BIRTHDAY FAB!

Yesterday was my birthday...what a fantastic day it was.  The day started off with calls from my guy TE, a birthday song sung by my mother and sis DS, best of friend AM rang too.  I was charmed by all of the sweet notes and thoughts I got from my dear friends and family throughout the day (thank you Aunt S, RM, JD, FM, JLF, RK, A.Ro, SE, AT and more),  I normally do not make a big deal about my birthday...but there was something special about yesterday.

One of the assistants in the office guessed my age but he was several years off (making me younger)...hallelujah!  When I came back from lunch there were beautiful peach colored roses from my favorite florist waiting in my office...a sweet surprise from my sis and mother.  Then there was a delicious cupcake office party for me in my honor.

In the evening, my TE took me to dinner at Madeo...a Hollywood insiders spot where we sat two stone throws away from Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorcese!  Now that is a birthday dream!

Then, when we got home from our delicious dinner, TE brought a huge box up the stairs to my little tiny cottage in the Hollywood Hills.  The box had a big huge red bow on it. Inside was this amazing limited edition book from Taschen called Fashion Designers A-Z Stella McCartney Edition. It is a 654 page beautiful hardcover book covered in a Stella McCartney fabric featuring the works of fashion designers from the 20th and 21st centuries.  An amazingly wonderful book.  It comes in with a lucite slip case.  The pictures are amazing inside.  Takes coffee table books up a notch.

Taschen's 654 page Fashion Designers A-Z Stella McCartney Edition limited edition book was one of my lovely thoughtful birthday gifts from my guy TE (above and below)

Cute birthday card from TE filled with sweet words (above)

A very nice day really.  A fabulous day. So nice because of all of the wonderful people I know.

Love to all of you!

Happy Tuesday!

xo
Coco

Photos: Coco of COCOCOZY

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AN birthday, flowers, gift, present

WEEKEND PHOTO - FLOWER IT UP

Add some flowers. That is my decor suggestion to you for this weekend.

 Best of friend AM and her family left yesterday. They were staying with me for a quick visit at my tiny little cottage in the Hollywood Hills. In addition to a million other "refreshers" to my place...I added fresh flowers throughout. White hydrangea, white tulips and white orchids in every room.

Here's a little shot of my bedroom dresser...with one big puffy hydrangea bloom in a small square glass vase.  Makes me smile.

Will be spending part of the weekend with TE. Got a text from TE yesterday morning as I was chatting with best of friend AM. The text started off as follows, "Honey I just want to say how wonderful it is...". That's all I could see in the preview. I was sure the text was filled with wonderful sweet nothings...romance. I'm sharing the full text with you so you can understand what I'll be doing this weekend.

Actual text message from boyfriend TE: "Honey I just want to say how wonderful it is...that it's opening weekend of the NFL and the 49ers are playing the Green Bay Packers."

Hmmm....classic.

Needless to say...I can imagine football will be part of my weekend!  Football and flowers...the yin and yang of the weekend.

Happy Saturday! Happy weekend!

xo
Coco

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AN bedroom, decor, decorating, dresser, flowers, hydrangea, WEEKEND PHOTO

CO-ED BABY SHOWER POWER

So I co-hosted a little baby shower this weekend for dear friend AG and her hubby TG.  It was a co-ed guys and girls, mixing together backyard style casual cute baby shower.

My co-hostesses were JH (sister to TG), AS, WH and KD.  The best co-hostesses ever!  The whole shower was planned on email.  LH and JH, TG's brother-in-law and sis, were kind enough to invite us to use their LOVELY home for the shower.  We decided to make use of their gorgeous backyard overlooking a golf course in Hancock Park.  AS did invites, JH did party decor as it was at her house, WH was in charge of party favors and games, KD had beverages and I was in charge of food.

Loved JH's party touches.  Colorful, festive and relaxed. She rented several picnic tables, orange market umbrellas, cute mason jars with yellow and orange Gerber daisies, clear fish bowl like vases filled with rubber duckies swimming along in blue water, a few navy COCOCOZY Logo Throws for anyone who would venture to lay out on the grass and then done!  Voila!  A warm and inviting environment for guests to spend a casual sunny Los Angeles afternoon.

WH decided on lovely summer half bottles of rose wine as party favors.  I ordered all of the food from Joan's on Third...an array of sandwiches, hors d'oeuvres, quiche, salads and other brunch lunch foods. KD put together a colorful self serve bar with sparkling water, lemonade, wine, champagne and beer.

Here are few scenes from our co-ed baby shower!

I think AG and her hubby TG had a good time.  It was certainly a relaxing lovely afternoon.  TE came with me; he enjoyed it all to...including the co-ed shower game where all of the guys had to line up and drink soda through baby bottles. TE did not win btw...LH, JH's hubby, got caught up on a technicality of a dripping bottle, and TG, the guest of honor, was a bit of slow poke - about 10 guys participated...only one drank the entire bottle!

AG and TG's baby is due in October.  Can't wait.  BTW...there were four other pregnant ladies at the shower including co-hostess AS.  Something is definitely in the water here in L.A.!

