Delightful Day After Christmas

{The cool bookmark Michelle made for me, that I've been using.}

I had originally thought I'd do some after-Christmas clearance shopping, but quickly realized that would mean leaving the house so I put the kibosh on that right away. Instead, I slept in (delightful), blogged in the morning, cleaned house (which was badly needed), then read my book in the cozy on my bed (my favorite thing to do). I'm currently reading The Reader and have gotten completely sucked into it (hooray), which is particularly great considering I just couldn't get into the last book I was reading (No Great Mischief). The week before that I read and finished The Bean Trees and thoroughly enjoyed that. I keep meaning to do a mini review and post some quotes, but time keeps on going so it has gotten left behind.


My Pink Christmas gift arrived yesterday and was well worth the wait. Stacy (no blog yet) Southwick spoiled me with great style, creativity, and thoughtfulness. She made me a ton of bookmarks to put in the books I send to you all as good mail. Is that a great idea or what? I'm kind of bugged I didn't think of it myself, but I love her design and thinks it's so cool that she thought of that based on reading my blog. She also made me book plates to put inside my books, cute notecards, the cool can which served as wrapping for everything, and this funky object d'art made from a paperback book. I'm delighted by everything!

I also took pictures of the gifts I got from Claudia, Amie, and my sister Lori. I thank heaven for my friends everyday and must say I enjoyed these gifts immensely, especially in light of the many gift cards I got. I know some people think I'm hard to shop for (though that's baffling to me) so I'm always thrilled when someone gives me presents. I love all of these gifts.

{Gifts from Claudia}

These gifts are from my sister Lori. This is particularly thoughtful and sweet gift because 1. She didn't have my name for Christmas. 2. She hates buying scrapbooking supplies. 3. She's poor right now. She had individually wrapped all of these items and put them inside the cute bag pictured under the "S" magnet. I love everything and was totally surprised and touched by her thoughtfulness. Thanks Lori!

These cool gifts are from my friend Amie. The big tile with the quote on it now resides on top of one of the bookshelves in our family room. The black board is the foundation for a yet-to-be-created scrapbook layout that will then be placed on it and covered with acrylic so it will be framed and then can be displayed. I don't have anything like that and am actually going to start scrapbooking again so I can use this great gift. Thanks Amie!


The final highlight of my good Christmas-recovery day was getting to meet and hang out with Rebecca Swindle. I have only recently met her from her blog and her comments on my blog, but have definitely felt connected to her. We share a love for many of the same books and photography, and just seem to relate well. She was in Provo (she left this morning) with her husband's family for Christmas and called to see if I would like to get together for a late night dessert. We met at Pizza Factory in Provo at 9:00 last night (just as they were closing, they probably didn't appreciate us staying so late). It's so crazy that we had never met before and weren't even sure what each other looked like, but then were able to talk to easily and personally for 2.5 hours! After we got "kicked" out of the restaurant we sat in her car talking for along time. It was delightful.


I love meeting new friends from the blogs and have more to meet during the Christmas break. Julia is stopping by to drop off some good mail tomorrow (so exciting to meet her) and then next week Michelle and I get to go have lunch with Jordan. I just keep thinking how amazing it is that last year at this time I didn't know any of these people existed and had so idea what an influence you'd all have in my life. I feel so blessed.

**Do you use bookmarks?
Are you reading a good book these days?
What kind of gifts do your friends give you?**