As wonderful as it would be to come home from work and find flowers or a chilled bottle of Champagne or some other just-because gift, I'd be even more charmed to find a note like the one above. A little note, instructing me to do something I wouldn't have thought of, like a tiny treasure hunt just for me…
Have you ever found a note like this, either from your partner or kids or roommates? Have you ever left one? I haven't, but I like to do something similar in care packages: smell this while listening to this, try this handwritten recipe with this obscure ingredient I tracked down for you, drink this on the first truly hot day of the year. You get the idea: I'm bossy. But beyond the obvious joys of bossiness, creating an experience for someone can be such a personal and luxurious gift, and it can easily be free. Leave I Capture the Castle out for your roommate, along with a cluster of candles to (attempt to) read by, out of solidarity with the candle-poor heroine. Line up your girlfriend's morning coffee, orange juice, smoothie, and vitamins in fancy wine glasses. Load up the Newsie/Bad Romance mash-up on your roommate's laptop and leave a note that she is to press "play" first thing in the morning, before doing absolutely anything else, and that her day will be infinitely better if she follows your instructions to the letter.
I don't know the story of the sweet note shown above. The photo was taken by Klea McKenna for In The Make's feature on artist Annie Vought. Annie makes incredibly intricate paper-cut pieces based on "fragments of written correspondence — from handwritten letters to text messages — that she has found, received, or written" and then "enlarges and reworks the text on large paper, and then meticulously goes about removing the negative spaces with an X-acto knife". Perhaps this note drifted into her life and is destined to become part of her lovely work, or perhaps it was left for her on the floor that day.
(Image by Klea McKenna for In The Make)
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Before heading back to London after one of my visits to my mum's place, I brought several of her favourite snack bars and secreted them around her home. Every now and then, over the following weeks, I would text her something like, "By the way, have you looked inside the the bedside cabinet in the guestroom lately?" so that she would discover another hidden bar.
Great post! And lovely sentiment acrossthepond.My mom's sister used to do this during her week long visits with my mom. I often witnessed the pleasure my mom experienced upon discovery. Now I hide notes & treats in the pockets of hubs packed clothes when he's traveling. Often, when he has to catch a flight on Sun evening, I'll find a note, a single bloom or a favorite snack on the dashboard when I head to work on Mon morning. A lovely way to start my week,
Once, when leaving the grocery store, I was annoyed to notice what appeared to be a flyer under my wiper blade as I was backing out. I slammed the car in park & snatched the offensive paper off my windshield. Just as I tossed in the passenger seat, something about it caught my eye. I took a closer look. It was a love note from *a secret admirer* (in my hubs' handwriting) asking for a date that night. Years later, I don't recall what the date was (or even if we actually went out that night) but I can tell you this with certainly: that was THE BEST gift I have ever received.
Ah, now you two have me reminiscing of a time way back, when I could be bothered to write love letters. It was an almost fiercely competitive business between my then beau and me. He kept my postman in stitches with a series of cartoons that he drew on the back of his envelopes whereas, my letters just varied in shape, size and writing materials. At that time the recipient lived in a cottage, on top of a near vertical hill, a mile or so above the nearest village. On one occasion his postman walked all the way up just to deliver a single letter, addressed from me and so small that half of my handcrafted envelope was covered by the stamp. The sight of the poor man staggering and wheezing as he handed it over kept the long-distance bf chuckling for weeks after.
This is a note that my dear friend (amazing artist Gina Tuzzi http://ginatuzzi.com/home.html) texted me one day. I was so touched I wrote it down and planned on including it in my work. All my friends know that any form of written communication sent to me might be included in my work. This one like Gina is a Gem. thanks for posting it.
p.s now I am working with dreams, if you want one of your dreams included in my work send them to me. ( When I say dreams I mean the kind when you are awake or asleep)
annievought.com
All of these ideas are so amazingly personal & creative. Thanks for sharing, everyone! And Annie, I can't wait to see your next project! If I have any particularly dreamy dreams I will definitely send them your way. Thanks, too, for the backstory.
this is f n cool. dig it!