Okay, here is a strange thing…
I ran across a page today that links to this blog that said I was a finalist on a blogger award (Ladyblog Female Blogger Awards) in their Healthy Living or Leisure category. Strangely, the voting ended almost a week ago, so I had no chance to go vote for myself or shamelessly beg all of you to vote for me. 
The winners were supposed to be announced 2-3 days ago, but nothing yet. Even more strange is one of the other five “female” finalists is a man. Yeah, you heard right. So, I’m not sure if that’s an insult for him or a compliment. Surely with a little elbow grease they could have found another woman to put in there since the award is… well, you know… for chicks.
I keep thinking maybe I clicked on a link that has sent me into an alternate Internet universe. However, if I’m going to be sent off to an alternate universe I’d really rather be shuffled off to someplace where everyone has to send at least two pieces of snail mail per week and where milkshakes have zero calories and where Superbowls are played by shirtless Chippendale dancers.
A girl can dream, can’t she?
Tags: alternative reality, blog awards
Is this adorable or what? Click the picture below to go to Laura of Lupin’s postage stamp gift wrap tutorial.
Click to See Laura's Gift Wrap Tutorial
Tags: craft, gift wrap, postage stamp, stamps
Carla over at 365 Letters is trying an experiment. She’s writing a letter every day to see what happens. Whew, the pressure. CAN SHE DO IT? (Of course she can!) Go root for her because what she is doing is very cool.
Also, apparently it is already working because she is getting a nice round of lovely responses to her missives.
Consider trying it! Maybe it will work out as well for you as it is for her!
Tags: 365 letters, every day letter, letter-a-day, Link
Have you seen the news story about the Postmaster General asking the government if they can cut mail delivery back to five days per week?
It’s scary to think about such a big change in something that has been the same every day of our lives. When I heard about a rate increase in some of the services I was wondering how long it would take for them to recommend cutting mail delivery. I don’t know what portion of their cost is for delivery, but undoubtedly it’s huge. I live in a rural area and I know how far they have to drive here to get mail to people.
My mom recently switched to a post office box because someone in her neighborhood was blowing up mailboxes! They haven’t been able to catch the people who are doing it. She was too unnerved to wait around for something to be done about it so now she just stops by the post office to get her mail.
What do you think about this possible change with the mail delivery? Are you okay with it? Do you hate it? Does it make you nervous? Advantages? Pitfalls? If you were Postmaster General how would you save the postal service? Three billion dollar loss… heck yeah, something needs to be done. Tell me your thoughts.
Tags: government, postal service, postmaster general, usps
Finally, the recognition you deserve! After all the time you’ve spent writing letters, surely by now you are qualified to wear these very cool Correspondence Merit Badges. The link will take you to a page that has merit badges for a variety of interesting things. You’ll have to scroll down a little to find the ones for correspondence.
Wear ‘em with pride!
(Thanks, PostMuse, for telling me about this!)
Tags: correspondence, merit badges, shopping
Here is a video story about the sweet letter the Barbara and Jenna Bush wrote to Sasha and Malia Obama containing advice about living in the White House. Enjoy!
Tags: barbara bush, celebrity letter writers, jenna bush, malia obama, sasha obama, video
Here’s something pretty exciting… a letter writing contest for kids. It launched on inauguration and will end, fittingly, on President’s Day.
So, you better get to cracking!
http://www.adlit.org/our_white_house_contest
Tags: contest, kids, Link
For my birthday I treated myself to a free download from 16 Sparrows. I am such a cheap date!
Kathy and Donovan are very clever and talented stationers who create high quality handmade goods that are great for letter writing and other forms of correspondence. Well worth the look while you’re there gobbling up the free goodies. Please look around a while.
Okay, now about this free stuff… there are printable downloads of notecards, mailing labels, and my personal favorite is the printable envelope template. (Cause you know I’m an envie junkie!) There are also a few other little tidbits there that are fun, but not necessarily related to letter writing.
Have fun!
Tags: 16 sparrows, cards, envelopes, free downloads, free stuff, shopping, stationery
A creative lady named Gina, left a comment on a blog I was reading and it was such a good comment about letter writing that I had to share it.
My good friend and I (she lives in another city) decided to write a letter once a month to each other for 6 months. We divided the letter into: what I’m thinking about right now….something interesting I heard lately…what new sensual experience we had (a bubble bath…a great dinner…some interesting recipe) …what we were reading or what piece of art we had stumbled upon we really liked….and a few other minor categories…. The only rule was, of course, we had to hand write it. It was a wonderful experience…my friend and I first off discovered we had never seen each other’s handwriting because we always email, message etc. As time went on…we often doodled or even colored the borders around the paper…just because it seemed it brought out the creativity in each of us. It was a wonderful friendship project and we learned so much about each other too.
One of the reasons this idea is so great is that it creates a structured environment in which to write a letter. Often people think their lives are boring or that they have nothing to say. This method actually tells you what to write about. It’s a perfect jumping off spot.
Why not try Gina’s cool idea? Get a friend to do it with you. Set up your categories to write about and then try it for a few months and see how it goes.
[photo credit: soartsyithurts]
Tags: idea, structure, suggestion, writing help
I ran across the tasty morsel above (called Chocolate Covered Correspondence) which lead me to the awesome shop of Freshly Skweezed Stationery.
Over there you’ll find personalized stationery and some letterpress stuff. It looks like good prices for the quality of the goods you’ll get. Very classy and fun stuff. These would also make great unique gifts for a letter writing pal.
Go check out: Freshly Skweezed
Tags: shopping, stationery
