That puts me in the mood for a party! Notice the pretty little silk ribbons that Yvette had added to each one:
Everyone thought it looked great; and then I counted them: guess what, 21 lanterns for a 21st birthday! We had a nice dinner on the table next to the door; when I turned around, this was the view:
Here is how it looks this morning; it will be pretty for Easter, but I'm not done yet, I still have to add the strands under the loggia; that will be about 80 more lanterns;
Before dinner, Nicole and I tied the napkins; they look really fresh and match the color theme:
It's a beautiful warm day today, and the sun came streaming in the dining room onto the flowers, which will be perfect for the weekend:
Enjoy your day!
here it is, stuffed in a wooden crate, waiting to be sold by Johnny Suede:
He also sells fresh dandelion; back in my NYC memory I want to saute this with a little lemon and put in a salad, but I have to ask John; wow does it look FRESH:
His wife is Japanese; they sell bok choy; the tips are nice and white, freshly cut:
I first noticed the farm for their lettuces: look at these fresh bunches, ready to go; you will buy them if you see them in person, they are SO fresh and pretty!
A regular of mine told me today John is retired military; no wonder he has this sign:
I bought a bunch of swiss chard and other greens from John today; also this fresh chamomille, which I will dry for tea; doesn't it look great in a yellow basket with swiss chard???:
finer detail of the chamomille flowers:
On to today's flowers, the selection was awesome for March, considering the rest of the country and the weather; I lived in NYC for 13 years and Mum is from Canada; we love fresh in March!!
I bought a bunch of these white roses for next weekend, grown by Cho's, always fabulous: 
We have all sorts of cut and potted orchids at the market:
See Skyline from Oxnard for tulips in colors that are amazing; I bought the peach ones here:
Skyline also has pretty cut branches; it's not NYC and forschythia and cherry blossoms, but it's what is grown here:
Tulips in orange shades were fabulous:
Roses from Bill; I love his roses; best deal/best quality; I got sorbet-orange and hot pink from him today to match my paper lanterns:
We have sunflowers in the market in March; why: I don't know!
Here is the bucket I came home with: Bill, Cho's, Skyline:
And here it is in about 6 vases; I will add greens from the garden and fluff it all up: see them later this week....
Yesterday and today, I have started getting ready for the birthday party, which will give me a head-start for Easter. At the back door, I redid all the pots with pink hydrangeas ($6.99 at Trader Joe's), and changed the bow on the dog to match the theme; this is basically the same shot Jacqueline did for the April Romantic Homes layout; he looks like a dreamy dog here!
Here you see some of the pots and the dog; I wish I could find another matching dog so I can have a pair:
On the patio, outside the dining room and kitchen, we began with a glass of pink champagne before the afternoon work; this is my go-to champagne for parties and in-between; though I love Gosset rose and Perrier Jouet, I don't drink it much, only for me and R really, because for my family gatherings we are about 20 people and that's out of my budget range! This is also the sparkling I served for the Puppy Party shoot; $10 at Trader Joe's; it is Cremant from Burgundy, made of Pinot Noir and guaranteed to NOT give you a headache like the CA sparklings.....
I got a box of colored paper lanterns from my neighbor Yvette at her garage sale last year. She had already added the silk hand-dyed ribbons. I will string these up using the pink and orange and a little yellow; no green for this party. Nor sure yet how to do the lights in them, but I will fiddle with large clear Christmas lights this week. More hydrangeas are stuffed in below, in the urn, with a non-blooming orchid for fountain effect. I have to do the potting for the urns, but this was a rough up of the props and colors; I had to clean the patio and loggia and redo a bunch of pots also yesterday so there was lots of work. I assembled and hung the paper lanterns on the 20's black lantern last night, and we loved the effect with the lights, so that all worked, with the house and the loggia and the pink of the bricks.
For dinner, we will be under the loggia; this is where we had the dogs and seating for the Puppy Party; this is from the north/east side so it's in the shade here; we will have one long row of tables here for the 20 something of us; I have done parties with 10 round tables here, but never one long row that filled the whole space; that would be at least 40 people:
I am doing something new for the table cloth, and using all the usual white dishes, white linen and silverware. I'll show you the photos later in the week as I prepare; by Saturday morning, the scene will be set and I'll focus on the food. 
And the flavors found recently; brown sugar vanilla bean and salted caramel sell very well, but I love the mint cacao nib; all of the flavors are natural; Jessica uses only local organic produce and herbs in her ice creams...haven't tried the ice cream sandwiches yet!
She uses cups and lids made of sugar cane; at the market you can get two sizes of containers:
Being a eco-responsible business, she also uses bio-d spoons, set out in a nice little red and orange case:
You can buy Carmela's ice cream at various specialty stores, or of course just come to the Pacific Palisades farmers market on Sunday mornings....she will also ship to you, if for example you have a fancy dinner or wedding and need something special....find them online HERE. 
Here is a shot from Brentwood market: how many filled plastic bags can you stuff in a plastic box?
And that dammned tree again, in Brentwood; you don't see this in Palisades, which is a few miles away. The space is different, not so open, but The Chic don't carry this kind of gear, sorry!
Is it not enough to have a wire cart, you have to line it with a black plastic trash bag??? And then fill it up with lots of other little plastic bags? Calabasas:
Last weekend in Palisades; this makes me go UGH! 
