OPENING DAY HAS ARRIVED!!!! HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!! :bananadance:



1. SimplyCee received! from Bibliocrates
2. cheesygiraffe - received! from Marlene
3. zzz - received! from stellarv
4. darkpunkangel - received! from Lemonitsa
5. ramson - received! from ladyjanet
6. CheriePie - received! from lexilewords
7. FranciJo - received! from msjoanna
8. Lemonitsa - received! from Giz-Angel
9. xallroyx - received! from geishabird
10. appaloosatb - received! from FranciJo
11. redhot-brat - received! from boogal
12. wss4 - received! from terra57
13. KathyB - received! from wss4
14. camis - received! from Xeyra
15. Marlene - received! from Amberkatze
16. sunlightbub - received! from Juliet982
17. Giz-Angel - received! from bluecat07
18. boogal - received! from chronicbooker
19. cowgirl-up - received! from rebeccaljames
20. sejent - received! from ctgmom
21. alsgal - received! from xallroyx
22. dancing-dog - received! from zzz
23. msjoanna - received! from redhot-brat
24. CdnBlueRose - received! from KathyB
25. ctgmom - received! from sejent
26. stellarv - received! from darkpunkangel
27. bluecat07 - received! from sunlightbub
28. nikel27 - received! from camis
29. Amberkatze - received! from nikel27
30. ladyjanet - received! from cheesygiraffe
31. zosime - received! from CheriePie
32. chronicbooker - received! from cowgirl-up
33. terra57 - received! from appaloosatb
34. peachy93722 - received! from dancing-dog
35. lexilewords - received! from SimplyCee
36. Bibliocrates - received! from ramson
37. geishabird - received! from CdnBlueRose
38. Xeyra - received! from zosime
39. Bunnylady - received! from alsgal
40. rebeccaljames - received! from BunnyLady
41. Juliet982 - on the way! from peachy93722

Since I officially have another day to go here in the States I will wait til tomorrow to open my packages.

I know! Wouldn't it be great to be able to open it NOW?? I'm so jealous of the overseas folks who are ahead of us.

Rosie you've been a awesome Exchange hostess. :hug: :kiss:

Hopefully all of the 11 packages in transit arrive today or tomorrow!! :)

Aw, thanks cheesy! :hug:

Not long to go now...I now I won't wait up untilmidnight so it will be fun in the morning to see what our Aussie / NZ participants have received and then open mine :bananadance:

Thanks Rosie for all your work :hug:

I received two book shaped valentines packages today :bananadance:

It IS fun to watch other's openings, isn't it? ;)

:hug:

I'm sure those are just DISGUISED in book shape - who would send you BOOKS?? ;) :hug:

:bounce: It's getting soooo close!! Looking forward to seeing what everybody got , myself included. :giggle:

:hug:

We don't have any Aussie in this exchange? :huh:

No, none of our Aussie friends joined this one..... :(

aargh too bad.

Sunny, perfect timing!

I forgot to take my meds last night and now I suffer the consequenses. :ph34r:
so I am going to bed and try to get some sleep.

Tomorrow will be fun!!

I have a really busy day at work tomorrow so I am not going to stay up - but never fear I will be posting tomorrow evening when I get home!!!!

I have a really unhealthy habit of staying up most of the night before a big trip (I should mop the kitchen! When was the last time I vacuumed the stairs? Now let's scrub toilets!) so I'll certainly be opening my first package at midnight. :boogie:

I'm usually still packing myself the night before so I never make it to bed either. Then I usually like to catch an early morning flight, say between 8 and 9, and then sleep on the plane. Not much different from now in any case. :lol:

Yeah, I haven't packed yet either. :blush: And I need to be on the road to the airport by about 4:45, so it makes sleep seem a little pointless.

Thank you Nikel for my Valentine's package!

I had to pick it up from the post office so it was in work waiting for me.

With lots of chocolates inside I nearly didn't find anything else in the box.

However there were 2 books. 1 work wishlist book which I now have doubled (didn't think anyone would send me a Kindergarten book!) and another book that looks good but I can't remember the name of right now.

There were also some soaps and a lovely looking necklace inside the box. If I find anything else later I will post again.

