I ventured to a new art supply store called Charrette today. I’d heard that they had some markers and inks that I was looking for so I could try a new technique. These new products are really expensive and hard to find, but this store has a discount card.

It costs fine bucks for the year, but there is a ten percent discount on each item that you buy.

This is a good deal.

So I got about ten markers and three bottles of ink. These markers come in amazing colors, but are alcohol based so they have to be used in a well-ventilated area.

I do want to try this technique but I think I may use it as the carrot to force me to get things organized and put away before I can use anything new.

We’ll see.

Of course if I worked while I watched television (instead of sitting like a lump or playing on the computer) I’d probably be able to have photos of the place in Apartment Beautiful.

OK, so maybe that’s an exaggeration.

This art store (which I think is really meant for designers and architect type people) was only two towns away from my favorite stamp store. So it was only logical that I stop in.

I didn’t get much again.

I picked up a new magazine (that has an article in it about how to organize your stamping room – inspiration?), and five new stamps, three of which work together to make a sunrise/ sunset over the ocean. One is a phrase and another is an interesting Asian stamp of bamboo stalks and leaves.

There really wasn’t much that I was interested in getting, though.

I keep hoping that I’ll wander around and that something new will leap out at me and I’ll be struck with a burst of energy and a sense of wonderment. But that doesn’t seem to be happening.

I also got two grab bags of paper scraps and cards to use for layering and collages. I love grab bags, and opening them up to see what surprises are inside.

But of course this means more stuff to organize.

When I came home and checked my mail there was a slip telling me that I had a priority package at the post office.

This was a mystery to me, as I haven’t ordered anything online and I wasn’t expecting anything. I like these kinds of surprises.

So I hot-footed it to the post office and stood in line for a half hour to see what awaited me.

It was a package from one of the stampers on one of the Internet lists. The box contained two stamps (my initials) and a colour mixing set! It is what we call a RAK – or a random act of kindness.

This was one of the most amazingly lovely things to happen to me in months and months.

I have met the woman who sent it to me. She is from New York City and has been at our conventions in the past (although not this year), and we have had some great conversations. She also sent me one of the loveliest e-mails when my father died.

Some people really are angels on earth.

Dee and I went to dinner (which ended up really disagreeing with me later on). We decided on the dates when we’d like to go to New York City, and chose the things we’d like as part of our package.

I’ll go to the travel agent in the morning with hopes of booking what we want to do. We picked week days rather than the weekend, hoping that we’ll make out a bit better than if we tried to go on a weekend.

I hope I have better luck with this than I did last week when I tried to get Thanksgiving figured out.