Sudbury, Suffolk
Shopping Cart
Your Cart is Empty
Quantity:
Subtotal
Taxes
Shipping
Total
The Busy Florista Blog
The Busy Florista Blog
Putting Pen to Paper...
Putting Pen to Paper...
How we React to Things...
How we React to Things...
I recently had a situation happen to me that comletely knocked me for six, floored me, upset me beyond belief and there was absolutely nothing I could do about it. Nothing.
My website provider switched my site builder from one day to the next, completely reformatting my website. The first I knew about it was when I clicked on my site and thought it didn't look right and definitely not how I left it last time.. Different fonts, mis-aligned text, different colours...
All the hours of SEO work that I'd learnt how to do had gone. Nothing there. Removed. Blank sheet. From 21st October 2020 this was, effectively, a new site on the net. Old stats gone. Tools I'd relied on since first building my site in 2008 gone. Just gone.
About two months ago I did receive an email about upgrading the site at some point. No date given and no communication whatsoever since. No heads up on the change over date - nothing. I had no chance to screen shot info or key words and there's no tutorial on how to use the new builder. Do you laugh because it's nuts or do you cry... I cried.
I felt like I'd lost a huge part of me - a bit silly maybe but there you go, that's how I felt. I liked to look back to see what visits I'd had from where and see how my site had done over the years. I was really proud of the 80% SEO mark I'd managed to get by tweaking a word here, adding a different phrase there, making some words plural and others not... all these little things make the difference and it was a fair bit of a learning curve for me - I've got none of them saved , of course..
So... Anyways... Deep breath...
I recently treated myself to a lovely book - The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy. A truly beautiful book.
On one of the pages it says " One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things ".
So very true..
Can I live without all that archived data? Yes, of course..
Can I learn how to use this new builder? Yes...
Will it take me hours to re-do the SEO work? Yes!!! :(
But can I do it? Oh yes...
Um... Is it easier to write this blog post in the new builder format...? Yes.
Does my website now have that lovely little secure padlock icon? Yes.
Might I learn to love this new builder? Oh probably...
There's a cherry in here somewhere - I just have to find it...
And find that pesky, invaluable SEO analyser... now where on earth has that gone???
Best get Coffee and Carry On
Happy Sunday Everyone
Catch You Next Time x
My Blog
Blog
Birmans, Bouquets and Days Off 
| Posted on 16 September, 2018 at 15:32 |
comments (1)
|
And so another week has passed here in the blink of an eye! Whenever
did time get to move sooo swiftly? I’ve
had a Fab day today meeting, amongst others, a February wedding couple over at Hengrave
Hall, Bury St. Edmunds to discuss amazing flowers…and Trees… ooh, I Love those!
Soo
looking forward to this one – there’s Lots of creative collaboration going on
here! Can’t wait! xx xx So,
now, back to the present… Our
Lilly… well she’s a whole lot better Hooray! Back to the AHT tomorrow to see
the neurologists but… She’s
been jumping up onto the small sofa again all by herself –  And… Enjoying
snuggles on the bed (alright…which she can’t quite jump up onto by herself but,
hey, can now get down from with no trouble bless..)  And
Harls?? Well
he’s been REAL busy here this week… as you can see…  #ChilledBirman # Workinghardintheoffice  #Sundaymorningsnoozing  I
think I might be in agreement with #WinstonChurchill here and decide to come
back as a cat ha! And
talking about cats… So sorry, I can’t get this pic to go the right way round! ...  We have a local pussycat who’s just
lovin’ the studio vibes at the mo… And
is quite colour co-ordinated too ha! Lucky
for this little puss, our Big Blonde has never mastered the art of fence or
tree climbing… (Yep, I know, it’s an indoors-mainly- temple-cat-Birman-thing) So
if he snuggles up on the warm roof QUIETLY Harls never knows he’s there… Shhh… And
me? Well here’s what I’ve been up to on the Floristry side of things… Bouquets
and Buttonholes…   Tackling
thorny, but Gorgeous, Vendela Roses….   And getting
very excited about creating new designs for Indian Wedding and Celebration Garlands… And
prepping for a Day Off!! HOORAY!! Tomorrow
I’ll be giving myself some new Henna Tattoos…  When
you work all weekend, Mondays are off right? xx
Happy Monday Everyone xx |
Hot Days, Hot Feet, Hot Florista!
