receiving

dear diary, part one

this year has been very good to me. it seems like i've been on the receiving end of life and i'm thinking hard how i can give back. in both cases i'm not just talking about material things, i'm talking about heart things. did i write it already that my favorite parts about my birthday (besides eating lobster, getting cards and comments and flowers), was that my 19 year old baked me a cake? (surprise mama!) and my husband sang the birthday song all by himself, alone, to me? and that i talked on the phone to each of my kids and gkids, parents and parentsbychoice before 9am (on the actual day!!). i felt surrounded, cradled, wrapped deeply in love.
and then the mailman came...

and brought WEE OWEN!

here is a materialheartthing made by my dear friend Geli. she made him! even drawing up her own pattern. my own Owen is not as happy with the newcomer as i am, since wee owen gets to do many things Owen does not...

like help me sort the sea glass i found this week...

again, in one day, in less than two hours! i've got to think of something to do with all this glass! and can you see the pottery shard with the leaf on it?, love that! :)

here is wee owen and mtoto chui, that's Chuck's baby leopard from his boyhood,

do you see that wee owen is already taking after his big brother, being a bit pesky,

oh wee owen...

i like that they are already good friends, these two.

thank you so much dear Geli.

dear diary, part two

one day this week at work two women came in our shop. i overheard them talking and noticed the lovely friendship they had. it turned out they were sisters. one of the girls came up to me and, after paying me a very kind compliment, we got to talking. when her sister came up, i noticed they were wearing the same necklace, so pretty! they decided that i should have one and the one sister took off her necklace and gave it to me. OH Dear! i didn't mean to imply, i mean, i was only saying... that's when the other sister said, i have a jewelry business, i make these.

the beautiful girl was Lisa Leonard. i know her! what i mean is i've seen her card on many MANY blogs, and in magazines too. i could hardly contain my excitement and said OH! i have a blog! we talked about that and how much joy it brings.

thank you dear Lisa, it was a pleasure to meet you and your twin sister.

if you would like to see more of her beautiful designs and her lovely blog go here...

it wasn't until Lisa and her sister and i exchanged cards, hugged and said goodbye that i got a good look at my new necklace (materialheartthing) and the word stamped on it : happy.

:)

♥ lori