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Reuben Sandwich Reminds Me St Patrick’s Day Is Only 5 Days Away

Last night while I was eating my Reuben sandwich, I realized that St Patrick’s Day was just a few days away. I love St Patrick’s day. What’s not to love about a holiday that promotes drinking larger quantities of green beer. Actually I don’t like regular beer – so I not so sure about green beer – but the pub crawl participants seems to adore it. I love St Patrick’s day because of the positive nature of the holiday. Four leaf clovers – shamrocks (good luck), the color green (money and prosperity) and corned beef and cabbage or bacon and cabbage (just good eats). This is a holiday that focuses on fun and optimism with festivals, parades and “Kiss Me I’m Irish” shirts. To celebrate the holiday many people send potted shamrocks to spread luck to friends and family members. I personally like to send and receive flower arrangements with Bells of Irleand instead – shamrocks remind me of a weed called oxalis that drives me crazy in our greenhouse. Here is an example of the kind of arrangement I send my folks on St Patrick’s Day.

St Patricks Day Flower Arrangement with Bells of Irleand

If you want one that works for both St Patrick’s Day and Easter you could send this

Flower Arrangement For St Patrick’s Day or Easter

After all Easter is only a fews day after St Patrick’s Day this year.

Of course florists across the nation have some wonderful ideas when it comes to arranging flowers for St Patrick’s Day. In fact, if any florist wants to send me a picture of their St Patrick’s Day flower designs,  I’ll post them on the blog. We might even get readers to vote on the best one.

You have five days till the fun and festivities of St Patrick’s Day. So plan to have a good one – I plan on it.

If you have a special way of celebrating St Patrick’s Day let me know. I’m always curious about how others celebrate. You never know when you’ll discover something great.

3 Ultimate Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas Involving Chocolate, Flowers, and Wine

Chocolate that tasty little mood-lifting relaxing treat seems to be the focus of everyone’s attention at the moment. In fact, the latest issue of Fine Cooking has an interesting article featuring the pairing of wine and chocolate.

The combination of wine and chocolate creates a sensuous pleasure for our taste buds. A little port wine with a piece of dark chocolate is a culinary experience that shouldn’t be missed and one of my favorites. Fine Cooking pairs different kinds of chocolates with the appropriate wine to ensure a delicious experience. But, wine isn’t the only thing you can pair with chocolate to create a sensory delight. Pleasure is multiplied when you include more than one sense. Pairing flowers with chocolate involves our sense of smell, taste and sight – a triple indulgence.

The Flower Shop Network February newsletter, The Mystique of Chocolate & Flowers, describes the allure of pairing flowers with chocolate particularly for Valentine’s Day. Guys or gals looking for Valentine’s Day gift ideas will find a multitude in this newsletter. Creating the ultimate romance with chocolates and flowers is detailed in length; all you have to do is go for it.

With all this talk of pairing chocolate with flowers and wine, it occurred to me the ultimate Valentine’s Day gift lies somewhere between the Fine Cooking article and the FSN newsletter. Flowers, wine and chocolate – what more could your sweetheart ask for? You might ask, shouldn’t the ultimate Valentine’s Day gift appeal to all of the senses? With the right combination of wine, flowers and chocolate – bells will go off and hearts will be touched. So, here are three ways to combine wine, flowers and chocolate to achieve the ultimate Valentine’s Day gift this year:

The ultimate luxury Valentine’s Day gift idea – Send a dozen red roses and a large box of milk chocolates to your sweetheart; include a note suggesting an evening sharing the milk chocolates over a bottle of Pinot Noir.

The ultimate dreamy Valentine’s Day gift idea – Send a bouquet of ‘Stargazer’ Lilies to your sweetheart; include a note suggesting an evening viewing the stars while sharing a semi-sweet chocolate mousse and a bottle of Shiraz.

The ultimate romantic Valentine’s Day gift idea – Meet your sweetheart at the door with a silver tray containing a vase of tulips, two glasses of a fine ruby port and a bowl of gourmet bittersweet truffles. Be sure to whisper, “Just a little something for the finest two lips in the world”.

