Birthday & Bedside Table Updates

I had a wonderful birthday weekend, including a little family get-together on Friday night.  My friend M. was in town for one day, so we squeezed in a little fête to celebrate me.  Here is a collection of all my pretty cards (and fading tulips!): 

I got some wonderful presents, including money (a perennial favorite), gift cards (Pottery Barn and Starbucks), earrings, a big decor book I wanted, flowers (roses, tulips), and books for reading too!  Thanks everyone!

One of my favorite gifts was this little water-colour postcard, painted by M.  It is a scene of magnolia blossoms, blooming right now in her city-by-the-sea, Victoria.  Here things are still cold and brown, so this gift of art and love gave me a much-needed dose of spring!:  

The sweet "daughter" card from my lovely Mom sits in the background.  I missed her terribly this birthday weekend (she lives on the other side of the country!).

Now, onto the guest room.  Here are some more lovely tulips - I have been buying them every week!

On the decorating front, the sad news is that I had to replace the gorgeous neo-classical knobs on my bedside tables. I blogged about them in this post.  I adored them (and so did all of you), but the little round pulls were very annoying.  It was nearly impossible to reach out of bed and open the drawers from an angle with those little pulls.  Plus, the little pulls jingled when I walked around the room!  So annoying!

So I traded them in for my second choice, a brass knob that is actually easy to pull.  I don't love them the way I loved the others, but sometimes you have to sacrifice style for function.

These little knobs were still in Lee Valley's Louis XVI lineup, but are much more practical for a bedside table.  David likes them too:

I will miss the pulls, but at least I can get my Chapstick when I need it!