Amanda Brand

Hi, I'm Amanda!

My interest for floral and design started at a young age. while job shadowing at age 16, I had a job at Christy and Company in Boonville, Missouri delivering flowers, washing buckets, and answering phones. My passion for the flower business grew quickly, recognizing the unpredictability of the profession and the energetic personality the job required! I continued to work throughout college with florists designing weddings, funerals, and events. My skills began to increase with every event that we worked on. That’s when I recognized without any formal instruction of flower design I must have a gift that would only be explained by a natural talent. From that point the sky became the limit.

In 2012 I was teaching and had just had a baby girl who was only six months old when I purchased my building for Paisley BowTique. I knew that I had to do more than just flowers in a small town atmosphere. That’s where I crafted the idea of a boutique type setting with gifts, home decor and sweet treats. Since the initial opening, Paisley has expanded its horizons on offerings for customers with new items like apparel and tuxes. However, florals still remain my passion and center focus with the business. We have made dreams come true with hundreds of weddings and events. We are excited to see where and what we can decorate next! The sky is the limit!

Ask the WHY....

So often we are turned away and told this is the way it is because that is the way it is. Have you ever left a conversation, left an appointment, left a disagreement and you still don’t know The Why? All young children go through the WHY stage. Yes, you know what stage I am referring to. Every other word out of their mouth is why!! It leaves us ready to pull our hair out and scream because I said so, or because that is just the way it is. Children are so eager to know, learn, and ultimately so excited to grow up to be an adult. Their ability to ask the why seems to be so important to them there is no shame or restraint.

As adults we outgrow the Why stage from simple things like growing busier, more distracted and most importantly exhaustion. What happens if we take the time to ask ourselves the why? Why we do things a certain way, or why is that the way it is? After we age, we have an idea that the why is just given to us in the directions for life. It’s usually tragedy or illness that we come back to the why. What if we started with the why like we did as children, instead of ending with the why?

Why did we turn left instead of right at the stop sign? Why do you eat what you do? Why do we react to things the way we do? Why are we all striving to be like someone else when the greatest things in life are looking us right in the face? By wanting to be like someone else we are missing our own purpose for life. We are so distracted that grand things are passing us by and we aren’t truly seeing what we can offer and our unique gifts we have been blessed wth.

How often do we move so fast in life that we are missing the big picture? Bypassing our answers daily because we don’t take the time to slow down and really ask why with the certainty that there is a response. Have you ever looked back and thought about a relationship that you have with an individual and recognize just how amazing it is at just the right time you were placed to meet them. Such things are great gifts that we so often miss because we are too busy in our fast paced, two day shipping lives that we aren’t savoring the moments for which we were made to be in.

After an in-depth conversation with my husband, I realized so many why’s I had answered over the past two years. However, at the time I was too busy screaming why that I wasn’t able to hear or see the answers that were being placed in front of me. Every week I thought I had found an answer, which then lead to the next week of complete disappointment when I realized I had reached another dead end. I didn’t quit though, those failures were the steps to finding my why. I just had to learn patience, be faithful and trust that there was an answer all in good time. I just had some fine tuning that needed to happen before the pieces fell into place.

“Why” is defined as “what reason or purpose”. If we aren’t asking the why’s in our life, we are missing a huge element to our development. If you don’t know the reason for something, why are you doing it? But most importantly if you don’t know your purpose you are lost in a world that will gobble you up like a tank of sharks. Be prepared that sometimes, the why’s may take longer to answer, other times we undoubtedly may not ever find the true meaning to a why. But, investigating and moving forward should not be frowned upon or shamed, but rather respected. Not asking that why could be the reason you hold regret, illness, depression, failure, anxiety, anger, lack of self-confidence, overwhelming pressure, and an endless list of many other emotions. I am challenging you to STOP, take the time to think about the situation and wait to react until you ask the Why. Your response will be more than a reaction, it will have a motive. Don’t live in regret or miss the opportunity to change the course of life to a happier more peaceful place, just ask. I am a firm believer when it comes to your life, ignorance is not bliss. Ignorance is a way for us to avoid reality until it comes and slaps us upside the head like a ton of bricks. Then, we are forced to face a monster that we are not qualified to fight. Don’t be blindsided, ask why at least once a day with intention and direct your life because of it.

Going into a situation asking why can be intimidating. What if we knew behind the fear of the response there was closure, happiness, and peace? Why would you want to take that opportunity away from yourself because you had a little uncertainty of the retort you may receive? The positive reactions will outweigh the negative ones in the long run. It actually is kind of like magnetic charges, you have to have a positive and a negative in order for the loop of the magnetic field to connect. Whats the correlation, you ask? In order to receive a positive reaction to the why, you have to recoginize and be prepared for the negative reaction as well. Do not fear the response because it could be the exact moment that will change your life forever.

“Do not be afraid” is written 365 times in the Bible. There is no irony in this, but intention. If we fear a response, there is no room for growth. If we are not developing for growth we are malnourishing ourselves from the riches of life. You will stay stuck in a state of fear and panic which is toxic to the mind, body and spirit. You will be frozen in this state with years passing by and the heavy burden of regret creeping in to haunt you.

Take the time to ask the why, know that it will require work and be prepared that not everyone or everything will be able to give you the real answer. If you go into every situation knowing that there is a why, think of the clarity you will have knowing that there is a reason for which you are resignating in this very moment. There is a purpose that such people are in your life at this time. Recognizing, cherishing, learning, and caring are essential to redeeming the true objective to these presences. Know that we are all vulnerable, and can be fragile throughout our lives. You will find true devotion with those who take the time to answer and stand beside you while you seek.

Take the time to ask the why.