Thank you Cupid. :wub:

I'm opening my package now! I seem to be all alone. What's up with all the sleepyheads? :shrug:

Hey, I see you Brat! :wave:

Okay, I've opened my giant Amazon box and inside I see a packing slip, which I will hide from myself because my Sweetheart forgot to keep her name off of it. ;)

I also see some of those plastic packing pillows and a smaller box. What the heck, they packed a box inside another box? Is this going to be like one of those little Russian dolls?

There is also a very small box of Kellogg's Smart Start Healthy Heart Cinnamon Raisin cereal. Looks yummy!

Oh, wow! I've taken the little box out of the big box now, and it says Numi Tea on the side. I adore Numi!

Everything inside the box is wrapped up tightly in thick white paper. They don't want to make this easy for me, do they?

:o The white paper was wrapping up a gorgeous bamboo box. The label on the box says it is a Bamboo Flowering Tea Gift Set with 9 different flowering teas inside. I have always wanted to try this stuff! Wow wow wow!

I'm taking the label off so I can open the box, but I'm getting distracted because some of the gooey bits holding the label on don't want to let go of my bamboo. Curse you, sticky bits! Let go!

Okay, I've got most of the goo off now. This box is so pretty! It says "Numi" on top, and it has very snazzy fasteners on the side and the lid is hinged.

Inside the box I see lots of paper ribbony stuff, something clear wrapped in bubble wrap, and a smaller bamboo box. I knew it! It is like those dolls! :giggle:

The bubble wrap is covering the most wonderful little clear glass tea pot, so I can show off my flower tea when it's brewing. I cannot wait to try this!

The little box has the same sort of hinged lid and snazzy fastener as the big box, and inside is the flowering tea. Wow, they're all so different! Some of them are sort of cone shaped, and some look like pressed flowers, and some are tight little round balls. The paper inside says I have Four kinds of white tea: Dragon Lily (an orange blossom with a "velvety luscious apricot flavor"; Lavender Dream (a red hibiscus flower with aromatic laventer); Starlight Rose (Silver needle tea with a rose bud); and Flower Jewel (a pink amaranth flower with jasmine scents)

Three kinds of green tea: Emerald sun (mellow and nutty); Jade Fortune (Unfolds into an array of wild petals); & Jasmine Pearls (hand rolled with fresh jasmine blossoms)

Two kinds of black tea: Midnight Peony (rare black tea with "radiant lingering notes") and Black Beauty (unfolds into spires like a cathedral and smells of roses)

I don't think I've ever had such fancy tea! I am going to feel so amazingly spoiled drinking this stuff. Thank you thank you thank you, you are a wonderful fabulous generous Cupid!!!

My apologies for the overly long, drawn out, and unnecessarily detailed post, but I just had a fabulous time opening this package! Thank you so much, Valentine. :hug: :kiss: :wub:

Well since It's after midnight (ok , just barely) and I'm still up..... I decided to go ahead and open my box.

I received 2 wishlist books. :yahoo: :dance:

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman and Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. A VERY cool double heart-shaped magnetic bookmark and little bitty (palm sized) Peanuts (Charlie Brown) Valentine's book. I've always liked the Peanuts, but since moving to Minnesota (Charles Schulz home state) I've grown even more found of them.

There was also a very cute Valentine's card. It has Piglet on it. I LOVE Piglet. He is my favorite character from the Winnie-The-Pooh collections (Eyeore's a close 2nd).

Big Thanks to Boogal for the great gifts! :kiss: :wub:

I see you too Zosime. :P I hope your Cupid picked well. I think they did (Can you tell I know who it is) :P :giggle:

Zosime,

Your Sweetheart asked me to convert the card that she stupidly forgot to enclose in your 2nd package :dunce: into a movie file, so see if you can view this:

http://mysite.verizon.net/cheriepie/junk/S...s_Xchg_2008.avi

I also opended my package before going to work and here is what I found from my Valentine exchange partner camis :)

Chocolate Heart Lollie
Chocolate Marshmallows :yum:

Rubber cartride pen
pretty bookmark

and two books:

Jack Canfield & Mark Victor Hansen "Chicken Soup for the Soul"
Robin Lee Hatcher "Beyond the Shadows"

Can't wait to :reading: these to books.

Thanks again camis for making my day.

