Paperwhites

Eric's mom gave us paperwhite bulbs. I finally got around to taking them out of the bag last week, and they're thriving in our freezing cold dining room. I put four of them in some gravel, but the last one wouldn't fit in that little terrarium so I just thought I'd see if treating it like an avocado would work. Yep. It sure did! Look at those hearty roots!

I love watching things grow. Isn't it amazing.

Saturday Silver Dollar Pancakes

For Christmas, Eric's brother and his girlfriend, Sarah, sent us a beautiful assortment of homemade treats. There was a ton of stuff: rosemary spiced nuts, cranberry orange bread, steak rub, granola, caramel popcorn, and flapjack mix. There may have been more, but we already ate it so I can't remember! Why didn't we take a picture of the whole package?

This morning, we finally gave the flapjack mix a try. Eric made silver dollar pancakes, and it was the perfect way to start our weekend.

Many thanks to Drew and Sarah for the thoughtful and super yummy gifts.

Cupcake Stickers

This week, I mailed a few birthday surprises. Lately, I've been terrible about birthdays (as in failing to get gifts for the people I love), but this reminded me how awesome they are. It's fun to choose a prize and it's also exciting to find that a gift is well-received.

I included teeny notes with the presents, and I stuck these super cool cupcake stickers to the envelopes. They really looked pretty wonderful, if I do say so myself.

{another cell phone photo}

Surprise Balls

My brother's birthday was May 31, and my sister's is tomorrow. A few days before Max's birthday I learned about Gina Namkung's surprise balls on Poppytalk. Inside layer upon layer of crepe paper there are little prizes and trinkets that fall out as you unravel the ball. They're so amazing! My absolute favorite thing about getting gifts is the unwrapping, and a surprise ball is all about the unwrapping. To me, it's the ideal gift. So I set out on a mission to make them for my siblings. 

First, I went to the toy store and got prizes and candies to wrap up. Then, I went to the party store to get crepe paper and a few little extras (like chicken stickers -- how totally awesome! -- and star confetti). Then I wrapped and wrapped and wrapped and wrapped like a mad woman, wrote a birthday card on yellow heart, and shipped it off.

I planned for the package to arrive mid-way between their birthdays so they could open them at the same time. They arrived last week. I was on the phone with them while they unraveled and discovered their little treasures. There was a lot of laughing; I think the surprise balls were a success!

*Today's Lost in Thoughts is full of loveliness. 

Opening A Gift

I got a birthday package from my Aunt Lisa + Uncle Joe, and it was so beautifully packaged that I took pictures as I opened it up.

It started with newspaper packaging, which was cool because they used the wedding announcements and drew little speech bubbles above the newlyweds to make it look like all of the couples were wishing me a happy birthday! Then there was a pretty little card and a box adorned with a gorgeous paper flower!

And last, but certainly not least, a wonderful necklace from laurel denise! My Aunt Lisa has a long history of giving me awesome necklaces, and this year was no exception. This one has a glass pendant that says dream, so that's pretty much perfect for me.

Thanks Lisa + Joe, you guys rock my socks off!

Open 3/30/10

I'm 27 today, and I don't feel old at all. In fact, I feel young and amazed that people consider me a grown up. When I was little it was always a little disappointing that I didn't feel different, but now I'm used to it. I suppose it would be sort of shocking to wake up and feel like another person, since growing, maturing, and aging are gradual processes that happen over the course of weeks, months, or years. Plus, I'm still me (even if I have grown up some), so I imagine that I'll always love opening presents (almost more than what's inside), eating sweets, and making wishes - you know, all the things that make birthdays special.

On Friday, I got a letter in the mail and I was super excited. I knew right away that it was a birthday card from my gramma, but I didn't open it because it had instructions on the back:

Well today I opened it as soon as I got out of bed, and it made my day. (Thanks gramma, you're great.) Then I opened the gifts from my family, and my day got even brighter. (Thanks family, you're great too.) And then Eric came home to have lunch with me and a birthday package from his parents was delivered! (Thanks Schwarzes, you are also great.)

I've been getting emails and phone calls and texts and facebook/twitter messages all day. I feel so loved, so I thank you all! Some of you have expressed concern that the rain might be ruining my special day. I want to assure you that it never has and never will. I was born on rainy day and I've had very few sunny birthdays (I think I could count them on one hand). I've grown to expect and appreciate the rain, especially since it usually leads to a little more of this:

And that's just wonderful, isn't it? I'm so glad I'm a spring baby. Happy birthday to me! ★

*I wanted to share my day with you, so I'm offering 27% off sales of $10+ in the Everything Little Miss shop. Click here for the details and the coupon code.

