We thought it would be fun to take you to work with us today. Because we are a studio and don’t have a retail storefront, we have a lot of flexibility in shaping (and re-shaping) our schedule depending on what comes up on a particular morning or week. Like most small businesses – this is no 9 to 5. We may have to schedule a wedding consultation on a Sunday afternoon or do a photoshoot in the Napa countryside on a Tuesday morning. So here’s a little peek into what a not too crazy not too slow day at Studio Choo is like.
6:00 am. Barely wake up. (Jill accidentally sets alarm for 5:45 pm but miraculously wakes up close to on-schedule anyway.) Find clean clothes and put them on. Pick up breakfast treats and a way-belated birthday cupcake for our favorite salesman at the market.
CLICK HERE for the rest of Studio Choo’s day (including 11 more pictures of flowers, ribbons and the girls) after the jump!
Meet at our studio space in South San Francisco at 7am. Share sprinkle donut. Double check shopping list for the day’s orders. Drive to the San Francisco Flower Mart while discussing container options for an upcoming wedding. Wonder what kind of metallic gold paint will work on glass. Arrive at the market and check with our guy for “secretos” (special flowers he keeps behind the counter). Chat with Natalie and admire her cute outfit. Walk up and down through the booths choosing just the right flowers for our weekly clients and delivery orders. Chat with Lauren about her weekend. Load flowers and vases into truck (note: link launches a site with sound).
Arrive back at the studio and unload the goods onto big work table. Alethea makes midmorning snack of egg, cheese, and turkey breakfast quesadilla. Remark how eggs are not so bad and kind of fluffy when cooked in the microwave. Cut flowers and get them into water. Check emails. Watch lil’ boy sleeping in the sun. Make arrangements and work on secret experiment for next week’s post. Stop working and do a weird dance when Snowden comes up on song shuffle. Photograph arrangements for the website and blog. Use an old typewriter to write out gift card messages. Hope the E doesn’t get stuck again.
Load up the truck around noon to make deliveries. Head into downtown San Francisco. Drop off the orders. Make a visit to the Ribbonerie for some special yardage for upcoming weddings. Look through the most beautiful selection of stripes, grosgrain, satin, vintage, and organic cotton ribbons in town. Have trouble choosing the perfect pale blue. Hope a new client likes gold as much as we do. Watch Paulette skillfully wind each of our purchases into a perfect eight shape.
Starving for burgers. Head to the Ramp for lunch. Drink an Arnold Palmer and eat cheeseburgers (cheddar for Alethea and blue cheese for Jill) while basking in the sunshine on the deck. Listen to the guys sitting next to us talk loudly about how hard they party.
Head back to the studio again. Take out Ribbonerie purchases to admire them all together. Check emails. Make a succulent garden for tomorrow’s orders. Discuss homework for the night: Jill choosing and resizing images, Alethea refining a proposal. Clean up the dirt and dishes and flower scraps to start fresh again tomorrow.
63 Comments
i think the story is really cute. thanks for the info re: ribbonnerie!
what an inspirational and full day! Im just starting out my own design studio and I can only hope that each day is this pleasant and fulfilling!
What a lovely work schedule. I love that succulent garden! (Also love to see you guys eating donuts and burgers! Yeah!!!)
Very beautiful post, it looks like a nice routine and work environment, wow, and the pics are so charming and colourful!
love love love. looks like absolute perfection of a day. as i know you know, you are incredibly lucky to do such beautiful things all day.
so many of the things in here are things i love to look at and think about.
check about my post about succulents, which became a mild obsession this summer!:
http://honeyliving.blogspot.com/2009/06/i-want-bleeding-heart.html
and one on grosgrain:
http://honeyliving.blogspot.com/2009/01/going-with-grosgrain.html
i wish my office schedule is like that! so much fun! oh and i had no idea you could cook eggs in the microwave…
Interesting :D
I loved this piece! I’m always curious about how others go about their day; it may seem ordinary to you but to me it is exotic and fascinating. Thanks for the peek.
Love it! What a delightful way to spend your days & a perfect example of why owning your own business can be the best decision you ever make.
Uh, do you guys need a librarian for any reason? Because that sounds like an awesome day.
Sounds like you were sitting next to Andrew W.K. for lunch!
love the juxtaposition of the cheeseburgers and the flowers!
so neat to get a glimpse into the lives of such creative people.
This is a great post! Loved following you around for the day. Thanks for letting us tag along.
What a lovely day! Thanks for sharing!
yes, I concur. Great post. Great day. I never knew I could love ribbons almost as much as flowers.
I ‘heart’ ribbon!
I would love to have this kind of selection by me, but sadly only the basic chain craft stores.
fun to see what your day is all about!
I’ll take the bigger piece of donut…
omg a) you all are precious and i wish my days at the office were anywhere CLOSE to that kind of day and b) how do i get that succulent garden? I LOVE IT!
