Mail Geek

I feel like such a geek and one problem with being a geek as a kid is that your never get over the trauma of being thought a geek. Wow, did you know you could use the word geek three times in one run on sentence? I have been a letter writer since I was a kid. My grandmother, my favorite person in the whole wide world after my kids, saved my letters because she thought one day I'd be famous and they might be published. What a nice thought. I sure miss her. She used to have my first letter ever, in those giant letters you learned in kindergarten, taped to her closet mirror.
I wrote most regularly to my grandparents in California (at the time I lived in Seattle) and an assortment of letters and cards to other people.
While I lived in Paris in my senior year in college I sent a number of air letters (what ever happened to them?) to friends and family, especially my grandmother who had terminal breast cancer. I couldn't afford many phone calls home and those involved dropping all my loose change into a pay phone until my call ran out and was abruptly terminated. How much life has changed with cell phones, e-mail and Skype. Although I adored being in Paris it was lonely at times and I lived for letters from the States.
I stopped writing, and thereby lost a few friends including the couple of friends I made in France, as graduate/medical school began and I got bogged down in work and later family. Now I have regrets, but what can you do?
I am happy to find like-minded, extremely cool people (unlike me) who are trying to keep the postal service alive and keep the hand written letters moving. Postcrossing, sendsomething.net and some letter-friendly bloggers net some letters and postcards from home and abroad. It sure beats bills and junk mail. It also gives me an excuse to buy odd postcards and the latest US postage stamps.
As to the images I've posted here, they are my thanks to thesnailmailer who enjoys seeing her letters posted and who sent me the above envelope and card which truly deserve being shared. I have to confess, I've never tried Jello-shots--geek that I a--but one good envelope deserves another. Speaking of alcohol, have you ever heard of bubble gum flavored vodka? Now that is really gross. Have a lovely weekend and write lots of letters.

Vintage Book Covers

Are going to be outgoing postcards. Sizing them accurately down to 4x6 turns out to be a little tricky but I think I'm getting the hang of it. My first efforts seemed to crop off some of the edges even though the pre-printing image looked fine. I'm wondering if I ought to try reading the books too.
Damon Runyon is going out to the Missive Maven. Maven definitely has a fun blog about letter writing and related themes. I hope I don't creep her out with Damon--some of the cover faces are a bit sinister if you ask me. Perhaps it is a bit better than sending The Loved One to a complete stranger--does it have a hint of stalker about it?



I'll keep on blog hopping as time permits.

Chain Mail

In the distant past, I did a couple of blog walks, heading from one blog to a linked one to see where I wound up. Today I had the inspiration to do the same for mail oriented blogs--blogs where owners post an address and swap postcards, letters or mail art. There are some interesting ones out there, as I have discovered. The catch is, I will mail something to each of the addresses and see what comes of it.
I'm going to start with TheSnailMailer with the postcard posted above--if it rains anymore here in Chicago, I'm going to have webbed feet and mold growing where the sun don't shine. Becky, of the SnailMail blog claims to be a stationery addict. To date I haven't heard of a 12 step group for that one but there's always room for one more!