Various ideas have been on my mind as of late and one of those was a partnership. A collaboration, I guess it could also be called. A collaboration with another artist and/or entrepreneur that is attempting to expose their art and products to the world in a unique and attractive way.
I say attractive because passion attracts. Those that make and expand out of passion and still choose to do it with excellence attract other passionate people (and the rest of the world) to themselves. Artists, in every field, are powerful, and when they work together in some way, good god, you don’t know the impact they can make.
Saturday I invited one of these people to my house in hopes to do exactly that. She’s a florist. I think florist is a more refined way of saying crazy flower lady, which is what she is. In the best way. Crazy because she loves flowers and plants and can’t help but follow any sign that says “vivero,” even if it leads her to a random house with hortensias. (I’ll let her tell that story.)
Nati also works at Amazon on the side. Amazon in actuality takes 98% of her time but the remaining 2% gives her another wonderful reason to wake up every day. It definitely makes her life much more colorful.
So she came, her car full of flowers, to decorate a cake I had made. A lemon cake with strawberry filling and rosemary buttercream, to be exact. The rosemary buttercream has been on a Pinterest board for about a year (you all know what I mean) and I’m a bit of a fanatic when it comes to rosemary. The rosemary soaked in melted butter for about an hour, then the butter had to harden just enough to cream. Once creamed, it required the normal amount of powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk to make the consistency just right. My consistency was not “just right”, but the flavor was ridiculous. It was like a fir tree in the spring powdered with snow. Not many will believe this is possible, just like those who don’t believe that sweet and salty should never, ever be combined. But they should. And I think those people would start to believe it too if they tasted the cake. The lemon in the cake softened the almost overwhelming flavor of the rosemary and the strawberries added just the perfect edge.
Besides being a designer, a full-time worker, a florist and part-time adventurer, Nati is a perfectionist. She rearranged the decor of the cake twice before she was satisfied with the result. And it turned out quite lovely. The flowers complemented wonderfully the flavor of the cake. Although flavor isn’t something you can see, sometimes our sense of taste connects with our imagination and thus produces images. An equally wonderful collaboration.
We talked and shared about my baking and her flowers, and various topics besides. Nati talked more than I did, which is interesting because her and I have the same shy, reserved personality. It was my favorite part of the day, though. For those with our personality, its difficult to find a friend with whom the conversation simply flows. Usually, it implies a lot of overthinking and anxiety over what should be said next. But she talked and I was the listener, which is usually her role as well. Every listener needs that.
At the end of the day, I was quite filled and a little in wonder. We had found someone who understood and who loved to write as much as the other and who has also had a terrible experience while driving manual. And if no one else was impacted by our “artistic collaboration”, I know we were, and I am quite satisfied with the result.
Natalie does events such as weddings, baby showers, etc. She’s my favorite and could possibly be yours too.
Lantana
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Call me Graci 