My Name is Rickey and I am a Florist
...or flower stylist, um, flower arranger apprentice?
So let me tell you about my busy day last Saturday:
After almost three years, the flower children of New York are back. We started work at 7:30 AM, creating flower pieces in this art studio where Carina's friend from the Whitney was having her wedding. I was so happy. Snipping the stems of plants and poking them into vases is so therapuetical. I even named my little creations: "Summer Breeze", "The Promise", "Mother's Milk (the arrangement formerly known as Friendship)". Hahaha. Of course, Carina, destroyed all of them since I couldn't get past our strict quality control standards. But the end result turned out quite well.
We had a bit of a "leaf emergency" so I made a couple of visits to the flower district in Chelsea. As much as I love the flowers and plants, I pretty much despise flower wholesalers in Manhattan -- the irony! Everyone is rude from the store owner down to the lowly peon. I didn't know that buying leaves could be so stressful. When I came back to finish my arrangements, I couldn't recover as the flower district people already got me rattled -- thank god Carina and Candy are such pros.
At any rate, yes. This is now my new profession, so if you are in New York and would like awesome flower arrangements made by equally awesome people, please e-mail me at rickey [AT] excite [DOT] com so we can set up a meeting! We love weddings, but we're open to any occasion that would require earth's laughter (read: flowers). Carina, Candy and I are currently called "Flower Child" -- we'll have business cards and a website very soon!
Here are some of the names we were considering for our company: Rickey's Flowers (haha, it's all about the personal brand), Gay Arrangements (loved this but the girls relented), Jennifer Flowers, Earth's Laughter (a bit vague), Gardenia, Paraluman (hard to pronounce Tagalog word) and the name of a flower which sounds like recongongolus -- hahaha, omg, I could never get this -- I can't even remember it now.
Anyway, please get in touch with me -- we do great and happy work! Let us set up your (or a friend's) wedding!
Part 2:
I was exhausted, but a screenwriter friend of ours, who is touring the U.S. promoting his film, invited us for a picnic in Central Park. I love picnics! So we dropped Candy off at the L-train, and Carina and I headed over to the Sheep Meadow, with our extra Peonies and Lilies of the Valley in tow, to meetup with a bunch of Filipinos. It was already 5 pm, and I was kinda spaced-out, but it was a beautiful day in New York to be out, out and about. I love picnics!
Part 3:
One more attempt at dramatic photography and I dropped Carina off at the N-train.
And then, a quick visit to the newly opened 24/7 Apple Store on 5th Avenue! 24-hours. Now I know where to go when that 4 am craving for a MacBook Pro strikes.
Going down inside the glass elevator!
I did ask one of the staff if the glass entrance was the only exit, and he showed me that there were several emergency exits in the store itself, so not to worry. There was just so many people (mostly tourists now), and none of them buying. I just can't wait to photograph that glass box when it snows. And who knows, they might even have a "gift-wrap" concept for it during the Christmas season.
Part 4:
Exhausted. But happy. (Tell your friends in New York about our flower business ok? Thanks!)