So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Hello blogworld! Guess what? As of Monday, April 15, Please Deliver To is officially one year old.

YAY! Happy Birthday blog! Now, don't eat all of the ice cream and cake just because it's your birthday—you're starting to look a little thick around the waist and could stand to lose a few pounds. WHAT? I know it's cruel, but I say it to be kind.

However, in addition to celebrating my one-year blog anniversary, I'm sad to announce that I'm taking an indefinite break from blogging and this will be my last post, at least for the foreseeable future.

happy face/sad face/confused face/perplexed face/constipated face/hungry face/I-think-I-just-time-traveled face
[feel free to choose the emoticon that applies to you here]

I started this blog a year ago at the urging of my best friend. She wanted me to start a blog as a record of all the "mail art" (term used loosely) that I was sending out as a new snail mailer. I never thought that this blog would spawn an etsy store, a penpal club, and above all else, great relationships with all the penpals I've met through this blog and all you awesomesauce readers who have left comments over the past year. It's been great.

However, it's difficult finding time to blog because I've got my plate full with LEP, trying to be a decent penpal, a full time job, eating, sleeping, and the general messy business of trying to have a personal life.

So for now, I bid the business of blogging adieu!

But I won't be too far away. I'm all over the LEP newsletter and I'll still be writing posts over at the LEP website. In addition, you can always email me: pleasedeliverto@gmail.com. I may not be posting regularly on Please Deliver To, but it doesn't mean that I don't want to hear from you. Please continue to share your plans for the apocalypse, snail mail news, what you ate at 2:37 pm on a Thursday afternoon, excitement over TV marathons, and everything in between. I'm only an email away.

I may pick up Please Deliver To again in the future when things slow down and I'm struck by inspiration (I hope not literally, I reckon that would hurt!). But in the meantime, so long and thanks for all the fish!

Stay cool, snail mailers.

That's one small step for man, one giant leap for Laura

Before I jump into this week's mail post, I'm happy to announce that the League of Extraordinary Penpals is hosting an international movie night and you are all invited! Every single last one of you! Even you in the back—YES, you! Drinking Yoo-hoo with a curly straw.... I see you!! You can find the details here, but I hope you'll be able to join us because it'll be awesome!! But it's definitely BYOP though (bring your own popcorn); awesome conversation to be supplied by everyone!! 

Okay! On with the bloggy show....

Pssst... want to know a secret about me?!

I'm ridiculously obsessed with teeny, tiny, minature versions of things.

I am surrounded by mini versions of things that are so. damn. cute. but serve absolutely no. functional. purpose.

I think I like them because it makes me feel like a giant when I'm holding them. True fact.

"Run for your lives little mini things! Giant Laura is coming!!! STOMP STOMP." It's a good thing I never bothered to buy a plane ticket to Lilliput. Can you imagine the carnage?!

Anyone have a quirky confession of their own to make? This is a safe zone, I promise. Nothing you say here will leave this blog. I might blackmail you with it in the future, but that's way down the road; for now, let me put your mind at ease...

Incoming:

Sweets from the sweet Miki

RHIANNON!

A kitten from Julie!

Calligraphy from Jessica

Domes from PostMuse

Speaking of tiny little things: a postcard from the Museum of Salt & Pepper shakers from Jess

I love this PO Box move announcement from PostMuse

Lovely mail from Kimmie

Outgoing:

Silhouettes for Vanessa

Bookstairs for Sarah

I'm simply magnetized by Julie

Dots for Talli

Spring rains for Jona

Have a very wonderful week everyone!

Eggs-cellent Easter?

Hullo snail mailers!! 

No mail post today on account of it being Easter and me having mad respect for the Easter Bunny.

That, or I just gorged on a crapload of egg-shaped gummies and I don't think I can move and the camera is over on the other side of the house and oh my lord, the tummy hurts and I just want to lapse into a sugar coma.

Take your pick. Either way, you'll get a proper mail post next week as usual.

How are you spending your easter weekend? Once I've slept off my sugar coma, I'll be taking a day trip out to Drumheller, the Dinosaur Capital of the World. Because nothing says Easter like dinosaurs, wouldn't you agree?

