Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and to all the other moms out there. We appreciate all you do!

Here's a little history of the day:

http://www.mothersdaycentral.com/about-mothersday/history/

Secret Happiness - Wood Flowers

On Monday (yesterday) a high school friend of mine came into town. I don't look fondly on high school and so I had a little anxiety when she said she would be in town. After all, this year is my 20 year class reunion and it's been ....a long time! But, Rungludi was my locker partner and we met because she was from Thailand and I lived there when I was a little girl.

It was so good to see her. We talked for four hours and went to one restaurant for dinner and another for dessert. Ha. Kind of like a progressive dinner reunion style.

She was in town for an art show that she attends every year to sell her wood flowers and vases.

She surprised me with a gift at the end of the evening. Some wooden flowers! They are so beautiful and vibrant. She designed each of these and it sounds like a lot of hotels and restaurants by them to provide low maintenance and beautiful color.

Here's her website - http://www.dmwoodart.com/

These will definitely go in my "good gifts" file. I love when people share their talents in their gifts. And, I love getting back in touch with people from the past (thanks Facebook). I'm always amazed at the success of my friends and hope that some of it rubs off on me one of these days. (-:

Flowers - from the Fall Walk

Flowers again

That's right. I once again bought myself flowers at the grocery store. I'm really starting to like the offwhite flowers with the pink accents.

Butterfly Photoshots

Today we took a drive through the Skyline Drive loop in the Shenandoah mountains (err, hills) and no kidding - there were some butterflies that couldn't get enough of my flash. We just stopped by one of the areas that had a restroom and these butterflies were feeding on these purple flowers. The beautiful thing is how they were all so different and would go to the same plant at the same time. It took quite a few pictures to get some where they weren't flapping their wings. Beautiful creatures!

I love that the bee is sharing this flower with the butterfly.

Grocery store flowers

The grocery store closest to my house has all of these flowers right when you walk in the door. They have roses and then these variety bunches and since I think both are pretty in their own right, sometimes I can't decide which I like better. Every few months I end up buying one or the other for my kitchen table. This past week I had to have both. Unfortunately, fortunately, for me...I only have one vase at home. That vase happens to have a lot of sea shells and rocks in it right now. So, I used the glass pitcher instead. It's kind of a pretty arrangement with both mixed in together...though I'm sure I'm breaking some floral arranging techniques.

Either way, regardless of social norms you sometimes just have to buy yourself some flowers.