I had to pun, you guys. I had to. Times of extreme joy call for it.
Remember when I got back from Belgium and the first thing I wrote about was that I finally got to visit a Zara Home store in Brussels? Leave it to me to turn a vacation into a post about all the things I wish I could have bought, right? Anyway, in that post I mentioned my love of a certain giant candle, shaped like a big gold fish (at the time I was jet-lagged beyond belief and I actually collapsed into giggles at the gold fish/goldfish joke I made. Awesome). I lamented that I couldn’t buy everything in the store, but that candle should’ve been a no brainer. I guess I was too nervous about it making the journey back home safely or was too concerned with getting a very sneezy Boyfriend out into unscented air.
Annie, my darling, my dreamboat, the blogger who started it all for me and found me through our mutual love of the West Elm Parsons desk, just so happened to be near a Zara Home last week and just so happened to mention that if I just so happened to still be in love with anything in particular, she could maybe pick it up for me and send it to me. It just so happened that I deafened half a city block screaming so loud with delight at the prospect.
Cut to two days ago, when I arrived home to an overflowing mailbox. The other half of the street that had retained its hearing was swiftly deafened as well. Also: holy crap Airmail is fast these days. That was a 4 day turnaround!
Remember when I said I had been worried about the candle making the journey in my luggage without getting broken? Ironic, since the first thing I saw on the outside of the package was this:

WTF is that?! I got kind of deflated, obviously, but figured there’s nothing superglue can’t fix, right? Plus, how can anyone stay upset when they see the package addressed to them like this:

I mean, COME ON. This almost makes up for all the times she’s called the lead singer of Keane a hobbit.
Even if the candle would be crushed to bits or broken in half or missing a fin or something, I was still beyond grateful that Annie would send it to me because she knew how much I loved it. It’s the gesture that counts. So imagine my surprise when I pulled this out of the package:

THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH IT. It’s perfect! It’s even better than I remember. Fitz immediately tried to eat it. I tried to make out with it. And to complete the circle of life, it’s now resting on my West Elm Parsons desk.
Annie, Annabel, you have made me so ridiculously happy. Thank you thank you thank you, from the bottom of my gold-fish-loving heart. The next time I’m in London I’m buying you all the gin you can handle.