Amber, be on the lookout for an e-mail from me!

If you want to know about it the next time I have a giveaway, you can:

1) become a fan of maneki on facebook

2) follow maneki on twitter

xo,

Sarah

I wanted to make some little valentines like the ones that kids exchange at school, but for grown-ups. These are going to be at Parts & Labour starting tomorrow (Tuesday), and at the Buy Baubles/Help Haiti event on Friday. If you don’t live in Austin, but you still want a valentine card, let me know and I’ll put one in with your order. Just mention it in the “Comments to seller” field at checkout.

It’s giveaway time again!  All you have to do is leave a comment on this blog entry–I would love for you to tell me a funny or sweet story or your favorite thing about Valentine’s Day, but really, you can just say hello if you want to!  One reader will win this necklace.

Same rules as always:

♥ Be sure to leave a good contact e-mail in the comments form (don’t worry; your e-mail address won’t be visible to anyone except you and me).  Entries without a valid e-mail address will be disqualified–I need to find out how to get you your necklace!

♥ Only one comment per reader, please

♥ This giveaway is open to US addresses only

♥ Winning entry will be chosen using the random number generator at random.org

♥ All entries must be received by Sunday, February 14, at 11:59 p.m. CST.

Good luck!

Round one: elk vs. lion:

Round two: fox vs. rabbit:

That’s all, carry on!

I keep this little globe on my desk.  It is a pencil sharpener.

I gave it to my grandfather (a.k.a. Poppy) for Christmas one year.  I got it at Santa’s Secret Shop–did you have those at your school?  Anyway, it was this thing where the school would set up a little store, and kids could buy Christmas presents.  A lot of the things you could buy were “World’s Greatest (insert family member here)” themed.  As a child, I was slightly…how to put this?  Well, let’s just say I always had a bad case of the gimmes (I guess I still do).  I would always try to save some of my money to buy something for myself.  The thing I wanted the most was a music box.  It was lavender, shaped like a tiny baby grand piano, and it had a long-haired cat painted on the top.  Oh, I wanted that music box so much!  But it was eight dollars, and I think my sister and I usually got $20 each to spend on everyone: Mom, Dad, grandparents, cousins Zachary and Megan, and each other.  So no music box for me.  Maybe someday I’ll find it on eBay or at a garage sale (see?!  I told you I still had the gimmes!  I’m still looking for it).

But I bought the globe for my Poppy because he was a bookkeeper, and I figured that he would have some pencils he needed to sharpen, and because it looks kind of professional, you know?  I have an oddly good memory, and I believe I bought this for him when I was in either the fourth or fifth grade.

Whenever I see it, it makes me smile–he was really my favorite person, and even though he passed away when I was 10, I still think of him a lot.  I remember all the funny things he used to say, and I wonder what it would be like to talk to him now that I am (somewhat) grown up.

I came across the globe a long time after he died, when my grandmother was moving out of her house.  It made me happy that he kept it, even though, frankly, items from Santa’s Secret Shop weren’t meant to last forever.

But this afternoon I was cleaning up my workspace, and I moved the little globe for a second, and I noticed something I hadn’t before.  Can you see it?  It’s right there by the little rivet that attaches the blade.  Look closely.

It’s the tiniest bit of pencil shaving!  At the risk of being overly sentimental, I will admit that I thought it was neat to still find some evidence of him so many years later.  And I was very glad to see that my gift was functional as well as ornamental.  :)

xoxo,

Sarah

You were really strange, difficult, and beautiful.  You were definitely the year of things not working out the way I thought they would.  But that was okay, because I think you were also the year where I learned that the way I want things to be is not always the best.

You were the year of new friends, and of old friends becoming better friends.

I know it’s bold to say it, but I think that you were the year where I learned I could handle anything.  Or at least a whole lot.

No resolutions, except to say that I’d like to learn to trust my instincts and let everything else go.  Here’s to 2010, the year I leave my twenties behind.

xoxo.

Sarah

Does this merit a whole blog post?  I’m not sure, but seriously, LOOK AT THIS HAT.

You can get a hat like this here.

xoxo,

Sarah

I will be at the Stitch Lab grand opening next weekend, December 19-20!  There will be lots of vendors, snacks, and door prizes.  If you know Leslie (the owner of Stitch Lab), you know this will be fun.  Please stop by!

Here’s a little more info about Stitch Lab.  It’s at 1000 S. 1st Street in Austin.

xoxo,

Sarah