The Flower Shop That Wasn't Planned | Adrienne Ryser

Adrienne Ryser moved to Paris for love with two suitcases, a cat, no visa, and no French, and ended up buying the oldest flower shop in the city. Now she's opened a second location in Oslo and just published her first book, Fleurs. 

In this conversation, Wendy and Adrienne explore:

• What it took to earn a spot at a shop the original owners hadn't let an employee touch in a decade, and why they still drive by to check on her years later
• Adjusting to a culture that discourages standing out, after building an entire business on doing exactly that
• The moment she realized chasing "calm and settled" wasn't actually the goal — building a life with room for both chaos and quiet was

What stands out about Adrienne's story isn't the shop, or the book, or even Paris itself. It's how many times she's said yes to a life she never planned for, then built something remarkable inside it anyway.

Connect with Adrienne:

Get her book, Fleurs: Bouquets, Arrangements, and French Floral Inspirations: amazon.com/dp/1454958022?tag=syty-20

Instagram:

@AdrienneRyser instagram.com/adrienneryser

L’Arrosoir Oslo: instagram.com/larrosoiroslo

L’Arrosoir Paris: instagram.com/larrosoirparis

Referenced in this Episode:

Meghan Trainor - Me Too: youtu.be/qDRORgoZxZU?si=Aa9673EyzQVsmpNB

The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks: amazon.com/Big-Leap-Conquer-Hidden-Level/dp/0061735361?tag=syty-20

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Connect with Wendy:

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Podcast Production By Shannon Warner of Resonant Collective
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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Hi friends, this is Wendy Harrup, and welcome to the Say Yes to Yourself podcast. On the Say Yes to Yourself podcast, you'll hear stories from women just like us who are adding the practice of saying yes in their daily lives in big and small ways, and as a result are experiencing the truth that everybody wins when you say yes to yourself. Saying yes to yourself is a graceful unfolding, an intentional becoming of the very best version of you. It is my hope that in these conversations we are able to find our truth and be inspired and empowered to live our very best lives. I'm so excited to go on this journey with you, and I look forward to finding a bit of our own story in each other's. Oh my goodness, Amelia and I are having such a good time, and we're very exhausted. We've been accepting furniture deliveries and connecting with different vendors and contractors that are coming over and practicing my French and being nervous and blissfully exhausted at the end of each day. And you know, it's so fascinating. People have been messaging me on Instagram saying, I want to see pictures, I want to see pictures. And to be completely honest, my loves, which is my aim every day with everything I say. I feel nervous to show pictures because I just got here and it's not the way that it's going to be. And it's been so hot. Oh my gosh, it's been so hot. So the grass is all crispy and the plants are crispy, and there's weeds coming out of the rocks. And I don't know if that's what you want to see. And I don't know if taking a picture of it just shows me everything I'm not doing, everything I haven't gotten done yet. I don't know exactly what my resistance is about. And so I'm spending time with my journal, but I am also going to be courageous and show pictures of the process because I treasure you and I treasure that we're on this journey together, and I totally wouldn't care about any picture that you showed. I would not be judging you. So I'm gonna show myself the same grace that I show other people. Oh, well, what a good idea, and how generous of me to be towards myself. Isn't it fascinating? Because I am not robbing myself of documenting where I am in the process of getting this beautiful historic home together. I'm robbing myself of the encouragement. This is how you know I'm not lying. I'm robbing myself of the encouragement of this beautiful community that I've curated. And I know, like these things are amazing, and they're totally inspiring and totally overwhelming and totally inspiring again. And the thing that makes it inspiring to me is sharing it. I had the same experience in the years that when I arrived at the Phineas Wright House, I had such big dreams, and this huge property was slow to conform to what I wanted it to be, and now it's so, so, so, so beautiful. And I know the same will be true for menartery, and it is beautiful in her gorgeous, stately, crispy grass kind of way. So thank you for that. I obviously needed to get that out of my body, and I'm so happy that we are carrying on our gorgeous theme of all things French with today's guest. We have the amazing Adrienne Riser. She is the florist and owner of La Rosie, Paris' oldest flower shop, and she has florals in her blood. She grew up the daughter of horticulturists in California. After working at a high-end flower shop in West Hollywood, a chance romantic encounter led her to Paris in 2016. There she fell in love again, this time with La Roire, a charming flower shop that has been a fixture of the 11th arrondissement for more than a century. Adrienne acquired the shop from its retiring owners and transformed it into one of the city's most sought-after florists, creating arrangements for highly visible events and celebrities, as well as serving loyal neighborhood regulars. In her stunning debut book, Flours, studded with lush photography shot all over the City of Love, Adrienne shares her approach to flower arranging, combining her own whimsical influences with the more traditional French rules for flowers, as well as how and when to break them. In the style of a cookbook with more than 50 bouquet recipes, you can rely on clear step-by-step instructions and explanations and techniques. You are going to love this fun and fabulous conversation with Adrienne Riser. In fact, a part of her book tour, she did a book signing on the plane from Paris to New York. How fun is that? I didn't even know I wanted to write a book until I knew you could have a book signing on a plane. That's so cool. And she is so cool. I know you're gonna love this conversation. Adrian, I am so looking forward to this conversation. It would only be better if we were having drinks at La Maurice in Paris, but this will do. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 6:48

Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for inviting me to come on your podcast. I'm so excited to catch up and get to know you and talk about all of the things, all of the flowers.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

I am so excited for this because you are living a dreamy life. And it takes one to know one because I am also living a dreamy life. But when someone's beautiful experience makes me think, oh my gosh, I actually like so many of the things that she's doing, and I'm not doing them, and not in a like, oh, I want to be her, but oh, I want to be around her. I want to be like in her energy, and I want to also shine a spotlight on it. So these are my favorite kind of conversations.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Thank you so much, and thank you for the energy that you are bringing to this conversation right now. That's what I'm talking about. Thank you. Totally like I always think, oh, if I saw myself, I would be like, oh my god, I'm dying to live her life. Like, I can't believe I get to be me.

SPEAKER_01 8:01

I know I feel the same way. And there's very few people that you can say, oh my gosh, it's so fun to be me right now.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

I can't believe I get to be me. Obviously, I'm a normal human being. Like it's I have my ups and downs, but in the overall, like I would be envious of me if I wasn't me.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Because I need to do all of the things I love all the time. Exactly. We will the theme song for this episode will be um Megan Trainer song. I just listened to it. It's so fun. It's if I were you, I'd want to be me too. It's so funny. Is that a song? Yes. Okay, I need to listen to that immediately. That's like hilarious. It's like every day I wake up thanking God that I get to be me. And if I were you, I want to be me too. Yep. It's so hilarious. So that's our theme song. So fun. And I love that we both started in Southern California, where like that is a location that many people dream of ending up. But maybe because we started there, we were already just I feel like there every day is perfect, kind of like weather-wise.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

It's like another sunny day, another sunny day. And so maybe that contributed to our like enthusiasm. Yes. We lived in a music video pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Totally. Yes. And also, we wanted, well, I'll speak for me. I wanted more. And I wanted different. And I wanted, I wanted zero. I wanted it not to be sunny every day, especially from October 1st until December 1st. And that was fall. But in Southern California, fall is a decision you make. It's not supported by anything that's happening around.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

It doesn't exist. It's just a coat that you add on or a scarf or like an accessory, but like you're actually sweating.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Exactly. Exactly. While you're at the pumpkin patch in your cute brown boots doing your thing.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

And yes. I didn't crave for seasons. And I did always imagine, like, okay, I loved where I grew up, but I didn't think I was going to live there forever. For some reason, I knew that like I was going to leave and and I was going to be on to bigger and better. I knew that in my heart, but I didn't know how incredible seasons were until I got to Paris. And I remember that first winter, everyone being like, oh my God, doesn't it suck? And I'm like, it's amazing. Like the leaves, they turned yellow and then red and then orange and then they fell off. And now they're just sticks. And then like spring came. And I'm like, oh my God. And then the sticks, they just like bursted into green leaves. And now they're like fluorescent and they're neon. I used to ask my husband, like, do you think the leaves are neon too? And he was like, I don't know. Like, I don't, I guess, you know. And I was just like, oh my God, this is so amazing. How I did like 10 years of seasons. I did start missing perfect every day.

