friday i'm in love...the comfort edition

December 18, 2020 Arlene Giddings

♥ with long periods of deep, uninterrupted, heavy comforting sleep

♥ manchester orchestra - the gold

♥ chicken noodle cup of soup with crackers

♥ cinnamon-spicy tea in a polka dot mug

♥ a book read by the glow of the christmas lights

♥ this guilty pleasure show

♥ my new smurf display

♥ it is the season of stripey leggings and oversized socks…

♥ coming home to find a big bag of smurfs on my doorstep
including these which I ABSOLUTELY LOVE!!! :)

happy friday…
i’m looking forward to curling up
on the couch with a blanket and a cup of soup
by the christmas tree
and losing myself in a good book
for the rest of the night.
♥♥♥

the world can also be sweet... (a sappy sunday post)

June 7, 2020 Arlene Giddings

i have been meaning
to write a blog post about this
all week
but time kept
getting away from me,
as it often does.

last weekend,
i got a fb message from a friend
telling me that she knew someone
who was selling some smurfs.

(Note: this is not an odd message
for me to get. Haha. I actually get
things like this pretty frequently
& love that people think of me
when they see this stuff, but I digress…)

normally, they are smurfs i have or
newer smurfs which is still pretty exciting
but this…
this was different.

i didn’t have these smurfs
AND THERE WERE
LITTLE TINY MUSHROOM HOUSES!
and…
YOU CAN OPEN THE DOORS
TO THE LITTLE TINY MUSHROOM HOUSES.

i will be honest.
i wanted them all.
but…i am a grown up
and sometimes grown ups have to
suck it up and settle for a little less
than what they really want
in the name of stupid bills and responsibility
and blah-dididy blah blah-blah.

so…
i said i would definitely take the houses
(cause…did i tell you? THE DOORS OPEN!)
and the baby smurf with the teddy bear.

then i went for a walk.

my friend said she had a friend
that was coming to summerside
& would drop the smurfs off in mailbox
(also not a strange occurrence…heehee)

later that day, i find that cute little red & blue
box in my mailbox…
WITH ALL THE SMURFS
and the HOUSES WITH THE DOORS THAT OPEN
in it.

i am not gonna lie…
i squealed out loud (and scared the dog)
and might have jumped up and down a little
and immediately texted my friend
to ask what she was doing!!
and to get her email address so I could etransfer…

and she just said…
pay it forward.

every day i am so incredibly grateful
for the people in my life.

whether it’s smurfs, tomato plants, lilacs,
a kind word, a hug, a borrowed book, a smile,
some teasing (which I take as a sign of affection),
an ice cream recommendation, a card order,
a blog comment, an offer to help,
a quick “just checking in” message,
a bit of advice, sweets left on my deck…
all of these little things make me feel…
happy.
and so frigging grateful. ♥

now….to plot how to pay this forward…heehee

Happy Sunday.

a very smurfilious post...

August 27, 2019 Arlene Giddings

i don’t pick favorites but…this one is kinda my favorite…heehee

here’s a fun fact that
maybe
you didn’t know about me…
i like smurfs.

well…all retro toys really…
but i really have a smurfy-spot
for these little guys…
maybe i identify with them
because they are only 3 apples tall…
but regardless the reason,
i just really love smurfs.

i had planned on collecting 99 smurfs
(including gargamel and azrael)
so that i could have the whole village
and maybe someday build mushrooms
out of paper mache and set up photo shoots…
yes. i apparently do have too much time on my hands.

i had been stuck at 89 smurfs for a bit…
but recently, some kind people have
passed along some new smurfs to me
so, it makes me incredibly happy to tell you
that i now have
ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN smurfs!!

I can’t tell you how excited i was..and how
much i love that people will randomly
bring me smurfs…i find them on my desk at work,
in my mailbox and when I am out for walks…
but a couple of weeks ago
my aunt Marie was having a family get-together
which is exciting enough on it’s own because
yay, family!
and double yay, chicken fricot!!! just the way i like it!!

but, as soon as i walked into the house
i saw a plastic yellow bin in the entry way
FULL OF SMURFS

and not just ANY smurfs.
i mean, i love all the smurfs i get…but these…
these were SMURFS I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE!

and i seriously couldn’t contain myself…
normally, i am a little more polite and reserved and calm
but i was literally like “ummmmm….
what are these here for” and when she said they were for me
i just about cried.

these were just so smurfingly smurfulous that
i had to do a small smurfy photo session
so i could share them here…
if you are not into smurfs,
well..you probably stopped reading 7 paragraphs ago…
heehee

and i know that now that i have reached my goal
i really, really should be done
but…i can’t…especially now that I have seen these guys…
i am telling you
i would not been more excited
if someone gave me diamonds…
it was sooooo fun to go through them
and see all the different ones…
and the papa smurfs…
sigh.

so smurfingly smurfy it just makes me want to smurf… :)

friday i'm in love....(where i realize i am watching too much tv)

October 13, 2017 Arlene Giddings

♥♥♥ with surprise desk deliveries of new toys for my collection...2 smurfs AND this
adorable cookie monster with an ice cream cone. sigh. such awesome sweet co-worker friends i have. ♥♥♥

♥♥♥ this show. i mean...it's about a kid called mayonnaise. and yeah, it's a kid's show.
but let's face it...that's what i apparently relate best to. oh...and if you watch it,
please tell me you laughed just as hard as i did at "i'm a banana".

♥♥♥ i have been listening to this a lot.

♥♥♥ and yeah...i got sucked into this. i didn't want to.
i watched the first one and was all like...what! that's not really what
Archie was like...why isn't jughead eating burgers...mr lodge isn't in jail!
but...i kinda wanna know what happened to jason blossom.
and the soundtrack isn't bad either.

♥♥♥ the response to the 365 robot love project.
and my favorite thing to hear is "my kid loves your robots".
that literally just makes my heart bounce up and down...
totally in a good way.

♥♥♥ flannel sheets back on the bed...big fluffy duvets...fuzzy socks...fleece lined leggings

♥♥♥ homemade strawberry sauce...how have i NEVER made this before...

♥♥♥ kindereggs with MINIONS

♥♥♥ fall leaves...

the worst thing about a great weekend

February 19, 2017 Arlene Giddings

is that you hate to see it come to an end.

yesterday i played around with
the watercolor paints a little bit more
and then we went to visit family and
i got to hold the sweetest teeniest tiniest baby!
i wish i had thought to take a photo
but i was just so absorbed in that sweet-brand-new-baby-smell...
:)

DISCLAIMER: i am certain that this was not my idea and feel like it was inspired by a photo i had seen on Pinterest, however, I couldn't find it. If i can find it, i will link to it here...

today has been all about sleeping in
and catching up on tutorials online,
a little of this, a little of that...
trying to make myself do laundry...
but damn it, i just don't wanna.

OH! and adding my new smurf members to the family!
a sweet friend showed up on the doorstep of the
big old orange house yesterday
with more smurfs...including a papa smurf that
I DID NOT HAVE!
and red from the fraggles...driving a radish, i think!
soooo excited!!!
thank you Elise!!!!