I have been looking for an event to debut my floral designs and it was suggested that I try the Camas Plant and Garden Fair. This is a popular event that takes place every year the day before Mother's Day, so I decided to give it a try. I spent weeks planning which designs I would create. I got a business license and buyer's pass at the Portland flower market. I bought all of my supplies including folding tables, a canopy and banner. I placed my flower order 2 weeks in advance. Then, about a week before the fair we all got sick with a bronchitis type illness. I was able to rally when Thursday rolled around to pick up my flowers and start working. Thursday was spent prepping the flowers and making 14 orchid corsages. Friday was the big work day. I started at 6am and didn't stop until 4am on Saturday. I'm not sure why I thought I would be able to quickly create over 20 arrangements because everything took so much longer than I had anticipated. By 3am I decided to stop arranging and started wrapping all the extra flowers I had to sell them in bundles at the fair.
My garage workshopAfter a couple of hours sleep, Jason and I got up to go set everything up at the fair. By this time I was not in a good mood. If you know me you know that I get grumpy if I don't get enough sleep. I was actually pretty surprised that I hadn't had a mental meltdown by that point. We set up our stuff and Jason went back home to get the rest of the flowers. We got everything set up just in time for the 9am opening.
My corsages and handmade felt gift card holders
After looking at everything I had accomplished I was very proud of myself. The arrangements looked great and I got many compliments. It was funny how many people asked if the flowers were real! I wish I had taken photos of each arrangement, but I was just too tired. It was pretty much miserable after a short downpour that got everything and everyone wet and cold.
Caleb got the biggest snow cone ever!I really didn't want to take two trips home with unsold flowers, so I had somewhat of a fire sale at the end of the day. I came home with only one arrangement.
After all was said and done, it was a great learning experience, but not something I will be doing on a regular basis. I thought the flowers turned out great and it gave me a boost of confidence that I was able to accomplish what I did. I couldn't have done it without Jason's support. He did so much to help out. It felt sooooo good to get lots of sleep afterward and have a very relaxing Mother's Day.
We've got even more elusive animals around here. A couple of months ago I heard a strange noise coming from outside, so I opened the bedroom window and heard what sounded like thousands of frogs. At first I wondered if they were crickets, but no, I could hear some "croaks" in all of that white noise. I rushed downstairs to tell Jason about it and by the time we were outside it was completely silent. I couldn't believe it. I thought I was crazy for a minute. We eventually realized that when the frogs feel threatened they all stop croaking. The next night we sneaked down to the frog pond and recorded the loud noise.
Here is a picture of the pond in relation to our house. It's not that close, but we can still hear them with the windows shut! I couldn't believe that I had never seen any of these frogs! It took a while but one of the kids finally caught one.
I can't believe such a loud noise comes out of such a small creature! It does provide a relaxing noise (with some coyote howls mixed in) to fall asleep to.
