Canada Eh!

On Tuesday I left for a business trip to Toronto.  With all the storms around the central US, it was a hard travel day and a late night!  Needless to say, we missed 1/2 our work day so we had to make it up over the next 2 days.  However, on Wednesday night we had a little fun and went to the Yankee vs. Blue Jay's game. We had great seats and enjoyed a Canadian Meat Sandwich and some local brews!  It was raining outside and I came prepared with my rain coat only to find out that it was a covered dome! I'm not so sure about baseball in a dome, but it was a great time!

My vendors and I...they told me to lean in so they could see Bob and it looks like my head is attached to Patrick!

Thursday we were with another vendor and enjoyed dinner on Lake Ontario at Snug Harbor.  The view was breathtaking and the seafood was pretty good too!

On Friday (after our meetings and my assistant left for the airport), Leigh Ann and the kids came and picked me up!  We went to an awesome hamburger place where I had a turkey burger...it had brie and mushrooms and was fantastic as well as fries.  Everyone talked about how good the fries were and they were right!  We then drove around the water and she showed me some sites.  They live in a wonderful neighborhood with great neighbors.  We all just hung out and drank local brews while the kids played.  Robert cooked out a delicious dinner and we just enjoyed being outside in the nice weather (without mosquitoes).  On Saturday we got up and went to the most quaint town with tons of wineries called Niagara on the Lake.  The main street was very cool and all the shops were lined with the most beautiful flowers.  Leigh Ann and I outside a wine bar.  Leigh Ann had the office next to me at my first job with the Chamber of Commerce and we became fast friends!

Love this sweet family!  They have been in Canada for over a year and just love everything about it.  I can't blame them...what an awesome experience they are having.  

Then we went to Niagara Falls.  I love waterfalls and this one was breathtaking!  

 It was just so beautiful and I'm so glad I got to experience it from the Canadian side.

Afterwards we went on the Farris wheel that over looked the falls  Anna and Thomas were so excited.  It was super cool!

Then it was Sunday and I had to fly home.  It was an easy flight given I didn't have any delays.  Ray was going to meet me on Thursday night, but since he never filled out his passport info he had to sit this one out.  I hope he gets it together and we get to go back before their time in Canada is up!

Lee and Shawn's #Conradicalwedding

Since I had some last minute flower errands come up we didn't make it to the ceremony, but we made it to the reception.  Everything was perfect.  The band was amazing...they earned their money dancing around the entire room singing and getting everyone up on the dance floor.    

 Shawn loves to grill...his grooms cake was awesome!  Every bit of that...even the styrofoam container was fondant!

 Mom and her friends...Ms Kim, mother of the bride is seated...Lee is the last of their 3 girls to get married...they have had a wedding every year for the last 3 years.  I was the day of coordinator for the other two.

 I heard Anna Belle loved her crown and she wore it for 8 hours straight!   It looked so cute on her!

 The beautiful bride!  High school friends.

We were just missing Molly and Logan...

 A fun time was had by all!

Oh how I love flowers...

Oh how I love flowers and how I have missed working with them.  I have people ask me if I do wedding flowers from time to time, but unless you are family I usually say no.  They are just hard to manage with a full time job.  However, when Ms Kim asked me back in February to do Lee's wedding I said yes.  I kinda shocked myself with that answer, but in my head I had been wanting to do another wedding.  It forced me to find a wholesaler, which was harder than I anticipated given most of the ones I knew from my Hallmark days had closed.  However, I now have a great connection with a wholesaler and they were wonderful to work with!   I am super thankful that my Aunt Marca came to help me.  She is so creative and is an excellent 'finisher' when it comes to the details and ribbon work and so much more.  All in all we had 2 large church arrangements, 4 bouquets (which were amazing and I can't believe I didn't take a picture of them, but I've already talked to the photographer to get some), 6 boutineers, 1 corsage, 1 princess head wreath, 23 tables, 6 high top tables, 2 guest book tables, a food table and a candy bar table to decorate.  I borrowed mom's car and it was packed full with flowers...I had them in buckets, totes and even the bathtub when I got home.  They were so beautiful and smelled lovely!  Lee wanted all white and it turned out so elegant.  Every arrangement was a bit different and I loved the mixture of the tall, short and trios.  I can't wait to see the photographer's pictures, because I was so focused I didn't take nearly enough of my own!

 The peonies were amazing!  Wish they were available year round.

 Oh and I was nervous about hydrangeas with the heat, but they were perfect for the most part!

Bathtub full of flowers...

 Getting ready to transport...

One of the church arrangements...

 A guest book arrangement...

 One of the tall table arrangements...the Cadre is such a beautiful building!

Play Ball!

Last weekend we went to Lily's ballgame on Friday night and the Redbirds game on Saturday night.  Lily's playing on the pitcher's mound and she really hustles!  So fun to watch her play.  Layne really enjoys watching his Sissy too!

 Mullen had a great time at his first Redbirds game.  He was so good and made it all the way till the end of the fireworks before falling asleep.

 Very focused on the game...I think he is going to be a baseball fan like his daddy!

He even got to meet Rocky!

 Spending some time with Poppa...

One of the Redhots brought Mullen a baseball...he loved it!

 The next day we cooked out to celebrate Father's Day...

 And Ray's Birthday!

Another work trip down...

This week I was in Sacramento for an oil roundtable. Basically, just worked with some major oil companies and lots of field AutoZoners to shape the future of oil changes. We had lots of meetings and made lots of store visit. This trip the food did not impress, but we were right across the street from Old Sacramento and down the street from the Capitol. I got to travel with some of my favorite AutoZoners too, so we did enjoy some of the local bars in the area for some mean games of air hockey and left, right, center!




But most of the time is was all work...
Photo from one of my morning runs...it was 5:30, but already so bright!
And I love when I get to travel with these girls! Yes, there were real mermaids in the tank above us!

Now, I'm home until June 24th and I'm so excited for the week to come! 1st JL board meeting of the new year and Lee's wedding flower weekend!
Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Last week...

I've been some fun, new places lately and while I don't get to see much of the city I always request local food and restaurants. Tuesday we went to a factory in Greenville, OH with dinner in Cincinnati. The restaurant was nothing to write home about, but the homemade strawberry with dark chocolate at the local ice cream parlor was something to write home about.



For lunch Wednesday, we went to a famous burger place...it was a 'hole in the wall', but my chicken mushroom burger was amazing!
Then onto Boston. We landed at sunset and wow what a beautiful city and harbor. We had dinner at a hip, new place, but it was the dessert at Mike's in the North End that made the night. I had 3 bites of a chocolate chip canolle and man I wish I could have gone back again...so much I wanted to try. It was a Wednesday night and the line was out the door!


Next day we had a working lunch from a local seafood market...lobster role and clam chowder. Devine!


After store visits, we ended in Providence and enjoyed fresh seafood on the water!



I even had a lobster roll at the airport on the way home. With all this eating, I actually lost 1 pound thanks to the work out rooms! Next stop Sacramento by way of Salt Lake and then I'm home for an entire week!

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:N 3950 W,Salt Lake City,United States

Ray and his Granddaddy

Last Friday, Ray's sweet Granddaddy passed away.  He was 87, but as you can see from the picture below (that was taken this past summer during a trip to the Smoky Mountains with Ray's family) he didn't look a day over 67!  Ray has so many fond memories with his Granddaddy and everything happened so quickly that one can imagine this loss has been hard on him and the entire family.   Ray's Granddaddy was an accomplished, loving man.  Over the 15 years that I knew him he was always so proud of his family and especially his grandkids.  He loved to tell stories of the trips they took Ray on when he was a child.  He also loved to tell the story about how he was visiting Ray once when he was 3-4 years old and he begged his grandaddy to take him for a walk to see a backhoe.  Well, his granddaddy said they walked forever and finally they got there and he was so impressed that Ray walked all the way there and back with what they later found out was a bent back toe nail!   As you can read from his obituary (that he wrote), he was an avid hiker and preserved the trails for others to enjoy for years to come.  We went to Kingsport for the weekend and the services.  He will be missed and remembered by everyone who knew him for years to come.  

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone