Tulipalooza
We held the first annual LMD retreat at my country house this week and I invited my staff to partake in the festivities. We planted nearly 3000 tulips of all varieties, from Apricot Beauties to Zurel. I chose only tulips with very distinctive characteristics. Parrot tulips, fringed tulips, double tulips and a bounty of others with gorgeous contrasting streaks and color variations. There will be no "eggs on a stick" or boring single tulips to be found on the Camp LMD grounds!
I am very fortunate to have a team that is hardworking
and
multi-talented. Tawana, our head designer is also a gifted cook. So as my production managers John and Eddie made a roaring camp fire, and Felipe, my other production manager, helped me organize the bulbs, Tawana headed straight to the kitchen to whip up a delicious lunch.
Trenching and burying this many bulbs takes a handful of hours and works up a serious appetite. We settled into a feast of grilled rosemary shrimp and local pork sausages from the farmer's market with Israeli tomato and orzo salads. We then headed to the artist's studio to map out our next big event…beer pong! I have never played this ancient gaming ritual but thanks to my associate producer Lizz, my learning curve was swift and steep!
When I first purchased this home, I could immediately visualize where the pool would be, how I would layout each room of the main house but the artist's studio was always a question mark. I didn't know exactly what its purpose would be, it had a 10-foot-long wooden table at the center of the main room and not much else, but as beer pong turned into flip cup and the space filled with loud, drunken laughter, I quickly realized it would be where all of our late night parties and louche happenings would occur. We work extremely hard at LMD so to witness my team play and interact together in such a carefree way was a lot of fun. The night ended with homemade family-style lasagna and s'mores by the campfire. I couldn't tell what was warming my heart more, the roaring fire or seeing all the smiling faces surrounding me.
