Friday, June 25, 2010

Sister's Shoebox Swap

Recently I participated in a Sister's Shoebox Swap hosted by Monica and Carrie.  It was a truly delightful experience as I was able to "meet" a lovely Australian lady who is originally from Germany.  Regina is truly a breath of fresh air and you should see the package I received in the mail!  And it only took two days, yes you read that correctly two days, to get from Western Australia to the middle of the U.S, yep Indiana.  It came at such as opportune time as I was feeling a bit peaked from the tooth gone bad... (let's just leave it at there was infection under an old root canal which required extraction... and then a case of dry socket even after following doc's instructions!!)  Regina is truly a talented lady!  You should see the stunning pictures of her gardens and house.  She truly has an eye for beauty and such a sweet spirit!!



Not only was it beautifully wrapped (I started to include the front of the package when I realized it has our full address!)


The package included a beautiful scarf which I later found out she purchased from an op shop (similar to our thrift/consignment stores, I think) which I personally think is so cool!  Yes, I know I used the word cool at my age... I love finding a good deal especially if it means being able to repurpose or regift something!!  I hate to see things go to waste.  Now back to this incredible package... Litle packages of Australian native seeds, mixed chocolates, macadamia nuts, cinnamon macadamia/almonds/cashews, honey roasted nuts, adorable buttons, australian flags (the kind on toothpicks), fruit balls, (pineapple, date, cherry, and pawpaw), a small jar of Vegemite, a box of chocolate covered macadamias, wonderful teas, a butterfly, small orange tongs, a natural hand scrub, pasta w/ a map of Australia on the box, iron bark honey, Lucas papaw treatment,  mango & macadamia conserve, and the most incredible piece of native Aborigine art!  Oh I almost forgot about the homemade ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Air Corps) cookies (they were gone before the day was out!!)  And everything was wrapped with ribbon and a small flower.  (I see the flowers being used in an arrangement!) 

Regina, I know you don't have a blog but I wanted to just say how thankful I am!  You truly went over and above with this box!  And I must say I am truly enjoying getting to know you and look forward to the future and getting to know you better!

These are the things I put in Regina's box... 




Because Regina does not have a blog she asked me if I would post a picture of her box from me...

"the parcel arrived today! Thank you so much. The scarf is beautiful & I really like it and will surely get a lot of wear out of it, I can't wait to try out the tortilla press and we've devoured the chocolate bars already :) Came home and were rather hungry, so the choccy bar came in very handy. The soap smells and looks really nice and again I'm wanting to try it out straight away.


I've taken a photo, will you be able to put it up on your blog, please? ...... It will be interesting to see what everyone has posted/received. The photo is attached.

Thank you very much for all the goodies - it is nice to get a surprise parcel! Must do this more often for others, it's so much fun as well." - Regina

I can't begin to say what a blessing this has been.  Drop on over to Carrie's to see the other posts!!

Edit: Mrs. K was kind enough to point out both addresses were visible so I took a minute to photo shop them out!  Thank you

5 comments:

  1. Peggy - sounds like you had a great partner too! Just wanted to let you know that you can see both addresses in the envelope on the bottom picture, might want to photoshop that out.

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  2. Wow, you both sent such fun boxes! It's especially neat to see the stuff from Australia!

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  3. Mrs. K, thank you so very much! I went back in a editted the photos so now NO addresses are showing!!

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  4. Peggy, thank you for your kind words! It was lovely getting to know you a little and so enjoyable packing a parcel for you.
    But I must make sure that all the lovely goodies that you've sent over are mentioned :-)
    Apart from the scarf, tortilla press, soap & chocolate bars I received two packets of fancy tissues. Can someone pls leave suggestions on how I can repurpose them? They are too nice to used only as tissues!
    The package also included two lovely note books, particularly handy since chequered paper is hard to come by in Australia.
    Tea bags were also included, one of which I'm enjoying right now, just the right thing to have on a cool winter day that we're having today.
    Two huge packets of dried Shitake mushrooms will make all the mushroom lovers of our household happy once they are included in a meal!
    And I really liked how you repurposed that lovely Pashmina scarf and used it as wrapping for the Tortilla press together with the wide satin ribbon, which certainly will be re-used to grace another gift.
    My collection of owls also had an addition with a cute carved owl from the States.


    A big thank you not only to Peggy for her lovely thoughtful parcel, emails and comments, but also to Monica and Carrie for hosting this shoebox swap. As I've mentioned in my email to Peggy, this has inspired me to pack a few more surprise gift boxes. It's sure lovely to get a gift apart from birthdays, Christmas etc, but equally if not nicer to be able to pack a surprise gift for someone. Especially someone you haven't even met before!

    On the time it took to arrive in Indiana - normal transit time with Australia Post is 7 - 10 business days. I wanted to make sure it would arrive in time and thus send it via courier. They stated 2 - 4 business days. To have it delivered within 2 days is just amazing.

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  5. What a sweet idea. I hope your tooth situation is better - that's just horrible pain.

    Uhh, 2 days? That's great. I love all of the neat treats. What a great way to encourage women all over the globe :)

    Thanks for sharing.

    Sarah

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