Getting Ready For Guests

Are there things your parents did for you that just make you want to cry because they were so sweet? Two distinct memories come to my mind.

One Christmas I received a Barbie doll house from Santa.  But really the house was made up of 5 wooden cubes my Mom had my uncle make for me.  My mom set the house up to the very last detail down to Barbie having a cool lemonade by the roof top pool to the table set for dinner with little utensils.  The beauty of it was that you could rearrange the cubes to make a ton of different styles of homes...it was so awesome and probably way cheaper than the ready made house from the store. Thinking of her setting all of that up for me just brings tears to my eyes.  I am lucky to have such a wonderful mother and I can only hope to be that good of one for Reed.

The other memory is about my Dad which brings me to the point of this post.  Many times I would come home from college or even when I was still living at home to find flowers in my room.  They weren't store bought flowers, just what happened to be blooming in the yard.  And the vases weren't fine - I think I have had a pitcher, jars and other things.  It was such a sweet gesture that made me feel loved and appreciated.  Flowers really are special.
So when my friends Lindsey and Meggan told me they were coming to visit, I knew what I had to do.

Because we are in the middle of winter, I bought an inexpensive bouquet of flowers from the grocery store to place around the house.  Of course they were lovely but I can't tell you the joy I felt when I spied one single daffodil blooming in my backyard just after I had made my purchase.  Daffodil's are my all time favorite flower.  I absolutely love them for their beauty and gentle scent but mostly because they say "Spring is here!".

I arranged some of the flowers on my mantel.

And a few on the bookcase in the guest room.

The little daffodil was placed in the bathroom where it would really stand out.

It was an absolutely wonderful visit with my two friends and Lindsey's little boy Xander.  We sat and talked, made an a wonderful dinner of shrimp and grits, ate hummingbird cake and s'mores and talked and talked some more.  I can't wait for them to visit again soon!