home for the holidays

I love my home this Christmas. It is warm and cozy, simply decorated, reminiscent of my own humble childhood and full of my son's first tender steps, giggles, and screeches. I am spending the time with my family that I have so often devoted to my clients during past holidays. Although I miss the whirl of decorating for others during Christmas, I am so grateful for this opportunity to be with my little family and to savor these tender moments.

I thought I would post some photos of past centerpieces for those of you that may wonder what we are usually up to during this time of year. Check back in a couple of weeks to see the lovely New Year's Eve wedding we will be designing for Robin and Seth at Hotel Solamar. It is an elegant affair with white & black anemones, gardenias, hydrangea, birch, birch, birch, and a plethora of candles. Until then...

click on image to enlarge

Word of the Day…

You may think that i have been watching too much Sesame Street with my 18 month old son..but I feel compelled to shout out my word of the day...AUTHENTICITY! For me it is about being authentic online, in my life, creating real and lasting relationships both in my personal life and business; all of this is my number one priority for 2010.

I have been reluctant to write, (which is hilarious for any of you that know me well, since I have a secret passion for stringing words together), because my site is not revised, reinvented, representative of Adorations and LaVonne Crawford.

I embarked on a journey late last year to redesign my blog and website, to my chagrin it was a disaster. As a designer, it is my responsibility to "get" my client, I guess I expected the blog "professionals" to approach the design in the same manner. I did not want another template, I wanted the design to REPRESENT! Finding the process dissatisfying, I gave up and focused on photo shoots, advertising and business relationships, all of which have been extraordinary, yet here I am again, longing for a presence on the web that expresses what is uniquely Adorations AND uniquely LaVonne Crawford, (for any of you that have not been in touch, I finally changed from LaVonne Zamora to my married name of Crawford).

And so the latest news is that I am speaking with a graphic designer next Monday for my initial in depth consultation about the branding of Adorations and how to either separate and / or integrate my other creative endeavors in a manner that makes sense to the you...the client, serves the history of Adorations, and introduces aspects of my creativity that not only will be fulfilling to myself but will also be in service to each of you.

Therefore I MUST embark on this writing journey...sharing the process, letting everyone in, and welcoming even what feels frightening...

...more to come...