For Me?! Squeeeeeee!

Have you ever received a gift-- a really special gift-- from a very special friend? You know that friend. She's the one that just knows you so well that the gift touches your heart from the first glance?

My friend Joyce is that friend. We've been friends for about twenty years. We made it through our 20's together, our 30's together... and now we're navigating our 40's. We've been there for each other through thick and thin, joys and silliness, loves and losses. She's that kind of friend.

We met each other through one of our loves... paper crafting. Through the years we've seen each other's creative styles grow and change. From the early years of the rubber stamping craze, we've stretched our creative wings through various style and color combo obsessions. Through crazy pop-up dimensional creations... to simply elegant. This gift box would be in that simply elegant category. Don't you love it? My favorite color and details... lovelovelove.

This month is my birthday. Yes, I said month. My friends know that I do not object to celebrating all month long. He he. Well, my month kicked off to a start yesterday with my favorite sushi dinner, and an early surprise birthday gift! My dear friend Joyce created the beautiful gift box above, and gave me this absolutely beautiful necklace.

The moment I opened the box my breath was taken away...

A beautiful dragonfly... the keeper of dreams... created with vintage silver spoons. Joyce has always known of my affinity for dragonflies. She's also always known how selective (a nice word for "picky") I am about dragonflies. My house is not full of them. I don't tell people I have a thing for them for a good reason. Years ago, a friend of mine use to (past tense) love black & white cows. Needless to say, she was inundated with black & white cows, lovingly presented to her by her dear, well-meaning friends. So basically, only a few of my close friends know about my dragonfly thing. I have always wanted to keep my love for them special.

Well, this beautiful dragonfly is special. Super special. It's the perfect combination of my favorites: dragonfly, silver, and vintage. Looooooove this. So much.

Thank you so much, Joyce... I love this special gift, from first glance to forever. Just like our friendship. xox

Hugs,