Good Excuse

Remember when you were in 3rd grade and your teacher placed that dreaded worksheet on your desk? The one with about 50 multiplication problems on it and you just stared at those pesky little numbers which always managed to stare right back at you almost taunting you. And you thought if you didn't figure out some way to get out of completing this dreadful task you'd surely die right there on the spot. So you'd ask to sharpen your pencil even though you knew it was plenty sharp and you'd ask to go to the bathroom even though you'd just gone and then miraculously you'd come down with a horrible stomachache and ask to be sent to the nurse.

Well sometimes I revert to that 3rd grader and find any excuse I can for a weekend with my mom. It's not that I don't see her that often but when enough time has passed the excuses start formulating and I just can't help it. I don't care who you are...everyone loves their mama time. Especially when their mom is kind and fun and makes you laugh so hard you just might pee your pants.

I'd say the excuse for this past weekend's visit was actually pretty legit. I asked her to come down and help us pick out some plants to spruce up our backyard since she has an emerald green thumb and my thumb is that icky brown color you get when you mix all of the colored play dough together. She hardly needs much of an excuse either so she kindly obliged and hopped on a plane.

We kicked off the weekend with dinner at a famous Phoenix restaurant called Pizzeria Bianco which is apparently home to "Oprah's Favorite pizza". It was definitely the best margherita pizza I've ever tasted. I'd have to agree with Miss Oprah. Luckily, we got there early so we were part of the first seating. Rumor has it that some people wait 4-5 hours to get a table!!!

We spent the rest of the weekend traipsing through Lowe's and perusing nurseries where my mom would state the name of every plant in sight which always amazes me. I tend to describe plants by how they look...you know that green plant with the little pink flowers..yeah I like that one. Oh yeah, that's called hearts and flowers my mom would say. AMAZING!!!

We also happened upon some salvaged goods and I found these old shutters I've been looking for. I'm not sure why but I have a thing for salvaged shutters. These will be going up on the wall behind our couch. Love them!

And no matter what are mission is or how busy the visit may be, we somehow always end up here. Our autopilot just magically steers us there.

We linger at the makeup counters and spray ourselves with far too much perfume. We gloss up our lips with tester lipgloss and ask each other how we look. We meander into the shoe section and admire the fabulous heels with red soles that cost almost as much as my mortgage.

And we usually leave with a lipgloss and maybe some perfume or body lotion but just our little ritual is more than enough for me.

We polished off the weekend with some digging and potting and I'm loving all of the new colors in our backyard. Looking forward to nurturing my "new babies" as my mom calls them.

Thank you mom for a wonderful visit and for lending me your oh so pretty green thumb.

xo