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Why, you might ask, would a florist who has worked 90 hours this week, be taking the time to write a blog? Surely, I deserve a rest! I must confess, that a glass of wine and a warm bubble bath sounds wonderful right about now.

The truth is that Mother's Day is an emotional day for me. With no time to really process my feelings and being responsible for helping to make other peoples mother's happy, my thoughts constantly turn towards my own mother. I've noticed over the years that Mother's Day is a very emotional holiday.  It's amazing the look on a woman's face when you hand her those flowers! It's what inspires me most in this business.

But with all the good and honorable feelings, sometimes negative and discouraging feelings arise. I remember about 6 years ago a woman called me late on Sunday afternoon and wanted me to know that she was most displeased with the flowers she had received from her daughter. I was, of course, very upset and offered to redeliver something else to her or to let her come to the shop and pick out whatever she wanted. She took me up on my offer and decided to come in to the shop to make a switch. When she came in and walked around the cooler, she wanted to know which arrangements she could choose from and I told her that she could pick out any arrangement she wanted, no matter what the price was. I noticed that the arrangement she was bringing back was a cute little hand blown glass vase offered by Teleflora that year. I remember thinking that most likely her daughter had picked that particular arrangement because she thought the vase was pretty. Mind you, this was not a big and showy arrangment, just a sweet vase filled with pink and green blooms. Anyway, the woman felt uncomfortable with the notion of picking out a large arrangement out of the cooler and so really wanted me to point out others in the same price range of what her daughter had spent. Obviously, for me this was awkward, as I felt that as a gift it was not my place to disclose the cost.  Finally, she picked a medium size arrangement in a clear glass vase and very sheepishly added that she thought that one was more of an appropriate size gift that she should receive from her daughter. She went on to say that she had sacrificed so much for her daughter, commuting far each day into the city, all to put her daughter through law school. The truth was finally out. It wasn't the flowers that were a problem, it was the perceived value of what her daughter had sent to her that bothered her. I gently reminded the woman that it was sweet of her daughter to think so much of her as to send her flowers and that no matter the cost, she was lucky to have a daughter so thoughtful.

As she drove away, thoughts drifted to my sister in law. That was the first Mother's Day that she was spending without her beloved daughter Tina, who had been taken from us at the tender age of 21 just 5 months earlier. All day I had thought about my sister in law and how that day must be making her feel. Knowing that last year she was a mother to two beautiful children and now this year to only one. I also thought about my own lovely mom. I thought about how unselfish she was. How understanding of me and my career that she not only didn't get to be pampered by me on Mother's Day, but had to do the pampering for me when I was tired from the weeks craziness. I could never imagine my mother expecting a gift in return for everything she had done for me. Whatever I gave to my mother, she cherished. It was never about the gift, it was the love behind it that meant the most to her. I'd give anything to be able to give my mother the worlds largest floral arrangement but the truth is, that if she were still alive, that would be the last thing she'd expect. With a mom like that, it's no wonder that this day makes me miss her so much.

I sometimes wonder why all the emotionalism on this holiday but yet I understand. How can I not when the above clearly shows the emotionalism the holiday brings out in me. So, when I get those crazy calls saying that the corsage her husband sent to her is not what she wanted and that we have ruined her holiday, I have to take a deep breath and say "it's not completely about the flowers". We might be the trigger and we may even been the target for blowing off steam but 99.9% of the time we make people happy and knowing that is enough for me.

When you really think about it, we all have Assistants in our lives. They might not have the title of Professional Administrative Assistant but there are those people, both at work and at home, that help to make our lives easier. It might be a simple as someone who you can assign duties to at work, or who makes dinner for you at home but we all have those people that sometimes go unappreciated. What would be do without them? I don't even want to think about it!

So, as a florist, knowing that this week is Professional Administrative Assistants Week or Secretary's Week, whatever you want to call it, it makes me think that we should all take a few minutes to thank the people in our lives. Monday Morning Flowers

Twenty years ago, when I didn’t have two nickels to rub together and I was trying to market myself and my business, networking was there to the rescue. I would meet people who needed what I had to offer and offered me what I  needed. All these years later I still call these people customers, vendors and friends. How wonderful is that?

To this day, networking is an  important part of my business life. A few business cards and a chance to mingle with other business people still goes a long way. The last networking meeting that my staff and I attended resulted in a sale of over $1,000.00. True story and what a return!! How can you beat that.

To that end, I’m helping to coordinate a Networking and Business Card Event on April 17th at the Yardley Country Club, hosted by the Yardley Business Association. The folks on the board wonder why I’m so passionate about networking but I’m a true believer.

So if you happen to be available on that night and are going to be anywhere near Yardley, PA contact the YBA at yba@yardleybusiness.com to reserve your spot. All that opportunity for just $10 bucks, how can you go wrong!!

Oh my gosh, it finally feels like Spring is here. Even though Easter was very early it didn’t stop our customers from coming in for all kinds of Easter flowers and bulb plants over the weekend.  Easter sales were up over last year and now it’s off to the races with Professional Administrative’s Week, not to mention the start of wedding season.

