Passion!

The day before the Puget Sound Snow & Ice Storm

 

Have you heard about the Daymaker Movement?

Read about simple things you can do to make someones day! http://daymaker.net/top-50-ways.html

I know I’m an idealist but I can’t help it….I was intrigued when I recently heard about this movement.  The author is David Wagner, the book is called~ Life as a Daymaker.  The book was published back in 2003, but it’s still so timely for society today.  I don’t know why I haven’t heard of it before now, maybe I’ve just been too busy earning a living.. but  I find so much wisdom in the concept of making someones day.  I practice it every day in my flower shop.  I think it’s something we could all practice, if we only gave it a thought once in a while.  It has the power to change the world and move us towards kindness, love and joy.  I thought about David’s comment that ” it’s hard to focus on your own problems if you are living life as a Daymaker. “

It reminded me of a time many years ago when I worked in a nursing home. My friends used to ask me how I could do it.  Everyone found it depressing, but I always found that it helped me to be more positive.  When I looked around each day it made me realize that there was always someone who had it worse than me.  I learned to count my blessings in small ways.  I made a difference in a life, in my own small way, and that always made me feel great.

A woman came into the flower store one day a number of years ago, and she asked me to make a corsage. She came back the next day, she paid for it, and asked me to give it to the next person who needed a corsage.  I couldn’t believe it.  You can imagine my surprise when another woman called later in the day and asked if she could order an inexpensive corsage.  She explained that she didn’t have much money, but that she really wanted to get this corsage for her mother for an upcoming special occasion.  When that woman found out that she was going to be the recipient of a free corsage, paid for by a prior customer, she became so emotional.  I’m not even sure that she believed the whole thing was true.  She kept thinking that I was the one giving her a free corsage.  I kept trying to explain to her that it was paid for by a stranger, who wanted to be a “Daymaker”.   It’s a movement we could all engage in.

In the words of David Wagner “ Just be Kind,  it only takes a moment to make someones day. Each of those actions can sustain us. Those moments can even change lives”.

You can read excerpts from the book on Amazon, or purchase the book here:

Park Place Books~ A local Kirkland Bookstore

http://www.parkplacebookskirkland.com/

Thirdplace Books~ An Independent Book Seller

http://www.thirdplacebooks.com/book/9781588720757

Amazon.com an online book store:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1588720756/qid=1049320392/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/002-3281715-6728801?v=glance&s=books

 

Florist Dectectives do a good job of exposing scammers

http://www.floristdetective.com/

With Valentines Day quickly approaching, it’s time to make sure that you are really ordering flowers from the person you think you are.   I encourage consumers to read this florist detective blog.  They have spent a lot of time researching in order to be able to provide information to consumers who want to avoid being scammed.  Who knew that something so lovely as flowers could become such a target for fraud.  Do your homework!  Read here about local florists:

http://www.floristdetective.com/wst_page9.aspx

In the meantime here are a few sneak previews of a couple of our fun Valentines flower offerings.

Be Mine Bouquet

 

Wisdom from the past, what a legacy!

I just couldn’t resist sharing this funny phone conversation with my mom this evening.  I was discussing a documentary I recently watched about Mt Vesuvious and the city of Pompeii and how they had discovered a bit of graffiti on the walls of these stone ruins.  I was relating how I  couldn’t believe that 1200 years ago, they wrote graffiti on the walls of these stone latrines! I asked her if it was true that some things never change?

When I asked my mom about this, she laughed hysterically and she said ” my mother always told me to never forget… ” Fools Names & Fools Faces always appear in Public Places”   I really had to laugh at the wisdom of her mothers statement.  But I really wanted to know if that was her moms statement, or a proverb of history.  My mother said she had no idea, she only knew that it came from her mother and that she had heard it preached to her MANY times.