Happy Monday!

xo
Coco

P.S.  Was so honored to be profiled on the Interior Collective blog the other day!  Check out the post here.  Also, ask me a design question on Interior Collective and you can enter to win a COCOCOZY pillow!

P.P.S.  Check out COCOCOZY Instagram and Twittter - @COCOCOZY - to see where TE and I went after the shower...from roof top to roof top.  Remember to follow me around the web to see more of what I'm up to.  Would love to hear from you too!


Photos in this post by Coco of COCOCOZY

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AN baby shower, centerpiece, decor, entertaining, flowers, garden, gerber daisy, Hancock Park, Los Angeles home, orange, outdoor decorating, party, pool, yard, yellow

FANTASTIC FEBRUARY FLOWERS!

So far, I am liking February!

Got these lovelies yesterday morning at work.  A total surprise delivery.  When the delivery guy walked into my office with this nice size floral arrangement, I was reading a script, I looked up and had to focus and refocus, my eyes widened, I jumped up and started making strange cooing noises, I snatched the card out of the flowers, but the delivery guy needed my signature and needed to scan the envelope, so we did this awkward hand dance of me handing him the envelope, taking it back, grabbing his scanner, handing it back and finally he looked at me and just said calmly, "Miss, please just sign here."

Turns out the flowers were from TE. Very thoughtful and sweet.  Just for no reason.  Some gorgeous February flowers.  TE is so very nice.

Deep purple and red.  Roses, hydrangea, orchids and I think larkspur (not sure what the 4th flower is...let me know if you can identify it).

These flowers made my day.

A square metallic painted ceramic container compliments the colors in the gorgeous arrangement. (above)

I love red roses.  I just do. (above)

Happy Thursday!

xo
Coco

P.S.  TE used the Empty Vase florist for my lovely flowers.  Beautifully done.

P.P.S.  I took the flowers home (well to my temporary home at sis DS's house) and photographed them outside this morning.  Would it be weird for me to drag them back into work?  I'll miss them all day long!


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AN floral arrangement, flowers

THIS OR THAT: DO EITHER OF THESE FLOWER ARRANGEMENTS SAY HOLIDAY?

All photos in this post by Coco of COCOCOZY

So tomorrow, on Christmas Eve, I'm spending the day cooking and prepping for a small gathering we are doing tomorrow night. Having a few family members and friends over to my sis DS's house for Christmas Eve. We are heading to the flower mart early tomorrow to look for some items to spruce up the house for the holiday.

The big issue is that I was supposed to be doing the dinner at my little cottage in the Hollywood Hills..."was" is the operative word here.

As you may know, last week I had to move out of my little snug cottage due to some major water damage and other stuff (still unresolved btw). I had my tree all decorated since the beginning of the month, holiday decorations were placed subtly throughout my tiny house... and Christmas was in the air.  At the beginning of December, I told my sis not to worry about a tree at her place and just to come over to mine and we would do the family holiday at my place with aunts, cousins and friends. Well as we took all of the ornaments off my Douglas Fir last Tuesday and hauled it outside and out of the way of all of the movers...I realized I would not be doing Christmas at my place. I didn't however think ahead and about getting a tree over to my sister's house.

So now we are sprucing up sis DS's house as best we can to make it say "holiday"...we'll make it work I think! Hopefully!

Oh did I mention that yesterday (Saturday) we did the first 2013 COCOCOZY photo shoot at my sisters house. The day started at about 8a with me and JW running around getting items for the shoot...and the day ended at about 8p when fab photographer Hugh Hamilton packed up his gear and left.

I had some flower arrangements made for the shoot and I made a little one myself with just with Dianthus Green Trick. My favorite florist Empty Vase has done all of the flowers for every COCOCOZY catalogue photo shoot since we started two years ago.  Brenda who works there was so nice to help me design and rush our arrangements for yesterday's  shoot.  As my sister and I were running out of the flower shop we saw the Dianthus and bought 20 stems to make our own DIY arrangement.

Take a look at these two arrangements...will use them in the house somewhere tomorrow for Christmas Eve... but do either of these say holiday to you?  What can we do to them to make them feel more festive for the holiday?  Help!  (We'll get some classic holiday greenery tomorrow but in the meantime we have these)

Homemade DIY flower arrangement with just Dianthus Green Trick in a mercury glass cylinder vase. (above and below)

Green and white Parrot Tulips and Hydrangea in a glass cylinder vase with wheat grass and green sand. (above)

Do either of these say holiday?  Which one do you prefere in general...or do you dislike both? LOL!

Happy Sunday!  Good luck with your holiday preparations!

Happy Holidays

xo

Coco

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AN decor, decorating, decoration, design, floral arrangement, flower, flowers, green, hydrangea, mercury glass, parrot tulips, THIS OR THAT, white

UGLY OR PRETTY?: MY THANKSGIVING FALL FLORAL CENTERPIECE!

