Thursday 26 January 2012

Valentines Day Flowers Ideas - Chris Olsen on do-it-yourself Valentine's Day


LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) -- Chris Olsen from Botanica Gardens always has great advice on home and gardening projects.

This time he's getting you ready for love with some great valentines day flowers ideas.

First Segment: A Pan Full of Roses
Forget about giving the same old flower arrangement and instead add that special element of surprise with a unique gift.

Ingredients
Heart shaped cake pan
Floral foam blocks (2)
Lavender spray paint
Sweetheart roses (2 or 3 different colors)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks.

Directions
Spray paint pan lavender or favorite color. Cut floral foam to fit in container, hot glue to bottom of pan. Fill pan with water. The bricks will soak up the water; fill until saturated. Arrange rose buds by cutting stems about 2 inch long and pushing into foam.

Second Segment: Romantic Dinner for Two
It's that time of year to prepare yourself for a great and successful Valentine's Day. With that being said, here is what you need to do to create that perfect tablescape for a romantic dinner.

First, you have to create the floral arrangement  that we did in segment one. Now you just have to simply accessorize. Show your sweetheart how much you care by making your own simple napkin rings with red aluminum wire and beads. And don't forget about the table cloth. Just get a inexpensive piece of burlap from your local craft store, and then stencil with black acrylic paint a love note. Add some candles in red votives to set the mood.

Check out the videos for step-by-step instructions! And you can always visit Chris at Botanica Gardens, located at 1601 Rebsamen Park Road, for help on any gardening projects.

Friday 13 January 2012

Valentines Day Flowers Ideas – You Must Try To Do Something Unique For Your Loved Ones


As we plan ahead on 14 February are filled, the local flower and gift shop on comfort. The reason? Valentine gifts. Valentine's Day is near, everyone seems anxious to buy the best gifts for their loved ones. For Valentine's Day a time, love and admiration for their loved ones to show. And gifts are perfect for a long time for things to show your appreciation, sure valentines day flowers ideas.

However, it is needed are gifts for celebrating Valentine's Day? Do you want to leave their families when we teach them the right things? What my experience, it gives no clue. But it feels good to give something to their loved ones. The gifts are really a way of saying that the person you love and you have the time to have something good for him or her to do. It is a gesture that counts, not the material is given.


Choosing a good gift, but can be very difficult. Despite the knowledge that their loved ones at home, is often a headache to choose a good gift for them. And Valentine's Day is one of those moments where you choose a good one must. Most people tend to rely on the provision of grants and would rather follow the path upwards. Flowers, perfume, candy, chocolate and books are some of the most popular gifts for Valentine's Day. valentines day flowers ideas Each year you can see, many
along the line, before the shops the flower shop, bookstore and bakery to buy this item.

Some, however, try something new and try to do something unique for your loved ones. These days, most of the help of Google's ideas for Valentine's Day gift to you, a selection of gift items from 14February. Online help is counted once more in ideas this Valentine's Day better. Some priests are trying to do something at home. This can also be certain dishes or crafts. Some stores also personalized gifts. Whatever the gift, the goal is that your loved ones special day.

Wednesday 11 January 2012

valentines day flowers ideas - Valentine’s Day Gluten-free Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe with no food coloring

