For the next in a series of summer activities planned here at Flower Shop Network, we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and have a cookout. We also split the entire office into teams for an exciting group-building exercise and tons of free prizes. We take summer pretty seriously around here … seriously fun that is!

This is the massive grill we used to cook up all the hamburgers and hot dogs the staff could eat, and more!

Hmmm, they look a little less appetizing while still in the packaging.

Wait a minute, yeah! That’s the stuff! Yum!

This was so popular I couldn’t get a photo until the first wave had passed. Uh oh, I’m hungry again.

And buckets of peanuts? Uh, yes please!

A very small sampling of the delicious deserts available at the cookout. Seriously, there were possibly four times this many delectable options, many of which were homemade. It was yummy.

And here’s the team building exercise we worked on this week. The goal was to set this PVC pipe on the ground without anyone’s finger coming off the pipe. It’s harder than it sounds.

But they did it!

Don’t fret, there are plenty more exciting FSN activities you’ll have a chance to peek in on all summer long! Just keep an eye on the Bloomin’ Blog or our Facebook page. See ya next time!

FSN has its share of Administrative Professionals, and never let it be said that we don’t know the proper way to honor those individuals. You know what I’m talking about right? That’s right, flowers! And we gave some gorgeous ones from FSN member Alvin Taylor’s Flowers here in Paragould, AR. So scroll through and take a look at some smiling faces and beautiful arrangements!

This is our Front Desk Administrator. She’s the first face you see when you walk into the FSN offices, the first voice you hear when you call and that smile is a genuine and permanent fixture. Thank you for all you do! [Read more…]

There’s only one thing better than having a baby, and that’s having two! That’s what happened to Flower Shop Network employee Joe Teasley and his wife Kelly. They were recently blessed with two beautiful additions to their family in Brody (boy) and Kodie (girl). To celebrate, Flower Shop Network decided to host a baby shower in their honor! (I have it on good authority that no babies were actually showered at the event.)

A cake of congratulations! You can’t see from this photo, but the cake itself was half blue and half pink. That didn’t stop it from being all scrumptious though!

Here’s Kelly holding up a couple of adorable outfits for her little ones.

And here are the stars of the day, themselves! Oooh, they’re so precious!

Let me tell you, that punch was delicious.

Look at all those presents!

A close-up of little Brody.

And of course one of little Kodie.

Congratulations Joe and Kelly! I know you’re so proud and you have every right to be!

Patti Jones is retiring! I don’t know whether to congratulate her and excitedly jump up and down on her behalf or cry and bemoan the fact that we won’t get to see her shining face in the halls anymore. In reality, I’ll probably do a bit of both. Scroll down for some photos of the party and all the hugs and laughter that were shared.

Meet Patti. She doesn’t normally stand around holding delicious cake. That’s something she’s doing for today only.

This is Patti enjoying lunch with her family at the Flower Shop Network offices.

The Flower Shop Network logo in delicious cake form! YUM!

A nice, orderly line for the BBQ. It’s obvious they hadn’t tasted it yet. If they had, they would have been knocking each other over and clamoring for all they could fit on their plate … or maybe that was just me.

And here is Patti with her FSN/FGmarket family. A sea of smiling faces.

A little blast from the past of FGmarket hanging on the walls of FSN.

Happy retirement, Patti! We’ll miss you!

The Mission Outreach of Northeast Arkansas is hosting a chili cook-off fundraiser on March 8th of this year. Flower Shop Network is excited to participate, but we only want to present the best possible chili to the contest. In order to find that perfect chili, we decided to hold a pre-chili cook-off chili cook-off. Of course this pre cook-off had nothing to do with a desire to eat delicious chili until we popped. It was all business. You believe that right? Okay, moving on.

The cascade of chili. Looking delicious! And nicely laid out. I wonder how it will look after our staff gets their hands on it?

The donation station also doubles as a voting station. Just place your donation in the number of the chili you enjoyed most.

A few desserts to calm the sure-to-come raging mouth flames.

I hope that photo is not an indicator of the meat type used. Eeesh!

A spicy selection. The probable instigator of those previously mentioned raging mouth flames.

Oooh, deer chili! Venison is an excellent meat and has an excellent flavor for chili.

Mystery Meat Chili? I guess they left their opossum picture at home.

Bring on the taste-testers!

Looks like they’re enjoying it …

Quenching the raging mouth flames!

A picture of the chili aftermath. Looks like this chili was demolished!

From the look of the donation station, we are going to have a tight race at the top.

The Mission Outreach of Northeast Arkansas is an organization focused on housing the homeless, feeding the hungry and caring for the sick. FSN is proud to join in their fundraising efforts, and our haul for today was $123.03! Yay donations!