flowers

Today is my wonderful sister-in-law's birthday. I am terrible with birthdays. I could blame it on my mom--who is not just bad, but horrible (she is known for forgetting to get presents even for her own children, sigh), but really can bad birthday planning be blamed on the genes? I think not--I clearly need to get a calendar.

So I realized this morning that it was Jodi's birthday (I've forgotten it for the last 3 years) and thought, you know what? Jodi needs flowers. As a woman, there is very little I treasure more than a fantastic bouquet of flowers. I have talked to many other friends about this, and they too, LOVE flowers. Perhaps it is because once you take the marriage vows, your husband's romance meter steadily declines over time. Thus, flowers become a very rare commodity.

I think I would be thrilled with a new vacuum on Valentine's Day if I just received flowers twice a year-for no apparent reason. Instead, some wise and overworked woman invented Valentine's day as the ONE day a man must feel obligated to get flowers. I'm not saying the flowers aren't appreciated--they are, but the OBLIGATION behind the giving just taints the gift a bit (not enough that I will tell my husband to stop observing the tradition).

Another tip I would give any man reading this blog is to forget the traditional red roses. Sure, they are nice, but they are so expected, and I just dislike those little white filler flowers that come with them (forgot the name). Go with the unexpected. I personally prefer a bouquet with one flower type. I would LOVE a dozen perfect Gerbera daisies. My favorite are the palest pink tulips--just the tulips. Calla Lilies-oh, they are gorgeous. I would learn to do a back-flip if it meant I got a bouquet of pale purple roses as opposed to the standard reds. Or the orchid--what a sexy flower!!

As for the fancy vases with all sorts of colors--drop them. In my opinion, most of them just detract from the beauty of the arrangement (if the arrangement needs a fancy vase, it's got too many carnations or plain white little daisies).

I settled on Gerberas for Jodi--she loves them. She, like so many other hardworking women out there, deserves them! So, if you're not my faithful nephew (and perhaps my only frequent male reader) I say splurge on flowers for a friend, she'll appreciate them.