Just a little...

I haven't had much time lately for letter writing and blogging, mainly due to work and uni commitments. I cant complain too much though as from the 26th May I will be on uni holidays for three months so will be able to blog and write my days away. Until then this is my wonderful incoming mail and unfortunately less outgoing, but I will catch up, I promise.

Incoming....

From swap- bot (sometimes I join up for one randomly)

A lovely hair pin from Jozen, I have already had many compliments when wearing it.

An unexpected thankyou card from Rebecca for holding the stationery swap. I love the penguin classic books so adore this postcard.

A lovely card from Tilly across the ditch in NZ. I love the illustration on the front of the envelope.

A wonderful envelope and letter from Garci, this was the back and this...

is the front with the gorgeous Audrey on the front.

Another swap - bot postcard.

A lovely letter from Melody.

Outgoing...

Cd's for Tiffanys cd swap going out to Katie. The covers are replicas of portraits from the National Gallery. Sorry about the reflection in the covers, whoops.

Sent out one of Bianca's postcards to lovely Elaine.

And finally one to Zoe at her new address.

I am off to bed to read my book for a while. I am reading 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' and it has me completely sucked in. 

Oh and a big "hello" to new followers, so nice to have you here, leave a comment to say hi or if you have a blog, a link, so I can check it out.

Bring back the weekend

This weekend we got a public holiday on Monday in lieu of ANZAC day on Sunday. ANZAC day commemorates the landing of Australian and New Zealand troops in Gallipoli during the first World War. It is a day to remember the brave troops who have served Australia in battle and support those serving now. Most people attend an ANZAC day service than go to their local pub to drink and play two - up. Its the only day in Australia where two - up is legal, it is pretty much a game of heads and tails with money involved.

I had a wonderful weekend with family and friends.

On Saturday night we had a party...

Than on Sunday we went to the football...

And our team (The Rabbitohs in the white) won!!!

Than we played two up...

and guess what? We won! (Thats my sister by the way)

Than yesterday we went on a big shopping spree, I will share what goodies we bought in an upcoming post.

How was your weekend? Get up to anything exciting? x

thankyou. stationery. winner

This is a post to say thankyou. Thankyou to who? Why you of course. 8 months ago blogging did not exist to me. Than I stumbled upon this world where people (most) are kind, creative, motivated and inspiring. Everyday when I check my reader I am constantly in awe of the amazing people in this blogging world. I am thankful for the people who read and comment on my blog and make my day a little brighter. I am thankful for the new friends I have made that I may not have stumbled upon in my "real" life. So thankyou to all of you, please keep being the wonderful people you are.

Another personal thankyou to Rhianne for the lovely package that you sent me for the stationey swap. I arrived home today to find it sitting on the coffee table. I loved every single part of it and was overwhelmed with your generosity. Want a sticky at what Rhianne sent?

So finally after all my mush and gush the giveaway winner is number 6....Ebony from Ebony and Ivory. Congrats Ebony, email me and let me know your address. Thankyou to everyone for participating and sharing your etsy favourites, their will be a post dedicated to it soon.

Mail, mail, mail

Thank you so much for your messages of encouragement last week with my to - do list, it got me motivated to dig in and get it done. I didn't think I would have time for letters but I decided to give myself some time off from uni (which inevitably means I will be behind again) the last two afternoons and got some writing done.

Outgoing...

A first letter to Shona.

A letter to Emily made from the Frankie paper.

A reply to Lauren, I hope the postie doesn't mind the sideways address but it was the only place it would fit.

 An overdue letter to Kamilla in Poland, envelope courtesy of Bianca.

A reply to a lovely long letter sent by Helen. 

A reply to Micaela.

And remember last week I mentioned the swap between the wonderful Jennifer and myself. This is what I sent out to Jen.

Incoming....

And this is what arrived from Jen on Monday morning. So much gorgeous stationery that I cant wait to send out and my own date stamp, I think I will probably be going a little stamp crazy. We also sent a mixed CD and Jen's had heaps of new music that I hadn't heard before, i love finding new music. Thanks so much Jen for such a fun swap!

My long letter from Helen, aren't the stamps gorgeous?

The lovely Caiti sent me a collection of old photos and postcards that were in the house that she moved into. The old owner didn't want them back so Caiti decided to share them with her blog friends. I loved looking through them all and am going to start sending out some of the postcards soon and am also looking forward to sending a thankyou to Caiti.

A gorgeous postcard from Elaine.

Oh and you only have 2 more days to sign up for my giveaway, make sure you don't miss out!

Blogging around the world: USA Part 1

Absentminded - the thing I love about Jen is her honesty and abilitly to tell it how it is. She is funny, motivated and always has an interesting story to tell. A blog that I always get excited to see come up in my reader.

Belen: Beh - LEHN - I adore this girl and her blog. I love her weekly mail feature, she always manages to find the most wonderful postcards. She is also documenting her weightloss journey through a weekly weigh in where she shares her challanges and successes. She also has a gorgeous puppy Charlie girl who I never tire seeing photos of. Also check out her lovely etsy store.

