This post is sponsored by The Bouqs Company which basically means it’s sponsored by colorful bouquets of happiness which is exactly what this blog intends to bring you. Perfect fit.

Okay, do you remember the first time you ever received flowers?

Mine? First year of college. As a significantly sheltered homeschooled kid, I had nary a boyfriend situation to draw from and was suddenly immersed in a social setting that expanded outside my church circle. I was taking a reproductive biology class and sat next to an interesting man who informed me that he owned a funeral home. Somehow he found my address. On Valentine’s Day, my mom knocked on my bedroom door and, confused, told me flowers had arrived with my name on them. They were from the guy with the funeral home, and they came with a card that made me cry, not because it touched me, but because somehow he misread me offering him a pen as something more, and I was embarrassed by the whole thing and didn’t know how to handle it.

I’ve learned since that there is only one way to handle getting flowers–get a gosh darn vase, fill it with water…and enjoy them.

I try and always have at least one jar of fresh flowers in my house at all times–usually a bundle on my kitchen island, sometimes picked from our gardenia bush, sometimes brought home from the store–because they majorly up the cheer factor in our home. And this Mother’s Day, if you’re looking for a way to let someone know you love them–here’s a hint: Go with cheer. You can never ever go wrong with flowers.

It goes like this:

Person You Love is minding her own business in her house–maybe sipping coffee, watching the morning news in her pajamas; maybe hustling around the house wishing life wasn’t so crazy.

Knock, knock. Someone’s at the door.

“Who could it be?” Person You Love is thinking. “Not expecting any packages, that’s weird.” Person You Love goes to the door to investigate, peeks out, and there–on the step–is a long narrow box. Person You Love smiles. Picks up the box. Takes it to the kitchen, pulls a butter knife out and slides it against the edge of the box, through the tape, one step closer to what’s inside.

She lifts the freed cardboard flaps…slowly…pulls the brown paper inside back just enough to see a bit of color…the first hints of happiness.

A card falls out. It’s from you: “You make me so happy. Thank you for making me feel loved–both when I’m with you and when I’m away from you. I love you. Happy Mother’s Day.”

Person You Love wipes a hot tear from her cheek and pulls back the rest of the paper. Vibrant blooms, cheery succulents, long green stems tucked neatly in the mix, a whole palette of colors and life that breathe a little bit of the love you sent. She feels it. It’s alive.

She pulls a vase from a cabinet, fills it with water, takes her time clipping stems, tucking them in, rearranging them carefully until everything’s perfect.

She displays them somewhere special. Somewhere she’ll see them as often as possible. And every time she does, she hears your words: “You make me happy. I love you. Happy Mother’s Day.” 

What would a world without flowers be?

So here’s the deal. Our friends at The Bouqs Company have a little offer for our readers this Mother’s Day. You receive 20% off your order when you use code MDAY20 (offer expires in one week).

Who are The Bouqs Company? The Bouqs Company is a new flower delivery service that’s easy, fresh, and beautiful. Flowers are cut the day you order and shipped the next day, so you’ll receive them sooner and they’ll last longer. They ship directly from sustainable, eco-friendly farms to your door – no waiting in warehouses until they’re ordered.

My favorites? The Showstopper (top photos), a flower/succulent mix; the Pegasus, a vibrant Peony bundle, and this Tropical Love bouquet that fit perfectly in our Florida home and still, two weeks later, looks like the day it came.

Claude Monet was right…”I must have flowers. Always and always.”

“You’re in the cave,” Heidi said when I picked up the phone after two days of not talking or texting—the cave being our shut-everybody-out-and-shut-down response of choice when we’re feeling overwhelmed. The cave is where I make beds for Fear and Anxiety and their gross friends who loiter and mooch beer, steal my keys and bang up my Emotion Car.  In the cave, I sit around and eat pizza, put on my gray-colored glasses that make blue skies look like shitty ones, and I remind myself of how incapable I am and how sad the world is. You know, healthy stuff. We have an unspoken 2-day rule between us. You haven’t talked or received a text response in 2 days, you do Cave Patrol. You send a canary in (text: “Are you in the cave?), and if that canary doesn’t come back (no response), you pull a Code 5312. It looks a lot like this. “I am your life and I’m gonna bite you in the ass.” 

There’s no specific criteria for feeling overwhelmed–that’s the tricky part. It could be PMS, it could be exhaustion, it could be one thing that didn’t go right and threw the entire universe out of orbit. Whatever the case, my entire Get Out of the Cave view comes from where I get most of my philosophical perspectives and deep truths these days–an animated movie. If you haven’t seen The Croods, go find it, rent it, get back to me. We watch The Croods around here more than any other movie, and besides the fact that it’s funny (Cloris Leachman! Emma Stone!), it highlights one of my favorite life truths–that life exists when you get out of the cave.

Basically, a family of cavemen that have survived all their cavemen counterparts are living every day simply to stay alive, a goal taken most seriously by Grug, the father, whose motto is “Never not be afraid.” He teaches his kids that the cave is the only safe place and that adventure, curiosity and anything outside of the cave will lead to death. When earthquakes ruin the family’s cave and start changing the landscape, Grug and his family run in search of a new cave. And they run, and they run, and they run, looking for the next cave to keep them safe (sound familiar?). Until finally they realize that indeed the world outside the cave could kill them–but it’s also the only place where they can truly live. Where the sun shines and adventure calls and new things to discover are just one dangerous tip-toe away from the cave entrance. You can’t experience the joy without the risk.

