Fall visit from the Staibs

So this weekend, my parents came to visit us in Kentucky. Trent and I had lots of goodies planned for them such as a full schedule of tourist sites to visit, good eats, and lots and LOTS of walking. Among the activities included: Keeneland Stakes, UK football game, Lexington cemetery, Old Chicago Pizza, Mary Todd Lincoln House, and Downtown Lex.

Dad (aka Papa-razzi) captured some of the highlights with these pictures.

A Day in the Life of a Florist

[As you read this, you will just have to use your imagination; I don't have pictures from the event just yet, so I have no way to illustrate other than with words. I will intermittently show you in this post flowers that I've put together in the past...that way you can have some small eye candy to satiate the imagination.]

Yesterday I showed up at Suzi's house. She is a florist on the weekends and a busy mom all the other days. It was time to jump in and help her out with a Saturday wedding. She knew that I loved flowers and arrange them for a hobby. So, I was invited to come to her home to help her out with the job.

I walked down into the cement-floored, unfinished basement and saw the largest collection of cut flowers I've seen in person. My eyes widened and something akin to little-girl giddiness welled up inside of me. It was like walking into a ....[insert childhood desire here] !! I was so excited to be "playing" with so many beautiful and expensive flowers that would be used for someone's most important day.

I love to collect vases from D.I. They are cheap and so I don't feel sad giving them away!

The bride-to-be had collected vintage vases to put arrangements in. It was a 50's themed country wedding with lots of pastels and flowing materials. My first assignment: help Suzi bust out 40 centerpieces for the reception tables. No two arrangements were to look the same, even though for many of them, we would use similar materials. It was a bit challenging to think out of the mold at times, but it was a lot of fun! Seven hours later, we finished and got the head table flowers knocked out of the way, too. Blue hydrangeas, white and yellow mums, daisies, bear grass, Gerbers, tulips, spray roses, wax flowers, and many others I can't recall were used. Suzi was so patient and encouraging. She just kind of threw me into it and said, "Have at it!" Every once in a while, she'd look over and say "Oooh. I like what you're doing with that one." I have to admit, there were times when I thought: Is this too Teleflora?? However, later Suzi told me that not only had I kept pace with her, but that I was doing great work and she was pleasantly surprised. Sweeeet.

We decided to call it a night. I went home feeling quite accomplished and being able to pump out so many GOOD looking and creative flower centerpieces. Suzi asked if I would come back the next day (Saturday) to help her get the last minute things ready for the wedding. Oh! Another chance to learn from a pro? Sure thing.

 

I was up bright and early at 7 a.m., which, you know, is my least favorite time of day...or anything before 10 a.m., really. I hurried over to the house, entered the chilly basement and greeted my flower friends that were waiting to be crafted into something beautiful. I pumped out six banister groupings twelve boutonnieres, four hanging bouquets, and wrapped six bridesmaid bouquets in satin ribbon and pearl pins.  Suzi got a lot more done than I did, however she is the pro. She made two beautiful wreaths for the church doors, two wall planters for the entry foyer, corsages, bridal and bridesmaid bouquets, and the throw bouquet. Whew! [Did I mention that we did this while listening to conference and singing along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir? How about that Provo Temple announcement...It literally gave us both chills!] Once the flowers were arranged, prepped, packed and all the apparatus was packed as well, we got into all three cars to transport the creations. It took a minivan, large truck and my Lancer to get all those flowers out to where we needed to be.

The chapel was on the Georgetown College campus and had a very Southern charm, small town feel to it. The leaves had started to turn and the wind kept the bows and tulle we used constantly moving and breathing. Suzi used large billowing poufs of baby's breath in tall vases for the ceremony inside the "sanctuary" as everyone kept calling it. The arrangements almost looked like big balls of lace. They were quite pretty for the theme of the wedding. Normally I don't think I would opt to use baby's breath, but the setting was so perfect.  The entrance to the church was covered in tulle, blue ribbons and large wreaths. It was just beautiful. People walking by kept commenting on it. I admit I've never seen anything quite like it. It seems like Utah weddings(and I guess most LDS weddings that I've been to) don't cost tens-of-thousands-of-dollars like the weddings out here.

We hurried to the next site: a bed and breakfast barn down a country road. We did hurry, but we arrived there an hour and a half later. We got lost and drove up and down the same four-mile stretch of "pike" forever!! Luckily, I had a break on my poor legs and was able to sit for the duration of our driving back and forth. Tender mercy right there--I think otherwise they would have fallen off. Once arriving at the reception site, we placed flowers on all 40-something tables, the luminaria (sp?) that led up to the guest bar, and Suzi got the cake all beautified with buds and blooms. By the time we were finishing up, the guests had already arrived and we weren't done. There I was: wind-blown and exhausted laying on the grass trying to light the candles after hours of working outdoors. hahaha. I think if I wasn't so embarrassed I would have laughed at my myself. 