Dolce Vita -Micaela would have to be one of the sweetest girls I have ever come across. She is always doing selfless acts that inspire me to try and spread the kindness. She has a wonderful way with words, so poetic and dreamy. She is always up with what is happening in the blogosphere and shares that knowledge with her readers. She also has a lovely give away at the moment for her readers.

i - zilla the terrible- Iris shares her crafty adventures which always turn out to be beautiful creations. She is also a wonderful baker and shares her cupcake creations which are always decorated flawlessly. Her Wednesday wishlist posts are also a must read as she has always has unique finds.

Dinosaur Toes - through this blog Danielle shares the gorgeous jewellery and other goodies that she makes and lists in her etsy store. Favourite features on her blog are Wishlist Wednesday and when she shares her thrifting adventures.

Letters, she wrote -  Lauren is another snail mail lover and always shares the gorgeous mail she sends and receives. I love looking at the different envelopes that Lauren makes and it always inspires me to try and make more of my own. Lauren has also started sharing her photography which is one of her passions in life and I look forward to seeing more.

B is for brown, breath and believe - I meet Summer through a swap I participated in and have been reading her blog ever since. Once again Summer is one of those honest bloggers who writes openly about her life without sugar coating anything; she tells it how it is. Read her blog and follow her journey through marriage, becoming a mum and becoming the next star childrens entertainer.

After starting this I found that the majority of blogs I read come from the USA so please come back for further parts in the future as there is far too many to do in one post. Happy Reading!

A love like this...

Last week when I showed off the lovely vintage handbags I inherited from my grandma I also mentioned that there was something inside. Tucked into one of the pockets was a photo of my nan with one of her old boyfriends. I loved finding this photo and seeing a side of my nan that I didnt know. I think she was quite the heartbreaker in her younger days and I couldnt help imagining why my nan tucked that photo away in the handbag so many years ago?

The second photo is one of my grandma and my grandpa, I think she was about 21 and he was 19. My nan was engaged to marry somone else but meet my grandpa and it was love at first sight. Her ex - fiance still sends her a box of mangos every christmas time.

About 10 years ago my nan had a stroke which left her unable to speak or walk. My grandpa kept her at home and looked after her for as long as he could but a couple of years later she had to go into a nursing home. Every second day my grandfather drives for an hour to visit her, his been doing this for years now.

For me this is true, unassuming love where you can be with someone for sixty years and even when the love of your life is unable to communicate with you, you are still able to enjoy simply being in their prescence.

If I am able to have half the love they have shown each other in my life than I will indeed be a lucky woman.

If I could turn back time

To do:

- 1 x 3000 word essay due Monday

-1 x 1800 word essay due Friday

- 1 x Job application due Friday

- 12 x letters to reply to (this is the one I actually want to be doing)

- 3 x 2 hour lectures to listen to

- plus attending uni and going to work :-(

Why am I blogging? God only knows but it might have something to do with my sanity. I know people probably have alot more going on then I do but at the moment I am just feeling a bit overwhelmed, and having a little whine time seems to help a little.

However Two things Tuesday posts (even late) always cheer me up so here goes....

My new "organisation" board that my mum bought me. Its a bit bare yet but I am sure it wont take long to fill up, plus I want to paint the edges red to match other things in my room.

My Budha he reminds me to be calm and reflect, which I need right now. I heard that it was bad luck to buy them for yourself so I had to get Brendan to buy me one. Plus my miniture baboshka doll, I bought her in Prague so she reminds me of travelling and is soon going to be a little tattoo on my back...

Link up or check out other two things Tuesday at BacWoods Fern.

Also a note on the stationery swap -  I just wanted to say that I realise some people didnt receive a package from their stationery partner. I am really disappointed that some people signed up and didnt go through with it. I wish I could afford to send you all a package to make up for it. My suggestion is you email your partner to see if they sent it late or what the dealeo is? If you dont have your partners contact details email me and I will give them to you. Once again I am sorry but this is the ugly side of swaps and unfortunately there is little I can do :-(

I feel this post is a little all over the place today which is sucky but I think thats just me at the moment.

Another week, another mail post

I have to say that everyday the different mail I receive makes my day so much brighter. And the more I receive the more I am inspired to send. When someone makes my day, it makes me want to return the favour and spread the love. I also enjoy reading everyone elses mail post's in celebration of what some would think of as a lost art form. So without further a do, the week in mail....

Incoming....

Bianca has been filling up my mailbox with gorgeous letters this week

Full of gorgeous bits and pieces and of course a wonderful letter.

Mixed CD from mailtag.

The music included on the cd, I have found alot of new music I like.

I also ordered some postcards from her etsy store and look how gorgeously she wraps them and sends them out. Super quick shipping too.

From the wonderful Zoe who also has a new etsy store and is hosting a wonderful giveaway. She included a fanta lipsmacker which I cant stop putting on.

A beautiful card and letter from Erin.

Beautiful Micaela's letter.

From Belen, love receiving letters from this girl.

A thankyou from Sophie for the stationery swap.

Outgoing...

A thankyou to Laura.

A postcard to Fabi

Than two postcrossing cards...

Finally Jennifer and I decided to have a direct stationery/mixed cd swap with each other. It was so much fun putting together this package for her...

And Jennifer sent me an email on her way to post my package which I just think is the sweetest thing ever. I will share what is in the packages when they both arrive at their destinations.

I hope that everyone has a good mail week, I am off to write some more letters.