SPEAKER_01 11:13

That's so fascinating. But then you created perfect every day in what you were doing, which is so good. Because we can we get to move around. And I agree. I feel like the seasons were like watching a fashion show, right? I moved here in winter, so I didn't even really know what all of these sticks were capable of until spring rolled around. I was like, oh my gosh. And when I see even pictures of my house now in the summer, right? You know, I am like, oh my gosh, if it's winter. And when I see pictures in the winter while I'm in summer, I still can't wrap my head around how much it changes. Love it. It's so fun. And I think that for me, and it sounds like for you as well, the key to living this dreamy, fabulous life is obviously saying yes to ourselves. And it's one yes after the other, and following the breadcrumbs, following our bliss. And of course, we didn't know it was going to end up this dreamy. And there's still so much more to come. So I would love to know how are you saying yes to yourself in this season?

SPEAKER_00 12:30

In this season, I'm saying yes to myself by believing in myself. Um and as you know, I just had a book come out and that was super fun and a big success. I got to travel all around and like spread the love of flowers, which is what I what I really love to do. I love meeting people and connecting and and showing them what I've learned in France and how just like cool it is. Yeah. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 13:02

So tell us how Southern California, you reference Paris. Like, how did this happen? And what do you do there? And how did it lead to a book?

SPEAKER_00 13:14

So I grew up in San Diego. My parents were horticulturists, and so I really grew up surrounded by flowers. However, I wanted to be different from my parents. I never thought I would be, you know, in the flower industry. I was like actually embarrassed of it as a kid. I remember at one of my birthday parties, my parents had me hand out like mini grafted cactuses as party favors to the kids who came. And I remember being truly mortified. Like, why do I have to hand out mini grafted cactuses? Like, I just want to have candy, you know, good bags. Like, this sucks. But all the kids think it's so cool, right? But I was just quiet. Like, we are so weird.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

It's so funny. I can hear my daughter, her, she's 12, and her like giant, if I ask her, my parenting fail. She's like, Mom, you always take me to France for a month. I'm like, okay. Like, I don't want to do that. I want to play with my friends. I'm like, okay, you tell your therapist all about how terrible I am that I take you to France for a month. So, yes, I totally get like when you are that close to it, you don't see how cool it is.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

So I just grew up kind of like immersed in the flowers, and then I took a Euro trip. I was super young. I went to college in Los Angeles and I was studying journalism. I was obviously not going to become a flow, a florist. And then I took this trip with my friend to the south of France, and we were staying with her grandparents' best friends. Okay. And another thing I didn't really feel like doing was like staying with someone's grandparents' best friends. I was trying to fight Lauren on it. I was like, I do not want to stay with them. Can't we like stay with cool people or like at a hostel with the young kids? Um, anyways, this great grandma-grandpa duo, cutest grandma-grandpa in the world, they ended up being and they were lived in Villefranche on the turquoise water in the south of France. They invited their grandson over for dinner. And I was like so in love from the first second he walked through the door, but I never thought that I would see this person again because he lived in France. I lived in Los Angeles and we were super young, but um, we kept in touch. We ended up doing long distance for two years, and he sold his car to have enough money to fly to LA and surprise me when I was like 21.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

I love him.

