Today I switched a co-worker shifts, since her boyfriend's birthday is today, and her shift is 12-8.  So I had time to get an oil change in my car early today.  I came home and ate some avocado toast and thought about writing.

The above beauty is Kent's Beauty oregano, and I am absolutely and completely smitten with it.  I think I may have finally found myself as a flower.  It's always interesting what people think about themselves, and what others think about them - does it ever match up, or do we always see ourselves a bit differently then the rest of the world does?  This week I am flowering oregano and it just makes me really happy.

Fast forward to 6:30pm, because I lost track of time and am blogging at work now.  The poppy in the above photo lasted but a minute, but my goodness it was beautiful for a minute.

I just got some headshots back in my email from a finance workshop that I attended in Manhattan a few months ago.  I had short hair then, brand new short hair, so now I can use current photos for my website.  I'm happy about that - and that a really fabulous photographer was generous to donate her skills to take the portraits.

I have lots of thoughts in my head all the time, and am unsure of how to edit and write them in a way that is easy to receive online.  I want to talk about so many topics: local flowers, finance, client relations, how much I love flowers, freelancing experiences, and more.  Perhaps I'll just title different posts with each of those topics, and categorize from there by bullet point.  That may honestly be the easiest way. 

The battle against fruit flies

Since it's now summertime and there's an abundance of fruit, and despite my fastidious efforts in keeping a clean kitchen, we have fruit flies.  They are intensely irritating and seem to be resilient against our apple cider vinegar traps, but progress has been made in the body count thus far.

My parents just left from visiting for the weekend.  I wish that I could take Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and just smash together the best parts of each city, and then my family wouldn't be so far away.  They're not even that far.  But six hours can feel like a pretty long drive sometimes.  Especially with a meowing cat, a mouth-breathing cat (has anyone else experienced how creepy it can look?  I know that they're just using a mouth gland to get a better sense of surroundings, but still!), and a husband who requires the car to stop at least once during the trip.  I'd rather just take it as a straight shot.

My first ever arch, above.  I'm a bit annoyed that it's taken this long to be given permission to make one alone.  Regardless, I think I like how it turned out.  It was a lesson in restraint.  Some of the mechanics with the arch itself prevented me from adding more flowers, but despite this setback, the clients were still thrilled.  So it's that interesting line dividing what we THINK is expected versus what will actually be expected from the client.  Luckily, things worked out really well this time.

Foxglove, just because.  

This orchid friend was a new one at Longwood.  My parents always just enjoy walking around and admiring their grounds, so off to the gardens we went.  It's fun just walking and talking.

Another test in patience is obtaining freelance work - and continuing to obtain freelance work.  I was booked solid in June, and am working for the shop on Friday to round it out.  I hadn't had a freelance job since about three months ago in early April.  It seemed like a big gap, and I'd like that to change.  Consistent freelance work makes me use different skills more frequently, and I love seeing how other people work.  It makes me think a lot.  For future freelance jobs, I need to remember to actually load music onto my iPhone, and bring headphones though.  On the majority of freelance jobs I've done, I've been given a bit of guidance and then left to my devices for the next 7 hours.  Sometimes in a room alone, which I actually really enjoy.  Then I just get to hang out with flowers.  But I might want James Taylor to join us next time.

New website soon?  I'm trying.

Chopped

About a month ago, I decided to cut my hair off.  I put it in a ponytail and cut above the elastic, and over three days, it became progressively shorter and looked better and better.  Chris helped me a lot with the back of my head.  And by help, I mean he stood there and reassuringly said that it looked just fine as I continued using the clippers to take more off.  

I've wanted to try short hair for awhile now.  Last year I was growing my hair as long as possible for our wedding, just because I presumed if I had more hair, there was a better chance that I'd have more hairstyle options for the day.  But I feel like my hair just kind of stops growing at a certain point.  Or just really slows down.

That's the opposite with short hair.  I have to trim it every week right now because it grows so fast and starts looking a bit too much like a mullet.  We're still refining the style I suppose.  But I really like it.  

The above photo was taken about a week and a half ago at a wedding on Long Beach Island that I was fortunate to freelance on.  Amy at Leaves of Grass Floral Design is a sweet soul that I met just under a year ago, and she hired me to freelance for the event.  Working a gigantic event with her and the rest of the team was a wonderful experience - just think branches upon branches upon branches.  And the most beautiful local flowers as well.  There's a lot to be said for sourcing flowers locally - the  overall quality is truly unparalleled.  That might be a discussion for another post.  But for now, just trust me. 

It's funny because my cousin actually was married five years ago at the same venue.  Luckily, instead of the over-hundred-degree temperatures that I experienced before, the week was mostly overcast and cold.  Perfect weather to arrange flowers at a beach house.  We didn't even use the air conditioning, just opened the windows.  It was perfect.

Freelancing has been so educational for me in the past year.  Luckily, I've been able to work for some amazing florists while also working at the flower shop that I'm at full time.  We're in the middle of a busy wedding season at the shop already, and we're not slowing down until mid-July.  Sometimes I wonder about the sustainability and heart behind the back to back to back weddings that we produce. I especially wonder how I'd like to run things once I'm on my own.

I think that I'm also benefitting from seeing other florists in action because then I'm able to analyze how they work.  Not only how they design, but how they interact with others, and how they run their show.  The back end of business, the numbers and logistics, are really fascinating to me.  I want to write about those things, but I'm not sure if it's worth it, or who will read it.  Sometimes having the thoughts in my head is enough, but then when I'm ready to talk, few people actually are comfortable talking about those things.  Perhaps I'm just trying to share a ton of industry "secrets" and steal information from others.  If you're paranoid and insecure, that sounds about right.  

If there's one thing that I've learned recently, it's that there is more than enough business to go around.  This is evidenced by the amount of inquiries for weddings at the shop that I have to refer elsewhere.  Some weekends, we are booked completely solid and just cannot take another wedding.  And no, not even the inquiries that insist they "don't need much...just a bride's bouquet, 4 bridesmaids, boutonnieres, and ten centerpieces plus delivery to (insert location 30+ miles away)."  

Hopefully soon, I'll be launching a new website with a new blog for myself.  It's almost ready - maybe by Friday if I feel ambitious.  We've also been apartment hunting, and I'll be telling the horror stories of that soon as well.