Ranunculus Love

I've really been wanting to take photos of the snow and icy branches outside around our home lately. We have some stunning roads with horses and wooden fences that are just begging to be photographed. But I'm just too busy spinning, pushing or helping carry a sled instead. And that is as it should be. It makes me happy that my yard is now a mushy mess - I remind myself that my kids are making memories. And my artful eye can wait until I am missing them off at school to take photos.

But as luck would have it, on our mad dash through Costco the other day, I showed a small bouquet of ranunculus to my daughter. I told her that they were some of my favorite flowers. She agreed. Very pretty. So we picked them up.

They provided plenty of beautiful inspiration for my camera. Each blossom was so unique and gorgeous in its own right. From the just-budding to the about-to-fall-apart stage.

It really was a small bunch, and once they survived my daughter's loving squishes in the shopping cart and the car ride home - well, they were even smaller. Definitely shorter, too. 

But still grand nonetheless.

They remind me of cabbage roses, if I remember that right. I love them. How they start spherical and  have never ending layers of petals.

I am not a very romantic type of girl, but this flower is so very romantic. Had I known they existed when I got married, they would have been in my bridal party bouquets. 

I am still learning my camera settings, and I had to keep waiting for clouds to part to get some natural light - but I am so happy with the photos that captured this mother/daughter bouquet.

I put the majority of the flowers that made it home into this creamy white vase from Goodwill. And this poor little guy below that bent over before we left the store... he got special treatment in a vintage purple bottle I got at an antique store.

My friend Laura, from Pruning Princesses, has been writing with a theme this week of No More Perfect Moms, a book by Jill Savage. It focuses on not keeping up with the Jones' on a mom level. Don't compare yourself to other moms or assume that because their blog looks like their life is beautiful and perfect - that you're seeing the whole picture. 

If you ever notice the photos of my home on my blog, you will most often find them of VERY small vignettes. A fairly empty table - as shown above, or just the entry. NOT the family room, which is in constant disarray. NOT the kitchen which gets hit daily with a bomb of paper, toys and food. Just a tiny snippet of the cleanest corners of my home. 

So in the spirit of just keepin' it real and showing the imperfections of my life and home ... 

This is where my vases of beautiful ranunculus are actually located to protect them from little hands and giant paws. To be honest, even this is pretty clean for my house. I think the hockey water bottle really works in this vignette. Don't you? :)