Growing up gluten-free in the Pacific Northwest, I’d never had a red velvet cake or cupcake in my life. This chocolate cake, often appearing in cupcake form, is often made with buttermilk and beets or red food coloring. It is most popular in the Southern United States, which may explain why I didn’t encountered it much. I’d seen recipes around online and was intrigued, but finally seeing Pinch my Salt’s beautiful red velvet cupcake decided it. I had to make a recipe for this Valentine’s Day. First I wanted to find out more about the history of the red velvet cake, and my friend Wikipedia helped me with this.valentines day flowers ideas
History
James Beard’s 1972 reference American Cookery describes three kinds of red velvet cake varying in the amounts of shortening and butter used. All of them use red food coloring for the color, but it is mentioned that the reaction of acidic vinegar and buttermilk tends to turn the cocoa a reddish brown color. Furthermore, before more alkaline “Dutch Processed” cocoa was widely available, the red color would have been more pronounced. This natural tinting may have been the source for the name “Red Velvet” as well as “Devil’s Food” and a long list of similar names for chocolate cakes.
Dye And Other Color Sources
The use of red dye to make “Red Velvet” cake was probably started after the introduction of the darker cocoa in order to reproduce the earlier color. It is also notable that while foods were rationed during World War II, some bakers used boiled beets to enhance the color of their cakes. Boiled grated beets or beet baby food are still found in some red velvet cake recipes. Red velvet cakes seemed to find a home in the U.S. South and reached peak popularity in the 1950s รข€“ just before a controversy arose about health effects of common food colorings. (Source: Wikipedia)
To make my version of red velvet cupcakes, I was determined to avoid using expensive red food coloring when I could use natural ingredients. The traditional dye besides red food coloring was beets, but I’d heard a lot of criticism that beets imparted a heavy, earthy flavor to the dessert. So, I went to Whole Foods with an open mind, looking for other bright red ingredients that could be used instead of beets. I had recently received a sample of Pom Wonderful Pomegranate Juice, which inspired me to think of red juices like pomegranate. (I probably would have used this juice, but there was a mix-up and it ended up sitting in our apartment complex office for two weeks when it needed refrigeration- oops.) Whole Foods didn’t have that specific brand of pomegranate, so I ended up bringing home an acai juice instead. However, I was also inspired by a can of cranberry jelly that seemed ideal for decreasing the oil in the recipe as well as bringing color and additional flavor. Maybe it was unconventional, but I had read complaints that Red Velvet Cupcakes often didn’t have much flavor and since I didn’t want a strong chocolate flavor, fruit-infused vanilla sounded really good to me. valentines day flowers ideas

Monday 9 January 2012

valentines day flowers ideas - More Valentine's Ideas ..

 The Legend of St. Valentine's Day centers around lovers of all ages focusing on a bright spot amid the bleakness of winter. One legend during the Middle Ages, Europeans believed that birds chose their mates each year on February 14. Lovers developed their own adaptations of this ornithological myth and began the practice of drawing lots, letting fate decide names of a person's 'Valentine'. Small gifts and sweets were exchanged, becoming the Valentine practice for the amorously young men and women.

The ancient Romans celebrated a festival of mid-February called Lupercalla in honor of Luperus, valentines day flowers ideas the Roman equivalent of the great god, Pan. Festivals included a match-making ritual in which young men drew the names of young women who either became their dancing partner during the 'Rites of Pan' or their partner for the year.

As the candy-giving customs grew, American Colonist made homemade candies with love notes scratched in the surface. By the mid-nineteenth century, candy makers were preparing deliciously flavored sugar lozenges, pressed into hearts and imprinted with words of love... the beginning of the modern day conversation heart.valentines day flowers ideas

Thursday 5 January 2012

valentines day flowers ideas - Say 'Cheese' When You Say 'I Love You' On Valentine's Day


Verona, Wisconsin — Nothing written in the valentines day flowers ideas Rule Book says you can’t do the expected in an unexpected way. With specialties from Kelly’s Kitchen you can give gifts of chocolate, offer foods that feature a touch of red, and serve romantic desserts for Valentine’s Day. Kelly’s Kitchen makes it easy for you to express your individuality along with your love.

Very few chocolate-lovers can resist fudge. Kelly’s Kitchen Chocolate Cheese Fudge and Chocolate Cheese Fudge with Nuts are different enough to stand out, and delicious enough to become Valentine’s Day classics. Each batch is made the old-fashioned way, featuring locally sourced Wisconsin cheese along with cream, cocoa and sugar. Once the fudge has set, it is hand-cut into 7-ounce pieces that are ideal for sharing.

For romantic get-togethers, Cranberry Almond Spread makes it easy to entertain in a memorable way. Kelly’s Kitchen gourmet cheese spreads are a flavorful choice for serving with sugar cookies, graham crackers or vanilla wafers.

After dinner or for late-night desserts, offer All Natural Dessert Bites. These specialties valentines day flowers ideas for dessert trays, and make it simple to serve bite-sized sweets. Kelly’s Kitchen offers an enticing selection, including Cookies & Cream and Strawberry Cheesecake varieties. Made with cream cheese, butter cheese and Kelly’s favorite sweets, they’re packed in a 5-ounce curved tray. With 11 pieces per tray, there’s always enough to go around.

For more flavorful and romantic Valentine’s Day gift ideas, visit the Sugar Brook Farms website at www.sugarbrookfarms.com.

