Presents in the Mail!

So I just got home from my whirlwind vacation in Philadelphia and Chicago. Purely a pleasure trip, and absolutely amazing. (Especially stepping out onto a clear Plexiglas floor on the 103rd floor of the Sears Tower and seeing the street way below me!)

And getting home was pretty awesome too, because I had two things waiting for me. I like to consider things that I've ordered off the internet presents, since by the time they arrive, you've half forgotten what they are, or you've yet to see them, so it's like a tiny present to yourself when you rip into the packaging. The first one was a book I'd ordered on rendering, which was actually the third in a series. I've leafed through it, and it looks absolutely amazing.

The second, was these:


Which are everything I hoped they would be. The folks at RockButtons.com did a great job, and got them made and mailed out to me super fast, especially since I decided to not get them rushed through production. So, more about these buttons, since I'm sure everyone's curious. They're fully fabulous, and I'm going to offer them to everyone in two ways.
Method one: You buy stuff, you get a button. (One button per customer, not per piece bought. I love you all, but not that much.)
Method two: You fork over two dollars, and you buy a button. (Alternately, you give me five dollars and I give you three buttons, saving you a WHOLE DOLLAR. Penny pinchers rejoice!)

These are also a completely limited edition design, which I solemnly swear I will never have reprinted. (I will also not change the background color and claim it is a new design. I may, however, rework the fish and repaint it in gold and gems on a different background color and tell you it is a new design, which would be totally true.) Thus, there will only ever be one hundred of these pins, which means that this may be the cheapest you will ever get a limited edition piece of bling for.

My upcoming classes actually have students signed up, which is very exciting. I can only imagine how sad it would be if I had a class and no one showed up. I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone brings in for the found objects class, as well as introducing everyone to the very basics in the ring class.

(Last but not least, for anyone interested in my ongoing Nanowrimo novel, I'm currently at 33,998 words total, and still on track to hit the 50,000 word finish line before the end of the month.)