days 10 and 11

My gift for day 10 was a birthday present for my friend Awd. I gave her chocolates, a small bottle of champagne, earrings (that she can't wear cause her ears aren't pierced - we all say DOH every now and then) and a little potted hyacinth. She, of course, was very excited and grateful.
Btw, the pizza restaurant we went to, Mehl (means flour) was suuuuuuper cool. The food was delicious -- all locally grown, incredible fresh and very high quality -- and the service was mostly very very good. (Some of it was almost too good -- our bartender was kind of a motormouth who needed to dial back the hotdoggin.) We all tried each other's pizzas and they were absolutely delicious. I will definitely eat there again.

I ended up giving four gifts yesterday and I am noticing that I categorically overgive, primarily because I never think I am enough deep down. I gave my friend Sab some lovely Lush soap and some Rote Grütze tea. (Rote Grütze mit Sahne, btw, is a dessert that is popular in northern Germany and Scandinavia. The name of the dessert in Danish is rød grød met fløde which is unpronounceable for non-natives. In WWII they would have people say the name of the dessert to assure they were not spies. Sorry, I just think this is fascinating.) I gave my friend CG some yummy coffee and some of the peanut butter cookies I made for Christmas. I gave Ell The Cajun Night Before Christmas, cause she is a linguaphile and is fascinated by Cajun culture (she also loves accents). And I gave my friend G freshly baked chocolate chip cookies.
We had all four of them over last night and we ate some lovely Irish sausages and white pudding, as well as some sides I whipped up to go along with them. It was great fun!

I want to do my best to give one gift a day for the rest of the challenge. I would also like to avoid spending money on the gifts. I think that would help me really focus on what I have to offer other people.

For today, I will help my friend finish organizing the fundraising project for his girlfriend. And I will continue organizing all of my important documents (tax information, pay stubs, docs for my visa), which is a gift for myself and my honey.
2014 is, after all, the year of taking care of myself and control of my finances. And it's the year of giving!