a day at the flower market

i've been wanting to visit the flower market downtown for weeks now and finally got around to taking the pilgrimage this morning. so many splendid pretties to choose from - it can make a girl's head spin (with delight ofcourse). i snapped a few photos as i made my way through. i wish i took more, but i was distracted by all of the lovelies and forgot about the camera around my neck.




up next: my flower market inspired creations!

help remedies does it again

you remember help remedies. we featured them here last week and their simply genius packaging has made it's way around the blogging world like wild fire. well, they're at it again. this time they've teamed up with Ricky's (a NYC beauty supply store chain) to create an arresting series of living advertisements.



One lucky guy gets to sleep all day in a store front window to promote their "help i can't sleep" product. one not so lucky guy walks on a treadmill for 8 hours a day in HEELS advertising Help's "help i have a blister" pads.


These guys make medicinal products both conversational and friendly with their tongue-in-cheek perspective on everything from packaging, to promotion. pure genius. well done you.

via PSFK

a new gaggle of lovelies

we've been busy adding some new lovelies to the succulentLOVE family. take a peek:



don't.box.me.in: a custom design to beautify someone's office


you.have.three.wishes: a custom designed birthday gift


out.on.a.limb: a very special design for a very special addition to our house (more to come on that later!)

check out all of our lovelies at www.succulentlovedesigns.com

i want to go to here

floating. camping. island. yes, please.

via swissmiss

our wedding : sweets table

back in the days when i didn't know any better i could happily make a meal out of candy. somedays, i still don't know any better. depending on how you choose to look at it you could call me either a candy addict or candy connoisseur. i love the sweet stuff!

i wanted to share this love/obsession with our family + friends on our wedding day so we created this lovely, modern, and bright sweets table. sugar babies, banana runts, lemonheads and pineapple gummy bears provided bursts of yellow throughout. i had stacia at frosted cupcakery bake us up her splendidly delicious lemon, red velvet + vanilla cupcakes. delish.

my amazing husband built the cupcake stand in his wood shop (more amazing projects to come from that wood shop - stay tuned!) and i gocco'd the candy bags for everyone to take some yummies to go. our guests loved the sweets and we enjoyed snacking on the leftovers for the rest of the weekend.

i'm currently working on designing some fantastic sweets tables for two brides this fall. i can't wait to share the scrumptious photos! hooray for sugary sweets!

gone fishin'

not really, but i am playing hooky today with the mommas. back tomorrow lovelies. xo

just for you, mom

ask and you shall receive. i know it's been a long time coming, but these lemon cupcakes were made with love just for you. i'm so excited you're coming for a quick visit tomorrow. i made a lot, so i hope you packed your sweet tooth. xoxo

find your happy

Grizzly Bear / Two Weeks from Minimaxwell

naomi posted this magical video today on the rockstar diaries.

"la ballon rouge" makes me cry every time - and pairing it with Grizzly Bear's hauntingly sweet chords is truly spellbinding.

here's hoping happiness finds you this weekend. enjoy. xo

tie one on

this clever little business card made me smile with delight. a lovely marriage of whimsy + design. well done, you.

via design you trust

dance with me

via fleuravenue

le tour le sigh

i'll admit, i don't consider myself much of a fan of the Tour de France. it's reached the halfway point, and i admittedly barely knew it began. i mean, yes, I like cycling. and sure, I like France. And we all know I LOVE yellow. so there's an inherent interest there - i just wouldn't watch it on television if it weren't on in every bar in the neighborhood. I mean how long can you look at a pack of guys riding bikes!? well, if it looks anything like this photo project by Brent Humphries, i'll be tuning in 24/7.







Humphries has spent years capturing the unique and quirky community that surrounds this huge event. It's an ambient study not only of France's breathtaking countryside, but of the characters that flock to line every inch of the route year after year. It's a living, exciting, quirky, unfiltered look at this once a year microcosm of culture.

so, lovelies, even if you've never sported a LIVE STRONG bracelet, these photographs are beyond beautifully composed and definitely worth a look. might even entice you to break out the bike shorts!

via

100 days of summer salads

now there's no excuse for nuking your dinner this summer. The New York Times has posted "100 Simple Salads for the Season". Close your eyes and point to any number of creatively delicious (and simple) recipes. keep it fresh. keep it simple. keep it healthy my lovelies.

personally - i can't wait to try #37, #58, #79, #85, #89, #95!!, and the bonus #101.

bon appetit.

package makes perfect

you know how you tend to pay more attention to things when they relate directly to what's happening in your life. like how I never much cared about wedding/engagement rings until I had one of my own. it's our selfish human nature i guess. well, a current design project has me scouting out packaging inspiration from all over the internets.

imagine my glee when i stumbled upon this fine specimen...Help Remedies



I'm particularly fond of packaging that marries concept with function and design. and this one has me in awe with its straight-to-the-point names; witty, conversational copy; clean and simple design; and biodegradable packaging. even the pills say "help" on them. brilliant!




almost makes you wish for a headache. almost.

via Lovely Package

heirlooms

the mister and i made this last night. it was so delicious. but, i was almost too in love with these stunning heirloom tomatoes to send them to a roasted death. nature's beauty, le sigh....

