Another place to find us..

We're excited to announce our new upcoming website-- lavenderhillfloral.net

This is another place you will be able to purchase flowers from us- directly- on our new site with Flower Shop Network. No extra fees, no flowers associated with any wire service. Strictly our shop's flowers and gift items.

We are always looking for ways for our clients to purchase online- things available in the shop. This new site should be up and running in about two weeks. You'll be able to purchase our flowers along with other things like our TRAPP and Archipelago candles. We'll also have our wind chimes, lavender products, plush, plants and more.

Flower Shop Network also features great information on plant care and other tips for purchasing flowers. Please check back for our announcement on the site's launch.

The Chocolate Fest Fundraiser

We are excited to be a part of the Chocolate Fest Fundraiser- How could we say no to Chocolate?

On August 29, 2009 the Louisville AIDS Walk supporter and volunteer Craig Scherman will hold his IX Annual Chocolate Fest Fundraiser to benefit the Louisville AIDS Walk. As Kentucky’s largest HIV Care Coordinator Program, Volunteers of America is joining Craig Scherman and the Louisville AIDS Walk to help raise funds at this fun and creative event.  

As a part of the festivities on August 29^th, Craig will conduct a silent auction for the 500+ guests and for this event to be successful we have been asked to donate an item, service or gift certificate to the silent auction. So we thought-- there have been one too many Gift Certificates donated so... what could we do that was different? We want people to bid because they really want the item we've donated. So, we decided to donate - Three Months of Flowers. Our donation will be a continuing gift to the bidder. They will receive an amazing arrangement delivered once each month to a local location of their choice. Flowers to their office? Flowers to their home for a party? They'll let us know where and when and -Poof! Beautiful Flowers. Last year, Craig raised $19,000 and he hopes to exceed that this year!  

Funds raised will be donated directly to the Louisville AIDS Walk. The Louisville AIDS Walk uses the funds to organize this community’s largest HIV and AIDS event and also donates the funds to local organizations serving individuals and families impacted by HIV and AIDS, such as Volunteers of America and the House of Ruth.  

If you're interested in more information on the Fundraiser or on bidding on this item let us know. We are very excited to be a part of this event and will post more details as they come. 

We've been slacking..

Not really...and I have proof of that with some of the photos from some recent weddings.

We've kept busy in May and June.  July is typically a little quiet. The weather is a little too toasty for some brides. So we find other things to keep us busy.. and we've kept busy.

The couple of weddings I've posted are from June and July weddings. One bride wanted to incorporate her fondness for "ditch lilies" in her wedding colors. She loved the beautiful orange lilies commonly found on the side of the roads in this area. We went more for the color scheme oranges with hot pink. We didn't use the roadside lilies- but their sophisticated asian lily cousins- because they hold up unlike the roadside ones. She infused the bright colors throughout and the photos look great. Her photographer was Biermans in Floyds Knobs.

Our other bride went for sophisticated callas for herself and a gardeny mix for her attendants. This lucky bride currently resides in Holland and returned home for the wedding. It was wonderful working with her. I must say I was quite jealous to her she had to honeymoon in Austria. It's rough but I'm sure someone has to do it!  Congratulations to them and our other Summer brides. I wish I had photos of all of them. -- Do check out our Facebook page, Lavender Hill Floral. We do have more info and photos posted there.

Mission Executed

Mission executed. The photos are just a few shots from the hotel lobby where the symposium took place. I will post more on our Facebook page. 

As I’m returning home and almost home in the Chicago airport.. I am reflecting on what I have experienced and done these past few days. Basically, what have I learned? 

First, there really is no place like home.. and like Dorothy, only until you’re gone do you appreciate it more.

Second, I’m really glad I switched my major from nursing to floral. I truly, passionately love what I do. Getting to go on this trip reassured this even more me. Not that I ever doubted it.

