Day 4 - 2/17/11

This morning I met someone I knew through school and have an email correspondance with, but hadn't met in person as she lives in a different state. She's on vacation now near where I live so we arranged to meet for coffee at a bookshop. I'd decided I'd buy her coffee for her - not a big gift, but a gift. She was surprised and appreciative and it didn't feel like much to me. It was the first gift I'd preplanned (before starting this, I thought I'd preplan many of the gifts).

Leaving the store, I decided to visit the sale table. First I found a book I thought my daughter would like and decided to buy it for her. Nearby was a display of cupcake-related items: journals, giftbags, and a small book of lovely quotes about enjoying food. My daughter, a recovering anorexic, has been working lately on learning to love and feel comfortable around food again. She finds baking one of the most relaxing things she does. I knew that book was being gifted to her as well. Finding these books was infinitely more fun than preplanning to gift a cup of coffee!

There was a gift for me as well: I've had my eye on Mark Bittman's boxed cookbook set of "How to Cook Everything" and "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" since Christmas. The list price of these books is $100 (they're huge!) and I first remember seeing them advertised for $75. I've watched the price get lower and lower but still not low enough to buy. Today, I saw them for $20 and I had a 20% off coupon, so I bought these two books for $16. As I hefted them up, I also realized that if I decided I didn't want them for myself, they'll make a lovely gift for someone else.

This challenge is amazingly fun!