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Today I’m in the mood for a philosophical discussion.
Is there any truth to the widely accepted theory that “Less is More”?
Let us examine this in the context of oxygen. If given the option of receiving either less or more oxygen, which would you choose? Let’s see … no oxygen or lots of oxygen? You don’t have to be a scuba diver to know lots of oxygen is the right answer.
What about pizza? Would I be happier after eating one bite of pizza? Or an entire pizza? The answer is obvious. Entire pizza please.
And finally, sloths. Do I want one sloth? Or many sloths? Hundreds of sloths? I want the most amount of sloths possible, thank you.
So clearly, this theory about “less is more” is somewhat flawed. It is a fallacy possibly perpetuated by a diminutive phallus. That’s my guess anyway.
However … are there any circumstances where less really IS more?
Let us turn to the examination of tulips. I have 3 control groups for you to consider. The $1, $7 and $40 arrangement of tulips.
The $1 tulip.
The $1 tulip will be representing the “less” group.
The $7 tulips.
The $7 tulips will be representing the mama bear group.
The $40 tulips.
The $40 tulips will be representing the “more” group.
So. Now that you have the information and visuals, it’s time to collect the data. What do you think? In the case of orange tulips arranged for pleasing the eye, is the widely accepted theory true? Is less, more?
Or … is MORE more?
Yay 1st one here 🙂
I’ve seen your silver jug before in other posts and am still wow’ed by it. Simply stunning! !
You know, I saw a jug much like that at my local Sally Anne a few weeks ago. I was immediately drawn to it but then my “practical side” (evil twin) took over and said “what are you going to do with that, and where are you going to put it?” So I walked away….CRAP!!!
Sort of looks like The Avett Brothers under your coffee table there. If they cut their hair and shaved.
Gloria – I do not know who these Avett Brothers are, LOL. The album is The Style Council. I was listening to a few albums while I was doing the photography for this post. ~ karen!
Love the Style Council — have seen them and Paul Weller (solo) in concert and they’ve been constantly in my music rotation since 1984. (The Jam was pretty good, too.)
Oh The Jam…YES!!!
The Avetts! Those boys are much cuter than that. 😉
By which I mean the Avett Brothers are cuter than those fellas on the album. Sheesh, pronouns.
I rather like all 3 – however, I would totally be running out to get my own huge $40 bouquet of tulips if I had a place to display them; that is absolutely stunning.
Personally, I would go right in the middle of the mama bear and more groups; because I think more tulips look nicer when arranged, but when you get into the realm of 30+ tulips (or any flower) it loses “something” for me…. I’ll have to let you know when I figure out what that “something” is! 🙂
MORE! Tulips are my favorite flower ever and orange tulips even more so. That last arrangement is stunning (and is a perfect complement to the car wash mitt pillow).
All about the middle! My first bouquet of the year just died but I managed to keep them alive for a week. Yay. Placed my winning vote today. Good luck you really deserve it. Happy you didn’t retire last year given I just got on the blog bandwagon last summer. I would have totally missed out!!!
When they are all so nicely styled it’s hard to choose…..MORE.
More, but I don’t want to pay $40.
I’ll tell ya Tricia. It was the bet $40 I ever spent. They lasted a week and they made me happy every second I was looking at them. Maybe not on a weekly basis, but … once in a while. WOW. I felt like a princess garden fairy girl. Who swears. ~ karen
LOL! After my kids moved out (and yes, they grew up first) I started buying myself flowers every week. I know just what you mean by the princess garden fairy girl thing.
Sally, I do the same thing – buy myself flowers. And why not? We deserve them 😉 I love having fresh blooms in the house all the time.
Isn’t that the best kind!?
I can see why they would make you happy! The $40 bunch definitely had the biggest WOW factor. In this case, more is better!
More all the way. The grace, the majesty, the overall orangeness of it all.
Orange tulips I love! All three look beautiful and perfect in their setting however the 40 dollar bunch is a huge WOW factor.
$7 tulips all the way. They’re not overwhelming, they’re not underwhelming. Put them in a vase together or in a row, one or two per vessel.
You are now buying flowers to match car wash mitts? Really????
On the question of oxygen, I turn to the late great American philosopher, Michael Jackson, who is known to have slept in a hyperbaric chamber chamber. LOOK WHERE IT GOT HIM.
Clearly one of us has had too little oxygen. What’s with the “sloth” thing, please? Did I miss the memo?
You didn’t see this? It’s pretty funny.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/bizarre/4102010/Kristen-Bell-news-Hollywood-actress-breaks-down-at-news-of-a-birthday-visit-from-a-sloth-arranged-by-fiance-Dax-Shepard.html
I actually DID see that. But I’ve seen other Hollyweirdos acting the same. It’s like they’re the “It” wild animal these days. As if someone actually said,
“Reeeeallly, polar bear cubs are so last year…”
No … you can ask the fella. I’ve loved sloths since way back in the day when ferrets were all the rage. ~ karen
More by a mile!
Love the $7 arrangement. Stunning!
Kristen Bell made me love Sloths. I would have to say more. The $40 set. Its just the most beautiful thing to look at. SO more…
So do you get to claim the cost of these tulips as a business expense?
Loree – Actually … I do! 🙂 ~ karen
More is more….but there should be a another smaller option – maybe $25? $40 size seems like too much, but it is still very beautiful and colorful. It just looks too crowded.
Depends on the proximity of the viewer. A single tulip has a sensuality that is lost when grouped. However a single flower is underwhelmimg and overlooked in a large room.
