I know you've all been awaiting this "fabulous gift" I've been talking about for weeks now... and it's finally ready to be revealed! I just hope Sensei doesn't choose this day to sign up for this site, and ruin his own surprise. I've even been a little nervous to upload photos to Flickr, since I've shown him photos on my Flickr before... I'm just banking on the assumption that he probably has better things to do on his birthday (today) than look at my photos on the internet! So, with no further ado, here it is... Below, you can see a white paper bag, decorated with a ribbon black "obi," and filled with pink tissue paper. To the right, you can see a cake box and greeting card, decorated with pink, paper flowers, and another, similar "belt." This one lacks a knot, however.  Here, you can see the detail on both parts of the gift. The paper flowers were cut by hand from three shades of card stock, and the smaller, fabric flowers, were purchased from a craft store. All were glued on with a glue gun. Also, note the perfect knot on the obi (that I spent forever tying.)
  But what is inside? Let's start with the cake box... As expected, there is something edible inside... but, it's not a cake! I've already made a cake for the dojo, so I felt silly making another. It wouldn't look nearly as creative and thoughtful as something different. So, this time, it's cupcakes - twenty-five classic French vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting, decorated with flower spinkles and "happy birthday" candles.  But, of course, that's just a side present. The real gift is inside the bag... and here's a hint!  What is it? If you said "it looks like a card," you're absolutely correct! On the outside, you can see the following captions: "sensei with bo," "sensei doing sanchin," and "sensei with chiishi." I'll get to what that's all about later... As for what's inside the card... I thought for a long time about whether it was appropriate to publish a personal birthday message somewhere public like this... and decided that, even though it might not be, I love my Sensei, and I want other people to know how great he is. So, here are the contents of the card: Dear Sensei,
Happy Birthday. I want to take this opportunity to thank you... for everything you've given me over the past few months, and for just being who you are.
You are a fantastic teacher. You have a beautiful, positive energy and a kind heart, and always know exactly how to inspire and bring out the best in each and every one of your students.
No matter how difficult a day I've had, no matter how exhausted I might be when I enter the dojo, by the end of class, my heart is lifted, and I can't hold back my smile. It doesn't matter what we do, or how well I perform. Just being there makes me happy. You have created an excellent, warm, and welcoming school, and I feel blessed to have found it, and you.
Thank you so much for your time and dedication. I only hope that I inspire my students half as much as you've inspired me.
Wishing you happiness on your birthday and always.
With love,
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I spent a long time on that message, so I hope it expresses my feelings correctly. You might still be wondering, though, "what are those pictures on the front of the card?" Well... you've finally stumbled upon the real gift...  What is it? That, my friends, is a bull terrier (Sensei's favorite dog) Beanie Baby, dressed in a heavyweight cotton canvas gi and obi, sewn by hand. I put at least a good 20 hours of work into this project, and spared no expense. Everything was made as perfectly as I could possibly make it, and I tried to make it as much like a real gi as possible. Here are some close-ups of the detail:
  And, finally, here are the three photos you can see on the front of Sensei's card. (See how there's no gi top in the sanchin picture? I'm very thorough~) |
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