On event day I drove that big old truck up to the Pasadena Convention Center. Big truck driving tips: Tip #1 – Don’t ride in one of those trucks if you get motion sickness – I thought I was going to lose it from all of the bouncing and Tip #2 – When the sign says “Truck Route Exit Here”, for goodness sakes EXIT! Driving on the 110 into Pasadena in a 26′ truck is no good (you have to have driven that particular stretch to appreciate what I’m talking about!). 

Our team installed the event in about 3 hours and it looked FANTASTIC (if I do say so myself!). Organic Bouquet sent us a beautiful selection of our favorite eco-friendly flowers – roses, spray roses, gerber daisies, bells of Ireland, hypericum berries, alstroemeria, lemon, seeded eucalyptus, tulips, and mini calla lilies.

The highlight of course was the infamous “World’s Tallest Roses”- big beautiful tall red roses that can whisper in your ear when you are standing next to them. They graced the Alabama bar and at the end of the night, I had to fight just to keep a few of the over 100 stems that I had because the guests were tearing those things right out of the vase to take home.  

Once we finished setting up, I was able to take a “bird bath” in the bathroom off the kitchen and get all done up to enjoy the party! Darrell took the Gold Line over after work and hung out with me – we had some yummy food and drink and I even took a ride on the mechanical bull (photos never to be published).

One of the best parts of the event was when it was over – we packed whatever flowers were left back into the truck, and the next morning I delivered them to the Petals for Patients program run by Silverado Hospital in San Juan Capistrano. Petals for Patients receives donated flowers that they repurpose into little arrangements to be delivered to hospitals, hospice facilities, and patient’s rooms to brighten their day. This was the biggest donation they had ever received and they even producted a little video on it that you can watch here!

Click here to view the embedded video.

To top off the event, I actually got to attend the BCS Championship Football Game! It was the first time I’ve gone to a game at the Rose Bowl and was a a lot of fun and quite emotional as we were sitting in the Texas section. Here’s a photo of me with my client Patrick from Aramark at the Anaheim Convention Center and Robert from Organic Bouquet. Overall a great event and an action packed way to kick off 2010! Thanks to my team for rolling up your sleeves and digging in!

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