Third, I have truly amazing and priceless people working with me. While I was gone, Jessica and Joyce held down the shop. Jessica’s friend Jyn graciously came in and helped while Grace was also away. I knew I would not have to worry. They organized and hosted our shop in the first Wine Walk in the historic district. {Grace made it back in time to experience the Wine Walk.} I’ve been told it was a huge success. The shop looked amazing- of course, and over 400 people mixed and mingled. I heard we had great compliments on the shop and flowers- of course, they did a great job! Our complete goal is to always make Lavender Hill a beautiful place to visit and shop for beautiful flowers.

 

So, while I was gone, I met new friends. I was gone on a wonderful educational experience. I and about 118 other designers came together to test our design skills. It was nerve wracking. Even thought you know what you know, is it enough? No. There’s always more to learn. You don’t know what you’re going to be asked to create. You don’t know what flowers, greenery or containers you will be given. You only know it’s complete quiet for 4 hours. You try not to loose it. You focus and just create. It was a definite experience and I’m so glad I had the opportunity to attend and participate.

 

While at the Symposium I had the opportunity to help out in the massive design room. Wonderful designers from all over the world combined forces to create the Symposium for this year. Although I didn’t get to stay for the whole event, the behind the scenes were amazing. Beautiful flower-tens of thousands of them in every color imaginable. It was breathtaking!.. and also very cold. The design room is kept very cold while all of this work is in progress. The presenting designers were from the US and abroad. Their programs were designed to make the attendant’s think beyond the normal- although I know none of us think in a normal way. I mean that in a very good way. So, from the glimpse I saw, the event was going to be absolutely spectacular.

 

I hope that next year I will able to attend and participate beyond what I was able to do this year. I have a great imagination so I can picture it already.. reconnect with the friends I made this year and really enjoy the Symposium – the WHOLE Symposium.

I’m almost home and it feels really good.

 

 

 

My trip begins… prepare yourself, this is long.

Airport experiences and observance… Starbucks is Perfection.  People on Bluetooth are beyond annoying. One particular lady has followed me from Starbucks to Gate B-17. I think either she’s deaf or the person she’s bellowing to on her Bluetooth is.  It’s beyond rude. How can they not realize this. I don’t care about how many million pieces you’re trying to get into production. You’re annoying.

Mothers with children should not reprimand them in public with a boisterous tone. It’s kind of an oxymoron to yell at your child to be quiet and behave when your behavior is more obnoxious than his. He’s maybe 4?? And you’re  how old????

I love little old Grandmas- they’re precious. Especially ones that wear bobby pins in their hair and thick eyeglasses. And little old men with wool Irish walking caps. They remind me of my grandfather.

So, my flight departs. No problems. A baby took my seat.. well, she was cute and mom and dad wanted to sit together- How could I say no? Hopefully she’ll be quiet.  And she doesn’t let me down. I watched her curiously watch the little boy behind her. She drooled and sucked on her mom’s seat- unbeknownst to mom.  A newbie flyer in the next row. No problems with her. Give me my peanuts and ginger ale. Read my magazine. Learned some new things about Premium Alstromeria. Enough reading.

It’s time for music. Where’s the ipod? I know I charged the thing before I went to bed. But I must not have turned it off. Well, that stinks- but I still have power.  What to listen to?? Okay..Montell Jorden- tell me.. Is this how we do it??  I don’t like it this way, I have to not sing- lucky for the guy next to me and I cannot dance.. So now I realize I look like a real dufus as I catch myself trying so hard not to bob my head to the right like the knuckleheads in the movie The Roxbury. Wow, that’s a visual for you.

And the plane descends and the angels sing as I land in my favorite place--- Chicago. Oh, sweet home!! I depart the plane and what is the first thing I smell?? Yes,why of course- PIZZA. .and again, the angels. Now I wait til 11:40 for my secret destination.

