One Word: Waiver

The Soap Factory will again this year open up it's doors and welcome you into the bowels of its seriously scary basement. It's so bloody frightening that a waiver must be signed in case you fall and can't get up, have a heart attack, need a lifetime of therapy once you escape, etc. The Haunted Basement runs from October 17th through November 2nd, nightly from 6pm-12am ($15. Not kid-friendly. Not adult-friendly, for that matter). Buy your tickets in advance, or you'll never get in. Greet our Lindsey when you're there. She'll be helping to make your stay more enjoyable...

When they are bad, they are horrid.

Smitten with this centerpiece we did for a new client having a dinner party. Dahlias are fickle beasts, pooping out on us and turning to mush more often than we're comfortable with. But when they are good, they are very, very good. And wow, this was hot (and maybe just the teeniest bit goth, but 'tis the season).

She's got the whole world in her hands...

We have very little information on the whys of this huge mossy floral globe we bumped into at our wholesaler. We didn't make it, but it did make us snicker a little. To help orient you, that's New Zealand by Liz's right hand.

Our name here.

Hooray! We were just named best florist by Minnesota Monthly Magazine in their 2008 Best of the Cities issue. Here's a bit of their write up:

In the world of Bastian+Skoog, there is no flower that can't be transformed into a blossoming work of avant-garde art.
The clever design duo of Liz Bastian and Heidi Skoog enjoys a challenge: Simply suggest a color or a bloom and they'll produce a truly effervescent arrangement...

They had a lovely party to announce the winners (to which we were actually invited -- not naming any names other Twin Cities' magazine: you know who you are) at the Hotel Minneapolis. Bonus points to the lassies from the Midtown Global Market for above and beyond generosity with their perfect figs and goat's cheese and honey. We're fans for life. To Patron, who sponsored the drinks: cosmopolitans served in 12 oz. tumblers is a really, really bad idea. Somehow we ended up dancing our asses off at Aqua (yes, of all places, Aqua). We only had two drinks, we swear...

Meetings

We were recently interviewed for the Fall 2008 issue of Meetings: Minnesota's Hospitality Journal. We got a copy today from the writer, Marni Ginther, over lunch at Be'wiched. The article is ever so nice. Thanks to David Ellis for the photo.

Peachy.

A wedding of ours was featured in Mpls/St. Paul Magazine in an article titled An Artsy I Do. It was a lovely number on the terrace at the Walker Art Center. Kate and Matt were peachy, the Walker is peachy. It was a beautiful event.

Oh how we love the 112 eatery

It's high time to sing the praises of the 112 eatery, where people are welcome to eat at a civilized time (late), the service is always impeccable (thank you, Marcus), and the food is, well...perfect (the sea scallops with oyster mushrooms, the mind blowing 112 cheeseburger with brie on an english muffin.) Last night we had an impromptu celebration when my dessert (tres leches cake) arrived with a candle in it. I'm still not sure why, but then again, why not?

Peep in the windows at Mitrebox

The incredibly wonderful Kate Pabst of velvetpeel is showing her work in the window gallery at equally wonderful Mitrebox Framing Studio for the month of September. Do stop in.

Fetching Backsides

Do we ever grow weary of cheeky wordplay? Never.

But truly, we've been running into some of the best looking bouquet bottoms lately. It's great to have a good side, but let's face it, in this three dimensional world it's nice to look good from every angle.

And yes, that's our new BFF, baby's breath.
And yes, those are carnations. Yes, that's their natural color. And yes, definitely, the mint green velvet ribbon feels as good as it looks.

Kudos of the Day

We did a gorgeous mod/preppy/cheeky/classic wedding this weekend at the St. Thomas Chapel and the White Bear Yacht Club (Go Bears!). We were surprised to find our friend Sara of Mitrebox had been in attendance, when she sent us her complements:

I was at a wedding this past Saturday at the preppy WBL Yacht Club. I was super admiring the floral arrangements and taking all kinds of photos of the hydrangea, white rose, peony combos. And how each table was similar, but not the same....come to find out an hour later - YOU did them!!!

Kudos!
The Conzemius/Metcalf wedding was lovely.


Sara

Monique Lhuillier Trunk Show Preview

Brides in the know will be at the Monique Lhuillier trunk show tomorrow to try on the freshest and hottest in wedding dresses. They'll also be able to "try on" our bouquets, which we are lovingly creating as we speak. We're feeling cherry at the moment, so you'll see lots of cherry red, fuchsia, and verging on goth black-reds. The Monique Lhuillier store is at 50th and France, dangerously close to Anthropologie, if you ask us. Bring your hot momma with you, too -- their Mother of the Bride dresses are stunning!

The Band Version of Bastian+Skoog

Our friend Kristina Halvorson of Brain Traffic, sent us this video of the Ditty Bops, referring to them as "the band version of Bastian+Skoog". If only. How cute are they?

Saturday August 16th is the 7th Annual Square Lake Film and Music Festival.  We can't make it (wedding season), but we'd love to live vicariously through you.  Square Lake is our best kept secret -- if it's nice out and we're not in the studio, it's a fair bet that we're at Square Lake eating ice cream sandwiches, floating in the friendly weedless waters, and gettin' our tans on.  This year's lineup includes Happy Apple, Black Blondie, the Owls, and the wildly talented Spaghetti Western String Company (with whom we spent maybe the most painful Fourth of July of all time.)

Get 'em before he eats 'em

House dog, Luca's pick of the week are these fabulous calla lilies for sale at Surdyk's for $35/10 stem bunch.  This is a crazy great price on callas, as these can often run three or four times that.

Carnation Cuties...

Our fair Lindsey is just about to bring these little carnation cuties over to Surdyk's.  If you're quick, you can meet her there and pick one up for $14.99.  $14.99?  We might buy them ourselves.  If you've got someone to impress, we have lovely white dendrobium orchids there for the weekend, too.

Their Knickers are Coming Down!

After a rude awakening by the dustman on this dark, drizzly morning, I checked my email only to be rewarded by an early access preview of the annual Agent Provocateur sale.  Now that we have safely placed our (shamefully large) orders, we recommend you stop what you're doing right this second, and do the same.  We heartily endorse the Nikita, Francoise, and Jenifer lines, but it's hard to go too far wrong with AP.  Go on, you deserve it.  And it only comes once a year.

DJ B-Day

It's our house DJ, Jake Rudh's birthday today.  Head down this eve to Clubhouse Jager to shake it during his weekly music extravaganza, Transmission. And get to work on your Halloween costumes. If we're lucky, he'll spin again for our 7th Annual Halloween Bash (only three months away.  What on earth are we going to be?)

Holy, holy, hole-y

A new client of ours, formerly referred to as Mrs. Liz and now more accurately called by her real name, Linda Henneman of Thinkdesign Group, has the most beautiful perforated "paperwork" we've ever laid eyes on.  Smart, simple, fresh, timeless.  She's so cool, and we have an unnatural fondness for white things with holes in them.

The Calm Before the Storm

After a lovely morning at the market buying flowers for our peeps, we had a terribly unfortunate incident occur.  Our wholesaler recently rebuilt their entrance and chose to use some sort of deadly, corrugated, sharp, metal, industrial stairway.  On a handful of foreshadowing occasions we have gotten our heels stuck in the grating.  Today however, there was serious, irreparable damage done to Heidi's new shoes, and I had to literally pull her out (and not just any shoes, the extra fine tricolor patent leather mary jane peep toe "we finally got the website done reward shoes").  Anyone got a good shoe repair guy in their pocket (or a little sympathy for the Skoog)?

White hot.

Kudos to Jimmyjane for redesigning some classics (the usual suspects) in pure white. Body safe and minimalist-friendly, these are just the thing for those of us turned off by bad design.