Handmade

From here.  Do you guys fill up imaginary shopping carts on sites like this too and drool over things you really shouldn't spend money on?

It's another warm day here where I am... woke up at a decent time and got in a an hour of tennis and a nice breakfast out with J before he had to go to work.  I set up a desk area for myself (finally) after being inspired by a couple other bloggers here and here.  No more writing and working at the coffee table hunched over, or at the kitchen table with all my stuff strewn about.  I finally have a dedicated area with all my mail supplies, all my wonderful inbound mail to look at, etc., and a nice open desk space with room to do my thing.  And that's exactly what I did today!  I opened the window wide up, made myself an iced coffee, put on some music, and started rifling through magazines for good material for some handmade envelopes.  Check 'em out:

All 8 of 'em together...

A couple of my favorites from today:

From GQ mag...

Also from GQ

Dog food ad from a food magazine...

It really does make a huge difference to get a nice space set up for yourself to do your work.  I am so much more inspired to be creative and do good work at the desk now!  I can't wait to fill it up with fun stuff... I'm thinking of hanging favorite postcards, inspirational quotes (anyone have any good ones?), and fun art all over the place.  Once it's a little more exciting to look at I'll post some photos for you all to see.

Before I end this post I wanted to prove that I've made some headway on my list of outbound letters that need to be written, haha.  I had 10 letters to respond to, all in order, and of course they got out of order, so I just kind of randomly chose who I responded to first... and the winner was...

I tried to send a nice pile of goodies for Bianca since she sent me such a wonderful set of stuff in her last letter to me.  It's hard to match her level of wonder...ful...ness(?) haha, but I think she'll like what I sent along!  :)

I p-p-promise to get to work on the rest of my incoming pile of letters that need responses ASAP.  Until next time!

P.S. - See an envelope you like?  Don't hesitate to ask; I have more than I know what to do with so I'd be happy to send your next letter in one or just send you one for you to use however your please.  Leave a comment if you're interested!  :)

Grams' Birthday

Today we celebrated my Grandma's 77th birthday! Her actual birthday was the 17th but we were all only able to get together today. Because she recognizes Lent she was unable to eat meat today (Friday), and unfortunately for her, every year she gives up sweets/treats/snacks, so there was no dessert as usual. That being said, J and I put together a wonderful 2-course dinner that everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Both recipes are from one of my favorite cookbooks, Sunday Suppers at Lucques, by Suzanne Goin. The fish recipe we adapted a bit as to what was available ingredient-wise. See pics below:

^Swiss chard tart with goat cheese and currant-pine nut relish

^Wild Alaskan halibut marinated in fresh thyme, parsley, and blood orange zest, served over red and black rice risotto with blood orange reduction

I'm always worried the food I serve won't be enjoyed but everyone seemed to truly enjoy both courses which made me really happy.

Sorry for those of you who are not into Valentine's Day, but I am going to get a bit corny here... I actually wasn't sure if I even wanted to post about this because I'm not usually the guy who does the typical cheesy love stuff and I know some people get bugged by it but... Yesterday was another good food day; since our V-day celebration was put off due to J's family visit, I decided to make us a nice dinner yesterday instead. I heard this great idea a while back to recreate (at home) a meal you and your special someone had on a first date or past Valentine's day at a restaurant out. I decided to make the dishes we each had on our first date at a local restaurant...a Cobb salad and chicken piccata. Without sounding full of myself, I must say the food I made turned out better than what we ate at the restaurant. J was super surprised and loved it so I was very, very happy.

^J's chicken piccata

^My Cobb salad

Shall we move onto some great mail? OK then...Two days ago the following letter from Belen came, and totally brightened up my mailbox! This is one of the coolest envelopes I've gotten; it is made from see-through vellum scrapbook paper. Enclosed was a great, long letter and the smallest most perfect little paper crane! So neat!

Last piece of mail for this post came today as part of my Mix CD Scavenger Hunt on Swap-bot. This package came from Canada and had the track list on the coolest stationery! Of course I forgot to take a picture but oh well. Cute stickers on the package, no?

^I really need to start building up my accessory collection...stamps, stickers, etc. They make such a difference in making a package more special!

Speaking of stationery, I think I want to try making my own stationery. I was thinking I could just cut and paste magazine/newspaper/etc. clippings on plain paper and photocopy or scan them and have great original writing paper? Anyone have suggestions on other ways to do fun stuff like that, or have examples to share?

That'll do it for this post. Thanks for everyone who's reading!

Till next time,

Aaron :)

Mail-Tag

Today was one of the better mail days I've had. I think it's so funny how when you really want something or you anticipate something happening, it doesn't happen, and when you're totally not expecting something, it happens, or you get it, or whatever the case may be. Today I went to the mailbox expecting a letter from someone in California, only to find that not only was that not there, but a CD for the Mix CD Scavenger Hunt I participated in was, along with a much anticipated letter from the wonderful Bianca of Goodnight Little Spoon. Her blog was, I believe, the first I came across when searching for mail-related resources and it is so well-put-together, fun to read, amazing to look at, I could go on. A while back I sent her a letter and couldn't WAIT until she posted it on her blog...it finally arrived after two[ish] long weeks and then there it was! Even more exciting was when she posted pictures of her reply to me...I couldn't wait to get something in the mail from her! And then today, there it was - and the contents inside did not disappoint! Sorry, I may sound a little strangely excited about this but my fellow mail geeks will understand where I'm coming from here. Here is a picture of my lovely first letter from Bianca:

^Front...I love the story behind the mustached Mona Lisa; I guess Bianca had just read a theory that the Mona Lisa is actually a self-portrait of Da Vinci in drag...so she went ahead and put a mustache on her...LOVE IT!

