Pictures!

 Alyssa pulling out bakers fern from the cooler for the vase arrangements we made with roses and babys breath.

 This is obviously a dangerous jungle and we see here the wild Alyssalope in its.. natural.. habitat.

 Somehow the world turned sideways. You know. But yeah, I'm fixing some bakers fern in a vase.

 Single roses and decorative stuff (bakers fern and babys breath) tied with ribbons for orders.

 Sideways and happy. Like my bakers fern? I arranged it ;D Back room fun.

 Here's what Marlene did with that thing I was holding, she made it cute(:

 Here's Alyssa's lovely bakers fern arrangement, soon to be made beautiful by Marlene or Kathy

 Me and Alyssa made these(: This is what we did with the roses with broken off heads, they're in mini vase things with some bakers fern and babys breath.

 Here I am. Working hard or harldy working, eh? Haha no we were working, making those cute little things!

 Here I am again, still working. As you can see I'm using a knife. Mrs. G doesn't let us use knifes... </3

 These are my tiny hands carefully placing the bakers fern. I'm ready for my close up?

 End result of the cute thing I was making in the above^ picture. Look how cute!

 Here are some roses we boxed ourselves, and we have hear the very stapler we used to hold the boxes closed after delicately cramming in the roses.

 Look at all those orders. Boxing was so annoying to be honest. We did like.. at LEAST 30 boxes of roses, probably more.

 Here's the shop<3 And right over there^^^^^ is Marlene(: Kathy and Laura are there too!

 Front display in a cooler. Those cute daisy/ rose arrangements sold pretty well!

I set this whole thing up, a nice slightly tiered display on the counter in the front(:

Skill- Eye for layout of arrangements

Probably my favorite skill that I developed while I was working is an eye for layouts of arrangements. I greened so many arrangements and was exposed to several different looking arrangements and now have a really good understanding of what an arrangement should look like, from the balance and symmetry to color and shape. Certain flowers look best with eachother in certain shapes or colors. Different lengths are visually appealing in different shapes, like tall flowers can look good in a tallish vase, and a round arrengement is very nice for short containers. Proportion is important too in making arrangements, and I got good at deciding proper length of greens and ornaments based on the container, and where flowers look best based on the holes left by the greens.

Skill- Responsibility

I've always tried to be pretty responsible, but I especially had to be responsible considering that I now had a job. I was responsible for greening arrangements, cleaning and boxing roses, grouping ornaments, and other things, and was expected to do a good job. If I slacked off or didn't do something right, it would mess things up because someone else would have to go back and fix my mistakes. I also had to be responsible for myself, by making sure I woke up and got ready in time for work, and fixing mistakes that I DID make. When I first started greening, Marlene made corrections and suggestions to help me get better. It would have been easy to ignore all suggestions and do a bad job to get through greening quicker, but I had to be responsible and make sure my work was acceptable.

Skill- Punctuality and Flexibility

I've never been one to be good at being on time. I like to sleep late and take my time getting ready, especially on weekends. While I was working for Marlene, she wanted me to come in at 9 or 10 on the weekends, and I had to make sure I was on time. I also had to be quick about getting home and getting a snack after school, because I was expected at the shop by 4. My biggest motivation was the fact that I knew they needed my help, and would miss me not being there. Plus there was always the chance I would be hired again in the future, which I was in February, and so was being paid for my time. I also had to be flexible with my schedule, I came in several days a week, and couldn't be making last minute plans with friends like I usually would.

Activity- Assisting with a funeral piece

One day when it was cose to closing (6:00), I had finished all my work and Laura, Marlene's daughter, was working on a funeral foam peice for the next day. It was a horse head and was to be specific colors. Laura was using  various mums with no stem at all and attaching them to the foam with pins. She asked me to help her by cutting off the flowers from their stems and put them on a tray for her, so she could get it done quickly and into the cooler. She used copper colored ones, and the closest to brown they had for the majority, two wooden balls for the eyes, and yellow for the blonde mane. Unfortunately she ran out of flowers, so I had to go look in the coolers for more flowers, or others close to that color that would work. I couldn't find any, but Laura and I managed to make do with what we had and what I had found to make a really nice piece.

Activity- Cleaning and Boxing Roses

During the week before Valentine's Day, I worked at the flower shop for a second time, and was paid. Marelne hired me and a few other girls from the program (Including Alyssa and Jerica :D ) and we spent most of the time cleaning and boxing roses. We had to strip the bottom half of leaves, and remove all of the thorns,  then give each rose a fresh cut and dip it in "Quick Dip" then put it in a clean bucket with warm water and floralife. We got pricked by rose thorns a lot, and the work was very repetetive. It was never boring though, because we had lots of fun talking and working in the back room. Once all the hundreds of roses were cleaned, Marlene showed us how to box 1, 6, or 12 roses, depending on the order. We had to make sure they were the right length, but not too short, take off the damaged outer petals, and lay them correctly in the box, then tie a neat ribbon on the front. Any petals that fell off or were removed were to be kept as well, because some people like to order just rose petals. The roses with broken off flowers were kept too, and put in a small glass to be used later.

