Thankgiving 2011 and last minute floral arrangements!

While last year I was ready for Thanksgiving a week before, this year was a bit different. I thought about it several weeks ahead, but as you well know, thinking and doing are very different things. Especially because I was all about azure blue and copper and frankly, there was little in the azure blue table linen category to choose from and I wasn't about to learn how to sew. I was not the least bit interested in stressing over it so my sister and I went with what we had at our easy disposal: Her beautiful china and a navy blue damask table cloth. Her cherry wood table and buffet were just right for the coppery tones too. Done! Sort of.

I went to see my floral therapist Justin at Findlay Market in Cincinnati on Wednesday. We agreed to use coppery yellow mums, antique hydrangea, some kind of purplish leafy stuff and thistles in the floral arrangement. I nervously went home, wondering what kind of magic I would have to use to transform this group of flowers into the beautiful arrangement he envisioned. My original plan was to use 3 low glass bowls and fill them with flowers but they were at Alex's and I was too anxious to get started to wait for her to come home and give them to me. I pulled out one of my crystal bowls with a tarnishing silver base (tarnished not because I'm lazy, but because I the slightly subdued silver feels less fussy) and started filling the bowl. I did have a moment of inspiration when I saw that the pears ripening in our fruit bowl were the perfect color pair for those mums! Of course I did not have a floral frog because I'd thrown it out after it poked my finger for the last time last summer. And the scrap of chicken wire was not big enough to support the weight of the pears which had been stuck with skewers. I grabbed an osage orange from my expiring Halloween mantle design and stuck it into the bowl. While not perfect, it was a quick fix that worked fine and at least didn't require another trip to Michaels, a place I frequent only on the days the 40% off coupons are invalid. After about a half hour, I was pleased with the final results of the bouquet. My sister Alex confirmed the floral success (the little sister in me still needs this approval, even at 40!) and I have to agree that it did look really lovely on the navy table linens.

Here are a few pictures from the day. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and beautiful flowers too! Maybe next year will be less spur-of-the-moment but we'll see. Procrastination is so rewarding for me half the time that I really don't see the need to plan too far ahead. :o)