SPEAKER_00 15:43

I know. No, he was he's so sweet and still is the sweetest. And so I remember he was trying to move to California during those two years, and then one day it dawned on me like, why am I not trying to move to Paris where he lives? Like I should totally so I packed up my life. I sold my car, I sold my couch, I had a a new person to replace me in my roommate situation, and I left with my cat and two luggages. I arrived in Paris in 2016, and I had no visa, I had no plan, I didn't speak any French at all. I just knew I loved this French boy. A lot of people moved to Paris because it's like a dream of theirs. Right. You know, I didn't even want to go to France initially. Like Paris was not my dream. I was not a Francophile. I had never heard any word other than bonjour, literally. So I got there and I was a bit lost, but I wanted to seem busy. Like I wasn't just waiting around for a man. So I would spend my days wandering around. He would text me and say, Hey, I'm coming home. And I would like quickly get dressed and run out so I could be busy. And when I was so busy, I was usually just frolicking um alone. But I would always duck into the flower shops because they reminded me so much of home, you know, growing up with my parents. And like although I was so far away and I didn't speak French, like the flowers were the language I needed to just like feel like, I don't know, connected. So I visited all the flower shops all of the time. And there was one that I absolutely loved called La Rosoire. It was on 80 rue Aubert-Campf. And I I came to find out that it was the oldest flower shop in Paris. And the couple who ran it, they met um, like by chance when he handed the woman walking by a bouquet of orange lilies, and like then they fell in love and they were running the shop together. They didn't have Oh my gosh. No, they were so their life too. And like they didn't have kids, and they're super French in the best way, but super talented, but like they were artists, so they were just they they were characters. Um and one day I saw a sign in the window that said we're looking for a florist. I walked in. I in my broken French, I was like, I I'm Adrienne like I'm getting a visa soon. I don't speak that good of French, but I'm trying my best. Um, I'm also not a florist, but like my parents are, and I grew up in the flowers, and I don't know what it was. They hadn't had an employee for 10 years, like it was just them, and they were committed to just doing it on their own, but they were getting to be kind of older. They hired me on the spot. I started on Valentine's Day. I have no idea why they hired me. I sucked at everything. Like I didn't speak French, I didn't know how to take a proper bouquet, or at least like not their way. They were so particular and they were doing things the La Rosoir way. So I had to learn everything from them. Uh, and I worked alongside them for two years, and they wouldn't let me speak a word in English. Like, I had to speak French when I was there, even if it was someone that I knew who spoke in English, who we don't speak in French together, like they would make me speak in French to them. And I thought it was so mean at the time, but like now I'm fluent in French, and like I started off being fluent in flower French. Now I'm actually, but it's it's really thanks to them. And like I said, they taught me everything I know. They were creative geniuses and so talented. And two years into working there, they told me that they're selling the business and like they don't care anymore. It could become a footwalker, it could become a restaurant. They're just like done and they're selling it. And the second they told me that, I was like, I'm buying this flower shop. Like, there's not even a question. So I remember I went home, I talked to my parents about it, and they were like kind of confused how their daughter ended up, you know, I graduated college and then I like moved to Paris for some boy and was like wandering the streets, like and then worked in a flower shop, and they were like, What is happening? So then when I had this opportunity to buy the flower.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

They obviously don't have the Hallmark channel, otherwise, they would exactly what was happening.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Like they were so so supportive, but also I feel like they were like, Hopefully this works out, Adrian, you know, or you're coming home. Yeah. I mean, my mom still begs me to come home every day. Um, I called them and I was like, the flower shop's for sale. And my dad's like, let's go, you know, we're buying this. So I went to all of the banks, finally got a loan. I ended up buying the flower shop during COVID. That's a whole nother story. But um, that was in yeah, 2020, November of 2020. I actually signed the papers and bought the shop. And ever since then, I've just tried to like grow the business in other ways. Like it was already very known in Paris, and people would come in for flowers, like regulars who lived in the neighborhood. Um, but they didn't have a website, they didn't have a computer, they didn't even have a cash register. Like all of the orders were written down on little scraps of paper that were like flying all around the place. Um, I think we had a phone, but we didn't have an email address. Like, so I just tried to grow the brand and you know, create a website and hired more people because it was like just me and this one intern with them for the longest time. And yeah, so I just worked at it and like I did it all with so much passion because I had learned from them, like just seeing them get up in the morning, go to the flower market, and then work the whole day at the flower shop, and then after that, have enough energy to go out to dinner and like be so Parisian. I was just so inspired by them. And so I mean, I promised that I was gonna preserve preserve their legacy. I haven't even talked to them since the day I signed the papers.

