A Marriage Proposal.

My phone rang this morning when I was checking my emails and what should I hear but the voice of a dear friend who has been thinking about her daughter's marriage. The daughter has been with her boyfriend for years and typically, nothing is happening until last weekend when he proposed with a ring, and my friend is totally ecstatic!

The joys of planning a wedding is not to be dismissed. Some people might find it daunting but not M. She is a great party giver and thinks of all the little details which make it all so worth your while as a guest. The cutlery, the crystal, and most of all the flowers... have to be so right? And why shouldn't they be when every gathering is meant to be a reflection of her personality, taste and beliefs. While we engage in social media, M does it in real time and place. Nothing beats the real thing.

Amidst all that is happening today in a world filled with uncertainties, weddings represent hope and joy. They need not be expensive affairs but simply a means to getting our dearest friends to at least forget about the doom and gloom for a few months and rejoice in the future of two people who have decided to make a go at playing the roles of husband and wife. How wonderful and how admirable?

I am thinking of the dress I am going to wear...

Flowers for a Football Club?

Yesterday was a day filled with excitement. I was contacted by an old client from my Esher store to ask about an installation for a newly built house.

The brief was to create an arrangement for one of their clients who hardly spends time in the country. When he is here, he would like to have flowers or plants adorn the new place and when he is not, the arrangement can stand alone without any fresh elements. So, think dried tree branches which look like driftwood 'planted in an antique urn and the arrangement should be about six feet tall and be placed on a solid oak table in the foyer.

I was beginning to ask myself who in their right mind would wish to live in the grounds of a renowned football club. It has got to be someone connected to the club.
Whenever I discuss floral taste and preference, I tend to ask the cultural background of the client. You will be surprised at the differences of various nationalities and their takes on flowers. Every nation has a specific attitude to flowers.

When told the client is Russian, everything fell into place. My questions were all answered. Football Club, opulent interiors, masculine design and nature must feature in my installation... Have you got the answer?

My Chelsea Moment.

Last week saw the beginnings of an idea I have been toying with for some time. I have often been approached by clients to plant up their gardens using my eye for colour and texture. Of course creating a bouquet is quite different to that of planting a garden. However the main elements are the same.

Plants take a longer time to establish and flower, but the new obsession is to see a garden in full bloom in the summer when every flower can be viewed in its glory and enhance the garden immediately. If you are having a party in Spring, you can buy pots of flowering tulips and simply place them in your flower beds for an instant 'spring'. Likewise with the courtyard garden I planted last weekend, the feeling of summer is evident.

We used blue and white flowering plants like hydrangeas - a plant with high impact, scented roses, lavender, olive standards, agapanthus and various creeping flowering vines to soften the hard landscaping.

The result is one where you feel as if you are sitting amongst plants which have been there for years. The client commented that the garden needs a woman's touch and I could not agree more! I felt like Vita Sackville when she created the white garden in Sissinghurst,Kent with Harold Nicholson who created the hard landscaping and architectural hedges which were clipped and manicured to resemble walls, creating various rooms in a huge plot.

The house is the next step. I have been invited to style it with everything that speaks for its occupants! Watch this space.

I am back!

After a long silence, I have decided to resurrect my blog.
The reasons for the absence are numerous. The preoccupation of learning all about social media and toying with Twitter took up quite a lot of time.
The business of floristry does exhaust one thoroughly. Dealing with customers who wish to have flowers arranged on the spot does mean, I am constantly on the move and therefore at the end of each working day, the body simply collapses into a pile on the sofa.

I managed to arrange a family annual lunch this year at a hotel near us. Thirteen people turned up and having to ensure each and everyone's dietary requirements are met meant the job of organising the event turned out to be more time consuming, as with most things these days!

I Have now engaged a private tutor for some French lessons and got into the hang of french pronounciation in a big way. This is in preparation for our French holiday in Avignon, which I am told, is more provincial than Nice where you can still get away with speaking English.

We are looking forward to the break and hopefully for the first time, immerse ourselves in the lavender fields. I can almost smell the fragrance which speaks Summer...

J'adore.

Books and Bookshops

Whenever I visit the shopping districts, I would head straight to the bookshop. They are always a source of inspiration and ideas. The amount of books published under any one subject is phenomenal. The internet may be good for browsing but one can never get the feel of a book - the quality of the paper, the layout, the illustrations and more importantly the content. Also many bookshops are closing owing to lack of support from the general public who would want to save a few pounds in these days of tight budgets. At what expense I ask.

The small local shops are fast disappearing from our streets and it is these shops which give character to our towns and villages. Together they form the heart of any small town and without our patronage, the town would soon lose its heart. Try walking down a street with lots of empty shops and see how you feel.

I am currently on holiday in Singapore and the bookstalls and bookshops are teeming with people who are constantly trying to find something to read. Owing to the huge influx from Chinese from mainland China, there is an increasing demand for Chinese language books. My brother who now lives in Australia with his family has bought countless books to take home as they are difficult to locate and buy. Titles ranging from business strategies to what food to eat to maintain a healthy lifestyle are readily available.

One of my ambitions is to record the types of local food which are fast disappearing from the local markets of Singapore and perhaps learn how to make or cook them so that the younger generations in my family can enjoy and partake in the heritage of a culture which is rich and multi-faceted. Luckily, there are many books available for reference and you can tell my luggage is getting heavier by the day!

So, go shopping and keep scouring the bookshops. The culture of a country is often reflected in the food her citizens consume and food often open up a host of questions and answers at a party!

Mundane Mondays?

The clocks went forwards yesterday and I am still struggling to cope with that lost hour. Woke up with a start at four this morning (three according to the biological clock) and Flower was whining to go to the loo... Got up and let her out to do her usual circling before settling on a spot in the garden.

Tried desperately to get back to sleep and started to think about the orders I had to do today and I mean, I don't really want to go to Virginia Water - seems like such a long way. Still, I tried to think of all the things I could do afterwards and I felt much better.

Ordered a book published by Rose Cassarini (?) who owns the Rose Bakery in Paris via Amazon - such a good place to get those elusive DVDs and books and started to dream of cooking each and every recipe in there. Shall I do the Julie thing?

I started making potato and leek soup from Julia Child's mini recipe book which came with the DVD and thought it was an easy start. The soup was made simply with sliced leeks and chopped potatoes in water and then blitzed. I had to add a stock cube, a glass of wine, some butter and cream to make it a little full bodied. It was tasty but not what I would proudly serve. You can add watercress to make it into a vichyssoise. I would like to try the boeuf bourguignon soon and I shall be taking photos to make you guys go gaga!

Lots more paper work, endless cleaning and mindless but yummelicious cooking for the husband. When am I going to drop?

The photos of Spring are to remind me of the good times ahead!

The Networking Phenomenon

I have recently joined a networking circle for women in business in the hope of expanding my client base and found the whole exercise to be one which consumes time, effort and money! All good for the business, some would say, but it really depends on which business you are in.

However, you can always look at it as a form of marketing and a way of reaching out to people who you would probably not have the time or opportunity to do so. From image and colour consultants to photographers, PR and marketing gurus to even people who can plan your holidays - all encompassing and thought provoking.

My initial thought was whether I will be able to increase business and gain something out of it but it was a little premature to even think that.

This month, I have attended some of the talks usually presented at these meet ups and they have enlightened me on the bigger and longer-term effects of being in a network. Learning how to tweet and blog and most of all, learning how to network!

I am an artisan and I work with flowers and nature. I would love to have the time to paint and draw and even scribe thoughts on life and its intentions... I find time is constantly diminishing - more and more with everything we have to do or learn to do to get where we want to go.

Do you feel the same?