A 13-year Friendship That Means The World To Me

Let me tell you about one of my best friends, Nicole. Nicole and I met freshman year of high school through a mutual friend at a cafeteria lunch table. We didn’t become friends immediately. In fact, I don’t think we were too fond of each other when we first met!

It’s hard to say when we first became friends because after 13 years, it gets a little blurry. Nicole and I became especially close my senior year of high school when we were both in choir, and also had the same job (hey Lifetime Fitness!). We were practically inseparable the summer before college, and I was SOOO sad when she went to ASU and I went all the way up to NAU (2.5 hours away). I spent so many weekends visiting Nicole at ASU, where we dabbled in frat parties where we clearly didn’t belong, along with the occasional road trip to California.

After college, I moved to Chicago and Nicole moved to Brooklyn, but we kept in touch. Nicole and I have a friendship where we can go weeks without talking to each other, but then talk on the phone for 4 hours (literally). I always think it’s so funny when I look down at my phone and realize that hours have gone by because she has always been so easy to talk to and we always have a lot to catch up on. Luckily, last year Nicole started using g-chat, and since it’s my main method of communication, we talk even more.

Oh, and you may recognize her from my post about our calendars we made in 2017! We love working together on creative projects and hope to make many more in the future.

13 years is a really long time to be friends with someone! When I think about how many friendships have faded in that time (even since college), I am amazed that her and I continue to be close. Nicole is sooo beyond caring, sweet, kind, non-judgmental, a really good listener, very creative and talented, and she has a fantastic sense of humor. Who wouldn’t want to be her friend forever?! Nicole’s friendship means the absolute world to me, and I am so lucky that she’s my friend!

A few weeks ago, a new, woman-owned company in New York called Small Packages reached out to me to see if I’d want to send a package to a friend. Small Packages curates boxes for you to send to the women in your life–for any reason and at a bunch of different price points. All of their boxes are either $35, $50, or $100 plus shipping. I don’t know about you, but that’s the best pricing breakdown I’ve seen yet of all the box gifting companies!

Given all of the reasons above, I just knew I had to send it to Nicole.

You write a note to your person and they will handwrite it for you! Nicole has called me “Audwee” since forever so I obviously had to sign it with that.

I chose to send Nicole the “When You Miss Her” box, which had a lot of things I thought she’d really enjoy.

This is the $100 level box, but the other levels have a lot of the same items. What I really love about these boxes is that the $35 one doesn’t seem cheap at all–whereas other box gifting companies will give you, like, one teabag for $20. For example, the $35 box of “When You Miss Her” includes a handwritten card, a fancy chocolate bar, Tattly temporary tattoos, a stationary set, and Fatty Sundays pretzel bites! Not bad for something that makes your BFF feel like the most appreciated person in the world.

Nicole has famous cats–Sola and Luna! I love them.

Another thing I love about these boxes is that they don’t just include knick knacks (I HATE knick knacks)! Everything in these boxes is stuff I’d ACTUALLY use myself, which again, isn’t typical of gift box companies. There is just so much that sets Small Packages apart!

ALSO! Small Packages will be doing a Limited Edition Galentine’s Day box! There are only 50 boxes total, and the contents are adorable and perfect. Get yours here!

I should also mention how crazy easy it was to place the order for my Small Packages box. I did it on my phone on the bus ride home from work… so simple!