My shipment just got a tracking number! Soon I'll have the "little souvenir" I purchased in Sedona, Arizona. I already posted a picture of it in The Consumerism Thread, when I initially bought it. It was much too big and heavy to take on the plane, not that I'd want to risk damaging it by doing so anyways. (The airport had this lovely little wall of art, too: http://imgur.com/a/oSmZz )

There were tons of neat little gifts and souvenirs at the Grand Canyon. Sedona also has a ton of shops and art galleries! Lots of New Age-y crap too, though. I've never seen the word "crystal" so much in one place outside the fandom (sans proper spelling, of course).

One particular souvenir was all over the canyon shops and even in the airport gift shop:

Just look at it! :3

I wanted it so bad! But I just couldn't justify spending ~$230 on an (albeit, beautiful) polymer clay figure of that size. The little one to its side was ~$130 (which was still a bit too much) but I wanted the middle-sized one. Dat Face! ^.^

I had spent $110 on two books (a huge book on Art of National Parks, and a neat Comic Compilation) the day before, so ended up buying a small $10 crystal cube with a 3D howling coyote etched inside.

One of the gift shops at an attraction outside the Southern Rim village had these two neat little characters:

I wasn't as enamored with them as I was with the lil' coyote cutie above, but I did think they were neat.

Then I got to Sedona and saw some of their art galleries...

In one particular gallery, I saw 5 bronze statuettes and I knew I had to have one of them. I fought it a bit, but I knew it was going to happen. To mull over my decision, and be certain I wasn't going to miss out on something even better, I continued to look around at the other shops and galleries in the shopping area we had visited.

In this other gallery, there were lots of wonderful animal busts and statues. This wolf bust in particular was so sublime, I had to at least take some pictures:

I love the way the lit it! The blue is so beautiful and really highlights the detailing. It is also bronze.

In another shop, I saw a familiar-looking figure being sold as a wolf with "war painting":

But, after a couple hours, I had exhausted the unexplored shops and galleries of the little plaza (and bought my mother a music box for Christmas, to be split among my brothers and I.) I had dragged my heels, but it was time to go back to the bronze shop and make the choice I'd half-heartedly hoped to ignore. There were 5 figures.

This one was ok, but easily dismissed as the most expensive one and the least interesting (despite having the highest number of foxes :P) I do like the motif of 3s, though.

This one was nice! The title is a pun (which I love) and even one fitting for me: "Attention to De-Tail"

All 5 of their bases spin, which is quite nice. In the end, it came down to consideration between 3 different sculptures. The sales associate moved each of the 3 together so I could consider them.

These two put up quite a fight:

I love the little gimmick behind this one. If you place the lights right, the fox pawing at the bird shadows. It's a nice effect! It's also fairly well colored and a nice shape.

This one made for a very strong second. It was the first one I saw (just inside the shop) and the most reasonably priced. Not only that, It had the best shape of them as far as details go. For example, there were discernible paw-pads on the paw reaching towards the mirror-water. The shape was more organic than the others and interesting than most. The coloring was more finely detailed too: cleaner and richer looking.

It was a tough choice, but I just couldn't say no to the dancing couple:

That one was my choice. I couldn't help but feel drawn to it; it was like the a physical embodiment of the ideas swirling around my Rederick and Blythe characters. Two foxes "EnWrapture"d (as title of this bronze statuette is) with one another. So deeply entwined in their dance through fate together they almost meld as one. It's sweet, it's beautiful, I love it, and I had to have it.

While the parallel to Rederick and Blythe had ideated during my decision, another popped up after I had purchased them. In a rather surreal moment, I drew a parallel to Dr. Gravitas in the story burning in the back of my brain. As with in this story I've been slowly working out, I felt a great desire to take on these two; to keep and preserve them. It was a real moment of meta; in which I felt like I had literally played out my story as my fursona in real life. It sounds insane, I know, but it was a warm (if disorienting) feeling and kind of motivating. I have no regrets getting these two.

And now: Soon, after a long stasis in transit, we three will be with one another again.