Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be about romance…spend time with the people, places and activities you love this Valentine’s and bring some joy to your heart!
LOVE + ART + FLOWERS - Continued
happiness clusters
It’s just about time to cuddle indoors, and saturate our homes with the aroma of savory late-fall recipes. Especially around this time of year, midwesterners tend to be very aware of how shifting temperatures transform our indoor and outdoor spaces. Weather-triggered memories remind us of common recurring joys and struggles that come bundled with the seasonal changes. No matter how different we may be from our neighbors, weather is one locally shared challenge in our daily midwestern lives. We have an instilled awareness of the harsh realities and unexpected obstacles that remain unavoidable unless a strategic location change is incorporated. I’ve never met a fellow Chicagoan that was excited to say hello to their winter coat, and goodbye to outdoor fun in the sun. Mourning summer’s warmth as it slips away seems to come along with living in Chicago, but at the same time, if seasonal pain points were subtracted from the annual cycle, some of us would secretly miss them.
Choosing to remain residents in this region, through all 4 seasons, year after year has inevitably forced midwesterners to be tuned into the calendar’s full range of messy weather details. It’s hard out there for a plant living in USDA Hardiness Zone 5. Birth, growth, flower, death, seed, repeat. Much like parents raising children, growers experience many joyous joys and painful pains while nurturing seedlings to build the strength necessary to successfully withstand the fierce ups and downs of plentiful seasonal stresses. From the majestic mature trees that stand taller than our homes, to the most modest petite hidden spring blooms, our plants become important family members. Together we grow, flourish, protect, experience hardship, find maturity, make babies, fight through storms, and eventually become weathered, and too tired to continue standing.
Dealing with a vast range of seasonal changes is valuable training for both humans and plants. We learn to prepare for hardship, and not be defeated by challenging surprises along the way. These learning experiences enable helpful foresight. A bank full of impactful good and bad memories is a useful resource to tap into. The negative memories remind us of past damages, help to inspire better decision making, and remind us to brace for upcoming bumps in the road. On the opposite end, the positive memories we keep alive prolong the glow that lives in the aftermath of our joyous experiences. They are the spark that ignites burning excitement for future possibilities.
When we look for advice, knowledge, comfort, and inspiration we tend to look to other humans (or spiritual beings shaped like humans) to see what we can borrow or learn from to help us shape our own choices. That makes total sense! BUT, rather than looking for man-made solutions, what if next time you look to nature instead? I’m almost certain there are no plants that have the ability to chat, preach, write books, or maintain social media accounts. All species tend to be humbly quiet, but regardless of their silence, plants still pass along much wisdom for free, and expect nothing in return. If you are capable of observation then you probably already noticed how freakishly smart plants are. Beauty, strategery, strength, teamwork, brilliance: these are just a small handful of the miraculous assets that make plant life totally worth observing.
Unfortunately as the weather becomes more painful, we tend to spend the majority of our free time under a roof, in the presence of a couch, with multiple screens, and a mandatory accessible internet connection. Socializing is done online, peer interaction happens from a distance, media is shared digitally, exploration only exists virtually. Is this really more desirable than breathing fresh air, and experiencing life multi-dimensionally? We have the freedom to roam with exploratory wonder far away from tedious tasks and haunting piles of adult obligations. Taking a break to escape daunting monotony is a necessity that I personally need to incorporate more often. As a tree-hugger who is prone to anxiety, I try to partake and include anyone who will join me in any kind of outside activity, daily, no matter what the weather’s like. Digging in the thawing spring dirt, soaking up warm summer sun, jumping in the fallen autumn leaves, shoveling piles of winter snow… no matter what the circumstances, there’s always something to appreciate in nature every time we go outside.
Often I find myself hunting for new inspiration, and for now that process involves putting forth active effort to not end up doing chores while simply walking outside with my eyes open, looking for cool things that are alive. Collecting souvenirs along the way helps me remember intrigue, continue the celebration, and sprinkle our indoor surroundings with some of nature’s magic. Similar to how floral centerpieces create a focal point of beauty for dining wedding guests, collected treasures from nature adventures become happiness clusters around our house. The harder it becomes to forget the to-do list and find creative fun hiding among the cold winter grayness, the more pop-up splashes I install in dark corners & on empty tables in our house… because, why not? Currently, it seems to help, and for that and much more, I’m incredibly thankful.
My obsession with collecting simple pleasures that I cross paths with in nature, and plucking pieces from the scene of a moment worth remembering to create happiness clusters around the house has led me to think deeper about my content choices… Yes, memories are cool, but maybe I should consider the future more rather than looking back on the past. Can moods be altered by the presence of certain flower species? And if so, it’s time for a new hunt!
To be continued :)
LOVE + ART + FLOWERS In Photos
LOVE + ART + FLOWERS
PART 1
On the last day of July under the golden light of a ripe summer sun setting, I had the honor of witnessing my little sister become the wife of a wonderful man. Being as lovely and chill as they both are, Julia & Scott stayed true to their characters when it came to planning. They both had zero interest in turning their special day into an uncomfortable social production with assigned seating. I wouldn’t expect to see either of them happy about being on stage. Registering for gifts probably didn’t even cross their minds, and anything wandering too far into the realm of expensive, formal, or structured would probably make them both run the opposite direction. Instead, they thoughtfully found their own wedding-plan path, and stayed faithful to their desire to let love lead the way.
