To the ocean.

I love this quote. I got home late again today...but I didn't knock out when I got home this time. When I got out of my car, it was already 9:30PM...and it was dark. I am so blessed to be living where I am living, because no matter how dark it gets, all I have to do is look up and the stars are almost always shining super bright, and so that is what I did when I got home. I looked up and saw how amazing the stars were that I decided to walk to the beach to just sit there for a few minutes and relax in...life.

Working three jobs is nothing new to most people of this world...but I am still trying to time management after picking up this last job. I do know that it makes me so tired at the end of the day and as I am driving home from my last job of the day sometimes I wonder...is it all worth it? Sometimes I get in those modes where I wonder what is the meaning of my life...is all this work worth it all. And all I have to do is walk to the ocean to know my answer. Yes, it's all worth it.

There is something about the beach at night. Just me, nature, God, and my thoughts. I love watching nature documentaries on Netflix (which is constantly playing in my house since I hate the silence of living alone.)...and I tend to watch more ocean documentaries...and wow, the ocean is an amazing thing...it holds so many secrets, so much life, and so much mass. And where I live, I can see the Mokes in the distance and then forever after that...it goes on and on...until it touches the sky and makes you look up to the stars! To bad I'm not good a photographer and my phone camera can not capture the amazing moment of the rising of the moon over the water...and the endless shine of the stars looking down at me. It's an awe-inspiriting moment when I can't help be thankful to God that he made all this for me.

I still get in those moments where I want to give up...but I don't. I don't because life is such an amazing thing and even though for a moment darkness seizes me, I push through because I have found somewhere that I can go to heal once again. The ocean.

Wouldn't it be amazing if I were a mermaid?! :)

Well, I just got back from processing another billion flowers...flowers that smelled so amazing and were so beautiful that I can never get tired of flowers.





My work space all cleaned up after the processing of all the flowers that came in! (Don't you love my hydro flask?! Gotta keep hydrated...and my amazing friend and TA gave it to me...).



We had to make make-shift shelves in the studio for all the flowers that we processed!




 Every space possible was covered in the studio! We had to leave the table clear just so that we had room to design the next day! The white roses are called Escimo Roses...they are one of my favorite roses...they open so beautiful, and the smell like candy!



The walk-in freezer in the studio was also packed full of gorgeous flowers! Don't you love the white hydrangea arrangements?! They look like miniature balls of clouds! :)










The hallway directly outside the studio was also used in placing the flowers we had...

 
 

Even the hallway leading up to the extra studio beside our studio...as you can see, we had to make make-shift shelves here as well!

 
  
  

And the extra studio itself was also full of flowers! Flower heaven...smells so amazing and they look amazing! I am excited for all who ordered flowers for Valentine's Day and the two huge weddings that we will be having! It will be all so beautiful!

 
 

"The earth laughs in flowers." 

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Just go.

I got home and...knocked out. Dropped all my things on the floor, sat on my couch for what I thought was a 5 minute breather and ended up waking up at 5 hours later feeling sore all over and that didn't-brush-my-teeth-before-going-to-bed taste in my mouth. Blah. Ew. I hate waking up to that feeling. So I just took a shower and brushed my teeth and tried to go back to sleep for an hour and half since it was already 4:15 (I usually get up at 5:45AM to start my day. No I am not a morning person.) But I couldn't go back to sleep and so I decided to write.

It was a long day. Starting at 5:45 going...without stop...until 10:30PM...and I was tired. Exhausted really. And guess what?! The week isn't even close to over! Ahhhh! I should be tired right now...and I am, but my body just won't go to sleep.

And you know what?! It's cold. Like...Hawai'i cold. Like 59 degree's kind of cold...not fun. It's cold. I can't sleep in that! Oh well, I'm awake and so there.

I processed at Passion Roots today...and wow, there were a billion flowers! What did I expect?! It's the week leading up to Valentine's Day...so of course it's going to super crazy! On top of that we have two HUGE weddings this weekend. So not only are we processing for Valentine's Day, but we are processing for two HUGE weddings. And when I mean huge...I mean, HUGE!

There were flowers EVERYWHERE! And more flowers are going to come in today! Oh my goodness!

 

 

I mean, the flowers were all so beautiful...but there were hundreds of flowers! I'm not complaining though because flowers make me so happy. They are so beautiful! And they smell amazing...and not only that, but the people that I work with are AMAZING people, that even though we have to work late, it doesn't really matter because at least we have each other to keep each other wake and on task.

 

Check out the thorns on these babies! That stuff can do some damage, that's for sure! These are called Heart Roses, and they are going to be used for our Valentine retail arrangements and "Rocki's" Wedding. They are a very rich, deep red color...and that perfectly portrays what the world says is the official color of Valentines. Me?! I prefer pink. Or yellow billy balls. :)

My work station for the night when all work was pau. It was a long day and I was glad to go home and get some much needed things done for the next day. But of course, that didn't happen. But oh well, at least now I can do everything that I needed to do since I can't sleep, and even though I slept in a crappy position on my one person sofa chair, at least I got my sleep already.

