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The Busy Florista: Posted on 03 April 2018 21:03
What a Difference a Day ( or two )
Makes! Is Spring Sprung at Last? Let’s Hope
So.. And more good news, our Lillycat’s
coming Home tomorrow - Hooray! Reason enough for some Joyous Pics I
think…. These are Flowers from my Garden this time Last Year – let the Springtime begin…please…
Now I do have to tell you that, being
someone who REALLY needs to live in the Southern Hemisphere (Queensland
specifically please), I ordered a pair of Ugg Boots just before Easter because
I was fed up with being Cold… And they turned up this morning…
Swiftly followed by the sunshine-ey-ist,
warmest day we’ve had here yet ha! ..Oh my… Talk about perfect timing… But I
still wore them..
And with the arrival of the First
sunny, dry day came the inevitable… The ‘Clearing of the Studios’…
Oh, urgh, aah - lovely....Mixed up Boxes,
quite a few Spiders, Long-Lost vases that hadn’t made it back to their rightful
places at the end of last season, some Spiders, lots of Boxes, More Boxes…and did
I mention the SPIDERS!! Urgh… Hate them…Yukky yuk yuk YUK…. But… I have a secret weapon from Oz
to deal with these…
MORTEIN!! May the Force be with You….and
against them…at all times…everywhere… PS. I don’t like spiders PPS. Not good when you work in Garden
Studios PPPS. Even worse when you like
Gardening
Anyways – job done – well, almost ....getting there.... This is Studio 1 full of sunlight and Blossom Tees - still a bit disorganised but I do know where everything is now ha!
So, onto another thing that needs doing... the ‘Drawing of the Straws’
between me and Iain for who gets to do the dreaded ‘ PILLING OF THE CAT’… Did you see those Teeth in the last
Blog?... Let me remind you…
Lils might be small but she is definitely Feisty… The tablets have to be given MANually (get the hint there?) morning
and night…and they’re not small, little wee tablets I can tell you – oh no, they’re,
like, half sections of the big old fashioned Paracetamol tablets? Huge! Watch
this space for further developments… I’ve got a Video somewhere of me doing it in
the past and I’ll see if I can Blog a link to it somehow… totally hilarious…
But for now, let’s look forward to some Gorgeous
warmer weather and Spring and Flowers and Summer and Sunshine...
And,
oh, Weddings!!! WEDDINGS!!!!!! Oh Yeah! There’s LOTS of those to come this year…
Love it Love what I do
 HAPPY SPRINGTIME EVERYONE xx |
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The Busy Florista: Posted on 01 April 2018 16:54
This has been a funny old week full
of ups and downs and highs and lows and excitement and worries….and out of
everything that’s been happening here, I’m going to share Lilly’s story with
you all today.
 In 2014, just two months after homing
her, we nearly lost Lilly to a very rare condition. Unlike most cats, she was
not immune to Toxoplasmosis. It attacked her nervous system, her ability to
move, virtually paralysing her and would have killed her. She was saved back
then by the Animal Health Trust’s neurologists and expertise. And by the fact that
we’d taken out hefty pet insurance.
Unfortunately, the condition does
come back and she became unwell again last Monday…it’s the back legs that ‘go’
first…
Lilly wasn’t, however, overly pleased
to be given an emergency appointment at the vets..
We started treatment, same as we’d done
a couple of times since 2014, but this time it didn’t work. Lil’s got poorlier
and another vet’s visit saw her referred once more to the AHT on Thursday… She
wasn’t feeling too good… I wasn’t feeling too good…
And my James was leaving on a school
trip to Beijing on the Friday morning and there was packing to be done and an
overly worried Mother here that was having a meltdown about that let alone
anything else… I went to school down in Cornwall and our school trips were to
Penzance maybe, or Plymouth…but Beijing?? Hmmm. And why does everything always have
to happen at once?
And then there was Harley… So? Where's she gone then??
Is she back yet??
Why’d she go without me eh, why?…..
The good news is that Lil’s is now stable
and slightly improving. And Hissing at everybody. Which means she’s feeling
better…and more her feisty little self….
