once upon a time...

...there was a beautiful fairy princess and a handsome snowman.

The fairy princess liked to sit outside in the wide, green world and swing her legs and gather berries and interesting leaves,

while the snowman liked to stay inside by the warm stove, perched on the kettle, anticipating the next cup of tea.

They never actually met, but they're both so cheerful-looking, I bet they would've become splendid friends.

And seeing them reminded me of this old Pixar short... which is pretty amazing for having been made in 1989.

Wow, computer-generated animation has come such a long, long way in such a short amount of time... I wonder where it will go from here?

xoxo,

Tab

sorry for the absence...

...I was over in lovely Wilmington, NC to watch one my dear friends graduate college!

Since I've known this person for 5 years and they've been in college that whole time (they had to switch schools mid-way), it seemed extra momentous + exciting.

Congratulations, Nolan!!!

Needless to say, I have some catching up to do on the present-front!

Here we have a kawaii memo pad,

little deer keychain,

bento box picks,

star-shaped mini mirror,

and my favorite-- quail egg molds!

If you click on the picture you will be able to see the happy animal imprints in the molds. They work something like this... adorable, huh?

I am so excited to now own two bento-related items.

Bento-making is way up there in my list of things to try (it was actually #1 on my list of "25 things to do before I turn 26" ... I'm 26 now... oops). Now I am that much closer to fulfilling my dream... I just need to buy a bento box now. Soon!

Hope everyone had a splendid weekend, and I'll see you tomorrow!

twinkle toes

Hello and Happy Thursday!!!

Today's present reminded me a bit of something I've always wanted to own, and that is Sparkly Shoes.

Specifically red sparkly shoes (a la Dorothy), although unfortunately they usually only come in little girls' sizes, and even though I can in fact squeeze my foot into a size 4, it is very, very uncomfortable.

So I'm still dreaming.

But yes, this little key-chain shoe isn't red, but it is sparkly and pink, and pink is very close to red!

Perhaps this is the shoe Dorothy's first child wore?

(by the way, yes, there are women's-sized red glitter shoes... but they usually look something like this... which is why I don't own any)

(Maybe I will make my own someday.)

monsters oh my!

I'm not really a huge fan of plushies, but this little reversible monster (monsterS?) is just too, too perfect.

I squealed when I opened the package this morning! They are so adorable!

(shinz, did you make these???)

I'm not 100% sure where I want to display them (I've decided they are monster siamese twins...) but for now they're hanging out on my kitchen counter with my Starbucks monster mug.

There's something about little fangs that gets me every time... even my favorite tote bag has a bitey cat on it.

see you tomorrow!

xoxo

lovely little papers

I'm pretty sure one can never have too many lovely little papers, and if they happen to come with tiny animal-making instructions, so much the better!

It's hard to read the writing down there in the corner, but yes, this was day 8's present.

I think it's so funny how Japanese octopuses are always depicted with a little tube-shaped mouth.

When I see a picture of one, they don't seem especially tubed-shaped, so it must be one of those cultural things...

(photo courtesy of www.seaotter.com)

It's awfully gloomy and rainy around here today.

Even listening to my Múm and Joe Hisaishi channels on Pandora isn't cheering me up...

time for some drawing!

My apologies for the delay in present-recording!

I was working an overnight babysitting job this weekend and was away from my computer... and all my lovely little presents. Now I am back!

The 25-days-of-Christmas window is clearing away awfully quickly... I have so much to do before I open the last present!

I enjoyed opening all these gifts, especially the tea. Having a foreign language on the teabag makes it seem so much more fancy, don't you think?

To recover from my babysitting job I spent yesterday watching Peter Pan and writing in my journal. I found myself wanting to return to Neverland several times afterward and even this morning... it's so lovely!

Hmm... this might end up in a trip to the library to re-read the original and explore a bit more about Mr. J. M. Barrie...

see you tomorrow with gift #8!

it's gray and rainy today,

...but that won't stop me from having a splendid morning as I unwrap present #2!

Once again I am very impressed + happy with such a lovely surprise: coffee, tea, and hot chocolate mixes!

I've put them in a little cup by my kettle so I can choose a treat whenever I feel like it.

Hurray for warm mugs!

it arrived!!!

Several months ago, I signed up to participate in this swap.

The idea behind it seemed utterly fantastic... how charming to open a tiny surprise each day of December until Christmas, like a personalized advent calendar!

I was a little bit afraid I wouldn't receive my package by December as it was coming all the way from Malaysia, but my partner timed it perfectly, and to my delight it arrived in the mail today, December 1st.

I don't have a Christmas tree yet (that'll happen later this week, hopefully), so I decided to turn my kitchen windows into a little present-display area. (Sorry the lighting is terrible, it's a very gray sort afternoon over here.)

I swapped the usually green-print curtain for a piece of red fabric and added a few Christmas ornaments to make it a bit more festive.

25 sweet little presents, eagerly awaiting discovery!

Oh, and I also decided I'd take a picture of each gift as soon as I open it... so you can follow along in my discoveries if you'd like. :)

I love it already.

Happy December, everybody!

See you tomorrow with Present #2!

xoxo