Dressed in Holiday Style

    My coworkers and I are easily the hippest, funnest, coolest elves, Florists in town.

And my sister who came to pick me up from work and stayed to take pictures of me and my awesome co-workers.

Remains of V-Day

I make GOOD messes

    

                                      

I was called Hyacinth Clare...

   

Bouquets

Red Gerbera Daisy's. 6 of them, handtied. Simple.

The underneath side is cool too :)

I have to say, I LOVE orchids.This is one of the prettiest Bridal bouquets I've seen in a long time.

Casablannca Lilies, Green Hydrangea, Dendrobium Orchids, Bells of Ireland, Caspia

Purple Hydrangea in glass cylinder vasesStems in water

Lavender roses floating in square votives

50 of them

Together

Mother's Day Rantings...

#1 Will someone please explain why people spend more on their temporary girlfriends on Valentine's Day than on their Mother's? The women that brought them into the world? Raised them? Fed them?

#2 Why is it no one knows their mother's phone number? I can understand not knowing the address... but, the phone number?!!?!?? COME ON!

#3 Why can't I work overtime? WHY?!

#4 Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's that read my blog!!!
My own Mommy... :)
Kristi
Shannon
Serena
Alice

Heads Up

Mother's Day is THIS SUNDAY People!!! Order flowers NOW!!!

Let's remember all the florists in the world that need 120 hours to get everything done to be ready for the holiday, but aren't allowed to work overtime.

Please, save a florists life.
Order now. And you might wanna offer to pick up the flowers and deliver them yourself. It's more personal that way. And ignore the construction on Main Street. It's not that much of a hassle. Really. And ignore the people trooping in and out trying to fix the coolers, too.

And if you REALLY want brownie points... you could bring your florist a cup of coffee. I'm sure she'd love that.

Wrist Corsages

It's that time of year all over the United States when girls turn into princesses. They get a date, a pretty dress, a makeover, a gorgeous hairdo, new shoes, acrylic nails, jewelry, they get to ride in a limo and have a fancy dinner and jump into a vat of glitter. And they get flowers.

We like to help them out with the flowers. Here are some of my favorites this year...

Change and Hard TImes

What's a girl to do when she realizes she may have to leave the best working environment on the face of the earth?

I love my job. Love it. Love the flowers, the people, the creativity. I love the people I work with so much. My boss is the best. Just the best.

But, change happens. Life is always moving on when we're not ready for it.

I've always known that I would never be able to stay at the shop forever. It doesn't pay well enough for me to support myself longterm. I scrape by now, but only because I hold out hope that someday a "somebody that I'm longing to see" will come along.

But, it hasn't happened yet. So, reality crashes in. Ok, I can't live on this. Just can't.

So, this girl cries for a few days. Musters up the courage to talk to her boss about it. Blubbers and bawls her way through said conversation.

My boss is awesome. Really. She cried too. Hugged me. Gave me flowers and a raise, in "hope that it will help me stay a little longer." But, guess what? Even with the raise it's not enough. And the truth is she can't pay me enough. She knows it, and so she's promised me a job whenever I want it, for as long as I want it, but she'll let me go, even encourage me to do the best I can for myself.

I love her and I love the shop. I'm dreading going out into the world in search of something else that I can make a living at.

Valentine's Day

It's coming... it's getting closer every day....

*Rebecca pulls out hair*

ok, no one panic... it's not THAT bad.... but it's not that good either...

V-Day (that's a little shop talk for you) is the busiest single day of the florists year. It's the biggest, trickiest, fastest holiday, and no one looks forward to it.

It's big because of the peer pressure to SPEND MONEY!! The more you spend the more you love your Valentine. Or, so they say. Biggest spenders? High School Boys. Note, they are also the ones with the least cash and the shortest relationships.