SPEAKER_01 21:56

Oh, I was gonna ask you like, aren't they so proud of you? I don't know. So, like I because they're not on Instagram.

SPEAKER_00 22:04

They don't even know. They are on Instagram. Okay. They have never posted anything, but they follow, like, this is all just because I'm a stalker, right? Right, right, right. Follow like 90 people, and I'm one of them. And I'm not joking you. They are the first people to see everything I post. Like they are looking. And this little tobacco shop across the street. Right. Tobacco, right? Yeah, to back. And the guy who worked there, now it's closed, and I can't remember his name. He was like, Hey, did you see um his name's Alain? He said, Did you see Alain yesterday? And I was like, No, why? And this was a year after I bought the shop. And he said, Oh, because I saw that he drove by five times yesterday. And I was like, Are you joking me? So, like, I know that they still drove by and I know that they see everything I do on Instagram. And I did like thank them in my book. I I mean I hope they saw it. I have no idea because I think of course they did. I think that there this shop was just so much their baby, and they had so much history in there, and they were like such sentimental people that I think selling it was just a lot. And I feel like they just couldn't even like I don't know, they couldn't ever talk to me ever again.

SPEAKER_01 23:27

That is so interesting and so not Californian.

SPEAKER_00 23:31

So I understand like feeling like all of the neighbors on the street, I remember even were like, What you bought the shop? Like we knew them for 30 years, they didn't even say goodbye, or that they're selling. Like they just like kept it very private, yeah, and then here I am exposing it all. But um they like they left, they never really said anything to me after that. But I kind of like appreciate it in a way now because I had to really figure everything out for myself. I didn't have them to like help me, and you know, like they weren't there to answer questions for me for the as far as the business goes.

SPEAKER_01 24:09

And so I I really had to like figure it out and I I also got to kind of bring my own spirit into the shop because I wasn't scared that they were gonna come in and like right, tell you that you're doing it wrong or like you're busted, your parents came home from vacation early or something and you were throwing a party.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

I I think it actually did help me for sure.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

And Adrian, okay, just as an outsider, if they were mad or upset in any way, yeah, they would not be following you, they would not be driving by, they would be sabotaging you and taking it back.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

Like it's and like they hired me, only me, and they sold me their flower shop, their baby. I know that that's major.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

It is major, and they love you, but they just don't have the language or the action that that is fluent to how you and I would do it. So I I love this for you, and I love how there are cooperatives that are in the neighborhood that give them information, they also give you information and it's all just really darling. And I love also that they just get to do it the way that feels good to them, and you get to do it the way that feels good to you, and totally they can watch or not watch, yeah. But they do right, but it's also such a good reminder of you know, when and you're doing big, magical, fabulous things, but we're still human, and sometimes we feel like, ooh, is this too big? Is this too dreamy? Like, who do I think I am? And do it, and like let me just remind everyone that I didn't want this, but look at how it happened, you know, we can get in our own heads about what we really are eligible to have. And when we can do what they've done, yeah, which is disconnect from anybody's impression of how they're doing something and if it should be different, and like they're just being them. And I think it's such a gorgeous permission slip to remind you that you just get to be you, and anyone that has some alternate story of how your success came to you more easily than to some or you know, whatever nonsense people come up with. It's just not your story, that's theirs.

