where we've been

We took some time away from the heat last week and weekend to work, play and celebrate on the East coast. Two of our very special clients and friends tied the knot in Newport, RI, and we were both honored to be a part of the weekend. On Tuesday, Matt and I parted ways - he went straight to Newport to help regulate and coordinate design for the after rehearsal dinner, and I visited my old home in New York before heading over to Newport. It was inspiring to be in the city and wonderful to catch up with old friends.

The after rehearsal dinner, on the other hand, took lots of very hard work from many design teams. Matt's talent was the glue that pulled the details of the event together, and it would not have been the same without his creativity and determination to show Newport how Alabama throws a party! From the lighting (special ordered by MCD, pictured above) to the table settings to the copy on the menu, the event was a creative director's dream.

Now, back to reality.

Image by Pam Poellnitz

weekend showers

Flamingo pink and Robin's Egg blue were our inspiration for the celebration of a mom-to-be and her growing nest. Check out the buffet table, above - who can resist the flamingos?

Many thanks to Mary Keeley McAllister for making our dreams of a photo booth come true.

mack attack

Our lovely friend, Kristin Mackercher, just launched a blog, Mack. It's a personal blog, but gah, the gal has a great spunky/preppy/eclectic style and we're thrilled she's opening up her musings to the rest of us. The image above is from an old (err...2005) issue of Vanity Fair that Kristin saved.

toasting

We haven't quite made it to Christmas, but are already getting excited about New Years, because the Tuscaloosa Magazine New Year's Eve photos were just posted online. We haven't seen the magazine yet, but are thrilled with these images. Many thanks to Kyle Office, Spirits Wine Cellar, Letters Hops and Vine, Mary's Cakes, Madeline Passerini, Donna, Janet, Robert, Holly, Debbie, Caroline, and the MCD team for pulling this together! Here's to ringing in the New Year with lots of sweets, bubbly, friends and family!

softly spring

This image (compliments of Dabbs Anderson, our artiste friend) is from a few weeks ago. That's Dabbs carrying a lovely arrangement we used at Kozy's restaurant for our friend Caroline's birthday. It was mid-March and the Japanese Magnolias had just burst into bloom at Caroline's house. We foraged those from her yard and along with a few other stems and some pretty greenery, we made a lovely table scape for dinner.

polka dots

Arranging flowers for a funeral or memorial is always a bit somber. Today, we worked our craft for the memorial of dear friend's mother, Penny McAllister. Like mother, like daughter(s) - the McAllister women are always upbeat and enthusiastic. We hope the flowers reflected Penny's spunk and creativity and we are keeping our thoughts with the family.

On a sunnier note, we met with our representatives from Thibaut this morning. They showed us some of the most fun new wall paper and fabric designs for summer. One looks like it might be a perfect fit for the home office we started working on yesterday. It's so new, there aren't even images of it up on the Thibaut Web site, yet. We also saw Thibaut's new sister line, Anna French and are smitten! Wall coverings with flair and gorgeous fabrics with lots of color. We've included fun metallic paper above called Spot. We think Penny might have been a fan.

scallop

A full morning of billing, clean-up, fabric orders, inventory, etc.

Our afternoon was brightened when Suzie, one of our best friends/clients, popped in to get some ideas for her home office. We poured over some black and white prints and pulled some accessories from around the shop. Shown above is a print from the Studio Bon collection called Scallop – one of the top contenders for her window treatments. We're thinking about painting the walls a buttery yellow and pulling in some charcoal and coral tones. As Matt would say, “Yummy!”

good friday

The image above (and many others on our blog) are compliments of our artist in residence, Ms. Dabbs Anderson. More on Dabbs later...

We received an early morning delivery of flowers for a few arrangements we're sending out for Easter. After processing the lilies and roses, we locked up and headed over to Christ Episcopal Church downtown for the Good Friday service, then lunch at one of our favorite spots, Hooligan's (mmmmm mint tea, gyros, and fries – oh my). We knocked out the Easter arrangements, delivered them and called it a day around 4 p.m. A friend was in town from NY for the weekend, so we spent the late afternoon on her loggia with wine from Spirits (right now we're hooked on Independent Cellars Chardonnay) and cheese (Belle Chevre with Hewett's Farm Honey). What a way to jump start outdoor entertaining! Happy Easter Weekend!