Lust For Life

Tuesday Goals

2012-01-24T18:19:00.002-05:00

It's Tuesday.

These are things that I want to happen by Sunday:

+ get more than halfway done on my tree sweater knitting project

+ scout out a place in Baltimore for me to install said tree sweater

+ mail back my Amazon package return as well as a package to a pen-pal in Virginia

+ complete my list of things I want to include in my personal time capsule

+ file all incoming mail that I've already responded to

+ organize my school books, binder, etc. for my last semester

In other news, I finished my rainbow cowl!

I added buttons for closure...
these were the candidates

yay!!

A Productive Weekend (In Terms Of Mail...)

2012-01-22T22:21:00.000-05:00

I worked on a lot of mail this weekend. The rate that I can produce mail is much faster now that I don't need to make each envelope or postcard image. I caught up on a lot of stuff and I have 41 pieces going out tomorrow!

big pile o' mail

I wanted to take a picture of the mail all laid out but there was too much so I had to divide it up into three piles:

The bad news* is that's basically all I did. That and watch TV. Things I watched include: It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Legally Blonde, Bring It On, Gossip Girl, Wedding Crashers, Kath & Kim, American Pie 2, Tosh.0, Futurama, Jersey Shore, and Modern Family.

* = Not that working on mail is bad, I just wish I would have had outdoor adventure plans.

What's Good

2012-01-22T19:55:00.001-05:00

Good things are everywhere and today I'm having a bit of a hard time finding them so I'm looking through some pictures I've taken this month to remind myself of what they are...

alligator socks that look like they're eating your calves

rainbow cotton candy fairy yarn

Bugs in a blanket

mysterious skies

sparkly tops

dandelion decals

pen-pal drawings of my ideal animal

Grilled Cheese & Co

365 Complete!

2012-01-20T23:11:00.000-05:00

So I did it! Wednesday I made my last piece of mail-art for the project on my 365th day. :) I'm very proud of myself and love that I followed through with something this cool. Here are some of my pieces up till the end:

#335

#337

#341

#347

#348

#352

#359

#362

#364

#365

Help Katie Out!

2012-01-17T14:37:00.001-05:00

Katie Sokoler of Color Me Katie has inspired me ever since I discovered her blog and wonderfully colorful and whimsical life. She always makes me smile with each post she makes. Her and her boyfriend, Mattie, have been working on an Improv Everywhere film and they need our help! Improv Everywhere is a really awesome project that gets people to participate in flash mobs and the like to get people together and make strangers smile.

There are only three days before they have to meet their goal and if you can donate any money to their project that would be so awesome! They give you certain perks/rewards for each amount you donate, too!

I really want to see this movie get made but I also want to support someone who is always so gracious and supportive of strangers.

Happy colorful smiles all around!

Baltimore Trip #3

2012-01-14T20:10:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was Friday the 13th! After work I met up with my friend Charlotte and we went into Baltimore to spend the day. Our initial plans were to find an early happy hour and then go to a Friday the 13th party at EMP Collective. Neither of us had been there or even heard of it but they were opening a new exhibit and we were intrigued.

We planned on going to Todd Conner's in Fells Point because we heard their happy hour started at 11am but it turned out it wasn't till 4 like most places so we went over to Sticky Rice where we got noodles for lunch. Then we went down the street to a pirate themed bar called One Eyed Mike's and we drank pink lemonades next to walls of Grand Marnier bottles.

Then we decided to buy mini bottles of liquor and walk to Pitango Gelato to get their really creamy hot chocolate and pour our mini bottles in them. Unfortunately, Charlotte did not take into consideration how small her cup of hot chocolate was and poured her whole bottle in there. This immediately ruined it and against my advice she went up to the barista and had this conversation:

Charlotte: "I ruined your hot chocolate with liquor."

Barista: "What?"

Charlotte: "I poured an entire miniature bottle of whisky into the hot chocolate you just made me and I can't taste the chocolate anymore."

Barista: "... Oh... Do you want another cup?"

We ended up buying an extra hot chocolate and got a whole bunch of cups to dilute the alcohol. Good technique for this dilemma: stir and drink.

While we sat and sipped and stirred we had a really beautiful view:

It inspired us to go traipsing through the open area outside the store under the twinkle light covered trees.

Then we headed off to find the EMP party. Turns out it must be in a vortex or something because we searched for a long time, went the wrong way down a street, and did a lot of back tracking only to give up and go down to Federal Hill to the magic bar we were at last month called Illusions.

We hung out for almost two hours before the magic show started and it was really awesome!

Charlotte even got to go on stage!

All in all a very awesome way to spend a Friday the 13th.

Buster Is In A Light To No Coma ....

2012-01-12T16:01:00.001-05:00

This week has been pretty low key. I'm down to only 8 pieces of mail-art left to make. :-) I also had a really good mail day on Tuesday:

Here are some of my recent mail art pieces:

#309

#313

#316

#325

#332

PS: The 30 Best Taco Related Crimes Ever

First Week Of The Year Recap

2012-01-07T11:56:00.002-05:00

So it's a week into the new year and here are the good things that have happened since the ball dropped:

I went to Baltimore (for trip #1/50) and visited The Book Thing where I scored a large 1987 Smithsonian magazine with some really fantastic and funny images:

On the way out of the city I saw the rainbow fence I'd seen once before and stopped to take a picture of it:

Matt and I also went to the Dundalk Flea Market which is pretty awful but this gem exists:

gold dolphin lamp clock

I started adding things to my inspiration bulletin board. For the new year I divided it up into six sections: Crafts, Adventures, Color, Mail, Whimsy, and Love. I will post a picture once it's done.

Sonic opened up a couple miles south of my work. So my coworkers and I have been treating ourselves to tots on the reg.

Getting awesome belated Christmas presents from Paper Source from Kristina.