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Yeah, you're so right. Um, I think that rings true a lot to like the fact that so I bought the shop in Paris, I ran that for seven years, and then I had the opportunity to open another flower shop in Oslo, in Norway, which is where I'm where I'm talking to you from now. Um brilliant. But in Norway, they have this mindset where it's like no, what no one should outshine the other. Everyone is the same, everyone should be the same. And then there's me who I'm like totally against the grain. And I'm like telling them, no, but like they brought me here to be different. They wanted a French-inspired flower shop. Like, and they're like, you shouldn't shine so bright. And I'm like, they brought shine as bright as I freaking can.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Like, and the place where people go to see the northern lights is going to tell someone not to shine brightly. That doesn't even make sense. Like, maybe they mean not brighter than that.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

I know. No, you're I so true. It's different mindsets, and I and and I'm just you know, just learning, figuring it out. Right. How is that landing for you? Um, I'm super grateful to have this opportunity to move to a new place again. I mean, like, that's amazing. Uh once again, a place I never expected to go. Once again, a place I don't speak the language whatsoever. Once again, a place where I know no one or nothing. And like I um am here with my husband, who was super supportive of the move and he was ready for the adventure. And then we got to bring our baby, who's a year and a half now. And like I know that as much as I love Paris, and like I still have my shop in Paris, and I will always have Paris. And like after 10 years, I grew to love Paris more than anyone who thought they loved Paris initially. Like, I just I absolutely love it. Um, but I think for my baby, it is better to be here in Norway where it's a little bit more calm. And like obviously, the Scandinavians have a reputation for how that they raise and respect young children. And like, I can't believe I get to give that to my baby. Like, I just think that's the coolest thing ever. And then just to open the flower shop here and and learn all of the cultural differences. It's not like France, where people just pick up a bouquet on their way home, you know, and like there are different challenges. Like the flower market isn't the biggest flower market in Europe as it is in Paris with like the best ever. So we have to find different ways to get those amazing flowers, and like that's been super fun and like so cool connecting with the local farmers of Oslo and meeting all of these really empowering women who helped me throw really cool book events and like champion me so much, and I think they're the coolest, and like they for some reason think I'm the coolest, and so I really love a lot of things about Oslo. I think that it's landing perfectly fine for now. I don't know, like, I didn't think I would move to Paris, I didn't think I'd move here, so I don't know what is gonna come after.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

I love this opportunity that you have as well in in being new to this community, but not new, like this is not your first flower shop, and you've already like you've shown yourself and whomever let you in to Oslo that you can do it, right? And then to have the support of these local farmers that are most likely not new to the area, that you are getting to kind of spearhead this campaign of shifting a mindset that's no longer in service. And typically, spoiler alert, the women know first that something is outdated and want to be a part of positive, loving change that they're able to support your efforts, even though you might be taking a lot of the you know, the brunt as the front line of it, but you are feeling supported by the infrastructure of that industry. That's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 31:28

I'm so excited to have their product in my store because, as in France, I loved working with the local farmers and having all of the fresh flowers and foliage. And like these farmers have never had their products in a flower shop before. Like they're also just as like psyched as I am that we have this relationship. The only downfall is, of course, in Norway the winter hits and then the flowers aren't there anymore. So then you're you have to order like the old school way. But um, when we can, I love to go to the farm like twice a week and pick up fresh flowers grown in Oslo and incorporate them in my French-inspired shop.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

Oh my gosh, it's so beautiful and dreamy and amazing and fabulous. Who is taking care of Paris while you are in Oslo and while you're on this amazing book tour?

