Sudbury, Suffolk
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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
Uggs in April??!!
| Posted on 21 April, 2018 at 12:24 |
comments (5)
|
Hi
Everyone! This is the post I couldn’t publish last week due to ‘Technical
Issues’ so I thought I’d post it now anyways ~ which means there’ll be two this
weekend ! xx Blog Post from SUNDAY 15th April… So
where does the time go?? It absolutely FLIES past doesn’t it? … Busy
Days… Busy
Florista Ha!… Here’s
what’s been happening in a Nutshell for a Quick catch up for now… So…
Our Lillycat is back and Happy and Healthy and Getting Better by the day :)  Our
James is back and Ditto – Ditto – Ditto My
washing machine and washing-drying-piles are bearing evidence of that and
Blossoming much better than the Garden’s been of late ha!  Looks
like another CSI to me… the return of the Deepest Darkest case from the Orient
Aaaarghhhh!In
amongst all this I had a Fabulous day teaching at the West Suffolk College and
look at what my Super students did! They really got a hold of the Hand-Tied
technique SO well – I was really pleased (Read Chuffed – Delighted – Impressed)
that they all had such a super day and did so very well xx  Oh
and yesterday I had a super-dooper consult over at Alpheton Barn for a wedding
I’m doing there in August and just Look at the Fabulous display of Daffodils
there were along the lane leading to that venue – Just totally Gorgeous! Spring
is here now surely…  Well…maybe… As
a cold-fingered-and-footed-most-of-the-year Florista I have to tell you that
I’m still in the Uggs… And
I want Ugg Mitts too please… I
also hear they do Ugg Slippers!  And....Guess
what? … I'm
putting these extra Ugg items are on my
July-Wedding-Anniversary-What-I-Would-REALLY-Like-Gift-List ha! All
ready for when the weather turns chilly again in…..September? October?... Anyways
– Ugg Slipper Consults could be an Autumn theme here at the Studios… xx HAPPY
SUNDAY EVERYONE!! xx PS.
Comments & Questions always Welcome on the Blog :) |
May The Sunshine Shine 
| Posted on 5 April, 2018 at 16:09 |
comments (25)
|
Today I have been a Gardener HOORAY!!
Yes, I’ve got some serious office
work to catch up on after taking some time off over Easter… Yes, I haven’t hoovered in a couple
of days (read many, many, several, too many)… Yes, there are, well, Loads of things
I should do…but… Not Today eh? The Sun is shining and, for once, in absolute ages,
it’s warm out there! Here – see – Now how could I not go
out there and resurrect my garden when it looked like this…  Every picture tells a tale…these are
the Strawberry plants wanting some long overdue attention…and the Geraniums
just getting above themselves…and handy those Floristry buckets when there’s a
bit of weeding to be done ha!  The best thing was that our Lillycat
came out with me – She is oh such a very Happy Cat to be back home! We had a
bit of ‘Sunning’ in the studio doorway followed by a bijoux bit of ‘Baking’ on
the bench with me while I had a coffee break – well, coffee and biscuit break –
well OK – coffee and biscuits break… (so how can you eat only ONE Oreo?
Not possible!)  Lil’s did make a point of mentioning,
in her own way, that she had a bit of a sore leg… See the l o n g stretch
of it towards me? My little chicken-leg-cat… a bit of
fresh Tuna helped no end…  In the meantime the Big Blonde had
made himself comfy up on the bed… Hmm… Knew I shouldn’t have left that
particularly-prone-to-creasing cardi there but I was just in such a hurry to
change and get outside… Note To Self: Add ‘Washing to Do’ to
the list…  Tomorrow’s a busy day too… There’s prep to do for the Wedding
Flowers Day Course I’m running at the West Suffolk College here in Sudbury on
Saturday. And at least 2-3 hours of office work
to get done. And I want to get over to the Beth
Chatto Garden in Elmstead Market for plants, herbs, inspiration, coffee,
ambience, bird song, plants, woodland plants, ideas, cake, photographs… Did I hide the cake bit enough? Ha!
