* Chic Provence *

01 August 2011

A Joyful & Creative Rehearsal Dinner!

Well we did it! The rehearsal dinner in our back yard was great fun! With the renovation of the pool and the surrounding decking completed a mere two days before, colorful tables were set with provençal stripes, the sun was just setting behind the wisteria arbor, the tinkling of glasses and classical jazz wafting from the new {boy toy alert!} Sonor wireless speaker system across the pool all created a magical atmosphere. We invited all guests to paint a personal motif of wedding wishes for Lisa and Steven... and a joyfully creative wall of original art appeared as our evening progressed, much to the delight of all.

guests from far and wide gamely

painted their wedding wishes on our wall

Lisa, a radiant bride-to-be... love the dress, love the

way Steven looks at her!

wishes in Vietnamese & French

those Basque stripe cloths adorn the drinks table

the bride and her bi-coastal fathers rehearse the

walk down towards to ceremony

the bride's sisters Julia adds her special message

***

the very delicious menu

Grilled Shrimp & Grits

Skillet Buttermilk Corn Bread

Grilled Cedar Plank Salmon with Lemon Aoili

Grilled Flank Steak with Chimchurri

Braised Smoky Collard Greens

Blackeyed Pea and Arugula Salad

Peach Cobbler with Candied Ginger & Pecans

Champagne

***

thanks for visiting! Kit

23 July 2011

Wish. Me. Luck. :)

This week could hardly be more complicated... or exciting! Next Saturday is my daughter Lisa's wedding! And Friday, the rehearsal dinner is chez nous, in the garden. If you read my last post, you know that the pool failed a few weeks ago, which triggered a complete re-do of the entire backyard. Here we are six days out, and it looks like this:

I thought the guys left their things arranged very

nicely into a kind of "Still Life with Mortar" arrangement!

once not too long ago this was my little

"potager", or kitchen garden, planted with

herbs such as chocolate mint and lemongrass!

But we must keep a sense of wonder and humor about all this... what else can we do? At least the garden, traumatized though it is as it watches the horrors unfold before it's very eyes, is obliging with blooms in spite of being covered with stone dust and being trampled by large boots!

the dahlias are darling

the fuchsia is flourishing

the wisteria is waiting

the montbrescia is marvelous

(if a little dusty!)

I'll certainly be very busy for a few more days now... and will post beautiful photos after the miraculous transformation is completed!

***

thanks for visiting!... Kit

11 July 2011

Breathlessly Catching Up

When your only daughter decides in May that she is getting married in July, even if the wedding is small and in a friend's backyard, it has a way of taking over your life! We are very lucky that she is an event planner and a brilliant caterer and is marrying her business partner! We are of course thrilled for Lisa and Steven and were ecstatic when he proposed to her in Provence this spring!

Of great importance for us Femmes d'un Certain Age is finding the right dress to wear to. And that, dear readers, is no easy task, requiring shopping, fretting, sleepless nights and searching for perfect combination of fit, flatter, fabulous & feasible while striking just the correct note of not trying too hard and certainly letting the beautiful bride be the star of her day.

So...the wedding, along with a huge new client project, a road trip to Portland, Oregon over the 4th (fun!) and a fatal leak in our swimming pool (we are hosting the backyard rehearsal dinner) have kept me very busy and quite distracted from my beloved blogging. I should have been pruning roses and sighing over bridal gowns and tablescape colors! Instead, there is mud everywhere I look and I am working 12 hours a day:)

I am quite certain I now have your complete sympathy!

So yesterday I found the perfect dress. Exhale! I slept soundly last night, knowing all is well! Here's a little peek at the wonderful shop where we... bride, mother of bride and mother of groom... all had a delightful time shopping on a rare sunny summer day in San Francisco!

And today the amazing guys are replacing all the swimming pool plumbing, while we dither over bluestone, grass or a combination to replace the deck around the pool.

And the huge interior design project is blissfully, beautifully nearly finished.

We just might pull this off! Stay tuned!

the ceiling of the dress shop is decorated

with these beautiful Chinese silk parasols;

I love the way they look like floating

jellyfish over your head!

the gorgeous dress! now all I

need to find are nude colored

patent leather shoes to complete

the look

what do you think?

***

we drove 12 hours through 114 degree heat to

arrive at Crater Lake Lodge on July 2 and

found 10' snowdrifts!

***

ouch! my pretty backyard looks like

a war zone! we have just over two

weeks to go before we host

the rehearsal dinner here!

of course, Nicky loves all the dirt!

wish me luck

***

thank goodness I've been able to immerse myself

in designing this gorgeous radiused summer room for a

ca. 1888 mansion in Marin County!

this lovely rendering is by my assistant on the project,

Yuliya Krupnik, and shows the furnishings

I have designed for this room

stay tuned, more to follow when we are completed with

all five rooms!

***

thanks for visiting!... Kit

24 June 2011

Happy Weekend :)

Have a lovely, colorful and

pattern-filled weekend!

all patterns Anthropologie

***

thanks for visiting! Kit

20 June 2011

Summery Basque Stripes & Gâteau Basque Recipe!

In Provence the fabric vendors at all the markets at this time of year put their big beautiful bolts of "Basque Stripe" cottons up front, tempting everyone with the brilliantly hued fabrics. The traditional stripes of the southwestern region of France called le Pays Basque are beloved by Provençales for their ability to brighten even the smallest little corner of an otherwise monochromatic outdoor garden setting.

Poetically named for the seven regions in Pays Basque, tradition holds that these strongly graphic fabrics were originally made by traveling weavers going from farm to farm, customizing large sturday sheets of rough fabric with unique stripe colors for farmers to cover their livestock as protection from insects.

Today we love them in everything from pillows, to table linens, espadrilles, totes and deck chairs. They are the quintessential summer look in the south of France.

Shopping the weekly market in Apt last month, I fell for two different patterns of stripes and bought enough to bring home in my second suitcase. Now I'm playing around with how, and even if, to use them for my summer entertaining.

Trying out some tabletop designs I find a real challenge in finding tableware that is clean and simple enough to calm all that high-voltage energy! I don't think my Anthroplogie outdoor plates do very well (although the colors blend there is way toooo much going on!) I may end up using one of these for bench cushions or a door curtain in my currently-being-refurbished greenhouse!

You can buy Basque Stripe fabrics at Jean Vier. Read more here.

How would you use these stunning stripes?