On getting and gifting

Mandy is my college roommate.

Like many of my friends, she's a fairly private person.

With respect to her privacy, I won't reveal too much about her. What I will tell you however, is how great she is. 

Mandy doesn't talk about others unless it's fact. She doesn't overshare her opinion, but will let you know when she doesn't like something. She does her own thing without needing others to lend suggestions, but isn't afraid to be vulnerable when necessary. While I know she hasn't yet hit final form, she's doing a dang good job getting there. 

Now, as amazing as Mandy is, I wasn't planning on getting her a gift this year.

One, I'm fairly broke, and two, we've never had that kind of relationship. Being roommates, we had a bit of an awkwardness around each other, almost like we weren't sure how to compose ourselves.

[I was going to include an image of us here, but I don't even think we have a photo of just us two.]

In an alternate universe, I'd have gone to university without a best friend, and Mandy and I would've been each others. We would've learned to tackle the world together, and maybe her positive traits could've helped me grow up ten years ago, rather than stay stuck in my old high school habits. Maybe that was the awkwardness, the universe waiting because its timelines hadn't sorted themselves out yet. 

Anyways, now that we're finally de-awkwartizing, I've decided that it's not weird to get her a Christmas present!

(I'm not getting presents this year for many people, but if something screams out to me, I absolutely need to gift it. Perhaps that's my love language. Perhaps that's why I constantly wonder where my paychecks go.)

Anyways, here's what I got her: 

I was at Cotton On at the outlets, and they had a wall of three for ten-dollar items. I'd spotted the earrings first, wanting the gummy bears for myself, before taking notice of the other charms. 

MANDY, my head screamed. She'd love this. 

Over the next five minutes, I was the most annoying person in the store. Waiting for a friend to finish browsing the tee shirts, I had nothing but time. I picked up the bracelet, the promptly put it back down.

She doesn't need it, she might not wear it. Five seconds later, I picked it back up. Oh, but it's so her, she may need it. 

I was stuck in this loop of 'should I? should I not?," and was thankfully whipped out of my trance by the readiness of my friend. Screw it, it's $10, I'll just skip lunch.

At home, when it came time to wrap and send off the gift, I had an idea. I wanted to wrap the earrings and necklace in a mini envelope, and the face tattoos in an envelope with a print of their own. This would allow her to unwrap three separate items and hopefully enjoy the paper at the same time. Unfortunately, in all my excitement, I didn't quite think about the logistics of fitting everything into my envelope and had to start over.

I'll use my vintage papers in a card, I decided, let's scratch the multiple envelope ideas. 

I picked through my scraps, and made a game plan. I had a sheet of vintage paper that had cherries on it, perfect, and then some red paper. I had some red and green paint, which was perfect for both Christmas and my cherry theme. To top it off, I added some sparkle from some strings of rhinestone.

Happy with the card and gifts, I stacked them together.

Something is missing. I don't know what, but it just isn't done yet. 

I whipped out my stack of vintage cardstock, praying that something would catch my eye. 'Life's like a bowl of cherries,' read one of the papers. What the heck does that mean? I wondered.

Regardless if I understood the text or not, It was perfect. I cut out the saying and glued it onto a piece of red cardstock. Still a bit flimsy, I dug into my recycling and found cardboard from a ten-pack of Coca Cola. Perfect.

Once the mini poster was made, it all came together perfectly.

Check it out: