Sending Smiles ~

Who doesn't love coffee in the morning to get their day started? Like our recently added Wine Gift Selection, we couldn't resist adding these adorable Coffee Related items to the shop. Mugs, signs and even candle holders make great gifts for office mates and friends.  Why not let us create a gourmet basket with a few of these fun items added? Flavored coffee, a few snacks and a mug. The perfect gift for the Coffee Drinker in your life!! 

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...

A thank you to our customers and what is new for 2014!

Wow, I truly can not believe it's November. And with that, comes the time of year we will be asking our customers to consider shopping with us on Small Business Saturday. In addition to having a store wide sale that day, we hope to be having food, fun and "free stuff" for the kids! Mark your calendars now and look for future blogs and Facebook posts highlighting all the activities planned that day!  Don't currently follow us on Twitter? Be sure to follow us as @mondayflowers  and follow along with hashtag #ShopSmall for future specials and discounts. 

Here at the shop , not only are there 2 Vinicombe's running the store ~ my husband Kevin and myself, of course but did you know that Kevin's Mother Arlene also works at the shop? 7 or 8 years ago when she retired from her Corporate Position, she joined us as a Sales Associate and she learned about the business from the ground up. Although she was also supportive of us, she was even more so when she realized how hard we worked! She ended up working almost full time for about 5 years before she went to part time working for Kevin in the office helping him with bookkeeping and office management duties.  This week and I took a quick photo of Mother and Son hard at work in the office. At Monday Morning Flower and Balloon Co, it truly is all in the family! 

It's that time of the week again and today we have Roses for just $5! This weeks $5 Friday flower are amazing and don't you just love the colors? Each bouquet has 6 roses in straight colors and should last long beyond the weekend. If you haven't heard about our weekly special, every Friday we have a flower deal for just $5, in time for the weekend. If you want to see what flower we are offering each week you can text FRIDAY to 555888 to be notified via text or you can check out our facebook pages at www.facebook.com/localflorist or www.facebook.com/sendingsmiles .  With 2 Flower Shop locations ~ Princeton Forrestal Village in Princeton/Plainsboro NJ and 45 E. Afton Avenue, Yardley, PA - it's our pleasure to bring you affordable flowers for your home. Why not stop in and treat yourself to a bunch? 

Are you like us, stuck at home working this holiday weekend? Well then it's your lucky day. It's $5 Flower Friday and today we have fresh, happy daisy bouquets for you! Colorful bunches of pom pom daisies with ruscus foliage and solidago filler ~ the perfect way to brighten up your Holiday weekend. Stop in to either shop - Princeton Forrestal Village or 45 E. Afton Ave in Yardley , PA. While you are here, check out our sale table with candles, jewelry, toys and more; all highly discounted! 

Back in 2009 I was asked to write a blog for Flower Shop Network called "Bloomin' Blog" and I really had fun writing it. Fast forward 4 years to 2013 and nothing has really changed so I thought it might be fun to re-post. Hope you enjoy!  Me ~ oh how I have changed in the last 4 years I've  noticed over the years that what I love most about my job is something that an average person usually hates. What is that, you wonder? It’s diversity, change, constant evolution and sometimes even chaos. The day in the life of a florist is anything but boring or mundane. I’ll bet if you asked someone what they thought it would be like to be a florist for the day, most would answer with cliche. The most common ones  I've  heard over the years is “It must be fun to play with flowers all day”. Play? Who said anything about playing. Last time I looked it was my job to be a florist, not my hobby. Another personal favorite is “It must be so calm and relaxing being surro...

Happy Monday! Can you believe we are just 1 week away from Christmas? The holiday season is a busy one for us here at the shop and in addition to a higher than usual volume, we still have all the usual tasks to squeeze in. We still have to design floral arrangements for birthdays , get well , sympathy,  and even weddings . Toss in the fact that we too want to enjoy the holidays with family and friends and it makes for a super busy time for all of us!  Designer Norman makes a huge Boxwood Tree for a customer. Don't you love all the pods and flowers? Makes such a sweet gift for the holidays.    It's that time of year where not only do we decorate for parties, we try to attend a few too. This holiday event was held at the Rocky Hill Inn for a group I belong to called Coffee Talk. It's a group of us that get together to discuss Social Media and other Marketing Topics for Business.    The hubby even took a little time to play Santa to some childr...

Last week were lucky enough to host a Junior Girl Scout Troop here at our Princeton Shop. Troop number 11717 from Ewing came with 8 girls (and moms in tow) to learn all about flowers. Design Coordinator Sheryl presented each girl with their very own apron to keep and taught the girls about the different parts of the flower. After the lesson each girl worked with Designer Norman to learn how to wrap flowers "presentation style". I'd say it looks like these little ladies enjoyed their afternoon and were sure going to enjoy their floral bouquets. Do you or someone you know have a civic group that would like a tour and lesson at our shop? How about having us come to your place to do a demonstration or even organize a "hands on" class? Just give us a call at our Princeton store at 609.520.2005, we'd love to accommodate you! 

Have you ever wondered how they grow those amazingly huge gerbera daisies that you get from our shop? Well, this week we were lucky enough to visit one of the farms that grows them for us - Ever-Bloom Farms in California. Ever-Bloom has over 14 acres of these amazing flowers - all under the protection of very sophisticated green houses.  According to Sue, the Director of Sales at Ever-Bloom, they grow over 120 varieties of gerbera and gerbera mini's in all shades from white, red, pink, orange and even one that is almost purple. Sue says that hot pink is the color in highest demand. The amazing plants are putting out flowers each and ever day, requiring they be harvested 6 days a week. Sue says the workers walk through each row picking them by hand and sorting them right out in the green house where they are added to these very cool carts by variety.  Minutes after being harvested, they are cut and placed into a special water solution to allow them to continuing ...

Ok, don't tell Designer Norman this (because his ego is big enough) but folks who view his online photos and videos just love him. One fan said "When I see his smile, I can't help but smile with him". So yes, I'm a sucker for Norman too because when I'm not wanting to choke him, he makes me laugh. If you have never seen one of his videos, you are in for a treat. All it takes is Shop Coordinator Sheryl prompting him and off he goes as you can see from the videos below. If you want a chuckle, they are worth a look!

 Ring, ring, ring - Us: "Hello, Monday Morning Flowers, how can I help you?" Customer: "We need 30 floral centerpieces in 2 hours, can you help us?" Us: "Of course, we'll deliver them for you in 2 hours!" Customer: "It's my anniversary today and I need something sent our fast. What should I send to my wife?" Us: "How about a dozen of our Premium roses made by designer Norman? She'll love it" We have fun at the shop and we all work hard to be able to say Yes to our customers. To see more of our custom designs or learn more about our shop visit our website at www.sendingsmiles.com

  We all love fresh cut flowers! Well, you do, don't you? I love talking about flowers, writing about flowers, educating folks about flowers - all things floral - yup that's me. This week, we were excited when one of our photos was used in a National Floral Blog written by Flower Shop Network. To see that blog follow this LINK and thanks to them, I'm sharing a tidbit of information on how best to care for your fresh cut flowers.  Tips for Extending The Life of Your Flowers Avoid Extremes. Keep fresh flowers away from drafts and extreme temperatures, which can quickly dry out the flowers and cause wilting. Avoid The Sun. Avoid placing flower arrangements in windowsills and other areas with full sun where flowers can wilt due to overheating. Keep Cool. Most flowers will last longer under cool conditions. Keep it Filled. All flower and foliage stems should be submerged. Flowers stay fresher, longer when they can get a drink! Remove Wilted Flowers. Immediat...

Guest Blog: Urns and Flowers, Comfort in Times of Sorrow - by Helen at Urns.com In our business we meet all kinds of folks who service customers, just like ours. It's always great to partner and learn from them. Sympathy floral designs are such a big part of what we do, when we became "online" friends with Urns.com, it was logical that we take an opportunity to share with each other.  We wrote a guest blog from them and them for us. Cremations are a huge trend right now and their urns are gorgeous. I hope you don't ever need them but if you do, their information just might be what you need. Take it away Helen!! Here at www.urns.com we understand how difficult it can be when we experience loss. It is during these times when you must rely upon friends and loved ones to help move through the transition period and to help when planning a funeral service. Many times when people are preparing for a funeral service, they find themselves shopping for both fun...

It's always fun being in Floral Management Magazine and this time it was our Facebook Fan Page that was featured. We are going to take that as a compliment. Society of American Florists resident "Techie" Renato Sogueco was talking Facebook's new Timeline format and used our page to demonstrate the changes.

I can tell you that if you don't care, you really should. Did you know that 80% of the flower bought in the US are grown outside the US? It's true, that means that only 20% of the flowers sold in America area grown on American soil. You might wonder why this is and it's as simple as this - consumers want low cost. But wanting everything at a low cost can be a high price to pay as we see less and less being "Made in America". As I read a view point in Floral Management Magazine written by Lane DeVries, who is the current Chairman of the California Cut Flower Commission, part of what makes flowers less costly coming from Columbia has been because of the Andean Trade Preference and Drug Eradication Act, which provided duty free access to flowers from being imported from South America. As part of the geopolitical interest of the US, through "Plan Colombia", as the federal government called it, our government has "Invested" an estimated $570 m...

Well, it's that time of year again - Time for the Philadelphia Flower Show! This year I did not act as a judge as I have in the past, but I was able to attend and take a look see with the hubby on Sunday. The theme this year is Hawaii and as you enter this magical place you are greeting by blue clear ocean above and white dendrobium orchid and anthurium flower waves crashing over head. What a wonderful way to start the show!  A close up below reveals how the white caps were created along with elegant and gracefully curved phaelanopsis orchid plants. Folks loved it!!    This exhibit was my personal favorite, created by Robertson's floral. On each side, representing the blue oceans with white cresting waves, were these blue water filled vessels and cut phael orchid sprays. In the center was a trip thru the mainland with it's tropical flowers and fauna and sandy beaches.  Everywhere you looked there were every type of tropical bloom and o...

 It's that time of year again and as has become the tradition, Shop Coordinator Sheryl has made my favorite sweet for us to share at the shop today! Email me at g@mondayflowers.com if you'd like the recipe but lets just say there is butter and chocolate involved so the yum factor is over the top! Thanks Sheryl, you make all the hard work during the holidays bearable!  Design Manager Holly also had the idea to treat us to some sweets today and stopped into a brand new cupcake company near her home in Columbus to bring us these beauties. I haven't had one yet but the hubby said the chocolate/peanut butter one was delish. Yes, we are in the flower biz and the designers have been busy refilling the coolers as the shop has been a revolving door today of folks stopping in for Centerpieces and Floral Gifts. We are sufficiently sugared so the energy level at the shop is "high".   We'd love for you stop in if you are in our area. Today is $5 Friday at ...