Nicolé aka nikel27

I am trying to open my box now but there is a ton of tape and I can't find any scissors. Using a key to slice it off is not going well.

Sounds like some neat gifts so far! :grin:

Zosime, I wanna try some of that tea please! :yum:

Tea party! :lol:

Awww, what a sweet card! But you may have stayed up too late if you are talking to yourself, dear Valentine. ;)

Thank you so much for the wonderful gift, Cherie! I feel terribly spoiled already! :hug:

I was going to wait to see what goodies Ramson got too, but it's getting late and morning is going to come extra early for me tomorrow. :( I guess I'll just have to wait and find out in the morning with all the other packages that'll be getting opened then.

Zosime ... it was fun watching your "overly long and overly detailed" post keep growing. It was likely watching a kid on Christmas Morning. :rofl:

Night all & Sweet Dreams. Cya all in the morning.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYBODY

It sounds like you had just as much fun with all the little plastic packaging thingies and extras than if I'd remembered to have them gift wrap it for you in the first place! :giggle:

And remember to save some room in your luggage for ahem, the more "book-ish" part of your gift, which is being delivered to your parents' tomorrow! :kiss:

I'm glad you really liked the teapot and teas! :hug:

Nice gifts so far. I just got home from volleyball so I'm hitting the shower and heading to bed (I'm exhausted). I'll open my package in the morning.

Night all!

Ok, apparently that wasn't my Vday box afterall. It was Lemonista just being nice and sending me some containers. Thanks so much!!!!

Poor Ramson! And after all that work to break into your box, too.

:giggle: Now you know what "torture" feels like too! :neener: :razz: :tease:

Good morning everyone!!!

So, I have here a lovely box filled with Valentine stickers I've just opened and Good heavens, I've been spoiled!! The box was packed with stuff, wrapped in pretty red paper. So I started the unwrapping!

I began with the book-shaped ones and discovered the four books in The Immortals Series by Tamora Pierce! :yahoo: :yahoo: (I would have used the cheering bananas but I remembered there are people who don't like them :lol: )



Thank you so so so much, my sweet Valentine!

But that wasn't all! The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was this super cute cow plushie with Wisconsin written on the side. It's so cute!! :wub: :wub:

Then came the rest, almost all of which was wrapped so well I was trying hard not to rip the paper open but ended up having to because I suck at not ruining wrapping paper.

- Stationary! Two note pads, one a magnetic pad, the other a smaller heart-shaped one with a little frog kind on the top. :D

- Incense cones and sticks, with a holder, smelling like berries. Loved it!

- Multi-colored little pens!

- Hot chocolate flavored lip balm!! :whistle:

- A pack of milk chocolate Hershey's Kisses!! We don't have this brand around here! They look absolutely yummy.

- Another package of chocolate squares with caramel filling. Oh my diet!! :P

And finally, to top it all off, a lovely Valentine's card from my amazing partner, the one and only, the wonderful.

ZOSIME!!!
:wub: :wub: :wub: :wub:

Thank you so much for the wonderful package. I absolutely loved everything about it. Especially that super cute plushie!!! :hug:

Ok, here goes - opening my 5 packages :o

First up is



then



then



then



and finally



All new and unregistered and all wishlist books :drool: !!

Thank you so much to my generous Valentine :wub:

From the email address on the packing slips, I think my lovely cupid is Xeyra

I'm so glad you enjoyed your goodies! I saw the cow when I dropped my parents at the airport after Christmas and just couldn't resist the little thing. Happy Valentine's Day! :hug:

I'll do a list later. Gonna go to bed now.


:hug: Thanks so much Appaloosath! :hug:

What lovely books and stuff you all have gotten. :)


I am just awake. I nearly slept 12 hours. Guess I needed that.
Just drinking coffeee but I must open 1 package already.



It is from the UK in a new envelope (which I like so I can re use it :bananadance: )

nooooooooooooooooooooo I have to do poopie :ph34r:
stupid coffee :whip:

5 minutes later. False Alarm. :ph34r: :blush: TMI? :giggle:


I just opened the envelope.
I pull out a wish list book.
Very well wrapped by the way. It looks new!! I think it is new

It is Why Moms are Weird by Pamala Ribon. I can't tell you how long I've wanted to read this. :bananadance: