12 Days of Valentine's Day: Day 7: Flowers For the House

12 Days of Valentine’s Day: Day 7: Buy Yourself Some Flowers for the House. I bought this bouquet of Stock last Monday @costco for $9.99. They still look fresh and gorgeous and I’ll enjoy them well into this week. They make me happy every time I see them and the house looks great. Don’t pin your hope on roses next Friday. Enjoy any type of flowers today! 

#12daysofvalentinesday #valentinesday #findingdelight #beautyofeverydaylife #buyflowers

Rose Bouquet: Apricot Candy

How do I elevate a hastily prepared meal? We eat outside! Pretty place mats and flowers elevate an everyday dinner. Plus, everything tastes better outside, don't you think?

Flower Power: Pike Place Market in Seattle is Ready

These are the glory days of spring! My best friend is visiting me and checking out where we are starting to make our new life. We have had so much fun talking face-to-face and in between I've been showing her the sights.

Pound, pound, pound. Can you hear my heart beating?

#seattle #pikeplace 

Mother's Day at Pike Place Market

Doesn't this look like home run for Mother's Day? I saw many a family giving their mother a little extra attention while strolling Seattle's Pike Place Market on Sunday. This weekend was the market's Flower Fest and there were far more vendors selling fresh-as-a-daisy bouquets. The market has become a regular stop for me (can you blame me?) and this was the first I have seen of the beloved peony. 

                              

I watched a cute exchange between a twenty-something girl and her mother. The mother had chosen a bouquet and the daughter was insisting that she be allowed to pay for the it. The $20 bill got passed back and forth between the two of them before the daughter got wily and tucked the money into her mom's purse when she looked away. Well done, daughter, well done.

I think I helped to seal the deal for a father and son who were waffling between two arrangements. I pointed to one of their choices, an exquisite arrangement in all pinks and white and said, "That's the one." They looked relieved.

The sun was out and people were buying flowers - what could be better? 

Cheesecake! I think whoever decided to personalize the mini cheesecakes at The Confectional is a genius. Shoppers could choose between Mom, Mummy, Mum, Mommy and it looked as cute as can be. I bought a caramel one to the left and it was just as good as the last time I visited. Yum and yum.

Seattle: Issaquah First Farmers Market of the Season

I used to say that the next season was my favorite season. I'm always looking forward and planning and thinking about what I will make and do next. 

Yet this year, with a bouquet in my arms, Spring is proving that it wins. When I can suddenly buy flowers at the farmers market every week, I am in my element and clearly this is my favorite time of year.

Saturday, May 2 was opening day at the Issaquah Farmers Market. I roamed the market, which is predominately flowers, herbs and asparagus this time of year and settled at the tent of Sweet Blissful Blooms. A darling girl named Maria let me choose the flowers in my bouquet: blue and white lupine, rosy-apricot peony tulips and white phlox. It is commanding, yet feminine. 

I have a blue and white print tablecloth on the kitchen table and the lupine repeating the color looks gorgeous in this small space.  The vase? As I settle into our pied-a-terre, I realize I am missing some key items. One of my new $5 IKEA sugar canisters became a temporary vase. It's perfect, really, because a bouquet of this size needs a vase with some heft to keep it upright. Necessity is the mother of invention. The vase is sitting on one of my museum collection tin plates. It looks perfect and I wouldn't change a thing.

Happy May Day: Lily of the Valley

Happy May Day! 

In France, May 1st is a national holiday called La Fête du Travail (National Labor Day) as well as La Fête du Muguet (Lily of the Valley Day).

I was lucky to be in Paris on May Day one year and I loved seeing Parisians of all ages hustling through the city with bouquets of lily of the valley. It was quite funny to see how each of them managed with an extra item to juggle.  Some businessmen tucked them horizontally in the same hand that was holding their briefcase. Young girls held them out in front of them as if they were walking down the aisle. And every so often, I'd see a young woman looking at the bouquet a little too often, as if she couldn't believe that someone gave them to her. Love is grand. Each individual made me question, Who is the bouquet for? Did they just receive it as a gift themselves?

This morning I was in a garden center here in America admiring all of the new plants for sale when I heard a Frenchwoman asking for lily of the valley. It was early in the morning and I hadn't realized that it was May 1st yet. 

When I came back home to my computer the May Day proclamations were all over Facebook. So that's why she wanted Lily of the Valley today of all days! I so regret not realizing what she was doing. She was getting a lot of far flung information from the clerk about shipments and the planting season and what she really needed (in addition to some flowers to give) was someone to say Happy May Day to her!

Seattle: Pike Place Market: A Floral Corridor to Make You Swoon

Yes, it was pretty much the best day ever. I was back in Seattle with Dan and we had a Saturday all to ourselves.  Since flowers are my oxygen, we planned our day around a stop at Pike Place Market on the waterfront in Seattle.