 

This is the quote that is in my Passion Planner for this week. And I fully agree with it. Once time has passed, it is gone and you can not get it back and that is a scary thought. Whether you did something or not, that moment in time is gone and you're not going to live forever. I want to travel. I want to just travel every where...and that is what I want to do with my time. And I promise that when I was doodling in my "Space of Infinite Possibility" section of my Passion Planner I was just doodling and not thinking about what I was doing...and that is what happens when I doodle...I do so thinking of something else and this is what I did...

Just go, it says. And I want to. I want to just go and go and go...and just travel any where....every where...just experience the life of traveling. But one thing holds me back...and something I don't regret either. And that would be my keikis. I can't leave my keikis. I love my kids and I love being there with my little preschoolers and experiencing the world in their eyes and just watching their face when they learn something new...that wonder of life comprehension of what they can grasp is an amazing thing to experience. I love it. I know that if I were to travel all the time like I would love to, I would miss out on experiences with my lil keikis. And that's what holds me back, really...well, that and money and...and I don't want to "go" alone. But one day, I'll find someone who will love to travel...at least somewhere new once a year would be amazing for me...and it will happen.

Just go. Okay.

It's been awhile.

It's been awhile since I've posted up anything about weddings. I am surrounded by them on a daily basis...that sometimes...well, a lot of times I don't take pictures of all that I do. I love my preschool job. I really do...yet, I also love my wedding/event designing job. Both jobs are highly demanding jobs, but both jobs are so rewarding. I love flowers and being a florist, I am constantly around beautiful flower and people. I am so blessed that I am have TWO jobs where I am the most amazingest co-workers AND bosses! I really wish that I took a picture of the cupcakes that my boss brought us this morning. We worked REALLY late last night and so today she brought us bagels and cream cheese, Cinnamon bread, energy bars, COLD water bottles, and cupcakes. We LOVE cupcakes! We are always on crunch time...yet, my amazing boss yells out admist crazy time, "Guys! Don't forget to eat your mid-morning cupcake!" Who does that?! Does any one else have a boss that looks out for you like that?! Today, she bought us, chocolate chip, chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Yummy! I didn't have time to take a picture of it because I was too busy eating my mid-morning cupcake and creating flower cake flowers for the wedding cake! *laughs*

These were the gorgeous beauties that I got to work with today. These are the flowers BEFORE they were created into an arrangement...but they are so beautiful! I love coming into the studio and smelling the beautiful scent that they create and then going to the freezer and opening the door and smelling another burst of gorgeous scent! And as you can see from past PAST posts...I love when I work with the different shades of pink. :)

 

And here are some of the creations that we made. Flowers make me SO happy! Many times when we do weddings like this...sometimes the flowers are blinding to work with...you just see a sea of shades of pink (coral) EVERYWHERE! But when you go to the wedding ceremony site or reception site...it works out real well!

There is my awesome boss, Shilhi of founder and designer of Passion Roots, doing her thing! (The one wearing black...say hello to Amber in the back there! :)) 

I was able to grab a few pictures that my boss has already posted up for this wedding..and it's so gorgeous! So all the credit for the next pictures go to my boss Shilhi.

 Up close and personal with this beauty! I love the colors! I love the texture! I love flowers! And I love the vine that gives it a more chic look! :)

I wish this couple happiness. :) It was a fun wedding to do...and it turned out extremely beautiful and lovely. :)

Happy Birthday, Kuya Neal!

Today is my amazing brother-in-law's birthday! On Wednesday, I had talked to Amanda about what we were going to do for him...and this is what we decided. Since him and my sister are always SO giving with their time and they are always thinking of others that they sometimes forget to spoil themselves, we had decided to give them time. Meaning to say, since Amanda had taken today and yesterday off, she was going to go to their house and watch the kids for them to be able to get away for a few hours. Since today I had only a half day since we had our preschool graduation, I told her that I would go with her. So, that is what we did. We gave them time.

My morning started out very good, thank you very much!

I took my sister's advise and cut two thick slices of her amazing Honey Oat Wheat bread and toasted it. I like my toast crunchy, but not burnt. So that's what I did, then I smeared on a good amount of butter, but not too much and wow! That totally made my day all happy! I ended up cutting two more thick slices and toasting and buttering them and bringing them to school to share some with Mrs. A. She is the teacher that I join with in the morning to watch the early morning kids. :)

Mrs. A had already had breakfast so she ate one [she was SO happy to have ordered one cinnamon bread loaf for her family after tasting this one!] and we shared the other one with two other children that were there and wanted a taste of the wonderful smelling bread. :)

It was pretty chaotic short day at school. I am so proud of our graduates! They are on their way up to kindergarten...and this is one of the reason I LOVE LOVE my job! In these early stages of life, the children learn SO much and SO fast! And they are all smart cookies that I know will go far in life!

