To all the Mommies...

So...many of my friends are new Mommies now. They are my heroes - truly patient and self-less. The white and green roses above were a welcome home gift to Abby, Mommy to Graham and wife to Chris, a big kid in his own right but that is a different converstaion for a different time.

Friendly tip - using a wide banana leaf inside a vase covers all the stems...and any mistakes I may have made.

Emily is a colorful friend and co-worker at Fossil. This arrangement looks like it is smiling - I LOVE LOVE LOVE peonies and Emily conveniently had a baby during peak peony season so lucky me. The orange-ish pink roses and hypericum berries tied everything together effortlessly, much like Emily, Mommy to Jack and wife to Dustin, who seems to do it all without breaking a sweat.

So I had to save the best for last - I hail from Houston, TX...not China like many of you have presumed. You know who you are. For a typically warm and balmy Thanksgiving last year, I did an experiment with short and tall flowers in an arrangement for my Mom, Irene. Initially the tulips were shooting out intentionally, and she loved it...but beware, I quickly learned that tulips are one of the few flowers that continues to grow after cut.

Friendly tip - when creating an arrangement (with tulips) that you'd like to "maintain its original form" for more than day, try to only use tulips entirely, or your arrangement will...explode of sorts. The tulips will shoot out from the rest of the flowers day after day and the recipient will either be dumbfounded, or just plain annoyed that they have to trim the arrangement to keep it from looking crazy.