Rachel has had her BABY!!!

I received a text early on Wednesday morning, saying she’d had a boy, delivered at home (by her mother, who arrived quicker than the ambulance) and Mum and baby were doing well. I of course texted straight back with huge congratulations, followed by…

 "so when are you coming back?"

A couple of days recovery seems fair enough, I even offered to supply a rubber ring for her stool, but apparently new mothers want ‘bonding time‘, whatever that is!

It could take months before the urge to come back to work returns. Whenever the urge does return her flower stool will be waiting, but in the meantime we have a new face in the shop.

We have another Claire! I know, there can’t possibly be TWO florists in Pulborough called Claire. I like to think I’m rather unique and I’m sure most people know who I am. For those who haven’t met me, I can’t think of anyone else that sounds quite like me (The Queen on Speed might come close), but my general description; tall, slender, raven haired, young looking, attractive…could be confused with several people in the shop.

I asked if she would consider a name change, but she didn’t seem too keen and to be honest she was known as Claire the Fabulous Florist, before I stole that title.

The new Claire, is a very experienced florist and we are lucky to have her as part of the Pulborough team. She is well known in the area and I’m certain her soft, feminine style will fit in perfectly with the shop’s floral signature.

What else has been happening this week?

Well, I was super excited to get a call from a local printer in Storrington, on Friday, to say my Greetings Cards and Message cards/tags were ready!!!!

I had a couple of illustrations of the inside and outside of shop commissioned, by a local artist (my sister in-law), which I absolutely love! They really capture the sense of community associated with a village  and to me shouted out; Sussex village, people and  floristry (all my favourite things).

I sped off in the Flower Van to pick them up and tore open the box. The Greetings Cards were just perfect, the illustrations looked fabulous printed on a linen look white card. However there was a slight problem with the 3,000  message cards I’d ordered to go in every bouquet…. they were somewhat smaller than I’d envisaged. Imagine the size of a card of matches, the sort you used to get in restaurants, in the days when when people lit up after a delicious meal.

Not quite enough room to write a message, never-mind a to and from.

So I’m after suggestions on what to do with them…answers on a normal-sized postcard please!