That one time I kept a plant alive.

I like looking at flowers, smelling flowers, and even painting flowers. But keeping them alive? It's never been my forte. I've tried my hand at a few houseplants since we've been married and I either forget to water them, overwater them, put them in the wrong spot, or something. Once, when my mom came over to visit, I said, "Look! Am I not doing great with this one?!" At first glance, it looked green and full and, well, mostly alive. She looked a little closer and thumbed through a few dry, brown leaves at the bottom and said, "Yeah... uh huh." Point taken. It's just not my gift.

When we moved into our house in October, my sister-in-law Shannon brought over this pretty orchid as a housewarming gift. I'm sure she was clueless to my history with plants or she wouldn't have entrusted it into my care. Still, it felt like a fresh start. A new house. A new plant. A new color thumb? Perhaps. I figured if I had the wherewithal to buy a home, surely I could keep one plant alive and thriving.

Shannon mentioned something about feeding it ice cubes, so I looked it up. Apparently orchids (or at least this orchid) love a slow watering technique, and ice cubes do the trick. So I feed the orchid three ice cubes every Monday morning. Apparently mornings are key, too... or so I read. And look! Just gaze at her for a moment. Isn't she beautiful? And can you believe she's survived for 5 whole months? I know... me neither. She's even inspired me to branch out a bit and try an aloe plant, a gardenia, and another something green and flowery that I don't know the name of. And they're all alive!

PS - We tried to extend the sticks to make it grow up a little bit more, but now I'm thinking it will always be this size. Orchid experts out there... is that true? Once a medium sized orchid, always a medium sized orchid?