Celebrating Easter

"The rabbit of Easter. He bring of the chocolate."

(David Sedaris)

I hope everyone had a joyful holiday! I spent Easter Sunday at church, at home, and at Pizza & Brew for dinner. Below are some photos from last weekend.

Easter Sunday Service

 Our church choir sang a beautiful Easter Cantata along with instrumental accompaniment.

Salted Caramel Easter Popcorn

I made festive and flavorful Salted Caramel Easter Popcorn with Easter Pretzel M&Ms and Mini Robin Eggs candy. Mmm, sticky caramel corn!

Easter Egg Decorating

I prepared an Easter egg coloring kit to dye hard-boiled eggs. I think I have more fun with this than anyone else.

 

Thrill of the Easter Hunt

I organized an Easter egg hunt for my nephew Peter by scattering over a dozen chocolate- or sticker-filled plastic eggs and wind-up toys around my front yard. He found all of them, and ate a handful of candy. When I asked if he had fun, he answered, "Yes, it was delicious!"






Easter Hosta Growth

Quoting Martin Luther: "Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time." Peter witnessed new life emerging from the soil in the form of hosta plants. The first one was in the early shoot-sprouting stage -- he said it looked like asparagus; the second hosta had taller stalks, which reminded me of green onions; and the third was growing leaves. Peter also saw a bunny on the lawn, and after it hopped off, wanted to go find it.

Tomorrow marks the 2nd Sunday of Easter leading up to Pentecost. Happy Easter Season!

Wedding Floral Design

"Art is the unceasing effort to compete with the beauty of flowers -- and never succeeding."

(Gian Carlo Menotti)

They say April showers bring May flowers. It's Easter weekend and I see buds blooming all around, so I hope next month's flowers are just as pretty!

I had my floral appointment the night before my bachelorette party weekend, and being a lover of flowers -- and knowing how much they cost -- I arrived with ideas and photos, and my florist made good suggestions as well. As I shared in my "Say Yes to the Dress?" post last summer, I wanted rich pinks and purples alongside the fresh lightness of wedding-y whites. Speaking of "the dress": I had my one and only fitting appointment today, standing in place with heels on, in a dress that has about 100 layers... Enough said. (All images below from FiftyFlowers.com; actual flowers may not be the same shades as pictured.)

White, Ivory, and Champagne Flowers

White peony

White anemone

Gardenia

White hydrangea

White calla lily

White snapdragon

White sweetheart rose

Vendela rose

Champagne rose

Pink and Purple Flowers

Sahara rose (very faint peachy-beige pink)

Hot pink rose

Dark pink tulip

Purple rose

Dark purple tulip

Purple hydrangea

Purple iris

Flowers are God's beautiful creation and a gift to us in nature, yet very expensive when used for weddings and other special occasions! Because of my appreciation for flowers and our large bridal party, our floral budget accommodates all of the bouquets and pomanders (10), boutonnieres (11), corsages (4), ceremony arrangements (2), centerpieces (your guess is as good as mine right now), and some roses for the wedding cake. I had thought our tables were 66" rounds but it turns out we are getting 72" rounds so that cuts down on a couple of centerpieces.

Floral design is typically 8-10% of the total wedding cost, but there are practical and creative ways to stretch your budget. For example, our church will be kept very simple: altar sprays only, which will be repurposed at the reception; our cocktail tables will not have any flowers; and our sweetheart table will be decorated with my bouquet flanked by my bridesmaids' bouquets. Although I don't know if it would work logistically, I'm looking into donating the reception centerpieces to a nursing home or assisted living center to give our flowers a higher second calling and bring smiles to others.

Miami Bachelorette Weekend

"A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous."

(Coco Chanel)

I was lucky enough to escape to Miami's South Beach last weekend for an intimate bachelorette party with 4 of my classy and fabulous bridesmaids -- Angela, Christine, Leslie, and Maureen (my long-distance bridesmaids had scheduling conflicts) -- and I am so grateful for the quality time spent with them, although it went by much too quickly. Everything about the weekend was kept under wraps until we landed in Miami and were en route to our mystery hotel. While it all seemed like such an effortless blend of relaxation and activity, I found out it was thoughtfully orchestrated.

Bachelorette Highlights

{Friday, March 30}

Afternoon flight from NYC to Miami / Arrival at Lords South Beach / Dinner at Indomania / Drinks at Shore Club

{Saturday, March 31}

Breakfast on The Porch at Lords / Agua Spa at Delano South Beach / Delano Beach Club / Dinner at The Dining Room / Party at Mansion

{Sunday, April 1}

Breakfast on The Porch at Lords / Afternoon flight from Miami to NYC / Korean dinner in Queens

Lords South Beach

We stayed at Lords South Beach, an "appropriately oriented" (aka gay-friendly) boutique hotel on Collins Avenue. We had 3 rooms for 5 girls, and were given tote bags, colorful sunglasses, and 3 bottles of Absolut Vodka; we drank a tiny bit from one bottle and my friend brought the rest back to New York.

Hello, Mr. Beach Ball Polar Bear!

Colorful seating and table with "appropriately oriented" magazines

Loving all the sunflower yellow

Some of our cute room keys

My Cleopatra room

Indomania

The first evening, we had dinner at a wonderful Indonesian restaurant called Indomania. I had never tried Indonesian cuisine before, but I am now determined to find good Indonesian food in NYC. We ordered a smorgasbord of dishes called rijstaffels and everything was delicious.

Indomania menu

Variety for real food lovers

I'm a big fan of Cava (anything Spanish, really)

Skybar at Shore Club

After dinner, we awaited the arrival of one of our friends back at the hotel. Later, we went to Shore Club's Skybar for drinks and had a low-key night out sitting by the pools.

Mojitos at Shore Club

Me, Bridesmaid L, MOH M, Bridesmaid C, Bridesmaid A

Agua Spa at Delano South Beach

I think my favorite part of the weekend was the time we spent at Agua Spa on the Delano rooftop. The spa staff were so welcoming and professional, and we all had such a pampering experience. Ahhh...

Antioxidant drops for water

"Bright Lights" coral mani/pedi and my faux tan

Lounging with a mimosa post-massage

Delano Beach Club

The original plan was to have lunch at Joe's Stone Crab after the spa, but we were all so soothed and contented that we decided to relax on the beach and eat there. The timing worked out well because we were able to enjoy the sun before it rained mid-afternoon.

View from Agua rooftop

Refreshing watermelon rum cooler

Tasty quesadillas, coconut shrimp, fries, and mahi-mahi tacos

On the beach (Bridesmaid L, me, MOH M, Bridesmaid A, Bridesmaid C)

The Dining Room

The second evening, we had a lovely alfresco dinner at The Dining Room, a Washington Avenue bistro featuring local, sustainable ingredients. Everything was great: the food, the service, and the company, of course.

The Dining Room menu

Cobia grapefruit ceviche with sorbet, king crab salad

Branzino with lemon-mash potatoes, artichoke escabeche, oregano oil

Key lime tart, baked Patagonia, chocolate mousse

Mansion

After dinner, we went to Mansion, a nightclub conveniently located right around the corner from our hotel. I didn't wear particular paraphernalia, so it was more like a special girls' night out than an obvious bachelorette party. We had a table reservation and the best seat in the house for the endless array of Cirque du Soleil-esque performers, which was pure entertainment: female acrobats in pasties, bald tutu- and makeup-wearing men, giant robot-like dancers, and more.

Mansion marquee

Too much to drink

Moët & Chandon with strawberries

One of many unusual costumes

Miss Zebra and the ladies

Breakfast, or the Beginning of the End

The final morning, we woke up after not enough sleep at all, and had breakfast on The Porch of the hotel, where we had also gone the previous morning. I did not want to leave the warmth of South Beach, but what made it worse was that we returned to cold, rainy weather in New York.

Cha Cha Rooster menu

Apple pancakes

Now some details of the weekend will remain private, but there you have my last trip and final hurrah as a single girl, and I could not have imagined a better bachelorette party!

Q & A a Day: Five-Year Journal

"This beautifully embellished journal lets you record thoughts, feelings, and events in your life over five years. Filled with prompts that are at turn provocative (How happy are you?), quirky (What can you smell right now?), and always interesting, it serves as a great way to look back in time and remember."

(Anthropologie.com)

Q & A a day: Five-Year Journal (Image: Amazon.com)

Not long ago I came across the Q & A a Day: Five-Year Journal at the White Plains Barnes & Noble. Each day of the year has a question or prompt, and below is space for 5 years of considerations. I was intrigued, but didn't buy it; then ended up ordering it from Amazon.com within a couple of weeks.

My first journal entry was on Tuesday, March 20: the first day of spring, the first day of journal. So far I've only written in it 3 times but I already look forward to writing more. I can't help skipping ahead to future dates to see what the headings will be, and I know I will actually want to keep this for the future. How different will my life be 1, 2, 3, or 4 years from today? And looking back, what was I thinking exactly 1, 2, 3, or 4 years ago?

I have never been a dedicated journal-writer, and have not kept any kind of journal or diary in years. I didn’t see the point of holding on to one, since I rarely recorded anything truly interesting, memorable, or juicy, and I lacked the desire to re-read anything I had written. Journals just have not been my thing.

But I love this one! You would enjoy it as well, if: 1) you're in the same boat as me, 2) you'd like to journal but just don't have the time or motivation, or 3) you keep a regular journal but want a fun supplement. I highly recommend it, and it makes a great gift, too.

I'm excited to have lingering thoughts!

Guest Post: BluePrintCleanse

I'm happy to present the first guest post on Red Poppy | Pink Peony! If you have ever considered doing one of today's popular juice cleanses, I hope the diary below is helpful in providing a glimpse into an individual experience. I have personally tried BluePrintCleanse and Cooler Cleanse in the past and can recommend both, although I don't think cleanses are necessary. This is my friend's first juice cleanse, and she is currently on BPC Day 1 of 3. If you have any questions for either of us, please ask in the comments, or let us know of your own experiences.

