I spent a really wonderful few days in NYC last week, socializing like mad and soaking in my beloved old neighborhood. Bridge just moved 1 block away from my old Boerum Hill place, and it was amazing to see how the area has changed in three years! We ate a fantastic dinner at Char No. 4, and sucked down craft cocktails (virgin, in my case) at Clover Club while gobbling their amazing homemade chips. We also had a great girl’s night, and I spent a great afternoon with Grace—and even introduced her to the wonders of my beloved Trader Joe’s!

Before heading to LI for a family party, I spent much of drizzly Friday with the lovely Amy, who (among her many, many projects) works at Saipua, a gorgeous floral shop in Red Hook. Owner Sarah was kind enough to let me tag along for the morning, and since it was a busy day I got to help out with a bunch of small arrangements. All in all I did four tiny nosegays and four medium arrangements, all while reveling in the luxury of actually having my choice of flowers and filler to work with. Pretty different from my usual “stick a bunch of TJ’s tulips in a vase” approach! If only there were a wholesale flower market in Boston where the public was allowed to shop…

Anyway, in honor of the gorgeous spring sunshine that is finally shining down (my office smells like wet wood from the leaking window catastrophe of this flooded weekend), photos of pretty, pretty flowers:

Literal buckets of flowers to work with:

Two of my nosegays:

One of the medium arrangements:

The day’s work:

Amy made this totally amazing centerpiece (my nosegays were going to accompany it, in awe at their bigger sibling!). You can actually see where it started in the first photo of all the flowers in the shop–it’s built in that silver footed bowl with the floral foam in it! Excuse the iPhone pics.

Front:

Back:

So cool! For contrast, here’s my current home masterpiece, pretty in its own way but awfully simple!

I have to say, I’ve finally gotten fully on board with living in Boston (well, Cambridge!), and when I’m back in NY it feels really dirty and annoyingly difficult to get in and out of. But I sure miss the social side of my life there. I need to make a concerted effort to limit my hermit-like tendencies; I felt like a new person after a few days of seeing old and new friends and wandering around shops. I also have to say how thankful I am for the blog community, which has connected me with awesome people like Amy and Grace. It’s just really amazing to meet like-minded folk, especially those whose paths would never otherwise have crossed mine. It makes me schmoopy.

Ahem. Back to food someday soon. I have thrilling photos of nachos for you.