Our little Whisk Wednesdays group has gotten to be quite fun. There are less than a dozen of us, which makes the group seem small and cozy. We all love to cook, but we are all busy with lives that keep us on the move and occupied, so there isn't a lot of pressure to "get posted or get out," each week, although posting is definitely preferred, everyone is pretty laid back and not into finding fault. (Thank goodness or I would have been ousted long ago!)
While what you all see is the completed dish each week (or in my case, whenever I can get around to it), we also have a site where the members can post questions, answers, thoughts, share whatever they want at the time, and sometimes just a bit of chit chat each week. This has been such fun for me as the other members are entertaining as well as enlightening about all the cooking they are doing in their kitchens. 
Through this little venue, Michelle organized a swap to add some cheer into the cold winter days we were having...okay, Glennis lives in California, but we let her play anyway... The assignment was to have a secret partner (Michelle matched everyone up) and to send your partner something(s) that was/were your kitchen favorite(s).
Melissa drew my name and here is the box of goodies that she sent to me!
Since we all don't really know each other, except through the group, we were busy reading each other's blogs trying to come up with things we liked, but also things that our partner might not already have or might enjoy owning a new version of the item.
Melissa knew I liked to scrapbook and make cards, so she sent some items along those lines.
She sent a very cool cutting board, which I do not own any like this, and believe me, I have a dozen cutting boards (seriously), all of which I like for different things and use exclusively for those different things...don't ask...LOL, so I am excited with this new one as the surface is really different and very enjoyable to use. It is my new vegetable cutting board. One of the nicest things is that it has a hole in the corner (like a paint palate) so that when you are transferring the vegetables from cutting to the pan, for instance, you can insert your thumb in the hole and the grip is perfect for doing that task...hard to describe, just go to the store and check this out...it is wonderful. She sent the 12 by 9 size which is the perfect size for my family when I cut vegetables. It's knife-friendly, non-porous, eco select, dishwasher safe, heat resistant, natural wood fiber....okay, just go check this out at the cooking store: Epicurean Cutting Surfaces...I love this already and the next size up is going on my birthday request list as sometimes I have very big vegetables, like fennel and squash and those huge zucchinis you get in the summer, etc. So great.
Included also were some new dishtowels in my kitchen colors, always nice to have new dishtowels.
She included a salt and pepper grinder which operates with just one hand...I do not have one that uses just one hand for holding/grinding, so this is terrific! Being Melissa, she wasn't certain the peppercorns that came in the grinder would be any of good quality, so she swung by Penzy's and got a package of her favorites for me. How nice was that?
I love the shopping tote that she sent, handmade by someone she knows, such a great fabric, and I use these kinds of bags for all my shopping, grocery and otherwise, on a weekly basis: mine, of course, not being this stylish and fun, so this is a very nice treat to have such a lovely tote.
And, since she knows I am a little bit bookish (read that A LOT bookish), she found a book entitled Things Cooks Love and included that for me...the book was a lot of fun to read, filled with interesting, and educational information...a good read...I would know, as I have been doing that instead of cooking my Whisk Wednesdays food the last couple of weeks...the book is portable and can go with me anywhere, my kitchen is not! That's my story as to why I have finished the book and not the cooking.
Thank you so much, Melissa, you came up with an entire box of wonderful surprises and I will use each and every one of them with the added pleasure of knowing they came from you and our little group of Whisk Chicks.
If you would like to see what the others received in their boxes, you can click on the Whisk Wednesdays site and then click on each blogger from the Blogroll and they have them posted on their sites. Michelle, this was tons of fun...thanks for organizing it!