Life at 33: Part 2

i am so blessed to have such good friends and family.
and not because they gave me birthday gifts.
but because they give of themselves...often.
whether it's a phone call, a card in the mail, an e-mail or a popup chat on Facebook,
i know that i can always count on them.
~
i posted here about how i spent my birthday and about a few
of the gifts i had received.
here's part two
i was so happy to receive a bookstore gift card from my mother-in-law.
i love books. but i rarely buy them for myself.
especially the ones i really want...the ones that cost $25.
bob watched the kids while i sat oh-so-happily for an hour with a lap full of
books and a tall, non-fat, no-whip, two-pump mocha next to me.
it was oh-so-hard to decide, but i finally decided on this one.
it's cram-packed full of great ideas.
i can't wait to create something from it...in the next few days, we might
just see what one of bob's worn-out dress shirts can become.

while in Portland, i met with my dear friend Jenny.
yeah...that one. the one that creates masterpieces!
she and her family traveled to Malaysia this summer and
she came back with this fabulous piece of fabric for me.
the trim that shows on the right...i gotta figure out how to incorporate
that into whatever i make.
i thought that this fabric was an awesome birthday gift, but then...

... i received this in the mail.
four fards of fabric to play with!
can't wait!

also, while in Portland, i got to see another dear friend, Diana, little miss
smartie pants herself.
she got me a set of mini-albums (photo is near the bottom of the post...oops!)
that i can't wait to fill with photos of my sweet little ones.
she also gave me this box...isn't it cute?
but wait...

...look what happens when you take off the top!
there are three separate sections to attach wallet photos, journaling, etc!
i've never seen anything like this and I CAN'T WAIT TO COPY IT! :)

i was so happy to spend some time (not enough!) with my dear friend, Betty.
she gave me these beautiful hair pins and a coin purse.
i have to hide them from Emma as she loves to play with them!

i had one more package in my big pile of mail when we returned from Portland.
this one was from Jamie ... the mother of sweet little Clara.
i went from having no watches to two awesome handmade watches!!
i love that they are totally different from each other.

yep...here's the albums
and the box? it works great to store my two new watches!

Oh, happy 33!

Cassie...30 is great, but it just gets even better! :)