Getting Behind...

Here is a very small glimpse into what goes on behind the scenes when I bring home flowers for a large event. These are all the goods fresh from the market. (Oooh! Are all of these boxes just for me? Oh my!) Leo gets in on the action- he makes sure everything I"ve brought in is up to snuff- or sniff- as he would probably put it. I admit, I get giddy at the prospect of opening all of these packages- even though I know exactly what is inside.

I oooh and ahhh to myself- then to the flowers telling them how pretty they all are. Even though I just picked them out earlier that day, its like reocurring love at first sight. I fall in love all over again as I take each of them from their sleeves and clean them off, trying to make some order in all of the chaos.

Did I say chaos? Ah, pretty friends you have made such a mess! Arg! Leo has now made off with a variety of stems. I can no longer see my floor. Buckets of water and empty boxes and crumpled paper everywhere- but man, does my house smell gooooooood. Oh, as a side note, almost all of the wrappings get recycled, and just about all of the stems/leaves/yucky parts of the flowers go into my composter. There is a ton of waste in the flower industry- I just try to do my part. Just so you know. Thats all. Okay.

Then- all of the flowers get moved upstairs. Into the boy's room they go. It has been fitted with 2 air-conditioning units. Voila! Makeshift cooler. (By the by, I only do this for large events and the little dude's grandmother takes the both of them overnight so they don't get frostbite. I'm not that mean....) Someday I will have a real cooler- but until then, I don't mind wading through the sea of flowers in my faux walk-in.

As crazy as all of this looks- and this is literally just a blip on your screen- it usually ends well- and when I get to see pictures like this...

Well I get all mushy- and I forget the mess and the madness and the countless leaves Leo has eaten and the now empty buckets of water strewn all over my house. I see a picture like this and I fall in love with those flowers all over again. (Having a beautiful bride holding my bouquet doesn't hurt either you know....) And then I start to dream about what comes next.