Flower Wild | Creative Direction and Floral Design by Kate Holt. Napa, Sonoma, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles

hot temps

Jun. 29th

update
alice lost her first tooth
and that’s the most exciting thing that happened this month
really
that’s big stuff!

it’s darn hot this week and i can’t keep myself from neurotically checking the weather for the next 10 days. Here, santa ynez, palm springs (118!!!!), sonoma, beijing (alice programmed that one in there.) i guess i was surprised it’s hot there too – i don’t know why…and i am wondering how the flowers and plants are doing in my various necks of the woods. how they are holding up under such duress. will they be there next week when i need them most? all fingers and toes are crossed. we really need to talk about global warming. so far we are about 3 weeks ahead of schedule with regards to blooms. at least. anyone else have input here?

i’m not a fan of heat.
or cold for that matter. my husband says i have a narrow window of comfort. 3 degrees up or down from 72. after that i start to roll down windows, adjust air conditioners, fan myself, look for an escape hatch, and the like.
i blame it on the red hair and fair skin. capillaries closer to the surface of the skin and whatnot. probably nonsense.

this weather is good for a few things-
sprinklers
margaritas
planning for when it is no longer hot
AND obsessing about how to keep flowers alive on a blistering wedding day that is swiftly approaching. for all you newbies out there it should come as a relief that even a seasoned gal like myself still has nightmares about this stuff…or maybe it’s not helpful at all:)

i’m getting set to announce new workshop dates. well heck…I’ll announce them informally now and you can start plotting and planning:)

october 1st and 2nd in ojai, ca
november 12th and 13th in palm springs, ca

get in touch with me to reserve a spot via email. i’m still working out the details so that’s all i’ve got for now. a few of you have written directly or posted here – so you’re on the list. i promise to be in touch as soon as the dust settles over here.

xo
k

Computing

Jun. 8th

I know it seems innocent enough. Entertainment at our finger tips, where and whenever we want it. It’s causing this wild shift in the culture of social experience. And I wonder what Alice’s world will be like in 10 years, or 20 years, or 30 years, when she might be a mommy too.
Today I went to the car wash. All the adults were sitting, eyes inches from their phones. Completely distracted, completely detached from the here and now. Only one person was interacting with the world at large… Watching, observing, talking, asking questions, excited, playful, engaged.

A little boy.

Of course, a child. This is his natural disposition, to explore, to self-create, to imagine. Until one of the adults in his life decides he’s too loud, or demands too much attention- and sticks a little colorful screen in front of him. Maybe it’s not as dismal as all this, or as black and white as it seems. As a parent, it makes me reflect on my habits. Lots of bad ones. The example I’m setting. Not all good. I could definitely make improvements.

So how do I make a change? I have some ideas…and I’m curious to know what others of you are doing to “unplug.”

Life is already going by fast enough…I don’t want to miss this part of her childhood.
Whatever I can do to be more present when I’m with her, when I’m with Ken, when I’m with people. Because, truthfully, if I don’t check instagram for a few days my world won’t suffer and things won’t change…except my own experience and my very real relationships will be more fulfilled and have more depth. With those kind of tangible experiences I find my craft and my creativity grows. My designs become more free, less influenced, more directly from me.

Maybe this is coming off as a boring rant…oh well.
If not, maybe you feel like you could change your habits too.

Encourage paper reading, handwriting in journals, passing notes, daydreaming, doodling, dancing like crazy, painting with your fingers, looking out the window, watching the world go by, digging in the dirt, swinging in a swing, the occasional cartwheel, running fast thru the grass – shoes off! It’s ok to leave your phone at home. It’s ok to stop looking at blogs. They’ll be there later.

The flipside: The internet and all these little new ways of interacting have been good for me too. I can’t deny that. I find inspiration there, make new friends, reconnect with people I have lost touch with over time, discover places and art I never would see otherwise,and keep this on-again-off-again journal.
This little screen and its kaleidoscope of windows into other people’s lives…can be so wonderful and alternately it can be such a rabbit hole.

I have mixed feelings. I’m curious how others of you feel?

Some of our recent real life happenings here….