All photos in this post by Coco of COCOCOZY

So a few weeks ago, I went down to the flower mart here in Los Angeles early on Saturday morning.  I don't know why I went all the way there...I was just looking to buy a white orchid for my living room.

But as I was driving to my florist, I was talking to my sis DS on the phone and she said "So you are going to the flower mart downtown?".  I said, "No".  She said, "You should go." I said, "I'm not going there, I don't even know where it is."  She said, "8th and Wall Street, I've got to go...bye."  There I was in gym clothes (not going to the gym I might add) in my car with the knowledge of where the flower mart was located and a little spare time on my hands...so I went.

Well there are good things about the flower mart and bad things....the good things are all of the gorgeous flowers...the bad thing is all of the gorgeous flowers.  I went looking for a white orchid and came home with flowers for a fall flower arrangement all of a sudden.

Anyhooo...needless to say...I pulled an assortment of flowers and greenery and brought it home...plopped it on my deck dining table and started cutting and snipping.  I got Dahlias, Cockscomb, Baby Hydrangea, Seeded Eucalyptus, Coffee Beans, Tea Leaves...I had only ever bought hydrangea, tea leaves and coffee beans for arrangements in the past...so this was all new to me.

I haven't posted the flower arrangement for weeks only because I kind of wasn't sure whether I thought it was pretty.  That day, while I was arranging, I had texted the images to a friend and he texted something back like "Wow. Wild flowers!" I think...he couldn't figure out a word to describe them I think!

So I didn't post these pictures a few weeks back...because I am kind of thinking my impromptu fall flower arrangement might be ugly?  Maybe?

Anyhooo...maybe this post will inspire you to arrange something pretty for your Thanksgiving table centerpiece.  In the meantime, I need your thoughts - is this do-it-yourself floral fall centerpiece UGLY OR PRETTY?

Burgundy dahlia. (above)

Orange cockscomb. (above)

Coffee beans. (above)

Green baby hydrangea. (above)

Tea leaves and seeded eucalyptus. (above)

Tea leaves in glass urn shaped vase. (above)

My flower arranging table chaos! (above)

Mid flower arranging, neighbor JH brought me some fresh pomegranates she had just picked. (above)

End result  - can't tell whether this diy homemade centerpiece is ugly or retty. (above)

So, what do you all think?  UGLY OR PRETTY?  Please weigh in.  I love hearing your comments on these posts.  What would you have done differently?  What would you have kept the same?  Do tell.

Also, would love to know what you are planning for your Thanksgiving dinner table decor?  Anything you typically do that you'd like to share!

Happy Saturday!

xo
Coco

P.S.  Hope you have a fantastic weekend getting ready for Thanksgiving!

P.P.S. Remember to follow along on COCOCOZY Pinterest and COCOCOZY Twitter!

All photos in this post by Coco of COCOCOZY

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AN autumn, centerpiece, cockscomb, coffee beans, dahlia, decor, decorating, dining table, dinner, fall, floral, flower, flowers, holiday, hydrangea, tea leaves, Thanksgiving, UGLY OR PRETTY

WEEKEND PHOTO - FLORAL FALL!

Photos in this post by Coco of COCOCOZY

Went to the flower mart this weekend. Collected some beautiful flowers and plants, burgundy Dahlias, orange cockscomb, seeded eucalyptus and more. Spent the morning yesterday putting together a fall arrangement for the table on my outdoor deck.  I picked colors that reminded me of fall - warm colors and lots of green leafy plants.

Will take you on my tour through the flower mart and my finished DIY flower arrangement. Fall flowers to come later this week.

Until then. Enjoy the weekend please!

Happy Sunday!

xo
Coco


Photos in this post by Coco of COCOCOZY

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AN burgundy, cockscomb, dahlia, decor, decorating, diy, do it yourself, fall, floral, floral arrangement, flower, flowers, oxblood, plants, tabletop, WEEKEND PHOTO

ISLAND SERENDIPITY!

All photos in this post by Coco of COCOCOZY

Exterior of Tommy Hilfiger's house on Nantucket. (above)

Just a few scenes I happened upon by chance while on Nantucket last month...a bit of good luck and fortune in capturing some wonderful island scenes.

An ode to summer of sorts as we head into the long holiday weekend.

White hydrangea in bloom. (above)

An antique horse inside furniture shop Atlantic! (above)

The lawn at the White Elephant hotel lined with purple hydrangea and black eyed Susans - lovely flowers! (above)

Vintage Lilly Pulitzer dresses. (above)

A wooden swan on our porch. (above)

A table overlooking the Nantucket harbor - a booth with blue bench seating and yellow striped pillows attached with  buckles (above)

Oh summer.  Where did you go?  How is it already September?

What are your plans this holiday weekend?  Any of these island scenes appeal to you?  What do you think of the Tommy Hilfiger house exterior?

Anyhooo...Happy Friday!  Happy Labor Day Weekend!

xo
Coco

All photos in this post by Coco of COCOCOZY

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AN flowers, house exterior, hydrangea, Lilly Pulitzer, Nantucket, shingle style home, shutters, vacation, vintage clothing