Jordan's 1! (Not again, but here's the photos)

I've promised to show you all photos of Jordan's birthday, so here it is. Sorry for my tardiness.

Instead of cake, we gave her a chocolate covered strawberry - I wasn't ready to give her tons of sugar and processed foods.

I Busted My Butt!!!

Not literally, but yes, my ass offically got kicked this last week. It was, as most of you know, it was Valentine's Day. Since I am the manager of the floral department, you can all image how busy I was.
Two days before, I worked 9 1/2 hours. The day before I worked 10 hours. And at the grand finale, I worked a whopping 12 hours!!! I am exhausted. I even had to wake up early the next day to go down to the market to buy more flowers. To make it even more tiresome, I had a wedding that needed to be ready for pick up the day after.
However, I loved it! I was, and am still, very tired, but the department was well organized, things went smoothly, we planned well and in the end my store was the top selling floral department for ALL of New Seasons!!! Some of you may know that my old store, Concordia is the busiest store, and they always have the best floral sales. But not on Valentine's and not even the day after! Boo-ya!!!
AND, we also were featured on Koin 6 News! We are the first store on the West Coast to sell Fair Trade roses and they did a piece on it at my store! If you go to their Website, just search, "Fair Trade Roses" and you'll see me for a captavating 3 seconds! People have been talking about it all over town. =)
Here are some photos of my department. I've done a ton of changes since I've been there, but hard work pays off.

Fake Spring?

So it is known throughout the Portland Metro area that every February we have fake spring. The sun comes out and it is sunny, but it doesn't stay. It lasts for only a few days, but we Oregonians know to take advantage of it because we may not see it again until May. Tip: When the farmer's market returns on Saturdays, you'll know that the good weather is here to stay.
My family decided to get out and go for a hike at Tryon Creek. Here are a few photos of our hike. Jordan loved it! Sorry ladies, no pictures of my sexy husband.

I turned 25 and Matt and I Celebrate 10 Years!

Yep, I am the big 25! But that isn't even the best part. Matt and I celebrated 10 years of being together!!! Can you believe it? 10 years ago Matt said, "Will you go out with me?" I said, "Yes" and it was at that point that we were offically boyfriend and girlfriend. We like to keep things old school (since we were 15). We started looking at our old photo albums and thought it would be fun to show you all some photos when we were 15, but I am fighting with my scanner. I will prosper. Technology will not win! So...photos coming soon. This is what happens when you use 35 mm cameras rather than digital.

New Job...so What's Up with New Zealand?

You may be thinking, "You have a new job, are you still planning on going to New Zealand?". The new job has been an unexpected surpise in our plans. Therefore, we have stopped the planning, but there is still a desire to go. It may be in 6 months, a year, or unfortunately never. New Zealand may turn into a extended vacation instead of a move. We'll just continue to wait and see what God presents for us. Matt is going to continue to look into a new career and possibly go back to school. Again, we are looking for guidance from God and trust that things will work out.

New Job

I know, it has been a while since I last wrote an entry...but it has kept you in suspense, right? I have some exciting news - I got a new job. It is still with New Seasons, but instead of being a service manager, I am now the manager of the floral department at the Arbor Lodge store in North Portland.
The move is a step that will help further my career with New Seasons and I am getting ready to take on my biggest challege yet - Valentine's Day. This is going to be interesting since I find Valentine's Day to be the most ridicullus "holiday" that we have. Especially when I am going to be selling the most cliche gift of all. Not that I don't appreicate flowers, but come on - it is expected on V-Day to give flowers, which makes it even less creative. If you're going to tell me that you love me, give me flowers on a random day or do something else that only I would appreciate (eveyone likes flowers, so it is a no-brainer to give it). Put a little thought into it. Okay - I'm done with my little speech.
Regardless, I am having a lot of fun with the new job.