Sun Maid Raisins

This fun card was sent by TandemStoker in Colorado with the North American November 2018 Round Robin. I'm not especially fond of raisins, but I do like this card quite a bit. TandemStoker writes that she only likes raisins covered in chocolate and I have to agree! I also have a favorite oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that my dad used to make us when I was a child. Make this recipe and also add one cup of chocolate chips to the batter in addition to the raisins! Quaker's Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.


This postcard was added to the following collections: Food & Drink | United States 

Kaj Stenvall, The panther is resting, 2007

It's been a long time since I received a Kaj Stenvall postcard. This, of course, are highly desired in the Postcrossing community. This one comes from mtrapeltola on the Postcrossing Forum and sent as part of the Monthly Favorite Surprise November 2018 Round Robin. 

This postcard was added to the following collections: Kaj Stenvall | Finland | Art

Throwback Thursday: Children and Piglets in the Snow

This lovely vintage postcard was sent by Blue_Fox from the US to US Surprise Me! Round Robin on the Postcrossing Forum. The card was mailed from Ohio. 

I have a huge love for vintage postcards and this one from Blue_Fox does not disappoint! It's so adorable. I wish I knew what year this is from and I have questions about the children and the little piggies running past. 

Pennsylvania Map Card

This map of Pennsylvania was actually sent by Canadian Postcrosser Roxy for the North American Round Robin November 2018. I love map cards and am proud to add it to my collection. 

Collections this postcard was added to: Maps | Canada

Also included were two wonderful stamps one of the Post Office Bureau and the other is a cradle.

Frida Kahlo, Doña Rosita Morillo, 1944

Sent by Iwritedeb from North American Round Robin November 2018 on the Postcrossing Forum. This card is from Six Frida Kahlo Cards.

I've loved Kahlo ever since my 10th grade Spanish class, we had to do a report on a famous Hispanic person and I happened across Frida Kahlo. Not only were her paintings full of both pain and symbolism... but she was such an interesting woman! 

I added this postcard to these collections: Women | Art | Art: Portraits Only | United States  

Iwritedeb also attached a wonderful 'Love' stamp, which is new my Love collection!

Welcome Back and Happy Anniversary!

And... we're back.

I'm back...

Are we/I talking about my/our self in the first person now? To be determined.

So, this is my first post since my longer than expected hiatus. But, I'm back up and running with a new scanner that I have yet to catch on fire with a candle and that hasn't been dropped, both things that actually happened to my old Canon (R.I.P). We've also moved out of state and are living with husband's parents, so I don't have a proper office area, so I have to carry my desktop and printer around the house and set them up anytime I want to blog... fun!! So, I may blog less, but when I'm actually in the mood to set up a pop-up office I'm just planning on making as many posts as possible and just scheduling them out. 

So, for right now my weekly updates will be suspended, but I'll still be showcasing postcards just in a different fashion. Probably. I'm winging it. Along with not having a proper office area, I also have a 15 hour day 4x a week... so... yeah. Well, maybe I'll still do my weekly post on one of my days off, IDK. 

Okay, so this past week was my 3rd anniversary being married to Chris. For this anniversary he got really creative and actually made me happy mail!!! I was so thrilled. I was somewhat expecting vintage postcards for my anniversary, since... and this is a safe space to say this because my husband doesn't read my blog... when he went shopping I followed him on my iPhone and I saw his location in Phoebus which is where all the antique shops are and where I've bought vintage postcards in the past. However, I did not expect him to make my gift look like happy mail and really he could have bought anything there, he actually got some of my Christmas presents at local antique shops as well which were two vintage brooches and an art deco perfume dispenser. 

Chris and I on Thanksgiving.

So, here's what I got:

The Envelope

Most impressive is that Chris was able to find vintage Florida stuff up here in Virginia and even in our small town, or at least the small town next to our small city. Two of the cards that he got me were of Bok Tower. Bok Tower Gardens is really a place that I love and cherish in Florida. For those of you who don't know, I grew up in Florida and just left after 31 years. In September we moved up here to Virginia, but I still have some nostalgia for Florida. 

Anyways, if you ever go to Florida I highly recommend visiting Bok Tower, it's off the beaten path and a little expensive (like $20 per adult, which is a bit much in my opinion for a garden, but it's nice and really large), but it's well worth the experience. If I could describe to you the energy around the tower... it's so peaceful. When it's "singing" aka a guy is playing the carillon inside of it, it's the most peaceful thing. The tower is on top of a hill, overlooking Lake Wales, which is like true blue country. It's amazing.

