From Meager Beginnings...Sprang Huge Ideas

Oh my goodness.  How LONG has it been since my last blog post?  I'm not really sure what I was thinking. XD  Posting two postcards for each blog post?  That was wayyyy too involved for someone like me.  Creative, but unable to sit still for too long.  Seriously. Two hours and my toes are dragging my body out the door.

But, it's not like I've forgotten this magical blog.  It's been on my mind since I've been Postcrossing like a fiend! Everything had kind of been on the back burner lately, my life is taking control of it's self.  I'm not the most appreciative person of that fact. Now, don't get me wrong.  Thinking that someone would be able to take over and tell me what to do would be a wonderful addition every now and then.  But my life has not been making choices that benefit me. Hahaha.  Not bad decision, mind you.  Just lots of them within short periods of time.  Talk about being stressed out!   Thankfully, things have finally slowed down for me to stop and smell the roses for a little bit.  And boy, do they smell pretteh.

The other day, I was perusing the interwebs for more places like Postcrossing, as the number of penpals I keep has dwindled.  It happens. Life takes off and more important things come into play.  I understand that. It's happened to me on occasion. So, I just dust myself off and keep searchin'!  I stumbled across this website that had the word Postcrossing in it, and to say the least, I was intrigued.  Clicky-click went my mouse and I was thrust into a world I would not soon leave.

This place is beyond amazing.  It holds the secrets to all the penpals, direct swaps, postcard sendings, and snailmailing you can handle!  What is it, you ask?  Nothing other than the Postcrossing Forum.  Dangerous grounds, my friends.  Let it be said that I've warned you.  Once you click past their opening page, you'll never leave.

I, of course, jumped right in, ending with a HUGE cannonball splash. The creativity in my mind, that rears it's huge, independent head, was running away with ideas.  I was hooked like a largemouth bass fighting the pull of an angler's hook.  Forum topics that ranged from general information to postcard swaps to tags to traveling notebooks. An entire plethora of penpal/swap type ideas that really get me going. :)

I've signed up for a couple already and believe me, I'll be documenting my journey.  The wonderful thing about this, is that everyone has to keep everyone on top and aware.  As a result, I'll be getting new assignments and posting what I feel would be entertaining! :)

I hope some of you are still with me.  Sit down, buckle in , and get ready for a fun ride.  This is going to get interesting.

Until my next misadventure,
Jesssayy

The Aboriginals and The Wine

Postcard #6:

Postcard number six comes to us from Taiwan, a country I've never been too.  At first glance, all I saw was colors!  So many different colors in so many different places. Blues and reds.  Oranges and yellows.  Know what I thought of?  Skittles, of course.  After all, it was like the rainbow! Who doesn't like the rainbow. Especially when it tastes like oranges, cherries, and lemons.  Yuum.  Anywho, back to the postcard.  This one talked about the aboriginal people of Taiwan and how the pictures on the front of the postcard, represented the different people.  I found it really interesting, researching the different peoples on my own.  Here are some links that I found interesting.

A Theme park associated with the Formosan Aborigines.  Kind of like the Disney Epcot.

Taiwan's History

Ethinic Groups in Taiwan

Hope you enjoy as much as I did! :)



Postcard #7:

POSTCARD NUMBER SEVEN! Hails from the wonderfully beautiful country of Poland! A country, I have also not been.  That is of no matter, however, because I still received the postcard! :)  What do you think of at first glance?  Do you see the statue on the leftside? Or perhaps the vineyard?  For me, it was the bunch of grapes in the middle.  It looks so delicious.  I'm pretty sure I can hear my stomach grumbling in protest.  This particular postcard was pretty funny to me.  XD  The author was talking about the cover and said that Poland made the wine, yet wasn't very good at it. (Their words, not mine,  I have not tried it) To me, that means nothing really.  I'm not a wine drinker.  I've had it once, by accident.  Talk about a BAD experience! I don't believe I'll be having anytime soon. So, Polish wine or California wine, it's all greek to me.  :)  

