Thank you Yoko!

I must say, that along this crazy ride called berrysprite, I have had the opportunity to get to know so many truly awesome, creative and genuinly sweet people, mostly through email conversations and mutual blog/flickr reading/ commenting. And actually, it really brightens my day to know how many good people there are out there and how many friends I have around the world, even if we do only "talk" online. However, it was so nice to finally get to meet one of my blog readers face to face; as a result I am convinced she is indeed sweeter than a sugar cube. Meeting her all came about because she wanted to make space in her home but didn't want to throw her items away, and thought that I would like them (she even offered to catch the bus somewhere to give them to me!) We ended up meeting at a coffee shop and talking for a tiny bit and though I could only stay for a little while it was so great to talk with her and definitely just as nice meeting her as receiving free goodies from Japan! My conversation with her serves to confirm my belief that I would need a TON of money to go to Japan (though it would totally be worth it for all the kawaii items and nice people, culture and history) and that I would most likely be broke but euphoric after coming home! I'm so touched by her kindness; I'll make sure to reciprocate on my blog in the near future.

Here are some pictures of most (there was quite a bit) of the lovely things she gave me;

(clockwise from upper left hand corner)

• a japanese book with instructions on making pop-up cards,
• *fancy file folders and a "Hello my name is: You can't afford me" bag
• *oregano that grows in a bag
• *miniatures from Japan
• japanese candles shaped like sweets, hello kitty sponges, a clip, a keychain shaped like snacks, a rabbit phone charm, and penguin decals for a cell phone
• boxed mini origami set (but the papers are really nice, not like a normal set!)
  

I'd have to say, however, that the best thing I was given was this: my first ever amigurumi book! That's right, FIRST EVER! I'm not sure if you guys remember this about me, but I'm completely self taught with the amigurumi-ness; it's been a lot of making and remaking amigurumi until I think they look right, and then I usually don't write down the pattern anyway so I have to remake the pattern or memorize them (I actually have most of them memorized- but there's always a bobble here and there).

I don't know if I hid my excitement in the coffee shop that well, but I didn't want to scare the other patrons with my shrieking. I will treasure it always! And although there are so many cute projects; here are my two of my favorites for your viewing pleasure:

So thank you so much again, Yoko, for being so sweet and lovely!