Bring on the Mimosa

I'll admit, we consumed our fair share of Mimosas (champagne and orange juice) in celebration of waking up over the holidays.  As the day progressed, we just cut out the o.j. and champagne was the drink of the day.  Too much I might add.  As of yesterday, great big bottles of Evian water have been the call of the day.  It is all about detox right now.  But oh, what fun we had working our way to feeling as crappy as we do in the moment. 

Back to Mimosas for a moment.  Last week I came across an article talking about the "Color of 2009" as determined by the color czars, Pantone, "the global authority on color and provider of professional color standards for the design industries." The company was announcing their color choice of the year, an event started back in 2000.  Looking forward to the new year and what it might hold, colors have been selected to match or perhaps, lighten up the mood of the world.  The new millennium in 2000 was met with Pantone 15-4020 Cerulean Blue for its calming zen state of mind.  Other colors have been: 

• 2001--PANTONE 17-2031 Fuchsia Rose--exciting, feminine and sexy.
• 2002--PANTONE 19-1664 True Red--recognizing the impact of 9/11, a patriotic hue.
• 2003--PANTONE 14-4811 Aqua Sky--used to restore hope and serenity.
• 2004--PANTONE 17-1456 Tiger Lily--hip, with a touch of exoticism
• 2005--PANTONE 15-5217 Blue Turquoise--after all that hipness, we are back to calm
• 2006--PANTONE 13-1106 Sand Dollar--expressing concern for our economy
• 2007--PANTONE 19-1557  Chili Pepper--full of pizazz and sophistication with ethnicity
• 2008--PANTONE 18-3943 Blue Iris--mix of blue and purple suggesting dependability and magic.

This year, the color choice to take us forward in these very shaky times is PANTONE 14-0848, Mimosa.  It is a thick, warm yellow meant to embody hopefulness and reassurance in a climate of change.  Wow, I do believe we could all use some of that right now.  

I like it and I am not a big yellow person. I'm also not a person that feels a color is going to make things better.  But it does feel cozy and welcoming and now that I think about it, my favorite room in the house I just moved out of was painted a very similar color.  Hmm....

A bonus for me as I wrote this is discovering that Mimosa is not just a fun beverage but also a flower with about 400 species to its credit.  It becomes apparent where the drink gets its name as the color of these beauties resembles its cocktail namesake.  I'm thinking that I should paint a room in my current house this lovely color, fill vases with bunches of these little ballerina skirts and, you guessed it, grab a flute of the bubbly. 

Photo credit:  R Shidia@flickr, Eduardo DV@flickr