4 Responses to Computing

carolyn parker

Jun. 25th

Dear Kate, I often wonder how young children feel about their parents’ infatuation with their cyber toys. I’m lucky that I don’t have to worry about ignoring my children as they are probably about your age! But what you write is eloquent and a much needed message for introspection. Balance, of coarse, is the key and a constant process to acquire. I’ve been away from it all for some weeks due to busyness, but I’m happy to be back for the time being. I appreciate your comments on my instagram stream and love your work.
Love to you and your family, Carolyn
Carol

Jul. 4th

Delightful!
Gwen Ginocchio

Jul. 4th

Dear Katie, I think about this everyday. I tell myself to have balance, to unplug more often. I admit this was easier before I broke my arm. Then, I was going to the Y, doing Nia and aerobics four times a week, lots of walking. I still walk, but I have to admit the iPad has helped keep me connected even with my Nia group. Like everything in technology, we have to be selective, evaluate and use wisely. This isn’t easy. It’s very easy to get distracted from one subject to the other, to feel compelled to read posts just because we know the person. There’s a car commercial where the buyer can’t take his eyes off the screen and the salesperson says but wouldn’t you like to take a test drive. The buyer says, wow, that would be so real. Maybe that’s the question. What’s real or more real? We need to opt for that more often.
Thanks for your musings on the subject. I think this is a common quandary. Love you, aunt Gwen
Kelly Perry

Jul. 5th

“With those kind of tangible experiences I find my craft and my creativity grows. My designs become more free, less influenced, more directly from me.” — I couldn’t agree more. It’s really amazing how special life becomes when we truly embrace the present! And equally amazing is the perspective of a child. We can learn so much from them 🙂

Beholden to Golden

May. 23rd

I love working with yellow.
Orange is cool too.

I took the leftovers from these samples to a neighbor…which really made me happy. I love unexpected flowers. Maybe some people don’t get that, but I don’t care. Flowers make me feel so good, even after all this time I’ve spent with them:)
Ken’s growing quite a wonderful garden this year. I’m excited to start using little bits from it for my bouquets and such. I’ve already stolen a few blueberry bush branches and the golden raspberries are just starting to pop. It’s me against the birds and the squirrels at this point!

Next up…chickens.
Trying to decide if we should get some. Alice is quite the animal lover and we eat at least 2 dozen eggs a week over here. Anyone with advice or thoughts on this? I would love to hear from you.

xo
k

Spring

May. 22nd

I feel like spring is slipping through my fingers already. A little too brief for me, always. Especially when it comes to spring’s bounty of blooms…I want them to stick around for a few more weeks. When I look at these pictures from April, I tend to ache a little for the tendrils of jasmine that are long gone, and find myself dreaming of vining sweet peas – wild and unruly – now, short and wilty impressions of their former selves. Oh, and the mock orange that’s already come and gone…foxglove too. So you see, flowers are always a business of longing.

But it seems that summer is pushing it’s way in and I shouldn’t complain too much. There is always some new fresh face just waiting to take the place of last season’s favorite. We’ve had lots of time to get our hands dirty over here and play with some pretty bits.

I’m most recently addicted to the website Humans of New York…I know, everyone else knows about this site already. I live in a bit of a creative cloud that’s very disconnected with what’s current and hip…so sometimes it takes me a while to get up to speed with things! This site, HONY, It’s kind of like looking at a diverse book of human flowers. I love it. I could look at it all day.

I got to create 5 bridal bouquets for one very lovely gal last month. She chose her favorite from the bunch gave the other 4 to her pretty maids to carry. Kinda great.

xo
k

This girl…

Apr. 17th

5 and half.

5 and half years of pure goodness and delight in my life.

it’s better than good to be her mom. thank you ken for giving me such a gift.

Rumi

Apr. 14th

the moment i heard my first love story i began seeking you,

not realizing the search was useless.

lovers don’t meet somewhere along the way.

they’re in one another’s souls from the beginning

-RUMI

Featured on Style Me Pretty recently here.

And in the Pages of MagRouge
Beautiful photography – Lacie Hansen
Creative Direction and Flowers – Kate Holt of Flowerwild
Coordination – Jill LaFleur
Invitation Suite and Day of Paper – Amber Moon of Pitbulls and Posies
Calligraphy, table number, and Rumi poem art work – Chelsea Petja of Oh My Deer
Hair and Makeup – Mar of Team Hair and Makeup
Wedding Decor and Rentals – Elan Event Rentals
Venue – Ojai Valley Inn and Spa

the tides

Apr. 9th

Things are moving and shifting here, I love it!
Wanted to post something quick while I have a chance.
All images here from our first April wedding this year, and the studio brimming with spring flowers!!! Peony, sweet peas, lilac…dogwood!!!!! Oh my!
My smile couldn’t be bigger:)
More to come as soon as I have another late night.

xo
k

California Raw

Mar. 29th

I spent the last two days on the road. Form here to Carmel and back. Alone. I much prefer to do this with Ken and Alice…so I missed them a lot.

I can say this – California is beautiful friends. When you are driving it all alone and you just witness it’s insane beauty, just watch it rolling by you, and the light just gets better and better, it’s almost like you can’t get enough. You don’t want it to end…you want more, and more.

You pass through vibrant green, smooth shouldered hillsides, on to rough rocky patches splotched and dripping with wild poppies, blue lupines, or yellow mustard. The sky changes from vast and open, to ethereal and rainy, dark even… then soft. Close and foggy. Almost too close. Almost on top of you. All around you.

Trees sprawl out. Cast their shadows. Inching ever closer to the sunny, most westerly side of their little plot. They dawdle and kick around, gently touching a nearby embankment or slope in a way that says – we’ve been here together, a long, long time. I know you. Sometimes they sway, kissed with sweet mossy bits that make them look somehow human or animated. More alive than you might want them to be on a lonely road at night. Like they might scoop you up. They seem so stately and ancient, even though they are here now. They feel so perfectly timeless…

Truth…The land here just fills you up with goodness. Sometimes shouting from the mountaintops doesn’t seem like enough. Drives like this, make me certain we live in an amazing place. And yesterday, California was just killing me with it’s raw beauty.

Getting to see these hidden and not-so hidden parts of the state make me crazy happy. Giddy, really. It’s the kind of stuff you want to share. Even if it makes you get all poetic and sappy:) Who cares. It’s real. It’s how I feel. I love it here.

There’s no appropriate segway for this so I’m not even going to try! My English teacher, Mrs. Kelly, would not be thrilled. But I honestly, almost always abide by her very wise instruction. This time, I’m just too pooped.

Here’s a little something pretty from Audrey and Jeff Dunham’s rehearsal dinner at Sunstone Winery. Planning by Jill LaFleur.
Images by Corbin Gurkin….an amazing amazing photographer you should all know. I was lucky enough to do the flowers for her wedding in Ireland this last year. Yep…she’s that gal behind that crazy adventure:)

Oh…and we are about to announce 2 more workshops for this year. One of which, Corbin will be shooting! So stay tuned…

xo
k

Desert Dreaming…

Mar. 25th

I am so determined to get back into the swing of things with my blogging…we had some technical issues last week; and on top of that we were hosting our workshop in Palm Springs- which was fabulous but BUSY. So, I wrote a post late last night, clicked on the “save draft” button…and poof! The whole frickin’ thing disappeared. I suppose this is basically the universe’s way of telling me to let the pictures tell the story.

In short:
14 talented women from around the world, converged on Palms Springs last week for our Flowerwild workshop.
It was awesome.
It was inspiring.
I want to do it a LOT more. A lot lot more.

HUGE thanks to my husband for his genius rigging, making my crazy ideas a reality, and moral support. I love you. Thanks to little A for making me smile always.
Of course many thanks to Jose Villa, Mar of Team Hair and Makeup, Jeni Maus of Found Vintage Rentals, Erica of Twine Events, my assistant Corinne, and The Ace Hotel for hooking me up and sharing their talents so generously. To all the wonderful, creative, and beautiful women who came and shared their visions and talents with me – I am so glad I met all of you and am crazy excited about all our new friendships. WOW!

I’ll be posting film photos from Jose later on…but in the meantime here’s a glimpse of our week in the desert.

images by Kate Holt, Ken Holt, Joel Seratto, and Jose Villa.
xo
kate

Road Trip

Mar. 6th

Tomorrow Alice and I are headed up north together. Mommy daughter adventure! I’m sure there will be tons of spy games and goofy imaginings on our 6 hour drive – at the insistence of Little A.

Not sure how you all pass the time on a long drive with kids..but I must say Alice has to be one of the most patient kids under 10 out there. She definitely has more staying power than I do. She prefers interaction and imaginary games to any sort of electronic device. Oh…and singing. LOTS of singing. Yesterday she was singing “Dirty deeds!!! Done dirt cheap”…the whole time we were at CVS picking up a prescription. Ha! Not sure how many other 5 years old know and love that song; but clearly, Alice is a fan of AC/DC, thanks to Ken. Endless good times with this one!

I’m more of a dreamer when we travel. Though I do love to sing, I really love to look out the window and wonder about other people and their lives…their place on this planet, their home, their walk to school, their morning coffee, their bedtime stories, their dirt, their pets, their closets, their blankets and books, their keepsakes. Did so much of that as a kid myself, on long car trips to south carolina from chicago or a couple of cross country train rides from chicago to the golden state.

What a way to see the country. Really see it…or, at least see a lot of the forgotten places, wayside towns, all the spots that rest between here and there. The non-destinations so to speak. I like seeing all of it and having Alice see it too. So she understands better that not everyone lives the same life, or comes from the same place, or has the same story. It’s good for the imagination right? It helps expand our perception and develops our sensibilities – traveling.

I’ll be instagramming from the road I’m sure. If you don’t follow me there already…please find us @flowerwild