My 23rd Birthday Under the Sea: Flowers

First, I'd like to thank the people of Portland's Fremont neighborhood for their fantastic gardening skills. Because with out them, the table arrangements would not have been possible. hey hey hey - don't judge. The rule was 'do no harm' so we only took 3 or 4 flowers from any one yard, only so much that no one would notice they were missing. And all the sweetpeas were from a parking lot, and the bachelor buttons were wild, so those don't even count. It's not like someone woke up to their yard looking like a nuclear winter.

Lily, my sister, drove the get away vehicle [picture 3: backseat full of flowers] and she said "I'm glad we didn't grow up with a lot of money sometimes. It made us very resourceful." It's true.

The fuchsia sweetpeas, blue bachelor buttons, and periwinkle hydrangeas were perfect for the Under the Sea color scheme. I like the way the found-flowers look easy and natural, like summer backyard parties, rather than stuffy. My birthday present from my dad [picture 2 and 4] also worked nicely. It's a poster from the Oregon Coast Aquarium that we have hanging in our family room at home. If you look closely you can see it's a male seahorse shooting out live, fully formed, baby seahorses and I just get a kick out of it. My dad found my very own by tracking down the artist in rural Oregon, making it extra special.

Tune in tomorrow to see what we served for dinner {and don't worry I didn't rob someone's chickencoop or something}!