Just three years into my new business "unthinkable" had happened. The world around us started to crumble. No parachutes, no brakes, free fall of all, or as it turned out later, almost of all. It was tough, it was choppy, but we have survived the rapids, we were still sailing, still in demand.

"Green Light..."

Years following The Great Recession were filled with awe and admiration for my customers, they had believed in me and helped me to believe that what we were doing was unique and desirable. New faces, new events, new experiences, new goals. Time flied.

"Green Light..."

I have noticed I was spending most of my life in my flower store. My husband suggested to take a leap of faith and reinvent GeniusLoci Fine Flowers to let us find some more time for us. The Beach store was closed, the Leaside studio was opened. My customers followed me.

"Green Light..."

It took me twelve years to find the balance between my life and my business. Longer than anticipated, but with much more freedom than expected. Our extended vacations took us places, uncovered forgotten lust for learning new things. Life become fuller and happier.

"Green Light..."

Start of the 2020 was remarkable. We welcomed New Year in The Eternal City. Cheerful crowd of locals and tourists from all over the world didn't sense any lurking danger. Few coughing and sneezing didn't bother anyone. After ten days in crowded places in Rome we left for our long trip south. No more crowds, just stunning sites and amazing Calabrian and Sicilian food. La dolce vita.

Everything changed the moment we landed back at home. First Canadian COVID-19 patient, first death, lockdown... The sky was imploding on us... But we have survived, regained the balance, resolved to be helpful...

"Green Light..."

It's the fifth online opening for us. Our first online store opened back in 2004. It was new and labour intense enterprise. From the start I wanted my online store to be unique and one of a kind, the mirror image of my beautiful Beach GeniusLoci Fine Flowers store. We built it from the scratch. Our bouquets took virtual stage, any interesting bouquet created in the store, hours later was available online. Except it was 2004, almost nobody was checking what was available online. But we kept going, learning, building new online stores. Eventually people noticed us. We were constantly improving. In 2020 Shopify upped their game and finally met our expectations. Time for one more migration.

"Green Light..."

After long, dark and lonely year we all tried to be normal again, tried to laugh, tried to meet in person, tried to go and see places. It was tough and scary at first. But we persisted, persevered and in the end conquered the fear. Slowly we started to walk again.

“Green Light…”

Every journey starts with the first step… DAMN! THOSE SHOELACES!!!

Here we go again, don’t despair. Don’t listed to every bank report, stop tracing your stock for a while. We will be fine, remember we have survived last two years, what worst can happen? The year is young, the opportunities endless. Embrace unknown, enjoy the moment, smell the roses, oh and order something from us, will you?

“Green Light…”