I wonder how things are going at the shop?? Do I call?? NO.. because my girls ROCK and they are taking care of business

Yippee! I’m here. Luggage is here with my top secret contents. So I ask the Airport helper lady ‘is there one Hyatt?’ Yes, dial #36 for a pick up. Okay. Lucky me, the shuttle is here right now. Ten minutes later, I’m at the hotel. Hmmm? Something doesn’t look right. I thought from past secret missions the hotel would have been larger. So, I ask ‘is this the only Hyatt?’ Nice desk clerk replies… well, I think you want to go to the location downtown. So, now I have to wait for a cab to take me there half hour wait, half hour trip. So… I try and get online while I’m waiting. I hear I have a bride who has called 3 times today wanting an email from me. Jessica has handled it fine explaining I’m in the air.

A half hour is snipped by 20 minutes. Well, this is different.. a nifty white suburban pulls up, clean, smoke free..leather seats??? Well yeah.. Please nice foreign man—Russian I’m guessing- take me to the right hotel. Fine Miss Lady… and $50 later here I am. Yes, $50.!!

So, I’ve checked in. The 19^th floor. The room is nice, the bed huge, the bath stuff… yummy. Ginger peach.. divine. Oh, darling friend Kim would love this. So, I’ll eat. I made a bad choice since I’m eating alone. A Ruben?? Really Carolyn, what were you thinking? Eat light. You do have to sleep. God, I need chocolate. I knew I should have gotten the huge chunk of fudge too –I would have slowly- savored it.. but I knew I was kidding myself. I’d have devoured it. So, I didn’t buy it. I’m kind of glad now, but I would like just one bite.

Well, now I’m chilling in the hotel lobby. Trying to discreetly scope out people who may be here for the same reason I am.  So far, no one.

I must end today’s account and focus on tomorrow. Because Yes, I can.

Three little Girlies went to Market...

So, last night Jessica, our darling college girl Grace and I went to a super design show at our local flower market. First row seats for us...if we go, it's front row whenever possible.

I hate to say I cannot for the life of me remember the designer's name, but he was wonderful and if we're dropping names and acting snooty...he, Mr. X, did the flowers for the Oscars. Yes, Oscars as in the red carpet, gold statues and Hollywood's Who's Who.

Jessica and I made mental notes, quietly oohed and aahed, and kept saying that's fab-u-lous in very quiet voices. But darling Grace just sat there and looked like the little girl that had just seen Santa placing the Christmas presents under the tree. Beautiful big eyes..All the while looking like she was thinking-how cool?? I didn't know you could do that? What's that flower? and of course..I want to do that, too!  So today, our Little Grace took home sticks and a knife to play with. Actually, we're encouraging her knife skills and creativity. 

Aside from that, we've been busy with weddings and parties. And, we're flipping the shop for the summer. So, if you stop in things will be kind of funky and colorful. We're already working on a schedule for fall floral classes. We'll be participating in the summer Wine Walk in July- more news on that in the next posting. We're also working on our plans for the Holiday Open House in November. 

Never a dull moment at -The Hill.        

We're still looking---and waiting..

Well, we're still asking the Flower Faeries to send us a wonderful floral designer- and they haven't gotten back to us. 

As if we haven't been busy enough- the really tough weekend hasn't even happened yet. So, please Faeries, find us a designer. We need help and a day off.  Just look at our Facebook pages- Jessica and I look very tired.

It's been forever..

..Since I last posted. I dread when it's been so long. First because I love posting. But more so, because now I have too much to catch up on.

I notice my last post was around Derby time. We were busy, but I did notice the subliminal impact of the economy on otherwise typical festivities. We have always been fortunate to have Derby work even though we're on the 'wrong' side of the river. But we did notice our corporate clients did cut back on some parties. Even so we were grateful for the floral work we did get to create and look forward to Derby '10.

After Derby, we had a visit from 117 First Graders from Floyds Knobs Elementary. Yes, that's right- 117 little ones the week we had 4 events- and we survived! 

