Corner Cozy

What happens when you find three unassuming gift cards to Pottery Barn left over from your wedding 3 years ago? You have enough to buy a chair! (and a cute one at that!) It completes the cozy corner of our living room quite nicely, don't you think?

**Please ignore the ugly green-tile hearth and cords everywhere. That is one of the only areas of our home we haven't touched since moving in! But it's on the list, and moving to the top quickly!

Devonly, yours

House Plants

A lot of my house plants have been out-growing their pots lately, so it's time to repot them into larger containers. However, there are some guidlines you should know about when repotting your house plants.

While you might think it would just be easier to stick your tiny plant into a large container as you think it might one day grow to that size, this is not the case. The new pot should be 1-2" larger in diameter (at the top) than the old pot - MAX. Because the roots of your plant are only a big as the last pot they were in, they would not be getting efficient water as all the water would sink to the bottom where the roots are not yet reaching. So you need to take it little by little when growing your indoor plants.

Also, holes at the bottom of the pot are essential for preventing root rot. Some suggest a gravely mixture at the bottom to aid in drainage as well. And speaking of rot: I've experienced a plant that will mold at the top from too much water if I'm not careful. This is a sure time to repot your plant.

And lastely, when you move the plant to the new pot, by pulling apart the roots you will help them grow into your new pot more quickly.

So, happy house planting to you and long live your house plants!

Devonly, yours

Fall's Glory

Some of you know how much I love love love fall. The crispness in the air, the bright golden light that seems to last all day, the leaves - Oh!! the leaves! Bundling up after a long summer of being exposed, comforting stews and squashes. But, my dear friends: do you also know how much I love pumpkin beer? And I'm not talking just any pumpkin beer. The Elysian Night Owl pumpkin beer is the best pumpkin beer you will ever have privy to try. And given that they only produce it during th fall months, I have to take in as much as possible while it's around. And last night was my first sip of the year. yummm.....this year they have prodiced a magnificent batch. The spices - allspices, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon - that they use really come through and it's the best yet.

Well, before you all go running to the Elysian, let me tell you about something that made me as giddy as school girl when I found out:

The 5th Annual Great Pumkin Beer Fest

30 pumkin beers on tap from various vendors plus 9 Elysian brews including Night Owl, The Great Pumpkin, Dark ’O the Moon Pumpkin Stout, Hansel & Gretel Ginger Pumpkin Pilsner, Mr. Yuck Sour Pumpkin Ale, Jack ’O Bite Barrel-aged Scottish Pumpkin Ale, Bete N’Owl Dark Belgian, 8472 Amber Sour and Pumpkin Hefeweizen.

Won't you come and join me in celebrating fall?

Oct. 10th 12-10pm & Oct. 11th 12-6pm

The Elysian, Capitol Hill

More flowers...

Here is a photo from the wedding, by the professional! More to come later...

Devonly, yours

Photo courtisy: JKoe Photograpghy

Kelly and Brian's wedding

I didn't take one.single.picture! How bad is that? I did all the flowers and decorations for the wedding and didn't get a single picture of the action. But, I did get to take a bunch of the flowers home, so I got a few pictures of my hard work. And the photographer took some amazing ones, which I will post as soon as I get my anxious little paws on them. Here's what they look like the day after - not quite as glorious but still quite beautiful:

The Bride's Bouquet:
(The groom's boutonniere was a white calla lily with 2 black fern curls. It was so cute!)

The Bridesmaid's Bouquets:

This arrangement was a large vase at the front of the church:

And lastly, the center pieces for the tables at the reception hall:

It was quite the stressful day, I must say! I didn't really imagine it being so stressful. Partly because on the morning of the wedding when I woke up to start the bouquets (I had planned the timing of the day with no room for error) all the calla lilies had died! Just *poof* Dead! They were a gross brown, decaying mess. I don't know what happened. So I had to make a bunch of phone calls, run around to some wholesale florists, and eventually found one that had a little less than half the number that we originally had (the bride wanted those to be the main flower). So, we made do, and hurried like crazy. I was making adjustments, giving directions, and organizing people until the minute the family was being seated.

But, all in all, it was a very successful, beautiful wedding. It's strange, because it felt a lot like mine - same time of year, same time of day, same order of events and timing of those events, similar look and feel to the sites, etc. So, afterward, I felt like I should be going on a honeymoon! The happy couple are honeymooning in Hawaii and I'm so jealous. And after all that hard work I put in, I think I deserve a little vacation!

Hope you enjoyed the photos, I know there are a lot, but they're all just so pretty! I will be posting the professional ones as soon as possible.

Devonly, yours

Autumnus Greatust

We moved our television set downstairs and our couch is not at all comfortable. I like what it's doing to me.

What's does favorite non-tv night look like?

Devonly, yours

P.S. I hade my first batch of zucchini bread for the fall. Yes, I know zucchini is synonomous with summer, but I just can't bake that much during the warm months. Now that fall has arrived with a bang, I'm craving warm bread, tall boots, long scarves, and a crisp autumn afternoon.

My brother-in-law is getting married in T-minus 11 days and I'm helping them with different aspects of the wedding, which I'm having so much fun with. One thing we are doing is stamping cocktail napkins to have at the bar. They are so elegant and inexpensive to make! I bought the stamps at a local stamp store and the napkins at a party supply store. The total cost of the project for 300 napkins was $20.



You could do this easily for any occasion - a birthday, luncheon, dinner party...whatever event you are throwing!

Devonly, yours