the itty bitty gift guide. part 2.

the itty bitty gift guide part two - and definitely one of my favorites... inspired by a certain supernatural vampire wedding. (how could i let the release of 'breaking dawn' go by unnoticed?)

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the itty bitty gift guide. part 1.

t'is that time of year again... the snow will start to fall, the temperatures already have, and minds have turned to the thoughts of sugarplums and mistletoe. so, in honour of this festive season, i bring you my etsy gift guides! part 1 - my recent favorites in shades of winter. yum.

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gift giving. & the joy of the gift certificate.

the best gift in my mind is something lovingly handmade, created with great thought and consideration, and fantastically well constructed.  however, not everyone is good at thinking of presents to give, so the second best thing is the wonderful gift certificate.  and of course, theLovelySmith now offers them for the holiday season!

redeemable for anything in my shop (except for other gift certificates), these expire a good 6 months after the date of purchase!  so give handmade this holiday!!!

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treasury love!

just sharing some amazing treasuries that i've been included in! so awesome. and thank you for the love - it is so wonderful see how my work fits in with others - and what fantastic taste people have.

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a thousand years.

i know this is almost over-the-top romantic - thank you, j for the link (aren't you supposed to be sleeping?) - but i loved it at first listen. why do these people (darn you, christina perri) write these beautifully fantastic songs that appeal to the little lovestruck schoolgirl in me?   we would all love to think that there is someone out there that has loved us for a thousand years.  don't we?

yes, i am aware that there is an official twilight video for this song, but i love this one just as much.   lyrics and symbolism all at once.  plus you don't have to watch edward and bella get all mushy. (seriously, you are too good for her, dude.)

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story time. or the tale of the sterling silver hoops.

once upon a time, a young musician set across the country from seattle on a tour with his band.  before he left, he gave his sweetheart a set of silver hoops earrings that were his and asked her to keep them safe until his return.  after a tearful goodbye, he left her standing in the rain and promised to write.

soon after, the young musician met the real love of his life in a crowded club in a sleepy corner of texas, and, following his heart's desires, swept her off her feet, and married her.

when he returned to his hometown and to the girl whose heart he had broken, he begged for her forgiveness, asked her to give him her blessing, and for the earrings.

of course, she refused, and the young man left bereft, to continue his life with his beloved bride.

the years passed, and the young man could not get the earrings out of his mind, even though he did not regret for one moment the rest of what happened with his love life.  despite several written to his ex, asking for the earrings, she would not release them back to him.  one day, sitting at his computer, halfway across the country from his wife, he searched high and low and finally found a pair that held all the promise and shine of the pair he had lost.  he purchased the set, sent one to his wife concealed in a love letter, and kept the other for himself.  and they lived happily ever after.

(t - soon these will be on their way to you!  enjoy - and i hope that these are luckier than your previous pair!)

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unexpected iPod.

a few years ago, to celebrate moving to the office closer to home (only 2kms away!!) i bought myself a little black iPod nano.  sleek and black and shiny, i anticipated walking almost every day to and from work, listening to music.  while that dream never realized itself - the job ended up being way more driving than i expected and i can count the times i walked or biked to work on three fingers (because it was 3 times - well, actually it was only 2 1/2 times because one time m saw me walking by the side of the road and picked me up in his car) - i still loved my nano and used it at the gym. 

however, over time, the nano got glitchy and the little trackball thingy got unresponsive.  then it refused to turn off, as if it was silently listening to the songs all by itself. (well, i DO make pretty awesome playlists.)  i took it in to the Apple store beneath my old office, but there was nothing they could do except adjust the backlight "time out" settings (which i could have done on my own).  finally, i just left it in the iPod dock in the kitchen, continually charging, to provide music to cook by. 

yesterday, though, i received an email stating that my little nano was recalled and that Apple would be sending out replacements to everyone who had purchased one of the flawed iPods.  apparently, the older the battery gets, the more likely it is to EXPLODE.  and for me, keeping it in the dock was not the smartest move - i suppose we could have come home to a pile of ash and soot one day.  so i signed up online and Apple will be sending me a box and instructions to mail back my old nano for replacement.  seriously, this kind of stuff never happens to me and L said i should run out and buy a lottery ticket in the hopes that the iPod luck sticks.

while the new nanos are slick and small and all techno-advanced candy coloured now, i sort of already miss mine.  i've logged a lot of kilometers on it and some of the songs that i had uploaded to it are no longer in my iTunes library.  oh well.  it's now completely wiped, restored to its factory settings, and sitting in my purse, awaiting its return trip to the great Apple graveyard in the sky.  in the meantime, i'll use the retro cool pink iPod i got off ebay and see what materializes in a few weeks.

thanks, steve jobs!  and thanks, Apple!

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