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Thursday, June 28, 2012

Lots of Outgoing!

Okay, so, as I mentioned yesterday, I had plenty of mail to send out this afternoon- fortunately time did allow for me to take it to the post office on my lunch break. The bad news, though, is that I put all that effort into making the envelopes more attractive than usual, and I took pictures, but I need to go back and edit out everyones' addresses!

So since I don't have pictures, I'll just list what all went out today: Letters to Romaine in Switzerland and Barbara in France, Irina in Russia and Mel here in the United States. I also sent letters to Shannah and Stephanie (both in the States), and included a small surprise with both of them. Two more letters with surprises went out today, to Cazzie in the UK and Eri in Japan. And the penpal journal is on its way to Hannah (UK). And last but certainly not least, today I sent off my package for the Package Pals project, hosted by Shannah over at Write Before Your Eyes. I ended up forgetting to take pictures of it as I packed it in my morning rush before work this morning, which I find regrettable because I loved how everything looked all neatly packaged. No spoilers, though, so I'll end it there! I hope it reaches its destination soon!

Anyway, since I don't currently have any available pictures for the outgoing, I'll share some of the recent incoming.

A first letter from my new penpal Barabra, who found me on Interpals.
I love the sparkly paper it was written on, but the camera on my phone did not.
Status: Reply sent 6/28
On the envelope from Barbara were two of my favorite stamps so far!
Response to my first letter to Karli. :)
Status: Awaiting Reply

Best. Stationery. Ever! That is all.

A letter from Shannah. :)
Status: Reply sent 6/28.

A first letter from my new penpal, Sam, who asked to be penpals
after I signed up for her travelling notebook (included) on the Postcrossing forums.
Status: Awaiting Reply
Now, for totals.

Incoming: 33 Tári, Caddi, Eri, Stephanie, Ashley, Abbye, Gabby, Beth, Laura and Langley, Anastasya, Sandra, Laura, Emily, Shannah, Laura A., Irina, Fab, Kay, Bri, Kandy, Katherine, Beth, Ilaria, Eri, Melanie, Irene, Morrison, Stephanie I., Everett, Karli, Barbara, Shannah, Sam

Outgoing: 37 Ilaria, Morrison, Shannah, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Stephanie, Tári, Valérie, Elizabeth, Abbye, Yasmeen, Anastasya, Beth , Sara, Sandra, Laura L., Laura A., Stephanie I, Alicja, Fab, Shannah, Bri, Kandy, Kay, Ilaria, Simona, Beth, Romaine, Barbara, Irina, Mel, Shannah, Stephanie, Cazzie, Hannah, Eri

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

A Short Update

Hello! As usual, I'm not keeping up with my mail like I should. I haven't even been taking note of all the incoming/outgoing lately so I've probably forgotten some. :(

But here's what (I think) the current totals are:

Incoming: 32 Tári, Caddi, Eri, Stephanie, Ashley, Abbye, Gabby, Beth, Laura and Langley, Anastasya, Sandra, Laura, Emily, Shannah, Laura A., Irina, Fab, Kay, Bri, Kandy, Katherine, Beth, Ilaria, Eri, Melanie, Irene, Morrison, Stephanie I., Everett, Karli, Barbara, Shannah

Outgoing: 28 Ilaria, Morrison, Shannah, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Stephanie, Tári, Valérie, Elizabeth, Abbye, Yasmeen, Anastasya, Beth , Sara, Sandra, Laura L., Laura A., Stephanie I, Alicja, Fab, Shannah, Bri, Kandy, Kay, Ilaria, Simona, Beth

The incoming still outnumbers the outgoing, but not for long! If time allows at work, I'll stop by the post office at lunch tomorrow- right now I have 8 outgoing letters and packages, and the number is likely to hit double digits before then as I'm still dilligently working on getting caught up on replies.

The best part is I've been trying a little harder on making my envelopes more attractive, so I should have lots of colorful pictures to post when they do go out.

(What's going out tomorrow: Letter and a birthday surprise for Cazzie, penpal notebook to Hannah, letter and some goodies for Eri, letters to Romaine, Mel,  Irina and Barbara and letters + tiny surprises to Shannah and Stephanie I.)

Friday, June 22, 2012

A Good Day Made Better

So, after spending all of last night  pouting about it and walking into my office with my head hung because I knew it was going to be a terrible day due to the work arrangements.... I had the best day of my career so far. :D They had me keying in information for a new program that's about to launch, which sounds really boring, but it's so different from what I do on a regular basis, the switch was such a relief. And I was really good at it, too!

