so...today i celebrated with friends at a bridal shower.  i had to go get a gift.  i had $20 to spend.  how can i make a meaningful gift for my friend count with $20?  THIS is a challenge for me because i LOVE to get gifts for my friends.  i love thinking about them...considering their loves and creatively searching for a gift that represents them well and shows more care than just a gift card (although, sometimes, those are just as amazing!)

so, i walked into a mall folks.  a mall!  a pretty great one down in south orange county.  (if you have ever watched the real housewives of OC, it's one of the malls near them...just an indicator of the materialism i was to experience).  it was a bit of overload.  i gripped my strong black coffee....i opened the door....walked around a bit...got my bearings, took a deep breath....walked into crate and barrell....and got four little glass bowls and a pair of cute undies and wrapped them in a darling harvest-y dish towel instead of using paper wrapping...and it came to $22!!! (i just gave 2 bucks of my allowance towards to cause!) ah....i did it.  i stayed within budget.  well...2 bucks over...but i had the two dollars left in my allowance that i didn't spend at breakfast with my friend!!!  

i walked around a bit more.  i saw a jcrew.  jcrew is like crack to me (reference previous posts!).  i walked in.  and i looked at things in the perspective of "could i sew this?  could i embelish this on a current tshirt?" it was sooo great!!  they also had a crewcuts section (their kids clothing line) and totally was in love with their girls stuff and thought, "hey...i can maybe make this!".....amazing.  i felt no shame.  i felt overwhelmed, but it felt good to look at what was out there and to get inspired.  

there was a shirt at forever 21 for $11 that was DaRRRRling....sigh....i walked away.  even though it was only $11 and would be SOOOO cute with slacks for teaching or under my vintage-y anthro blazer that my dad in law got me....i walked away.

one small step towards acclimation....one giant leap for me!!  

it was a good day.  (abs, thanks for the prayers dear friend!)

oh...and i was amongst great friends too....it was a great day.  amy, if you read this at all, it was an honor to celebrate you today.  i could NOT be happier!!