sucker for the autumn. oh my god this post is getting so boring....so lets keep going with it....

then i took myself to lunch at what was once my favorite lunch spot - alas no more. R.I.P. Tea and Sympathy; you're full of tourists and my tea was cold. To console myself, I stopped into an H&M, and suddenly as if executing the co-dependent routines of an abusive relationship, found myself purchasing $100 dollars worth of guilt inducing, made-in-china rayon bullshit that will likely end up in a goodwill bin in 6 months. but hey, its a mustard colored velvet cocktail dress. which sounds to me like my day-to-evening ensemble for thanksgiving. that's one holiday outfit i don't have to loose sleep over anymore.

the girl who checked me out told me about how her daughter, who just turned four, tried to eat the $400 custom made gold and diamond nameplate she got for her birthday. the end.

sappy, big love post...you'll probably gag.

last night, in a champagne haze post our first flower school (!), i decided i was going to write something up on ye old blog about how thankful i was for everyone who reads, signs up for a class, admires and comments on our flowers, buys soap, sweeps the floor for me, helps me make a wedding happen, makes me dinner, calls me on the phone, and especially those friends who know how busy I am and don't take it personally that we never hang out lately.

today i'm loving you all - everyone from yesterday's class (photos of their stunning arrangements coming soon), my amazing, irreplaceable assistants Amanda, Joelle, Amy... my friend and partner in all crimes floral, Nicolette... my mom, from who all things creative stem... and of course most of all my boss, my boyfriend Eric.

i'm so tired.

but holy shizzels, i have a day off today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

rock me amadeus

so tired of being tired all the time. mention this to fellow floral designer friend, and she whispers "winter..."
indeed the winter is our retreat. though i never thought i'd wish fall away...

S**t has gotten serious, cause i think i ate the last tomato sandwich of the season this week. it was so ridiculously good, I took a photo with my phone, and you know how I feel about bloggers and breakfasts, etc - but this was lunch.

it was a yellow tomato. yellow Hawaiian something or other.

i don't feel i need to share with you a "recipe" per se for said sandwich, but we should be clear about the necessity of Hellmans, a red onion, Munster cheese (Sweet Munchie cheese* also acceptable in certain cases) and copious amounts of fresh ground pepper.

*it exists, that is, a cheese called sweet munchie. in fact i had to drag a friend to the deli counter in fairway the other day to convince her. Eric actually has a song that goes with this cheese, it goes something like this:

"AH! Munchie, Mon chi chi..mon chi chi, monchi munchi cheese!"
Not to be confused with the jingle associated with the popular Monchhichi doll made by Mattel during the 1980's. perhaps you still have your Monchhichi doll, and he lives happily with all the other members of your stuffed animal family in a decorative dragnet** that hangs for the ceiling of your childhood bedroom. frozen. in. time.

**thanks for that amy.

slowly ranunculus are starting to come into our world again. the really good ones will arrive in a month or so. for now I'm happy to get some ranges of pink, a few decent salmon colored ones. nothing spectacular...most have really weak stems and get clipped short for decoration around the shop.


I got what may be the last of the dinner plate (cafe au lait) dahlias this week. they are still in the back of the truck. it's disgustingly awesome outside now, rain, 46 degrees. we've stopped prepping flowers and are typing up wedding bids with numb fingers next to Ye Old Space Heater. If you know a reliable and trustworthy general contractor in brooklyn, hit us up.


and hey, thanks for all your nice comments about little scooter.

I don't know what to say today.

Goodbye Darla (Scooter)

When we first opened Saipua about 3 years ago we got a visit from a man named "Mojo" who said he had the perfect shop cat for us. We said, "No thanks," and yet he was back the following weekend with Darla, (whom he had temporarily dubbed "Soapy," an unfortunate nod to our livelihood) a bag of cat litter and some cans of food.

He told us a dramatic story about how she had been locked inside a bodega that shut down over on Columbia Street, and how he had - after several failed attempts - been able to break her out.

She had missing teeth, no voice, and had apparently never learned how to clean herself. The first time I met Darla she jumped right in my lap. She spent a lot of time there over the last few years. But don't get me wrong, she was also gross. A loveable gross I guess.

Last night, after a day of kitty hospice she died. Poor little Scooter, we loved her.

A beautiful photo of Sarafina and her bouquet...by James Ryang

This weekend Amy and I trekked up to Cole Hill Farm Estate to do flowers for a wedding... Leaves were turning and I was pleased to have the excuse to take a three hour drive to enjoy the autumnal scenery. Amy found an old barn, so she was happy I think. The bride described her colors as aubergine and ivory - we took that literally and placed fairy eggplants on the tables along side the flowers.