Mama Drama: Going Postal

 Whimsical Waters Necklace

Dress: Zulily

Shoes: Worthington, JCPenney

Bag: JCPenney

So last week, I received an email from a customer informing me that she still hadn't received a necklace that she'd purchased in March.  Needless to say, I was gobsmacked.  As always, I'd shipped the package within three days of purchase and emailed the customer the USPS.com tracking number to let her know that it was on its way.  True, I didn't receive a response or get Etsy feedback, but that happens more often than not, so I thought that no news was good news.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Not knowing what else to do, I logged onto USPS.com and plugged in the tracking number.  The red No Record Found that flashed on the screen made my heart sink.  There was only one explanation: the package had gotten lost in the mail.  In my nearly ten years of selling on Etsy, this had never happened.  I couldn't make the customer a new necklace.  The one in question was one of a kind, made from eclectic fabric flowers that I wouldn't be able to find again.  Instead, I issued a full refund along with my heartfelt apologies and the offer of a free item from my shop.  Thankfully, the customer accepted all of the above with grace and good humor.  Better yet, she loved the necklace she chose as her consolation prize, right down to the packaging.  Which meant everything to me.  When I send something across the country (or, once a in a while, across the world), I feel like I'm putting good out into the universe, and I want to keep those vibes going.

Still, I can't help but wonder what happened to that package.  Is it lying in an alley somewhere, pigeons pecking away at the illustrated envelope?  Or is some postal worker wearing the necklace to a summer shindig, margarita in hand, even as I type this?  In the future, I'll always track the package myself to find out if it reaches its destination, if only so I can contact the customer instead of her (or him) contacting me.  But the fate of this one will just have to remain one of life's mysteries.

In happier news, I saw Mama Mia: Here We Go Again last weekend, and it was fabulous.  So fanciful and colorful!  Plus, I always love a story with flashbacks, which is pretty much the whole deal with this one.  As you probably know, in the first Mama Mia, Donna's (Meryl Streep) daughter, Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), wants her father to walk her down the aisle.  The only hitch is, she doesn't know who he is.  He can be one of three guys (Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgard, or Pierce Brosnan) that Donna wrote about in her diary.  So, Sophie invites them all to her wedding, they show up, and chaos ensues.  In the sequel, which is partially set in 1979, we return to the idyllic Greek island of Kalokairi to see a young Donna (Lily James) fall for her three handsome suitors and sing her (broken) heart out about it.  (As a bonus, we also get to see her buy her signature overalls at an outdoor market).  The air crackles with the delicious angst of young love in an exotic setting, and the songs play in your head long after you've scarfed down your popcorn.  Yet even more intoxicating is the sense of freedom and adventure.  Donna is an unapologetic risk taker, exploring the world fresh out of college without a plan or a safety net, bewildered by those who follow more well-worn and traditional paths.  And she's absolutely ecstatic doing it, even when her world seems to crumble.  It makes me wish that I would've done something like that at twenty-two instead of combing Monster for a "normal" job.  But then again, I guess it all worked out.  This strange little public diary of a blog is more my type of adventure.

Anyway, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of ocean-themed jewelry-making supplies not long after I saw the movie.  When I spotted these dolphin-shaped beads and the groovy druzy rock pendant, I thought, ooh those would make a cool necklace.  Beachy and boho and blingy and blue.  Just like Mama Mia!  

Speaking of beaches, here's a shot of the faux surfboard attached to the Conex box that is the Sol Berrie smoothie stand on the less glamorous but beloved island of Brigantine.

Bold and inviting, it's the kind of picture you want to dive into -- one dutiful hour, of course, after downing your smoothie.  Or, you know, thirty seconds after downing your smoothie, pineapple-mango froth still dribbling down your chin.

How's that for unapologetic?

Movie Moment: Dear John

Last night the bf and I went to see Dear John. As you may recall, I'd reread the book recently to refresh my memory and decided that I was finally at peace with Savannah ending up with Tim. There were several little details in the book that suggested things may turn out that way, and however sad it was that she wasn't with John, I made up my mind that it was for the best (see my other post tagged Dear John for more on this). So when I went to the movie, I was dying to see what they'd change (because you know that they always change something.)

Minor things here and there were different. In some cases, the order of events had been altered. But most notably, all those little telltale details foretelling John and Savannah's undoing were missing. So, it shouldn't have been a surprise to me when the ending was different. (Warning: if you haven't seen this movie yet and want to, you should probably stop reading here. Although quite frankly, the damage has probably already been done.) Tim dies. John still leaves him all of the coin money, but he dies anyway. Savannah tells John all of this in one last letter. The last scene shows Savannah in a restaurant window. John walks by, their eyes meet, and they hug, the implication clear that they'll be together.

So, how did I feel about this? Was I outraged, after I'd so carefully and maturely worked out all the reasons Savannah was meant for Tim in the book? Well, no. I was happy. Because the movie gave me (and I'm guessing lots of other readers) what I'd always secretly wanted from the book, and that was a happy ending for John and Savannah that made sense. In the movie, John doesn't visit Savannah at college, so there's no scene where she blows him off for her friends. In the movie, John doesn't just re-enlist in the army after 9/11 and then tell Savannah about it in a letter; he comes home to discuss it with her. Also, in the movie Tim is much older than Savannah (Alan is his son, not his brother), and he isn't the overly nice and nerdy guy he is in the book. In fact, he's more creepy older neighbor than lifelong best friend.

In this way, I guess the movie was simpler than the book. Savannah's never really in love with two men, and her husband dies, making it easy. Some may say the movie had a classic (read, cookie-cutter) Hollywood ending, and maybe that's true. But I think buying that completely is a cop-out. The book and the movie are just two different versions of the same story, showing that it's the seemingly insignificant events that make all the difference in how things do and should turn out. Although I loved the book, the movie's magic wasn't lost on me. Far from it, to be honest. I cried buckets.