They do REALLY lovely cakes over there… Just saying… And then I’ve got that washing to do
too… And the Drying…  This already looks like the leaning
tower of Pisa… Oh Ha Ha!! Wish Me Luck!! xx HAVE A LOVELY WEEKEND EVERYONE ! MAY THE SUN SHINE SHINE :D |
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 |
Lilly's Story
| Posted on 1 April, 2018 at 12:54 |
comments (8)
|
This has been a funny old week full
of ups and downs and highs and lows and excitement and worries….and out of
everything that’s been happening here, I’m going to share Lilly’s story with
you all today.  In 2014, just two months after homing
her, we nearly lost Lilly to a very rare condition. Unlike most cats, she was
not immune to Toxoplasmosis. It attacked her nervous system, her ability to
move, virtually paralysing her and would have killed her. She was saved back
then by the Animal Health Trust’s neurologists and expertise. And by the fact that
we’d taken out hefty pet insurance. Unfortunately, the condition does
come back and she became unwell again last Monday…it’s the back legs that ‘go’
first…   Lilly wasn’t, however, overly pleased
to be given an emergency appointment at the vets..  We started treatment, same as we’d done
a couple of times since 2014, but this time it didn’t work. Lil’s got poorlier
and another vet’s visit saw her referred once more to the AHT on Thursday… She
wasn’t feeling too good… I wasn’t feeling too good…  And my James was leaving on a school
trip to Beijing on the Friday morning and there was packing to be done and an
overly worried Mother here that was having a meltdown about that let alone
anything else… I went to school down in Cornwall and our school trips were to
Penzance maybe, or Plymouth…but Beijing?? Hmmm. And why does everything always have
to happen at once? And then there was Harley… So? Where's she gone then??  Is she back yet??  Why’d she go without me eh, why?…..  The good news is that Lil’s is now stable
and slightly improving. And Hissing at everybody. Which means she’s feeling
better…and more her feisty little self….  So, Lillycat, these are for you.. Feel Good , Feel Happy  And come home soon my honey… The same goes for my son… xx |
Feet...
| Posted on 24 March, 2018 at 14:22 |
comments (2)
|
I think I’ve got a thing about feet…and
travel….travel and feet. Feet on travels. Feet in sandals. On beaches. In the
sea. In the pool. With tats. Without tats. Mostly with tats… Lots of feet….      What I’ve been doing today, amongst
other things, is going back through my Google photos looking for something and
it struck me how many pictures of my feet there were in there. Ha. We all do this right? It’s not just
me with some sort of footy fetish?? x Travel
absolutely and completely inspires me. I love it. I love the journey, the
flight, the whole transition thing – the moving from one life-space to another.
Just adore it. And the warmth when I get there, oh my goodness, do I like that
or what! It’s like my skin just opens up and goes ‘Hey! I’ll have some of that
pleeeease! Oh yes! Over here!’ I
am, without a doubt, living in the wrong hemisphere ha. x My
sister lives in Brisbane and I am one lucky bunny because I get to go visit her
at the start of each year. 33
- 38 degrees of sunshine? Oh yessy yes please. High
humidity too sometimes? No worries,
nope, absolutely fine. Huge
tropical-like storms with masses of lightning, the lot? Like – Aah-May-Zing!! x I
do a lot of photography while I’m there which I use for my artwork and design
ideas - it was some of these photos I was looking for when I spotted all those
feet… Now,
I do have The Most Fabulous travel companion who’s always come with me
everywhere… Let me introduce you to Woofs, International Traveller
Extraordinaire!! Here
we are arriving at Brisbane Airport… oh oops, wonky pic again..  And havin’ some Beach time…  Keepin’
cool in Noosa…  Catchin’
some rays…  And Enjoying
a Cappucco at Redcliffe….  Oh
yes, we have a special relationship me and Woofs… Aah…
Yes… well…er…there is just one teensie, weensie, little problemette…  Oh ..aah... Hiya Harls! You alright? Anything wrong??....((
Jealous? Harls? Er… well maybe, yes…. just a
tad… )) HAPPY
SATURDAY EVERYONE x PS. I can't get these photos to load right today but Enjoy Anyway, life's too short ha! |
Because It's Worth It
| Posted on 14 March, 2018 at 14:35 |
comments (2)
|
Hi
there and Happy Wednesday from me and The Big Blonde :) It's
been a busy few days - here's what we've been up to today... Harley's
just had a thorough eye cleaning session and, as you can see, is totally
exhausted...  The
same, of course, could be said of me... This cleaning-of-the-cat-face involved
me getting him in an arm lock, with his backside wedged up against my stomach
so he couldn't reverse out of hold, while I applied the
"damp-tissuette-of-DOOM" as gently as possible to both eyes. Well. What a palaver. You'd have thought I was trying to do open-eye-surgery or
something... He kept squiggling around and stuffing his face under my
armpit so I couldn't get to his eyes. This manoeuvre, whilst not resulting in
him avoiding the eye cleaning, did managed to cover me in Springtime-Cat-Moult-Fluff which required a change of top afterwards... Harls
is, without doubt, the biggest wuss-puss ever... but I Love him to bits and, as
they say, he's worth it... xx It was a little while later at lunchtime when, with the
sun all shining in and Lillycat all lying around in it relaxing on the kitchen
table, I decided it would be a nice
thing to give her a wee bit of a brush...  Half an hour and several HUGE brush loads of Tummy-Fluff-Fur
later I had a kitchen table cloth that looked like it was growing some sort of
Penicillin culture, another top covered in cat fluff and a pair of contact lenses in that were
definitely not as happy as they were first thing this morning... And Lilly? Oh, well, she was one Happy-Purry-Cat! And what's more she gave me a very rare and gorgeous
"I'll-sit-and-pose-for-you-no-worries" picture. I might look in need
of yet another makeover right now but I Love her to bits and, as they say,
she's worth it...  xxApart
from 'Cat Spring Cleaning' days, there's other times that I end up in need of a bit of renovation....Like at Christmas time when
there's door wreaths and garlands to be made... sticky / messy stuff Nordic
Spruce...just look at these hands!! And don't forget I'd have brushed the odd
strand of hair off my face during the day and, maybe, rubbed my cheek...well,
you get the picture I'm sure ha! #chimneysweep  But, of course, it's worth it because you end up with lots of
things like this!  Another thing I do is design and create Tribute Flowers
which, to me, is such a very important service I offer as a Florist. People
come and see me quietly here in the studio and talk to me about what it is
they'd like. And I put everything I have into creating it for them. Because
it's important. Because
it's worth everything and means everything. Some designs are hand drawn from scratch..