With these ultimate Valentine’s Day gift ideas, amore will definitely be in the air along with the aroma of fresh flowers, the taste of chocolate and wine, the expression of love and the warmth of the heart. The possibilities are endless and I’m sure everyone has their own ultimate combination. So with Valentine’s Day just around the corner – let your imagination go wild with flowers, chocolate and wine.

Appropriate Gift for Kwanzaa

Ask the Expert: My co-worker celebrates Kwanzaa and I would like to send him a gift to show my respect for his culture. Would flowers be an appropriate gift for a Kwanzaa celebration?

Shelly,

Kwanzaa means “first fruits” and originates from the first harvest celebrations of Africa. Gifts are mainly given to children and include a book and a heritage symbol. Since Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday I would suggest sending a fruit gift basket since the fruit represents a valued part of their culture — the harvest and particularly the celebration of thanks and respect for the harvest.

Just a little extra Kwanzaa information:

Kwanzaa is celebrated for seven days — beginning Dec 26th and celebrated until the end of Jan 1st.

Kwanzaa is a time to honor and respect one’s elders and heritage. Family and community play an important part in Kwanzaa. It is not a religious holiday.

5 Flower Arrangements Perfect For Thanksgiving – Including Pictures

Here are my 5 favorite Thanksgiving Flower Arrangements.

Horn of Plenty Thanksgiving Arrangement
I love this cornucopia Thanksgiving flower arrangement; sometimes referred to as a Horn of Plenty arrangement. I use this on the buffet table in my kitchen. I place it in the center of the table and arrange the appetizers around it.

Autumn Vibrance - Lilies in Vase [Read more…]

Thanksgiving: More than one day to be thankful

November is the Thanksgiving holiday month for the United States. This year the United States will celebrate Thanksgiving on November 22nd. The Canadian Thanksgiving holiday is celebrated in October. What is Thanksgiving?

Ask people what Thanksgiving means to them and you’ll get a wide variety of answers like:

  • Thanksgiving Turkey
  • The Thanksgiving Parade
  • A Day of Football
  • A Day Off
  • Time With Family
  • Thanksgiving Food – pumpkin pie, stuffing, five-cup salad, sweet potatoes and fruit baskets
  • Thanksgiving Decorations – flower centerpiece, Horn of Plenty cornucopia, gourds

Some people even mention the history of Thanksgiving and how the pilgrims gave thanks for their harvest.

I’ve been thinking about what Thanksgiving means to me. Turkey, pie, flowers for the Thanksgiving table, football, and family – Yes, all of those things remind me of Thanksgiving. But, what does Thanksgiving mean to me?

Last week, I read an editorial in Real Simple about a man who every morning wrote down 5 things he was thankful for. This editorial gave me an idea. To find out what Thanksgiving means to me, I would first need to know what I was thankful for.

Every day since November 1st, I’ve written down five things I’m thankful for that day.

Here are a few of the things I’ve been thankful for:

  • My husband because he made pancakes this morning.
  • My gerberas are still blooming.
  • My shoulder doesn’t hurt.
  • My Mom and Dad.
  • The orchid stems my husband brought me.
  • The laughter shared with friends.
  • The perky pansies on my front porch.
  • My dogs chasing leaves instead of digging up my tulip bulbs.

These are just a few of the things I have been thankful for the past few days. Friends, family and flowers – those are the things I am thankful for every day. So what does Thanksgiving mean to me? Remember! It means remember to at least one day a year to be thankful for friends, family, flowers or whatever. Every day we should be thankful for many things in life. If not every day then at least every Thanksgiving.

What will you be thankful for this Thanksgiving holiday?

Celebrating Sweetest Day

In the United States, on the 3rd Saturday of October, people in particular regions will celebrate Sweetest Day. This year Sweetest Day falls on October 20, 2007. What is Sweetest Day, you may ask? Well that was my question when a co-worker mentioned Sweetest Day to me.

