Holy. Mother. of. Happy. First of all, I apologize to you poor readers for the excessive use of exclamation marks. I am so tickled by my gift that I can't stop smiling, so please do your best pretend my punctuation isn't too out of whack.

Anyways! It's been a really crappy week with awful weather, stressful work, and some other not-so-great things going on. I'd totally forgotten about the entire Arbitrary noise until I got home today to find a package on the table. The small, square box immediately piqued my interest, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't spring to grab the nearest sharp object in order to slice through the packing tape. Hidden under a layer of news paper (comic pages! extra bonus.) and packed in bubble-wrap was a dark blue wooden box.

I fumbled to find the seams + the tape, already super excited by the distorted glimpses I caught. But wait! What's this!? I spy a baby beluga! I had to stop and do a happy dance because the level of joy hit the roof, owing to the whole "homemade AND has a freakin' beluga on it" thing. I was giggling like mad when I finally got the light-weight little box out, flipping it over and admiring the burned + painted jellyfish swirling on the top and the beluga on the front.

But wait! There's more! Inside of the box I found a sweet little note apologizing for the lateness (my secret sendee has been busy working at a camp with Autistic homies, how cool is that?), and explaining that this was his first wood burning project. Beneath the letter was a little adorable, giant eyed, perfectly color-schemed jellyfish plushy, also homemade. I unfortunately had to rush off to a meeting so the pictures aren't that great, but the burst of happiness propelled me through the rest of my long day.

So, let's review. I am: in love with all things aquatic (belugas and jellies on the top of that list), check! blues and greens and cool colors are my favorites, check! I'm always encouraging people to make gifts, double check! Awesome Arbitrary Day? Super check! Thank you, thank you, thannnnkkk you, for bringing such a fantastic spot of light in to a gloomy week. I know I won't be able to look at these wonderful gifts without smiling!