Sugar Brook Farms is a family-owned business, located close to Green County, WI, one of the country’s leading cheese-making areas. All of the Sugar Brook Farms products feature local Wisconsin cheeses. Its nationally available product line includes Sugar Brook and Kelly’s Kitchen products, offering dessert cheeses, cheese balls, deli-cakes, a selection of award-winning spreads and stuffed peppadews.

Source: Sugar Brook Farms

Tuesday 3 January 2012

valentines day flowers ideas - Predictions can fire up basketball world

It is incumbent upon sports writers to make predictions, and it is especially common to do so at the start of a new season, or the start of a new year. Predictions carry little value, mine especially.valentines day flowers ideas

Take, for instance, my picks in Berkshire League girls bas­ketball. Two years running I picked Wamogo, alienating the entire league and, in the process, dooming the Warriors. This year, I went in another di­rection. So, what team is the last remaining girls unbeaten? Wamogo, of course. The primary objective of a prediction is to make coaches and athletes, moms and dads, angry. It works like a charm every season.

A coach often refers to a pre­season pick as a kiss of death.

And while coaches say they don’t want to be the team you pick, when you don’t pick them, they are piqued that they were not picked.

I am not clever enough to make any of this up. They have college courses on this stuff: Coach PO’d 101. They have col­lege courses on journalism, too. Sure wish I had gone to one.

Now that the holidays are be­hind us, and presumably cold and messy weather ahead of us, let us piece together the great games and exciting moments on the schedule. Bust out your iPad, iPhone, Droid, or, if your still living in the past, your handy pocket calendar, and cir­cle these days:
valentines day flowers ideas
Predictions: Let’s get this out of the way here and now: In the BL, I predict that the league champion will be (insert the name of your team). You are superb, breathtaking, incredi­ble. I weep with joy when I see you play.

In the NVL, clearly, no one has a chance to beat (insert the name of your team). Heck, you could beat most college teams.

For the NVL girls, the best is clearly Holy Cross. Sorry, but really, what else can I say?

They really could beat some college teams. In the South­West Conference its the Pom­peraug girls, all the way. That was easy.

Swimming: One of the best meets of the season is upon us, or is it? The Pomperaug-Cheshire meet is scheduled for Friday at the Cheshire Commu­nity Pool, but, with the bubble still not bubbling, the meet is, unlike the bubble, up in the air.

This will be a dandy, whenever they swim it, and if they swim it.

In the NVL, sources tell me that when Holy Cross swims Sacred Heart it will be epic. This year, the best Holy Argument may take place, not in a gymnasium, but in the John Reardon Pool.

Plug this date into your calendar: the Hearts and Crusaders go at it Feb. 17.
Game of the Week : There are many good games this week, but I can’t help but think that when the Sacred Heart boys visit Holy Cross Tuesday, it will be another Holy Epic. Michael Mallory is still a long time away from seeing the basketball court, and that might even things up a bit. When the Hearts and Cross are close, no game is better.

Game of the Month : On Jan. 16, the Mercy High girls come to Waterbury to square off with the Crusaders. Both teams are in the top 10 in state polls, and it should really give us some insight into how far this Cross team can go in March. This Crusaders need a game or two like this. If you like girls basketball, you need to be in The Pit.

Game of the Month (Feb) : The Pomperaug ladies have two dandies scheduled at home next month: Newtown Feb. 3, and Lauralton Hall Feb. 14.

That first Hall game, a loss, was a regular season game, but, it did not count towards the SWC standings. Ahead of the league tourney, these are the Panthers’ two big tests.

Just a thought : Was watching some of the highlight videos we did last season at the NVL boys basketball tourney, and it reminded me of how great it was in the Reggie O’Brien gym when the league put seats under each basket.

Naturally, things got out of hand and a few fans were tossed. You know how NVL fans can get. I was told that we just might have temporary bleachers set up this year at both ends of the gym. Great, great, great idea, as long as we have NVL bouncers on hand.

NVL Brass drama : The Seymour girls play at Watertown Tuesday, and we’ll know more after this game, but I have a feeling that a lot of Brass will be on the line when the Indians meet Wolcott again on the final night of the regular season for both teams, on Valentine’s Day no less, in the Eagles Nest.

On ice : Cheshire won a onegoal game the last time they played, but the Rams meet Watertown- Pomperaug in hockey again Jan. 11. Two state finalists meeting on the Taft rink should heat up the winter chill.

A Perfect 10 : If gymnastics is your thing, there is no meet better than the one Saturday in Southbury. The annual Pomperaug Invitational hits the mats at 10 a.m. The event kicks off the gymnastics season and always features the best gymnasts in Connecticut. Last time I went a wayward vaulter crashed into me and sent me flying over to the balance beam. Gymnastics IS a contact sport.

OK, maybe there weren’t many predictions in there, but now your high school calendar is chock full of ideas as the winter season spills happily into 2012. Have a great year.

Sunday 1 January 2012

valentines day flowers ideas - Fashion On Wheels: Le Fashion Truck


Americans need things immediately. We have immediacy on the highway. We have immediacy in the grocery store. And now, we have immediacy in retail.

The first generation of fast retail was online shopping. The second generation was stolen from trendy designers in Soho, New York who opened pop-up shops to introduce their line for the next season. Now, fashion immediacy has gone mobile.

However, the ever-growing trend of fashion trucks and pop-up shops is more than just a ploy in business to sell more clothes; it has robbed the indie culture of their underground street-credibility.

Indie Exploitation ‘Pops Up’

Many people stagger by, some pause and look in, and few enter the store beaming with curiosity. At around 3 p.m on Black Friday, I sit in front of the pop-up shop, pressed up against a railing on the third floor, between two elderly couples.

Within a span of 15 minutes, 11 people enter the store and 7 of which probe the employees to answer the question of the day, “What is this?”

What began as an underground, indie movement by using pop-up shops and trucks to sell high-end designer duds has now gone mainstream. Even Walmart has taken something so raw and unique, and commercialized it to make money off of this holiday season. The major retailer has already opened up two pop-ups shops in Southern California.

Contrary to obvious assumptions, the temporary store does not actually sell coveted gift ideas like electronics, clothing, or toys. It is systematically set up with tablets running along the edge of the tiny shop, so that customers can order online.

That’s right; you go to the Walmart.Com pop-up shop to do the same thing you would do on a lazy Sunday in the comfort of your home.

“The goal was to give our local customers easier access to the range of products on Walmart.com…it’s not uncommon for us to test different formats and different offerings in different markets just to learn how customers respond”, said Walmart spokesman, Lorenzo Lopez.

The mini store in Westfield Mall in Canoga Park, Los Angeles is only 1,000 square feet. It entices customers to come in and give the electronics a test run with is top to bottom windows, a smart strategy by the corporation.

Most of the Walmart.Com shoppers were not families shopping for the perfect Christmas gift for relative, but instead teens allured into the store by the latest video games that you could test-drive on obnoxious flat screens. One woman spent over 20 minutes on a high tech tablet with her son with no prospect to buy.

“I didn’t go in to buy anything. My son wanted to use the computer and they let us stay in there”, said Mojdeh Robati.

As the crowd died down by 8 p.m, a man came and sat next to me on my now-spacious table. He watched his buddy go into the store and waited for him outside.

“Walmart is a retail giant. I stay away from all this stuff. I buy all my stuff on E-Bay”, says Howard Stevens.

He fidgets in his seat as he discusses his woes about the retail industry.

“They are what they are. They sell crap, but they sell crap people want. Now, they even have this, a store that doesn’t even have the crap, you just go into order it. They’re a beast”, he says anxiously.

The idea of a pop-up retailer is nothing new. valentines day flowers ideas The mall always has one vacant space where a Halloween or Christmas store will open for about 2 months. Internet sales have gone up by 39% percent over the last year  and Cyber Monday alone ranked in 1.25 billion dollars (Shine.Yahoo.Com). Of course large corporations wants to take the familiarity of a pop-up shop and the trend in online retail. It gives them the best of both world’s to make money: safety and experimentation.

Although Stevens adamantly criticizes large corporations, much of the blame must fall upon the consumers themselves and their dire need for urgency; a societal flaw that retailers have now caught on to.

Why wait to go home and check out Walmart.Com, when you can do it in the mall as you shop?

Keep on Truckin’

Le Fashion Truck is parked in the heart of Hollywood on an unusually chilly day. It’s not the retro pink exterior that seduces customers; it is the bubbly laughter that can be heard exuding out through the windows from paces away.

The owners, Jeanine Romo and Stacey Steffe, are the perfect combination of business savvy and customer friendly. The duo is dynamic in every sense of the word.

