autumn swap!!!!!!!

October 27th, 2008

Below are some pictures i took yesterday morning while in chagrin falls, to see my parents (who were not home at 8:30 in the morning, because they were out chopping wood for fire, which i though was such a cute fall morning!). I also went to Chagrin to see my BFF, Beth, who Saturday night became betrothed to her lovely boyfriend, jimmy! We had a lovely cup of coffee, the 3 of us and giggled about their big news!

So, since joining the blog world (already 7 months ago now!!), I would have to say my favorite thing, besides having a venue to exhibit things that inspire or make me happy, is the way it connects people from all over the world. Those who fear that all this advanced technology takes away the ‘humanness’ from communication or complain it is all too impersonal - They are not considering the fact that this technology, specifically internet and blogging, is connecting people that would otherwise have NO good reason to have ever crossed-paths! what a romantic notion that is to me!

I was so excited to be a part of Sofia Barao’s AUTUMN SWAP…an opportunity to SEND comfort, in the form of a comfort drink, a comfort food, comfort food for the soul, and a comfort surprise, to another participating blogger. All I have to go on is the person’s blog and a list of some of their likes/dislikes. NO ONE knows who has their name or what to expect, just that we have some comfort package being sent to us from someone somewhere in the world.

We are to POST our gifts WITHOUT mentioning who they are destined to, so without giving away too much, I can just say that, I was charmed by this person’s blog, she lives many thousands of miles away from me and other than the fact that she is a chocolate and coffee type of gal, I cannot say anything more, as I fear it would give it away to the person before she has received her package…and what fun would that be!

I have chosen things that I think she will like, but have also tried to find Cleveland-centric items, so for the coffee lover, I have chosen a Fair Trade Organic 1lb of coffee beans called KARMA which is from Phoenix Coffee Shop. For the chocolate lover, I have selected a 12-piece chocolate set filled with the flavors she savors from an amazing chocolatier right here in Cleveland, named Lilly Handmade Chocolate (see more on this in my next post). I have included one of my favorite books, because I really get the sense she may like it! I did not want to pick anything from my own store as it kind of felt like cheating, but ultimately couldn’t resist, and so after picking 3 of the 4 items from elsewhere, i also threw in a few things from my store that seemed to fall into something she could be interested in, one for art projects or correspondence and another merely for the look of it!!