So, Lillycat, these are for you.. Feel Good , Feel Happy
And come home soon my honey… The same goes for my son… xx |
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The Busy Florista: Posted on 24 March 2018 18:22
I think I’ve got a thing about feet…and
travel….travel and feet. Feet on travels. Feet in sandals. On beaches. In the
sea. In the pool. With tats. Without tats. Mostly with tats… Lots of feet….
What I’ve been doing today, amongst
other things, is going back through my Google photos looking for something and
it struck me how many pictures of my feet there were in there. Ha. We all do this right? It’s not just
me with some sort of footy fetish?? x
Travel
absolutely and completely inspires me. I love it. I love the journey, the
flight, the whole transition thing – the moving from one life-space to another.
Just adore it. And the warmth when I get there, oh my goodness, do I like that
or what! It’s like my skin just opens up and goes ‘Hey! I’ll have some of that
pleeeease! Oh yes! Over here!’ I
am, without a doubt, living in the wrong hemisphere ha. x
My
sister lives in Brisbane and I am one lucky bunny because I get to go visit her
at the start of each year. 33
- 38 degrees of sunshine? Oh yessy yes please. High
humidity too sometimes? No worries,
nope, absolutely fine. Huge
tropical-like storms with masses of lightning, the lot? Like – Aah-May-Zing!! x
I
do a lot of photography while I’m there which I use for my artwork and design
ideas - it was some of these photos I was looking for when I spotted all those
feet…
Now,
I do have The Most Fabulous travel companion who’s always come with me
everywhere… Let me introduce you to Woofs, International Traveller
Extraordinaire!! Here
we are arriving at Brisbane Airport… oh oops, wonky pic again..
And havin’ some Beach time…
Keepin’
cool in Noosa…
Catchin’
some rays…
And Enjoying
a Cappucco at Redcliffe….
Oh
yes, we have a special relationship me and Woofs…
Aah…
Yes… well…er…there is just one teensie, weensie, little problemette…
 Oh ..aah... Hiya Harls! You alright? Anything wrong??....((
Jealous? Harls? Er… well maybe, yes…. just a
tad… )) HAPPY
SATURDAY EVERYONE x
PS. I can't get these photos to load right today but Enjoy Anyway, life's too short ha! |
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Posted on 14 March 2018 18:35
Hi
there and Happy Wednesday from me and The Big Blonde :) It's
been a busy few days - here's what we've been up to today... Harley's
just had a thorough eye cleaning session and, as you can see, is totally
exhausted...
The
same, of course, could be said of me... This cleaning-of-the-cat-face involved
me getting him in an arm lock, with his backside wedged up against my stomach
so he couldn't reverse out of hold, while I applied the
"damp-tissuette-of-DOOM" as gently as possible to both eyes. Well. What a palaver. You'd have thought I was trying to do open-eye-surgery or
something... He kept squiggling around and stuffing his face under my
armpit so I couldn't get to his eyes. This manoeuvre, whilst not resulting in
him avoiding the eye cleaning, did managed to cover me in Springtime-Cat-Moult-Fluff which required a change of top afterwards... Harls
is, without doubt, the biggest wuss-puss ever... but I Love him to bits and, as
they say, he's worth it... xx It was a little while later at lunchtime when, with the
sun all shining in and Lillycat all lying around in it relaxing on the kitchen
table, I decided it would be a nice
thing to give her a wee bit of a brush...
Half an hour and several HUGE brush loads of Tummy-Fluff-Fur
later I had a kitchen table cloth that looked like it was growing some sort of
Penicillin culture, another top covered in cat fluff and a pair of contact lenses in that were
definitely not as happy as they were first thing this morning... And Lilly? Oh, well, she was one Happy-Purry-Cat! And what's more she gave me a very rare and gorgeous
"I'll-sit-and-pose-for-you-no-worries" picture. I might look in need
of yet another makeover right now but I Love her to bits and, as they say,
she's worth it...
 xx
Apart
from 'Cat Spring Cleaning' days, there's other times that I end up in need of a bit of renovation....Like at Christmas time when
there's door wreaths and garlands to be made... sticky / messy stuff Nordic
Spruce...just look at these hands!! And don't forget I'd have brushed the odd
strand of hair off my face during the day and, maybe, rubbed my cheek...well,
you get the picture I'm sure ha! #chimneysweep
But, of course, it's worth it because you end up with lots of
things like this!