The only bad part about this entire day was me: I wasn't supposed to be helping out with the wedding on site; or at least I hadn't been planning on it. So I was dressed in frumpy jeans tucked into my very ratty UGG-lookalikes. I was wearing a UVU t-shirt and a blue hoodie. No makeup and wearing my coke-bottle glasses. Walking around the church and putting up the decor with all the guests and the beautifully dressed wedding party just put me on edge almost. I looked like a greasy-haired hoodlum. I got some looks from the tuxedo-clad-clan (aka the groomsmen), but they weren't looks of "interest" if you catch my drift...It was like, "Oh there's that poor flower helper girl..." hahaha. Oh well!

I included this one since it shows my bouquet. I did all the flowers for our wedding! Looking back, it's a little painful to see my rookie mistakes and whatnot, but what a great memory!

Welcome to Lexington, y’all!

Kentucky Vocabulary 101:

Tobacco [pronounced TUH-bakuh]: cash crop of the area. Always hand picked!

Corn-hole: a game similar to horse-shoes played by all ages involving bean bags and targets.

Louisville [pronounced in such a way that I have yet been able to replicate. It’s a gurgling sound, really]: largest city in Kentucky. One hour northwest from Lexington.

Versailles [pronounced ver-SAILS]: suburb of Lexington

Athens [pronounced Ay-thens]: suburb of Lexington

This made for a good laugh; We're so glad they made a "Betting for Dummies"!

It’s been a month since we pulled up to our apartment with our car loaded down and a fresh start here in Lexington, Kentucky. We really enjoy the people, the area, the scenery, the culture, and even the weather! (sans the few 90+ days with a great deal of humidity, but that’s August for you…)

Our Bishop’s wife, Suzi, scouted out the apartments we were interested in before we moved out here. She has been so wonderful! So needless to say, we have a great apartment complex, good neighbors and a quiet neighborhood.  Our apartment is one bedroom, one bath with a small kitchen, small sun room, washer/dryer, dishwasher, vaulted ceilings, plenty of windows, and ceiling fans. It’s not new, but it’s in great condition. We have access to a pool, hot tub, and gym, too!

It's a hike just trying to walk the UK campus on foot!

For the first three weeks, we lived with two items of furniture: an air mattress and card table with folding chairs courtesy of Wal-Mart. We just now found a decent sofa and armchair for our living room and we’re stoked. We just love them. The woman who sold them to us misses them so much, she’s even willing to buy them back from us in December so she can reupholster them and enjoy them for another 7 years or more. Sweet deal! 

 The job market is really tough here in Lexington, as we’d been forewarned. However, Heavenly Father wanted us to be here, so we knew that a way would be provided so we could financially sustain ourselves. It will only be a matter of time until someone picks us up. Trent is hoping to, at the very least, get back into the serving scene at a local restaurant. We hope people here tip better than they do in Utah!! I’ve been keeping very busy the last couple of weeks thinking up meal plans and menus for Once A Month Cooking.  We’ve enjoyed trying this new way of cooking and it’s really paid off. I think we’ve already saved close to $100 when we would have eaten out otherwise.

glimpse of UK campus

Trent is really enjoying school at UK. The students here wear blue all day everyday it seems (their school color) and UK bumper stickers, window flags, and the whole lot are to be found on nearly every car in the city. Trent has purchased two UK shirts and has been looking into football and basketball tickets. He’s already made friends with dental and medical students in the ward who attend UK and we’re learning more and more about the programs and the incentives of attending school and living here. He has yet to meet, however, a Physician Assistant student. Curious, eh? We wonder where they are all hiding. 

  The People of Lexington: Wonderful. Most of them are kind, intelligent people who are so willing to both please and accommodate. What a breath of fresh air! We love the members of the church here, too. Within one week’s time, we’ve been invited to member’s homes three different times!! We are so popular ::blush::

Downtown Lexington historical residential areas

People on the street commonly use “sir” and “ma’am” with their wonderful accents. Some are more “twangy” than others and some are just plain mesmerizing. There are also a lot of Ebonics-speakers out there that I quite honestly cannot understand and tell them so apologetically.

   
  

Downtown walking tour with Trent & his map

University of Kentucky Arboretum

Keeneland Race Track

Some highlights from the first month:

'THE BEAN', Chicago

The Packard and Wayne families (Trent’s mission friends) live only 6 hours away in Chicago. We’ve there twice since leaving Utah. We enjoy the Chicago area and LOVE Chicago deep dish pizza. Wish I could eat it everyday…and feel guiltless. Trent is being strongly recruited (by The Packards) to join them in Chicago at MidWestern so it will be added to the list of schools he’ll be applying to.

Our friends in the ward, the Griffitts, come to find out, are huge college football fans. They have invited us to watch the games with them so we no longer have to crash our clubhouse gym to catch any college games….that’s a funny story in itself. J

Country drives out here are quite frankly the best that I’ve EVER experienced. And when I say country, we're talking 15-minutes away.  We go on drives once a week and they just never get old. It’s going to be gorgeous come fall!!

Trent is considering medical school instead of Physician Assistant school. Once again, he’s thought about it enough before he just threw it out on the table for us to discuss. We’re still examining the pros and cons. It’s also extremely helpful that we have plenty of brains to pick around here regarding that decision; I’ve never seen so many hospitals and health professionals in a mile radius!!