I Can't Make Up My Mind!

Ok so I've changed my mind. I'm not gonna do the humongo hydrangea thing. I've been scouring pics of floral arrangements and all I know is I can't make uip my mind! Look at these cool pics though!

That's a bunch of inspiration! Aren't they great? Now they AREN'T ones I created...Just found them to kind of get some ideas. Oh and my sister-in-law who's very creative told me about another arrangement in these really tall vases that tower over the table, but allow people to see each other across the table? Have you seen those? They are awesome!

Tomorrow's the day I go flower shopping and then I'll get it all put together tomorrow night. Gonna be a late night!

Time to Make the Flowers

Next Saturday is the Celebration of Mothers luncheon at our church.  My friend Monda asked me to make the centerpiece for the table she's decorating.  Each table hostess is responsible for decorating their tables.  There are some really creative and elaborate tables each year.  Part of the fun is walking around and looking at them!

My style is pretty simple, so Monda is up a creek in the elaborate department!  But I enjoy flexing these muscles from time to time!

Here are the centerpieces I made for Monda's tables last year.  I love the way this vase filled with tulips (I used 8 dozen) is big enough for you to get the sense of their natural curves. 

I love this one because of the colors and textures, but I also love this container!  It's actually a silver pedestal urn and I took off the base.  I love the scallops on the rim.  So girly!  Another thing that I love about floral trending right now is - anything goes!  When my Mom was working as a florist, arrangements were more symmetrical, and they always intimidated me.  Now, you can bunch the flowers "every which way", and call it good!

Monda doesn't really give me much direction when I do flowers for her.  I told her that I've been wanting to experiment with a humongo arrangement of hydrangeas.  So...if you've seen something, let me know where!

What Does Butter Have To Do With Easter?

Last weekend was Easter, and as we were preparing for the Easter celebration, I made my favorite cake:  Strawberry (!!! I have to put exclamation points because I love it so much!).  I haven't spent much time baking over the years partly because it's not my favorite thing to do, partly because we just don't need the sweets around the house. 

The consequence of this is that I'm not very good at making icing. So I followed the directions that were given in the cookbook, but the icing just wouldn't harden enough to actually stay on the cake!  Ugh...I almost gave up, but my sweet mother-in-law who was visiting, went over the steps with me to find out what I'd done, and I learned two very important things. 
And don't laugh at me.
ok you can laugh.
1.  You have to use REAL butter in icing.
2.  You don't melt the butter before you mix the icing.

See...I just didn't know.  The cookbook didn't tell me these things, assuming that I knew.  Since then I 've learned that those 2 things are pretty basic-common knowledge-everyone knows, you silly facts about making icing.

But I just didn't know.
I just didn't know the basics.

So what does butter have to do with Easter?  Think about the people who only come to church on Easter and Christmas.  Do they know the basics?  We see them two times a year.  They may come to make grandma happy or because that's been their family tradition.  But as strange as it may seem, we can be assured that among these people, some of them are just like me...they just don't know the basics.

That Jesus is the Son of God.
That He was the promise foretold in the scriptures.
That He died for each one of us.  For our sins, and the sins of all generations to come.
That we can live with him someday.
And it's so easy...believe that He is the Son of God, tell him we're sorry for our sins, and ask Him to come into our heart.

I'm glad that I had this experience with butter this Easter.  Because it helps me to remember that just like me there are those who may walk into my church doors on Easter or Christmas, or maybe a Sunday in May, or maybe a MOPS meeting on Fridays, or maybe at the ballpark and not even at the church...that don't know the basics.  So I have to be ready to share what I know...it's good news this story of Jesus!  Because of Jesus my life is different, my communion with God is personal and my eternity is secure.

Thank you Jesus for your sacrifice for me.

And in case you're wondering...I can make a great icing now!