Friday, February 22, 2013

Extraordinary mail from extraordinary people

The word of the day today is "extraordinary."

Why?

Because you, my friend, are extraordinary. I think you're great.

The people who read my blog are extraordinary and I thank you for visiting this blog every week.

Above all else, my penpals are extra extraordinary people. I bow down to their awesome and if they were crazy kool-aid, I'd be drinking all of it up (which is intended to be a really nice sentiment, but sounds as if I'm a thirsty weirdo. This is why I stick to sarcasm. Sarcasm I get. I'm more of a stranger to nice).

What inspired all the love today? No, I didn't get replaced by a Laura Love-bot, I just got some extra special mail this week and I'm feeling good about it.

Enjoy this post because I only get sentimental like this for 67.5 minutes a year. That's a fact! Now, will someone give me a hug already?!!!!!

Incoming:


First up is this totally velociraptor-iffic package from my bonny lass, Cheryl:


For hawk-eyed readers: why yes, those are Battlestar Galactica playing cards...! SQUEE.

Inspired by a booklet idea I stole from my pal Sarah, Cheryl wrote an entire letter in a book that was decorated throughout with mini envelopes—all containing surprises and stickers and just pockets of awesome. It was easily the most amazing letter I've ever recieved! It was the mother freaking Kinder surprises of letters.




And that's just a few of the pages! I've told Cheryl that she has a standing invite to come live with me when I build my zombie-proof house for the apocalypse (however, she has to bring her own canned goods. I draw the line at sharing mine). That's my way of saying "If I was a bear, I'd squeeze you to death (WITH LOVE!!)."

Next up is mail from Julie. Now, Julie and I usually write epic letters—they practically have chapters and footnotes!—but Julie totally outdid herself on this one:



I LOVE lists! The weirder the better. Some of the gems from this book include: Ukulele songs appropriate for a funeral; injurious comments to make to a pirate; and reassurances for a depressed dairy farmer. This is letter gold!

This is a cool folder that I'm going to use as a portable letter writing kit. It has all these zoo animals on it and I think it says something about me that I originally thought they were dinosaurs. "If a creature ain't a dinosaur, evidently I'm not interested and I'll just see a dinosaur anyway," says Laura.

The package also contained this totally awesome-named scentable pen (also a fact: if you add the word ninja to something, it automatically makes it cooler) from blog reader Louisa, who was Julie's secret santa. Thanks Louisa! If you're reading this, can you send me an email? I'd love to send you a thank you card for your thoughtfulness!

And the extraordinary mail train continues... (I'm not worthy. Party on penpals! Party on blog readers!)

Postcard from Julie in Grand Rapids

It's all batty in here from the LEP swap on swap-bot

Star Wars superheroes from Sara

A very sweet note from Jennifer

Incoming from my LEP swap partner

Stamps galore from Annie

Mail from Melanie

Dots from the very lovely Patty

Are you exhausted by all the mail porn yet? Or do you still have some energy for some outgoing?

Outgoing:



I'm juggling stars for Felicia

I'm all EYES for Miki

Sushi washi tape and bad sashimi puns for Natasha

Maneater for Julie

Outgoing for PostMuse

I don't know what's happening in this photo, and that's the way I like it for Nicole

A star tree for my niece

Whew, I could use a smoke. How about you?

Have a great week everyone!

Friday, February 15, 2013

What are you, some kind of Astronaut? No, I'm some kind of bubble girl.

This is going to be a very short and sweet mail post because I'm sick with some dreaded cold. That'll teach me to fight crime without keeping sanitizer in my spandex (that sentence reads much odder than I intended it to be and I can't figure out how to make it less weird).

(when I do get sick and I'm feeling crappy, I often think about what it would be like to be a Bubble Girl. Yeah, it looks weird and you can't fit through most doors, but you're living in a hermetically sealed, germ-free bubble. Hermetically sealed! HOW AWESOME IS THAT? You'd have to be craaazzy not to enjoy that)

Incoming:



Faster than a speeding bullet, it's a postcard from the LEP-themed swap on Swap-bot

Valentines from Mary, who has so much love to share

LEP incoming from Julie. I'll admit, it's a bit strange to get a postcard featuring yourself. It's like looking into a mirror...oooohhh....

