It’s 3:44 in the morning and I can’t sleep. I have 3 weddings this weekend, I just got off a plane from speaking in Atlanta and I am on deadline with Florists’ Review.  My mind is racing; yesterday I worked with a writer to try and recount the story of Chapel Designers, how we began, who we are today and how it all works. As I tried to tell the story of our past and my past, the story of course lead back to Amy McGee. Amy is the editor of Botanical Brouhaha and, interestingly enough, today is the 8th anniversary of her blog. In her 8 years of blogging, Amy has helped to shape and change the industry of floristry. By supporting and connecting designers all over the world, she has had a profound affect on floral designers everywhere, and the development of Chapel Designers. Because of the connections that were made via Botanical Brouhaha, a revolution of change happened in the industry.  Floral designers started coming together as friends, and for that I will always be incredibly grateful. Today is a huge day for Amy, it’s the start of an addition to Botanical Brouhaha. Today is the launch of her new podcast, which she will be producing with her amazing son, Landon, and  Maria Maxit. I am so excited for her and the industry, as I am sure this endeavor will continue to bring us all closer together.  While neither Amy or myself can really remember exactly how or when all of this happened, we do know that Botanical Brouhaha had a huge and important role in bringing us all together. I wish I could put into words how all of this happened, but I simply can’t. What happened between this little blog and Amy’s has resulted in something remarkable, something that is still unraveling and developing. Botanical Brouhaha is Amy’s gift to the industry and it has brought countless people together.  I would like to thank her for the endless hours she spent writing her remarkable blog. Without her hard work and devotion to helping floral designers, I am quite sure things would not be as they are today. I would like to thank Amy for featuring me all those years ago, for answering my call when I randomly rang her up, and for being my sounding board and dear friend for the last however-many years. Because of the relationship that struck up via the Full Bouquet and Botanical Brouhaha, together Amy and I are supporting over 200 designers via the Chapel Designers. I would also like to thank her for encouraging me to bring back the Full Bouquet. I am not 100 percent sure I can do this, but I am giving it a try. I am headed over to her blog now to hear her very first podcast.