After school, I went home. I have a friend that we send a least a picture a day to. We miss each other so much...and I know that she is lonely at the moment since her husband went abroad for a month for school. And so, I decided to wear a flower in my hair for her...so I sent her the picture of the flower I wore...the background you can see the wonderful front yard that I am blessed to have. :)

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I am so blessed to have this place that I'm living at. It's a beautiful place and my landlady is amazing wonderful as well! She is so sweet and I know that I am safe here. :)

Since it was my brother-in-laws birthday, I got him a birthday balloon to go with the present that I got him.

It's always fun to have balloons for your birthday, at least I think that it is. :) So, I had driven over to Amanda's house and we went together to my sister's house so that she can take her husband out for his birthday. They ended up seeing the new Avenger's movie. I wanted to see it...so hopefully I'll be able to go and see it, if not, hopefully it gets on Netflix so I can watch it when it comes out! :)

But before Amanda and I got to the house we stopped at our favorite Boba tea place.

Taste Tea is so yummy! My favorite order is: Winter Melon with Lemonade, 70% sweetened, Less Ice, and Big Boba! It's so yummy! My sister and Amanda usually get the same. Milk Tea...but I like my Winter Melon. :)

When we got to my sister's house, they had just left and my parents just waiting for Amanda and I so that they can leave to go meet their friends. I knew that my sister was already going to be gone...but I'm bummed that we missed them by just a few minutes, so we just put her Iced Tea in the refrigerator and Amanda and I enjoyed our tea while we were waiting for my lil' DollGirl (2 years old) to wake up from her afternoon nap. Lil' KaiBoy (3 months old) was also sleeping...but he woke up when we got there so we got to play with his little cuteness for a bit before sister woke up and demanded our attention to play with her.

Amanada stayed with KaiBoy in the house while I went outside to play with DollGirl.

She loves cars...just like her daddy! :) While I was taking her picture, she told me that she wanted to take pictures to...so I let her take a picture...and I had a million pictures of the garden that her and her grandpa (my daddy) had made for her mom.

She loves to garden! She is going to have a green thumb just like her grandpa! I love watching them together! My dad is an out-doorsy person...and so is DollGirl...she loves going outside! She loves running...for what seems like NO REASON...but she LOVES LOVES to be outside!

Well, I am getting tired now, but before I end this post, I wanted to post up some of the pictures that I got from the wedding that we did today! My brother-in-law was able to go with Passion Roots to help put up those ridiculously heavy chandeliers! And wow! I so admire and him and Amber (my co-worker)...they had to do some quick thinking with how to put them up!

My other co-worker and friend, Ivy, sent me these pictures earlier today...and I couldn't be more proud of my Passion Roots team! They look amazing! Ivy said that they had a lot of people come up to them to compliment the arrangements and The Modern were amazed by them as well! Yay for Passion Roots! We rock! I love working with them and being part of the team. :)

"Happy birthday, Kuya Neal! I hope you had an amazing day! I love you!"

Unexpected Happenings.

Today was pretty unexpected, to say the least! Not a bad thing...sometimes it's good to be spontaneous and just go with the flow. I use to be like that. When I look back in my life, I realized that I was pretty spontaneous...and I need to learn how to do that again. Today was one of those days. Although, it wasn't SUPER spontaneous, it was unexpected.

I just got home. Well, I take that back. I just showered and so like about 30 minutes I just got home. I had my evening all planned out when I got a text that gave me a decision whether or not I wanted to continue my evening plans to deviate a little from what I had wanted to do. I decided to change plans. Let me [sort of] start from the beginning.

So, starting last week I have been having MAJOR car problems. Like my-car-stopping-and shutting-off-randomly kind of car problems. Because that was the case, I had asked my sister to lessen my work load at Passion Roots to a minimum unless I can get a ride out there. My point...if I did take a bus out there after my preschool work, it would talk a little bit more than 2 hours to get there because of all the traffic. If they really needed me, I would figure out ways to get there...tonight, I wasn't even on schedule, so I wasn't worried.

I do drive my car though, with a lot of prayer. I have made it a habit to text my sister whenever I drive with a simple, "I'm about to drive! Please pray!" I like that I can do that...coz I know that she will send up prayers for me. I usually just drive from my preschool job to home or to the store...as long as it stays in Kailua...I'm usually okay...because I know that if my car does stop and I can't get it to start again, I can always just walk home if I can't get a hold of anyone at the moment.

