...And We're Back!

Hey everyone!  That break was far longer than I had intended, but I'm back in the swing of things and ready to post.  I've been getting some great mail and have a good amount of it here, pictures taken, ready to be shown to the world.  I have quite a bit so it may not all make it into this one post.  By the way, if you sent me something and think I should've gotten it by now and don't see it on here, let me know cuz I really do want to give credit to everyone who sends stuff.  I'm trying to keep good track of all my mail but I could easily forget something on accident.  So, here's what's been going on:

Incoming:

^Another check off the list for the 50 State Challenge, from a reader named Vicki.  Thanks Vicki!

^More 50 State postcards: Washington, D.C., New Mexico, Colorado, New Mexico again, and a second from Michigan.  In order from: Ashley, Julie, Melinda, Anu, and Ambrosia.  I love them all, but especially the handmade one from Anu...the bottom right one from NM - some real mail art there! 

Outgoing:

^Handmade scrapbook envelope to Lauren.  She has since written back...shows how long it's been since I posted!

^Postcard, also to Lauren.  She had mentioned Alice in Wonderland in a previous letter so I thought she'd like this postcard.

^Back of the postcard above.  If your read the message, you'll see I told her about the stamp that surrounds her address.  It is a rubber stamp I bought at Michael's for $1.00!  I still can't get over it.  Most rubber stamps are SO expensive, but they have all these $1.00 bins and actually have a decent selection of rubber stamps.  It's [sadly] my only rubber stamp so I am overusing it a bit right now, LoL.

That's it for mail right now, at least what I have photos of.  I don't have much more though, so this about covers it.  The batter on my camera is dead so as soon as it is charged up I'll put the last few stragglers up.

Back on the 11th and 12th of this month, J and I took a little mini vacay to Palm Springs for a big annual pro tennis event that is held there.  We had such a good time; I hadn't been for a few years and J had never been, so it was great to [re]-experience it together.  The atmosphere is very intimate, all the top players are there, and you can get really close to everyone and get autographs, take pictures, maybe talk to some of them even!  Here are a couple of fun pics we snapped:

^World #1 Roger Federer...J actually managed to make his way through the mob to get his autograph!

^Jelena Jankovic, one of my favorite players, who actually ended up winning the whole tournament!  

^Former world #1 Justine Henin, making her comeback after a brief retirement.  LOVE HER.  Unfortunately she didn't get too far in this tournament... She was also in a hurry to get to her practice so we didn't get her autograph.  No worries, I got it a few years back!  :)

^Martina Navratilova and Lindsay Davenport.  Martina is a living legend and Lindsay is one of my favorite players who retired in the past 5 years.  

Some of you may have heard about it, and we were lucky enough to experience, an event called Hit for Haiti.  It was a big fundraiser to raise money for Haiti earthquake relief and it just happened to take place on one of the nights we had bought tickets for before the even was even planned!  We felt so luck to be there in person for such an amazing event.  The 8 players that took part in doubles exhibitions events were:

Pete Sampras/Roger Federer vs. Andre Agassi/Rafael Nadal

Lindsay Davenport/Steffi Graf vs. Martina Navratilova/Justine Henin

It was fun to see all the players having a fun, relaxed time since you usually only see them super serious and playing intense, real matches.  There was some awkward tension between Sampras and Agassi that actually made news headlines...J and I didn't think it deserved as much attention as it received in the media, but it was definitely weird.  The even raised over $1million, which is amazing, and Tony Bennet came out at the end of the event and sang, which was cool to see as well.  I re-watched the event on TV and all the commentators were saying what an historic even it was and that everyone that was there was taking part in a piece of tennis history; it truly was, and like I said, we were so happy to be there. 

That'll do it for this post, hope you all enjoyed it.  I sent off my items and in turn received my package for the Time After Tea stationery swap and will dedicate a post to that since I received an AMAZING package from my partner Patty.  I sent her a thank-you e-mail but in case she is reading and hasn't gotten it, THANK YOU PATTY!  Truly amazing.  I will also post the remaining few pictures of other mail I've received lately. 

Until next time, folks!    :)