Glass Elephant

Before I moved to Boston, my Gramma gave me this glass elephant for luck. I think it's been working so far.

I keep it on my dresser, right beside the bed. I look at it every morning while I get dressed.

Don't forget to check out today's Lost in Thoughts, if you have a moment.

Golden Necklace

Eric bought me a beautiful necklace for Hanukkah/Christmas. There are 100 little golden beads spaced out along the chain, and each one represents a wish. That's good, because I love making wishes.

My first wish? I'm so not telling! (If you tell, they never come true. Don't you know that?)

Happy Friday + happy weekend. What are your plans?

*Valentines are now available in my Etsy shop!

Orange + Gold + Purple

While I was home for the holidays I got to visit my friend and mentor, Viola. Not only did she cook a delicious dinner for my mom and me, she also gave me me a beautiful gift.

Would you just look at this notebook? It's handmade, and I believe the paper (for the pages and the cover) is salvaged from scraps that were going to be thrown away. The binding is particularly nice; when the book is open it lays flat, no matter which page your on. Cool, huh?

And it's orange. She knows me so well. ★

Teeny Tiny Gingerbread Houses

Yesterday I made the most adorable little gingerbread houses. But these are not your ordinary houses, these little guys sit on the edge of your mug of hot chocolate, just to make it super special. My mom found the tutorial over at Not Martha, and she wanted to give them as gifts. Since my mom had to work until 6 last night, I was in charge.

It was my first time making gingerbread houses without my mom. Luckily, she'd already made the dough, so she was able to help me bake & build the first one before leaving for work. But then I was on my own. I made 9 total.

My favorite part was decorating, of course!

It was a lot of fun and not too hard, so check out the tutorial if you're interested!

P.S. We had dinner at a friend's last night and brought these for the hosts. They were very well received!

Speed Demon

On Saturday I helped Jennifer Hill at a gift fair. I wanted to help out because 1) it was a chance for me to just hang out with Jennifer and 2) it was a good opportunity for me to see how gift fairs work and what goes on at them.

One of the visual highlights of the afternoon was this little girl who was dashing around from booth to booth.

You can't tell from this picture, but her shoes were pink and glittery. Too cute! Seriously. I love the way kids just throw themselves into an emotion and into the moment. Pure joy, that's what I see when I look at this picture.

A New Vase

My sister recently went to Alaska. She had a wonderful time and she definitely wants to return at some point. I'm super lucky, because she brought back a beautiful, blue glass vase for me.

Today I made some paper flowers, so the vase wouldn't be so lonesome. I had fun making them, and I was guided by a Zakka Life tutorial (via iDiY). If you want to make your own flowers, don't be afraid to try some variations (I did!). I also added old twisty ties as stems.

Friends & Pizza

Sara and Marcel are coming over for dinner in just a little bit, and I'm so excited. We're ordering pizza, and I made oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert. I'm looking forward to catching up. Sara and I used to work together and see each other every single day. Now I get my daily dose of Sara by reading her blog, emailing, and following her on Twitter. Oh my goodness! I just remembered she's bringing my birthday present! Whoo hooo! I love presents. Who doesn't? :) 

The picture above is the only picture I took at their wedding (nearly 2 years ago now!). That's my bridesmaid bouquet in the foreground. Don't worry, Eric took a number of really gorgeous photos.

Sara's doing an awesome GIVEAWAY on her blog, and she's picking up the loot tonight. She's selected the Oxalis folded card set (pictured below) from my Everything Little Miss Etsy Shop. Head over to Sara's blog to enter the contest!

Twenty-Six

My wonderful day revolved around food. I woke up to a surpise breakfast of challah French toast, bacon, grapefruit, and orange juice. Then I got my big gift: Eric took the day off work! 

Despite the rain, we decided to go on an adventure. We headed downtown and wandered in and  out of stores. We went to a camera store (and found out it will cost a lot to fix our camera), Anthropologie, and a few stores in the Pru before heading over to Newbury Street to find somplace to eat. 

We decided to go to Stephanie's on Newbury for lunch. They gave us bread while we waited, and the butter was soft and had a beautiful layer of salt on top. I'm gonna have to try that trick at home, because it was amazing. I ordered the Ahi Tuna Tartare, and Eric odered Fish & Chips. We ended up switching, because I didn't like the texture of the tartare. Oops.

