If you are interested in terrific blogs about relationships, love and marriage (or just life in general), you are in for some fun. We are hosting a Valentine’s blog festival on Late Bloomer Bride’s Facebook page this week. Stop by and share a little blog love with us.

Visit our Facebook page to catch a glimpse of the many blogs and bloggers who have inspired this woman to keep writing, who have given great advice, shared their own stories (no holds barred), and who keep her laughing and sane.

If you are a blogger, feel free to stop by and and post a link and introduction to your blog there.

My Current Top 5 Memories:

• The day on our honeymoon when we rented a plane and flew around the Hawaiian islands, Husband flying dangerously close to the water so I could see the sea turtles swim underneath us. (Okay, he scared me to death. But it was cool – after we landed.)
• Last Christmas Eve, when we decided to run some errands and found ourselves in a very crowded, traffic-hell-parking-hell shopping center. I admired an off white (completely impractical) Patagonia top. But, it being the “eve before giving,” I did not buy it for myself. Rather, Husband secretly returned later that afternoon (after we fought traffic home) to buy it for me.
• The day after our wedding. Rather than pack for our honeymoon, Husband spent six hours researching and then blotting out red wine, which I spilled on myself the night before, from my wedding dress. He did this on his hands and knees, on our tiled kitchen floor, until his hands were white. (Hydrogen peroxide turned out to be the magic ingredient.)
• Any morning he decides to stay in bed with me and snuggle (instead of leaping up to start the day). Ahhhh…
• Sitting across from Husband at (the real) Oktoberfest in Munich two years ago. Husband, smoking a cigar with Brother-In-Law, Andreas, swinging his litre beer mug to the song “Que sera sera ” while Sister and I polished off our second litre of beer. (You have not had real beer until you’ve been to Munich. Trust me.)

I hope in 10 years, I’ll have more memories to add to the pile. You can never have too many to choose from. What are you favorite memories?

Is that your stamen or are you just happy to see me? (Sorry, got carried away for a minute.)

Anyhow. It got me thinking about how flowers play an interesting role at Chez LBB. I began noticing the other plant life we attempt to sustain. For one, we have a lot of flowers around the house.

Husband learned early the ongoing benefits of signing up for a flower-of-the-month club.

(Attention all men: if you haven’t heard of this, listen up. One phone call to 1-800-flowers or other online flower store can ensure kudos for a long time. Just order a “flower of the month” deal and have them delivered, automatically and monthly, to your sweetie. One phone call = months of “oh, honey! You are so wonderful!” Really, it works. Ask Husband.)

I also have gotten in the habit of picking up flowers from Whole Foods every other week when grocery shopping. They have such a lovely selection and the term “organic” just gets me every time.

In particular, I make sure to get some flowers for Husband’s and my nightstand.

It’s considered “good Feng Shui” for the relationship.

But, another thing came up. I noticed that when I didn’t have time to take care of them, I wasn’t putting much time in “us” either.

Did you know that to sustain flowers for a long time you should snip the ends every day a ½ inch or so? It extends their life dramatically. Something about flowers healing their “wounds” or an air bubble being created on the bottom and you have to make a fresh cut on the bottom so they can suck up water again.

Well, if I don’t have time to cut down the stems daily, I’m also not having much time with Husband. Huh. Interesting correlation.

P.S. Oh, and you really must check out the pictures of cactus in the high-heel planters on this particular site. Cracked me up.

And, good thing we didn’t put the Christmas cactus on our nightstands. The Feng Shui site says “If a cactus is on a nightstand, people in the bed are regularly ‘attacked’ during sleep.” Not exactly the effect I was going for.

It’s true what they say. You really can fall deeper in love over time. It’s happening over here right now. ~The Late Bloomer Bride