Would You Buy Me a House?

... if you had a million dollars, that is?

I have several friends that right around my birthday every year tell me that it is slightly difficult to shop for me for my birthday. To which I say, are you on crack?

K has no problem with thinking of gifts for me because I'm greedy. Here are a few things she would buy for me (mind you these are mostly in her own words):

1. a bag of chips (Food Should Taste Good Multigrain Tortilla Chips, to be specific)

2. Chipotle gift card for a million dollars

3. a bookstore giftcard

4. a case of mac and cheese with barq's rootbeer on the side (I have no idea what she is talking about, and also why I am not losing weight...)

5. a Sephora gift card

6. pottery something...

7. cake

8. something from Pampered Chef (no worries, K, Carrie will hook you up!)

9. a bustier with some hot pink feathers please (don't ask me, this is K's list)

10. a computer that will play sims without video card issues

11. a new cell phone (but hey, why wait for my birthday?)

12. an avocado and a block of cheese

13. some high heels (the higher the better- and suprisingly, K was not the one who suggested high heels for the desert island)

14. a cookbook

15. plane tickets to go somewhere exciting

16. a book

17. something Muppets something. something.

18. Movies!

19. artwork to hang on our sad pathetic bare naked walls

20. Holli's own amazing photography artwork (don't laugh if you're reading this, I) framed

21. A lamp for my room

22. the perfect piece of pottery to give to my dad

23. another new cell phone for when I break the first one.

And that was only in the course of a five minute brainstorming session. And most of them were serious. The chips one was serious, not a joke. They bring me joy and make great nachos.

See how easy that was? Basically the message here is if you can't think of something to get me for a gift, obviously you have not brainstormed with K. Or been in my apartment. Or read my blog. Basically you are a terrible, horrible friend.

But seriously.

I've received a lot of gifts in my life. I've had 31 birthdays and 31 Christmases. Thinking back, there are certain gifts that stick out. Some examples, in no particular order:

1. The bowling ball, with shiney purple shoes and a carrying bag. How cool is that?

2. Muppets mugs. The Cutest Muppets Mugs. Ever. Still my favorite thing in my kitchen to drink from.

3. A plane ticket home from BYU to surprise my parents for Thanksgiving Freshman year. You may think you had the coolest college roommates ever, but you didn't. I did. It helped that there were five of them to pitch in.

4. A framed poster size picture of the Eiffel Tower I took when I was in Paris.



5. A homemade card made with love and sunshine. Because I work with the sweetest teenagers in the world.




6. A dump truck. Little Man picked it out himself. He wanted to share something that he liked with me. He is an exceptionally thoughtful boy.


7. A piece of artwork created specifically for me. Again, I work with such thoughtful kids! One of my teens made me a window for my office since I didn't have one, with a view of one of my favorite places I have traveled so far: Paris.

If you were closer not only would you note the Eiffel Tower, but also the little child with the balloon and walking with her mother, who is wearing a red beret and carrying a red purse, towards it. My kid (and by kid I mean 15 year old) whipped this up in 15 or 20 minutes.

The picture was double sided. The second side was a Parisian cafe, with the eiffel tower in the uper left corner. It's currently mostly covered by the curtain.

What do all of these things have in common? They were so stinking thoughtful, I can hardly stand it! In all of these cases, the person/people who gave the gift to me were so excited they could hardly stand it. They had become excited because they had thought about the gift, researched (in their own ways), come up with a plan, and presented it with fanfare. To me, that makes the best gift. A gift that was bought/made with thought, love, and care. And possibly a little bit of sneakiness. I like a well planned out surprise. I would not have asked for any of these things. When you ask me what I want, this is part of the reason I am resistant to giving you a list, even though my family gets one every year (my sisters often ignore my list and get me what they want, which is also totally cool). Really, isn't a person thinking about what would make you happy, and finding joy in your happiness a very cool thing? I think it is.