| Posted on 16 July, 2018 at 14:25 |
comments (3)
|
Hi Everybody! How are we all Enjoying this Fabulous weather? We're just lovin' it here in the House of Floristas.. It's been such a joy opening up the stable door early morning and looking out at the garden and the Studios and seeing Blue Skies and Sunshine! However... we have had some Hotty-Footy-Moments when a certain Florista wanted to pop her feet into the Buckets along with the Flowers...  And then me and Harls had a bit of a long-hot-day-melt-down the other day...  Ooh, Yeah - you an' me babe - just chillin'... And as for the Double Bir-flops due to the heat... (It's a well known phrase amongst all the Birman-owning humans out there Ha! ...) Well, what can I say? #Lillycat'sgottafabtailpose #HarleyPussisrockin'agoodcurve... I've been doing a lot of this...  Resulting in a lot of that...  And a touch of this too...  And... Poor old Mousie??? Well, our Lillycat's been lookin' after him nicely, thank you, in all this Heat... Ha!  HAPPY SUMMER TIME!! PS. I'm Posting this Real Quick before the VP system 'loses' it ha! #thesnappyflorista xx |
T'is the Season....
| Posted on 10 July, 2018 at 15:02 |
comments (1)
|
I
know, I know – l o n
g time no Blog but, really, it’s
been totally bonkers here for weeks! It’s
the WEDDING SEASON already, okay? And
does the rest of my Life stop and Pause a while so I can get on with all my
Flowery stuff? Absolutely NOT ha! So
we’re doin’ the all the normal, everyday Mumma stuff here… The school runs…
Teen support….Organising the Husband… Forgetting to defrost Supper… Not
Hoovering (as always)… Remembering the family Birthdays (thank God for
Moonpig!)... Housey-Washingy stuff… NOT Ironing (haven’t done that for almost
two decades now ha! #result… Having some fairly major dentistry done
(ouchy-ouchy on the £££’s)… Organising a
new Laptop for my son after his old one stopped working, again.. (ouchy-ouch-oucheee
on the £££’s #gottahaveaTerabiteofthis #gottahaveani5somethingofthat… And
don’t even get me started on the Garden….. PLUS… All
the Busiest Florista Stuff you can imagine!!... Up early mornings to get on the
Dutch websites and get those Flowers.… Fending off the growing Paperwork pile
and totally NOT succeeding.… Being there for last minute Bride requests… Being
there for new and excited Brides wanting to book in.… Going
on lovely venue visits with new Brides – Yep – Love that too… Ordering
lots of lovely new stock! I do enjoy that bit but sometimes I get carried away…
new ribbons, new wrap, new lace… velvet…satin… Tissue Paper! I LOVE tissue
paper… vases and votives… garlands to add to the Silk Blossom Trees… I
could go on but I won’t :) Anyway,
let me give you a little pictorial “Catch Up” of what’s been happening… Lilly
Cat’s been chillin’  Harley
Puss has been chillin’ too  (PS.
They don’t yet know they’ve got a VET’S appt for jabs coming up… )I’ve
been doing a bit of this… #homecooking   And
a bit of that… #afternoontea  And
a lot of this… #thebusyflorista    The
Garden’s been looking lovely… Well, okay, I have to say early June was FAB but
it’s been a tad overblown, overgrown and somewhat Blowsy since then ha! But
all my Sage cuttings have survived and we’ve had Strawberries and I’ve grown
Chives! Okay - neither of these want to go round the right way...   Oh
and I must tell you – I knew I’d been doing too much floristry prep when I
caught myself cutting Broccoli stems one evening at a 45 degree angle ha ha!  Oh
now, I’ve got to show you this – This is Harls on a hot day… under the duvet.. Nomad style. What is he like…
#gottalovehimYep - this pic being difficult too.....  Ps.