But that's talk for letters, I suppose. And now it's time for the talk about letters, as my day was made even better when I found five letters waiting in my P.O. Box. :D

A letter from Melanie, written on adorable stationery as always.
A letter from Irene, the easy parts written in Italian to help in
my learning attempts! Also included: a postcard of Rome and
two lanyards (not pictured.)                                                       
A letter from Morrison. Mermaid stationery! :)
A letter from Stephanie I., who is the first person I wrote to via FB!
I'm the first one who contacted her through one, too. The tie envelope
was a great touch for a letter written on Father's Day, and even though
you can't see it, the letter is very colorful. <3                                        
A first response from Everett, who I found on SendSomething!
So... it's hard to beat such a great mail day. :D It does put me a bit behind on replies, but I've got all weekend to do nothing but write letters and make more FBs! ....Hmm. My incoming is higher than my outgoing at the moment. Gotta fix that!

Incoming: 29 Tári, Caddi, Eri, Stephanie, Ashley, Abbye, Gabby, Beth, Laura and Langley, Anastasya, Sandra, Laura, Emily, Shannah, Laura A., Irina, Fab, Kay, Bri, Kandy, Katherine, Beth, Ilaria, Eri, Melanie, Irene, Morrison, Stephanie I., Everett

Outgoing: 27 Ilaria, Morrison, Shannah, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Stephanie, Tári, Valérie, Elizabeth, Abbye, Yasmeen, Anastasya, Beth , Sara, Sandra, Laura L., Laura A., Stephanie I, Alicja, Fab, Shannah, Bri, Kandy, Kay, Ilaria, Simona

Thursday, June 21, 2012

What's New?

Hmm....

Today I received a letter from Eri in Japan! And with it she sent a book of Fullmetal Alchemist anime postcards! Rest assured, fangirl squealing ensued.

I didn't send anything out today as I was stranded at work during my lunch hour, but tomorrow I'll be sending to my new penpal Hannah in England, with whom I'll be passing a notebook back and forth and we'll write our letters in that. I've always been interested in doing something like this so I fished around to see if anyone was interested, and ended up with a bite. :)

In other news, I'm kind of nervous/flustered/irritated right now because I'll be working in a different office tomorrow, keying in information for my work's new computer program that's supposed to launch this month. So me and all the other "Seasonal" employees were summoned, told it wasn't optional and instructed to make our way over to this office first thing in the morning. Luckily I don't think I'll be dealing with phones (when the lady called to tell me I was needed, I thought for 60 seconds I'd be working the switchboard and redirecting calls all day. I almost quit on the spot. Fortunately I waited a moment for that misconception to be cleared up). But anyway, it's still totally out of my comfort zone and I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a very long day indeed. I won't even be able to multitask and write letters like I usually do! :(

Also, sometime this weekend I'm planning on doing a special post regarding all of the things I collect/hoard obsessively. I can't wait to share pictures of my growing comic collection, PCs, and -my favorite part- my Iron Man mask! :) I've been thinking about doing this for a while but it's such a pain taking all those pictures on the cell phone and then waiting for them to transfer to my email and then upload them all. But I don't have any plans this weekend, so there should be time.

If any of my penpals want to email, Facebook, text, Kakao Talk or whatever with me to make tomorrow go by faster, that'd be great. ;D

Incoming: 24 Tári, Caddi, Eri, Stephanie, Ashley, Abbye, Gabby, Beth, Laura and Langley, Anastasya, Sandra, Laura, Emily, Shannah, Laura A., Irina, Fab, Kay, Bri, Kandy, Katherine, Beth, Ilaria, Eri

Outgoing: 27 Ilaria, Morrison, Shannah, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Stephanie, Tári, Valérie, Elizabeth, Abbye, Yasmeen, Anastasya, Beth , Sara, Sandra, Laura L., Laura A., Stephanie I, Alicja, Fab, Shannah, Bri, Kandy, Kay, Ilaria, Simona

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

June Stats- 06/20

Incoming: 23 Tári, Caddi, Eri, Stephanie, Ashley, Abbye, Gabby, Beth, Laura and Langley, Anastasya, Sandra, Laura, Emily, Shannah, Laura A., Irina, Fab, Kay, Bri, Kandy, Katherine, Beth, Ilaria

Outgoing: 27 Ilaria, Morrison, Shannah, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Stephanie, Tári, Valérie, Elizabeth, Abbye, Yasmeen, Anastasya, Beth , Sara, Sandra, Laura L., Laura A., Stephanie I, Alicja, Fab, Shannah, Bri, Kandy, Kay, Ilaria, Simona

Monday, June 18, 2012

A Failed Attempt, But No Worries!

So, bad news! I failed my first attempt at Lettermo. Only, I don't really feel like it's bad news, because while I was attempting it, I felt obligated to write the letters and wasn't really enjoying it. So I stopped. But I haven't stopped mailing or anything, I've just been too lazy to update - as usual. :)

Since my last post, I've received letters from Bri, Kandy, Katharina and Beth.

I've sent letters to: Fab, Shannah and Bri.