Seeing it snow in the sunlight

Buying a poster board to make a large collage which I cut up into smaller postcards to send for my 365 project:

Buying awesome shimmery pink lipstick from Target with my gift card

Coloring in my Derek The Dinosaur Learns About Lead coloring book

Taking group pictures at work:

Talking about being mermaids with April

Awesome warm weather

Walking around Ellicott City by myself:

Great window displays:

Receiving these socks in the mail from Janice

365 Project ... Almost There!

2012-01-04T17:05:00.003-05:00

So I've got 30 pieces of mail-art to make before January 19 before my 365 project is complete! So exciting. I have about 16 slots left of people I can send to so if you want a piece, especially if I haven't sent you anything before, comment below!

Here are some recent pieces:

#286

#300

#301

#303

#308

Year In Review [2011]

2012-01-03T15:15:00.002-05:00

So now that I've shared with you what my new resolutions are I want to list the things that I accomplished in the past year. I sent out a newsletter to 40 people last Friday and I've started hearing that they've been received so I feel okay about posting this here now. :-) The list of things I did accomplish is very different from what I had written out originally to accomplish and I'm okay with that. I like what happened for the most part:

+ visited the west coast for the first time (San Diego)

+ made a decision to see a new psychiatrist and got my medications stabilized

+started (cognitive behavioral) therapy, exposed myself to some of my worst (OCD) fears, and “graduated therapy”

+ dealt with Nannie's death the best way I knew how

+ discovered yarn bombing

+ started and kept up with my 365 days of mail art project

+ created a solid, fun, and interesting relationship with Janice

+ celebrated half a decade with Matt

+ got a cat who I love

+ went to a magic bar

+ didn't get sick at all really

+ went to an Altered Book Workshop

+ took up knitting

+ ate the biggest slice of pizza ever at Angelo's

+ celebrated 11/11/11

+ saw Britney Spears in concert

+ put googly eyes in shoes and pants pockets at Forever21 (on Flag Day)

+ visited Philadelphia

+ reached (over) 900 postcards sent on Postcrossing

+ went stickering

What are YOUR resolutions for the new year? What was significant about your 2011? Goals, goals, goals!

This Must Be It. Welcome To The New Year.

2012-01-02T19:50:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!

So here are my resolutions for 2012:

+ get to page 40 in my personal quote book

+ lose 30 pounds

+ install five yarn bombing projects (and photograph them)

+ visit Canada (or somewhere out of the country)

+ graduate with my BA in psychology

+ get swoopy bangs

+ move in with Matt

+ visit Janice

+ complete one art journal

+ create one black out poem

+ do the Red Light therapy sessions at my gym

+ finally make the ‘standing on the world’ poster for work

+ put the talent show on DVD

+ continue sending (and receiving) awesome mail

+ go to Baltimore city 50 different times (photograph)

+ blog once a week

+ complete Keri Smith’s “Finish This Book”

if any of the goals have a number in them insert "at least" before it. I'm not limiting myself to these amounts. Ideally, I'd like to go beyond! Usually I work my goals in 18 month increments but this time I'm doing the standard 12 month deal. Deadline = 12/31/2012.

End Of The Year Stats [2011]

2011-12-31T15:54:00.002-05:00

I went through all of my stats from this year and added up the totals. According to my records I have sent a total of 1,038 piece of mail this year. That is extremely intense. I don't even want to think about how much money that is in postage!

This is the stack of envelopes I sent out yesterday with my newsletter in them for my pen-pals and friends. A re-cap of 2011, if you will.

Once people start to receive them in the mail next week I'll post an internet version of the newsletter.

I didn't do a great job of calculating my incoming stats this year but regardless I want to say a final thank you to everyone that contributed to that lovely and large number. I enjoyed exchanging mail with so many people this year and I'm thrilled to keep it up.

December Stats

2011-12-31T15:49:00.003-05:00

Outgoing

Postcards: 35

Envelopes: 78

Packages: 3

Total = 116

Music of the Year!

2011-12-30T16:37:00.000-05:00

Here are the bands that I really enjoyed and/or discovered in 2012:

The New Pornographers

The Belle Brigade

Spoon

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Metric

Ellie Goulding

Matt Pond PA

Mumford & Sons

Ke$ha

The Smashing Pumpkins

Favorite Songs:

**"Where Not To Look For Freedom" - The Belle Brigade

"Go Places" - The New Pornographers

"Cry For You" - September

"Don't You Evah" - Spoon

"Something Somewhere Sometime" - Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore

"Starry Eyed" - Ellie Goulding

"Colors" - April Smith & The Great Picture Show

"That's Some Dream" - Good Old War

"When We Swam" - Thao & The Get Down Stay Down

"Lisztomania" - Phoenix

"Me and Mia" - Ted Leo & The Pharmacists

"When Love Takes Over" - Kelly Rowland

"Windows Are Rolled Down" - Amos Lee

"Sydney" - Brett Dennen

"Jealous of My Boogie" - RuPaul

Ms. Karen / 17papergoddess

2011-12-29T22:11:00.002-05:00

This entry is dedicated to my friend Karen who lives in Minnesota. She can be found on swap-bot under the alias 17papergoddess and she has done over 900 swaps in the three years she's been on SB and, as you can see, the vast majority of her ratings get the highest honor, the "heart". This is because every swap (and every thing) she does she puts the extra effort into. She's a firm believer in [random acts of] kindness and generosity.

I want to thank Karen for always being there to talk in various modes of communication and for her amazing care packages. Without the fantastic boxes she has sent me periodically over the past two and a half years I would not have had NEARLY enough (or as interesting) supplies to create the mail-art that I did this year. I'd say at least 65% of the clip art images I use are from her and I am so grateful.

Tonight I came home to another "Al's Box" which is this delightfully big red box that is originally used for coffee but has conditioned me to smile every time I see it. It looks like this after being mailed:

It's deeper than an average shoe box to give you a frame of reference. IT'S HUGE. And it is STUFFED. Everytime I open it I have to be careful because I'm worried I'm going to ruin something. She is so generous. This is how full the box was when I opened it this evening:

all the way to the tippy top!

Karen, like myself, is a huge lover of all things paper. One of the most interesting and fun parts of her packages is the fact that I get all of these jammed packed envelopes full of even MORE goodies. The envelopes are handmade and lovely and the contents are glorious. Here's some examples from tonight:

Here are some more shots from all of the wonderful trinkets, papers, and gifts that she sent me in the most recent package. A great way to bookend the year mail wise and I just really wanted to show my appreciation for Karen. She is a lovely woman and I have enjoyed exchanging stories and feelings through weekly e-mails for the past couple years. She's been a great support and friend.

