yay, friends! and predictably, flowers.

We had an awesome weekend with friends. And not just any old friends- super exotic international friends!!! Dave and Natasha (and Sam and Rachel) came all the way from CANADA just to see us!! Okay, maybe not- maybe they are actually doing a two-week Southern U.S. road trip and we were merely one stop of many...but the fact remains that they came from Canada and stayed with us for two whole days!

Even though this is the first time we've ever met in 'real life,' it certainly didn't feel that way. I guess we're both pretty much the same way in real life that we are on our blogs and emails, so there weren't any surprises (like surprise, I'm actually a  60-year-old man!!! or surprise, I'm a serial killer!!...you know, like everyone warned you would happen if you met someone "from the internet"...) I had a great time introducing her (and her family!) to Athens, which mainly involved a lot of eating.

Sunday was rainy but not terribly cold, so we braved the elements and took a lovely stroll through the Botanical Gardens. If this discourages you from wanting to visit me now...it's understandable. But looking at flowers is seriously my favorite thing to do, especially with fellow flower-lovers, so bad weather be damned...we were going to the garden!!

Millie even seemed to enjoy it! Between the Ergo, Matt's rain jacket, and the umbrella...I don't think she even realized it was less-than-optimal weather conditions.

We had a lot of fun...who wants to come visit next? Maybe you'll get lucky and I won't drag you through a garden in the rain, but no promises.

Speaking of friends...

Last week, Millie's teachers reported that she and another little girl in her class have been spotted holding hands and babbling together lately!! This totally warmed my heart and made my day (just ask my coworkers, I couldn't stop talking about it)- so far Millie only really shows interest in me, Matt, and animals...I've been so excited for her to start making friends with other babies! I begged Millie's teachers to please text me pictures if she did anything adorable like hold hands with other babies, and I was only sliiiiightly excited to receive a long string of picture texts later that morning showing just that!! (Again, my deepest apologies to my coworkers who probably got really tired of hearing me squeal over these pictures...all day long...)

LOOK AT THAT HAND HOLDING!!!!!!!!

 Sorry for the obnoxious cropping of Millie's friend, but I don't know S's parents' policy on plastering their baby all over the internet, so I'll err on the side of not. Hopefully cute hand-holding is fair game, though.

We're both super cute! We should be friends!

Oh wait, excuse me? Did you just take my rattle? I'm not so sure about this friendship thing.

I really like Millie's girl, please face in that last picture. Hopefully she also shares smiles (and toys! and germs!) with her friends, too.

Do you remember last year when I talked about the tulips that popped up in my gardens and surprised me (because I'd forgotten I planted them)? (Yes, flowers again...sorry.) Well, they've done it again. Obviously I am the dumbest person alive when it comes to bulbs (or at least tulips)...I 100% thought that they were a one-and-done thing...that they wouldn't come back this year (unless I planted new ones, of course). But guess what!? I was wrong!!

Hey, where did these come from??

 Last year those tulips gave me such hope when they came up. They symbolized beauty rising from the ashes of the previous fall. And now here they are again. There were no ashes this fall. Just happiness. And now a little extra beauty piled on top of the happiness.

My little hope fulfilled sitting beside last year's symbols of hope. I don't even know what to make of it, but I sure am thankful.