Clay Pot Beginnings

Have you ever seen a picture and it brings back so many memories?  That's what this picture did for me.  It's from a local shop that does AMAZING flower arrangements.  They also have a store stocked with great gifts and gorgeous stuff for the house.  (To find out more, check out The Clay Pot on Facebook or follow his blog.)

This picture takes me back to the time that I was dating, engaged, and newly married to John.  I was in a little bible study of college girls who met with a super cool lady at a coffee shop and talked about the bible.  (Specifically, we read through 25 Psalms a week, then sat down and talked about what we liked about them or didn't understand about them.)

Michelle passed on her passion for the Lord, 

her excitement about the bible, and 

her love for a good coffee shop.

Then, I got engaged and I had to register for a whole house of stuff.  Michelle helped me with that.  After scanning the black stuff, the dark wood stuff, the shabby chic stuff, the modern stuff, she finally told me to stop and:

pick a style.
(It's not about picking all the coolest stuff-it's about picking a style.  Words to live by my friends.  Words.to.live.by.  Today, I am still defining my style.)

She also made me register for some big huge coffee mugs.  Still have 'em.

One of my favorite pictures: Michelle and her daughter blowing out birthday candles.
See the flowers in the picture...they're from The Clay Pot.

When I got married, we rented a very cute house and Michelle helped me with that as well.  My house happened to be half a mile from The Clay Pot, and we happened to find a lot of great stuff there.  It was at that time that I was introduced to a important philosophy: decorating with nature.  I was hooked.  Specifically, Michelle hooked me with 

indoor plants
funky twigs

birds nests. 

The bird nest was a gift from Michelle that she gave to her friends when she moved.  They came from The Clay Pot.

On this second day of spring, I see these chipped green mugs filled with fun flowers and greenery and I remember all these things that Michelle taught me.  She lives in Texas now, so we aren't running to The Clay Pot these days.  We still talk about it thought, and I still remember all the fun from those days!