The wonderful Joyce, spoke with the kids- and she and Jyn helped them make 'Smilies'. It sounded like everyone had fun. I know Joyce can't wait until the next visit !  

We're looking for someone Fabulous!!

In other words.. we're hiring. We are looking for a fabulous, talented, creative floral designer to join us in the shop. Part time for now.. but our goal is more than that. 

If you or someone you know fits the bill- pass the word on. You must have shop experience- that means although you may play with flowers at home, dream of flowers or think it would be 'so much fun to work in a flower shop'.. it's a little bit different actually working in the shop. So, shop experience is a must. . and you must be versatile is all areas of current design. You have to be personable, cool under pressure, able to think on your feet, be a team player, self starter and not be a Diva- The only Diva in the shop is Lulu the cat.- 

Please tell us all of your details in an email and we'll follow up. 

He said..she said--

Lavender Hill customer comments:

• Awesome service. Called me regarding the flowers and was extremely courteous and professional. Delivered the flowers quickly!!

He said- I need beautiful flowers..we said- well that's what we do!

We're so excited about our link to Direct2Florist. I've posted previously about why we've chosen to be  a part of this "wire service'- it's because they're not like the other services. They are truly about the flowers and connecting the client directly to the local shop. So, they are our web source for you to shop directly from us.

Now that our clients understand the benefit- they're even happier to shop thru our website. So, I've posted a recent comment from a client's floral purchase yesterday. I also posted a photo of an arrangement requested. Of course we added our special touch and sent it to the happy recipient. Don't forget to give us a call when you need something beautiful with your name on it.

The Fringe Candles arrived today!!

More good things arrived today. Two wonderful packages 
arrived containing beautiful Fringe Candles and some very unique Fringe Vases.

The candles are poured in beautiful glass containers that can be recycled into a really nice vase. We thought the print on the glass was very unique and something we hadn't seen anywhere. We have 6 different styles available.

The actual vases have a similar transfer botanical art and come in two different sizes. We have three different patterns available.

We hope you'll get a chance to stop in and see them. Don't forget, the Spring Fling Open House is scheduled for Saturday, April 4th.

Birdnests, Chics, and Baby Toes

Last night Jessica, Giselle and I went to a design show at our Floral Market.  We're always on the lookout for unique plants..the more unusual the better- at least for us. So I posted a couple of the nifty plants we now have in the shop.

The first is a very large and beautiful Birdnest Fern. We have another one in the shop- it's beautiful, but normal in size. This one is pretty, darn big. It's about 3 feet in diameter with lots of new leaves unfolding.

The second photo is a giant "Chic".  It's about the size of a dinner plate. We have patiently waited for quite a while to get our hands on one. And since they had two, we quickly snatched them up. Yay us!

And the last photo is Baby's Toes! We just love them. They're cute and little and green and when you rub them they really do feel like you're playing -Piggy went to market. Talk about cheap therapy to make you feel good. Stop in and you'll chill out- there's nothing better than feeling calm and happy..and the plants can definitely do that for you.

The pretty stuff has arrived!

Some of the "pretty things" have arrived for the 

Spring Fling scheduled for Saturday, April 4th.

We have some wonderful gift ideas for birthdays, Mother's Day, Administrative Professional's Day or just because. The lavender eye pillows smell wonderful. They are made with a beautiful soft fabric embroidered with pretty poppies and come in 3 colors.. pink, red, and orange. They're handmade and stuffed with organic lavender.

The Shea Butter and Lavender Shea Butter [shown in the silver tins] smells divine! It really hydrates your skin and is not greasy. Just a little goes a long way- no kidding.

And then the Archipelago candles.. ..they look great, and truly scent a room. All of the favorites are back in stock. The poured candles shown are $22. and the votives are $3.50 ea. 

We hope you'll get a chance to pop in for the Open House. We'll have lots of beautiful things to brighten your home, get you ready for Spring's upcoming 'local holidays'- Thunder and Derby, and just give you a chance to stop back in the historic district and visit the local businesses.