Some are measured and built from scratch...
And some are designed, carved and built from scratch..
But they're all made with Love xx  Whatever You're Doing Today - Be Happy x  Because You're Worth It ;) |
My Little Helper...
| Posted on 10 March, 2018 at 6:24 |
comments (2)
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Completely ran out of day yesterday so here's a little, quick Saturday morning Hi!! as this is a busy day too... I've got a helper in the studio today which is great...  He likes to get 'Paws on' and help whenever he can, bless him...  There's lots of this to do......  And more of that to do....  And by this evening we'll ALL just be wanting to do this ha....  Catch Up Soon! HAPPY SATURDAY EVERYONE x |
The Changing of the Throws....
| Posted on 6 March, 2018 at 4:47 |
comments (2)
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So, one of the things that I should've done yesterday was to change the throws in the sitting room...hmm...the dreaded 'Changing of the Throws'... You know, it's one of those simple, little things that really - I mean, really truly - doesn't take that long to do - but do I EVER want to do it? Absolutely not. Nope. Not even a little tiny bit. And I find all sorts of excuses for putting it off... like 'oh, I MUST give my Sis a ring RIGHT NOW'....or 'I could shop later but think it'd be better to go now'...or 'well I could do it now but I've been meaning to check my ribbon stock for the last month'... I mean, anything and everything often seems better than changing those throws ha! And today's excuse? Well, have a look see here.....  Now, how can I possibly move Lilly Cat?? (deep affected sigh) Oh Dear, what a shame (another deep sigh) - well.. guess I'll have to do it later (this means tomorrow)... I've got to confess, I have exactly the same problem with 'The Changing of the Beds'.... Is it perhaps that, after doing it for what - over a 1,000 times in the last 20 years - I just don't want to do it anymore? Do I like nice, clean, pretty bed-linen-changed-beds? Well yes, absolutely. Do I want to change them myself? No. Noee no no. Nope. So?  So I go find a cat or two and stick 'em on the bed instead ...job done.... "Oh Dear, what a shame" (deep sigh) - "well I guess I'll have to do the bed later..." Ha! Hey - HAPPY TUESDAY !! |
A Day in the Office...
| Posted on 5 March, 2018 at 5:36 |
comments (2)
|
This morning I've got a lot of things to get done in the office. It's a lovely little office with a nice large window and an even larger radiator. As a direct result of having my desk next to said radiator, I often find I'm sharing it with either Harley (aka The Big Blonde) or Lilly (aka Cappuccino Cat) who work tirelessly to support me in my business and have been flat out here yesterday and today as you can see...   I'm working on some floral designs this morning as well as ordering in some stock and flowers. A lot of my working time is spent in here which I didn't really expect when I started my business - I thought I'd spend all my days tinkering away in the studio being all arty and creative out there. Instead I do a lot of the arty and creative stuff in here! And then there's the 'Webmaster' stuff to do... Anyone out there running their own website like me? Doesn't it take a LOAD of time to keep up with the Updating and the SEO'ing and checking which sites your site's been added to and what info's been copied from your site and is it all correct... I mean, that's a full time business in itself isn't it... Sometimes I Google myself to see what's out there and give myself a bit of a shock ha! Anyways, here's the sort of thing I like to do - make gorgeous Vendela Rose Buttonholes, photograph them in the studio and then edit the photos. I then use these to help me make etchings and drawings and lino cuts x  Have a Happy Day! |
Cold, Cold, Cold...
| Posted on 3 March, 2018 at 11:42 |
comments (3)
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 On Wednesday we had a LOT of snow here and everything did look absolutely Gorgeous but goodness me, it was sooo cold! We haven't had a snow fall like it here in years.. I thought - and I think it was a pretty good thought - that what it called for was a constant supply of Hot Chocolate while I was deciding whether or not to go outside and prep those buckets for a flower delivery that had a slim chance of getting here anyway... I'm pleased to say that common sense prevailed and I stayed indoors with the Cats and the Central Heating ...and had another hot chocolate. And I did do a lot of work on my website. And some washing. And did the cat litter trays again. It's amazing how all those jobs you're not too keen on suddenly seem like a totally good idea to do when it's freezing outside ha! |