Happy Birthday Kaeyla!

I originally planned to celebrate my birthday in a new city in a new apartment. I was so prepared to get back into my own space. But, life didn’t work out that way. Sucks, but what can you do?

In December, I noticed my Plan A was likely not happening. So with two months left to plan, I started saving and working toward Plan B: visiting one of the cities on my shortlist. Unfortunately, the cost of flights dramatically increased in January with a typical $500 flight now costing $1,000+. Time for Plan C?

With my hope of celebrating in another city dwindling, I decided to drive to Nashville so that I could at least wake up in a new city for my birthday. When thinking of which city to pick, I thought back to 2022 when I stayed at the 1 Hotel for a work event. The 1 Hotel feels like a nature retreat; if Origins, Aesop, and Sezane built a hotel it’d be the 1 Hotel. The moment you walk in the scent captures you with notes of Cedar and Sandalwood (maybe sandalwood?), but definitely Cedar. I grabbed dinner and tried their Chicken Bolognese with a side of spicy broccolini. It was AMAZING.

Also, while in Nashville, I finally bought an Aesop skincare bundle set (shoutout to Earl Sweatshirt and Solange Knowles for influencing me to buy it).

I left Nashville early in the morning so that I’d have arrive back to Memphis in time for work (never doing this again). Lesson in life that I keep having to learn: TAKE OFF OF WORK FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY.

Now, on to my actual birthday celebration. The weather is typically gloomy, frozen, and depressing the week of my birthday so I moved my celebration to a week later. My annual birthday festivities are named “Feblueary”, in tribute to 2023 when I felt blue because I didn’t get to travel to Coachella for a client trip and I almost didn’t get Beyonce tickets. For this year’s Feblueary and 2025 holistically, the theme is flowers and giving people their flowers.

I hosted a candle making workshop at Falling Into Place, a former vendor of Water Your Dreams pins, where each friend made one candle. I thought I knew my friends, until I heard their scent combinations and candle names. After we made candles, I gave out personalized floral bouquets for each friend. I’ll briefly get into the logistics and thought process behind the bouquets because truthfully, I did that!!

My friends loved them and ChatGPT clearly thinks I did a great job.

The Floral Arrangements

When creating the floral arrangements, I wanted my friends to feel comforted and appreciated. Here are the steps I took to craft their individual arrangements!

1. Made a budget of how much I could afford to spend. There’s no reason why we should not be budgeting for everything in 2025. NONE.
2. I went to Trader Joe’s a few weeks in advance to survey what flowers were available and at what price. Looking back on this, I went to Trader Joe’s too soon. When I returned to actually buy the flowers, some of the flowers I needed were missing and I had to look for substitutions. If I had to do this again, I’d go a few days to a week before I needed the flowers.
3. I shopped for vases at Dollar Tree by searching for a short vase with a small to medium sized mouth to make a nice sized bouquet. I wanted the focal point to be on the flowers and not on the vase or water. But, the vase was really cute with a nice design. I’m an eclectic person, what can I say?
4. I went home and used Chat GPT to create arrangements that matched my friends, their hobbies, and meaningful moments. I didn’t use all of the flowers for each bouquet because…. budget.
5. I spent the night before the arranging the flowers and assessing what was missing to complete each arrangement. To my surprise, a lot was missing. So I made a plan to travel to Trade Joe’s (again) and looked for other flower shops that could fill the void. Again, knowing what I know now… I would’ve planned to go to the Farmer’s Market and also reached out to a local florist to buy flowers in bulk. While at Trader Joe’s, I met this super cool woman named Katie who happened to be a florist (more on Katie’s business, Old Soul Floral Co here).
6. I stopped by Urban Earth to purchase an African Violet (one of my friends is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.) and Mili’s Flowers and Gifts for any filler flowers needed.
7. After the arrangements were completed, I wrote simple cards that outlined each friend’s name and what flowers were in their bouquets.

Chat GPT Questions / Sequence

1. Using the available flowers at Trader Joe’s to understand their meanings.
   • “I’m looking to make bouquets of flowers for my friends to celebrate their personalities and my appreciation for them. Can you help me find an explanation of what each of the following flowers means?
     • Tulips
     • Pussywillow
     • Sunflowers
     • Chamomile
     • Shamrock Hydrangeas
     • Hydrangeas
     • Carnations
     • Veronica/ Speedwell
     • Mums
     • Baby Breath
     • Eucalyptus
2. Inserting friends personalities and life moments with the available flowers at Trader Joe’s to create each individual arrangement. This was helpful to determine which flower should work for each friend. As my flower supply dwindled, I used Chat GPT to find other available flowers with similar meanings.
   • Example of Friend Prompt: [Insert friend here] likes hiking but also wants to live life to the fullest. Flowers that symbolize adventure and life are great. 
   • Example of Friend Prompt: [Insert friend here] is a really talented singer with a bright and vibrant personality. The flowers should match her personality and be full of life. 

Feblueary Playlist

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