Activity- Greening

During the time I worked at the flower shop in December, Marlene had me greening Christmas arrangements and adding ornaments, because it was a very big help for the other women to have pre greened arrangements ready to have the flowers put in, and they didn't have to spent time doing it themselves. Since I was inexperienced and unfamiliar with the style of arrangements anyway, my efforts were best put toward prep type things. I greened over 50 arrangements, in 3 different styles, oblong, round, and one sided. I became very familiar with greening and got really good at it. I also had to go out to the back and clip greens off of branches from donated christmas trees or donations of white pine from friends and family. Most of the christmas greens are donated because it saves the shop a lot of money.

The Arrangements

These are a few of the holiday arrangements Especially for You was making for the holidays. While I was there, I greened many of all three of these arrangements. They used a combination of white pine, various spruces, and princess pine. Unfortunately, I had an allergic reaction to the princess pine, it made my hands red and itchy. Since the princess pine was an important element in the arrangements, I wore gloves while I worked with it. Each of the arrangements were very different in how the greens needed to be placed. They required different lengths, and needed to cover different areas, since the arrangements each had their own unique shape. The candle arrangement was oblong, with big pieces coming out of the ends and shorter ones around the middle and coming up from the top. The ornament arrangement was all a circle, and the top mneeded to be round. There was a piece that was to be inserted into the top, it was made to look like the top of the ornament. I had to place it in the best spot, and add in red ornaments, spreading them around the arrangement. The Santa's Workshop arrangement was gently placed on top of a plastic piece in the middle of the container. It had a switch on the back which makes the windows light up. It was a more one sided arrangement, so the front needed to be much fuller than the back, but the foam at least needed to be covered in the back. My favorite arrangement to do greens for was the ornament. It was my favorite in terms of the end result, and it was pretty easy to green. In the end, I learned a lot from Marlene.

Customers

At Especially for You, they usually recieve phone orders from their customers, to either be picked up or delivered. They have several drivers who take the vans owned by the shop and deliver the flowers all around the area to many other towns, including Freehold Township, Manalapan, Howell, Colts Neck, and even Monroe. But sometimes, customers come in to the shop and pick up arrangements made just for them right there. Sometimes , customers even come in just to complain! One of the days I was at the shop, and older woman came in just a few days from Christmas complaining about an arrangement she had delivered. There were burgundy carnations, which she claimed were dead, thought they were clearly not. She was mistaking the naturally dark color of the flowers for them being dead, and insisted they be replaced. She was incredibly rude to the employees, and followed Laura, the one helping her, into the back of the shop! Laura asked her several times to please stay in the front, but she refused and hovered around watching Laura's every move. She ended up paying extra to get pink roses substituted in for the carnations. They didn't match the original design, and she complained about the bow Laura made, so she had to make a new one. In the end, Laura kept her composure, and the rude customer got her way and left the shop satisfied.

Commonly used flowers at the shop

Carnations:


At Especially for You, they commonly use carnations in their arrangements. Carnations come in tons of variations of color, and different sizes. They also stay alive for longer, and will continue to look great. Carnations are very versatile in term of arrangements, because they can easily be made to look fancy or casual. They have a nice look to them, and a pleasant fragrance.

Roses:


Roses are also a very commonly used flower. There are many different types, colors, and sizes of roses. They are a favorite of many, and can be used in almost anything. The different colors can even have different meanings, such as a red rose meaning love, and yellow meaning friendship. They are fragrant and are a nice focal flower.

Pompon and Daisy Mums:


Daisy Mums and Pompon Mums are great for filler flowers. They are relatively small, and have a cute look to them. There are many variations and several colors and sizes. They are long lasting, and depending on color, can change the whole look of an arrangement, adding different elements.

Lilies:


Lilies are another commonly used flower at the shop. They are a bigger flower, and there are a few different types, such as stargazer lilies, day lilies, and oriental lilies. They are normally used as a focal flower, and give a burst of color to the arrangement. They are also often used in large funeral arrangements.

December Experience- 26 Hours Total

December 2010, I started an unpaid internship at a flower shop in Freehold Boro called Especially for You. I chose to intern at that shop because my parents got their wedding flowers there, and we've always had good experiences when buying flowers there. When I went in, I talked to the owner, Marlene. She told me I could come in Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and Saturdays. 4-6 on week days, and 10-3 on Saturdays . The first day I was there, it was really difficult for me. I was not used to standing for so long, and I was picking ornaments the whole time, so my fingers got very sore. I thought that it would be like that every day, and worried about what I had gotten myself into. The next day I came in, Marlene started me on picking ornaments again, and I was fully prepared to do that the whole time. After an hour though, she started me on greening arangements. It was very different from what I was used to, since in class we had never worked with Christmas greens before. I still had some difficulty with standing so long, but it wasn't as bad. I also used a knife to cut and clean the bottoms of the greens, which I was unfamiliar with. The next day was the same, but by the next week, I was just greening. I got faster and better at it each day. I worked from December 6 to December 23. On my last day, Marlene gave me a present and asked if I would come back and work for them when Valentine's Day came around. She told me that times I worked for them in the future, I could be paid. I thanked her, and promised to come back in February. It was a great experience.