I’m out of the cave now–simply accomplished by doing something, putting myself out there. A morning run with a push to run further. A call to a friend. A trip to the grocery store to gather everything I need to make something new I’ve never tried. A “yes” to something I’d normally say no to. Thirteen pages into a new book I’ve been meaning to read.

One little foot outside the cave for me always snowballs into a leap further. Until soon I’m standing in the sunny spot at high noon–far from hiding spots–with my arms outstretched, feeling warm and safe and alive.

The cave may have pizza, but I’d rather have sunshine.

Enjoying Lately…

A trip to the flea market last weekend–a magical junk yard of tiny shit my kids love.

Bringing home said flea market junk.

Balloons.
We blew up a mess of them to throw in our pool last week–a nice dose of colorful mid-week fun.

When she looks like a matryoshka doll.

Hints of summer (we’re almost to the alphabet countdown at school!).

Things that twirl.

Their We-Did-Something-Naughty Faces.

High kicks and ballet Monday.

 

Happy Monday!

This post is sponsored by Hallmark Signature.

I spent half the morning today running from craft store to craft store to gather needed items for this big wonderful idea I had for a Mother’s Day gift to make with Lainey’s classroom (“But Mom!” Lainey said, “I can’t give it to you if you’re the one who helped us make it.”). It’s the one holiday of the year where school crafts shine and go right for the emotional jugular–make ’em cry. The cotton ball snowman winter craft and My First Alphabet Book may be shoved to the back of the school project archives drawer, but the Mother’s Day handprint poem? It’s framed and hung for all to see.

Even the lady who cut my fabric this morning admitted her son’s first grade drawing and accompanying Mother’s Day poem was her favorite gift. “It’s hanging in my sewing room, and he’s 22 now!”

It’s an emotional one, this holiday. Nothing brings out all the feels like the word mother. Our love of one, our lack of one, our dream to be one, our everyday job of showing up as one, our memories of one.

If there’s any holiday to take the time to honor the people affected by a simple salutation–“Happy Mother’s Day”–it’s this one. I’ll get the pipe cleaner crafts and poems that make me cry from my own kids, and I’ll pass on my love to the mamas in my family without a second thought, but there are several other people in my life who’d especially appreciate some extra love on this day.

Because the whole motherhood journey is messy and beautiful and hard and is rooted in the deepest love we have–the kind that hits nerves we didn’t know existed, this holiday expands to so many categories. Women who lost a mom. Women who want to be a mom but are struggling to get there. Women who lost a child. Women who have moms but never hear from them. Women who have children but never hear from them. Women who don’t have children but nurture everyone else around them. Women who help us be better moms. Women who love our kids like their own. Women who work really hard as single moms and don’t have significant others to help the kids say “Happy Mother’s Day.”

I try to recognize these moms I know on Mother’s Day and love finding simple ways to do so.

Writing’s my love language, so I write cards.

And because cards that are personalized with real handwriting and good ol’ ink-penned words are my favorite, I like to find cards that are aesthetically beautiful, unique but simple on the inside so I can add my own stuff. (“I just like to add two words,” Brett says: “Love, Brett.”)

This year’s cards are Hallmark Signature–beautiful little works of art with simple love notes inside that leave room for your own more-than-two-words touch.

Want to make a beautiful, nurturing woman you know feel seen and loved on Mother’s Day but don’t know what to say? Here are 10 things you can add to your card this year to make an already beautiful card more meaningful. 

1. Thinking of you every day but especially today. Redeem this card when you want to vent/cry/talk/dream/hope, and I will meet you for a beer and listen/laugh/support/not-give-any-advice. Also, I will pay for the beers.

2. I skipped the cards with all the Mother’s Day poems and picked this simple one to say…Hi. I see you today. And I love you. This is my quiet hug.

3. Pretend this is a macaroni necklace that I made for you out of glue and yarn. I think that’s what you’re supposed to give a woman who loves and nurtures and shows up…and that’s exactly what you do for me.

4. You know how I know you’re going to be an amazing mom someday? Because you’re already amazing, and that’s all it takes.

5. Since I only made World’s Okayest Mom this year, my kids need lots of love to fill in the gaps where I can’t keep it together. Thank you for filling those gaps and loving my kids so much. I share this holiday with you.

6. Sometimes you give me really good advice and I don’t listen. I think that might be the definition of a mother/daughter relationship, so even though you’re not technically my mother…I love you like you are.

7. You’ve picked up the phone when I called approximately 137 times this year. That makes you my mother in some way. So hey…thank you.

8. I drew this picture of a dancing cat to put more “Happy” in “Happy Mother’s Day.” I know today isn’t always easy…but look–dancing cat! I love you…and I got your back today.

9. You make me feel like the best version of myself when I’m with you, and any woman who can do that deserves a Happy Mother’s Day.

10. Just wanted you to know…I watch you with your kids when you don’t know it, and I think the way you love them is magic. I’d like to add, I’m not watching in the creeper way.

I love that there are so many ways to celebrate and honor the journey of motherhood, and any holiday that’s dedicated to making someone feel seen and loved and appreciated is fine by me (alright, who am I kidding–ALL the holidays are more than fine by me).

Because there are no ordinary moms, celebrate them with #NoOrdinary card. Hallmark Signature cards are available in the card aisle, wherever cards are sold.