Who Said?

Who said you couldn't have tomatoes off the vine in January? This is a shot Sara took last week when we had the last of the cherry tomatoes from our vines last summer. Next year I will remind you how to save them on a tray in your garage....they may not look as pretty, but they sure tasted good!

Home again, Home again

No posts from Red Zinnia or Flower Tree the last few days...........why?? because I am home enjoying the company of my beautiful daughter and fabulous grandson. All the work to get Red Zinnia moved and open by last Friday was so worth it, so that when they arrived on Saturday the days can now be spent doing what I love the most, playing Nana.

More soon, Susan

TA DA !!!!

Day 9:

It's a Blur.........

Day 7 & 8:


We are so..........so very.........close. Every step forward, another step back.....two steps forward......and we are off and running. Gaining momentum is something that just has to take on a life of it's own, and today it happened. When we originally started to plan for the move of the wine shop at Red Zinnia, we looked for a location that would not only allow us to have a little more room for our weekly tasting events, but an area to prepare for the evening, and most importantly an outdoor patio area for the warmer months. When circumstances changed, and we decided to move the entire store........all plans changed....and quickly!!


Well, in the extremely short period of ONE WEEK & ONE DAY, we have taken an already amazing house, and turned it into the exact space we needed. Comfy, warm and relaxing. Large and accommodating. Tomorrow we put the final touches on our new commercial kitchen, spruce up the rooms, and hang up the last of the artwork on the walls.


The "WE" I speak of is the amazing collective of hardworking, creative, imaginative and loving people that surround me. Yes, I am blessed. In many, many ways. So to all of you that have pounded nails this week, to all of you that ruined your best clothes because you backed up into a freshly painted wall, to all of you who's backs are still sore from the 1387 bottles of wine we moved, to all of you that found the tools hidden in the basement when we needed them, to all of you that didn't worry when your hair was bright white with paint, and yes, to all of you that have read my posts this past week and sent messages of faith in our future................words will never be enough...........but................THANK YOU!!!!


We will see you on Friday morning- 11am, with a smile on our faces, and a warmth in our hearts. Here we go again, hope to see you there, Susan

The Move......continued

Day 6:

1387 Bottles of wine on the room........1387 bottles of wine..........You take one down, you move it uptown.....you still have an awful lot of bottles of wine on the wall...................



Today we moved the wine cabinets, and ALL the wine down to "Jaime's" room. 1387 bottles, according to our latest inventory report, over 115 cases........Michelle, Melissa and I went back and forth from one shop to the other........and by the time we got back with the two trucks loaded, Jaime was busy putting it all away in the new room. All sorted, dusted and displayed beautifully. We stopped for sushi about 2pm, and then pushed to get it finished.....by 8!!

Lucia continued to move from room to room, putting the finishing touches on the displays and everything is coming together marvelously.

Not many pics today, we are getting to close, and I don't want to spoil the surprise.....

to be continued...........

The Move continued.........

Day 5: The Furniture This was one of the days that we looked forward to, as much as we dreaded it..............we have HEAVY - LARGE pieces of furniture that we use for our displays. Most are old........creaky........and some are filled with curved beveled glass that is not easy to replace. So today is a tribute to our movers: Ron A. & David H. With help from Ann L. , Rose, Michelle and Melissa - The collage above is a great way to show one of the many challenges of moving large, very large, objects into an old house that has extremely small doorways. But they got it done! Thanks everyone, you were miracle workers. And a special thank you also to Dave F. for coming down and taking care of the computer dismantle/hook-up.

Jaime and Michelle put the finishing touches to the RedZin paint. What a beautiful, warm and inviting room they have created.

Ann taking a much deserved rest in the new Ale Room

Melissa arrived from Susanville to assist for a couple of days......

Bob arrived back in Fallon after a day of motorcycle racing to find most every piece of furniture moved and in place. Not sure if the grin is for the fun he had all day, or the fact he missed the "fun" with us.

