Hmm...

You ever have one of those days where you find the most perfect thing to write about on your blog...only to get side-tracked and not write it down...and then later you cannot recall what it was? Haha. Well...if so...welcome to my Monday!

And wouldnt you know that as I am writing about how I forgot...I REMEMBERED! Ok...enough caps.

Anyone who is a fan of books of letters or even the Post Secret project may enjoy this new book I had the pleasure of reading. The book is called The George Carlin Letters: The Permanent Courtship of Sally Wade.



Now for anyone who was a fan of George's comedy material, his play on words and puns, you would be shocked to know that he was a hopeless romantic. Trust me, I read this book..which is basically filled to the binding with notes, stories and postcards that he wrote for his wife Sally Wade. She tells the story of how they met and the book blossoms from there. It was an absolutely enjoyable read (and also a quick one).

Here is a picture of what one of the pages looked like:



So, have you read any good books lately?

Oops...Today is Friday

See what having two days off before the weekend does to me?? I was attempting to speed up the week. I do apologize for that. As it were, it worked out nicely that I posted that yesterday as today I just simply do not seem in the mood to write a happy post.

I have been spending a majority of this day watching the news and checking Youtube for first hand accounts of the earthquake/tsunami aftermath in Japan. (Thus the less than happy mood). I highly recommend the videos on youtube, they show just how frightening the whole situation was.

So for today, I do hope that you take time to reflect on those things that are most important to you.

Mail Call Friday

Ok..so we will see exactly how long this lasts but I am toying with the idea of having a "Mail Call Friday". That way each week I can share with you some of the wonderful pieces that have come in that week. I am constantly amazed by all the wonderful things that I get in my mailbox each week and I want to get better at sharing them with you.

So here is a picture of some of the mail that I have gotten this week.



As you can see there was lots of fun stuff waiting in my mailbox this week! I got a few letters, some postcards and a few things I wanted to show you a bit more of.



The envelope on the left was sent by Elle. How awesome is that envelope? I must say I am a total Dr. Seuss nut!! AND we just celebrated his birthday at work. So this envelope had me hooked before I even opened it. Then inside there was a nice note and some idle postage. The envelope on the right side was sent to me by Jill. She sent me some good luck with that wonderful handmade clover. How appropriate as I am Irish. =)

The final piece I wanted to show you a little more of was sent to me by Dave .



Look at all that awesome stuff!! I cannot wait to make some interesting art out of it. I already know that at least one of the stamps is destined to become jewelry. (yup thats right..not only do I sent stamps on letters..i wear them as jewelry too). And on that note, I do believe it is time that I go make some art on this rainy Ohio day. I hope you all have a wonderful evening!

How Long Does it Take To Get There?

I wasn't quite sure of what to post about today until I read this article. Basically the article talks about a letter that was sent in 1943 that just finally made it to its destination. The letter was sent from Camp Roberts by Lt. Mervin Teig to his family back home in Iowa in 1943. The letter just finally made it to his brother last month.

What is even stranger about this story is that letter that was mailed in 1944 just finally made it to...yup..you guessed it Camp Roberts! Now, the letter that was mailed to the Camp was sent to a lady who was working for the Red Cross at the time. But still..how weird?

Now the postal service says that things like this rarely happen. Usually it happens when a letter gets lost behind a shelf (or other furniture) and it is finally found years later when they move them. But either way I still think cases like this are sooo cool. I am still hoping that one day I will get some lost mail from Japan (I never got what was sent to me from a friend).

Anyway, I thought the article was pretty neat so I wanted to share it. I am hoping that maybe tomorrow I can post some pictures of my incoming mail. I am thinking once a week posting my mail might be a good choice. Anyway, I hope everyone had a wonderful day! Cheers!

Latin Music Legends

It's that time again! The USPS will be releasing a new series of stamps next week commemorating the Latin Music Legends. The stamps were designed by artist Rafael Lopez. You can find his website if you click his name. This is actually the third time the USPS has called upon Rafael's artistic vision to make postage stamps.

Here are the stamps:

Tito Puente

Carmen Miranda

Selena

Carlos Gardel

Celia Cruz

Pretty neat huh? I personally love these stamps and look forward to buying some on the 16th. They will make my mail art look a bit more festive.

Ok...I Lied...

This afternoon I am filled with things to blog about aren't I?

Well it just so happens that I found one of my favorite bloggers, Numinosity, is holding a 200th post giveaway! AND..she is giving away extra chances if you blog about it! So..here goes:

This self proclaimed "Rustafarian" does a little bit of everything. From paintings (which are really cool), a bit of collaging (totally awesome) and probably the most interesting to me...she makes her own beads!! Beautiful ones at that. I wish I knew how to do it..sadly I tried once and well..lets just say I leave the bead making to the real artists.

I highly recommend that you visit her blog, not only for the chance to win some really neat stuff, but also because as I said before..she makes some really cool art!!

She has not one...but TWO Etsy stores!! In the first one she sells has some really neat paper ephemera listed. I drool every time I look at it. And the second one she showcases her beads! If you are like me you will be astounded by their beauty.

Oh and she has been a busy bee because aside from the blog, and the two Etsy stores...she has found the time to start her own website which you can find here. Cool huh?

So...you should jog on over to any or all of the sites I listed cause you are bound to see some pretty neat things!

Ok...One Final Thought for Today

Ok...I no more than finished my post about how I file my mail...and there was something waiting to be read in my RSS feeds. I follow all kinds of varied subjects..but this one actually got me to sit and think a bit. That and well...I think it is highly absurd!

The article I read (here) is about how some European countries are initiating a new system of posting your mail. You can simply buy your postage by sending a text message and then you get a message in return with a code. You plop the code on your mail and it is good to go. So basically it works much like the mail system does for US Soldiers. They simply write "free mail" in the upper corner of their envelopes and its good to go.

Denmark and Sweden are the two countries that are mentioned in this article..and all I can think of is..how unhappy the mail will look if they move to using codes. Sure it saves some paper..but how bizarre is this? Seems like it would take more time to be verifying the codes are correct than simply running the post and checking stamps.

Oh well. Sometimes technology can be saddening. Do you have any thoughts on this? If so..I would like to hear them.