Well, thank goodness for Google and the internet!  I proceeded to Google the saying, then with further clues, I was led to a site that listed many such proverbs, all from a man named Thomas Fuller.  My mother was so excited to know more about Thomas Fuller, because it was a link to her Mother who died when my mother was only 17 years old.   So I continued to search Google (thank goodness for our ability to multi task) while I was talking to my Mom on the phone.  I stumbled upon a website that had 9 pages of Thomas Fuller quotes, and mom and I continued to read them together and laugh.  Her final question was when did Thomas Fuller live?  After a little further Google research, I discovered that his bio was 1608 – 1661.  I almost gave my mother a heart attack!  My Mom was born in the early 1930′s, so to her the fact that her mother was quoting some really incredible quotes of wisdom from the 1600′s was pretty astounding.  She happily said ” my mother must have been a pretty well read woman”

I was pretty impressed with how cool that phone call went!  I couldn’t help but think Happy Holidays to our family,  what a legacy!

 

Wishing you JOY & Have a Cool Yuletide!

Honestly,  I have to admit that I borrowed the saying  ” Have a Cool Yuletide”  from one of my customers!  It really made me smile today,  so I had to share it.  I hope she doesn’t mind.

I felt the need to stop tonight & just take a breather from the hectic pace that we are running at the studio. I wanted to share my blessings with everyone.

It’s the season when everyone I know gets to send their love, their thoughtfulness, and express their joy with the people they love & appreciate. I have to admit that sometimes during a holiday I feel a little touch of sadness at what I think I am missing out on.  When I have days where I barely have time to get a drink of water or eat during the day, it makes me stop and ask myself why I love being a florist,  but yet I still come back  to JOYFUL!

One of my customers asked me today if anyone ever sends me flowers during the holidays.  It really made me stop and think…..Life is different in a floral design studio this time of the year!  We are so busy and running at such a fast pace, that we do not even have time to shop for gifts for our children, our family, or our friends.  We have no time to do Christmas cards,(unless our friends want to receive them before Thanksgiving or before Valentines Day! :>) )  Most of us don’t have time to attend Christmas parties because we are busy designing beautiful flowers for the parties & celebrations that are going on with all of our friends & clients.  But I have to say that I have indeed been blessed many times with gifts from my customers and it has given me much JOY!

Now please don’t think I am complaining, because being a small business owner is a labor of love!  We love what we do, and we experience a lot of  JOY from sharing our talent and making people happy!

Our business brings us close to the circle of life in which we  share love, sadness & JOY. We share in our clients life events!  This week alone,  we were able to share a little in all of the things that life can present.  For each of us, the view of the season is different. There is of course, a ton of holiday cheer, but also for some a very sad suicide, or a natural death celebrating a loved ones very full & long life, a sudden loss of two people you loved,  the birth of a brand new life, a congratulations on a new successful business venture, a wedding, a birthday celebration, a sickness, happiness at a loved one  recovering  from an illness, an anniversary, a few apologies, and a couple of  “just because”  I love you dearly!  When I look at the scope of what we do…this covers a whole lot of life!

We are artists at heart and we love sharing the JOY  in your lives through  our flowers!  I wanted to take a minute and thank you all for this past year, all the blessings and support you have given us.  All of the JOYOUS moments you have shared with us are cherished & we appreciate you so much.  Have a wonderful holiday season,  & we hope you get to experience the same  JOY in doing all of the things you love!   Pass the JOY on!

 

Winter Centerpiece in Shades of Green!

Winter centerpiece

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a nice example of living plants and winter greenery with just a little touch of flowers.  I was going for something a little organic looking, that would last a few weeks, that a customer could easily keep refreshing throughout the holiday season.  Long lasting equals good value for the customer!  You could add pine cones, more twigs, totally a million festive touches you can add yourself!  This will soon be added to the website for the holidays!

 

The Artic Club wedding, & the beautiful flowers

Isn’t this the most perfect color palette for a wedding in October? This was the brides bouquet.

 

A Wedding at The Act Theater

The Brides Bouquet, natural and organic in styling

This wedding has to go down as the quickest wedding we’ve ever planned! It was a tiny bit stressful for everyone, to have to plan it in just 4 days, but in the end it all came together beautifully!

I’ve always believed that everyone has a sense of style, and even if you think you don’t know what you want, When you see  ” IT” you know “IT”.  I think everyone is visual,  and that truly is the hardest part of my job.   I have to get the vision out of the bride  and into my brain. I heard that the flowers looked beautiful at the event, and that  The Act Theater which is a creative and cool venue, made it all perfect!

The Bridesmaids Bouquets

Lots of greenery and texture

Creme de la Creme Roses!