Incoming: 22 Tári, Caddi, Eri, Stephanie, Ashley, Abbye, Gabby, Beth, Laura and Langley, Anastasya, Sandra, Laura, Emily, Shannah, Laura A., Irina, Fab, Kay, Bri, Kandy, Katherine, Beth

Outgoing: 23 Ilaria, Morrison, Shannah, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Stephanie, Tári, Valérie, Elizabeth, Abbye, Yasmeen, Anastasya, Beth , Sara, Sandra, Laura L., Laura A., Stephanie I, Alicja, Fab, Shannah, Bri

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Days 9, 10, 11

When I started the Lettermo project, I fully intended to update the blog every day. However, I've realized that that is way more difficult than it seems, so even though it'd be easier to keep up with if I dedicated the 20 minutes to blogging every day, I'll probably keep the udpates spaced out every three days or so like this from now on. I'm nothing if not lazy. D:

Anyway, here's a run-down of the past few days.

Day 9, June 11 2012

Outgoing (2):  Sara (Italy), Sandra (The Netherlands)

Incoming (3): Shannah (USA), Laura A (USA), Irina (Russia)

Letter from Shannah! I wish I could borrow her skills in photography!
Letter from Laura A, who has beautiful handwriting. <3
Letter from Irina in Russia, which I received via the "1 Unwritten PC,
1 Letter and a Surprise" tag on the postcrossing forums. I love the
matryoshka magnet, but you can't even imagine how I squealed over
the Avengers image! <3 Iron Man for life.
Day 10, June 12 2012

Incoming: None! :(

Outgoing: Laura L.

Day 11, June 13 2012

Incoming: Fab (Italy), Kay (USA)

Outgoing: Laura A, Stephanie Ino, Alicja

A letter from Fab, whom I met on Sendsomething.
She also included a very useful book to help me learn Italian! :D
Letter from Kay. Also included were three paper cranes for
The Paper Cranes Project and a mix CD! <3 On a side note,
I like this picture even though it's not of the highest quality.
June Totals to Date

Incoming: 18 Tári, Caddi, Eri, Stephanie, Ashley, Abbye, Gabby, Beth, Laura and Langley, Anastasya, Sandra, Laura, Emily, Shannah, Laura A., Irina, Fab, Kay

Outgoing: 20 Ilaria, Morrison, Shannah, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Stephanie, Tári, Valérie, Elizabeth, Abbye, Yasmeen, Anastasya, Beth , Sara, Sandra, Laura L., Laura A., Stephanie I, Alicja

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Days 7 & 8, And Waiting Sucks.

Hiya! This update is a little late because I spent the weekend out of time with my mother, my aunt and my little cousin for Mom's upcoming birthday. It turned out to be quite the adventure, but I'm sure I'll tell you all about it in my next letter. For now, I'm playing catch up.

Day Seven

Incoming: N/A

Outgoing: A letter to Anastasya in Russia!

Day Eight

Incoming: Letters from Sandra (The Netherlands), Emily (USA), and Laura (Finland.)

Letter from Emily in the USA. I've been trying to get the picture
right-side up for half an hour, but it doesn't want to work with me. :(
First letter from Sandra, who found me through my
penpal ad on the postcrossing forums!
Letter from Laura in Finland.
In other news, a package came in for me while I was out of town this weekend and the post people left a notice in my box to come pick it up. Unfortunately, I don't get off of work until well after the post office closes on weekdays, and I don't drive so I can't go during my lunch hour. It's looking like I might have to wait until next Saturday to figure out what it is. D:

June Totals to DateIncoming: 13 Tári, Caddi, Eri, Stephanie, Ashley, Abbye, Gabby, Beth, Laura and Langley, Anastasya, Sandra, Laura, Emily
Outgoing: 14 Ilaria, Morrison, Shannah, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Stephanie, Tári, Valérie, Elizabeth, Abbye, Yasmeen, Anastasya, Beth

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Day 6- Lots of Mail, and Lots of FBs!

Day 6 was a great mail day, but before I get to that, I need to share the pictures of yesterday's mail!

Day Five Recap

Incoming: Gabby

Outgoing: Elizabeth

And now, on to Day 6!

Today I received three letters: from Beth, Anastasya, and Laura (and Langley!)

Letter from Beth, whose ability to write in straight lines on unlined paper I greatly admire.
First letter from Laura, who posted on her blog, volunteering to send out
introduction letters to new penpals. Much appreciated, Laura!
Letter from Anastasya-  guess where she's from? ;D Also included were
anime-themed goodies as well as a FB and a lyric book!
 Outgoing: 2. Today I sent a reply to Abbye as well as a first letter to Yasmeen over at Once Upon a Letter- it's overdue by about a month for very carless reasons, but I hope she'll forgive me!

