Friday, April 24, 2009

Something's In The Air

Something is in the air just about now, and it isn't just the music that will burst forth from JazzFest over the next two week-ends. No, this is something that's been around long before JazzFest was a dream in Quint Davis's eyes. I am talking about the flowering plants that are all over the city. Just walking past one will immediately take you "back home" no matter where you live now.There is just something magic about the way a scent can transfer us back through time and space. What am I talking about here? Well, for any of you who go around with weepy eyes and sniffly noses, you know exactly what I am talking about. Let's see what it could be.........




First on the suspect list is the famous ligustrum bush that bursts into bloom all over the city and countryside. Ligustrum has a very fragrant scent and I have been told (although I have yet to authenticate this fact) that it is a relative to the lilac plant which also evokes some of the same reactions from folks with an allergic factor at work.


The next culprit may well be the beautiful and sometimes undiscovered "sweet olive" plant. I am not sure what its real name is, but anyone who has lived in New Orleans knows exactly what I am talking about here. I once actually thought that a candle with the scent of sweet olive would be wonderful to remind me of my home town. I gave up on that and adopted the Magnolia instead and I am sure all my friends are thankful.



Rounding out the trio here is the Jasmine plant - I believe that this one may well be the variety that is called Confederate Jasmine, but don't hold me to it. I will have to go and research this for us. Right now though, I am using the names that were bandied about the neighborhoods where I grew up.

Is there any plant that you remember from your childhood that makes you remember things you had long forgotten? Another that I am waiting for is the ginger plant - butterfly ginger grew right under my window and I still look forward to its blooming today! Go take a stroll around your garden and see what memories you can conjure up!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Thinking Green Again





As I walk around the shop my eye scampers from one scene to another, and I realize that it is following the path that "green" has laid out for it. Green has long been one of my favorite colors despite the fact that a fellow "painter" once took a look at the canvas I was working, and said "yuck - I hate green and that is all you have on there!" And it was.


Green for me has many different personalities. It can be tranquil, exciting, romantic, surly, vibrant, and almost always has a hint of sarcasm and wit about it. When you think about it, green is almost everywhere we look. It is one of nature's "neutral colors" - whatever that is supposed to mean. I guess it means it can go anywhere, and it often does. When you get right down to it, what doesn't harmonize with green? Almost every color known to man is seen in some flower or other. Green can serve as the background, or the accent color when you vision down on a scene. And it almost always calls out to the eye when we are "fast forwarding" through a space or a photo, or even a memory. And being the "in subject" not just for fashion and interior design only adds to its lure. Everyday there is a headline somewhere calling us to just "Think Green."

Monday, April 13, 2009

Time to Move On

This 3/50 Project has been in the spotlight now for over a week, and it is time to move on. You can read the Project post at any time by clicking the keyword 3/50 Project. We don't want to lose sight of such an important project and concept, but it is time for us to get moving here!

Reading Joni Webb's post the other day made me laugh out loud - cardiac arrest! In our house it is a standing joke - "cardiac arrest" is when someone gets so really crazy, silly for something that their heart stops dead in its tracks and just a gasp eeks out of their voicebox . Poor Joni - I can just picture her driving like a madwoman to beat the clock back home to get her checkbook. And then that return trip to Tara Shaw's to retrieve her chairs. It would make a great YouTube!

Well I must confess right here and now, that any ADD worth her salt goes into cardiac arrest at least five times a day, if not more. I get that very exact same feeling when I first walk into the library, a book store, an art supply store, oh good grief even Whole Foods! It starts with a slow acceleration of the breathing pace, then heightened awareness of sounds and colors, then the real hyperventilation begins. Will I have enough time, enough money, enough energy, enough mindspace to see it all, feel it all, read it all, hear it all, DO it all.

You see, I think there is a sub-set of the ADD diagnosis. It is ADD-OAD. That would be Attention Deficit Disorder - Overload and Ambitious Dreaming. Now tell the truth, can you visit a blog or open a cookbook without your mind starting to race at about 100 mph? I start with the pictures, run through the printed word at breakneck speed, then check for any personnal comments or hints - all the while my poor little brain is thinking - " I could do that - and then I could do this to it, and add that, and paint it this color, and use it for such and such, and then put it right in that place, and then and then and then." Get the idea? Just plain crazy cardiac arrest.

So today I am starting a new project! (Hmm, another one of those ADD-OAD symptoms is tons and tons of started projects that lead to other projects that lead to new projects until.....cardiac arrest again!) This one will be to make a schedule for daily adventures into the land of "visually pleasing blogs" so that I don't forget which ones I want to see. A big problem with blogs is that there is almost always a list of that blogger's personal favorites - and off we go again. I get lost and forget where I started. My backtrack key fails me at least five times a blog. Not good.

So here are some of the blogs that I will put on my list to get me going in the right direction and of course there is a list that is always up here so you can see where I am surfing most days.


My short list of "must see today" blogs includes:


1. Visual Vamp of course for it's excitement and just plain fun


2. Cote de Texas for Joni Webb's wonderfully entertaining and educational trips into Interior Design


3. All the Best for a glimpse into the internationally known places, events, and edge of the envelope design personalities


4. Tobi Fairley for a designer's perspective


5. Jo Emmert Interior Design because Jo is my friend who has a wonderful eye for color and design

Now these five blogs are certainly not in any particular order (for an ADD personality there is no such thing as specific order as far as I can tell) nor are they the only ones that will be on my list. But I have to start somewhere, so this is the basic 5 for today. I hope that you enjoy them and let us know what you would add - what are your favorite five that you just have to check in to evey day?