Zielona Gora is the name of a city in Lubusz Voivodeship, in Western Poland, with 117,557 inhabitants within the city limits and 294,000 inhabitants within the metropolitan area, including three neighbouring counties.  (Thanks, Wikipedia!)  How pretty does the postcard make the city look?!  The name of the city translates to "Green Mountain" in the languages of Polish, Czech, AND German! It's been well known for the wine for centuries and is actually one of the two place in Poland that produces grapes for white wine production.  How cool is it that they are a part of that?!  The first winery in this area was started in 1314.  :O  So amazingly long ago. It's mind boggling.  Or maybe that's just me.  There is also a famous locally produced wine that is called "Monte Verde.".  Yeah.  So cool, I know.

  I hope you have also learned as much as I have, if not more!!  Be on the look out for more posts!! I have so many more postcards to post up here!!!

Ciao !

J

Santa Clause is Coming to.....My Blog

Postcard #5:

   Ohhhemmgeee!  It's SANTA!  And he's giving me a present!  BEST POST CARD for Christmas EVER!!!  Enough said.

Ciao !

J

Calling International: The Ukraine. And Back Home: United States

Oh snap.  Here we have the third and fourth postcard! This is so exciting I just might go INSANE!  Oh wait, I'm already there.  Lmao.

Postcard #3:

  This beautiful postcard arrived in my mailbox from the Ukraine.  Such a pretty view, in my opinion.  Those flowers are so beautiful and that wall in the back ground?  I love old architecture.  This postcard was a little different than most, where it also had a picture on the back.  At first, I was confused as to why they hadn't written anything to me, but then I realized I was glad they didn't.  Here's why:

   The back is even prettier!  The drawn scene would have been ruined by any writing.  I was saddened when the address label left some remnants on the card when I tried to peel it off.  I tried to peel it off carefully, but it was stuck on pretty darn well. :) I wish I had the slightest ability to draw like that.  Truth is, I don't.  XD  Not even close.  In the words of my postal co-worker,  "My stick figures look like stiff spaghetti.".  Yeah. Pretty much.    I was super interested in learning more about this scene on the postcard, so I went perusing the interwebs, trying to translate the Ukranian language on the postcard.  After my sixth attempt, I looked at the lower right corner, which, in my defense was covered by the address label, and found the name in English.  One point for the post card!  Of course, after searching the ENGLISH version, I found this immediately.  The Monastery Complex of the Discalced Carmelites.  Here's a little background sentence to shed some light, I won't go into the history and whatnot on this entry.  Might bore some of you.  "The Monastery Complex of the Discalced Carmelites at 22 Vynnychenka Street, today the Greek Catholic Monastery of the Studite Order and Church of the Archangel Michael, is a religious building of the 17-19th centuries designed in the Baroque style with elements of Classicism."- The Monastery Complex of the Discalced Carmelites.  How cool is that?   Man, this post card thing is like traveling.... FOR FREE! :D  Another successful postcard!

Postcard #4:

   Here's another slightly horsey themed postcard! :)  I do love those!  Hopefully, I'll have a pretty good sized equine postal card collection.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed. This particular postcard traveled 1,021 km, 5 days, from Idaho. :)  My fellow Northern Neighbor.  It's of a paintint from Arnold Bocklin; War, 1896, oil on wood.   She was even nice enough to include a pretty nice quote.  "Stupidity is the sin that is never forgiven and always punished." Agatha Christie.  Pretty good quote, eh?  I thought so.  I have it written on my profile for Postcrossing, that I dislike stupid people, so this quote was fitting. :)  She also had super pretty handwriting that I enjoyed reading.  Wasn't chicken scratch.  

Ciao !

J

Holland and Finland For The Win

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!  Holland and Finland are the first to send me postcards!

