So I received a package yesterday. I couldn't remember buying anything online, so I was a little confused. I took a peek at the return address to see if it rang a bell. What. I'm a HUGE Pixar fan, and while it would be very me to order something directly from the animation studio, as far as I know, you can't. I was incredibly confused... Until I noticed it was addressed to my reddit user name! It was my Arbitrary Day gift!! I've never had a package come so quickly, my gifter was super on top of things. But...this still didn't explain why it was addressed from Pixar Animation Studio. It was a mystery that could only be solved by opening my package!

Inside, I was first greeted by an envelope, which contained this gorgeous card! So I'm starting to realize that my gifter has gone for a Pixar theme, which is SO GREAT. At this point I'm assuming that the Pixar Animation return address is just a cute way to remain anonymous and hint at my gift.

Next was a really awesome The Incredibles shirt! Its a really nice material, super soft, and The Incredibles is my favorite Pixar movie, so I was (and am!) pretty delighted by it. But what's this...I noticed something on the tag...

No freaking way. According to the tag, the shirt was purchased at the Pixar Studio Store...and as far as I know, the only existing Pixar Studio Store is located at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. Which is a big deal, because Pixar is a closed studio. They don't offer tours at all, the only way to get on the lot is to BE a Pixar Employee, or have a Pixar employee take you. Trust me, I know, I've been trying to figure out a way to visit for years. And the Pixar Studio Store is full of all sorts of incredible Pixar merchandise that can only be purchased there. So at this point in a little star struck, not gonna lie.

My next gift was wrapped up in tissue paper...I opened it to find this!! My own Pixar Animation mug!!! Baaaaaah!!

The last gift I opened also happens to be my favorite. It was also wrapped up on tissue, and it had a really weird shape. As I pulled the tissue off, the first thing that I registered were the primary colors, a very bright red, yellow, and blue. When my brain caught up and I realized what it was? Yeah, I'm not even a little ashamed to admit that I burst into tears. It was my very own, not yet inflated Luxo Ball! My gifter had no way of knowing how sentimentally I feel about the Luxo Ball and Luxo Jr.... And to have my very own actual real life Luxo Ball...dude. It's a day later and I'm tearing up all over again. I've been meaning to buy a Luxo Jr. style lamp to go on my desk for ages, and now I'm finally going to have to do it . Because I have the Luxo Ball!!

The reason I waited to post this until today was so I could go get a ball pump. It's perfect!

Gifter, you have seriously blown me away. In my description, I barely mentioned Pixar and instead spoke at length about my love for Disney...but in actuality I'm completely in love with the company. I think I mentioned that my dream is to someday be an animator, and Pixar has ALWAYS been my top choice. When I was a kid, I lived in Sonoma, CA. I actually went to the same elementary school as John Lasseter's kid. This was right before Toy Story came out, and he came to our school and talked about Pixar and the future of animation with computers. Meeting him really moved me (even though I was all of 7 years old) and Pixar has always been a huge love of mine. So seriously, thank you SO MUCH!!

Also, just in response to your card- Disneyland Resort is pretty much my favorite place in the world. The only reason I ranked Disneyland Paris above it for a visit is because Disneyland is a very attainable place for me to visit...and I do, usually every year or two! Whereas I've only been to EuroDisney (as it was called when I went) once, and I was probably 5, and all I remember is rain and a sea of yellow Mickey ponchos. So don't worry for my sanity, Disneyland is definitely #1 in my book :)

Thank you again!!

Taryn (a very happy Pixar fan)

Edited for some grammar and to remove what could possibly be an identifying ID number on the return address.