We are so very blessed to be safe after what could have been an absolute tragedy for us yesterday. We spent the day with Tyler's dear parents, his brother Travis and my dad came down from Toronto to share in the joy of Christmas and Penny's delicious cooking. Around 9pm we decided to head back to the church house to relax, maybe watch a movie and snuggle with the bun. I was absolutely horrified when we walked into the house full of thick dark smoke. The fireplace had some hot coals escape under the unit and they were slowly burning the floor boards all day long. If we had been any later, it would most certainly have burned our home to the ground. Dad and Tyler moved quickly, Tyler crawled under the church calling up to dad where to pour the buckets to extinguish the burning wood below. I took our wee bunny to the car and hoped he wasn't at all hurt by breathing in that much smoke. After about an hour the church had cleared of a lot of the smoke and everything was under control. The scary thing is imagining what would have happened if we stayed for another drink, originally we were contemplating sleeping over at Penny and Bill's. We are just so so lucky.
I'm currently writing this from the couch in my pj's, I smell like a camp fire, it's going to take a few weeks for the smell to clear but everyone is safe. Coincidentally, 3 days ago, the original owner of the church contacted me to say he had pictures of the church and a video of it on fire, back in May 1990 it burned down to the brick! Kind of strange yes? We are just so thankful we caught it before it was too late. We could have lost so much.
I feel especially thankful today for so many things in my life. My dear family and friends, my wee shop. Coriander Girl is going strong and during this week off I've got so much dreaming to do! So, I'm going to get to that and I'll see you back here early January. It's just so important to give priority to the things that matter, finding the time for the people we love, taking the time to do the things we love to do.
Here's to that!
Friends Anabela and Geoff got married this summer and it was too beautiful for words! Shot by the fabulous Celine Kim!Click here to see many more beautiful photographs on Etsy and to get the full story.
Congratulations once again Anabela and Geoff (Fieldguided!)
Cake by the lovely Nikole. Click here to visit her blog
Alison of Coriander Girl and Martha of My Time Watercolour invite
you to a
Card Painting
Party
At Coriander Girl, 1604 Queen St. West
Friday December 14th 6-9PM
Delicious
nibblies and mulled cider will be served
A wreath (handcrafted
by Alison) will be used as inspiration to create cards and raffled off at the
end of the event
Martha will
help you make 6 to 10 cards of a seasonal nature to take home to send to family
and friends
Begin the
season with some fun and treat yourself to a new passion: watercolour painting
$45.00 per
person or $80.00 for 2
Call the shop for more information. I hope you can make it! 416 532 3333
To read more about Martha click here! She is an amazing teacher and if this is something you've always wanted to try, it's the perfect, most relaxed setting to do it.
Alison xo
Hi everyone! Thanks for checking in. So, I'm always pretty open in my writing but lately I've been so busy with wedding season and who am I kidding?... just being a business owner that I barely have time to get really real, you know? Things are changing though, my priorities are shifting and I'm looking forward to getting back to my writing here.
You guys know the story? When I opened Coriander Girl over three years ago I had no idea what I was in for. I just liked flowers and I wanted to bring sweet little garden inspired arrangements to my community, we were sans florist from Dufferin to Roncesvalles. I believed in my little dream so much that when I saw the "for rent" sign, even with only fifty bucks in the bank I signed a three year lease, then ran home to write my business plan. After only six months blog TO said we were one of the TOP TEN florists in Toronto, TORONTO?! House and Home magazine did a full page shop story! This isn't me bragging, this is me still as shocked and amazed as the day I read that. I'm self taught and so it's really hard not to feel like a fraud sometimes. I'm waiting for the flower police to show up or something. Certainly, by now, the hours I've banked I can call myself a florist but it wasn't always so. The first few weddings I sat up all night wrapping boutonnieres in front of You Tube or passing it off to Kerriander because I was too scared to screw it up. My friend Sarah(fellow florista) and I spend a lot of time cursing wrist corsages. The one thing I do know is that it was my true love of flowers that inspired my wee shop and it's the reason we moved to a bigger location after only 2 years. I am never more happy then when I'm making arrangements, late night dance parties, the rabbit circling my feet. Certificate or no, it's what I was born to do and I believe that's why it's working.
photo courtesy of Trish Papadakos
My dreams are starting to come back in view, this summer was so intense that I could barely breathe let alone dream but now with more time, more frequent trips to "the church" (our home/sanctuary in Quinte West region where I'm currently writing this) I've got my mojo back! I feel hopeful and excited for Coriander Girl. There is nothing better than feeling hopeful again. You might know me to be little miss sunshine and rainbows but even I can fall in to the depths of despair. Here's to fighting for our melancholic hearts to sing again! Here's to being ok with doing absolutely nothing at all and regular dance breaks to lighten that heavy heart.
Whose with me?! Dance it out with this new Serena Ryder favourite, Stompa.
And happy 30th wedding anniversary to Mama and Pop. You guys are amazing. The passion you feel for each other after 30 years is an inspiration to us all!
