Photos: Jodee Debes Photography // Florals: Ida Blooms // Custom paper goods: Kendra from Creatures of // Naturally-dyed silk ribbon (eucalyptus and avocado): LVR Naturals
This is a story about love, strangers, and bad ass female creatives in San Francisco.
Once upon a time, before Ida Blooms was a real live company, I was your typical millennial-instagram-scroller obsessed with flowers. One day, as I worked my way through a beautiful feed of pretty blooms, I stumbled upon The Lonely Bouquet.
You see, back in my hometown in the midwest, there is a very talented floral designer named Eve. One day, over social media, I watched her drop several beautiful hand-tied bouquets around Cincinnati. Her only intent was for strangers to find her arrangements, and, hopefully, make them smile.
The idea spoke to my soul. I investigated more and soon enough found out The Lonely Bouquet is an international project meant to spread love and joy through flowers. Here's the gist: with a signature "take me" or "adopt me" card, you leave a bouquet somewhere for an unsuspecting stranger to find. The stranger might take it. They might leave it. They might pass it on to a friend. Somehow, though, your lonely bouquet will find it's way to a happy home.
It's an urban fairy tale.
Cut to now: it is international lonely bouquet week. Through a collaboration with three creative soul sisters, I finally got to drop my own Lonely Bouquets here, in San Francisco.
Armed with nine bouquets, Jodee Debes (the photographer) and I hit the foggy streets to spread some love. & guys, we could not have had more fun.
Cruising around SF in my beat up '99 Altima, we made pit stops in Nob Hill, Russian Hill, The Castro, Presidio Heights, The Mission, and Crissy Fields. We dropped our bouquets in the whicker basket of parked vespas, on empty bus seats, & halfway up a classic San Franciscso sidewalk-staircase. There were so many people, and so many places, we wanted to reach.
As the morning ticked by, and fog started to burn off, we turned our attention to the #lonelybouquetSF hashtag. & the love started rolling right back in.
Our bouquets were being found. & our excitement reached a whole new level.
There are a lot of things happening in our city, country & world that are difficult to witness, and hard to understand...
But not the Lonely Bouquet. The Lonely Bouquet generates joy among strangers. It's as simple as that.
So, whether you found one, or you saw one and left it for another stranger to find, or even if you just read about The Lonely Bouquet today... I hope it brought you as much joy as it brought to us.
&, if you're up for it, I encourage you to pay it forward.
I owe a VERY special thank you to my Lonely Bouquet soul sisters: Jodee Debes who photographed the entire morning & spent four hours shotgun // Kendra Meneghetti who custom made our paper goods // and Virginia Petitte who donated the naturally dyed silk ribbon. As for the lonely bouquets themselves.... those were designed by yours truly, on the plastic folding table my husband and I are currently using in the dining room.
Ladies, thank you for sharing your talents with me and the city of San Francisco.
