it's the little things

finding joy in the little things...like unexpected gifts from longtime bloggy friends. thank you so much! small acts of kindness, generosity and love like this are getting me through these mad political times. the kitties think those little fabric kitties and bunnies are for them! and now all of my pagemarkers will be kitties! 

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it seems i'm not the only one with post-election stress disorder.

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meanwhile, in an alternate universe:

the hillarybeattrump website

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i do hope gates & buffet are right about a return to a fact-based reality.

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best troll of the week:
the guys who handed out russian flags to the stupid crowd
listening to the cheeto's speech at the cpac meeting.

on the ups and downs of flickr

just going through my draft posts...started this one clear back in march, but it actually still seems to ring true now...and i do still love the scarf.

on self-presents and belonging and not cleaning that mirror

i struggle with flickr. i go through periods of adoring it (usually in january, at the beginning of a new 365 project) and then i hit the doldrums and i begin to loathe it. there's so much pretense there. i saw someone one day who had commented on a photo, saying, "heartbreakingly beautiful, sympathetic DOF!" and i was like really? really? it was one of those rather prosaic photos of the aftermath of lunch at an outdoor café that are so in vogue. and how can depth of field possibly be sympathetic? and what purpose did that pretense really serve? but my impatience with it also tells me that i'm in one of those periods where i've gone off flickr.

i find flickr to be way more cliquish than blogging. groups there are much more defined (and by groups, i don't mean the ones you add your photos to) and it's so hard to break into them and i've tried with a couple of different circles that rejected me. i think that basically, i don't really feel that much at home on flickr. i'm just much more at home on blogger. but some part of you wants to break into certain groups and belong a little bit anyway. so i do things like buy myself this lovely scarf from the scarfshop as a little self-prezzie for my birthday, even tho' i'm not even recognized as a peripheral member of that particular flickr crowd (despite my best efforts). 

sometimes, you just want something that lets you feel you belong for a few minutes. even if only in your mind.

jewels in the blogosphere

lovely se'lah of the necessary room has once again sponsored a gift of jewels. random acts of giving and kindness, flowing from the blogosphere into the real world. you sign up, she matches you with another blogger somewhere in the world and you send that person a little gift and a nice card. meanwhile, someone else, somewhere, is sending you a little gift and a card. just because. and everyone's day is that much brighter.

my gift of jewels from planetmfiles arrived on saturday. it's the sweetest little crocheted bookmark and it came with the nicest, bright, cheery card. thank you gayle!!

yes, that's yann martel's life of pi, which i've owned for ages and tried to read several times, but never really got started. then, thanks to sara's photo and kristine's (i would link, but apparently her blog is now invitation only and i'm not invited. sniff.) encouragement in the BC365 flickr group, i picked it up again and this time around, i'm really liking it.

and what i sent? here's a peek, tho' i won't say to whom i sent it, in case it hasn't arrived yet:

bloggy love

i've gotten so much bloggy love in my real mailbox of late that i had to share it, because it totally cheers me up in these dark, dreary, grey, stormy days of november. awhile ago, my beautiful friend se'lah and i decided to do a fabric swap, just to stir things up a bit in our stash. and here's what she sent:

i'm looking forward to incorporating these into upcoming projects and i adore the ribbon.

not pictured is a wonderful mexican cookbook she threw in as well! thank you, se'lah!!

next was a little set of martini stamps to add to my collection from *jean*

she included a beautiful handmade card and an ATC as well!

thank you *jean*!

completely out of the blue, DHL showed up with a package one day not so long ago. after recovering from my surprise that they actually managed to deliver something, which they have previously utterly failed to do on several occasions, i was even more surprised to find these:

from my favorite mexican/south african/finnish globetrotting citizen of the world friend extranjera, a new pair of precious south african havianas.  i'm told they're just for tourists at the waterfront in cape town, but i don't care if i'm branded a tourist, i've got the coolest havianas around and now i can retire my others, which are getting quite shabby and which i was thinking i'd have to staple or cellotape together in the near future. and there was also a package of scrumptious finnish licorice-laced chocolate for sabin, who experienced great sadness when her big sister ate hers the last time. that's why it says "for sabin and only sabin." thank you, extranjera! MWAH, as spud would say (as an air kiss, of course, no actual touching in light of your finnishness).  are you finnished with that? no, i'm danish american....but i digress...

