The Last Bouquet

The last bouquet. August 18, 2012.

It was time to make a change.  I've closed up shop as an independent florist now, finishing my last wedding a couple of weeks ago, and I'm feeling relieved.  A little sad, but mostly relieved.  It was a tough one to let go, but the stress just isn't worth the money (or lack thereof) anymore...  But it was worth it at one point.

The joy of making the perfect bouquet has now been overtaken by the details...  Things like the one hundred stems of [whatever main flower I chose to use] came in moldy (yes, this specific thing has happened to me four times), or didn't come in at all (this happened too), and I now have six hours to find replacements in order to spend an entire sleepless night piecing together bouquets out of whatever I could find at other shops...  Things like having ordered all of the flowers for one price, only to find out that since the order, the price of this one flower has skyrocketed due to a storm/drought/sourcing problem and now I'm making forty bucks on 12 hours of work...  Things like that.


Don't get me wrong, I still LOVE doing wedding flowers.  I love the look on a bride's face when she first sees her bouquet, knowing that it's exactly what she pictured.  I love pinning boutonnieres on nervous grooms that are trying to laugh through their pre-ceremony jitters.  I love making the flowers match the exact style and feel of the wedding.  I love making bouquets the most.  It's like an intricate puzzle of color and shapes, everything going together in just the right order.  If I could pick a top 3 of all of the bouquets I've ever made, I would probably pick these three (left), although I had a really hard time just now going through all of my pictures!  I picked the rainbow bouquet because it was the most fun, the fall bouquet because it was challenging in style and shape, and the lilies and blue orchids bouquet becuase I just loved the process of making that one.

Last week, upon turning in the last buckets from my last order to my old flower shop, I received a job offer from the new owner to come in whenever I would like to just to make arrangements, and I'm debating taking it. But we'll see how it goes.

 

Road Trip

This week the boys and I went on a road trip!  With the end-of-summer boredom that seems to happen near the end of August, it was the perfect time for us to get out of town.  Pete has been working quite a lot lately with construction season being in full swing, so sadly he had to stay home, but we still had a great time without him.


Jennifer, Cate, Eva, & Anna

My friend Jennifer and I have been working on getting together for a while now, but with her family living in Okotoks and our family here in Spruce Grove, it's never seemed to work out.  So this summer we were determined to make it happen.  The boys and I left early Monday morning to meet my friend Jennifer and her three daughters at the Calgary Zoo.  After spending the day there, we headed south and stayed at their house in Okotoks for 2 more days.  With all five kids in tow, we painted the town red.  We got to go sightseeing, we visited a honey factory, we played at 3 different playgrounds AND a spray park, and we spent time at their house too!  We came home Wednesday evening, and the boys spent Thursday and Friday coming down from all of the excitement.


At Big Rock

At the honey factory, watching the bees!






At the Zoo

Throwing rocks in Sheep River

Initialize

The "curse of the mechanic" as I call it, has been upon us again.  I say this lovingly, knowing full well that part of loving cars is owning more of them...
We've had our '93 Corolla (the boys named it "Yoda") for a long time now.  It's been dependable and easy to take care of.  We purchased that Corolla out of necessity, for something that would fit the four of us that wouldn't break down.  That car was good to us, but it was also the "dry white toast" of cars according to Pete.  About a month ago, a guy at the shop offered to buy Yoda.  Well Pete came home jumping up and down, because for the same price he was offered, he found his next car already.  With a knowing sigh I told him to do what he felt was right but this car had to fit the four of us and be RUNNING!  We already have a truck that doesn't run, and we can't run school and work without 2 functioning cars.  I asked Pete what his new car will be, and he says with a grin, "Get this, Christy.  It's an eight-six."


Real-life version of the Initial D AE-86

An eight-six is also known as the Toyota Corolla GTS, or the Toyota AE-86, one of the first affordable drift-racing cars.  It's an FR; front-engine, rear-wheel drive and despite it's age (believe it or not), it is a rare and coveted vehicle.  One of the reasons I already know so much about this car is because of the show Initial D, (get this) an anime show about drift racing in Japan (yes, Pete and I are geeks).  It's about Takumi, a humble kid who delivers tofu in his dad's AE-86 and becomes one of the greatest downhill street racers in Japan (see video below).  This TV show made the eight-six even more famous.  Now, the guys who previously owned Pete's car (also geeks) painted it to look exactly like Takumi's on the show with the exception of the "Fujiwara Tofu Shop" japanese writing on the side (and a few scratches/dents/rust spots).  Pete's plan is to change the paint-job eventually, but for now it looks just like the picture!  The boys love the car, their favorite thing is the pop-up headlights.

I have to say, I have honestly never ever had as much fun behind the wheel of any other car.  It might not look like much, and it might be from 1987, but this thing just flies.  It turns on a dime, and it's built to rev high.  It sounds fantastic.  Sometimes I find excuses just to drive it around.  If you can drive a stick, come by and take it for a spin sometime.