Here we are at Bok Tower:

He also got me this old timey photobook featuring vintage postcards of Orlando and Winter Park, of course I lived in Orlando my whole life and I have also lived in Winter Park, which honestly is still Orlando, but you can't tell people in Winter Park that because they are very uppity about their Winter Park addresses. For those in the Snailmail Community a fun fact about Winter Park is that it's home to Rifle Paper Co., some of you may have bought stationary and postcards from them or may be familiar with their stamp for USPS's 'Love' series. Also, my friend Josie works there and she's awesome :) Side note: she has a really cute baby.

Front

Back

I just realized my husband left the price on... lol! $4 what a steal, way to go Chris!

Here's what the inside looks like:

It's actually very tiny and would fit inside a wallet. My wallet is too full of old receipts, so, unfortunately, no room for it in there. Also, I just wouldn't want to ruin it since it's vintage and fragile.

Oddly enough, I also have the postcard featured on the front which I ordered off eBay not too long ago. It is from Lake Eola, which is the most iconic Central Florida park.

Just for fun here's my old apartment in Winter Park:

Via Google Earth

Moving on, I also got these really really old postcards that aren't even in color they're so old. It's an old postcard book of Parisian cards. It's so fragile, I'm really hesitant to open it too much.

He also got me a vintage postcard of Centennial Fountain located at the aforementioned Lake Eola. 

The sad thing is, high-rise condos have since replaced those wonderful historic homes in the background. In fact, all of Lake Eola is now surrounded by high rises for various businesses and condominiums.

He also stuffed some lovely teacup earrings inside the envelope. Which match the kettle ones I have.

Awesome, so I have a lot of fun things in the works, including:

• some postcard maps of the view cards and lighthouse cards I've received.
• getting together an Instagram just for swaps.
• penpals.
• i'd like to start partnering with other mail blogs and social media accounts, so if you're interested let me know!
• music posts with songs with snailmail-y lyrics or themes.
• and more!

Weekly Round-Up #9

It's been a slow week for postcards. I'll actually be going on a brief hiatus from Postcrossing so this may be my last Weekly Round-Up for a couple weeks. While I only received a few cards this week, the ones I have received have been awesome!

The week in postcards...

From Canada:

From Florida:

From Massachusetts:

From Ohio:

Stamps:

From the U.S.:

From the U.S.:

Stickers & Such:

From Erin (emotis) in Ohio:

Maria Goeppert-Mayer

Another wonderful Women in Science postcard. This one comes from Volvomom in Massachusetts. This is also my first postcard from Massachusetts!

Conner Prairie Pioneer Settlement and Museum

A wonderful historic home interior from Christine (ChristineC) in Montreal!

New York State Map

Map cards are really one of my very favorite types of postcards to receive. Ever since I was a little girl I've been obsessed with maps. I could also spend hours on Google Earth just traveling around. Maybe I was a cartographer in my past life? 

Here is a lovely New York map card from roxy in Canada. New York really is a lovely state and I'd like to have more time to travel around it. I've only spent a day in New York City, but I've been to Staten Island to visit family twice. I've also been up in the Catskill Mountains to Woodstock and surrounding areas.

Here's some pics from my first trip to NY! Most of my pictures have my ex-husband in them, so that seems weird to share, but here's a few. We visited Woodstock, NYC, and Staten Island. It was a lot of fun, my favorite was definitely upstate, though. Woodstock was lots of fun because there's a lot of old homes,New Age shops, and cool gift shops. In NYC we rode the ferry, went to Times Square and walked around. 

 

Woodstock

Manhattan

Woodstock

Weekly Round-Up #8

It's that time of the week again... my favorite time... the weekly round-up when I get to look back upon all the wonderful postcards I've received this week.

The week in postcards:

From Florida:

From North Carolina:

From Mississippi:

From Florida:

From Maryland:

From New Mexico:

From Indiana:

From Texas:

From Michigan:

From California:

From Pennsylvania:

From Pennsylvania:

From Florida:

From Canada:

Favorite Stamps:

From the United States:

From the United States:

From the United States:

From the United States:

From the United States:

From the United States:

From the United States:

Stickers & Such:

From Savagepink in Florida, USA:

From GbnaBennett in Mississippi, USA:

From K2Whitehouse in Maryland, USA:

From CorvetteGal in Indiana, USA:

From LadyBug513 (Susan) in Pennsylvania: