For me, it starts with food, flowers and getting a bit more organized. Like many people, we take it easy during the summer. A memorable vacation (two this year: one to Italy and one to Florida), lots of al fresco dining and, in general, enjoying some much-needed down time.

Fall, however, inspires me to take stock of our home and garden and think about spiffing things up. Now that the cake contest is behind me (full report to come, I promise), I can concentrate on transitioning to one of my favorite seasons.

To get into the right frame of mind, I visited my local nirvana today: Emily Joubert Home & Garden. The amazingly talented Kim created the stunning floral arrangement above and I couldn’t wait to get home and start brainstorming fall menus and party ideas. Some people consult books and magazines, I confer with my style gurus at Emily Joubert.

As luck would have it, they had just unpacked something I’ve been coveting for about a year: a simple, elegant red wine decanter (below).

I bought the white wine version last year and hoped they would re-order so we could have a matching set. Aren’t they gorgeous? Hurry and get yours before they sell out again!

Next, I began playing with a table arrangement.

This inspired me to start thinking about fall menus with red, green and dark purple things: tomatoes (finally ripening in our garden!), apples (also ripe), figs (in the stores) and grapes (versatile). I’m thinking about a dressing up a classic marinara with a little extra onion and some Italian sausage and creating a salad that combines figs, apples, argula and possibly some walnuts and chevre. What do you think?

We visited Crate & Barrel after dinner at the Yard House to see about replacing our old classic-style pasta bowls (having broken our way down to three). After looking at an updated version of the over-sized, indented ones you see at many restaurants, I decided I wanted something a bit more modern to compliment our flat white dishes (which have no indents). So I selected the plain, wide ones shown above. I knew I had bigger ones for soups and stews and I thought these would be a smaller, pasta-oriented size.

Guess what? They are EXACTLY the same ones we already have! So they are going back to the store this weekend. What can I possibly get as a birthday gift instead? If you have any ideas, please let me know!

One last look before I head to the store to get dinner ingredients!

If you want to throw a similar shower and need help or advice, please contact me!

I have about two more days of photos and details to post – stay tuned!

Have a great weekend!

I laid them out on the floor (labels up), starting with a cross, then adding ties on the diagonal until all the space was filled. I next took invisible nylon thread and punched all the way down the center intersection, then came back up (leaving two open ends at the top).

Next, I tied the centerpoint of the bundle to the arbor (note that the nylon thread length was at least several feet and that the labels were facing up). Then, my dad threaded needles with 3-foot lengths of nylon thread (un-knotted) and I pierced the thick or thin end of each tie and tied them to the arbor.

In order to create a balanced composition, I tied up one end then moved 90 degrees opposite. I kept moving around until all tie ends were secured. Finally, we hung the glass candleholders with brown grossgrain ribbon (7 total) and added tea lights and a bit of water. C’est tout!

P.S. If you missed the party preview photos, please see yesterday’s post. If you are interested in having this tie chandelier for your own party, please leave me a comment. I’m planning to give it away on Friday!

I had seen the most charming wedding video EVER at http://www.ashleymeaders.com/#541861/flashdance (seriously, watch it and tell me if you agree) and LOVED the fabric-strip canopy made by the very talented Ashley Meaders (http://www.ashleymeaders.com). It was a little too last minute to enlist her help with my event, but I asked if she’d mind my doing a male-centric knock-off of the canopy idea (she was cool with it, yeah!).

And so, the ‘tie one on’ chandelier was conceived. The rest of the party kind of fell into place after that.

Here is a brief photo preview to start the week. Tune in tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday for a closer look at the details (how to make the chandelier, the decor, the food, etc). I’m thinking about giving away the tie chandler on Friday… would any of you be interested in winning it? If so, please leave me a comment. FYI, the glorious (!) flower arrangements are again by Emily Joubert Home & Garden (http://www.emilyjoubert.com) and the cake trio is by Sugar Butter Flour (http://www.sugarbutterflower.com).

– red wine sangria
– bobby flay’s white peach sangria

– salsa duo | guacamole
– spicy fruit skewers
– herbed salads with dijon-white balsamic vinaigrette*
– strawberries with basil leaves and black pepper
– cream cheese/black cherry jam* on Pugliese bread
– key lime ceviche
– feta squares with olive tapenade and housemade preserved lemon
– roasted potatoes with white truffle salt*
– black mission fig/kalamata olive tapenade
– lamb meatballs with cilantro pesto
– grilled pineapple with creamy blue cheese and pancetta
– chevre with muscat grapes and fresh thyme on demi miche bread

– raspberry sorbets with sugared rose petals*
– Tahitian vanilla bean custards with fresh mango and mango puree
– gratineed grapefruits
– fennel pots de creme with orange flower water*
– Laurel’s carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

P.S. I had a last minute inspiration to use the wine bottles leftover from making the sangria as menu card holders… see below.

What do you think? Still to come: the music, the menu, etc..

Let the season of giving begin!

kathy

P.S. If you want to view the article, please visit http://dirtandsunshine.com/about-the-author.html and click on the link to the SCENE article; FYI, the PDF file is BIG so it might take a minute or two to load!