I’ve noticed a distinct increase in my use of hash tags since I’ve been watching
Love Island on ITV hub whenever I stop for a bite to eat .. I know, bear with me
on this, I’ll be fine again in a few months’ time… But
don’t tell me ANYTHING okay you guys - I’m
still about 5 days behind everyone else ha! So,
here we go into another full on wedding prep day tomorrow – I’ve had some of
the most Gorgeous weddings to do this year, I mean absolutely fabulous couples
and wonderful briefs. Just lovin’ it. Love them all – having a super season! Watch
out for the Insta posts okay? And
if you’re getting married in 2019 or 2020 in Suffolk, Essex, Cambs or Norfolk
and would like a Coffee-Biscuit-Consult with me here at the Studios then give
me a shout – Love to see you! x     Xx
Happy Summer Everyone! Xx |
Ninja Cat, Fluff & Divas...
| Posted on 29 April, 2018 at 12:48 |
comments (2)
|
So,
I was thinking to myself the other day why am I not getting any comments back on
my Blog? Maybe
nobody’s found it….. Hmm… Maybe
nobody likes it… Oh… Maybe…
But Hey, maybe I just need go have a search
through my website account and see if I can find them! YEAH!! And there they were, all tucked away in the
Messages SPAM box… So Hi! to you and Thank You for reading :)  And
for waiting so long for the next post – what can I say – the Wedding Season is
upon us! I’m having to get super organised here and schedule in specific things on specific days so I keep on top of everything. Unfortunately
Housekeeping stuff is not included so if anyone visits please don’t look at the
carpet… And especially DON’T wear anything black ha! The
carpet is supposed to be ‘Walnut’ but right now it has a layer of the Big Blonde
Birman Cat fluff all over it (Birman-Spring-Moult-Time) so it looks more ‘Latte’
than anything else… Oh
Dear… Pitty whatty as my lovely xx Nan xx used to say… Here’s
the main culprit sunning himself in the garden last Sunday :)  Now,
with our Lilly cat on the mend, I’d like to introduce you to Mousie.. Mousie
has had a quiet time of it while Lilly’s been poorly but I have to say that’s
all over now. He
gets a bit anxious most days, lookin’ here…  Lookin’
there…  Lookin’
everywhere…Just
waiting for that next POUNCE that can see him In the Water…  And
Out the Water…  Until
the poor thing is just totally shattered…  My
little Ninja Cat is once more Lilly-The-Inscrutable-Oriental-Woman-Cat not to
be messed in any way. This
is the Look she uses to deter weaker minded Humans…  To
finish off on a Florista note, I had the most delicate of flowers to work with
for this week’s wedding. These were home grown Muscari (Grape Hyacinths)
provided by the bride and Dutch Lily of the Valley & Ranunculus. All soft
stemmed and total Divas ha!  Wiring
these into Buttonholes and Wrist Corsages was fun (Read: Tricky ) It was delicate
work but they looked absolutely Gorgeous. I had my moments though, especially
with the Muscari but… Would
I do it again?  Absolutely!x
HAPPY DAYS EVERYONE x PS. Having Technical problems again so the Font's all wrong but Hey Ho - at least I can get it Published...hopefully... x |
Is Spring Sprung???
| Posted on 3 April, 2018 at 17:03 |
comments (8)
|
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 |
A Good Start To The Day
| Posted on 7 March, 2018 at 8:27 |
comments (12)
|
Well it's a busy day here today - a Coffee & Danish kind of a day - so I took myself off, first thing, for a 'Power-Breakfast' and made myself a nice, long list of what I needed to get done...  Here's what I wrote... Finish floral designs** Check what else needs doing and make a list Sort out the new stock Clean and prep buckets Order more flowers** Reply to emails** Finish wedding estimate** Sort out a Student ID card**** NB. Shirt wash NB. Supper NB. Cat Food?? Confirm weekend appointments Set timer on studio heater Hoover And I figure that's more than enough...Am I going to get it ALL done today? Absolutely not. That's why I star things, to tell myself what to do first....and hoovering, unfortunately, appears to be coming in last...oh dear (sigh)... what a shame (sigh sigh)... I might have to leave that til tomorrow.... But I do like having a list and ticking things off. Sometimes I even write on the list what I've already done just so's I can tick it off.... anyone else do that? There are days, of course, that require a tad more than a Coffee & a Danish... Some weeks are just hilariously silly busy with weddings here and that's when we get out the 'big guns'... Berocca...Metatone...and CHOCOLATE!!  Happy Days Everyone ! |