Bug enjoyed my favorite item as well, colored strands of sequins!

tin of buttons and trinkets!

you ____ like a robot
but you dance like a _____

so much paper!

Extreme Christmas List

2011-12-24T17:50:00.000-05:00

When I was in high school I used to post my Extreme Christmas List on my Myspace blog. The idea is basically things that you can't easily buy or can't buy at all.
Examples from my previous lists have included:

- a manual car that I don't have to put in first gear (2006)

- whiter teeth (2006)

- for people to stop saying "xmas" (2004)

- a vacation somewhere where I can see through the water (2006)

- ability to do a split (2004)

- a year long tan (2007)

- automatic no ice in fountain sodas (2004)

I haven't made one in a while (at least not one that I've written down) so I thought I'd make one this year.
Here we go:

- for Nannie to spend this Christmas with me

- for root beer to have the same hydrating qualities as water

- for Bug's claws to constantly be clipped and filed

- more motivation

- for an apartment that Matt and I can move into (paid for one year)

- my Bachelor's degree in psych from UMBC

- the time to write a book

- the results of working out 4 times a week and eating healthy without actually doing it

- my flexibility back

So that's about it for this year. Stay tuned for my more reasonable resolutions for 2012. And for now I wish you a happy Christmas eve/holidays in general from Bug and Mr. Pizza:

And Here's The Moment It Turned Into

2011-12-19T22:42:00.000-05:00

I can't believe Christmas is less than a week away, still a few things to do!! I've received some awesome presents from people already including my Secret Santa which I've already mentioned. This weekend I went to Katie's and exchanged presents with her, Charlotte, and Andrew. I got a rainbow sparkly headband, pretty mirror, rhinestone pen, Little Mermaid bubble bath, and recycled materials tote bag. :) Fun stuff. Afterwards we defaced some brochures and drank hot chocolate and ate windmill cookies.

I have a final for my third class tomorrow afternoon and then my last final on Wednesday. I've decided to take a winter session of my gym class so that way if everything works out I will only have 3 classes to take in the spring!

The Nightman Cometh episode of It's Always Sunny came on tonight and it made me remember when I saw them at Comic Con. They sang it there too, :)

I really haven't had time to work on mail lately. I've been doing other things:

- studying

- knitting

- Christmas shopping

- wrapping presents

- having photoshoots with my cat

- mapping out curriculums for next semester

- writing lists of things I accomplished in 2011

- writing goals for 2012

- waiting in line at the post office

- eating gummy worms

there's a new addition to my closet

A Little Life

2011-12-16T22:50:00.001-05:00

I can't believe it's only 9 days till Christmas. Scary!! I'm much more behind than I expected but I'm staying positive about it. I will be sending out my cards tomorrow (finally)!

Good things that have happened this week:

-WaWa breakfasts

-Janice's birthday

-having a Christmas photo shoot with Bug

-wrapping my first batch of presents

-going to Blingo at Sticky Rice

-seeing two dogs having a play date at 8am in a field

-finishing two classes for the semester

-pictures of pen-pals trees

Mary Makes Mail(art)

2011-12-12T19:01:00.000-05:00

#241

#247

#248

#255

#265

#266

#274

#275

#279

#280

Some mail art that I made in October/November. Right now I'm around #310. Can't believe how close to the end I'm getting!

Baltimore, Annapolis, & Everywhere In Between.

2011-12-11T23:39:00.001-05:00

This week and weekend were awesome which is why I can't really complain that I didn't do anything today but school stuff.

This week was our work Secret Santa week where we give little gifts each day Monday through Wednesday and then on Thursday we go out to eat and give the main gift. I drew Sam's name which I was really excited about. I gave her a Rudolph nose, a Target gift card, sparkly purple nail polish, a little girl's red tutu, underwear, and wine. LaShandra was my Santa and I got a pen that the top flies off (super fun), some glitter Christmas ornaments, the beginning of a pink handmade slouchy hat and my option to pick a pattern, and this ring:

(it actually jingles, and she got it at Ace Hardware!)

On Thursday we went out to Cadillac Ranch in Annapolis and exchanged the main gifts and hung out for a few hours. Here are some pictures from that day:

Then on Saturday Federal Hill was having Moonlight Madness so Charlotte, Katie and I headed down there. We didn't get down there till it was too late to shop but we did go to a magic bar called Illusions and hung out till they closed. The bartender, Spencer (who I renamed Avery), knew some pretty serious card tricks and apparently does the magic shows every weekend night. We had a really good time there.

puppy in the street

We also went to Sip and Bite in the Fells/Canton area afterwards for a 3am breakfast

So I haven't been working too much on anything this weekend besides having fun and school work. I'm behind on mail and my knitting and Christmas presents for the most part. This week is final #1 and my final paper for my media class is due. Then next week I have finals #2 and 3 and then school is done on the 21st.

Janice's birthday is in 4 days and I wish very much that I could be in Utah with her for it. :(

It's almost the end of the year which is making me reflect on 2011 and the things I did and didn't do. Which prompts me to make new lists for next year. Resolution time!

November 2011

2011-12-04T18:26:00.001-05:00

I didn't do a great job of keeping track of incoming this month (again) but here is my outgoing numbers for November:

Postcards: 101

Envelopes: 15

Total = 116

Parties and Dinosaur Parks

2011-12-04T17:09:00.001-05:00

Last night was my staff holiday party. They rented out Cancun Cantina from 3-6 and we learned a few line dances and drank a lot. Here are some pictures of the awesome fun time:

Today Matt and I discovered (on accident) a Dinosaur Park in the back of a business park. Apparently they actually dug up a dinosaur in this area and it's basically a memorial to it. I took some pictures!

Now back to reality, i.e: homework. :/

Where You Want To Be

2011-11-26T20:22:00.001-05:00

So I went to Target on Black Friday (at midnight!) and it was pretty crazy. I was going to try to get Matt a PS3 but the electronics line was already wrapped all the way around the store and it wasn't moving at all so I didn't even bother getting in line. I did get some pretty good deals on the other things that I had on my list. Couldn't find two things, but big score other than that. :) That was my dose of Black Friday shopping, minus online spending.

