Shoppe Class Photo Shoot
I felt a grip in my gut as our bus inched closer to Cincinnati, the same queasy anxiety I had on the plane to Russia two years before when Nikki and I made our first foray abroad. Just like Moscow, we picked Cincinnati on romance, figuring we could work out the details later.
When I say romance, I mean the sweeping contours of Great American Ball Park along the river, the blue-wrought iron of Roebling Suspension Bridge rising from the water, green hills capping the skyline and the thrill of a brand-new home.
But sometimes romance gives out, replaced by the reality of a place that you, in all honesty, know nothing about. With nothing but a few hundred miles separating us from our destination, those thoughts nibbled and gnawed at the back of my mind.
So it came as something of a relief that from the moment we got to town, we had very little time to think, let alone worry, for the first couple of days.
A few months before, Nikki arranged to teach a flower class with Shoppe Class, an amazing monthly workshop designed by Julie Otten to connect Cincinnati creatives and teach a new art or skill. Previous classes covered hair-braiding, mixology, sewing, calligraphy and screen-printing, with Nikki’s floral arranging workshop the last Shoppe Class of 2014.
While the class isn’t for another few days, the photo shoot had to be the day after we arrived to give Julie enough time for promotion. Nikki pulled it together, ordering flowers from Cincinnati wholesalers a few weeks before and foraging for the final touches in the woods near our apartment.
It’s sappy, but I love watching her work. When it’s showtime, everything but the flowers seem to fade as she coaxes them to do her bidding. Trimming, arranging, caressing, adjusting…it took just over an hour, enough time for Julie’s friends Alex and Corey Larrison to capture on film what felt and looked like magic.
It’s not smooth sailing all the time. You don’t always have photo shoots with beautiful, talented people. Sometimes you have to spend a day, or two, or three battling the cable company just to get internet in your apartment.
But suffice it to say, we’re excited about flowers in Cincinnati, especially Nikki’s first opportunity to teach and share her passion for floral design. Plus, we finally got our Reese’s back, so what could we possible have to worry about?