SPEAKER_00 32:26

I am so grateful to have the best team ever. I have an amazing manager in Paris named Renault, and he actually like started officially the day I moved to Oslo. So we've been getting to know each other while I'm here, and I couldn't love him any more than I do. He is totally the right person for this job. It took me a long time to find someone, and he is just the most passionate person ever, and he lived next to the flower shop for 20 years. So he knew its potential of gorgeousness when the old owners were there, and then he got to actually see the transformation of after when I bought it and like tried to turn it into something even better. And he just like I found him by chance, honestly. And he's the best thing that ever happened to me. And he they're like better off without me, I'm telling you. And he, the way he runs the team there. No, seriously, I like to swoop in and give them like my fun creative ideas, and I still go back and forth a lot. So that's super cool. And I feel like I have the best of both. I have chaotic Paris, and then I have Calm Oslo. I can go to California when I need to. I can travel for my book when I need to. Like I feel super free. I feel super happy that I set my life up that way because I am kind of chaotic too, and not like easily can settle in one place or do the same thing every single day. That's just me. You are medicine for Oslo. He's really killing it, and he loves the opportunity that he's been given to run this shop that he's always loved. So yeah, he created an amazing little team over there and they're absolutely crushing it. We have amazing events coming up soon that I get to go to Paris for. And I love when he's like, hey, uh, this client is asking if you will come. I'm like, oh, an excuse to come to Paris. Like, sign me up, give me all of the jobs. Thank you. Um, I've never had so many positive Google reviews in my life. When I was there, it was like not as you know, he's just the best ever. And then I have two amazing florists who work in Oslo. They are like the two florists who know everything about floristry in Oslo. They've worked in many different shops and they also know each other from the past. So, like, they're a great team, and they totally hold it down here while I go to Paris or while I'm moving around. Like, I feel like I have the best support at the flower shops that one could ever have. And it's not lost on me how lucky I am because it's not always that easy for sure.

SPEAKER_01 35:19

And it has so much to do. I mean, really, it has everything to do with you and your energy and your relationship with control, with trust, with support. It's really beautiful because you have created this experience. You've attracted the amazing people. Of course, there's it's all the cooperative components, but anyone who is sitting in what looks like a really awful situation, we've also created that. So we're powerful.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

But I also like see so much potential in everyone that has does and has ever worked for me. And I'm always like telling them, like, what are your dreams? Let's make them happen. Do you want to do this, that, or the other thing? Like, I think we can get there. Let's just like let's just talk about what it is and let's make it happen. And I feel like we we do.

SPEAKER_01 36:22

Yes, you do. You are creating this beautiful experience. It's so gorgeous. And I love that it is not necessarily the tutelage you received when you were first starting. Like it was, you know, this is how you learn. I remember that it's all in service.

SPEAKER_00 36:42

Totally. They I remember just that every everything, yeah, exactly. Everything's in service, everything helps you learn and grow and develop, and and I'm I'm so grateful for for all of it.

SPEAKER_01 36:53

Yes, and it can only get as expansive as the person feels safe to expand to, right? And so because you are there's such a freshness to being new, to be new to a location, new new to a city, new to the industry, even though you have quote unquote roots there, um, you have this ability to bring a freshness, but also street cred, that you're not just, you know, some flighty girl from California with big dreams in her heart and thinks everyone can just make rainbows and unicorns out of nothing. You are doing the work, but you are doing such a gorgeous job of sharing the spotlight, using your brightness to shine it on other people, which is just beautiful. Thank you, Wendy. I hope I'm doing that. You are. I don't know you, and I'm witnessing it. So I am an outsider. I'm not just paid to be nice. And sometimes those things are hard for us to hear, but I reason that's what I'm here for. Good girl. That is the right answer. It is the right answer. It's that receptivity that makes it just expand even more. You've written this beautiful book, you're going through all of this, and you're expanding your reach into new countries, and we come up against those ceilings, those upper limits, Gay Hendricks talks about in his book, The Big Leap, where we think, oh my gosh, like how good am I willing to get life get? And we come up against these ceilings, but when we align our desires and we say yes to ourselves and we do the big scary thing because we know it's calling us, it's not scaring us.

