Anniversay Surprise

One of my best friends, Rachel (I lived with two other Rachels in college!) just had her 1 year anniversary with her luvah. This gentleman had emailed me a couple of weeks ago asking if I could make something special for him to give to her as a gift. After lots of back and forth brainstorming, we decided on a train with Jackson on the front. This is because a) she loves public transportation and b) after college, moved to Jackson MI where she met the love of her life. They recently moved to Dallas, TX. So, now that you have a brief biography of Rachel, I can continue.

Since Chris was always with Rachel, he had to be stealth in communicating with me. And so, he sent me a rapid doodle of a train on his iPhone.

And then, I made this!


And, thank god, she loved it.

Answers, I need answers! (and giveaway??)

 Welcome summer!

1) I counted 5 of those gym-bag-esque Longchamp nylon totes with leather straps going to work today. I must be missing something about them. Why are they so popular??

2) I think I love sitting in the train station watching ladies go by, admiring their work clothes. Weird? (Today I wore a knee length dark denim skirt with a loosey goosey yellow tee shirt tucked in, and thought I was being so fashion forward. False! Everyone was wearing skirts with shirts tucked in. A strappy strappy flat sandals.) 

3)I made a new homepage for my website. Do we like it? Too weird? Also, I'm thinking about changing my "line" from Rachel Ann Designs (I'm pretty sure there are 5,000 of those) to Rachel Says Hi. How do we feel about that?

So, you, dear reader, have some homework. Answer those three questions above in comment form! I will pick one lucky winner, who will be rewarded with something most delightful. Maybe a Bullet Buddy?? This will end Sunday night! If I remember.

Sparkle Shoes

A few months ago, I bought a pair of gold sparkly Toms shoes, and haven't looked back since. I wear them all the time. Sometimes people simply state, "those are sparkly shoes." I thank them, even though it isn't always clear if they mean it as a compliment. Today, however, on the train, they really had their moment in the sun.

There I sat, legs crossed, unsightly red and blue striped socks blaring, gold shoes sparkling. I didn't think anyone had noticed, but as I was getting off the train, a very fabulous looking older gal with giant sunglasses and all sorts of fun brooches, touched me on the shoulder, and said, "Your shoes make me smile. Thank you." 

How delightful is that? So, everyone reading this, go out and buy yourself a pair of Tom's. Not only will you be the constant belle of the ball, but for every pair of shoes you buy, the company gives a pair of shoes to a child in need. It's a win win!

Funny things on the train.

Hello.

I've been noticing lots of funny things on the train lately. (I live in Boston). And I really really wish I carried around a camera.

the first thing was a guy, pretty bulky, wearing a leather jacket and baseball cap, sitting across from me. At first he looked like a regular joe, but then I realized a tiny little brown puppy was zippered up in his coat, just so that his head was poking out! And the puppy would crane his head around, and the big guy would blow on his face and in his ear and talk puppy talk to him!

I guess you'll just have to imagine it.

Also, today, two girls were sitting next to each other reading a book by Jodi Picoult. I wanted to point it out to them but I didn't.

In other news,

I found this lovely blog, Black Box Reviews, who said some lovely words about my newest Pacman earrings! http://blackboxreviews.blogspot.com/.

She also posted about an Etsy shop that sells this Valentines Day Card:
I hope Ben gives me a card like that.