I bought the bouquet above because I couldn't resist one last chance at pink tulips. The season was early here this year and I know that they are almost gone. Plus the bouquet had white lilacs and real pussy willow branches. I was holding the best of Spring in my arms.

The second bouquet I chose looked so completely French and fabulous that I couldn't resist it. Enormous orange/green parrot tulips (the size of water goblets!) and white/green parrot tulips with fresh greens and white/peach daffodils. This bouquet belongs in the finest French restaurant. Dramatic, yet believable, this arrangement had to come home with me.

There were bulk tulips for sale - typically $1 per stem

There were bouquets dedicated to every shade of purple... 

Some bouquets looked like bridal arrangements in pink and peach...

I just learned that Mother's Day Weekend is the Pike Place Market Flower Festival.  How could they possibly have more flowers than this? I can't wait to see. I'll be your eyes and ears and report back.

Mother Nature was showing off. Cameras rule along this floral corridor and it was fun to overhear the comments. My favorite was when a young woman exclaimed, "Wait...is that a tulip?" pointing to a cluster of double tulips (aka peony tulips). The vendor and I said "Yes!" in unison.

When I am in a place like this I really have to use willpower. Not to resist buying too many flowers. No, I need willpower to keep myself from climbing behind the tables and helping the women make more bouquets. 

I can imagine the heady feeling of having buckets and buckets of tulips at my disposal and the day ahead of me to invent color and texture combinations to make people swoon.  

Juice Can Bouquets: Upcycling is Beautiful

I love this bouquet every time I walk through the family room.  My master plan is all coming together in the form of beautiful flower arrangements.

Remember when I visited Uwajimaya in Seattle and shopped for interesting Japanese juice cans? This can is a yellow and purple Sugar Cane drink marked Puli Specialty product of Taiwan. I absolutely love it and the flowers I found in bloom were just what I had in mind for it. Success!

Instead of a traditional glass vase, I love having texture, pattern and color as the foundation for my small flower arrangements.  If I had my own flower shop, I know that these would fly off the shelves.

I am home and able to pull from my own garden to make juice can bouquets. This arrangement has Honey Dijon roses, purple verbena and a sprig of mint.

If I do one thing this summer, it should be to convince you to put flowers in soda or juice cans.  Will you?

Milk Bottle bouquet

Okay, they are very small milk bottles, but the idea is the same. Identical glass bottles in a wire basket are a wonderful jumping off point for a casual flower arrangement. My mom found this set at Pottery Barn a few years ago and we keep it full of flowers all summer.

The narrow opening of the bottles help to keep blooms upright and clustered together. Flowers can't help but look beautiful: this grouping is made of roses, lacecap hydrangeas, lupine and lavender. 

If you have blooms in your yard, cut some and make your own beautiful cluster. You'll love it every time you see it.

Delight in Seattle: First Stop, Buying Flowers for the Room

I made it to Seattle, Washington! And by the looks of the flowers for sale at Pike Place Market, I may never leave.  Can you believe the bouquet I'm holding?  It cost $15 and it brought me delight for days. Whenever I am going to be in a city at least a week, I buy a bouquet of flowers for the room.  It makes me happy every time I see it.

When did Moments of Delight become a travel blog??  I know, it feels a little crazy for me too.  Since January, I have been in Michigan, Texas, Florida, Minnesota and now Washington State.  This is my life and I am happy to share it with you - I write about the beauty of everyday life, as I see it.

Of course when I am traveling, delight becomes "site specific."  I hope you enjoy my photos and commentary about my visit to the Pacific Northwest (I've never been here before!) and take note of places you would like to visit in the future.  I will be in Seattle for several weeks, so my adventure will include making a hotel room a little more like "home" and my attempts at cooking in a McKitchen.  Wish me luck.

When Dan and I flew into Seattle, we checked into our hotel and then immediately went to Pike Place Market to stretch our legs, get some fresh air and look for dinner. Unfortunately, the market was closing for the day, so we didn't really get to see it in action.  Look for a post in the future when I visit the market and can take my time exploring.

I could have swooned.  Imagine standing in front of these fresh tulips with a sign that says $1 each. I wanted so many of them; I actually stood there imagining different combinations in my mind (*with the same contemplative expression I get when I am in the fabric section of Joann Fabric!).

I resisted only because I had already bought the large bouquet (above) and my hotel room can only support one arrangement.  And I kept telling myself that I can come back.  And I will!

*Note: A noteworthy bonus to buying flowers at Pike Place Market is that the bouquet was magically wrapped with a plastic bag containing water, rubber bands and paper to keep your bouquet fresh and happy as you stroll the market.  I was very impressed when I unwrapped my flowers and saw the infrastructure created to keep my bouquet at its best. Magnifique!