The Move....continued....x3

Day 4:
Today ........the true meaning of "REDZin" began to take hold. We all met at 111, and started to take a consensus of what we wanted to accomplish today. There was a lot on all of our lists, but the biggest was Jaime's.......getting the "RedZin" up on the wall in her room, the wine room. The color is a custom blended Jaime creation now known as "RedZin".

Bob and Ron each took off in opposite directions, hardware stuff to be done........our good friend Mike showed up to lend a hand and quickly took over the window scraping chore, and Michelle and I kept going in different directions while we tried to keep up with everyone else. We spent a few hours at both Flower Tree and Red Zinnia getting things packed up, and paperwork caught up. About 1pm, Kathy, my oldest & dearest friend, and Ron's wife- showed up with lunch, Homemade Chicken Pot Pie for the boys, and Vegi Pot Pie for Jaime and I.

The REDZin started on one wall........continued on to another......and made it to a third.......IT IS SPECTACULAR!! The sparkle of the lights on the wall, the warmth of the room, the juxtaposition of the red with the wood floors.............We LOVE it!!! and I think you will too!

Tonight we gathered at 318 for the last wine tasting in the building that has been good to us and started us on this path.......to a much larger location, a comfy spot on Taylor Street that we will fill with merriment and joy.

Tomorrow, we start the official MOVE!!!

The Move....continued again

Day 3:

4 Women

1 Trip to Fernley

3 Stops

35 Open holes in the ceiling

2 Electricians

Result: Illumination!!!

Yep, today we got lights!!! When we originally looked at the building now known as the "New & Improved Red Zinnia", there were only two lights in the entire building. One in the bathroom, and one in the downstairs basement. And the first time we went to look at the building, it was at dusk, quickly turning to darkness. We went back a couple days later and realized that, yes, this was the place for us.

Today, as the guys started stripping and cleaning the beautiful and original to the house, hardwood floors, the girls and I ventured off to select and purchase all the lights needed for the new store. First stop: Starbucks of course, then on to the new Fernley Industries Thrift Store right around the corner. If you haven't visited this one yet, put it on your list. We each picked up a few things, including a "hard to describe" crystal standing ashtray from the 50's(?) that you will just have to see to believe next time you come by Red Zinnia.

Next Stop: Lowe's Lighting Department - Watch out - Here We Come!!! Now this is where it gets really good. We had a little over an hour (the electricians arrive at 12:30!!! Bob reminds me over and over) to pick out all the lighting needed for the entire house! Remember those eight rooms I mentioned yesterday, each has it's own theme, and the lighting had to coordinate accordingly. As I have mentioned many times over, I am surrounded by the most amazing, artistic, creative, and powerful women around. Usually, at least that is what I have heard from others - men especially - you can't put four women in a room and get a consensus on anything. I am hear to tell you - NOT TRUE!! We power shopped though those aisles, all throwing out useful and encouraging comments, and the next thing you know, VIOLA' , three carts full.

We got back to Fallon with about 2 minutes to spare, unloaded the entire back of the long bed pickup, and the electricians were just pulling up. The floors - OH MY - THE FLOORS, they were beautiful. The guys had been busy the entire time we were gone, and they were cleaned and shining.

Now it is a little after 6, the electricians are still down at the shop putting up the last of the two rooms, thankfully for us, they were able to work into the evening to get it all done today. They are doing an awesome job, and here is a plug and a "thank you" for them, HOT-WIRE Electric, Erik Blakey, Owner.