SPEAKER_00 39:05

Yeah, it's not like I was not terrified to move to Paris. Totally. It's not like I wasn't. I remember we woke up, we were leaving Paris, and we were gonna come here. And I was like so sick in the morning because like I felt so sad to be leaving our life in Paris. We spent 10 years like curating our dream lives, basically. And then we just like you know, we up and and left it for the potential of an even bigger dream life. But it's it is so scary. Um, but I think if you have an amazing opportunity in front of you, like I don't want to look back and be like, oh man, like what was that? Right. And even though I miss Paris a lot and I miss my old life and I miss California a lot and I miss my old life there all the time. And I know here in Oslo, we're building, you know, something amazing, and it's hard to see now, but I'm probably gonna be throwing up the morning we leave here too and be freaking out because it's always that way, but we have to just keep keep it going.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Yes, because when you bump up against that ceiling and you keep going, that ceiling becomes your new floor. And then there's the view is so incredible from up there, and then you just do it again and do it again. I'm so delighted to know you. I'm so excited for you and this beautiful journey. Before I let you go, tell us a little bit about what the book is about. What do you, I mean, is it just here's my fabulous life, and you can look at it from the pleasure of your own home or what?

SPEAKER_00 40:47

It's funny because when I actually got the book deal, I made a a whole introduction pitch and I thought it was like the best thing ever, and I submitted it. And my publisher came back to me and was like, honey, this isn't a book about how you met your husband. This isn't a book about how you fell in love in France and like on vacation. Okay. This is a book about flowers, like reel it in. And I was like, oh, sorry, you're right. Um, so although like I love my husband and my our love story and like my baby and the how he's born in Paris next to Eiffel Tower, it's not about all of that. It is about what I've learned working at La Rose War and creating bouquets the French way. It's over 50 floral recipes and inspiration. I say in the book that all of the recipes like can be changed out for whatever you can find or forage. You know, moving to France taught me the art of foraging and in using things I once thought were weeds as ingredients in my bouquets. And then the other best, most incredible thing about my book is the photography that was taken by Katie Donnelly, who turned into like one of my best friends and my favorite people in the world throughout the project. He's amazing. Yes, she is the best. And she and I just got super close over the two years that we were shooting this book together. And I feel like the book is what it is because of Katie and her photography and her vision and her like way of working is just like so inspiring. She is so inspiring, she is the best person in the world, and so she's on this project with me, and because of that, it's like the greatest of all time, in my opinion. The book is super fun and easy to flip through and super easy to get inspired by. And I'm super proud of it. It was really hard. I got the book deal and found out I was pregnant on the same day.

SPEAKER_01 42:53

Oh my word.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

So it was a big day. Yeah, big day. And you can't even drink champagne for it. True. But then like I had a kind of a horrible pregnancy and ended up being super sick. So the book got pushed back an entire year. Okay. But like, you know, it's all how it's supposed to be in the end. Totally. So yeah, I'm super proud of it. I I'm really happy that we've had a good reception and that everyone else loves it. And yeah, I'm just so grateful. Hooray!

SPEAKER_01 43:26

I'm so excited, and I'm gonna buy it as soon as we get off this call. And I know everyone else will know that they're listening to it. But please tell everyone where they can find and follow you and how they can get the book.

SPEAKER_00 43:39

So you can order the book anywhere. It's called FLUR by Adrian Riser. And you can follow me, Adrian Riser, at my personal Instagram, or I think it's mandatory to follow the flower shops. So that's La Rosvoir Paris. And then we have La Rosvoir Oslo. And there you can find all of our, you know, daily life at the flower shops.

SPEAKER_01 44:03

Oh my gosh, it's so dreamy. We will link everything down in the show notes. Adrian, I have loved this conversation. I cannot wait to play with you. I hope we are in Paris at the same time very soon. But thank you so much.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

Thank you, Wendy. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. I'm all hyped up now. I mean, I'm like feeling it. That's how we do it, Queen. Thank you. Right back at you. Thank you so much. Talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

I hope you enjoyed that conversation as much as I did. As always, any links or notes mentioned can be found at PhineasRighthouse.com in the podcast section of our site or in the show notes below. And if you haven't connected with me personally, come find me on Instagram at PhineasWrighthouse and let me know you listened to this episode. I'd love to get to know you. Thank you for sharing this time with me. I know your days are full, and I'm really grateful that you chose to spend some of your precious time right here. Be sure to subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any of these delightful conversations. I'll see you next week.