Postcard #1:

This lovely postcard is from Holland!!  I love that my first postcard was an equine related card.  Especially when that little donkey is so darn cute!!!  On the postcard, she had told me all about a 'retired donkey' home that they have in Soest, Holland.  Those lucky, little donkeys get a chance to retire in peace.  :) Here's the link: The Donkey Sanctuary.  However, the entire webpage is in Dutch, so if you want to read it, you might want to get the page translated.  UNLESS you speak Dutch!  Then there is not problem whatsoever! :D  That is what I call a successful first postcard!  The writer from this postcard had left me her address to send something back.  We might possibly become penpals!!!  I'll be sure to keep you posted! :)

Postcard #2:

This postcard hails from the wonderful and glorious Finland!  Did you know they have reindeer in Finland?  I didn't until I received this postcard. :) Just look at them on there.  Aren't they just adorable!?  Sometimes, I wish I knew Santa.  Being able to hang out with Reindeer all day?  SIGN ME UP! I would be all up in that. In a non-weird way.  Ummm. Yeah.  Soooooo.  I have two favorite things about this postcard.  First, they wrote in their native language.  Yeahhh buddy!  "Terveisia Sucmesta, Joulupukin maasta.  Kuvassa on kaksi hanen poroaan."  Translated to english, it says: 'Greetings from Finland, the land of Santa Claus. There are two of his reindeers in the picture.'  How awesome is that? Now I know how to write a phrase in Finnish!  I wish I knew how to speak it though.  I'm sure me saying it is nowhere to close to what it actually is.  But, alas.  There is nothing I can do about that.  Lol.  My second favorite thing about this postcard?  THE STAMP!!!  

How sweet is that?  Believe it or not, as cool as it looks, it's even better in person.  The black script is raised when you run your finger over it.  Yeah, that's right.  A stamp with RAISED INK! Easily one of my most favorite stamps ever.  Period.  I wish US had some awesome stamps like that.  Maybe someday.  I'll just keep my fingers crossed for that. 

So there are the first two postcards I have ever received from overseas.  Two splendid postcards, I might add.  I can't wait to share the rest and see what else I'll uncover in the mailbox.  I've always wondered, once I started getting these, that my mailman thinks of them.  Hopefully, they enjoy them as much as I do! :) 

Ciao!

J

Welcome, Welcome, One and All.

Hello.  Hola. Hallo. Salam. Hej. Salut. Aloha. Sveiki. 


Howzit going, people of the world?  Welcome to my new blog.  It's starting out as a little experiment for moi. Honestly, I have no idea how it's going to work out.  But they always say, 'you never know until you try!'.  So I hope you can join me on this little misadventure, it shall be grand!


I am a HUGE, GINORMOUS, GARGANTUAN fan of old school, snail mail pen palling.  Is that a word?  Palling.  I'm not sure.  But I'm going to use it anyway, so don't even try to think about stopping me.  I'm..... UNSTOPPABLE!   Or so I like to think. :)


So, back to the topic of my obsession with snail mail penpals.  I love to write letters on cute stationary , use awesome, kick butt stamps, and go to the mail box and open it, only to find letters for yours truly.  Yeah, that's right.  It's a legal high for me!  I mean, think about it.  That letter or postcard has traveled miles upon miles just to get to you.  It's sole purpose in life?  To get to your mailbox.  Just stop whatever you are doing and ponder.  ......  Ok. Enough pondering.  With this obsession, comes several roadblocks.  Such as: Who's going to send me mail?  Where will I get stationary?  Who am I going to send mail back too?


NEVER FEAR!! I AM HERE!!! to help.  Since I had those problems, I decided to do a little bit of recon.  I researched places to buy postcards, websites to get penpals, and the best way to go about being an all around BAMF when it comes to penpaling.  (<--- I'm still not sure that's even the way to go.  Such an awkward word to spell.)


I'll be sure to fill you in as I go, but only a couple of things at a time! :)  First on my agenda?  To get everyone caught up on the postcards I have received from being a part of the lovely Postcrossing Project .  This little project has been the life force of my recent re-entry into the world of penpals.  Having the opportunity to both send and recieve postcards, post, and letters from all over the world!  I can't wait to share some of the cards!  They are absolutely beautiful! :)


Until next time, Ciao!
J