As the post-proposal/pre-wedding months passed by, I tried to communicate my enthusiasm and willingness to assist, but also noticed the need to not let my own bursting excitement, ideas, and worries bombard their process. It’s never fun when the opinions and needs of others get so loud that they overshadow, even steal the joy from those who deserve it. As a big sister, I’ve found that sometimes collecting the right combination of initiative + refrain + sensitivity + candor to bring to the table when a little sister is facing a challenge can be delicately difficult. Empathy is unignorable, but the reaction should be somewhere between how a peer & a parent would react… not always easy to pull off when emotions are involved.
Anyway, I imagined the process of deciding to hire or not hire an event planner, invitation designer, dress maker, decorator, photographer, chef, florist… was probably uncomfortable & frustrating for my sister. We were born with a creative chip already installed, raised with our hands always dirty, and taught to thoughtfully make use of our resources and talents rather than be helpless, wasteful, lazy or emanding. That being said, finding the right person to put in charge of creative details when you can't make yourself stop being in charge of creative details is tough, probably impossible. In addition, covid curveballs added plentiful challenges when it came to hiring professionals in general as many businesses were closed, booked, overpriced, operating with less staff or supplies… Heck! Reaching a responsive working human still remains challenging. For these reasons most of the wedding details were taken care of by Julia herself… from illustrating the invites by hand all the way to frosting her own wedding cake in her kitchen, still wearing no makeup and overalls until about 30 min before the wedding… and I have to say, she deserves multiple standing ovations for all her efforts. My goal was to continuously verbalize the positives and point out all her solid awesomeness with hopes that she wouldn't lose a drop of the confidence she should be oozing. She deserves to doubt nothing and enjoy so much more.
A month or 2 before the wedding, Julia casually asked friends & family to share any blooms they grew that were blooming near the end of July because she was hoping to make bouquets & arrangements with a collection of home grown & handpicked local flowers. I thought this was such a fantastic idea! And actually, I had a feeling this may be the case considering the friendly and inclusive tendencies, as well as the expensive difficulties that came along with trying to get anything shipped on time throughout the pandemic. Plus, collecting homegrown florals shared by loved ones seemed so much more appealing than shopping online at high cost. A season before Julia actually made that call, my daughter & I started our seeds with Julia’s wedding in mind. We planted many beautiful possibilities with hopes the results would be blooming just in time for July 30th. While many of our seedlings did turn into plants that eventually sprouted an array of flowers, I was kinda bummed (but also not surprised) that none of them were on board with being in sync with the wedding schedule.
I did however notice that our perennial lavender plants were on board with timing so I was happy to chop & contribute all the fragrant bits of purple loveliness I could gather. I also visited my aunt Gloria who is an expert grower with a jaw-dropping yard full of lush happy plantlife year after year. She was thrilled to suggest and contribute her gigantic white hydrangea blooms. We clipped & gathered a couple buckets full, then went looking for a splash of color to our collection. We took a walk down her forest lined block and found many wild sunflowers bursting from the forest’s shade into the sunshine intersecting with our path. This was perfect considering Julia’s flower theme goal focused on sunflowers!
The morning of the wedding my daughter and I were excited to haul our pickings to the venue, and we couldn't wait to help with decor on-site. We finally got to see in person the fantastic site Julia & Scott collectively chose for their event: the top floor and roof deck of the Dank Haus, a lovely historic stone structure on the corner of Lawrence & Western. Upon arrival I noticed that Julia, along with our sister Gina, and Julia’s bestie Claire, had done an impressive amount of prep already including the arrangements for each dining table. They were all unique & fascinating! Each was in a different vase that we contributed from our homes or Julia collected beforehand, and the flowers were beautiful, individual combinations of color and personality, all of which reminded me of my sister’s joyous personality. Crocheted doilies and vintage lace topped with little nicknacks, antique glassware, playing cards, fairy lights & framed photos of Murphy all provided the finishing touches surrounding each arrangement.
I later found out that Julia did collect some of the blooms from friends & fam, but mainly leaned on the bundles she purchased from Kennicott Chicago. Her selection included sunflowers, dahlias and a couple other radiant species that were too hard to grow on time in our midwest flowerpots. The table arrangements she curated at home beforehand, and she made sure to pull 1 of each kind of flower from the collection to make her own bouquet. She also hand picked & crafted everyone’s corsages & boutonnieres herself too. I couldn’t have been more in awe of the beauty, heartfelt charm, & thoughtfulness that went into the artistically handled floral decor. Her conscientious effort and creative personal touch left us all imprinted with cheerful and unforgettable visual memories. The whole vibe of their celebration was accurately saturated with Julia & Scott’s wonderfully warm energy powerful enough to make a muscular stone structure feel like it was beaming with sunshine… the perfect setting for 2 genuine souls to unite!
….Fast forwarding to the present.
About 3 months after the lovebirds solidified their bond, we were recently blessed with a small-scale floral encore performance in our backyard that actually just ended… The plants my daughter & I had started with hopeful wedding contribution thoughts in mind, finally burst into bloom as the summer ended, and the last bits of color are just about done making their appearance. The end of the growing season is upon us. Celebrations come to an end. Flowers eventually wilt and die. Years will never stop passing, but experiences thrive in our memories, and can live forever if we share them with our youth. Ideas planted in a curious mind produce beautiful blooms that can brighten a lifetime just like the seeds that grow in our gardens transforming into flowers throughout the season. With a little nourishment and support, good things DO grow.
