I've been thinking about blogging for a while now, wondering why anyone would spend time shoving their opinions out to the world and what it might be good for. I read a number of them, some blogs I actually look forward to reading, some I see again and again when doing google image searches. Somedays, I image search about as often as I inhale.So I got all arranged to blog. I made a list of topics I'd like to comment on, looked through blogs I like, considered photos from my existing image library, and took a lot of notes. I thought I'd get Organized (with a capital O!) and put post topics in some kind of order, set a schedule, blah, blah. However, today it is 88 degrees outside, I have a prospective new client on my mind, and I don't feel like worrying about The List.SO! My prospective new clients. We had an initial consult, I sent them a proposal. I am nervous that they'll see the design fee estimate and freak. What they don't know is that I started 'work' practically the moment they called. Well before our first meeting, I've seen their house. The first thing I do is google the address or drive by. That is all it takes to get my design ideas going. I already have a pretty good idea what I want to do for their front yard, at least the layout. They didn't have any strong feelings about it in our first meeting, so while I wait and hope that they sign the proposal, I have plant palette ideas, a layout, and some maintenance suggestions already in mind. They haven't paid me a cent, but I can't NOT design the garden.Clients often bellyache about design fees, the amounts of money they spend before they see any changes to the site. For them, this is part of the day, another thing on the to-do list. For me, it is all consuming. I think about it at the grocery store, in the car, on my nightly walks around the neighborhood. I re-design each (almost) house as I walk by or critique what is already there. Being a designer (I imagine) is different from being a cable installer or a secretary or even a doctor. When I leave the office, ideas are all around me. Plants, colors, textures, materials, are between me and everywhere I go. Site plans are in my head, what the client said is on my mind, the job comes with me. I garden at home and take pictures of everything. I am on the computer late in the night and most weekends, solid... and I wouldn't have it any other way.