i lamented recently in a comment on bambi's blog that we had lots of halloween stuff available here in denmark now, but no candy corn. she decided i couldn't go without and so she sent me a whole bunch of it. thank you, dahling! i'm really happy it arrived after our party so i didn't have to share it with all those munchkins.

but the best part about the package was this:

methinks it's the telltale signs of a skinny caramel latte

but also awesome is this:

candy corn is considered PRODUCE in the US! hahahahaha! i love it!
thanks bambi, for the sugar rush and for the laugh!

thank you all for the bloggy real world love. it's so much fun to get stuff in the mail!!

#50 and the prezzies

ASIDE: i can already tell a few things about how i will survive in the blogosphere and have a job. one, i will read and comment far less on my favorite blogs (not good). i will buy less on etsy (hasn't really manifested itself as of yet (thank you heather and margie)). i will have more posts consisting of random lists (i am trying hard to resist as we "speak," but i did start this paragraph with "one" so i'm not sure it's working). i will take a lot more of my signature self-portraits in hotel rooms. (i have to admit the one above has shot to the top of my favorites.)  but, enough navel gazing (i promised to stop that when the job started).

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so i will move on to the 50 followers thing...da da da dah.....number 50 was the lovely amanda. amanda has been loyally reading my blog and chatting with me daily (ya gotta love gmail chat) for ages now, but never actually signed up as a formal follower. she was lucky strategic enough to be #50! and i know exactly what i'm going to make for her (and i shall try to do it before christmas). but since one prize didn't seem like enough, i turned to my lovely assistant to draw another name from among all of the other fabulous followers (i felt bad about calling you old, here in light of my own upcoming birthday). and she had so much fun that we decided she should draw two.

i neglected to photograph my lovely assistant actually drawing the names (and she may have been inappropriately dressed at the time in white short shorts, green leggings, a slightly too small blue and green top and fairy wings), so here is a shot of her after her recent haircut instead. but the names that she drew were:

lynne of wheatlands news 

and 

B of the recently consolidated into one blog cuttings on a blog 

i think my lovely assistant done good as we'd say back where i grew up. lynne is one of my beloved south african bloggers and writes very thought-provoking current events stuff, as well as posts that will make you want to get a job with her son on the really cool yacht he works on (just to butcher some grammar for fun). lynne, i have your email address, but you'll need to send me your snail mail. B and i met through the "year of reading dangerously." she's reading far more dangerously than i am at the moment, tho' i will surely burst out of the gates anytime now. she, like me, lives outside her home country and is occasionally bewildered and/or delighted by the culture in which she finds herself. B, please email me your snail mail as well (my email is in my profile) and in the not-so-distant future, you will receive a little something from me (i'm cooling on the eyeballs, so don't be afraid). ok, i'm not, but i'll restrain since i know that not everyone is as enamored as i am.  and the rest of you, please go read these two, they're awesome. :-)

and a big thank you to all of you who are following me. it really does mean more than i would ever have imagined it would. it's so nice to write into a void with faces and voices. :-) there is also a special "packse"(as sabin calls them) on its way to my very first follower, molly, which i'll kind of count as part of this, tho' i sent it in another context (she needed a little something to help with her year of creativity and they don't have ikea in south africa).

but seriously, i am constantly amazed at the connections i've made though this blog. i've found like souls, long-lost twin sisters, people after my own heart, some who are after my own shoes and so much more. and i really appreciate the inspiration and friendship and laughter you've all brought into my life. thank you!!

because i just want to be loved...

thanks undoubtedly to the ever-fabulous tangobaby (i may soon have to start referrring to her as EFTB) and our collaborative blog--the julie project--my follower numbers are rising. and as much as i try not to care, i do care. kind of a lot.  as i write this, they are at 47. so i hereby declare that #50 will get a little prezzie from me. to be honest, i don't know yet what it will be, but let's just say that i hope you like eyeballs. :-) and because i want to be fair to my beloved "old" followers as well, i'll choose one of you too. :-)  anybody who has just been lurking, now would be a good time to come out of the woodwork! :-)

and in the meantime, go check out the julie project.

thank you for reading!!