Image: BluePrintCleanse

Pre-BPC

Pardon in advance, my rambling. I suspect there will be a lot of angst or abnormal emotions/descriptions flying around this interweb, so apologies in advance for that also. I personally love juices and the concept of anything "fresh" (from having taken wheatgrass shots at the Westerly organic market while living in NYC), so I'm excited to do this. Plus, mid-March is the perfect timing for a post-hibernation detox. The first thing that everyone at my office asks me is, "But why? And why do you need to lose weight?" I tell them, it's more for detox, especially since I've been drinking sodas and eating "butter" popcorn at least 3 days out of the work week, for the past 4 months. Not good, and I definitely have noticed it in the changing texture of my skin (i.e. cellulite -- and don't even try to tell me, "What cellulite!").

Friday AM -- BPC Day 1

Where the eff is my delivery? I blocked off 3 hours that morning so I could welcome my numbered goodies and be off to work. But apparently there was a delivery delay and the bottles didn't arrive until 11 AM. Secretly, I was feeling a slight level of excitement and anxiety in having to deal with my 3-day "monster" so I immediately justified that it was OK to start on Saturday. :-)

During Friday, I tried to be good about eating vegetables, and minimizing my heavy carb and fried food intakes (these 2 frienemies being the bane of my existence).

Friday food diary:

• Korean breakfast (my usual): Bean rice, geem roasted seaweed/laver, and dwenjang jjigae, an umami-potent, piping hot and stinky tofu-based casserole. Yes, I brush my teeth after eating this and before stepping foot outside of my home. This breakfast in itself is actually relatively healthy compared to the typical American breakfast of eggs, bacon/sausage, and toast or bagel. It's also sodium-laden in comparison, so I imagine the next 3 mornings will be fairly challenging in this regard.
• Lunch: My NYC colleague was in town and asked me to go to the Korean "salad bar by the pound" -- aka bacteria bar -- deli across the street. So we went and I got a full lunch, made up of greens + feta, 2 sushi pieces, Brussels sprouts, Chinese fried pork cutlet (OK, shoot me), broccoli doused with Chinese Szechuan-y sauce. Hey, it's real food and not McD's, right?
• Snacks: I have a box of Kind nut/fruit bars in my office, so I had 2. If you buy them by the box at Whole Foods, they give you a 10% discount, and it's convenient to keep them around behind my desk.
• Evening: OK, I gave in here. Around 5 PM, the head of my department basically went berserk (he has an anger management problem) and threw a bunch of papers at me. Apparently he does this to others, so it's obviously not directed solely at me but again, he has an anger management problem. I think some of this got to me and I needed to "de-stress" by doing 2 important this: 1) shopping, and 2) having something yum yum in my tum. I was on a time crunch to make it to the Leesburg Outlet (which is the sister outlet to Woodbury), and it's 60 minutes away from downtown, so I decided to pick up something en route. Saw a new "green-looking" food shop on the way and decided to pick up a turkey & melted Swiss sandwich + frozen yogurt with pecans and strawberry for some sweet ooomph. In all facetiousness, I credit my friend SK {Sharon here: That's me!} for instilling this life value since the mid-2000s: "I like to finish off my meals with something sweet." Well, I CAN'T SEEM TO LOSE THAT RELIGION. The turkey was coldcut turkey (i.e. not fresh meat) and I felt guilty eating the Swiss before the cleanse, also because my NYC colleague was saying I should not be consuming any cheese beforehand.
• Throughout the day, I would estimate having had 4-5 cups of tea (combination of my Asian/green tea, lemon zinger tea from the office, and no pure water which I will admit is a shoddy habit). Also had a cup of chai tea latte (can you see me doing a Mexican jumping bean from the sugar overload?).

Saturday -- The Real BPC Day 1

It's 2:30 PM and I'm currently going through juice #3. The juices themselves don't taste bad. My biggest challenges thus far are: a) having to constantly drink a lot of liquid (if you recall my Friday liquid intake, it's not much) -- the drinking feels forced and not natural, precisely due to my daily habit of not drinking much; and b) there's always the lingering aromas of fantastically-seasoned and well-executed Korean food in my house. In the morning, the Korean breakfast dependably greets me at the kitchen table. Same thing with the evening time, should I decide not to eat out. This morning, I snuck a peek at a Korean casserole pot (conceptually-speaking, I don't think it's far from the Moroccan Tagine idea). Wonderfully-prepared mackerel fish, braised alongside Korean turnip/radish, was literally calling my name. I admit I almost went for it, but slapped myself back in line.

It's also a weird feeling, as a few years ago, when this type of food wasn't as "in my face" so it was never an issue -- in other words, I actually don't get hungry or think about food if I'm not usually surrounded by it.

3.5 more juices to finish -- this is a true job! I'm already looking forward to the reward of juice #6, the cashew/vanilla bean/cinnamon/coconut juice.

To be continued...