My toilet box of treasures.

We had a bit of a hootenanny at the shore house this weekend. A friend of M's from college was in town (who, by the way, has an open invitation to stay with us whenever he wants. He walked the dog, like, three times in one day. Have I ever done that? Hmm...er...bad doggie momma. Bad!) and since he lives in sunny California now we wanted to gather the troops to visit. Plus there are quite a few folks who haven't "met" the house yet.

Imagine my surprise when one couple arrived toting this:


Now, I've heard of B.Y.O.B. parties, but I've never heard of B.Y.O.T. I quickly assured our friends that we had toilets they were welcome to use (har, har). And as much as a brand spanking new Kohler toilet would have been a great gift, here's what we did get:

WOWZA! Could I love this stuff more? (Answer: Not really.) Some of it is West Elm goodness, and those cork mats will be fabulous for al fresco dining. I don't think you can tell in the photo above, but the candles are a rich, rust color and perfect - along with the fabulous candle pillars - for an autumn display I'll work on this weekend. The silver sand dollar found a home by the next morning, on my nightstand (my grandma's spindly leg table that my godmother recently passed on to me).

I almost forgot to take a photo of this "box within a box" since I immediately stashed it under the chair in my bedroom. (Ed. note: Wow, this digital camera makes my floors look clean.) I think it will be a great spot to store cards and photos and other supplies for my little projects.

Lastly (can you believe there's more?), this amazing baking book (Deb knows I love me some baking books!) was a belated birthday gift (Jeez, I need to see my friends more! Let's just say my birthday was a while back.). I can not wait to dive into some of these recipes!

They're all amazing additions to the house, and I am flush with excitement that we have such wonderful friends in our little world (get it...toilet...flush...).