Romo is quiet and calm. She calculates the next move she will make and has earned a degree in fashion design, while Steffe is energetic, impulsive, and uses her vibrancy to complement her street-smart background in media and business.

Their relationship is symbiotic. Both offer their unique expertise to run a popular shopping stop in a bustling city. The truck travels mostly in the Westside of Los Angeles, in trendy locations like Silverlake, West Hollywood, and Los Feliz, and the life is not easy. In fact, Steffe argues that it is harder than owning a traditional boutique. valentines day flowers ideas

“Life on the road is hard. If it’s cold outside, we’re cold. If it’s hot out, we’re sun burnt…it’s really hard”,she says.

The Immediacy of Fashion

Food Trucks have proven to be one of the most viable markets in retail. Unlike restaurants, food trucks move to the business, they do not wait for the business to move to them. There is a sense of control that can be found in mobile retail that is difficult to find in a poor economy. A sense of immediacy may be crucial in the future of business. The stakes have risen and Americans simply do not have the luxury to wait and see what happens.

Romo and Steffe have also recognized the need for immediacy, and their muse is fashion. Los Angelinos boast one of the busiest and well dressed cities in the nation.  When the idea of opening a “boutique on wheels” came to fruition, the pair knew that this would be the next big thing in fashion-forward market.

“We saw this mobile revolution and we were able to do it. It was attainable, it was possible. It was a viable option. I went to Jeanine and I’m playing around with this idea of throwing a store in the back of a truck. She was like, ‘Let’s do it!’ and the truck was born within two months”, says Steffe.

With Romo being laid off because of the economy and Steffe leaving behind the corporate world for the sake of her happiness, the young entrepreneurs entered the retail industry during trying times, emotionally and economically.

Driving down just one block in downtown Los Angeles, two store front mirrors have for sale signs. This is now common throughout the United States. Small business’ must not only compete with larger corporations, but paying thousands of dollars on rent, simply puts them at an extreme disadvantage.

It seems plausible that the next best option would be to open a truck, which typically costs between $10,000-$15,000. Le Fashion truck was bought for a mere $2,000.

Yet William Cockrum, a business professor at UCLA, contends that the stationary and mobile markets are not in competition.

“We’ve seen this in other cities, like New York and Chicago. They’re filled with trucks. I don’t think they they will die down for a while, especially since food trucks became so popular. You can’t even compare the two types of retail markets. A truck and a store are different. They each aim at a different audience”, he says.

Sumi Siegel, owner Sumi’s in Silverlake, Los Angeles, has a unique jewelry store in an uber-trendy location of the city. Although she has played around with the idea of opening a truck to complement her store, she argues that by no means would it be her first choice.

“It’s a neat idea but I prefer to be a location. I want people to know where to find me and not have to hunt me down”, she says.

Yet, Steffe does not feel that she settled by opening a truck rather than a stationary boutique.

“I don’t feel like I had to compromise. I don’t think I had to compromise anything. I think that I was compromising, I think I was compromising and when I decided to go into this business for myself was when there was no more compromising”, she says.

The Future of Fashion

Perhaps the immediacy stems from the poor economy. Perhaps it stems from our obsession with more, more, more. Regardless, shoppers want clothes fast and retailers want cash fast; a relationship as true as time.

With people now using the cell phones to order clothes, more fashion trucks throughout the nation and major retailers using pop-ups to increase revenue, we are left to wonder what the next move will be in the fashion industry.

Will it be involving teleportation? Will it be involving holograms? While the answer remains unclear, there is only one thing that is certain: the need for immediacy.



Le Fashion Truck Shines Among the Competition: A Slideshow
Le Fashion Truck shines among the mobile retail industry. Stacey Steffe and Jeanine Romo started the truck less than a year ago, being the first “retail on wheels” in Los Angeles.

The mobile boutique connects with its shoppers and posts the location for the day via Twitter and Facebook and makes stops in West Los Angeles. The truck has inspired several other trucks to sprout up, selling everything from clothing to home furnishings to flowers. Although the duo has accomplished what other small business’ can only dream of in such a short amount of time, they continue to brainstorm innovative and unique ideas to stand out among the crowd.

As the holiday season shopping goes into full swing, Steffe and Romo remain optimistic as they compete against the major discounts offered by larger retailers in the market.