Hospitality: How We Greet Our Guests

I grinned when I read about the Practicing Hospitality Party over at Southern Fried Dreams. This is a new weekly party with an actual theme to it! This week, Southern Fried Gal wants her readers to share how they greet their guests.

I was really excited to post about this until I went outside and saw that what counts as "curb appeal" at the T house might make guests drive on by and make a U-turn on the next cul de sac. For honesty's sake, I'm showing you exactly what I have going on here right now, as well as noting possible improvements that are in the works.

I do, however, refuse to give you a full shot of the house right now because while T was sweet enough to keep the girls all weekend while I was in Texas, he did not have time to mow the lawn and it currently resembles a Brazilian rainforest.

Any and all (kind) suggestions are welcome.

I'm getting ready to phase out Springy bunny stuff, but this "Bunny on a stick" waves back and forth in front of my sad, peonyless peony bush and greets guests at the curb.

My flower beds are all weeded, but those pesky dead daffodil stalks sort of ruin the ambiance. You can see them behind my hydrangea and my potted marigolds on the front walk.

I can tell that T watered the plants in my absence, but the lack of flower buds makes me wonder how thirsty my plants were before he remembered.

I love garden flags, and I change mine out monthly. This one will be replaced later on in the week with something more Summery.

Don't you love the bag of Miracle Grow in the background? Just keepin' it real, folks.

My front stoop is pretty unassuming. This is the area that needs the most work. I'll post about my wave petunias another day.

The white "brick" is courtesy of MS Paint and is blocking my house numbers. Take that, stalkers!

I need to clean up the ivy spilling out of my large planters, and I have been hoping to spray paint the outdoor lanterns that flank the front door. They disappear into the brick, and I think a coat or two of black spray paint will make them pop. T is dubious, but I hope to win him over.

He absolutely won't budge on painting the front door (?!), so I am hoping to do a cute vinyl piece with house numbers or "Welcome" to fill up some of the white space.

I've tried putting planters on either side of the front door, but because one is under the awning, and one is out in the open, the plants tend to grow at different rates and things end up looking off.

So, truly, my home is lacking in curb appeal right now. When I break out the 4th of July decorations, it won't look so blah, but it really needs some work.

If there's anyone else out there who needs some curb appeal tips, maybe we can all take a peek at Kate's Weekend Curb Appeal Projects.

I could hold on and wait for Santa to bring me a hunky lawn guy, but with my luck I'd end up with a yard gnome and that's a whole other dilemma.

{Any suggestions for the less-than-welcoming front of my home?}

*Don't forget to come back and link up on Wednesday for the next Dishing It! Party right here at Serenity Now. You can click here to see the topic for June, as well as the code for the party button. Anyone who links up with a (valid!) link will get an extra entry in this week's Giveaway from Scentsy! Hope to see you here.*