Dear reader, I found my way to a moment in the studio yesterday. Various Easter decorations were still out (who has the heart to get rid of bunnies in one fell swoop?). The laundry was not put away. Plans for dinner veered toward leftovers. But none of that mattered because I made up my mind not to let it matter.
So here is little Miss Tess and her striped stockings. Hopefully not so tragic a figure as the lovely heroine of Thomas Hardy's fateful imagination. I don't know how that guy had the heart to write some of the stories he did. I think he had a thing for utterly bereft despair. I, on the other hand, would have equipped Tess with indomitable high spirits, a penchant for martial arts, and an invisibility cloak for good measure. That would have made for a much better ending, I can assure you.
It hardly bears mentioning, I suppose, but last month marked the three year anniversary of Tollipop. I meant to host a fabulous giveaway, or any sort of giveaway for that matter, but could not sufficiently marshall the forces in my life to make it happen. Which does not register as a grave concern, per se, as I am not one who keeps track of time well enough to mark many significant occasions. But I do like to think of them and appreciate what these things mean to me.
And this blog means something to me. While my life spans the spectrum of chaos, sorrow, and recalcitrant children like anyone else's, Tollipop is a place where I can linger over what makes me happy. What I find beautiful. And having you stop by this little tea party adds an element of warmth and delight I find difficult to describe.
It is lovely to think of things which make me happy. But it is much lovelier still to share them and feel them appreciated by others. Thank you for this, dear reader.
I hope your weekend is simply grand.
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Please leave a comment below if you would like to enter this giveaway. I promise to wrap it up sometime next week. If you Facebook like, blog, tweet, or otherwise promote it, please come back and enter your name for each time you helped spread the news (and thank you for doing so!).