You simply must discover the Avett Brothers, Karen! They are one of my FAVES!
Omg those are gorgeous!! Gimme!! Of course more is more. More is always more. It’s pure logic. ;P And if I had those I would still want more….see where I’m going with this?? Perhaps I’m just greedy….there’s something to be said about greed. When I think of what it is I’ll let you know.
Middle and first. My favourite colour too.
Glad to see your headache is gone Ducky!!
Wow! Do you think I’m crazy? Give me that huge bunch of orange loveliness and I want it right now! It’s stunning. Even in all my days as a floral designer I never had that many unwrapped at one time. I’ve never been a fan of orange but this just changed my mind. Your silver needs polishing as badly as mind does. LOL It looks like yours but it has a lid attached AND IT’S NOT FULL OF ORANGE TULIPS! Now, about the fairies. They do swear as in I swear I’ll always love orange tulips so that would be why you feel like one. Just stick on some wings and you’re good to go. Did you play Tinker Bell in the movie???
I adore orange tulips, so I applaud you on your flower choice. All 3 have their place. I’d be happy to have the $1 & $7 arrangements in my house. I’d like to have the $40 bunch to spread around to family and friends. It’s a little too “Martha Stewart” for my humble abode. Less chocolate/more chocolate; less weeds/more weeds; less sun/more sun; less yeast infections/more yeast infections…. It’s like a political contest — no easy answer, except in the case of the yeast infection, at which time we just need to resort to your cure.
I say either the first one – elegant and understated or the third one – for the wow. The second one kinda looks like the tulips don’t really know what they want to be.
I think the singleton looks like a penis. I’m going with more is more.
Emily, don’t you mean a schlong, pocket rocket, weiner, or bazinkus??? 🙂
Well I love the mama bear because I have that same vase! But then again the Daddy Bear with the trifle bowl and 40 days and nights of orange tulips is also very smashing! Not really floating my boat on the one tulip…to lonely…sad..and who wants to be sad looking at two lips…oh I meant tulips…so more is more and less is sometimes too less..
MORE! And have them where you can watch them daily. A friend sent ‘MORE’ to me when my Mom went to Heaven, and they were a joy to watch each day…from the perky to the droopy and finally losing petals. A daily changing work of art. Can you tell that I loved them!?
More.. more.. more!
I think tulips are not in the less-is-more category. All three arrangements are gorgeous! Less is more refers to things like make up, hairspray, salt, perfume and martinis.
You had me nodding at each step but in this case my heart belongs to more!
I don’t think it’s a fair comparison when the first two look like you forgot to put the penny in the water. The last one needs the droop to be artistic but when you only have one or two, they need to stand up and be counted.
Less is definitely more when it comes to sloths, snakes and spiders, but not when it comes to those horribly addictive smashed potatoes you have introduced to an unsuspecting public. They are amazing and to paraphrase an old Bob Hope song, “Thanks for the calories….”
More, more more!
MOREMOREMOREMOREMORE!!!!!!!!! Given that autumn has just started in Australia, I am simultaneously depressed and inspired by $40 worth of tulips (that co-ordinate perfectly with your car-wash mitt cushion by the way). Time to dig up half the backyard and get some tulip bulbs planted!
“MAMA bear” group—“….and this group feels just right!”~Goldilocks
I would go for the $48 arrangement myself and do all three. That being said, I still think that the ‘less is more’ doesn’t fit in all (or most) instances and I would pop for the huge bouquet.
It all depends on the flower…Tulips need to be bunched up, so definitely the $40 one. Orchids, however, can definitely stand alone.
I choose more when it’s a bouquet of different flowers. Depending on the flowers. There’s just something about that one tulip.
Hmm.. I have to go with the $1 arrangement with $7 a close second. Probably since I just bought a $40 bouquet and divided it into no less than 15 different vases/jars around the house!
How about all of the looks in 3 different rooms?
I liked the little bear vase. I noticed each one and loved them for their sweet selves. But the big one is an eye popper and the middle one pretty too. I do vote for the little one and I would have taken the big one and broke it up and put little ones all over the entire house as if Elmo had exploded from laughter. No matter where I looked I would be happy. Hundreds of sloths? Are we making sloth neck rolls now?
Broke but MORE! Absolutely lovely. Tulips were the reason for my spring wedding- they make me so happy inside!
Dang Karen..I like all 3, I LOVE tulips,live 4 minutes from a place that grows them indoors & out..a dozen at the grading warehouse is 2.50-5.oo HOWEVER I have one blue cat that thinks you should nap on vases full of flowers….my house is tulip free…sigh.
I like the $7
I can’t believe you bought $40 worth of tulips!
More! Love orange tulips and clearly as you demonstrate, the more the better.
less is more here, the 40$ is too over the top, the tulip is such a beautiful happy flower and its hard to appreciate it in such a huge mass. i even love the 1$ because its reflected its more like 2$. you could have saved yourself 23.50$
I usually fall in the “less” camp but with tulips it’s really difficult to not adore the “more”!
“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than to be crowded on a velvet cushion” – Thoreau
Less is so much more.
First: You MUST discover the Avett Brothers!!!!
Second: I take the $40.00 tulips, divide them into enough smaller bunches to put in every room of the house in a spot I can see and enjoy them every time I walk into a room. And I take the last few and go see my Mom.
Y’know, not to be difficult or anything, but I think I would like a $14 bunch, just to fill in the other side of the $7 vase – I find the MORE bunch a bit too much, kind of overwhelming . . . but I am glad you enjoyed them!
More, more, more!!!!!