BY INVITATION ONLY, Flower Power



as most of our loyal readers already know,

"By Invitation Only"

is a monthly international blog party.

we give you our take on the topic-of-the-month,

& believe it or not,

usually they are ALL quite different.

the wonderful news this month is this:

DESIGN CHIC

Beth Woodson & Kristy Woodson Harvey

a mother/daughter team of interior designers

from North Carolina

have joined the ranks & they are posting with us today.

please scroll down to see all the members who have posted today,

they are linked in with me, as is Design Chic.

sadly, we have lost the beautiful Sharon Santoni of

My French Country Home.

Sharon's work & raising of a family is taking so much of her time,

she is taking a time-out from B.I.O.

we will miss her !!

OUR TOPIC THIS MONTH

How Flowers Inspire Us

&

Our Personal Go-To SPRING outfit.

Either One or Both

Because it is easier for me to show you what I will wear,

the GO-TO OUTFIT must be heat tolerant, easy to wear & washable.

the shoes & bag needed to be fashionable BUT user-friendly.

the most awful thing is if you have a handbag which is beautiful,

but NOT user-friendly.

believe me, it will end up in your closet and not on your arm.

the clothes are 100% silk,

the shoes & bag are raffia with leather

& THE TOP HAS FLOWERS in keeping with our theme,

(created on Polyvore, pinned to Pinterest & Facebook)

& you know what?

I could wear this anywhere in Houston!

grocery shopping, hair appointment, shopping, running errands,

and cocktails.

& believe me, for an older girl this has taken some getting used to, you know?

I mean, I was brought up changing clothes 3 times a day.

NO LONGER !!

and flowers as inspiration?

can you even imagine an important event without flowers?

the photo below comes to us from Susan @ Our French Oasis
which you may find here.
their's is an amazing story which I will tell you more about in a later post,
but in the meantime, please go over for a visit to this very unique family.
 

this has to be one of my favorite topiary forms EVER.

these very unique forms encompass everything we are talking about today, don't they?

Fashion & Flowers
a girl's favorite subject.


 

I simply cannot live without fresh flowers in my home.

cannot do it.

my flower budget is blown every single month !!

gardening is one of the most creative & personally fulfilling hobbies one can have.

nature gives back to us every single day.  even grass.

and best of all, we can share, compare, council, advise all the other gardeners out there,

and we share that.

I'm putting this wreath on my door for Easter, maybe I'll add a little bunny.

it makes coming home, even to my small apartment in a high-rise, wonderful & special.

& what is embroidered?

flowers.

from one of my favorite designers, Alberta Ferretti of Italy.

everything she makes is delicate & feminine & I hope she never changes this.

not knowing how many of my reader's actually lived the 70's fashion,

it seems you will now have the chance as everything is about the 70's.

hip-huggers, bell bottoms, platforms, floppy hats and, God help us, maybe even Spandex.

Valentino Haute Couture S '15

I absolutely love entertaining in my home.

I love setting the table even more than planning the menu.

spending hours deciding how to do the table, what flowers I will use with the china,

the placemats and the crystal,  is a labor or love.  and I know there are many of you who feel the same way.

Yvonne Pratt @ StoneGable

who is one of our original members,,

creates the most beautiful tabletops, all warm & welcoming,

not stiff, not formal at all, 

and I am so happy to tell you she is going to have a book published !!!

I must give a shout-our to THE CONTESSA, Elizabeth,
who help me so much last year when I wanted to plant climbing roses for the 1st time.
she led me through it step-by-step, and she was so good at it that those new roses actually bloomed
for me a few months after planting.



do you think it is possible for flowers to make us happy?

**************************************************************************

please scroll down to see the other bloggers who have joined us today,

this is a huge commitment of their time and team spirit to contribute each month.

no one can possibly know how much it means to me.

thank you so much.