Everything has a story

Yesterday I helped a friend by doing her a personal favor. See, the thing about what I do... design, photography, web development, etc... is that it's highly specialized. Lots of people have highly specialized jobs and everyone fine tunes their skills in a manner which best fits what they're trying to achieve. Me? - I'm not an entrepreneur. I get far more satisfaction out of donating my photographs or implementing a gratis design for someone whose head pops off in excitement than I do getting paid for a project that's no fun and comes to a rather anti-climatic end. Personal preference 'n all that (plus I'm unabashedly selfish and only do the fun stuff). So when said friend came to me yesterday and asked for this favor, of course I took care of it right away. It was easy to do, but more importantly, it was important to her.

Imagine my surprise when an unexpected gift certificate landed in my inbox last night. In the midst of her busy life she took the time to thank me for something I was happy to do. That was classy. And very cool for so many reasons, one of which means I get got to spend someone *else's* money on amazon.com. Fucking-A man, Fucking-A.

There I was, sitting in my pj's, mentally shifting through all the ways in which I could spend my loot (which will truly go down as one of the happiest moments I had this year... aahhhhhh). For a mere moment there was reflection on something my dad taught me, which basically stated that when you get free money, do something fun. I *sooooooo* made my dad proud. Last night night was the night I finally bought this book, a book I have been coveting for 6 years. Six. Whole. Years.

The book is called "Women" and Annie Leibovitz is the photographer. While I wasn't an "artsy type" when this book came out, it really struck a chord when I started seeing the photos. Quite literally I was at Barnes and Noble the next week to drool over the goodness that are these pictures. I had just returned from living in Europe, still wearing dark everything, and was acutely sensitive to all the unique ways in which people are beautiful. All people. From every country, speaking every language, and wearing any clothes. People are just .... so cool .... and this book captures a slice of that perfection. This picture of Gwyneth Paltrow and her mother Blythe Danner, featured in the book of course, is one of those pictures I wish I had taken. Lovely. So lovely. I believe what her mom later said about this photo shoot was that this was the first time she had held her daughter since she was a small girl. *Tear*.

Man I'm a huge sap today.

The question to you is... if you were on the receiving end of free money what would you do with it? What do you keep tucked away, a something you have always wanted but never achieved / acquired? Please... do think and tell in the comments below.

It's Friday... I figured you guys could use some music. Right click, save-as, and enjoy whilst telling me all the ways in which you'd do something for yourself with a generous helping of opportunity.

• Paradise
• Destiny
• Policy Of Truth
• Gold
• Square One