Hehehe, lucky, lucky, me. I had the best day today. I feel so fortunate and blessed. My day started with a phone call from one of my favorite customers. When I saw on caller ID that it was Ann, I immediately began making excuses for not hosting my yearly open house. Ann and her family have been coming out to my place for holiday decor for the last couple of years. Ann actually spent one of her birthdays with me (I will not tell you which one) because her husband sent her for a flower arranging class as a birthday present. Ann quickly told me she reads the blog regularly and knew that Open House would be held at On A Whim. She was really calling to let me know that someone in the neighborhood was cutting down a huge magnolia tree, and that they were throwing away the branches. She wanted to let me know that she had salvaged branches for me. It blows my mind that my customers actually are looking out for me. It makes me believe and think that I am doing something incredibly right as I operate this business. So this is how it works: I got a ton of magnolia and Ann got a big fat Christmas arrangement for her dining room table. One other cool part of the story was this: as Ann and I discussed the tree and how sad we were that it was cut down, we realized that the person who originally planted the tree is a teacher at Elijah's preschool. So, I will take her a big fat arrangement as well, just because she grew that tree all those years ago.

The rest of the day was a whirl wind; flower shop girls Jessie and Debbie worked on holiday decor. We had to start filling orders for holiday arrangements. Since we are not doing Open House this year, we need to keep our space at On A Whim antiques full of centerpieces. We have been selling designs like crazy at my little space. I guess word is spreading that I will not be holding my typical holiday open house and that my designs will be at On A Whim. We also had a huge order to decorate a client's home today. In the midst of the designing I was busy trying  to get paperwork, scheduling, and photo shoots under control.  We will be doing wedding flowers this week, holiday decor, and corporate holiday events.  Things could get a little confusing as we change from fresh flowers to evergreens, so it will require keeping ornaments and flowers in separate spaces–not to mention the glitter.  

Over the phone today I also met a fabulous photographer from Pennsylvania named Joelle Watt. I simply fell in love with this young woman and mother. I was inspired by her creativity, faith, and passion. You must take a look at her website and blog. She is so talented; I have to sing huge praise to Twitter because someone linked to her blog, and that is how I found my new friend. 

Next  I had an amazing conversation with floral designer Nicole Iverson from Swankstems. She is based in California, and she is also a new friend I found on twitter. With her encouragement I booked myself a little trip to California. In all of my years of design, I have never had any formal training. I am going to learn new ideas and concepts and hear from some of the top designers and event planners in the country.  I am excited about this opportunity for growth. 

We also want to wish Debbie's mother in North Carolina a speedy recovery. The flower shop girls are praying for you. We love you Miss North Carolina.

So now here are todays killer designs:

 

Now that was a full day at the Full Bouquet.

Holly