Although they say that “home is the place that when you get there, they have to take you in,” after staying with my mother during ICFF, I wanted to take Laure's advice and be a good house guest and thank her for tolerating my harried schedule. We like to say "thank you" with flowers and so we surfed over to 1800 Flowers.com

Unless you have a regular florist whom you trust and use regularly, ordering a pre-designed bouquet can save you the trouble and headache of either trying to explain to a florist in another city exactly what you want or leaving it up to them. We ended up ordering the Chamomile and Rose Bouquet in a Faux Bois vase from their collection designed by Martha Stewart, mostly because we liked the vase and thought Mom would like the cheery yellow and orange bouquet. Instead of a delivery guy, the flowers are delivered overnight by UPS or FedEx and the cost is about equal to using a florist. We’re crossing our fingers that they’re a hit. If it is, we’ve got a feeling that this arrangement or the Cool Water Rose Bouquetmay become our floral signature. Unfortunately, they don't start delivery of these arrangements til next Thursday. We've got to wait a whole week!