You deserve it

These are flowers my landlady gave me today. I followed alongside her as she watered her plants in the frontyard and she picked them for me. I hadn't seen her in days and... don't know why... but am plagued with guilt for not hanging out with her as much as I think she'd like or feel I should. I can't help it, her opinion of me matters and I am a people-pleaser. Maybe because I really like her and think she is cool in many ways: her love of flowers, her thriftiness, etc. So when little comments of affirmation slip out here and there it means the world to me.

That's what happened today as I followed her around for a while in the front yard. I asked her questions about her flowers, a normal conversation starter for me. I pointed to the pink-lined white carnation and said it was sooo pretty. So she picked three for me! And when I immediately started protesting, she said, "why not? Don't you deserve it?" Enough verbal affirmation for me to last another few weeks. Then she picked two different types of flowers to make an arrangement.

I put them in a vase in between my beautiful blooming orchid and my basil.

I am really happy about my orchid and how beautiful it is.

I think hand-picked flowers (=free) are so much better and more thoughtful than store-bought flowers.

And my basil, transplanted from a cup I planted seeds in. It was almost dying in the cup but I guess it just needed a little more space.

Happy weekend!