i was pretty stoked about her gift, i must say, so i did what i generally do when stoked with giftage and immortalised it in a photo.

where to begin. the soap? ah, the soap. the soap is handmade and so fragrant with the scent of ripe fruit that i was thisclose to eating it. in fact, we drove through a veritable blizzard to get to kristin's place, and i was all, don't worry folks. if we get stranded in some ditch for two days, we can totally live off of my soap.
[soap from dulcet apothecary on etsy. you can't go wrong with the raspberry creme, pomegranate, or apricot&oatmeal.]
the smallish tote i made from rachel's friendship bag tutorial. its self-standing trick is clever, and allows this bag to easily double as a desk-containerish-box-thingy. you know, for stray paper clips and stuff.
* * *
in other news, i drew a name at random for the necklace below. jena of organizing mommy, it's your lucky day!
also: thank you all who left me a note sharing bits of the stories behind meaningful dates in your lives. so many of your entries made my breath catch...such stark loss, and such sweeping joy. sometimes this life is so huge and intense it's almost unbearable. i'm fairly certain this is part of why God surrounds us with other people whose hearts carry the overflow we can't begin to hold alone.
and now i am off to finish sewing and then hang with the kiddos, who are loving this snow day.
happy tuesday, friends.
*so technically, kristin is the hubby's sister, but she's this rare brand of amazing and so i like to conveniently allow people to believe we hail from the same gene pool. nobody can actually read this, right?






























