Spoiled from the Land Down Under!

I received my ISE6 swap package yesterday and was totally blown away! Christine from Austalia (make sure you check out her cool etsy shop!) was my amazing spoiler and has become a great new friend! She kept in touch with me all throughout the swap and after she mailed off the package, started dropping clues here and there, which made it quite fun. Christine also really paid attention to my blog and learned a lot about me, which is evident in the goodies she sent.

Matt came home from the post office yesterday and immediately said "Honey... why is someone in another country sending you yarn??" LOL, silly men... I tore in to the box right away and found this "Save a Life" tote inside the box, filled with all these beautifully wrapped goodies...

The tote is from Little Lizzy Lou and is a blue ribbon girl, showing awareness for Colon Cancer (quick Mom update... she just finished up her last round of the chemo pill and is going in for a cat scan, then to meet with her doctor this week!)!!! I just love Little Lizzy and was so touched when I found out the story behind the bag!

When I tore in to all the pretty packages, I just kept finding more and more meaningful things...

Christine sent not one, but two beautious scarves, a skein of Silk Merino 8ply from The Knittery (what to make, what to make??!!), a cute doggy tape measure, a pet towel from the RSPCA (which, in its compressed form, Sophie thinks is a cool new toy), 2 wonderful buttons/pins (Shut Down Puppy Mills & Adopt Shelter Pets - love them!), a sock blocker keychain with yarn from The Unique Sheep, chocolate coated espresso beans from Zentveld's Coffee (Christine says the beans are grown not far from her house) and the coolest handmade doggy theme notecards ever! I absolutely love everything and it means so much to me that Christine took the time to find dog & rescue related items, as well as colon cancer. Thank you Christine - I love it all! I had so much fun with this swap and can't wait for ISE7!

Now on to some more pics... first up, the gorgeous Silk Merino yarn....

Beautious #1 (I still can't believe I got two!).... the Wavy scarf in a gorgeous, vibrant red! I almost can't wait for fall to wear this...

The second is Christine's own take on the Midwest Moonlight scarf and it is absolutely stunning! She used another of The Knittery's yarns, the Merino Chubby Sock (I just might have to order me some of this yarn soon... shhh, don't tell Matt!) in a colorway that is just so me, called Purple Night... this scarf is so stunning I'm actually sitting here with it drapped around my neck now!


My kids were being nosey helped with the photo shoot today...



After the scarf pics were taken, I took the opportunity to work on that elusive good shot of all 4 kids and managed a few that I do love (for those of you who always ask how - well, 1) have treats in your hand and 2) use a digital camera as it will require several hundred shots to narrow it down to a few good ones)...


These evil things were also watching... but I made sure to keep my distance and will be even more sure to send Matt out there with some hornet spray tonight... ick!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend... I need to get back to procrastinating packing...