Sage advice from Super Sushi. For those of you who wonder how we balance all the work for LEP—this is the motto we live by.

An envelope of awesome from Mary, who is easily the best Mary I have ever known.

Outgoing:



Outgoing for Katri

Homebaked goodness for Jona (well, I say "homebaked," but its more likely that I bought it from the store, put it on a plate and said I baked it...)

All of the joy of traveling, but none of the layovers for Marissa

A giant peacock for my LEP swap partner, whoever (whomever?) that person may be...

I hope everyone else had a great week, and that you have an even better weekend. Later gators!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Life is a box of chocolates...

Hello lovely letter writers! How are you this fine evening?

One of the things that I love the most about letter writing is that I can "talk" without feeling like I'm being interrupted or that I'm interrupting someone else.

Today at a meeting, I must have unintentionally interrupted every single person there at least once. It's hard speaking up while you're in a public space, isn't it? You diligently wait for that lull in the conversation so that you can interject, thinking "is that a pause? Is that a period? Is that a flipping semi colon?! Are you just trying to get air into your lungs? Are you pausing to sing the theme song of Happy Days in your head? WHAT?"

Finally, you identify what you think is a break in the conversation so that you can jump in there and add your two cents. Except, of course, that break was just a pause for breath and now you've interrupted the person speaking and furthermore, you look like an ASS.

I don't mean to behave like an ass! I swear! My best friend isn't an ogre, I'm not a giant interrupto blob sent here from outerspace, I'm just a gal who doesn't know how to interject when other people are talking.

I feel like I need one of those flip coasters that they have at restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Except mine would say "Talk Laura Talk" and "Shut your pie hole Laura Shut your pie hole."

Wouldn't that just make life easier? Until it becomes socially acceptable to walk around with coasters that say things like "shut your pie hole," I guess I'll just stick to letters.

Incoming:


There was a theme to my incoming this week: thank you cards and postcards. I love thank you cards, but I always want to send a return thank you card to thank them for their thank you card...and that becomes a vicious cycle of thank yous. And sometimes you need to just step up and say the buck stops here. I don't want to be that person, but I'll do it if necessary.

A lovely card from Ciara Kay, LEP's illustrator

Animal tea parties with Mary

Incoming from Jessica

The first of two postcards from PostMuse. This one was a really neat sewn postcard.

Postcard #2 from PostMuse

A lovely thank you postcard from Erin after she recieved a package from my store


Outgoing:



Hobbits are my Homies for Sukie (It's Martin Freeman, what what!)

And that's it from me! The coaster is flipped so you know I'm shutting my pie hole (it's not just a pause for breath). It's time to hear from you! Talk Penpals Talk!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Friday, February 1, 2013

Donald Duck, don't do it! What would Daisy say?!

I consider myself a relatively smart person.

I'm university educated; I occasionally read high-brow literature (Justin Bieber: Just Getting Started sometimes had TWO syllable words. TWO SYLLABLE WORDS, Y'ALL!! If that doesn't say high-brow, I don't even know what does); and I sometimes scan the news when I'm looking for celebrity gossip and TV spoilers.

Then why, for the love of all that is good and frakking holy, why can't I remember to empty out my pockets when I do laundry?!!!

This last load was particularly bad. The culprit? A kleenex, the mangy cur.

White fluff everywhere. It looked like Donald Duck decided to go kamikaze on my laundry.

Sigh.

Incoming:



Bzzzbees from the lovely PostMuse

A replacement letter from Kooky Kay since her first letter got lost, which actually worked out in Kay's favour because she's now being wooed by her postman (who I secretly believe is a tie-wearing gecko...). Apparently replacement letters result in me either perpetrating or being accused of crimes against platypuses. That platypus was just asking for it!

I thought I got weed from Nicole, but she really just sent me oregano

Outgoing:



I WROTE A LETTER! HUZZAH! Of course, it also involves the lamest placement of moustache scraps ever, but let's gloss over that shall we? Moustaches for Lisa!!
So...today was also the big reveal of the first LEP newsletter! By now, hopefully you'll have had a chance to read it. What did you think?

Now that the first newsletter is out, I'm off to collapse in an exhausted heap. Please don't step on me if you see me lying in the middle of the street. However, if you want to play jumping games over my inactive form, I suppose that's okay.

Have a great week everyone!