July 20th, 2017

I don't know about you but the daily contents of our mailbox rarely are surprising.  Lots of ads, occasionally a bill (most of those are electronic these days),  sometimes a magazine which is especially odd because I have not subscribed to any magazines, and charities looking for donations. That's pretty much it most of the time.  But occasionally, there is a surprise.

One day this week, there was a padded, manila envelope much like this one.  A Surprise!  Woohoo!  In was in the box upside down so I couldn't read who it was for right away.  I took it and all the other mail in the house.  Once inside, I put the rest of the mail on the kitchen table and concentrated solely on the mailing envelope. To keep the suspense going, I ever so slowly turned it over and read.  It's for me!  Woohoo again!   A surprise package for me!  Who is it from?  My sister!  Woohoo a third time!  A surprise package for me from my sister! 

I considered waiting to open it because sometimes I like to drag out the anticipation but this time I just couldn't wait.  I opened it to find a pair of earrings and a pin.  Awwwwww!~  So sweet.   Clearly from Yellowstone where she is for the summer, I put on the earrings immediately.

Very delicate and lightweight for all the detail.  I barely knew I had them on. So pretty!  And by the way, those are the highest mountains here in Florida. (teehee)  My shorter haircut works with them very well too.  Perfect!

Now the questions was, what to do with the pin.  I actually like pins.  I inherited a handful from my Nana and have been gifted a few others.  When I lived in cold weather places I wore them more. Usually on the lapels of blazers or heavy sweaters.  Occasionally on the lapel of a winter coat, perhaps the wide waistband of a skirt and occasionally at the collar of the dress shirt.  Here I wear a lot of tee shirts which really aren't sturdy enough to hold a pin well.  And although  there is a very brief time when it's cool enough for a sweater or a blazer it's never a temperature that will tolerate a winter coat.  Consequently, I rarely wear any of my pins now.  It's kind of sad.

I really wanted to wear this one. It's very special for several reasons.  First of course, it's a gift from my sister!  And if that wasn't special enough, it's a pin that a person cannot buy.  It can only be given by a wildlife ranger (which she is).  Then I realized I had the perfect vehicle for this pin. 

When Tim and I did our birthday trip to Disney, the afternoon of the last day was filled with one rainstorm after another.  We ran from doorway to doorway, we got wet, and finally we broke down and bought.....rain ponchos?  No. That would have made sense.  No we bought hats.  I don't know why, but that was our solution to the rain. Hats.  Which actually worked out. While our bodies got wet,  the hats kept the rain out of our faces and off of our heads and later, protected us from the sun as well. Maybe it was the better choice after all.  Tim and I are both hat people. We actually own and wear them.  So now we both had new hats for our collections.

Tim's hat has no Disney design on it. Nothing at all which surprised me.  I don't know how he managed that. I thought Everything at Disney was branded.   My hat had only the tiniest little decal of Minnie Mouse on the hatband.  Which I was fine with at the time.  But I realized once I got home that while I'm okeydokey  wearing Minnie Mouse at the park, not so much at home.  I tried to see if I could snip the decal off the hatband but no, it would leave a hole. Dang.  I would have to replace the hatband entirely. So okay. I decided that I would be  wearing Minnie Mouse. The world will not come to an end.  And that was that.

Until now!  I carefully put the pin right over Minnie.  (which also means, that if I want to sport a mouse on my hat, I can also remove the pin) It is perfection!  Almost as if that was it's intended place to be worn all along.

Come on, be fair, if you didn't know that Minnie was underneath, would you notice it?  I think not.  Oh and the part with the two tiny stars?  That is a second pin that I have...there was a teensy bit of Minnie showing at the bottom and that little two star pin, which I now see is a little crooked and I need to straighten it, looks good there. Almost looks like part of the actual pin.  It says, Wolf Ambassador.  Tell me that isn't the coolest thing ever. I won't believe you if you do.  

Here am I sporting my entire new ensemble:

Thank you Joy for all my new stuff!  Thank you for a surprise in my mailbox!  I just love it! I was just tickled to bits all day long.

Wishing all of you, surprises in your mailbox, if not today, then one day soon. Mailbox surprises are just the absolute best.