so glad i was born...may 3 2008 gratitudes

my word, i think my heart is so full with so much joy that it just might be too much for one girl to handle. i am a lucky girl. my sweet family, friends, and fiance are the most special people and i can't believe they are mine. so many birthday gratitudes for one post...

1. my mother/best friend came up to new york for my birthday weekend. we shopped at junk stores in brooklyn, ate really delicious food and cute n fancy restaurants(just how i like it) and walked all over the city.

2. saw the henry darger exhibit at the folk museum with my mom. it was the first time she has seen his work. his pieces were juxtaposed with artists inspired by him and we were blown away.

3. of all the dear presents she gave me, she pulled on my heartstrings and made me cry with the book she made me, "pepperlovesginny...the story of a very good cat". She typed and collaged and scanned photos/illustrations i made as a child of my beloved kitty who lived to be 19, but passed away a month ago. i loved this cat so dearly and she followed me everywhere and never left my side. she has a gift for writing children's stories...and making you cry!

4. the box of photos of eddie and i throughout the last 11 years she collected. inside the two halves of the boxes she decoupaged a love letter from my grandfather to my grandmother. probably one of the most romantic letters i have ever read. talk about swoon!

5. chelsea's mother is in town. last night chelsea and her sweet momma gave me birthday presents-a book of love, a tiny fabric heart, and cups and saucers with my intitials and with mushrooms and hedgehogs. this morning we had breakfast at 7A-year and a day and their mothers...

6. my cupcakes from the cupcake queen, meagan bennett. she spelled out my name and made a mini heart cake with 24 on it. pink and girly and shiny. vanilla with buttercream icing. i love this girl. she makes everyone around her feel special and her laugh might be one of the most contagious laughs ever!

7. haynes sang me a birthday song and came out with me to brooklyn so we could see kristi and maddy. i love those girls and i do not see them nearly enough.

8. my beautiful hanger that was a gift to my mother for her wedding dress that her mother's friend made for her. i'm in love with it.

9. my pete cooney headband bow. for my birthday last year he made the original pete cooney bow out of a marc jacobs black grosgrain ribbon and i wear it almost everyday. this year he made a silky mauve number with ruffles and a sparkly applique with hand beaded tassels. we joke around that it sort of looks like something naughty...i'm in love with it!

10. amy merrick. she outdid herself in every way possible. she managed in the very little time we have actually been friends to have managed to have given me one of the most deeply personal, on-the-money bundle of gifts i have received from someone other than my mother. holy smokes...
*she gave me a set of shiny, gold pencils that say "hi, i'm ginny branch, and i love love". my mother used to give me pencils like this when i was a child for my back-to-school parties. they represent the best parts of my childhood.
*she gave me a framed silhouette of myself. i had literally, 15 minutes earlier, said to my mother how i wanted to use a silhouette of myself with a big ole hairbow as my business card while we were in greenwich letterpress looking at wedding invitations...eerie. its amazing.
*she MADE me a dress by splicing to beautiful vintage dress halves and made one of the most "ginny branch" dresses i have ever seen. i kind of never want to take it off. ever. its perfect. dusty pink lace skirt with a black, horizontal pintucked top with a huge bow at the neckline. and its a sack dress!!!!!

11. the only missing part of this day was my darling man pounding away at papers and books for his law school exams. no matter...for this is the last birthday i will have to be apart from him. he is the gift that keeps on giving and i get to be in his arms in a week.

i am so glad i was born.