Primarily celebrated in the Great Lakes Region and parts of the Northeast, Sweetest Day was a concept developed in the early 1900’s by several candy manufacturers to promote good will to those less fortunate. Sweetest Day originally began with the distribution of candy (usually boxes of chocolate) to newsboys, the elderly, the under-privilege, shut-ins and orphans.

However, the holiday has evolved as a way to show appreciation to anyone – young, old, male, female, rich or poor. Flowers, candy, chocolates and greeting cards are sent on Sweetest day to recognize all those special people in our lives.

This is a wonderful holiday – pure and simple – show appreciation to the special people in your life. A concept we should live by every day, but often forget. At least we have one day to remind us of the right thing to do.

In fact, there are many people in my life that deserve a Sweetest Day Gift: the nurses and doctors who took care of my arm, the friends who are always there for me, my dog sitter, Mrs. Shirley, my husband and the list could go on. That reminds me. I need to phone my local florist and order a few gift baskets filled with chocolates and other assorted candies.

Who will you show appreciation to this Sweetest Day?

October 16th 2007 is National Boss Day

Just a reminder — tomorrow is National Boss Day. Every working guy has a boss. Some bosses are good – some are bad – some are great. So if you appreciate your boss, tomorrow is the day to let him/her know. If you just need to make brownie points, tomorrow is the day to do it without all of your co-workers thinking your a … well you know. Need some ideas? Try sending one of these:

A gourmet chocolate gift basket.

A mixed bouquet of fall flowers.

A cookies and snacks basket.

A coffee mug with a world’s greatest boss balloon.

Have a happy National Boss Day. That reminds me, I need to get my boss something.

Celebrate Grandparents Day with Flowers

Grandparents Day is coming up soon, and what better time could there be to remember those senior folks, who are so special in our lives, with a colorful bouquet of fresh flowers? With the advent of autumn approaching, there is a plentiful selection of blossoms available at your local florist, including all sorts of perky varieties which are sure to delight any grandma or grandpa.

Grandparents Day FlowersHistory of Grandparent’s Day

National Grandparents Day originated with the idea of a West Virginia housewife, Marian McQuade, who wanted to champion the cause of lonely elderly people in nursing homes. She also hoped to persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide. After years of lobbying and gathering state by state support, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed in 1978 that National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day

…so you see that Grandparents Day wasn’t actually invented by the floral industry or the greeting card manufacturers! Nonetheless, it’s still a good idea to send our cherished elders some lively flowers just to let them know how much we love and appreciate them.

Chrysanthemums Make Great Grandparent’s Day Gifts

Yellow Potted MumAmong the popular blooms for the beginning of the fall season are the chrysanthemums. They’re available in an ever-increasing range of shapes, colors, and sizes, some of which you may not even recognize as chrysanthemums. They also happen to be some of the longest-lasting cut flowers you can buy.

Spray Chrysanthemums

Spray chrysanthemums (sometimes known as “pompons”) feature several individual blossoms on one stem, and can be purchased as daisy, cushion, or button types, as well as many novelty forms, such as spoon-petaled or anemone-flowered. Colors run the gamut of every hue in the spectrum, except blue (so far). A particularly vivid variety is the daisy type known as “Splendid Reagan”, with hot magenta petals around a chartreuse green center….easy to see even with diminished eyesight. “Viking” looks just like a Blackeyed Susan, with its golden yellow petals surrounding the velvety brown middle. “Kermit” is a lime green button type, and “Bayfrank” sports a mauve-toned, semi-double or anemone type flower.

Let The Chrysanthemums Do The Talking

Durable and long-lasting, chrysanthemums may be the perfect metaphor for our wishes for a long and happy life for our grandparents. Your local professional florist can see to it that Gramps and Granny know you’re thinking of them, whether they live near you or across the country, with an arrangement of fresh flowers for Grandparents Day. Besides, they already have everything else!