Diamonds Are Not A Girl’s Best Friend

It appears as if the days of the stereotype sung by Carol Channing in the Broadway production of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, might be over with.

With the advent of several birthdays, anniversaries, and the soon approaching Christmas holiday, I find myself in a rather odd position. The stereotype in what women want as gifts doesn’t seem to be the case anymore at all. The things in which we (as men) grew up to learn about what women wanted has been thrown out the window entirely.

It used to be a safe bet for a man to buy a woman either chocolate, flowers, or jewelry, or all of them. But I am finding out that within the group of female colleagues and friends that its not really what they want any more.

Sure, I don’t see a woman turning down these things. I don’t see how a woman would want to turn away from FREE chocolate. But it really isn’t what they WANT from anyone. It appears that the female population (at least within my circles) want things that are less tangible and more meaningful. They seem to want to hang on to the bond of friendship more often than not. That they want that to grow and develop, rather than a bouquet of flowers or a box of chocolates.

I will say that some of my female friends are already married. So perhaps if it is chocolate and flowers and jewelry that they want, they could probably seek it from their husbands. But, not all of my female friends are married or in a relationship. And they still would rather pass on the objects and maintain the emotional bonds.

I have a friend’s birthday that is coming up and I have absolutely no clue at all what she would like or would want. Perhaps the first step would be to ask. Yet with previous conversations I have had, she’s not exactly the “material girl” either.

That is not to say that ALL women have abandoned the stereotype and aim for less tangible things in which they desire. There are still those who want these things. I am just saying that through my social life, those women that I speak to regularly are NOT those kinds of women.

I personally have no problem giving my female friends chocolates or roses. I am not opposed to ordering a small and simple vase of flowers for their special day. Whether they are married or not. My intentions are always true… “This is for your special day. Be happy!”.

I recall one time that I sent a half dozen roses that were white, to a female friend of mine who was married. It was for her wedding anniversary. She was thrilled. But when she got home, the gift in which her own husband had purchased for her, she found less endearing than the white roses. Oops!!

They do laugh about it now.

Clearly, it was not the objective to outshine her own spouse. That’s just what happened. I’m also not opposed to “downgrading” a gift, just in case that may happen again.

One thing that I always run into over and over and over again is “Don’t spend your money!”. Well, I am creative. I can create greeting cards, write poetry, give simple gifts in lieu of roses, chocolate, and jewelry and it would be tons cheaper if not at any cost at all. But what exactly is it that women want any more??

Perhaps it all depends on who the woman is. And that would make sense to me. If I was friends with a woman, and I knew she loved Chinese food. I’d probably buy her a gift certificate for the nearest Chinese restaurant. I think that it’s really, all a matter of paying attention.

If she’s been raving about a particular film that is about to come out, then I’d get her free movie passes.

Each woman is individually unique. That goes for anyone in this world. And I love all of my friends, male or female, in my own unique way.

It is just- what in the world do women want??

 

Contest Winnings

Just when I thought that the weekend was going to be a total boredom festival. I went out Friday afternoon and stumbled across some organization hosting a Flower Naming contest.

The contest was basically a fund raising event from some group of people that want to build a flower & rose garden. They were needing to raise funds for it. I didn’t think I had much to lose, except the money that I spent entering the contest by buying certain flowers and roses and then naming them. The entry fee was the cost of the flower that you bought. EACH flower, that is.

I was in a good mood at that point, and so I bought a dozen. Not all of them roses, but most of them. And then I had the task of naming them all. What I did not understand was that the point of the contest of naming the flowers was that the winning rose overall would actually be the name of the flower & rose garden that they were wanting to build.

The first few were easy. Then it became more difficult. I had twelve to name. By the time I got to my last rose (which was a Fire & Ice rose), I struggled to come up with something. So I sent a text message to one of my dearest friends and asked how to correctly spell their child’s name. It took a while, but when I received the response back I named the last rose that I had and then entered the contest with my dozen.

Many people were in awe of the roses that I had selected. After I left, I saw a sudden rush of people going to pick roses instead of other flowers like lillies, daisies, and violets. I guess you could argue that roses are cliché, but there’s a lot of people out there that enjoy them. Even though they don’t really last long.

In a perfect world, I would always be surrounded by Fire & Ice roses. But this world is not perfect, and they no longer grow that kind of rose. Or at least not as much as they used to. Fire & Ice roses can still be purchased from florists but you have to hunt for them. And when you do find them, they are EXPENSIVE!!

I am no botanist. That is for sure. But I really do enjoy the look and the smell of roses, particularly Fire & Ice. It was so strange because I was not able to wrap my mind around why there was a rose contest going on in this part of the nation in June. Not sure if roses are thriving during this time of the calendar year. Maybe its just my favorite that doesn’t. Who knows?!?

So this early afternoon, I receive a phone call to inform me that FIVE out of my twelve flowers that I entered into this contest had won or placed for one category or another. One of my Fire & Ice roses actually won the contest overall. I was thrilled.

Now this organization wanted to name this future rose & flower garden the same thing that I named the winning rose. And because it was a fund raising event, they asked me that if I made a $1,000 contribution to their organization, that I could keep the name of the rose section of the garden as my winning rose.

Sorry Bubba! Not happening.

But I still wish them luck in the future. The organization is not actually something that I would personally support. I was there for the beauty of roses. So at some point, there will be some roses planted and a section of them will have the winning name attached to them.

What I find particularly funny is that some of the judges called me later to find out what had inspired me to name the flowers what I did. They misunderstood me, and thought that the winning rose was named after my son. And the other roses and flowers were named after my wife and other female family members.

I bit my lip so hard as to not laugh. But hey, whatever. People think what they want anyways. I simply got creative and it paid off. I ended up breaking even from what I had paid to what I received in contest winnings.

But I am thrilled and excited. I thought I would share.