XOXO Workshop!

Today, while checking out my one of my favorite blogs, {Sweet Tooth: Dessert Meets Design}, I came across the XOXO Workshop photoshoot. This gorgeous and beautifully coordinated event was set up as a collaborative project with several vendors for {Emily Steffen} photography workshop. I love it all - it is a perfect balance of rustic and contemporary. My favorite part is the hanging Xs and Os and photos from the old wooden ladder. It all ties together so wonderfully from invitations to décor and desserts!

"The Gardener" Berkeley, CA

Last weekend I went up north to the Bay Area where my family lives and had a wonderful time - reminding me of how much I miss living there. We spent one of the days in Berkeley - walking around and exploring the shops in the 4th Street shopping district. Though it was a pretty small strip of stores, there were quite a few gems! One of these was {The Gardener}. The Gardener was opened by Alta Tingle in 1984 in Berkeley, CA. In 1987 they moved to the current location, into a space nearly triple the size. The second store was opened in Healdsburg, CA in 1998 in a barn surrounded by a large garden. The third store opened in the new Ferry Building in 2003. I was so happy to have stumbled upon such a great store! They had everything from beautiful garden and outdoor furniture and supplies, seeds to plant fruits and vegetables, and even great interior design and kitchen/dining ware.

Alta is a former garden designer and lecturer on landscape design. She is an avid gardener and photographer as well. "The Gardener is a collection of all the things that Alta, through her talents and interests, has learned to enjoy and appreciate in her life - a great pair of Japanese scissors for cutting flowers, the purest bar of lavender soap, a big ceramic bowl for the kitchen to hold the season's offerings - things that before had required trips to nurseries, hardware and specialty stores."

When it first opened in 1984, the collection at The Gardener was the first to recognized that even the most avid gardener lives indoors. They specialize in carrying accessories and furnishings for indoors and out. Each location offers merchandise specific to that location. It is Alta's lifelong affinity for texture and minimal design that has guided her buying. She is influenced by the season, which has always guided the product selection.

I took some photos of a few favorites as I walked through the store and recommend that if you are ever in the Berkeley area, that you stop by and take a look for yourself! One small detail that I thought was really cool were the {Ceramic Easel Placecards} used with one of the table settings

Black, White and Green - Natural Green :)

I am a huge fan of black and white - whether it be graphic design, interior design, or photography - with hints of color here and there. Conveniently enough, green is my favorite to accent with! So these pictures of homes found on {Apartment Therapy} . Interior Designer, {Jessica Helgerson} does this really well, so be sure to check out her site. I love that she uses bursts of natural color. A great part of these homes are the rich wood accents that help to warm up the mostly black and white spaces - which can be cold when done throughout an entire house and not just in a small room. The green and wood accents makes them more inviting. I must also say that I LOVE the wooden platform bed.

Rountree Flowers!

Check out these beautiful and unique floral centerpieces and bouquets by {Rountree Flowers}.

Vintage Shabby Chic vs. Elegant Shabby Chic

As we all know, I LOVE WEDDINGS! These are two recent posts from {Style Me Pretty} that I thought was nice to see side by side. They are both using a sort of shabby chic design style, however one is vintage and the other is more elegant. The one featured above was actually a vingette done for Brides Northern California by {Andrew Hsu} and photos featured above are by {Lisa Lefkowitz}. The event designer for this shoot was {Gloria Wong}. Beautiful work by all of them!

This wedding speaks for itself with elegance and charm. From the lavender to the flip flops - love it all! Photographs were taken by Kerry Corcoran of {David Michael Photography}. The maid of honor conveniently works as an event planner for {Paula LeDuc Fine Catering} and flowers were done by Hannah Sampson of {Modern Bouquet}.

Flowering Chives

Am I the only one that didn't know that chives flowered? I was pleasantly surprised when I saw {this} and wanted to share for anyone who was in the same boat and me.

Brussels in Bloom

Each year a truly spectacular sight is created in the Grand-Palace, Brussels. More than 3 million flowers are used to create these 300 meter flower carpets. The patterns are based on medieval carpet designs.

Vertical Gardens and Bardessono Hotel & Spa!

These are so cool - what an awesome idea to grow a garden vertically on the wall as a work of art in a frame! {Flora Grubb Gardens}, a San Francisco based business, is responsible for these beautiful gardens. They have a wide variety of great, climate appropriate plants, a great selection of outdoor furniture, and other home design items, as well.

They also created the wall garden for the {Bardessono} hotel, restaurant, and spa in Napa Valley. This 62-room hotel was one of the most anticipated openings for years in Napa Valley. With its incredible modern elegant design, along with advanced environmental technologies and materials, Bardessono is said to be one of the greenest luxury hotels in America. I love, love, love everything about this place! From the interior design to the architecture and exterior design, the beautiful lighting fixtures, the gorgeous stone work both outside with the slate tiles and pillars, as well as the large marble dining tables. How about those luxury bathrooms - ah! Take me there now please.

Dutch Tulip Fields

Check out these photos taken in Spring of 2008. This magnificent sight can be seen in northern Netherlands - the middle of the {tulip season}. With more than 10,000 hectares devoted to the cultivation of these delicate flowers. This Dutch landscape is absolutely breathtaking - a kaleidoscope of colors - of tulips bursting into life. The bulbs are planted in late October and early November and are in full bloom by the end of April/early May. More than three billion tulips are grown each year and two-thirds of the vibrant blooms are exported, mostly to the U.S. and Germany. In the first picture - you are seeing 60 million tulips blossoming.