Monthly Archives: May 2009

Seasonal flowers & inspirational ideas for May

EucalyptusChoisya ternataPink hawthornRed azalea

Well it’s the last day of May, and we have had a glorious weekend of blue skies and sunshine in Ayrshire, so I’ve spent quite a bit of time on the garden weeding and watering, as well as buying some new herbaceous plants to co-ordinate with the blue agapanthus that I’ve planted up in ‚  two whiskey half-barrels.

So in my garden this month I’ve had lots flowering, all which can be used in some way to decorate your home, so here are a few ideas:

  1. Take some sprigs of flowering hawthorn and stand them in a tall vase
  2. Use the heads of bright azalea to scatter on your ‚  table if you are having guests over
  3. Trim a few flowering short stems from Choisya ternata ‚  and add to a clear glass ‚  bowl-shaped vase to create a dome of white flowers and bright green leaves
  4. Cut 6 inch pieces of Eucalyptus and tie name tags onto them using ribbon, to present at each place setting at the table

Ayrshire Wedding Planner visits Fife

Entrance of Balbirnie House Hotel in Fife

I ‚  headed further afield today to meet a client, Louisa, ‚  at her wedding ‚  reception venue in Fife, Balbirnie House Hotel. ‚   The grecian style entrance is very grand as you can see from my photo above, and inside it is absolutely lovely. ‚   It was ‚  built in 1777 and decorated ‚  to perfection, but with ‚  comfort in mind, including ‚  sofas ‚  piled high with ‚  cushions.

Louisa and her fianc ƒ © Patrick have hired Sarah’s Creative Occasions ‚  to provide a full wedding service for their special day in March 2010.

Personality of a Taurus

Taurus

If you had a birthday between ‚  April 21st ‚  and ‚  May 21st, then ‚  you will be a Taurus. ‚   Taurus is latin for bull, and is the ‚  second sign in ‚  the ‚  Zodiac. ‚   Taurus is ‚  an earth ‚  sign, and is considered to be feminine, ‚  negative and an introvert, meaning ‚  they are ‚  naturally less communicative, more receptive and more sensitive.

Taurus are commonly associated with being:

  • Dependable
  • Persistent
  • Loyal
  • Generous
  • Possessive
  • Stubborn

Effective Communication for Ayrshire Business Women

Last night Jane Cameron, an Associate Trainer for Speakers Bank and an Executive Member of Toastmasters International, was our guest presenter at the AABW and treated us to ‚  her top ten ‚  practical tips on confident communication, including:

  • Instead of introducing yourself, start your talk ‚  with a memorable quote
  • Use the power of 3; “Victory…, Victory…, Victory…”
  • Emphasize important words you wish your audience to remember by slowing down or using hand gestures
  • Consider when to pause and to use the pause to best effect to keep the audience on their toes

I introduced two business friends to AABW this month, Jeanne and Amy from I Do Balloons.

Real Work Skills, a charity in Ayrshire whose purpose ‚  is to ‚  enable young people to get sustainable work, ‚  are looking for any redundant suits or smart separates ‚  (mens and women) ‚  or mousemats that we may have. ‚   If you have any please do ‚  contact me.

Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Eurovision 2009 Logo

So how many of you watched this year’s Eurovision Song Contest over the weekend, or even organised your very own Eurovision party?

I haven’t seen any of the BBC’s Your Country Needs You series but I made an effort to tune in on Saturday to see Jade’s efforts for the UK entry along with the usual diversity of acts from around Europe.

Well what a huge surprise the night was, as the:

  • UK came 5th, well done Jade and Andrew
  • lighting and special affects at Moscow’s venue, and the pre-result entertainment show were fanastic and very different
  • successor to Terry, Graham Norton, was fabulous providing just as much wit and humour
  • majority of the entries had really good songs, with maybe only 1 or 2 weird acts (Germany ‚  and Ukraine spring to mind)

My favourite and the one I voted for was Norway, along with everybody else it seemed as not only did they win the contest, they scored the most points ever to be scored in the history of Eurovision. ‚   Well done Alexander. ‚   I have already downloaded Fairytale, it cost me just 1Euro. ‚   You can shop on-line to purchase any of the songs, or indeed the album.

Sarah has returned from Andalucia

Sarah at El Torcal

Flamingos at Laguna de la Fuente de Piedra

Hola, I have returned from Andalucia and wanted to share with you a couple of photos from our trip. ‚   Andalucia is a very mountainous area of central southern Spain. ‚   This is my third holiday in Andalucia as I just love it, it’s like Scotland just a bit more arid, although ‚  in Spring ‚  it can still be very green and there are lots of ‚  flowers in bloom.

Normally we like to do a lot of sightseeing, but this time we chose to relax ‚  and soak up our surroundings ‚  and ‚  enjoy the traditional spanish cuisine, such as the fresh gambas. ‚   We did however take a couple of day trips out, one to a lake to see the flamingos that visit at this time of year, and a second to El Torcal which is a national park with some wonderful rock formations.

We stayed at Finca Limoneros, which we would recommend to anyone wanting to experience the real culture of Spain and who would ‚  enjoy the local birdlife and the mountainous scenery.

Sarahs Creative Occasions