Happy Easter everyone! I'll leave you with a punny joke, because we like puns here at Please Deliver To:

What do you call ten rabbits marching backwards?
A receding hareline.

2 - 2 = errr, I think I'm in real trouble now.

Apparently washi tape was so 2012; 2013 marks the year of the fountain pen obsession.

I bought my first fountain pen and my first bottle of ink last month. I distinctly remember telling my husband that I couldn't understand why people had multiple pens and multiple ink colours because I would be pretty happy with just one pen and a few ink colours.

Oh, what a fool I was.

For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, I think you have a pretty good idea of what came next:

....if you guessed contemplating selling my kidney, then you get a prize!!

If I sold one kidney for washi tape and the other to finance my new fountain pen addiction.... I'm not a mathematical genius, but that doesn't leave me with a lot of kidneys, does it?

Any medical experts out there? I have a really serious medical question to ask: how long can a person hypothetically survive if she had less than one kidney left? At least 75 years, right?! C'mon, pure obsession should count for something!

Don't get me wrong, I still love washi tape. But it's been downgraded to a sell-a-smaller-body-part-for-it level. Like an eye! An eye sounds like a good thing to sell for washi tape. I figure I'd look hella good in an eyepatch. Arrrgh, walk the plank, ya scallywag. 

Also, apropos of nothing, I've figured out my new motto in life: WWTGD? Before I do anything, I'm going to ask myself, What Would Tim Gutterson Do*? Because I could use some badass US Marshall mojo in my life.

*any Justified fans out there? Tim Gutterson is now officially a million times cooler than anybody ever after this week's episode, don't you think?.

Incoming:

Pencils from Julie in Grand Rapids

It's a zoo in here(!) from Jona

My new envelope template from Omiyage

Outgoing:

Hilarity for Rhiannon

I'm sending Julie an afro dog! All the fun of a real dog, none of the cleanup.

Get anything awesome in the mail lately?

Mind your Ps and Qs

Hello everyone!

I spent a lot of time this week thinking about gratitude and appreciation. Sometimes it feels as though the words "thank you" aren't used enough today. It's too easy to take kindness for granted, and saying thanks is a simple gesture that means a lot. It barely takes any time to send someone a message to thank them for doing something nice, for going above and beyond, for taking the time to do something that you really appreciated or enjoyed, or just for being great.

However, if there's a reason for complaint—watch out! People rarely stay quiet when they have something negative to say. I wish that people were as passionate about expressing appreciation and gratitude as they were about complaining.

This is why I'm taking the effort to write thank you notes to all the people who made my week a little bit brighter this week. I want them to know that I acknowledge and appreciate their help and support. This will include thanks for extraordinary gestures (like my best friend who always lends me craft supplies) to thanks for small details that are greatly appreciated (like a store that packaged my ink order up especially secure). I know that it's a small gesture on their part, but it means a lot to me and it's important to express that appreciation.

Have you thanked someone for doing something nice this week? Why not join me and say thanks now? We'll make it a party and everything!! You bring the chips, I'll bring the snark. All of my parties always involve a donkey and a spatula, so be sure to bring some medication if you're allergic to spatulas. Oh, and I guess donkeys too.

Incoming:

Steampunky punk goodness from Natasha, which also contained.....

This fantastic Avengers button!!! AVENGERS ASSEMBLE! Thank you, Natasha! This is my sad attempt to take a semi-artistic shot involving my new donkey note holder. (Huh, two donkey references in one blog post. It's all asses at Please Deliver To)

A letter from Talli

A BOOK! SARAH SENT ME A BOOK!!!! Thank you Sarah for sending me two of my favourite things in the world (letters and books, that is. I'm neutral at best about stickers that say "ID Recorded)!!

Awesome Paddy's Day mail from Katri

Outgoing:

Triangles for Jessica

Superheroes for Cheryl

Picket fences for Patty!

(note: if you read Patty's blog, it appears that she was recently in a car accident. OH NO! Her address is on her blog, let's send her some get well wishes and snail mail her better! Yes, I just used snail mail as a verb. And no, I'm not sure what it really means either.)

Want to know what I was especially grateful for this week? THIS. THIS MAKES MY YEAR. 

Have a great week everyone! Thanks for reading this post and for visiting!