last night, i was thinking about how excited i was to turn 16. how i didn't fall asleep and that at midnight i saw that my mom was still up reading, so i went into my parents' room and opened the presents my grandparents had sent. it was a pretty cool moment. my grandmother was always sending me "the latest thing" she had found. this time, it was these stretchy, metal bracelets (think almost slinky-like but rectangular). i did not realize that they were actually something you were supposed to put on the outside of your long-sleeve shirt, at the wrists, and then push up the sleeves - they were supposed to hold the sleeves in place. an odd invention that didn't seem to take off (do any of you know what i mean?). well, i thought they were just funky bracelets and put them on and when they went from being "stretched out" to resting against my skin, every single one of my arm hairs in that area of my skin was grabbed up in between the little slinky-like coils. holy crap. it hurt but it was so funny. my mom and i were cracking up until we were crying; trying to be quiet as my dad was sleeping. we had no idea what they were for. i think my grandparents also sent me a mug they bought in hershey, pa that had all the different hershey chocolates on it. and then, they sent a pretty nice-sized savings bond that they gave to all the grandchildren when they turned 16. i am sure that there was also a pair or two of super soft socks as that was something my grandma always gave me at birthdays and christmas. i guess the best part of the memory though is just thinking about sitting on the floor next to my mom's side of the bed and being in that moment with her. and, i think some hershey's chocolate was consumed as well...so fun.
lately, i have noticed several bloggers hosting little giveaways on their birthdays, so i decided i would like to join in on the fun...
a few weeks ago, i mentioned that jon helped me to count buttons. well, we were counting all these buttons:
we found this jar filled with them at an antique shop in portland. see that blue one? well, i had to have the whole jar after seeing that blue one (and the red one...oh and that green one...).
anyway, i thought it might be fun (and a bit silly i know), if i held a "guess how many buttons are in the jar" contest here in the comments. here's a hint: there are a lot more than 30 buttons in that jar, but there are not more than 10,000. oh and it took us several hours to count them (though we were nicely arranging them by color and other subcategories like "liz's favorites" and "ones that look like flowers").
just leave your guess in the comments. the person who is closest will receive a surprise of something i have made here in the little room and some other goodies (including, you guessed it, some of those buttons)!
i am going to go ahead and leave the guessing open until sunday evening, so jump on in with your guess! (though, i suppose i should have the rule that you only get one guess, so make it a good one.)
and thanks for making this last year, the year i was 30, such a good one with your friendship, support, words of wisdom, and all that good stuff. you all are just the best...