Tomorrow, it is on to the clean up, finish the floors, re-install all the hardware on the doors, and Jaime and Michelle will start painting the first of the Red Zinnia Red walls in the wine room. Then we start the move. The wine tasting tonight at the current shop was packed...............barely room to move around.....we can't wait to get into our new larger space. Till Tomorrow, Susan

The Move....continued

Day 2:Today was the start of "Paint Day". We had scheduled two whole days for the painting of the inside of the house. With a total of eight rooms and a hallway to do,(we skipped the kitchen and bath for now) we knew we were going to be pushing it trying to get it done. Bob & Ron got the sprayer set up while the girls - Michelle, Jaime and I - ran down to our local Louie's Ace Hardware to get the paint. We had decided to do a primer coat first, and then the color. One color throughout the entire house, including the ceilings. A beautiful soft warm butter cream kind of color. We started with 5 gallons, and quickly made more trips back to the store., until at last count we were on gallon #32!! The masking job that we had done on Day 1 paid off big time as we watched them start spraying. Hours and many-many trips back to the paint store we sat on the floor and enjoyed the fact that the guys had finished the entire job - IN ONE DAY!!!! Yes, it was late - very late -yes we would have some touch-up to do in the full light of the next day- but it was done. We started taking all the paper off the windows so we could let the light of the streetlights in, (we still have no lights other than the temps we set up, that is set for tomorrow) and we sat and had a glass of wine for the girls, and thanks to Kevin, a beer for the menfolk, to celebrate. We are officially a day ahead of schedule....and it feels pretty darn good!! Till tomorrow, Susan

Bob's Rules for Painting: Loud tunes on the box, preferably: ACDC!

Moving / Day 1

Day 1: The house that we are moving Red Zinnia into , 111 S. Taylor St., has been vacant for quite some time. It had previously been an Art store and framing shop, and before that, for the previous 75 years or so, a family home. Originally built as a "kit" home sometime around 1913, it was shipped around Cape Horn, and constructed at it's present sight. It is filled with wonderful windows, as I will show you in a moment, that had been covered by the previous tenants, and the natural light shines in from every direction.

Like any major project that we have undertaken at Flower Tree/Red Zinnia, our crew is amazing at setting priorities and tasks to be accomplished, and getting it done. First Task: Coffee! Jaime took care of this by bringing it with her, and the day started off in first gear. Ron was our designated expert, having been raised by a painter, his father, and he got us started on the huge job of masking everything - remember all those windows I talked about - so that we could paint using a sprayer. We have set aside three days for masking/painting/cleaning of the wood floors. I have been told by my husband Bob that "there is no way", until I remind him that we have less than a week to get a months worth of work done. WE WILL GET IT DONE! of course baring any unforeseen events. I am a slight realist after all. We had visitors stopping by the entire day to offer support, encouragement - and help! It was a great day.

Lucia, Michelle & Ron find a wonderful surprise behind a large piece of plywood that was over the fireplace mantel.

The perfect place to bring the surprise that Lucia had made as a "store-warming" gift to RedZin.

Jaime - working in her , soon to be amazing Wine Tasting Room

Sheila P. and Colleen P. stopped by, they are the owners of the building, and grew up here. They regaled us with stories from their youth, and gave us some history of the home.

Love the mosaic look that the taping gives the windows.

oh, and yeah....Bob stopped by, HE WAS AMAZED at what we got completed. Tomorrow it is on to the paint!!!!

Final Approval

Last night we sat in the Fallon City Council chambers and anxiously listened as they read off the portion of the minutes that applied to us. We have been in the process for the last few weeks of trying to move the wine shop at Red Zinnia into a larger location. The shop has done extremely well the past 12 months since we opened, and we had hoped to move it to a location that better suited an outdoor area in the summer months, as well as a larger location for the tastings on the weekend. Our original plans where to move just the wine shop, but what we found instead was a house that not only allows us to move the wine shop, but the entire gift and bookshop as well. Large windows to let in natural light, hardwood floors that creak and give the house personality, and a wonderful kitchen to retro fit for our eventual coffee area.

As they spoke the words we wanted to hear: "Your zoning change is approved", then next "Your liqueur license is approved" , all of us just smiled.

Now the work begins. Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have a little over a week to complete the total remodel of the house, and then make the move.

Luckily for us, it is only 2 block north, and east.....yep, we are moving on up, To The East Side..of Taylor..see you there soon, and it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, thank you!!! for your support! Susan