This Mothers Day was the best EVER. Maybe it’s because they’re older now.  They’re I LOVE YOU’s and hugs & kisses mean more now than ever.

Church on Sunday morning, BBQ lunch at Grandma’s house, then a last minute overnight trip to Seattle with Daddy & my loves, and a fun train ride home!

Being a Mom is the best gift EVER.

Just wanted to share some pictures of our pretty little Mothers Day Pop Up Shop this year! I snapped these pictures while we were setting up this morning.  Come visit us today and tomorrow at Stomping Ground Coffee House from 10am – 6pm and buy Mom some gorgeous flowers!

My sweet little helper Olivia. Ugh, love her so much!

Lindsay of Paper Bloom dropped of some super cute Mothers Day greeting cards to go along with your arrangement for Mom!

We have lots of super gorgeous potted succulents that make a great gift and will last for months after the holiday has passed!

So exciting to be kicking off the 2012 wedding season with a pretty new website, logo and lots of beautiful weddings coming up!

A very sincere, from.the.bottom.of.my.heart. THANK YOU to Lindsay of Paper Bloom Studio and Steph Anne of Yellow & Savvy Design for helping make this new website a reality for me!  I’m so excited to use the new blog to share more sneak peeks of weddings, and little pieces of my heart with all my readers.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite shots from a recent wedding inspiration shoot.

Photo by Sara Gray Photography.

Brunch Wedding Inspiration Shoot | Sara Gray Photography

I have been challenged.  I was tagged by my flower friend Amy of botanical brouhaha in THIS post, and asked to answer the following questions about myself.  I gladly took her up on this, as I feel it’s important for my readers to get to know me a little better!  I have to be honest and tell you that I’m bending the rules a little bit because I’m not exactly following all the rules… But I’ll gladly share a bit of myself with you all anyways. Here it goes!

1. Who would you say has had the most influence on your life?
I’d have to say, my Mom.  She was a mother of 6, always loving, and ALWAYS strong.  She lost her battle with cancer 11 years ago and life hasn’t been the same since. I want to be just like HER when I grow up. :)  A mother that will never be forgotten. She filled her children with all that is good, and taught us to love God, and respect others! I hope that one day my kids will have only good things to say about me and have amazing memories to hold onto when I’m gone!


2. Why do you blog?
I blog because a) I currently use my blog as my main website, and b) because I like constantly having fresh content on my blog/site for my readers to enjoy!  My blog posts not only display my most recent work, but give the readers a taste of my personality though my writing!


3. Which do you prefer: beach or mountain?
Beach!  Preferably somewhere tropical!


4. Name a flower you dislike.
I really dislike spider mums. The typical spikey ones… Working mostly on wedding floral designs, I just find that they’re too rough looking and flower-shop-esque for my design style!  I prefer more lush, fluffy, romantic flowers! (i.e. hydrangea)


5. Name your favorite movie.
I just say The Vow with the girls in my family. Loved. It.


6. If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?
Ok, here we go getting personal!  The one thing I would change is my husbands work schedule.  We have been very blessed with his job and are very thankful for his position, but being that he has been with the company less than a year, he got the short end of the stick when it came to days off.  We are embracing it though, and are enjoying our “weekends” in the middle of the week! :)  The malls, play places, and freeways are empty! It’s a good think our kids aren’t in school yet!


7. What is your favorite trend from your lifetime (so far!)?
I’m not a super trendy person, so I can’t say that I’ve really jumped on any trend bandwagons… But I have to say that TOMS are the best thing to ever happen to my feet! I just got my first pair for my birthday last year, [black glittery ones!] and asked for [and received] grey canvas ones for Christmas! They can be dressy or casual… love them!


8. Do you dance?
I have awesome dance parties with my kids in our living room every once in a while… And I tried a hip-hop work out class at the gym once. Keyword: once. So no, I don’t dance!


9. Who’s your favorite band?
I don’t have a favorite band. Is that lame? I don’t even really have a favorite genre of music either!  But I have favorite songs. They’re usually tied to a special memory of a person or time in my life. Or they speak to my heart during a difficult time in life.  Music has always a huge part of my life.  Also another thing you probably don’t know about me… I’ve played the piano since I was 5, played the violin for about 6 years, and have been involved with worship team and youth choirs at my church for all of my teenage years, up until I had my second child!


10. Name one thing you hope to accomplish in your life.
I am really looking forward to that day when my kids are all grown up and have families of their own.  I hope that I can be the best mother to them… set them up to make good choices in life, feel confident in who they are, find true love and happiness, and love the Lord with all their hearts!  They will be my greatest accomplishment above all other things!  But until then, I’ll just keep working on getting my 4 year old ready for kindergarten this fall, and my 3 year old to stop pretending she is a kitten! :)


11. What inspires you?
I am inspired by God’s creation.  I love flowers.  But when I stop to think about where they came from, and how much thought our Creator put into each variety, color, shape, petal, etc… It’s truly inspiring!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse into my heart and my life!  I’m so thankful for you all who take the time to actually READ my blog posts.  I’m sometimes guilty of “reading” blogs by just scrolling through and looking through photos, but when you really take the time to slow down and read each work, you learn a little bit more about the author!  Thanks for stopping by today and have a great week!!

I love the Holidays – from Thanksgiving Dinner, all of the Christmas celebrations and of course ringing in the New Year.  I love decorating, eating, spending time with family, and eating some more!  And now that my two babies are a little older [ok FINE, they're not babies anymore... I'll let go... Aaron is 4 1/2 & Olivia is 3 1/2] all of these wonderful celebrations are even more special, meaningful & magical. This year they helped select, cut down & decorate our tree, and they’re really starting to understand the true meaning of Christmas.  We even split up into teams [boys with boys & girls with girls] to buy gifts for each other, secretly wrap them and hide them under the tree!

[ Paper Bloom Studio | Diana Marie Photography ]

From Fleur:ology, and my little family to yours, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas… Whatever it is that you celebrate, I hope that you have joy, peace and love in your heart, and are surrounded by the ones you love most!

This past week, I had some fun designing a few floral pieces for the company holiday party for an architecture firm here in Portland [BOORA]. You can read the post about the designs I made for them last year HERE.

I created a few small arrangements using white hydrangea and succulents. The vessels were wrapped in rough burlap and tied with coordinating blue twine for a bit of a rustic feel.

I also wrapped a few potted succulents in the same burlap and some natural twine. These were great because the guests could take the plants home at the end of the evening and keep them forever! [Can you tell I have a thing for succulents lately??  I just LOVE THEM!!]

I also designed a few larger for their buffet and entrance tables.  White hydrangea and beautiful cedar for a more festive look. These sat atop glass cylinder vases and kind of looked like they were floating in mid air – love how they turned out!