The world is a mirror. I always say that whenever something in life goes off the rails, first thing to do is look in the mirror. I say that. Sometimes it takes a while to get to it… but the answer is always there.

This Thomas Dreier quote was among the “150 Love Notes” I found the other day at stylish Wendy Foster in Los Olivos (CA). All 150 are  different and with charming, vintage-y illustrations and borders. A picture of an old-timey sewing machine as the caption “You are sew perfect.” A pink sheep says “Love you baaaad.”

Their maker is Sugarboo Designs, based in Roswell, Georgia, and they make all sorts of lovely handcrafted slightly rustic-chic-granny sorts of things for the home. Great gifts, too.

Anyway we were having houseguests for the weekend, His Grace’s old Army buddies and their wives, and I thought these notes would be fun to incorporate into the place cards at dinner the first night. For each guest I put a note in an envelope with his or her name on the envelope. After the first course, we went around the table and read them in turn. Some were serious, and some were funny. I randomly chose them, but it was interesting to see how each somehow suited its recipient.

Our sunflowers are blooming and we are all about sunflowers at the moment. Here’s another table, similar.

And one more…

Now I’ll leave you to look in the mirror. You look great, by the way. Don’t let anybody tell you different. And remember, joy is the best make-up. Anne Lamott said that. Love her.

I’m traveling for a few weeks … but I’ll see you on Instagram in the meantime.

More sunflowers, these painted from a photo a friend sent from North Carolina: