It’s another beautiful, hot day here in sunny Arizona. Welcome to our blog on the Spotted Donkey; a boutique of the most gorgeous and life-like faux flowers and arrangements. We’d like to introduce ourselves. I’m Ken and my wife and partner in the business is Beth. We have been married for 45 wonderful and sometimes challenging years with most of that time making our home in Arizona. We moved around some but always returned to the desert.
During those 45 years we hustled and we bustled just like all of you do. We both led in high- pressure, very demanding careers that always came with executives constantly pushing impossible deadlines. And everyone can relate to the stress of getting to and from work with the bumper-to-bumper traffic that we wonder now how we ever survived. Add to that the far too many nights we felt so obligated to bring work home with us. There just wasn’t time for leisure or relaxation, and we certainly didn’t have time to really make our house a home.
There was, of course, time spent doing the things we loved. We lived close to Beth’s family so when we weren’t working or shuttling our girls to different sporting events, we were off to grandmas or some other family get-together. We had our friends as well who would call us for dinners out or game nights as often as possible, which we loved, but it seemed there just wasn’t a moment for us to slow down.
We raised 3 very active daughters; each one playing a different sport as they got old enough. If you have kids in sports you know how hectic that can be; going to practices and traveling almost every weekend for games. Many of those games were at least 30 miles away and some even in other states. It was up at 5am on Saturday morning, rush through breakfast, pack the equipment, head to the game, and you had to get to the gamesite at least a couple of hours ahead of time. Then it was sitting for a few hours during pre-game and then the game itself. We usually spent the best part of the day at some gym or another. That left Sunday as the only time for church and chores. There didn’t seem to be a minute that was not jam packed with activity.
Time passes and the kids grow up, head off to college, marry and start families of their own. Beth and I retired and dreamed of finally slowing down. We started looking at the home we had built and realized we now had time to make it the dream we had envisioned for so many years. We both had a passion for beautiful flowers and plants. We wanted the house to feel like a real home inside and out and we wanted the arrangements we chose to be a big part of that.
We went to work. There was suddenly time to redecorate and that included carefully selected floral arrangements indoors and a beautiful garden-like atmosphere outdoors. Once we finished redecorating, we began to think back and realize how different our lives together would have been if we had made it a priority to build our home first and then take on the busy life. We now come home from vacation or dinner out and when we walk in the door, there is such a calm about our home. There is a beauty and serenity we didn’t know we had been missing.
We walk out into the back yard and we are immersed in green and purple and red and yellow; nearly every color of the rainbow. There is everything from hibiscus and honeysuckle to palm, ficus and lantana trees. The beauty of the variety of plants has such a calming effect, but there was a catch. Living in the desert requires a great deal of water to keep the plants alive. I would buy perennials and small potted plants only to have them fade, wither up and die normally in less than two weeks even though I watered them religiously. That’s when Beth and I started thinking artificial.
We went online and started researching and shopping. We found small bouquets of inexpensive flowers that eventually faded and withered not much differently than live plants. We kept searching and found UV rated plants that claimed to withstand the sun better. We found they lasted much longer and maintained their original shape and color throughout the summer. In Arizona, though, where the temps can climb to 115 on the hottest days, we decided it would be better to set most of our arrangements on a shaded patio. This worked out great! Now we find excuses to go outside and we spend many evenings sharing a bottle of wine just taking in the scenery. Even though we live in the city and our back yard is modestly sized, it truly feels like an oasis.
That is what we are all about now. We want to share this journey with all of you; offering all the beautiful floral and greenery arrangements pre-made and stress-free. We know how hectic your day can be and it is so nice to come home, forget about the chaos of the day, and just relax in a totally immersing environment you can truly call a home.
Join us again tomorrow for news and information about our latest arrivals. We’ll even tell you what inspired the name Spotted Donkey. Thanks for joining us today and don't forget to check out our shop at SpottedDonkey.biz!