whew! it’s been a long week here at d*s. as many of you have noticed we’ve been making some changes to the rss feed in an attempt to lighten the blow of our image serving costs. i really appreciate everyone’s patience- we’re aware that images are appearing in smaller sizes (or not at all) and hope to have the issue remedied shortly. we’re looking into a number of options to keep both rss readers and regular site readers happy. if you want any more details on the situation you can click here and see my explanation in the comment section (my comments are in pink boxes). i really appreciate your patience with us as we figure out a good compromise.

in happier news, today is a day-off for some of you so i’ll be signing off early today to celebrate ac actually getting a day off from work. i hope you’ll all enjoy the july 4th holiday and i’ll see you back on monday with gorgeous new home tours, a special guest blog/home tour from sweden, a new guest blogger, and much more.

also, i’m thrilled to announce that alissa and ryan from horne (our guest bloggers for the week) will be returning every month with their “behind the bar” column. starting in august, they’ll be posting a delicious drink recipe every last friday of the month. stay tuned!

*images above and below: a lovely (and hilarious) letterpress fortune teller by sycamore street press, $8.

• must-read posts of the week: diy terrarium video with sprout home! and bar cart roundup
• weeder’s digest: seasonal with a capital S
• new city guide: salt lake city
• new product guide: bar cart roundup
• biz ladies 09: contract law (do’s and don’ts), how to form successful biz partnerships
• new sneak peeks: fiyel levent, fosters, greg merryweather, jill crawford, madison and grow, george of material culture
• new diy projects: terrarium how-to video, bridesmaid gift spruce-up, recession friendly jewelry, maya’s twinkle board, elizabeth’s mountain of a headboard, morgane’s drawer coat hangers
• new before & afters: ashley’s pallet daybed, 2 kitchens and a bath, martina’s bench and kelly’s dining room, bonnie’s stereo cabinet and megan’s nursery, diana’s bench and jessica’s facade
• misc: faceted wooden carpet, paper goods from korean studio o-check, wire storage baskets, glass and wood carafes, landshark lager packaging, prints (inspired by saipua flowers!) by katie vernon, salvaged papergoods
• new d*s guest bloggers: alissa and ryan of horne! (don’t miss their diy project, home tours and drink recipe)
• new recipe: in the kitchen with melian hammer’s haloumi, melon, and avocado salad

I often take a few minutes to scan through flickr just to see what other people capture with their cameras. I ran across Melina Hammer’s flickr portfolio two years ago, and it’s one I always enjoy seeing updated in my contact list. What I really like about Melina’s work is her ability to move in between very strong visual compositions with primary ingredients, and prepared foods. When we invited her to participate in the column, she came right back with a choice of three recipes. We were very happy to see a creative recipe for Haloumi, Melon, and Avocado salad with lime-mint dressing that we are sure you will love to try out at your 4th of July barbecue! Haloumi isn’t available in Rome, that I’ve found, so if it is also unavailable where you are, you might try a cheese of similar consistency, which Melina describes below. Happy 4th– Shoot some Roman candles for me! I’ll miss the celebration! -Kristina

About Melina: As a photographer, Melina has devoted her lens for over ten years to award-winning documentation of abandoned US historical structures. Although her forays into food photography are recent, her work already appeared in print and on the web for large and small clients. Her lens and composition capture the vibrant qualities inherent in fresh and natural foods. Her work can be found at online at Getty Images, Flickr, and her own website, Melina Photos.

CLICK HERE for the full recipe after the jump!

read more …

Every year my friends and I say something stupid like “this is going to be the BEST summer ever!” and then high five, maybe pull out a stick of Juicy Fruit and run through a fire hydrant or something. Every year except this year. Some packed up and left town. They adopted pets. They’re fasting.

Like clockwork, on the first of July I sit down with my favorite pair of jeans. We have a heart to heart, and then I carelessly snip them into shorts. Regret sets in 20 minutes later…”What have I DONE?!”

I sit inside on my day off and stare at the dog listening to Arthur Russell, postulating on gay singers who sing about girls. In a state of confusion I call some of my brides to see if they want to hang out. “We need to discuss boutonnieres! Wanna meet up for a drink? What are you going to wear?” What little professional edge I had just fizzled.

Lately I’ve been on the wedding chain gang. (Which is not a bad place to be as a florist; ye shall make hay while the sun shineth so to speak.) But I’m about to get off - the heat of summer deters many brides. With my extra time I’ve been able to fully appreciate some of summer’s first flowers. My mother’s garden is a racket of daylilies, foxglove and yarrow. Zinnias are starting to show up at the farmer’s market. Amaranthus, sea holly, asclepius, summertime hydrangea line the street in the flower district. Some of these make it into our designs at work, some are just admired in passing.

We all talk a lot lately about Seasonality in reference to food and flowers. Many of my clients are concerned with things being seasonal for 2 reasons: they want to be eco-friendly with their flower budgets, and they want to keep those budgets low. Our flower world is far from seasonal. Yes, we have peonies in spring, dahlias in summer, hydrangea in fall. But we also have roses, freesia, tulips, orchids, stock, snapdragons, and lilies year-round. To make a flower arrangement in February seasonally we would be limited to evergreens and maybe a locally grown anemone.

To complicate things even more, consider a popular flower like the peony. We’re about done with peonies on the East Coast this week, the last coming in from Vermont, and the north. But they’re still available from Holland, and will be for another 2 weeks. In mid winter we’ll get 6 weeks of peonies from New Zealand. Expensive and somewhat second rate, these peonies bear a hefty carbon footprint. Another example is the Ranunculus, a greenhouse flower that has enjoyed the spotlight for the last few years. Ranuncula are typically eclipsed by May due to warmer temperatures. Now we get them through the summer grown in the Kenyan highlands. Despite the long travel - (most African flowers make a pit stop in Holland and are sold through the international flower market in Aalsmeer before landing in New York) - these flowers hover at the same price regardless of their origin. Your Jersey Ranuncula in April is the same price as the Jet-Set Kenyan in July. Go figure. It makes the conversation about Seasonality ever more complicated. You don’t always save money when you ask for seasonal flowers.

My dilemma is this: I like to use a big mix of different flowers. Always. July, November, March. So often I sacrifice my ethos and snag the Japanese clematis because they are so damn beautiful, and at the end of the day, it’s my job to make things beautiful. But I would like to do my job in a greener way.

And that champange wasn’t local either BTW…

today is a holiday day-off for some of us (happy almost july 4th!) so i’ll be light-posting today (but stay tuned for a new weeder’s digest and recipe post next!) but i wanted to kick things off by sharing some gorgeous pictures from alissa and ryan’s guest blog. today they’re sharing a beautiful art exhibit and announcing the winner of their summertime photo contest. click here to check it out!

today’s final before & after belongs to photographer ashley campbell of ashley ann photography. ashley turned this basic wood pallet into a dreamy, colorful daybed for her soon-to-arrive daughter’s nursery. talk about turning raw materials into something beautiful- and i love that sideways door as a headboard. great work ashley!

*ps: tomorrow is a holiday for many of you, but we’ll be posting on d*s as always. we’re going to post an abbreviated schedule, but stick around for a new weeder’s digest column, a new recipe, a new guest blog post from alissa and ryan and a week’s wrap up.

[have a before & after you'd like to share on d*s? just shoot me an email right here with your images]