After lunch we walked across town in the rain to visit Rugg Road Paper Company (doing some research) on Charles Street. Since Black Ink was next door, we had to stop there too! Then we walked back through the common and over to the Bromfield Pen Shop, so Eric could look at fountain pens and ink. Our last stop was DSW, because I was looking for some new shoes. Success! Red sneaks. Sweeeeet. They remind me of the 80s a bit, but in a totally good way. 

After our whirlwind adventure we were both pretty tired. We got back to the apartment around 4, and Eric took a nap. For dinner we had sushi from Whole Foods. Now we're eating Ben & Jerry's Creme Brulee ice cream. 

I also had a number of delightful phone calls, birthday cards, texts, and facebook messages interspersed throughout the day! Thank you, everybody, for the birthday wishes; it's been a great one!  :)

FYI: Sara's giving away an Everything Little Miss folded card set. Visit her blog to enter the contest! 

Peppy Orangutan & Origami Sticky Notes

What a wonderful surprise! 

My friendly UPS man showed up with 2 packages this afternoon. I was starled to find this peppy orangutan & origami sticky note pad inside the first box. My frist thought was that somebody has screwed up an order I placed the other day. My second was that I'd accidentally opened somebody else's package. After checking I was relieved to find that it was addressed to me, but confused since I didn't order anything from Think Geek. I fished around inside the box and found a packing slip, and then it all made sense. It's a birthday gift from Drew (Eric's brother)! Thank you, Drew. You're the best! :) The orangutan is solar powered and required was assembly (which I obviously enjoyed). Now that he's all put together, he "climbs" a little rope. Fun! 

As I said, I recieved two packages today. Aren't you curious what was in the other one? Okay, okay. Since you're begging, I'll tell you. My new card sets! Check out Everything Little Miss for more information.

A Little Bird Without A Name

I love, love, love this little bird! My dad found it (marked down to $2!) in a bin in the Old Navy fitting rooms. While we were waiting for my sister to try on some clothes, I took a picture of it sitting on a pile of soccer balls. And then I got in trouble. Ooops. The fitting room attendant told me that customers are not allowed to take pictures inside the store and that if his boss saw me she'd yell at me and make me erase the photos. How would I ever know that? As far as I could tell there wasn't anything posted about the "no photos" rule! Even so, I turned bright red and felt really guilty.

My dad ended up buying the little bird for me (and a really cute tote). It always looks like it's waving at me! Any suggestions for names? 

Back Of A Necklace

You don't usually see the back of a necklace, but this one is stunning from every angle. My parents gave it to me this past Christmas, and it's one of my favorites. As you may know, I love oranges and reds so this beauty is perfect for me. I had it laying on the table next to me as I worked this morning, and when the sun started bouncing off of it I had to take a picture (or 64). 

Calendar Girl

Today I received something very special in the mail. This calendar is a gift from one of my very best friends, Kristen! She created it using snapfish, and it's completely personalized. Each month has different photos and she even put pictures of important people on the dates of their birthdays. Cool, huh? It's actually my holiday gift, but it took a long time to get to her (she's in Japan), and then it took more time to get to me. I don't care if it's late or on time, because it's wonderful and fun. I took a picture of March because: 

1. there's a photo of The Schwarz and me at Kristen's wedding 
2. because you can see 3 dates with photos (her wedding anniversary, her husband's birthday, and my birthday)
3. the background is orange - my favorite color!

I think it says something about me that both of my best friends gave me calendars for Christmas/Hanukah. A few weeks ago I posted about the one Sara gave me. Truth be told, I also got one from my mom, because she gives me a Marilyn Monroe calendar every year and it's always one of my favorite gifts. 

Psst. I also have a 4th calendar that I printed using a Word template. Then there's the page-a-day calendar The Schwarz got for Christmas. And I have a one page 2008 Berkshire Books calendar still hanging in the kitchen simply because it's so beautiful. Plus I use Google calendar. So how many is that? 7? At this point, is it an obsession or a collection? 

Two Gifts: One Picture

For my birthday little miss spy gave me this nice reading lamp.  I didn't have one before, but from now on I will be able to read with an appropriate level of light.  I'm currently reading Lincoln On Leadership, which is a quick read and a Christmas present from my mom.

Happy Birthday To You

Summer 2005 (one of my favorite photos)

Winter 2007

23 January 2009

Gift for The Schwarz & the card I made for him

Today is The Schwarz's birthday! He's 26. We're going out with a few friends tonight to celebrate.  

I spent this morning making that card for him. And now I'm busy cleaning so he can come home to a super clean apartment. Since I couldn't splurge on a gift this year (unemployed, remember?), I figure a soothing atmosphere is still pretty good. So I'm dusting and sorting through the piles of paper that tend to build up during the week.