When I got home, my sister calls me and asks me if I could meet her at the shopping center in Enchanted Lakes [still part of Kailua]. She has started to slowly start her baking business. And I couldn't be more proud of her! She calls her kitchen "The Lab" because she is just finalizing her different recipes and so she sells her baked goods at a discounted price. I know she will do GREAT in this...her goodies are known all over. :) So I had gotten orders for her from my preschool co-workers and so I went and picked up our orders.

Oh my goodness, the bread smelled AMAZING! As always. Since I was at the shopping center anyways, I decided to go grocery shopping, so I did. And picked up some groceries while I was at it.

I really like how my sister's bread, she makes them as healthy as she can, yet they stay really moist and so onolicious! So wish this Honey Oat Wheat bread, you can order it in several ways. You can get it just as a loaf OR in 12 "Largeish Dinner Rolls" OR 18 Smeedium Dinner Rolls." My favorite is if you get in a "Big Ol' Loaf" you can add a "cinnamony swirl" and oh my! That is my favorite! It is SO yummy!

My sister's extra tag for this special swirl of hers just cracks me up! She is so ON POINT!

This Rosemary Garlic bread though. Oh mandope! What can I say that doesn't sound like I'm making something up?! I don't even know...! Well, lets just say that I was planning on having lettuce wraps this evening...BUT I took one smell of this bread and I knew that I wanted it. So, I ended up cutting two slices from the middle of it...

...because I wanted two of the longer pieces of it...and then I toasted the two pieces in my little toaster oven.

And let me tell you! The smell of this bread while it was toasting was unbelievable! It smelled SO amazing! When it was done, I made myself a sandwich!

Since I'm trying to be a bit more healthier and more conscious about what I put in my body, I used Edamame Hummus as "mayo" and I put turkey and cheese on it...then I sat down and took a picture of it to send to my sister [just to let her know her bread was VERY much appreciated!]

However, as soon as I took the picture, I knew something was missing...and I knew right away what it was...so I added:

some lettuce! Sorry for the blurry picture! As you can tell, I was in a rush to eat this yummy sandwich! And yummy it was! :)

Commercial Break! *laughs*

Please follow my sister on Instagram and Facebook! Spread the word as well! She loves baking for others and filling your belly with YUMMY YUMMY baked goods! Support her! Pray for her! And just encourage her...starting your own business isn't easy, but I know that she can do it!

Instagram: TheFlouredCounterLab
Facebook: The Floured Counter: Lab

And trust, I'll also be posting up her yummy goodies as they come my way. :)

*End of commercial break!* :)

Anyway, as I said in the beginning of this post, things don't always go as planned...at least my day didn't! As I took a bit of my heavenly just made sandwich, I get this text. Thinking that it was my sister responding to my text of my ingenious idea of using her amazing Rosemary Garlic bread as a sandwich, I check the text.

"We need you. I'm picking you up! Just two hours, I promise!" It was already like 9:PM and I was like WHAT!? I know that my Passion Roots boss would not text me AND offer to come and get me if they didn't need me, so I packed up the rest of my sandwich, packed half of my left over bread to share with my amazing Passion Roots co-workers and walked outside just as she pulled up into my driveway. And off we went.

She told me sort of what was going on at work and why they needed me. And so when I walk in I was too surprised to see these giant wooden hexagon shaped pieces with crosses in the middle chicken wired tight with flower oasis. Our bride wanted these HUGE (think at LEAST 5 1/2 feet across) chandeliers. Not one but THREE!

I wish I thought to take pictures of when we first started...but I didn't. Since it was already late, I wanted to work as fast as we could to get these finished. I have preschool work at 7:am tomorrow, but these lovely ladies had to be at The Modern at 6:45am! Plus they still needed to load all our work in the vans before being there...so that was even earlier! Here is Evy adding some foliage to this chandelier.

So, these particular floral chandeliers were to be filled with various foliage and on site they were going to add Eskimo Roses...VERY few Eskimo Roses. This is the underside of the chandeliers...and I post up pictures as I get them of the actual site when these babies are up. I can't wait! I think that it's going to look AMAZING!

After we were done with these as much as could, we preloaded them into the vans and I went upstairs to the studio (we did these pieces downstairs because there was NO WAY were going to bring these pieces downstairs...they were at LEAST 80 pounds EACH! And it was late and we were all so tired already.) I helped Shihi with some of the bouquets of the other weddings that we were also having tomorrow...

The left bouquet goes with the chandelier wedding...and the other  bouquet on the right is going to another wedding. They are SO gorgeous!

I love roses! And peonies are just so gorgeous! Look what pretty gems I found in the refrigerator I saw that we are saving for the following wedding!

How can you not look at these and just be happy! They are SO gorgeous! A beautiful color and so beautiful to look at! Lucky bride! :)

But now that I am FINALLY home...I can now sleep! So goodnight, world!