Holiday Hours

Just a reminder about our holiday hours.  During the month of December we are open Monday – Friday 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., Saturdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Sundays 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.  Christmas Eve we will be open till 5:30 p.m. We will be closed Christmas Day and Sunday, December 26.  We will be open Monday, December 27 – Thursday, December 30 9:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. We will close New Year’s Eve at 5:00 p.m. and will not reopen until Monday, January 10.

Please stop by this Friday when we will be open till 8:00 p.m. to celebrate the grandest First Friday of the year in Portland, Maine. This is a fun opportunity to pick up Paperwhites, ornaments, a bouquet of flowers, holiday home accents, and maybe just maybe a beautiful piece of jewelry for that someone super special (or for yourself, after all you deserve something beautiful don’t you).

Photo by Kevin Keith.

 

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope you have a wonderful holiday. Safe travels!  When you return start your holiday decorating with suggestions, greens, home accents, ornaments, and arrangements from our shop.

 

Holiday Lights in Portland Maine

The town of Portland, Maine has begun stringing lights. A beautiful and serene sight! We love what we do, being around flowers all day and sharing beautiful creations with people. The smile on people’s faces when they pick up an arrangement for their home, office, or maybe a friend. This time of year more and more people are smiling and we love that too.

Top photo Ava. Bottom photo Erica Hebold.

 

Cranberry Cocktails

How many times have you hosted a memorable holiday party and many  of the guests have ended up in the kitchen? Think about this when thinking about which areas of your home to feature flowers. If your kitchen has a center island let that be the focus with an arrangement that will not intrude on your prep area.  With a beautifully decorated tree in the background, greens and flowers in all the right spots, holiday music playing, fun guests with interesting conversation, a stocked bar (and maybe bartender), delicious hors d’oeuvres, and the perfect party outfit the evening is sure to be a huge success.

Here are some delicious cranberry concoctions from Bon Appetit magazine.  For more recipes visit their site, it is chocked full of recipes for your holiday dinner table and parties.

Cranberry Daiquiri
(6 servings)
Dissolve 1/2 cup sugar in 1/2 cup water in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 cinnamon stick and 1/2 teaspoon grated orange peel; bring to boil. Mix in 1/2 cup cranberries and cook until cranberries begin to pop. Cool; discard cinnamon. Pour mixture into jar; add 1/2 cup light rum. Chill. Strain syrup into pitcher; reserve cranberries. Add 6 tablespoons each dark rum, light rum, cranberry juice, and lemon juice to pitcher. Chill. Serve in Martini glasses that have been filled with crushed ice. Garnish with reserved cranberries.

Cranberry, Gingerly
(1 serving)
A spicy spin on the Cosmo: Shake 1/4 cup vodka, 2 tablespoons ginger beer, 1 1/2 tablespoons thawed cranberry juice cocktail concentrate, 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice, and 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger with ice in a cocktail shaker. Strain into a Martini glass. Garnish with a slice of crystallized ginger.

Cranberry Mojitos
(6 servings)
Using a wooden spoon, mash 1 bunch trimmed fresh mint (about 1 cup) with 1/2 sugar in bottom of large pitcher. Add 1 3/4 cups light rum and1 1/4 cups fresh lime juice; stir to dissolve sugar. Mix in 3/4 cup thawed frozen cranberry juice cocktail concentrate and two 10-ounce bottles of chilled sparkling water. Mix in 6 cups ice.

 

First Friday

Come by the shop tonight between 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. for First Friday. Holiday decorations are coming along, lots to show you!!

 

Currently at the Shop…

Christmas decorations are beginning to arrive – rocking horses (life size!), wreaths, ornaments…all the beautiful effects you might want to decorate your home and tree(s). We also have gourds, succulents, and vibrant shades of orange and red flowers to help banish any seasonal woes brought on by gray skies and rain or just to spruce up a room for a Halloween gathering. A bit of color in a room can lighten up the spirit, and we don’t just mean those of the paranormal type.

 

Jewelry Designer John McVeigh On Stage

When not designing custom jewelry, John McVeigh can frequently be found stepping onto a stage as a professionally trained opera singer.

John’s upcoming performance schedule:

Oct 29, All-American Concert with Suzanne Nance of NPR with the Bangor Symphony in Waterville
Nov 21-23, Haydn’s “Creation” with the Winston Salem Symphony

Dec 3-7 Handel’s “Messiah” with Philharmonia Baroque, San Francisco

Dec 8-10, Handel’s “Messiah” with Memphis Symphony

Dec 14-15 Handel’s “Messiah” with Winston Salem Symphony

Dec 19-21 Handel’s Messiah in Chicago

Jan 2011 Puccini’s “Turandot” with Arizona Opera

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Top photo Robert Diamante. Bottom photo L’arbore di Diana, Martin y Soler(composer) from Teater Real, Madrid.

 

Charlie Brown, Cymbidium Orchid

Sitting here looking over at the loveliest Charlie Brown, Cymbidium Orchid. Cymbidium is a genus of 52 evergreen species in the orchid family. Charlie Brown orchids generally feature autumnal hues, shades of browns and fleshy peach, and a deep crimson throat.

 

Wedding Flowers

Maine wedding photographer Emilie Inc. was kind enough to share some of her beautiful pictures with us (which, of course we are sharing with you) from a couple Maine weddings we designed and installed flowers for this past summer.

 

LiveWork Portland

Our own creative entrepreneur John McVeigh is featured on the LiveWork Portland site as a Person to Watch.  You can see his video on You Tube.

The mission of the Creative Portland Corporation (CPC) is to capitalize upon and grow Portland’s creative economy to achieve its greatest potential. The CPC site “LiveWork Portland” features Portland, Maine based artists, designers, writers, filmmakers, web developers, performers, architects and foodies, of course, but also entrepreneurs, inventors, scientists, educators, lawyers and venture capitalists.