A Wedding from last Summer

Oh......so much to say about this wedding. The couple, the planning, the details, the end results.

Lots of work, many refined plans and Jessica's first wedding with me and Lavender Hill. It's time I posted the photos. The photographer was excellent..I just wish I had more of her photos.

Become our Friend on Facebook

We now have a correct official page on Facebook.   Lavender Hill Floral

We are hoping you will use both our blog and Facebook as a source to find out what's going on at the shop. Both of these great forms of communication will help us keep you up to date on what we're doing, what new products are available, sales, invitations to nifty events and more. 

We also plan to use Facebook as another place to feature photos of the weddings, events and great arrangements that we get to create. Although we do post some photos here, Facebook will allow more space and that means more photos in albums- for quick reference. So please, be our Friend.. you can never have too many.

Such a great day!!

Well, today was like Christmas for me. 

We have been doing a lot of planning for this new year. What we want to do for new products, deciding on new display pieces, searching for the best crop of dried lavender, new varieties of plants and more. One of the biggest 'mores' has been working on our new look for our business correspondence. This includes everything leaving our shop with our name on it, signage, logo, attire for employees- everything. 

I posted earlier in January regarding the new business cards and today they came!!!! This is probably not exciting for anyone but me and Jessica. But our business cards arrived late this afternoon- personally delivered to us by Tom from Allegra Printing in New Albany. They are beautiful!!! Jen designed them and he did an amazing job of getting them printed exactly as I'd hoped they'd be. So, now we have our new business cards and the rest of the paper items will be coming shortly.

Along with that, as of March 1st. we will no longer have our lavenderhillflorals.BIZ site. We have researched the traffic on the site and found that we'd rather have everything on one site. So, as of March 1st. lavenderhillflorals.com will be the site to go to and if you'd like to order flowers or look at some of the flower photo samples and other items available for purchasing.. you can also get there thru this blog. Just click on the area in the top right of the blog. That will get you to our Direct2Florist page.

Also some new things available for delivery will be Celebration Cakes or Cupcakes. These can accompany a simple arrangement or anything else coming from our shop. If you would like to send Cake or Cupcakes for any occasion, we would like a 24hour notice. We will have more info on flavors, cake/serving sizes and hopefully photos on the next blog post. 

We are excited for all of the new things  arriving before the Spring Fling in April. Saturday, April 4th to be exact, from 10 am 'til 3pm. Well, that's all for now. Check back again for another post. Thanks for stopping by.

Something for March....

Our small token of appreciation... if you purchase your Valentine's Day flowers with us this week-you will receive a "Love Note" good for one free rose during the month of March. 

We know you can go anywhere to purchase flowers. When you come to Lavender Hill.. we know that means you expect excellent flowers and excellent service. So with that, we want to continue our good relationship with you.

Come back in March..if not sooner, and present the "Love Note" and continue the love with another rose. 

Join us on Facebook!

Just another way to find out what's going on at Lavender Hill. We now have a Facebook page. Sign on and add us to your  Friend's list. You can never have too many friends.. at least we don't think so.

Did you know ??

Did you know, when you place an order we can email you a photo of what we sent? Yes, that's right.

Why are we doing this? Well, because we know many times the floral sender never gets a chance to see what's been sent. We do get many calls from people not in the local area. They may be calling for a delivery for a special occasion they may not be able to attend-- perhaps a birthday, anniversary or funeral. So, if you give us your email address we'll send you a photo of your floral gift. 

The only time we may not be able to do this would be for a super busy holiday like Valentine's Day- and that is only because of the volume of orders coming in and the time frame for delivery would be a little prohibitive.

We've chosen to do this because we want you to be confident with what is being sent out with your name one it. But remember, it has our name on it too.  So, if you look good, we look good. It's as simple as that.

Enjoy the weekend.. and don't forget Valentine's Day is next Saturday the 14th. For a longer romantic weekend, send your flowers on Friday.