Amazing Friends

After yesterday's stormy grumpiness, some good news was in order. And good news came in the form of a brown box delivered by the UPS guy earlier today (details in a moment) which reminded me of just how awesome my friends are.

For example, Chelsea brought me the hibiscus above. I wouldn't know that it was a hibiscus since my gardening knowledge consists of being able to identify poison ivy (bad) and cala lilies (good). Beyond that, I'm stumped. After taking pictures of the pretty hibiscus, I realized that it was probably the model for Anna Maria Horner's centerpiece pattern in her Garden Party collection. If I'm correct, everyone else probably knew that already; if I'm wrong, well, I don't know anything about flowers anyways.

Prior to my birthday, a large box with an unknown return address arrived at my house. I stared at the return address for a while, trying to figure out who lived in Glen Burnie. Then I realized that my friend Beth had told me that she was sending my present early and I should open it early (the return address was her husband's work address). Inside there was another box.

A fun box. I'd seen these boxes in magazines -- they're made from rolled magazines -- and they're even cooler in person. Inside the box were all sorts of treats -- cupcake mix, sour jelly bellys (my favorites), sour candy (notice a theme), and the like. She knows I'm in the midst of prelims-reading (I know I've been noting that a lot...I'll stop mentioning that in 3 weeks when they're over, I promise), and sent me treats to accompany that reading (and keep my blood sugar up).

Then there are the totally out of nowhere, unexpected gifts that are just so perfectly thoughtful -- like the surprise Amazon giftcard from my friend's parents and today's brown box delivery.

My friends Sarah and Matt sent me a delightfully awesome assortment of fabric, with the cute hippo patch grinning from inside. As you might have realized from this blog, I love fabric. And when you love fabric, there's not much that exceeds getting a surprise box filled with great fabric.

The hippo patch has a flannel hippo friend, a blue flannel hippo friend at that, as well as a colorful stack of half-yard cuts of Amy Butler fabric as traveling companions.

Just the other day I was thinking about how my stash lacks an assortment of greens, and the stack included several greens, including the martini dots which might be all-time Amy Butler favorite. The adrenaline rush from this package still hasn't subsided (and that's a good thing!).

Finally, I'm off to visit my friends Joel and Jenny (and Max) tomorrow. We'll have a long weekend of working and playing, eating and drinking. Jenny and I share a birthday and Joel is moving to Seattle soon, so we'll be celebrating and trying not to think about being spread farther apart in a month's time. Joel was my roommate and remains one of the most generous people I know. He's not only planning his drive west to drop off some furniture he no longer needs with a friend who has recently moved back to the US, but he made this weekend possible for me by using his frequent flier miles to get me a plane ticket. I don't know very many people who when thanked profusely for this would say "Don't thank me, just think of it as screwing over the airlines for what would otherwise be an insanely expensive ticket." Seriously awesome, he is.

I know myself well enough to realize that I can get tunnel-vision when I'm in the midst of work and stressed about everything that I need to do, take care of, and finish. But it feels good to pause and think about all the amazing people I know and friends I have, near and far. Thank you all!