Last night I went out to downtown Ellicott City with Charlotte, Katie, and Andrew and I actually lost my debit card but they found it and I went back to get it this morning. It all worked out but I did place a hold on it just in case. When I called to reactivate it they asked me a trick security question about when "Sadia's birthday" is and I figured maybe I typed "Sadie"'s name in wrong and I answered August but on the second question I realized that one of the multiple choice answers was "I do not know this person" and I was like I want to change my answer for the first question! It all worked out though. Here are some pictures from last night:

people are already starting to put up
Christmas/twinkle lights!

"Marbles" is my drunk alter ego

the downstairs of the brewery is Batman themed

alley

we second the notion to stick our
sticky, greasy, and orange smelling McDonalds
receipts to the (new) brick wall

and I will leave you with a picture I
tried to take of my new Old Navy hat but Bug
just HAD to get involved

Christmas Cards Phase 1

2011-11-22T18:40:00.001-05:00

So tonight I began Phase 1 of my Christmas Card adventures.

I have two designs of greeting cards and two designs of postcards that I want/have to send. I wrote out my list of who I want to send to and I have 68 people on the list. I went through and decided who was going to receive which type of card. That itself took 45 minutes!

So now I am going to select a card design and work through all the recipients of that type.

Has anyone started working on their Christmas cards yet or is Thanksgiving too early? I have these stamps

holiday baubles

for sending out and I still have a bunch of the polar bears for the postcards. Festive! :) How many are you going to send to this year? Is anyone doing mail art holiday greetings?!

Random Hearts That Beat For Each Other

2011-11-21T22:52:00.001-05:00

I wrote out six postcards to send to
one person, my pen-pal: April (in Chicago)

still really enjoying these
address labels I made for myself

making progress on my quote book

The Happy Book

one of my first pages in
The Happy Book

Streets of Baltimore

2011-11-20T20:39:00.001-05:00

Went into the city last night with Charlotte.

Charles & Pratt Street

Occupy Baltimore (tents)

President Street

Round-a-bout with a little spark

Dollars AND Denims??!!?

Twinkle trees

We hung out mostly at Sticky Rice

Rainbow lights on the wall

We also went to Todd Conner's

And a creepy man bought us roses...

red wall in a bar we stayed in for 8 minutes

and if you were wondering if we went on the floor and made
friends with awesome dance partners, well we did.

we also closed the bar.

Fells Point

Walking to the car

Driving home

piles of music

2011-11-18T18:55:00.001-05:00

I have a lot of CDs and now that I have a new car with a working CD player I've had the luxury of listening to multiple mix CDs a day while I drive to work, school, errands, etc. Here are some of the things I've been into recently:

Go Places - The New Pornographers

When We Swam - Thao Nguyen feat. The Get Down Stay Down

Where Not To Look For Freedom - The Belle Brigade

Cult Logic - Miike Snow

Lisztomania - Phoenix

Us - Regina Spektor

Under The Blacklight - Rilo Kiley

Don't You Evah - Spoon

Me and Mia - Ted Leo and the Pharmacists

Interweb

2011-11-15T21:56:00.001-05:00

It's really easy for my to get sucked into the internet and I honestly don't even visit that many sites. Here are some of the things that I really enjoy being updated in the world wide web:

Rodney's Hilarious Twitter

Love Your Chaos' Tumblr of eclectic collected images ranging
from colorful visions to whimsical inspirations

Bianca's Blog about fashion, Australian life,
the color red, and mail

Ravelry's Patterns for future knitting projects

Plenty of Colour's bright and happy posts

[11.11.11]

2011-11-11T22:25:00.001-05:00

Today is a day I looked forward to since I realized it was coming in January. Eleven is my second favorite number and I (still) make wishes at 11:11 whenever I catch it on the clock. So this was a really important day for me to celebrate for many reasons. Today involved:

the biggest slice of pizza I've ever seen (or eaten)
Angelo's Pizza, Baltimore, MD

Charlotte

doors with cool designs

discoveries in Hampden, Baltimore

really creepy window displays

as well as making amateur cell phone films about fall foliage to the tunes of Nirvana and Lonely Island, poor attempts at Christmas shopping, cheap underwear, cheap yarn, rainbow yarn, yarn stores, knitting stickers, all things knitting, red lipstick and good mascara, discussions about decisions, one way streets and confusion, and learning about crossing the street.

PS - I don't have a yarn addiction. I can stop any time I want.

Recieved Mail Art (2)

2011-11-05T10:14:00.000-04:00

Had a chance to scan in some of the lovely mail art that I've received recently!

from: Amy Irwen

from: Boo Cartledge

from: Christine Jones

from: Lindsay Stewart

from: mad madge

from: Marguerite Keen

from: Mim Golub Scalin

from: new pen-pal Nicole in MA

from: Pamela Gerard

(front) from: Theresa Williams

(back) from: Theresa Williams

from: Stewart Charlebois

from: Tallie Jones

from: Rachel Evers

from: Pretty Lily

from: Michael Orr

Thank you guys for such wonderful and consistent mail days. These are just SOME of the fantastic surprises I get in my treasure of a PO Box.
I can't believe that 2011 is almost over and I look forward to contuining our mail-relationships :)

extra extra, read all about it

2011-11-02T22:37:00.000-04:00

Something I forgot to mention: I got a new car. It's a used 2009 Honda Fit. It's red. I named her Gabby.

it looks like this on the outside

and it looks like this on the inside..
at night it looks like a spaceship!

________________________________________________

Today I had a relatively relaxing day at work and afterwards I went to Paper Source and used some more of my birthday gift card.

Paper Source haul

October Stats

2011-11-01T21:38:00.002-04:00

Incoming

Postcards: 49

Envelopes: 17

Packages: 3

Total = 69

Outgoing

Postcards: 42

Envelopes: 16

Packages: 3

Total = 61

**well that's a first, I put out less than I received. I was very busy this month and tried to create as much as possible but Postcrossing fell between the cracks and I actually just recently requested over 20 addresses. Lots of mail almost ready to go out too. November will be less busy event-wise and therefore more productive mail-wise!

