Sending Smiles ~

Today's bridal bouquet ~ I love all the bouquets we do but this one is the closest to what I would have for myself, if I was getting married for the first time (again). After my own wedding almost 35 years ago and a vow renewal 25 years ago - sadly, I can't justify another wedding for myself and Kevin but it's always a wonderful part of my job to road test the bridal bouquets. This bouquet is created with white and pale pink roses, stephanotis (jasmine), gold tinted seeded eucalyptus, silver dollar eucalyptus and pops of purple limonium.

I'm not going to lie, sometimes working in a flower shop is no "tip toe through the tulips". Really, it's no "walk in the park" and it certainly isn't for the faint of heart. I'll bet you'd never think that working in a floral shop is fast paced and stressful, but at times, it can be. When those phones get to ringing and the door bell jingles with a walk in customer and the driver is waiting for you to finish that floral design on your station that you started 30 minutes ago... well, let's just say being surrounded by absolute beauty make the day a bit more bearable.  One minute you are helping someone grieve the loss of a friend or family member and the next call could have you talking to someone who wants to wish their 90 year old grandmother a very happy birthday. Or perhaps your brother just made you an Aunt! Going from one emotional extreme to another can take it's toll but knowing that what we create and the personal attention we g...

Isn't January the perfect time to Reorganize and Refresh? If you are in retail, it really is! This January has been no exception for us. This year, right after new years, we did a complete reorganization of our Floral Design area. Not only was it our chance to really do a good cleaning but also look to at our space from a production point of view. We've always had space for 6 designers to work at one time but it was a bit more disjointed than I would have liked. Moving our storage units and flipping the design benches, now all 6 designers can work near each other, sharing flowers, design recipe books and other materials in a more efficient manner. Now the designers are all only steps away from the flower cooler, the sinks and everything else they need to complete their designs quickly. Did you know that at our Princeton location that we have 2 large coolers - one that measures 12 feet by 15 feet and another that is 12 feet by 9 feet? Having the flowers stored and orga...

As  you may know, this past year has been an eventful one for the husband and I. This past October we celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary and last month the hubby celebrated a very important birthday, OK he's 50. There, I said it. He might not be too happy for me rating him out but there you have it. It's been a strange and stressful 2 years, as anyone living in the world can attest to because of the crazy world we live in but finally we were able to get away and celebrate these two milestones in our lives. A quick trip over to Dublin, Ireland was in store for us last month and we had a great time.  That's me sitting on the ledge of our hotel room window and yes, as always we had flowers. The bouquet I'm holding was sent by my husband. Tradition has it that he always has flowers sent for our room where ever we go and I love it. The bouquet to the left was sent by my in-laws in addition to a lovely f...

Anyone that knows me knows that I just love Social Media. I'm a social person at heart but generally speaking my "career" really keeps me from getting out much. I meet brides and spend tons of time with my employees as well as husband (as he works here too) but that can be the extent of my days, weeks and months. And so, my social media has been a way for me to stay in touch with friends, family, past brides, customers and other florists. I love posting photos. Pics of the shops, the staff, our wedding flowers but I also have a fascination with taking photos of food. It always cracks me up to think that I might post a picture of an exquisite bridal bouquet and get a thumbs up or 2 and maybe a comment here or there but when I post photos of what I have made for Kevin and I for dinner, it's shocking what happens! The photo above left was Cod Loin from just this past Saturday and I guess it looked so good to some that they asked for my recipe. The photo above right, is...