The last wedding of 2010

Kristen and Michael got married in August, in England in a small, private ceremony for their immediate family in a beautiful location at Oxford.  Congratulations!

When they returned to the States for good, however, they wanted to have a big celebration in which the rest of their family and friends could participate.  What better night for a party than New Year's Eve?   Everyone wants to ring in the new year with their loved ones.  It was a natural tie-in.

The big night would be at the Rock Spring Country Club.  Kristen wanted it to become a winter wonderland...with a touch of spring.  And the planning begins!.

Flowering branches fit the bill for the spring. Choosing white gave them a wintery feel.  Add some sparkly willow branches, dangling, crystal branches and dendrobium orchids, and we were off to a grand start. Tall pilsner vases overflowed with branches and blooms on some tables, while snowy mounds of glittery hydrangea graced others.

There would be candles everywhere.  Silver and white were the order of the day, with a touch of snow on tables throughout the venue, and 'ice' in every vase.  (Mother Nature would add the real stuff in a big way during the week - making for a nail-biting setup week!)

When the lights were dimmed, the room glowed with warmth and sparkled like the crystal clear winter night outside. 

What a beautiful way to end the year.  Or start the year.  Or start a married life.

Fish meets world.

OK.  We've un-burrowed from the snow.  We're back to functioning in the white, sometimes fluffy winter landscape that is winter in New Jersey.  And we find a way to make it bearable, spending so much more time indoors. 

Obviously, plants and flowers are a way to bring springtime indoors during these dreary months.  But what does a florist, who spends her life surrounded by flora and fauna, do to add some warmth and fun to the cold?  She creates an ecosystem, of course! 

There are certain houseplants that can be grown hydroponically.  Hydroponics is the science of growing plants without soil.  One of those plants is the spathiphyllum, or peace lily.  If you place an established peace lily in a vase of water, it will grow every bit as well as it would were it in soil.  You can watch the root structure change and grow; it's a great science lesson and it's beautiful, to boot. 

Now, if you add another living organism, say, a certain breed of fish, to the water in which the spathiphyllum lives, it becomes an ecosystem.  In a vase.  You still need to feed the fish, but the plant gets nutrients from the fish waste, and the fish gets some nutrients from the plant.  And you have a friendly little guy to have on your kitchen table or desk. 

Meet Fish.  Fish-Who-Must-Be-Named.  He is a red, male betta fish.  He now lives at Lotus Petals.  He keeps us company, adds a different energy to the store, and is generally a good listener.  But he needs a name.  Give us a hand in coming up with a name for this new mascot, won't you?  The person whose name idea we choose will win a $25 gift certificate!  Let's see how creative you can get. 

You have until the 31st of January. Until then, we'll just call him Fish.  Boring, isn't it?

Soul Food...

Last night, as I turned off the lights in my little girl's room and lay snuggling with her before she fell asleep, I thought again about how important it is to have soul food on a daily basis.  Not ribs and collards.  At least not today.  Not that kind of soul food. 

Nope.  Feeding your soul is so much more than filling your belly.  And it happens in so many ways, if you pay attention.  Like last night.  With the lights out in my daughter's room, quieting down before bed, it feels like the whole world is just that room.  Nothing else matters.  We cuddle, we giggle, we just 'are'.  And although she needs to have a sense of independence, of being able to fall asleep alone, I am loathe to leave the room.  It is more often than not my favorite part of the day.  I will sorely miss it when she is too old to want me there.

And, just like that, my soul is fed. 

There are so many facets of us that need to be sated, daily.  The hunger is there, even if we aren't aware of it.  Beauty, love, art, music, community, nature.  They are all soul food. 

I am fortunate enough to be able to fill the part of me that needs nature and beauty on a daily basis.  My work with flowers is about so much more than the perishable product that sits in my cooler.  The colors, the textures, the fragrance all touch me in different ways.  They fill all of my senses; they inspire me; they drive me to create beauty with beauty. 

And in creating beauty with beauty, I am able to feed the part of me that needs art.  Sharing that art with clients feeds my sense of community, which brings love in so many ways.  Love of what I do, love with the happiness that my work brings others. 

And, just like that, my soul is fed. 

This is the cycle of subtle and not-so subtle ways that we sustain ourselves internally. It is continual, cyclical, ever present.  And you can never over eat. 

Happy 2011! Lotus Petals enters the blogosphere...

To start this year off in the proper direction, we decided that it's time for Lotus Petals to take the proverbial plunge and start blogging.  It's all well and good to share the snippets of information we have on our Facebook or Twitter pages, but a blog will give a little more insight, a little more depth to our events, our philosophy, and what's going on in the store! 

So, welcome.  May this year bring you all peace, happiness and abundance in all things.