Blessing in disguise

I got into a car accident tonight and while I could moan and say woe is me I am choosing to look at all the small blessings that are going to add up and make this less of a horrible thing than it could have been. First small blessing, the last time the car insurance was up for renewal I kept the full coverage on my vehicle which I was considering changing to liability only. Second small blessing, a month or two ago my friend H spotted a car seat inspection station and we both took our vehicles in to have them look at the seats. The seats were both fine, but they did convince me to turn Abbie back to rear facing even though she met the age and weight requirements to be forward facing. I think that Abbie would have been fine even if she was forward facing, but it does ease a mother's mind to know that in a situation like this I did everything possible to ensure the safety of my child. Third blessing, last weekend the brakes in my car started to go out. It would have been easy to have put it off especially considering the other things going on in my life right now, but I chose to have it taken care of. Lastly I am grateful for my friends and the kindness of strangers. Every day H teaches me what it means to be a good friend and tonight was no different. She and R made a bad situation so much easier to deal with along with the help of a new friend P who happens to be an ER nurse. Also, this accident took place in front of a church right after the Saturday service so the people there were so kind and helpful. So all in all I am choosing to be positive, my children and I are fine, I believe that the people in the other care are going to be alright also and that is all that truly matters in this life.

Sassy Apron Swap, summer edition

I signed up for the Sassy Apron Swap a while back and now the apron is due in less than two weeks. I thought that I would make the Emmeline apron for my swap partner, but it takes nearly 4 yards of fabric and I didn't have that much in my stash. I found a Simplicity pattern (actually H did) at Jo-Ann that I thought was cute and since the theme is summer I had some cute sandals and flip flop fabric that I am using. This swap calls for an embellishment so I found a pair of cute flip flop buttons that I will use. My partner is in Italy this time which should be neat, but unfortunately blog is in Italian and I couldn't really get a feel for what she likes.

So here's my question to you... what small items should I include with this package to Italy that are very American and would be nice for someone in another county to get? They need to be small so it doesn't cost me a fortune to ship.