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! |
Crime Scene Investigation
| Posted on 17 March, 2018 at 12:41 |
comments (0)
|
Well Hi there and Hello :) And... we have Snow here again in
Suffolk today – and yes, there’s those buckets out there all waiting to be
sorted… again... But, hey, I have a blog to write yes? Very important I get
this done right now…and Lils totally agrees that the bestest place to be right
now is inside, looking out, while baking gently in the warmth of the radiator …   I’ve got to say that, when I first came
in the office this morning, it did all look a bit ‘Miss Marple’ like …or for
those of us with Netflix, ‘Miss Fisher’ like ha! There was his Royal Niblets
all collapsed under one of the desks … I guess he just couldn’t stand the
thought of any more office work after yesterday…  Hang on a mo… let’s do a bit of a ‘Crime Scene Investigation’ makeover on this photo… aha, here we go! Oh dear, poor Harls…it was all just too much for him bless…  And talking of crime
scenes…well…yesterday, what a day it was in here! I wonder if anyone else out there has
had this happen to them?.... What it was-was, when I opened up my
Gmail first thing yesterday, ALL my starred-and-very-important emails
had disappeared. Gone. Vanished. Not there. BIG tummy over moment. I label
everything, always keep everything in groups. And there they all were – Gone.
Disparu. Vanished. So…detective hat on and Voila!… in my
Bin there were – are you ready for this? – 5,863 EMAILS!!!! What!!??
Going back years and years. Had I deleted them? Absolutely not. They were all
my Archived and Saved emails from forever. Plus loads of ‘Out of Office’ Auto
Replies which, actually, did really need to go into the Bin anyway but that’s another
matter. Did I want to select the whole bin load and move them back to my Inbox?
Well, no, not really... So I worked through them, page by page. Took absolute ages.
And then, when I did go to send an email, guess what? Gmail told me
it had been deleted and sent to the Bin instead of the Sent Box because it was
part of a deleted conversation... What-what??? Anyway, the Mystery is all solved now
Huzza! After a bit of Googling I found it was down to a filter I'd set up the
day before to get rid of some Spam. Somewhere along the line my own email
address had been included.. I now have NO filters. None. Deleted the lot. And ate Chocolate. Well, Chocolates.
And some chocolate.  My trials were over, or so I
thought... However... When I got downstairs at
the end of the day I found further Dastardly-Dire scenes of the Most Despicable
Nature waiting for me in the Kitchen…  Gasp!!!... Horror!!!  Gasp-Gasp!!!... Horror-Horror!!!.... There was absolutely only ONE
course of action to be taken - and as quickly as possible ….  HAPPY SATURDAY EVERYONE May The Chocolate be With You x And the Gin x |
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)
|
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 |
Choose Happy...
| Posted on 8 March, 2018 at 15:48 |
comments (0)
|
What a Day.. and I don't know quite where to start.. It's the beginning of my busy season for sure and I'm really pleased with what I've done today ... And it was WOW Day too wasn't it? I was listening to the radio this morning about that on my way to swimming and thought it was a very positive thing to be hearing in the car amongst all the Brexit stuff. By the way, it's a late post today because I've been so very busy - but I do have my helper here as always... whatever am I going to do without you HP?? ..  I do love to go swimming each morning if I can. It works for me so well because it makes me feel more energized, I've always Loved swimming! Love the water! (I'm a double Aquarian by the way - both Sun and Moon - it figures...) and I aim to do 30 - 50 lengths each time I go... But I'm also a tad competitive and today I pushed to 56 ha! This, plus a decent sized Cappuccino, can do absolute wonders for my day!!!  And today has certainly involved the doing of Many Things...Including the hand making of just over 8 metres of box pleat ribbons...  And the checking, trimming and conditioning of some rather Gorgeous flowers...   Plus the replying to emails on my phone whilst doing all this... And then, this evening, after an incredibly long (not) commute from the Studio, the cooking of the Chicken Goujons for my son's supper ... fresh, from scratch, Panko Breadcrumbs, the lot... I know.. I've got a bad touch of the Ree Ree's.. aka The Pioneer Woman...who I now admit I follow and watch all the time... and my family Love it...  So this brings me to my thought of the day... whatever you're doing... 'CHOOSE HAPPY' !!  This is a fridge magnet my Sis gave me last time I was with her in Oz and I Totally Love It and try and make it happen for me every single day xx and whatever I'm doing xxxx Be Happy 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 ! |
