It's time to get personal.
So here we are and somehow I am already facing the end of January, which to be honest I am totally relieved about! This month has me thinking why I gave my job up living in the Caribbean, feeling like a a bit of a bag woman and worst of all spending too much time trying to compare myself against hot US celebs as I stalk their instagram tucked up in front of the fire! I wonder the future of the world when Trump smiles out through the TV screen and I constantly think about if I am doing things well enough..
I think that is what you call the January Blues.. That is why I like to start my New Year's Resolutions at the beginning of Feb! Yes I will be giving up chocolate in a week.. promise.
But one thing I have realised is that I need to share more of myself through my business! It's something a couple of my lovely suppliers, who I work closely with were talking about the other day. After all, I invite my clients to sit at my kitchen table to discuss their flowers, they meet me in my home, drink tea and get to know me as much as I get to know them. Some meet 'Martha' (the dog ) and once I even had one prospective groom take her for a walk ( much more fun than talking about flowers!). I have had Mothers, Uncles, Friends, Aunts, Children and babies all with us tucked around the table.
I have realised that this is how I want my business to be... my clients are coming to me because they like my style, they want my advice, they want a bit of my creative flair to help fill their wedding day!
So here I am just being me.. and I thought it was probably time to share a bit more about myself with you all. So I am going to write 3 blog posts over the coming weeks - so you can get to know more about who I am, find out why I love flowers and how I design my blooms.
But first of all here are 10 things you may not know about me:
1. What is your best childhood memory?
Running around in the smelly seaweed in my wellies as Daddy was blowing up the dinghy under the bridge at Starcoss in Devon. Dressed from head to toe in red, with my life jacket and wooly hat on; waiting to head out across the River Exe to 'Muscadet,' our family boat.
2. If you had a chance for a 'do-over' in life, what would you do differently?
Easy.. that would have been to carried on with my Art at school. I gave it up stupidly, more as a protest than because I ever wanted too! I was really good at it and it was a time in my life when I needed to be good at something, anything. Instead I did Biology and History! Bad idea..
3.What is your favourite music?
Depends on what mood I am in..
If its hot, sunny and the wind is blowing it has to be a bit of Bob Marley or Jimmy Buffett!
If it's a lazy Sunday afternoon.. anything from Tom Odell to the Counting Crows.
4. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go any why?
This is a hard one because I have been so lucky to have travelled quite a bit in the past with a previous job. But, probably taking a yacht from New Mexico up the California Coast and into British Colombia.. the Whales, the sun, the people! Then I can stop in on all those incredible flower farms in Portland, Oregan too, that would be just a huge slice of heaven!
5. What was one of your most defining moments in life?
Living in northern Brazil - I never came back the same ! I saw poverty beyond belief, I realised you did not need all the comforts in the world! That being happy was not to do with how big your house was or what clothing brand you were wearing. Happiness was something deep down.. It was dancing in the sand at 3am with strangers, laughing with people who did not even speak the same language as you and drinking from coconuts on a beach where there was no one around for miles.
6. What skill would you like to learn and why?
I would rather like to be a potter.. or at least have a few goes! I think that would complement what I do with flowers, and would enable me to be more creative in another form!
7.How would your friends descibe you?
O.k that is a tough one! I would have thought determined.. very determined... I hope caring and thoughtful. A little a bit feisty! Head screwed on with sense! Capable and gets on with it! Knows how to have fun! Perhaps tenacious is the right word !
8. Your favourite food?
I am kind of a Sushi or Thai kind of gal. The only problem living in Dorset is... well there are none of those kind of restuarants near me for miles and mile and miles!!!
9. What is your favourite movie and why?
The one that spring to mind has to be WIND with the girl from Dirty Dancing in it! It is all about sailing and winning the Americas Cup.. It came out when I was 12, I loved it.. it made me cry with inspiration! I can't believe I just addmitted that! All during my sailing career it was the movie we would all watch as a crew, with a beer, covered in salt after a days sailing waiting to watch them to launch the 'Whomper'!
10. Something that people don't know about you!
That I lived and worked on a yacht for over 8 years with my hubby ! I have travelled oceans, seas and sailed to places that you can only get to by yacht! Been in three hurricanes and 4 tropical storms! Hit by a flying fish in the middle of the Atlantic and seen the night sky like you have never seen it before.
Next time I will share in more depth more about my love of flowers and how they have always been a huge part of my life.
Thank you for taking time to get to know me a little more.
Em x
#dorsetflorist #EmmaWhicher #Aboutme #Aboutthedesigner #flowerflorist
