Sunday, September 30, 2012

Tea and Flowers

I know I only just posted pictures of my home, but I wanted to show you more of this photo shoot I co-designed a while back.  It has recently been published so I am now able to show you everything.  The shots are so dreamy...  enjoy!
My friend and designer Kelly Oshiro and I took an old green house on the ranch and turned it into a wedding ceremony and reception location.  We wanted and old fashioned elegance and garden feel.  We used all my vintage china, glass ware, tea cups and pots.  Quite a bit of my antique jewelry along with some beautiful pieces from a local store.  We also used lots of my props along with some from a vintage prop rental company called Found.  We dressed our model in beautiful dresses some of which are vintage clothes from my collection.  I think it turned our gorgeous!  Our photographer was Kirsten Ellis who did a magnificent job!
These cups and tea pot below are my absolute favorite of my collection!

I just love that we mixed books, flowers, moss and greenery with vintage details like jewelry, clocks, and perfume bottles as our centerpiece.





Below is one of my Grandmother's Limoges plates.



Below are purses again from my Grandmother.


These are my Grandmother's perfume bottles and books.


That's Kelly's dog below which she rescued from the tsunamis in Thailand a few years back.

This shot below is on the ranch.  Isn't it a beautiful picture!!!!  She is wearing one of my 
vintage dresses.

I added buttons and vintage lace to the bouquet below.

All my beautiful stem ware and dishes.

These little books are positively ancient again from my Grandmother.






I just love this old green house!!!







These are my kind of wedding guests below!

My vintage suitcases, fans, gloves and lace below.












Well all I can say is I am glad my Grandparents and Parents never threw anything away.  I adore sharing my goodies with everyone.  I hope you enjoyed everything!
Blessings to you,
Tricia












































Saturday, September 29, 2012

my home continued...

Hello Blog Friends
Sorry I have been away for so long.  Weddings are keeping me pretty busy, almost one every weekend!
A couple of you have asked for more pictures of my home so I thought I would show you my yard today.  I am astonished at how much it has grown since I took these shots about a month ago.  We have had sunny hot days and that combined with regular watering and fertilizing has made a jungle out there!
This is the view out my back door to the deck.
Going outside onto the deck.  Sometimes when I look out my window at the Sycamore trees that surround me I feel like I live in a tree house.  This old tree is right next to the railing with it's canopy of leaves creating a beautiful green ceiling over the deck.  It is lovely to gaze up through the leaves
 at the blue sky.


Some of my plants on the deck.


A wonderful old chicken coop.
Looking over the railing at the year round stream that flows past my house.  I can hear it gurgling while I lay in my bed at night.

Looking through the tree you can see the hill right next to me.  There is a herd of cows that graze there. I think they come right up to the other side of the stream as I hear them often mooing to each other.  Almost everyday I will see or hear from the wildlife around me.  There are cows, coyotes, owls, hawks. woodpeckers, crows, mountain lions, bob cats, snakes, lizards, horses, and LOTS of squirrels!  It is just wonderful living amongst nature!  This is also the view from my bedroom window...  
I am very blessed!

This is the bay window of my bedroom.  The deck is on my right and the stream and hill 
are behind me.

I will use live plants in many of my weddings.  After they have done their job I get to plant them in my garden, a lovely bonus!  This is a most beautiful large leaf Begonia.  All these plants are about 2 feet taller now!

There was a fountain in my yard which I incorporated into the plantings. I can't figure out how to get it to work so it is really more of a bird bath at the moment.   Everything has grown such that you can't see the bottom of the windows now.  There is a lovely Lemon Verbena that has the most gorgeous scent!  I planted all sorts of beautifully smelling goodies.  I have Jasmine, Roses, Sage, tons of Herbs. and lots of Lavender.
I didn't get the vegetable garden planted in time (you can tell my priorities... flowers before veggies) so I just mixed in a few with the flowers.  Here is my yellow squash plant which has given me way more 
than I can eat!

I set up many of my wedding props in the yard and house as I don't have much storage.  Here is one of my arbors for ceremonies and a beautiful day bed I use in outdoor lounges.

I bought myself an old fashioned porch swing like my Grandma used to have.  It took me forever to put it together.  The directions were hilarious, obviously translated (very badly!) from another language.  I pretty much had to figure it out on my own.  I only had a few parts left over : )  So far it has held up pretty well...

Some of my Herbs already getting big.  That's basil and mint growing on the bird house (or actually more of a squirrel house).

This is the gorgeous Lemon Verbena I mentioned earlier.  The hose spigot is just to the left of Ms Verbena so every time I turn the water off and on I brush against it and come away smelling wonderful! It's funny but it kind of reminds me of Lemon Pledge, a spray furniture wax that my mom would use.  I know that kind of sounds gross but it has such beautiful memories for me.

Another view of the back of my house.  This is the living room wall with the fireplace.  I also bought a  hammock chair that I hung from the huge old Avocado tree.  I sit in that as often as I can... 
it is just dreamy! 

Here's my mini orchard.  I planted peaches, plums, apples, plucots, and apricots.  I will also plant a fig tree so I will have all my favorite fruits.

The view looking back towards my deck.  You can also see the hammock...  are you sensing a theme yet?  Definitely need to relax more!


My girls... enjoying the new digs.  This is Munchkin.


And this is Cleo.
Hope you enjoyed the tour of my garden.  I will come back in a week or so after my last wedding of the season.  I have lots of pictures to show you of weddings!  One is getting published in Bride magazine...  Yippee!
Blessings to everyone!
Tricia