Some Autumn Loveliness

2011-10-31T22:22:00.000-04:00

I've been busy this month. Lots of fall related activities.

went to a pumpkin patch on a work field trip.

we did a corn maze

and took a hay ride.

smashing (apple) pumpkins

and pumpkins that look like
cheeseburgers for a carving contest

cool decorations for
our parties

and costumed feet.

________________________________________________________

Also. I put a tie on my cat.

Postcrossing

2011-10-29T02:44:00.000-04:00

So I've been on Postcrossing for about three and a half years now and here's how my stats look on my homepage as of today:

I can send and receive up to 27 at a time right now and that's a LOT. So I'm always getting cards in my PO Box from overseas that have Postcrossing ID #s. I have a pretty long list of ideas on my profile for people to get inspiration of what to send and I've gotten some fantastic cards since I've been on there.

I try to scan in every postcard to my home computer and upload it to the site so that the sender (and me) can remember what it was. I have two photo boxes dedicated to just Postcrossing (countries A-M & N-Z) and they're overflowing.

I recently scanned in a pile of ones that I've received in the past three or so months and these are some of my favorites from that batch. For more postcards I've received go here.

Small Figures In A Vast Expanse

2011-10-21T16:00:00.001-04:00

In other news:

+ I've made drastic changes to my diet/nutrition and I've already lost 7 pounds and I feel great!
- My Nannie's burial was yesterday and it was awful
+ I don't have anything at all to do/planned tomorrow and I am going to use it all for making mail and creating other fun things. I'm actually not too far behind considering how much I've been doing lately
+ I'm less than 100 pieces away from completing the 365 project
- I really need to focus on my goals that 'expire' in January
+ Christmas is coming! The holidays are so close! Halloween is in 10 days! It's time to start brainstorming and getting festive

- Last night NBC didn't show any new shows, just 'encore' shows of The Office, etc.

+ I love The Belle Brigade

I will leave with some pictures of my recent mail art:

#221

#228

#230

#232

#238

#240

October Is My Favorite Month (picture overload)

2011-10-21T15:46:00.000-04:00

This month (so far) has consisted of:

- late night trips to downtown Ellicott City for First Fridays. There were floors with green glitter projected on them, dance music, fake leaves, twinkle lights, jukeboxes, Foosball, and Autumn weather:

- (5 year) anniversaries with Matt and trips to Shenandoah Valley. We went to Waffle House, downtown Winchester, Shoney's breakfast buffet, and Dinosaur Land:

- Pumpkin Carving and Alcohol

- Katie's Halloween Party

Upcoming Fall Festivities:

- Pumpkin Patch trip with members at work

- Member Halloween Party

- Staff Halloween Party & Scavenger Hunt

- Actual Halloween

September Stats

2011-10-02T13:26:00.003-04:00

Incoming

Postcards: 41

Envelopes: 21

Packages: 5

Outgoing

Postcards: 45

Envelopes: 19

Package: 8

Where Am I Going To Find A Free Feeling?

2011-09-25T19:33:00.001-04:00

I'm pretty behind on mail. I don't want to get discouraged but I'm definitely behind. I've sent about 1/3 of the amount that I would usually send in a month. I'm not using my time to the best of my ability.

I'd love to start even more projects but lack the time/energy. If you are interested in starting a new project you should consider doing the Love Yourself October challenge like my friend Britty is going to do. It's like a positive affirmations project that you focus on for an entire month. Check it out!

Okay. That's it. I'm going to go make some mail.

2011-09-24T16:36:00.000-04:00

I've become so involved in mail art over the past months that I almost forget about regular, store-bought postcards. Store bought postcards is kind of how I got my foot in the door with mail. Here are some of my favorite store bought postcards (that I've received) over the years from Postcrossing and Swap-Bot.

It's pretty clear I like bright colors, but these are so much more than that. Thank you to everyone who has ever sent me a postcard or a piece of mail in ANY form. I don't know what my life would be like today if there was no mail. I'm kind of nervous for this Tuesday because of the USPS bills, etc. Fingers crossed!

Tutumorrow

2011-09-18T20:59:00.000-04:00

It's already September. I don't necessarily know where the days are going but I'd like to slow them down.

I have a list of things that I wanted to accomplish before January 2012 but I'm not doing a very good job with them. I don't think Canada is something that is realistic in the next 4 months. It's just not something that I'm going to be able to do financially. I need to focus on doing all the little ones so I at least feel somewhat accomplished.

I'm very proud of myself for following through this far with the mail-art 365 project and I'm very grateful for the experiences and connections it's provided me with this year.

I need to focus on "Learn to live instead of exist" goal for the rest of the year. This is the most important one to me. I feel like I've been a weird combination of auto-pilot and overstimulated for the last month (or more). Tomorrow is a new day and I'm going to do my best to de-stress and find smiles.

Things to look forward to tomorrow:

+ wearing my new seafoam/teal top that I bought today

+ only one class at school

+ checking my PO Box (for April's package!)

+ buying Googly eyes to work on my shoe project

+ good weather (upper 60's and sunny!)

googly eyes & wishes

How Bizzare

2011-09-17T21:28:00.000-04:00

Fall Semester is officially in full swing. I'm taking Cognitive Psychology, Personality of Psychology, Human Sexuality, and Gender & Race in Media. I go Monday through Thursday and I work Monday through Friday. It's not quite to the point where I've got my time management skills down to a T but I'm optimistic. Everything lately has actually been pretty stressful but I'm hopeful to get caught up and back on track in all aspects.

The 27th is when the rallies to save the postal service and if you haven't signed the petition please do it now!

We had a "Be Inspired" Choral Concert at work on Thursday and here are some pictures from the preparation:

confetti we threw at the end

shirts we wore

I'm about a week behind on mail-art but I'm still creating slowly but surely! Here are some recent ones:

#194

#200

#208

I miss Janice. I was really intent on finding our digital photo booth picture from AVAM and they finally posted it!

Speaking of photo booths... we went to Erin's wedding last weekend and she had a photobooth!

