Happy Friday!  I love Friday! 

Today, my favorite thing is a little box.  My friend, Pam, from Oregon gave it to me for my birthday years ago and I have loved it ever since.  Pam is an unbelievable gift-giver.  She finds unusual, one-of-a-kind items.  She always seems to know just the right thing to give.  I am not like Pam.  At all.  I don’t like to shop and I always over think gifts and get sort of paralyzed.  I wish I were more like Pam.

This little box is about 3″ x 3″ x 5″ – very little.  It has a black velvet lining and is made of pressed tin, hammered to a wooden frame with tiny nails.   It is perfect for my earrings and I keep it on the dresser in my bedroom.  

I imagine that Pam found it in some funky store in Southeast Portland and maybe thought of me.  (Or, maybe she just bought it and thought of me later.  Or maybe she bought it for herself and then had to come up with a last minute gift for me, grabbed this off of her dresser and sent it to me.  Or maybe someone else gave it to her and she didn’t like it….nah.)  I don’t care, because she has a great eye for design and an amazing sense of style and most importantly, she is a very, very thoughtful friend.  As I said, I wish I were more like Pam because Pam deserves to have a friend just like herself! 

This little box is rustic and beautiful and makes me think of my friend, Pam - and that makes me really happy!

To be honest, I was reluctant to sit down and do the “Favorite Things Friday” post this morning because I dreaded having to find 10 things I would be willing to let go.  But the truth is that it was actually much easier than I thought.  Here are the things that don’t make me feel happy and I am getting out of my house today:

1.  Big ole hydrangea wreath – pretty once, but faded now.

2.  Pad of drawing paper which is warped so no one uses it.

3.  Dry erase board (which doesn’t erase anymore).

4.  Little girl’s woven purse – previously used to carry around knitting projects.

5.  Knitting yarn which I am never going to use.

6.  Kid’s knitting bobbin and instructions – because my kids don’t knit.

7.  Picture frames I don’t like.

8.  Old candles which do not look perky enough to use anymore.

9.  White shelves (set of 4) which are too small to be useful.

10.  Dead plants (because, you know, I have kept them for a long time but I think I can learn to live without them.)

As you can see – this is actually more than 10 individual items because whole categories of things are getting wiped out – like bad frames, lazy candles and strikingly ordinary knitting yarn.  It may seem wasteful to get rid of these things and not try to re-purpose them, but each and everyone of these items has been hanging around my house for a long time waiting for that to happen – and it just ain’t going to happen.  When I see these items around my house, I think about what I should do with them, I feel bad that I haven’t done anything with them yet, and I remind myself that I really should decide what to do with them soon.  Enough already.  Moving them on creates room to breathe and think and appreciate the things I do want to keep.  Like the little tin box from my friend, Pam.