If you are getting married this spring or summer and you haven’t yet picked your florist, better do it soon before your date is taken. All the good florists book up quickly. Feel free to use our wedding website to get ideas for your wedding, even if you we are too far from you to actually do your wedding. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery! Check it out at www.perfectweddingflowers.com

This morning, as I was driving to the shop after a meeting, I started thinking about the floral seminar that I attended at the beginning of the month. Our speaker had called flowers a "Gift" and he was trying to have all of us (florists) think of our product as a "gift option". I knew what he was getting at and I agreed that sometimes we forget that flowers are one of many gift giving choices. Sometimes in my mind, I have set us apart from other gift retailers but the truth is that our product is one of many options that gift givers can choose from.

Now this got me to thinking how do flowers rank as gift? I’ve been in the business so long that sometimes it’s hard to think like a consumer or even a recipient of flowers. In an instant, I was 5 years old again. It was my first dance recital and my mom had given me a sweet little nosegay of carnations and babies breath, tied with a pink bow. If I close my eyes, I can still smell those flowers and I feel instantly happy at the memory. Suddenly I’m now 11.  I placed 3rd in a silly little dance competition at a local mall. My best friends parents send me a cute arrangement of daisies. I still have a picture, proudly smiling with my flowers and my trophy. Ok, so I’m 13 and I’m in the hospital. I’m in pain, there’s no room ready for me and I’m waiting alone on a gurney in a hall way. I open my eyes and next to me is a tiny budvase with a single flower that’s had eyes and ears glued on to look like a poodle. Oh, how happy I was! I still smile when I think of it! Now I’m 16 and my Junior Prom date presents me with a sweet little wrist corsage of pale blue carnations that match my powder blue gown. I feel special and I proudly show the flowers in pictures my mom takes of me. Shortly after, it’s the funeral of my beloved grandfather and now I take a flower from his casket to press in a book. Fast forward, I’m 18 and it’s Valentine’s Day. I had just started dating the man who would become my husband. He has sent me the most adorable floral arrangement with a silly styrofoam heart and hugging bears. I still have those bears. It’s finally my wedding day. The smell of the flowers, the carnations, the roses, the stephanotis... It’s funny on that day they remind me of what it felt like to be a little girl on my birthday because the smell transported me back. Now, almost 23 years after my wedding day, the smell of carnations, roses and stephanotis reminds me the day that I truly became a woman. How did that happen, when did I grow up?

The truth is that as a child I always received a nosegay on my birthday and another at recital. I cried when my husband called another florist to have them deliver roses to me on our anniversary, even though I was a florist.  I truly remember every single flower that was ever given to me, every corsage pressed in a book, every flower taken from a funeral.

So as I try to look at flowers from a different point of view, a view that I haven’t really seen in 20 years, my heart swells with pride. Truly, my job is not just selling flowers but helping people create memories. Strong emotional bonds to events and people. Well, there are certainly less pleasant ways to earn a living.

Monday Morning Flowers Website

Well, that's a funny notion! I just wanted to share with you our MySpace Page. Feel free to check it out!!

http://www.myspace.com/mondaymorningflowers  

 Let me know what you think!

I’ve been putting much thought into what we should do to celebrate our 20th year in business but I can’t seem to decide. I think it’s because I’m having trouble with the concept that I started this business 20 years ago. I mean, doesn’t that mean I’m getting up there in years? Ha! I don’t want to accept it and so my mind just hasn’t wrapped around the concept yet. It doesn’t make it any easier when one of my "20ish age" employees cheerfully says "You must be doing something right if you are in business 20 years". Suddenly, I look at her and picture her sucking her thumb. Hard image to grasp being she my Assistant Shop Manager. Was she really 6 when I started this company? Is that possible? Well, actually it is but I refuse to dwell on it.

Oh well, I’m sure I’ll come up with some great way to celebrate and show my appreciate to my staff, my customers and even my family. But for now I just refuse to believe that I’m old enough to have started this company 20 years ago.

Let me know if you have any ideas or if you think I look great for my age. Both would be much apprecaited!

We just return from the Northeast Floral Conference in Connecticut and it was a great show. We went to seminars to learn about the current floral trends and meet with growers and suppliers.

The highlight was getting to see many roses grown by Eufloria. Eufloria Flowers is widley recognized as the premier boutique grower of Hybrid Tea roses and whenever possible, I use roses from this farm in my wedding designs. It was wonderful to see some of their new varieties  in person and their new line of spray roses in many fabulous colors.  It was also nice to meet Chad, their Sales Manager. It's nice to put a face to a name!  To look at pictures of our wedding work and our use of Eufloria roses check out our wedding site at www.perfectweddingflowers.com.

We also enjoyed the floral competition and design seminar given by Ann Jordon. She was a dynamic speaker with so many wonderful ideas. She talked about trends in floral design, one of which is "monofloral" designs", which use all one variety of flower, usually in one color. These are a personal favorite of mine because it really allows you to showcase a single variety.  Written by: Georgianne @ Monday Morning Flowers - Princeton, NJ and Yardley, PA.