Here's to happier, more mail-filled days.

Threat Level Midnight

2011-09-05T18:39:00.001-04:00

I had to go back to June to find posts of mail art that I made posted on my blog. What the heck? So here:

#140; 'say it all'

#142; 'fancy food'

#156; 'astro...not'

#157; 'formations of foul'

#158; 'wide-eyed wonder'

#164; 'nature naturally'

#170; 'llama sundae'

#176; 'chemical, chemical'

#178; 'B.L.T.'

#190; 'paving the way'

Lately I've been thoroughly enjoying the company of my new friend Bug.

kittehhh

Today is Labor Day which means no mail and I'm super excited to check my PO Box tomorrow and mail off some packages.

August Stats

2011-09-05T18:05:00.000-04:00

Incoming

Postcards: 44

Envelopes: 23

Packages: 11

Total = 78

Outgoing

Postcards: 79

Envelopes: 16

Packages: 5

Total = 100

stomp clap, stomp stomp clap

2011-08-29T22:27:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow is my last day of summer (before school starts). Once school starts my schedule will be at least 8am-5:30pm every day. Work starts between 7:30 and 8:30 every morning and school can go till 5:30 or as late as 9:40 depending on the day. I'm worried I won't have any time for myself and I'm worried that my mail will suffer. It seems though, that most of the time when I go back into the semester that because I have less time, I make the most out of my free time. I seem to time-manage better when my schedule is extremely structured.

The cardboard cut out near my post office of the man
who runs the barber shop. He dresses it up for special occasions and he's
ready for school. So am I, I guess.

Been thinking about what I'm going to do after I graduate in May. I don't have any specific ideas but I do want to start a project like writing a book or selling something that I make or something like that.

Watched Fantasia yesterday. I watched that movie every time I came home from the park (almost every day) when I was a kid. This is my second favorite part (behind the dinosaurs saga):

Went to AVAM with Janice while she was here. We went up to the third floor of the third building and I was able to go out onto the bird's nest balcony for the first time. And it was completely empty so we ran around. And danced.

Janice

I bought a new camera because I (may or may not have) stepped on my old one. It was more expensive than I wanted to pay but it takes really nice pictures. Also, it detects smiles. So obviously it was a smart buy ;) Here are some pictures it's taken:

view from Katie's backyard

AVAM garden tree house

My work keys

I have no idea how I'm going to spend tomorrow after I get off work. I want to do something that sends my summer out with a bang. There were definitely a lot of good things that happened this summer. Now I must get back to watching It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

birds of war

I hope you like it crispy, because it IS burnt.

2011-08-22T23:16:00.000-04:00

I have theories in the optimistic side of my brain that go something like:

"if I didn't have a job I would work on mail-art all day long and be super creative and reach my full potential"

and then the logical part of my brain says:

"you have time to do that right now but you're watching TV while blogging"

game night

I'm excited to check my PO Box tomorrow.
I wish sleep wasn't required.
I want to write a book.

I'm going to work my outfit around this hat tomorrow.

Find It [In You]

2011-08-20T21:24:00.000-04:00

The viewing was today for Nannie. I handled it exceptionally well in my opinion. I'm definitely still sad and I will always miss her. She was such a huge part of who I've become and who I will grow into and I love her endlessly. However, I know what she wants is for me to keep going. In every sense. She doesn't want her death to hold me back and she wants me to be happy like she was and to try to live life. This is what I'm going to do. I feel really empowered today and I'm living from this day forward with her memory and make her proud.

This week I've had two exceptional moments. One was when I danced in the dark at a bumble-bee themed party. This is what the patio looked like before it got dark:

I danced to Canned Heat by Jamiroquai because really, there's no way you can't dance to that song when it's on. That was Tuesday night.

The other was last night (Friday). It was when I was at Katie & Andrew's house and Charlotte and I decided to put on an impromptu poetry reading. The poetry was bogus and not real but we did dim the lights and we had Andrew play the drums. We improvised a lot and it was quite wonderful.

Charlotte writing her poem (we each had one)
(if it looks weird because her hair and skin are the same color it's because that's exactly what's happening <3)

We also clapped after each person shared their poem.

Oh. And each poem had to begin with: "Within the yesteryear of tomorrow, there lies a woman..."

Tonight I'm working on mail and thinking about what to put in an inspiration package for my friend. We all need to find a little happy inside, right? <3

purple twinkle lights

impromptu free classes at your favorite museum

Ohio in building blocks

places you feel like shouldn't exist in real life but do

colorful pools

My Nannie

2011-08-14T17:20:00.000-04:00

My Nannie died in her surgery. I love her so so much and this weekend has been pretty difficult.

Trying to keep myself busy. Focusing on cleaning and organizing right now.

Thank you to everyone who has sent me positive messages and thoughts, I greatly appreciate it.

1992

I'm going to do my best to continue working on mail and responding to everyone. It's one of the things that gives me the most joy and I don't want to slump into a rut/depressive-funk. She loved mail too so I know that's what she'd want as well.

Nannie

2011-08-12T14:00:00.000-04:00

My nannie (Irene) broke her leg in four places yesterday. She is 87 years old and tripped getting out of the car. She had to get stitches in her lip and she's getting surgery at 5pm today to get plates and pins put in her femur.

I visited her yesterday in the ER and she was in a lot of pain but still as spirited as she always is. She made jokes about dirty books and her 'pee bag'. I love her so so much and unfortunately she has to go to rehab after she's done in the hospital for a few weeks. She isn't going to like this so I'm doing a mail-art call for purple things. Anything purple, she loves. All the rugs in her house are purple she has a purple mailbox a purple chair a purple everything. If you want to send her something, anything please message me at maryhassound at yahoo dot com for the address. I will be taking her mail and things for her to do each day.

Da, me, and Nannie (20 years ago) at a dance recital

Pros & Cons

2011-08-09T17:44:00.000-04:00

Bad News

* I broke my camera's LCD screen. It still takes pictures but I can't tell what I'm taking pictures of. :/ It's a few years old so I'm considering purchasing a cheaper, less bulky camera. I have my eye on one at Best Buy (on sale).