i heart you

i saw these invites this weekend and swoooooooned. the adorable couple commissioned a custom silhouette of their hands forming the shape of a heart. i just adore this.


reminds me of this fun little pic from our engagement session with erinheartscourt. chris couldn't make a heart with his hands - it was more like a triangle. so those are my happy hands.


see more of the amazing invite suite here.

via oh so beautiful paper

artist's retreat re-treat

92 degrees at eight o'clock in the morning? welcome to palm springs!
the girls and i are here at the Ace Hotel for round two of our artist's retreat series. J is continuing work on her book. E is doing more writing and composing of songs. and after a major life change - i'm making a plan to take my creative endeavors to the next level. if we can take the heat it's sure to be a fabulous weekend. enjoy the weekend lovelies, xoxo.




photos courtesy of sarah yates

The letters

a lot of you have been asking me about the yellow letters in the photos of our home and how they came to be.




oddly enough, we have blockbuster to thank. on our way home from dinner a couple blocks away, topher and i walked by a bunch of guys dismantling the Blockbuster sign near our home. They were moving the store down a few blocks and getting rid of the older metal sign to replace it with the plastic versions you now see everywhere. a bit giddy from sharing a bottle of wine, we simply asked the guys if we could take a C and a K. those guys thought we were crazy - but we couldn't have been happier carrying those filthy (and HEAVY) things home at 11:30 at night.

we've had them for about 5 years. they hang proudly in our kitchen and also lent a great vibe to our wedding day celebration as well. thank you Blockbuster!

hittin' the road

we're off to the city of brotherly love for a few days to spend some good times with the family, celebrate a 50th birthday with lots of surprises, relax, and enjoy a break from a crazy & stressful couple of weeks. i can't wait to drink yummy beer, eat the best soft pretzels on earth, help Mark blow out all those candles and snuggle with my mama.

see you on tuesday! xo

our corner of the world

i was spending some quality time with the Nikon this afternoon.
I hope you enjoy this peek at our little nest...xo

check out our new lovelies!

shoo, the mister fixed my IT issues remotely (i swear he uses magic) so I can finally share the latest additions to our collection of lovelies over at succulentLOVE.

without further ado, allow me to introduce...

tune.in.tokyo



pretty.little.thing


three's.company


take.me.to.your.leader


small.hangin.tough

if you'd like to purchase these of any of our other lovelies, email me at succulentlove@gmail.com

love in a jar

Being a newlywed, I catch myself thinking a lot about the little reasons I love my husband. I love how he HAS to hold the toothpaste while he brushes his teeth, how fresh herbs bring him immense joy, how he holds my hand even when we're just walking to the other room, how ridiculously ticklish he is, how safe he makes me feel, how he can work the scientific equation into normal conversation. I don't want to forget about these little things and all the magical moments we'll share in our first year of marriage together.

So we made a love jar. We took a big glass jar and placed it on a shelf in the bedroom. Next to it is a simple notepad and pen. So now we jot those things down, fold them up and tuck them away in this jar. Sometimes i write down something silly he's said or draw a picture of something from a day we've spent together or thank him for remembering to take out the trash. They are little things, but they are filling up quickly right before our eyes.

And there's just one rule: No peeking until our one year anniversary!

technical difficulties

ok, i've never pretended to be a technical wiz. not even close. and i'll freely admit i'm powerless without my very handsome IT department (aka topher).

wouldn't you know, just when the succulentLOVE site goes on the fritz my mister is out of town. ack! he'll swoosh in and pull something out of his magic hat to fix it later this week - i'm sure of it. until then i've somehow figured out that you can still get to the site in a haphazard, roundabout way (hooray me!)

please visit succulentLOVE here until I (ahem, via the hubbs obvs) get this thing fixed.

xo

promise not to let go

minted + SMPs Save the Date Challenge

Minted and Style Me Pretty have partnered up for the latest design challenge: Save the Date stylee. They chose four soon-to-be-marrieds, each getting married in a different season, and asked us to come up with an original design that reflects both the couple and their season of love.

I loved this challenge and hope you like what I put together - please head over to minted to vote and check out the other designs.


Hannah + Brandon : Spring


Nicole + Thomas : Fall

You have to sign up to vote, but please do: minted is an amazing site and won't bug you + I'd love your votes! xoxo :)

Red, White & Bubbly: A DIY wine tasting party!

Who doesn't love a good wine party? Leading up to our wedding, we wanted our closest friends to help us pick the best red, white and bubbly to serve them at the wedding. After all, they'd be the ones enjoying it, so we wanted to make sure they'd like it!

We selected three wines of each variety within our (tiny) budget for the blind taste test. To keep things official I created a wine scoring card for everyone to tally their votes for each wine.


How did we hide the true identity of each wine from our guests? I stuffed them in wine bags from Bev Mo and Trader Joe's and gave each one a letter.


Between the wine, and the cheese and the company it was a fantastic night and something i hope we get to do again soon. This time we might just test some more expensive varieties since we won't be buying them by the case-full!

cheers!