Can I work with you guys!? What a lovely day!! :)
What a lovely post to read as I go to bed at the end of my own day. I love the ribbon shop and the succulent garden!
i have to chime in with “jennifer in sf”…do you also need an admin? :-)
My favorite post so far…
Sweet succulents! What kinds are they?
I want to work there!
xx
Thanks for the nice break for my day! Great read!
Ah! My head just exploded; I worked for the cutest independent floral shop until they went out of business (new owner/tax evasion!) and miss my days looking like this.
Maybe you need an intern for this summer? hm? Just beautiful.
This was a great post! I love seeing into your world for the day. It’s like a virtual snowglobe. Only made of flowers. Thanks.
uh, if Studio Choo is ever hiring, I took a floral design class in high school and have done a few weddings AND would *happily* move back to San Francisco for a life like this!
i love this post!
lordy…. i’m a floral designer and would just be on cloud 9 if my days were like this!!! please hire me!! please…?? :-D
I’m stuck in a cube every day…I’m so jealous!
Sorry I forgot to say Natalie and Lauren creates pretty flower arrangements too!
Can I just say that I love this blog?! Wow, to be surrounded with flowers and cheeseburgers all day… life can’t get much better than that.
Sounds heavenly…. beautiful arrangements! As a random side note, I’d *love* to know where the calendar in the last photo is from. I’ve been looking for a very similar one for a while! Thanks!
love!
a florist’s day is busy, busy…and you have captured it beautifully ~
love your photographs!!!
Wow, what a wonderful post. The photographs are beautiful. I wish I could be surrounded by flowers and fun people all day! Great Job.
Wonderful post! I’d like to see more “a day in the life” stories!
i love it! it’s great to see what happens in a “typical” day, and those eights of ribbon are so wonderful!
what a great way to spend a day! thanks for sharing.
I love this! I wish you guys weren’t so far away (i’m in PA), but one day I’ll make to San Fran and stop by!
Grace…..Show us a day in your life! This is a great post- people wanna know! Show us your desk/your DIGS…This was so lovely – love studio CHOO and thank them for sharing their day with us!
PS….this is the perfect page to bookmark when feeling blue…these colors, flowers, and donuts could definitely cure anything. :-)
I love this idea…. “a day of your life”.. it’s so creative…. Would love to see more of this !!
I have to second Holly’s request–could “Day in the Worklife” be a new series of posts? It’s so fun to get a peek into how other folks go about their workday and what their office/studios are like. It could be a fresh incarnation of “Sneek Peaks”. What do you guys think?
Jill and Allthea are so very talented that I’m not surprised at all by their fabulous “Day in the Life”. These ladies know how to surround their lives with beauty and color in every sense. Thanks for letting us tag along!
Gorgeous photos, what an awesome work atmosphere! I wish my studio looked like that… maybe some day!
Here’s my vote for a Day in the Life of series… this one is wonderful and leaves me wishing for more!
Dang, it sucks to be you. And why the heck are you so skinny? It’s a tough life but someone has to live it. Sigh. :-)
Jill & Alethea –
I’m so envious that you get to play with beautiful flowers all day!!! You both are so talented. I’m just starting to plan a Bay area wedding for next year so I will be in touch for sure…
I also blogged about you guys over here
http://arielgordonjewelry.blogspot.com
i LOVE this post… i totally agree, this should be a regular feature! love it!
I second Susan. Dang, it sucks to be you. This wasn’t a slow day???? OMG I would LOVE it if my medium busy day was this easy! Lucky—& beautiful flowers and ribbon and studio!
Hi thanks for sharing that! I’ve been designing in sf for a few years now and am working on starting my own design studio in my apartment. very inspirational and I especially appreciate your attention to local flowers! maybe i’ll see you at the market sometime!
Lovely day!!!! And i love this post:)
would LOVE if my work day was like yours! :)
I wish my days were like that! It sounds so much fun, hard work, but so rewarding. I bet you love your job!
this post was fun to read… i wish i had this job! love the typewriter… how do you get ink for it since it is vintage??
a perfect day!
Thanks for sharing! I loved hearing about your day! It’s such a nice experience to see what people get to do in their jobs.
Can I come work with you? I am a profession price scanner (grocery checker), sooo boring. I am close too, 1 1/2 hours away in Hell (the Central Valley). Please! Kiss Kiss
Sounds like the perfect job. So awesome that you do what you love
So funny to find almost the exact day. From dahlias to setting the alarm for pm instead of am, which I do ALL THE TIME. Ah the universal life of a florist…
i love this blog…
I’d like to have a day like that! Beautiful!
it’s so refreshing to see beautiful people doing good beautiful things in this world, keep it up ladies! also, i might consider giving up my first child for that ribbon shop. jk, i don’t have kids yet! ;)
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