Flowers!

I wish I could be one of those people who always has fresh flowers around the house. I love fresh flowers. They are so pretty, smell delicious, and make the house feel so much more warm and loving.

But, alas, I'm too cheap to spend money on them. I also have a black thumb, so I don't have any flowers in the garden for me to pick. (Though I'm hoping our hydrangeas don't die, and I actually do have flowers to pick later this summer!)

Rewind a few days and I was out shopping for our coach's dinner we were hosting last night. It was a rather small get together, just six of us. Richie's boss brought up the idea, and we agreed to host. I decided to let everyone vote on a cookout or Italian dinner, and the Italian feast one. Easy peazy. I have almost everything at home, so I only needed to run out for a few fresh ingredients.

As I was walking by the florist on the way to the deli, I saw a sign for flowers on sale. My first thought was, how dead are they? I picked up a bouquet and looked for the dead flowers. None. Hmm...so I thought for a minute what else could be wrong with flowers. The bouquet was huge and originally $30. It was on sale for $5.

Then I snapped to. Um, they are flowers! For $5! Who cares "what's wrong with them." Not like we are going to eat them or rub them on ourselves. Nothing to potentially hurt anyone. So I bought them.

When I got home, I picked apart the bouquet and had enough flowers for four different arrangements! I also picked a few fresh gardenias from our yard that had just bloomed that morning and put them in water just to add an extra heavenly smell to the house.

I'm so excited! I get to have fresh flowers around my house, and I didn't break the bank! Oh, and the dinner was a success too :)

Small arrangement #1,

with two little gardenia blooms in water.

Arrangement #2 for the kitchen table (in my

new McCarty vase :-) )
Arrangement #3 for the family room

Arrangement #4 for the coffee table.

The flowers were beautiful (and are still alive!)

A big bowl of water for a few gardenia blooms.

Gardenias are my favorite flower- the smell is amazing.