An Update, an Update... A What, What? An Update

Way to go Leah (exasperated sigh); way to out-post me on Team Fleurir's retail progress.

Before I move on to the pictures (all of which are still from my phone- Team Fleurir would not be opposed to a digital camera for a Christmas present, or Surprise We Love You present, or Happy Wednesday present), I shall treat *cough*bore*cough* you with a simple numerical timeline of events leading to today.

1. Robert and I tell Leah all sorts of crazy/incoherent design ideas for the shop

2. Leah presents her version of our frantic suggestions via sketches

3. Robert and I go shopping with Leah and purchase everything with the caveat "don't worry Robert, it'll look really good once we paint/sand/distress/patina/mask/rebuild it"

4. Robert spends all day, every day painting/sanding/distressing/patina-ing/masking/rebuilding 97% of our purchases (granted, I handle most of the projects he has the least faith in and, therefore, refuses to even touch)

5. We paint the ceiling the wrong color which makes our original wall color look pink

6. Robert and I disagree on the new wall color (I still hold that it wouldn't have taken THAT long to treat the walls with 4 different shades of white washes)

7. Nicole starts to deliver painted branches, cans of beans, tennis balls, clothes pins, and golf tees to construct our large-scale wall installation

8. Travis, Shana, Lil, Sean, and Robert's parents provide manual labor

9. A slight permitting snafu derails our opening for a week (which works out beautifully since delivery of our new packaging is delayed over a week)

10. Christina Bernales takes some strategic photos of our work in progress

11. Robert and Travis have to move all of our hanging lights 3 or 4 times

12. Leah brings her absurdly adorable and well-behaved girls to the shop where Robert and I try to win their affections with loads of chocolate (I think we may have succeeded judging by their gifts of treasure rocks and acorns)

13. Robert and Travis roll their eyes as Leah and I say "You know what we could do..." or "You know what might look kind of cool..."

14. We all eat takeout or delivery all day everyday (thank god wide-leg pants are back in style!)

15. "Don't worry, we'll fix it later" becomes the team's motto

16. Nicole finishes her absolutely stunning sculpture, and Robert and I immediately neglect our one sculpture related duty and glue/sealant stuff drips all over the floor

17. Team Fleurir heads back into the kitchen to make more bars, honeycomb, and caramel bunnies for the opening (we possibly ate one or two too many samples during the build out process)

18. I belatedly post an update on our blog

And without further ado (though, I do feel strange ending my list with the number 18- it seems awkward and unfinished-I really should have persevered to 20 or 25 or, let's get real, cut it down to 10), the pictures!!!!!!