* Today has been kind of a suck-fest overall.

* I left the cherries I bought at Matt's house.

Good News

* Janice is coming in from Utah on Saturday. I can't wait!

* My typewriter came in the mail yesterday from Etsy. It came from blurredvisionary's shop and I could not have anything better to say about my experience with her. Not only was the item I received completely wonderful but she really went the extra mile with researching compatible ink ribbons, packaging carefully, reimbursing me the difference of shipping costs, including a note with tips/instructions, shipping the next day. She was absolutely wonderful.

typewriter needs a name... [it's a girl]

* We might have found a cat a home who needed one. And a very cheap neutering price!

"Bug"

* I'm finally getting caught up on laundry.

Received Mail Art

2011-08-07T18:50:00.002-04:00

So the only thing as far as mail-art that I have been documenting on this blog is what I'm sending out. This is a mistake on my part because not only is it only half the game but it's the BETTER half! I can't even compare my work to these wonderful artists' postcards. The main reason I haven't been documenting it is because I wanted to scan them all in. And the pile of postcards to scan in got so large and daunting that I just never worked with it. I hadn't scanned in some postcards from January 2011! Crazy. What was the breaking point? When the shelf got to short for the tall pile of postcards. I didn't have anywhere else to put them. So it took HOURS because I can only do 2-3 at a time but all of my Postcrossing cards are uploaded as well as postcards from pen-pals and mail-art friends!! Here are some lovely pieces from lovely people:

That's not all and if you want to see all the mail-art I scanned in today go to my Flickr (and here for regular postcards)

I tried to link back to each person's individual IUOMA account or website. I want to say thank you guys so much for letting me be a part of this wonderful community. I'm so glad I pushed myself to join the 365 project not only because it has made me feel more productive, proud of myself and creative but it has allowed me to make amazing connections with people all over that I wouldn't have been able to otherwise.
More than half way through the year project. I'm in the 190's now. It's one of the few things I've done where I'm not looking forward to the end or even looking for the end at all. I have no doubt that I will continue making mail-art after my year has ended. No doubt.

What kinda bitch hangs up on a doctor?!

2011-08-04T17:24:00.001-04:00

I love looking at this pie chart. Not just because it shows all the countries I've sent to and received from on Postcrossing but because of all the pretty colors! Gorgeous! :)

Most recently I've been organizing a lot of things. Things like my boxes of postcards (2 for Postcrossing and 1 for other), all of my letters and items received from pen-pals (2 binders with folders), blank postcards (piles and Tupperware drawer containers), my state and country map to record who I send to and receive from with colored rhinestones, etc.

map

I've also been organizing my computer files, mainly my music. Throughout it all I lost all my play counts on iTunes but I am starting to know and manage where all my files are located. Recently I've been listening to: Brett Dennen, Ida Maria, The Temper Trap, and Hanson. Mostly Hanson. Speaking of 90s music, on Sunday Kristina and I saw Britney Spears in concert in DC!

Me & Kristina

we weren't as excited as others, I guess...

the beautiful stage lighting was my 3rd favorite part

Britney was my 2nd favorite

and my 1st favorite was this guy who did NOT stop dancing
from the time Britney came on stage to when we left.
dontchya know that he's toxiccc??

Not the biggest Britney fan anymore, her songs are still catchy for sure but mostly the 12 year old in me loved going to that show and finally seeing her live since I wasn't really allowed to do things like that when I was younger.

Big headache tonight and I'm staying in instead of going to the carnival :( ... my sleep patterns have been pretty weird lately.

But overall, it's good to be home.

July Stats

2011-08-04T16:03:00.000-04:00

Incoming

Postcards: 41

Envelopes: 15

Packages: 7

Total = 63

Outgoing

Postcards: 76

Envelopes: 13

Packages: 7

Total = 96

Discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Diego, which of course in German means a whale's vagina.

2011-07-30T20:14:00.001-04:00

Got back from San Diego! Comic Con is definitely a super crowded event but once you get past the lines and waits, stupidity, and smells you can appreciate the free postcards and silly costumes.

free postcards

Comic Con wasn't the whole trip though. We also:

Went to South Park

Saw penguins fight

ate pizza with mashed potatoes (with Jeff & Jill)

did a LOT of walking

saw beautiful sculptures

got to see the cast of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

enjoyed the consistently beautiful weather

walked up and down yellow and teal stairs

saw sunsets

got pictures taken with MILK

saw penguins at SeaWorld

attended a Pet Show with puppies and kitties and kangaroos, oh my!

watched acrobatic amphibians?

walked beneath millions of twinkle lights

stayed in Hummingbird sanctuaries

tried to balance out

CAPYBARAS

compared our height to giraffes

It was a good trip overall. Glad to be home but missing the gorgeous weather. It's humid and disgustingly hot out in Maryland.

Went to into the city last night to watch the Otakon people walk around. [Otakon is an anime convention in Baltimore.]

Been catching up on the mail that I didn't get to do on the trip. Back to work for real on Monday. But my real job is going to be attempting to prolong the summer as much as possible before school starts on August 31st. 1 more month of freedom. Then 9 months till my Bachelor's!

Realizations, Revelations, & Rootbeer

2011-07-06T23:00:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in the previous post I am going to be traveling to San Diego this month (20th-27th) for Comic-Con. Matt and his cousin have always wanted to go. So we're going along with his cousin's wife. I've never been to California so it should be exciting. Four days of Comic-Con though. Not into comics much but there are a lot of other things to do there so it should still be fun. Plus we'll have about 2 extra days for other activities. I really need to do research about possibly finding some awesome stores to shop at around there. Market St. is where the Convention Center is.

Tonight I re-started keeping my Happy Journal. 15 items for one day. Not bad. It was a good day overall though... Last day of bowling class! YAY! No more thank GOD. I also got a bunch of mail today (23 pieces!) and I also saw Jenn. I got the ability to listen to non-radio music in my car again (CD player is being a bitch), and I drank some IBC rootbeer (which I've really been craving lately)!

mail today

I will be posting soon about some of the realizations and revelations this blog title alludes to. But for now it's 11pm and I have to be up in 7 hours so.... Night!