It's tricky for two reasons.
#1 It's on a different day of the week every year. Middle of the week V-days are traditionally busier for the florist than weekends. If V-day falls on the weekend, the sweethearts are more likely to go away for the weekend, or plan a fun day together. More likely to spend money on a fancy dinner. If V-day is on say, a Tuesday or a Wednesday, guys are more likely to send flowers to their honey at work. They like to show off this way. All the girls at work will see the bouquet. Ladies are more likely to cook and do the candlelight dinner at home after the kids are in bed. No one takes time off work for V-day. This makes it tricky for the florist, because we never know for sure exactly how many flowers we will sell, what kind of arrangements will be popular this year, etc. No matter what the past years have been like, there are ALWAYS exceptions to the rules.

#2 Weather!!! We've had record snowfalls in Wisconsin this winter. We are PRAYING for good weather on Feb 14th!! A snow storm would mean huge losses. HUGE.


Then there are the "call-outs" some people call them "wire orders." This is when I have to call a flower shop in a different city or state to arrange and deliver the flowers. This is tough because, flower shops in bigger cities (almost every city is bigger than my city) are more expensive, which my customers don't like. They are also not as friendly, and they don't have any qualms about turning down orders. They just don't need the money that badly. It's not unusual for me to spend upwards of 30-45 minutes trying to place an order for a customer that needs to be delivered to their sweetheart in Chicago. Not to mention, these big city florists sell out of flowers a whole lot earlier in the game than we do. For instance I called a florist in Texas yesterday who informed me that she was no longer taking orders for Valentine's Day. There were 4 more days until the holiday!!!!


It's fast because it's one day. That's it. And then it's over, and all that's left to do is try to sell leftover pink and red flowers. Which no one wants to buy. Because, face it. No one likes those colors.

The Shops

Remember the sketches I told you about that my sister did?

Here they are:

My shop

Our Other Shop, 15 miles away. I never work there but my boss owns both, and we trade projects, flowers and phone calls all the time.

Susie did a fantastic job, my boss and everyone else LOVED them!!!

The Flowershop Girl... at Home

Namely, at the flower shop :-)

Here is my wonderful, WONDERFUL (note the emphasis) boss. She doesn't let us call her "boss", though, she's the "Coach"

Here she is opening her Christmas gift from all of us adoring employees. My sister drew a beautiful sketch of our shop, absolutely amazing.

This is me, with the two ladies I work with the most, two of my bestest buds!

And.... 'tis the season! We see a LOT of this, this time of year!

Windows

More than 70 years ago a man walked down the Main Street of a small town in Ky. He was a big city business man. Wandering up and down this little town something caught his eye. He crossed the street to admire a shoe store window display. The more he looked... the more he liked what he saw. He entered the shop.

"Excuse me, may I please speak with whichever of your employees it is that designed that window display?"

The clerk replied: "That would be Bill. Sure, I'll tell him you're here."

Before long Bill appeared. He was a tall, lanky young man. Quiet, calm, cautious.

"Hello, Bill. I represent the Sears and Roebuck, CO. I understand you're responsible for that window display?"
"Yes... I designed the window." Bill replied.
"Well, I think you did a fine job, Bill. Fine job. I like it a lot. Tell me, you did it all on your own, did you?"
"Well, yes, that was my job."
"That's fine, Bill. Bill, I'd like to offer you a new job. How would you like to move to Wisconsin? I've got an opening in one of our shoe departments there. Lots of room to move up. And I think you will, Bill. You've got the talent. What do you say?"

Bill had to think about it, but in the end he decided to take the job. He moved north, married and raised two sons. And he managed the shoe department at the Sears and Roebuck, CO. until he retired. By then, he had grandchildren. And great-grandchildren.

Fast forward 75 years. One of Bill's great granddaughters works at a Main Street florist in a small town in WI. Her boss asks her to design a window display for Christmas. Several days later, a group of women walk into the shop.
"Is your boss here?"
"No," the great granddaughter answers, "is there something I can help you with?"
"Yes. Who designed your window?"
"Well, I did," The girl replies, a little embarrassed.
"Well, congratulations!! You just won first prize in the Holiday Window Decorating Contest!!!!"



I apologize that I don't actually have any pictures of the first prize window. These pictures are the window I designed this year. It won 3rd place.