Reply to Abbye. I wish I had taken a picture of the letterset- it was one of my favorites
(and probably the only non-kawaii one I had. D: But I hope you enjoy it, Abbye!)

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Day 5 and Searching for Package Swappers

Incoming: 1 - Received a letter from my new penpal Gabby, here in the States. Met her via the postcrossing forums.

Outgoing: 1 - Sent a first letter to my new penpal Elizabeth, who I met via a Travelling Notebook project (Also on the postcrossing forums!) The TN is on its way as well.

I'll post pictures tomorrow because my phone is currently M.I.A.!


In other news, I'm looking for a few people with whom I can exchange packages. I'm willing to do these both domestically and internationally. For those of you in the States, we can exchange things as frequently as you want; for the internationals, we can make this a one time thing, or a once every two/three months thing, as you please! This interest was brought about by Swap-Bot (before I got suspended for being underage as I failed to read the rules -such a shame, I loved that site) and various package-swapping projects hosted by penpals. Anyway, here are some things I love to exchange:

If you're interested, we can exchange a list of things (like, a lot of things, so we have many options to work with) we like and set something up. Since I'm no longer on SB I'd love to find ways to exchange packages - even if you're not interested, please let me know if you know someone who is or if you're aware of any similar projects. Thanks!

-Shelby: The best way to get in touch with me is to shoot me an email at no.2shelby_lou@yahoo.com


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Day Four

Day Four
Incoming: Letter From Abbye

Love this stationery!
Outgoing: Once again, I forgot to take a picture of the outgoing before it was gone, but today's letter was an introduction to Valérie, a lady whose profile I discovered on Sendsomething.net this morning.

Totals to Date: Pictures to Come

So, Lettermo is still going strong, I've just been lazy about taking pictures. I think I'll start posting those all at the end of the week. But anyway, yesterday I received a letter from Ashley and sent letters to Tári and Stephanie.

For the Month of June
Incoming: 5 Tári, Caddi, Eri, Stephanie, Ashley.
Outgoing: 8 Ilaria, Morrison, Shannah, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Stephanie, Tári

I had a hard time deciding what to do with Sundays, as they're still "Days of the month", though mailless ones. Ultimately I've tweaked this to "Send a letter every mailable day of the month", which will exclude holidays and Sundays. 

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Day Two

Lettermo: Attempt #1, Day 02.

Incoming: None. :(

Outgoing: Letters to Michi, Eri and Caddi.

No pictures today, sorry. And sorry for the short post, it's just  my daily update.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Lettermo and Package Pals

All of the blogs I've been following lately have gotten me really inspired to participate in snail-mail related projects. I learned about Lettermo through my new penpal Fab. I think it will be great inspiration to not procrastinate on any replies, and to write more first letters on the days when I'm completely caught up.

So, here are today's results.

Lettermo: Day One

Incoming: 4

The first letter I've received from Tári (France). Love the stationery/matching envie!
First letter from Stephanie (USA), who I wrote to a while back after finding her
on Sendsomething.net. I've met a few great people on there so far and hope to meet many more.
This is the first letter I've received from my new penpal Eri, who lives in Japan.
We met via a travelling notebook on the Postcrossing forums!
And finally, a letter from the wonderful Caddi (Germany). She also sent
me a  newspaper in German and some beautiful stamps!
 I should definitely have enough replies to write to get me at least one letter every day this week! Fun fact: All of the people whose letters I received today have names ending with the -ie sound. 8D Most of my penpals do, actually. Destiny, Tari, Michi, Eri, Caddi, Bri....

Outgoing: 3

Today I sent letters to Ilaria (Italy), Morrison (U.K.) and Shannah. (U.S.A.)
None of them have -i/ie endings.
June stats to date:
Sent: 3, Received: 4

Another project that I'm totally pumped about is Package Pals, which is hosted by Shannah over at Write Before Your Eyes. In this project, each of the participants will be assigned a partner (you can choose if you'd like to send domestically or internationally) whose blog they will secretly stalk to discover things they like. You then prepare a package of things you think they would love to receive, and in turn your partner will send you one as well. I'm not the best at describing things, though, so here's a link to the information as posted by Shannah. -Click here- I hope you'll all participate in it- it's a wonderful idea and I have high expectations that it will go over brilliantly.


Recent Incoming

Hello! How is everyone? :D This is just a quick update to share some of last week's incoming that I've just now gotten around to posting.

Letters from Marta and Aliya. Postcard from Annie on Sendsomething.net
and a tag from the postcrossing forums!

From my new penpal Aliya in Poland!
Awesome mail art and letter from Michi,  also in Poland! :) Also
included was the first FB I've ever received- it's now been passed on!
 And this next picture is of a drawing Michi did in her letter- I hope you don't mind my sharing this, Michi!

Adorable, right? And the caption (which you can't read, but Michi knows what I'm talking about)
made me crack up- while I was reading it at work. :)