I was not expecting to receive my gift so soon, so that was exciting surprise #1. Then I opened the envelope with a squeal of excitement and carefully took out each item one-by-one, my smile growing with every new item.

I told my Santa that I'm an independent author and I enjoy plotting/writing my books by hand whenever possible. So, now I've got this awesome pad of stationary, a to-do list sticky pad (you had no idea how badly this is needed in my life right now) and a pad of regular sticky notes, perfect for adding thoughts, bits of dialogue or scenes to places in my plots. Awesome!

But the best part of this gift is the pens! My Santa is another self-proclaimed pen addict and she's got marvelous taste, let me tell you. The Staedtler set is something I've had my eye on for... well, longer than I can even tell you. Those colors! Nothing better for organizing my thoughts re: books than by color-coding everything. And the Pilot B2Ps are a staple in my household (my SO loves them) but we've never bought any other than standard blue/black. There's purple and pink and green and a pretty bright blue, none of which appeal to my SO :D They're alllll mine.

And did you spot the other pack of pens there? They're left-handed pens. I mentioned it in my note, but never really expected anything to come of it. I've never even purchased lefty pens for myself and I'm beyond excited to give them a whirl.

Thank you so much to my Santa! This has been an awesome experience for my first exchange and now I have to go write some things!