I will leave you with adorable pictures of some pups from the American Visionary Art Museum's Pet Parade on Monday:

Stats for June 2011

2011-07-06T22:49:00.000-04:00

Incoming

Postcards: 43

Envelopes: 12

Package: 4

Total = 59

Outgoing

Postcards: 70

Envelopes: 22

Package: 3

Total = 95

Notes:

And yet again, I didn't keep a good enough count of my incoming. I just get so excited and put them away too quickly. It's a rough figure so it's at least that much I guess. Not bad for outgoing with all my birthday hoopla, etc. I need to get a lot of mail-art in before the 20th of this month though! Going to San Diego the last week of July. :-)

Post-Birthday [I'm 23!]

2011-06-26T13:51:00.000-04:00

Tuesday was probably the best day of my entire life so far.
I put on my amazing new (and stupidly expensive) lavender dress and gold belt and sparkle shoes. I had cake before 7am with my dad and grandma. They gave me their cards and I went to work.

I danced a lot to my birthday mix at breakfast and I taught a class. At 10:30ish Kristina told me to wait in the cafeteria for her. The reason was she had set up a scavenger hunt around the building. One of the clues led me to my car. My glitterfied car. It was excellent. I was kind of in shock. I didn't care at the time that it was going to be a bitch to clean up. I was so excited that she had done this for me. Here are some pictures from my glittery car:

pipe cleaner windshield

dash

backseat

more glitter

We finished the scavenger hunt and it ended with her giving me tickets to go with her to see Britney Spears in concert. I love that girl so much.

I left work around 1:30 and went to Matt's. He gave me half of my lovely presents (so much stuff from tinythingsarecute!) and I showered to get the glitter off me [did I mention that she put it in the vents of my AC in my car and then blasted the air?... my mouth was open! :X] twice. Haha. I lounged until 4:30 and then went back down to Annapolis for my birthday dinner. Thanks to everyone who came (Matt, Katie, Andrew, LaShandra, Krista, Sam, Clara). So lovely. I ate something I couldn't pronounce and got even more presents.

Afterwards Matt, Katie, Andrew and I walked across to the mall and I got a raspberry lemonade and discovered a store called Charming Charlies. It's delightfully accessorized and organized by COLOR! :-)

I ended up feeling sick (like always on my birthday) and went home before I was ready. I opened up the rest of my gifts from Matt (SADDLE SHOES!) and I fell asleep before 10:30pm. Overall, the most amazing day... So super happy the whole time. Lovely.

The day after my birthday I got another great mix CD from Krista which I listened to a lot already. So good. I've listened to Matt's a bunch too. I have such great people in my life.

Thursday night I went out to my birthday dinner with Charlotte, Katie, Andrew, Lindsay, and Andy. We went to Nacho Mamma's and I drank too much tequila. Made me feel better after an awful psychiatrist appointment though.

Today is the cookout to combine and celebrate both Matt's mom's and my birthdays. I hope we eat soon cause I'm hungry!

Also had a bad experience with my computer yesterday...luckily was able to save everything but it was really close to losing all my pictures, music, documents, videos, etc. Would have sucked. I'm trying to get up to date on mail-art and posting it on the blog. I'm about 6 pieces behind right now but I'm going to work on that in a minute. Have a good week!

Pre-Birthday [What's My Age Again?]

2011-06-19T22:47:00.000-04:00

So about a month ago I got a forward from a friend who realized that the place she was looking at was really close to me in Frederick, MD. It's a store that sells vintage ribbons, buttons, sequins, trinkets, etc. Basically my life. It's called Accessories of Old and I decided that I wanted to save that trip for my birthday outing.
This Friday I realized that they're calling for a big storm on my birthday (Tuesday) and I figured I wouldn't really want to walk around downtown Frederick in the rain. So I decided to go on Saturday.

Matt and I drove there and we found it easily as well as a cheap parking garage. We go to the address that's listed and guess what's there? A record store. I wasn't ready to give up hope so we walked all over and found nothing. I eventually called the number and it was disconnected. I felt like an idiot, but really? Why do you still have a legit website with hours and a location if you don't exist. Also!? What gets replaced by a record store in 2011?! Nothing. I'm pretty disappointed about it still.

So now my new plan is to go out to dinner with all my friends on Tuesday night after work. Excited about that.

Last weekend I went to the White Trash Party at Katie's and Andrews. Here are some highlight pictures:

jean dress & camo

besties

I <3 Intercourse

Still on track with mail-art! Yay! I need to make about 40 more pieces before I'll be technically half way through.

highlights #104

there is (pure) harmony #112

empty smiles #122

More info after Tuesday. <3

(Another) Sunny Day(s)

2011-06-05T00:34:00.000-04:00

Happy June. I can't believe it's almost half way through 2011. Crazy business.
I'm actually on track with mail-art. As in, up-to-date. As in, not behind. Like, tomorrow what I make will be for THAT DAY... can you even believe it?! [I can't.]

I made this for someone and took a picture of it and sent it but then forgot who
I sent it to. So I'm pretty sure it wasn't part of the mail-art 365 project.
But I still made it, haha.

Been watching a lot of Modern Family lately. I love that show now. A lot. WaWa's new raspberry smoothie is the best thing that's happened to me all year. Literally. But don't get it with whipped cream. That's gross. And I loved whipped cream.

My grandma had a kind of scare tonight, all shaky and tremors and had back pain and whatnot. Didn't go to the hospital but I'm worried about her. Her birthday was Friday. 87 years old. That's something to be proud of in itself. I love her.

Nannie

Curriculums are going to be due soon. Monday my list of classes for what I want to teach is due. I need to think of a new class idea. Something completely new. In the next 24 hours. Awesome. Bleh. Way to procrastinate! Yayy.

Thinking about making a newsletter for all my pen-pals. A monthly thing. Excited to start a mail-art project with April. Excited for San Diego in July. Excited for my 23rd birthday on the 21st of this month. Excited to get motivated and inspired by the sun.

Karen sent me an AMAZING package this week and also I joined the Letter Writer's Alliance and got my starter package yesterday in the mail. !!! :) Missing Chicago and April and spontaneity.

happy