Another thing I do is design and create Tribute Flowers
which, to me, is such a very important service I offer as a Florist. People
come and see me quietly here in the studio and talk to me about what it is
they'd like. And I put everything I have into creating it for them. Because
it's important. Because
it's worth everything and means everything.
Some designs are hand drawn from scratch..
Some are measured and built from scratch... And some are designed, carved and built from scratch.. But they're all made with Love xx
Whatever You're Doing Today - Be Happy x  Because You're Worth It ;) |
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The Busy Florista: Posted on 10 March 2018 11:24
Completely ran out of day yesterday so here's a little, quick Saturday morning Hi!! as this is a busy day too... I've got a helper in the studio today which is great...
He likes to get 'Paws on' and help whenever he can, bless him...
There's lots of this to do......
And more of that to do....
And by this evening we'll ALL just be wanting to do this ha....
Catch Up Soon! HAPPY SATURDAY EVERYONE x
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The Busy Florista: Posted on 06 March 2018 09:47
So, one of the things that I should've done yesterday was to change the throws in the sitting room...hmm...the dreaded 'Changing of the Throws'... You know, it's one of those simple, little things that really - I mean, really truly - doesn't take that long to do - but do I EVER want to do it? Absolutely not. Nope. Not even a little tiny bit. And I find all sorts of excuses for putting it off... like 'oh, I MUST give my Sis a ring RIGHT NOW'....or 'I could shop later but think it'd be better to go now'...or 'well I could do it now but I've been meaning to check my ribbon stock for the last month'... I mean, anything and everything often seems better than changing those throws ha! And today's excuse? Well, have a look see here..... Now, how can I possibly move Lilly Cat?? (deep affected sigh) Oh Dear, what a shame (another deep sigh) - well.. guess I'll have to do it later (this means tomorrow)...
I've got to confess, I have exactly the same problem with 'The Changing of the Beds'.... Is it perhaps that, after doing it for what - over a 1,000 times in the last 20 years - I just don't want to do it anymore? Do I like nice, clean, pretty bed-linen-changed-beds? Well yes, absolutely. Do I want to change them myself? No. Noee no no. Nope. So? So I go find a cat or two and stick 'em on the bed instead ...job done.... "Oh Dear, what a shame" (deep sigh) - "well I guess I'll have to do the bed later..." Ha! Hey - HAPPY TUESDAY !!
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The Busy Florista: Posted on 05 March 2018 10:36
This morning I've got a lot of things to get done in the office. It's a lovely little office with a nice large window and an even larger radiator. As a direct result of having my desk next to said radiator, I often find I'm sharing it with either Harley (aka The Big Blonde) or Lilly (aka Cappuccino Cat) who work tirelessly to support me in my business and have been flat out here yesterday and today as you can see...
I'm working on some floral designs this morning as well as ordering in some stock and flowers. A lot of my working time is spent in here which I didn't really expect when I started my business - I thought I'd spend all my days tinkering away in the studio being all arty and creative out there. Instead I do a lot of the arty and creative stuff in here!
And then there's the 'Webmaster' stuff to do... Anyone out there running their own website like me? Doesn't it take a LOAD of time to keep up with the Updating and the SEO'ing and checking which sites your site's been added to and what info's been copied from your site and is it all correct... I mean, that's a full time business in itself isn't it... Sometimes I Google myself to see what's out there and give myself a bit of a shock ha!
Anyways, here's the sort of thing I like to do - make gorgeous Vendela Rose Buttonholes, photograph them in the studio and then edit the photos. I then use these to help me make etchings and drawings and lino cuts x Have a Happy Day! |
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The Busy Florista: Posted on 03 March 2018 16:42
 On Wednesday we had a LOT of snow here and everything did look absolutely Gorgeous but goodness me, it was sooo cold! We haven't had a snow fall like it here in years.. I thought - and I think it was a pretty good thought - that what it called for was a constant supply of Hot Chocolate while I was deciding whether or not to go outside and prep those buckets for a flower delivery that had a slim chance of getting here anyway... I'm pleased to say that common sense prevailed and I stayed indoors with the Cats and the Central Heating ...and had another hot chocolate. And I did do a lot of work on my website. And some washing. And did the cat litter trays again. It's amazing how all those jobs you're not too keen on suddenly seem like a totally good idea to do when it's freezing outside ha! |
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