Some Pretty Gifts

My birthday was last week, and my gift-givers were all quite generous, and showed a good knowledge of my love of beautiful things! Let me share some of the new goodies I was blessed with...

Tom's parents gave me stuff from Anthropologie!

I have been coveting these towels ("Storybook Romance Towels") ever since I saw them, and bought them for a friend last spring. I hung them over a kitchen window by clothespins on a stretch of clothesline. I think it's pretty cute. Sorry for the poor picture quality - we don't get great lighting over there. The towels say "they fell in love", "they got married", and "they lived happily ever after." Yay!


They also gave one each of these helianthus goblets in amber, green, pink, and clear.


Dad gave me a renewed subscription to Netflix, which will allow me to waste more time watching BBC dramas this year!

Elise sent me some Ekelund dish clothes and a dish towel. They are very well-made and sturdy. Because they have bamboo, they dry quickly and supposedly won't smell bad. So far, so good!



Mommy took me antique shopping, so I could pick my own gifts.

Notice any trend in the sorts of things that attract my eye? Man, I'm predictable. Using these new pieces as inspiration, I did a re-work of one wall in my kitchen, and made it (IMHO) totally beautiful (i.e. packed with aqua blue pieces)!! I will get a picture eventually, but as I mentioned, that wall of the kitchen is too dark to get a great shot. Plus, it's gray and rainy today.

Mom also bought me a great vintage dress. It's brown with brass buttons up the thigh. No pictures, sorry.


My man gave me several things I don't have pictures of:
F.W. Tamblyn's Home Instructor in Penmanship (republished from 1938). Looks basically impossible, but how wonderful would it be to develop beautiful handwriting?
You Can Can - oh, I sure hope so! we're hoping to go apple picking in October, and can some homemade applesauce.
Tickets to a Justin Townes Earle concert (which was awesome)