^Back. Jeez, I just love all her accessories...labels, stamps...

^Contents...wonderful letter, peppermint tea, and a game of Mail-Tag!

The thing I loved most about this letter is that it really broke the confusion of what to say in a first letter. All the first letters I've written have kind of followed the same guidelines - age, location, hobbies, etc., etc., etc., which her letter did, but also made it fun. And, the game of Mail-Tag is such a fun idea, and a great way to keep the subsequent letters fun and interesting and really gives you something to look forward to! Here are the guidelines for Mail-Tag:

'Mail-tag consists of an exchange of postal correspondence between (2) people. The first person begins the game by requesting one or more desired things. That person then mails those requests to the other participant - who interprets those requests, writes a list of their own requests for the other participant and sends them back. You can take as much or as little time to compose and send back your reply, ask for as few or as many things in your requests and generally interpret requests in whichever way you see fit.'

I really can't wait to respond to Bianca and put together the 3 items she requested for Mail-Tag.

Onto my other great piece of mail from today, my first CD for the Mix CD Scavenger Hunt on Swap-bot. I haven't given the CD a full listen yet, but when I popped it into the CD player I liked what I heard so far. This type of swap is a really great way to expose yourself to new music that you [probably] would never have listened to otherwise.

^Tracklist and postcard enclosed in the Mix CD Swap.

OK, on to my last piece of mail for the day - my V-Day gift from J. It's not mail yet, but it will be eventually. He did some very sneaky over-the-shoulder snooping and discovered a website called Zazzle that I've been looking at recently. It's a great website that does custom printing, custom postage, sells cards and postcards, etc. Combining two of my favorite things, J got me about 20 Alice in Wonderland themed postcards...great right?! Here are a few of my favorites from the group:

^My favorite Disney movie in postcard form. <3

Oh shoot! I almost forgot one more thing - a cute handmade Valentine I got from my co-worker Jacquie. She was on time and gave it to me at work on the 14th, but I'm just now getting around to posting it. I love the way she did this - so simple, no envelope, just a couple different kinds of paper turned into a great card. I actually used the same flowery scrapbook paper that she used on the center of this to make one of my many handmade envelopes a couple weeks ago.

^J says the chinese symbol means 'hope.'

OK, that should do it for today folks. Hope you all are having a great day, be it food, fun, or post-wise! Until next time,

Aaron :)

Shabu-shabu, Swapping, and Sunshine

Hi everyone! I finally have some fun stuff to post about, so here we go! Sorry for the corny S-S-S title for this post, but I gotta come up with something clever for all these titles! Alright, if we

break it down by category, here we go:

-Shabu-shabu: Yesterday was Chinese New Year and J was originally supposed to go back home and celebrate, but, long story short, decided against it since the short trip would not be worth the 8-10 hours of driving it required. His family still really wanted to see him and had never been to our apartment so they asked if they could all come visit us instead, and of course we said yes. To be honest, I was dreading the thought of hosting 6 people (8 including us) in our apartment, but we made it work in the end and had a really nice time. The family loves doing Shabu-shabu dinners and it really is a lot of fun. We had all the fixin's - beef, pork, shrimp, cuttlefish, clams, fresh cilantro, watercress, and Chinese broccoli - his family really does go all out when it comes to Shabu. We made our way through a couple bottles of wine, and by the end of the night we were all full to the brim before we went to bed. We said goodbye to everybody today as they made their way back home and we got back to our normal routine.

Swapping: One of the online mailing resources I have discovered is called Swap-bot. All my fellow mail geeks out there will already know about it, but for my friends who don't, it's a mail exchange service for just about anything. You sign up for an account and can then search for swaps by category - food, music, books, etc., etc., etc. You, along with people who are interested in the same swaps, will sign up and eventually be assigned partners to whom you will send your items, whatever they may be. The latest swap I joined was a Mix CD Scavenger Hunt. The creator of the swap came up with 20 categories, and you had to find songs in your music library that fit the category and then put them on a CD. It was something I had seen on Swap-bot before and wanted to do and finally came across one I could join in time. It was a little challenging, but eventually I found a song for every category. Here's what the contents 1 of my 2 envelopes looks like, making its way to Australia: (the other is going to Canada).

^A bit hard to read, sorry...

So you have an idea of all the categories and the songs I chose for each, here they are:

1. A sarcastic song.
2. A song from a kids’ movie.
3. A song that includes some whistling.
4. A song sung by an actor/singer.
5. A song that includes either na-na-na-na or la-la-la-la.
6. A song that says exactly what you wish you could say to someone in your life (now or in your past).
7. A song that has lyrics that make you go “heh?”
8. A song sung by someone you had/have a crush on.
9. A song that you might play if you were nodding off while driving, to wake yourself up.
10. A song that mentions a season either in the title or the lyrics.
11. Your favourite Queen song.
12. A song that you would play on a badass roadtrip to total debauchery.
13. A song sung by an American Idol contestant.
14. A song that makes you want to be 16 again.
15. A song that you think would suit as background music for a grown-up sit-down dinner.
16. A song that you think would suit as background music for a brunch with lots of children.
17. A song that you think would suit as background music for a big cocktail party.
18. A song that talks about a grandparent.
19. A song that puts you in your parents’ living room growing up.
20. A song that you’d put on a mix cd for your best mate.

I've been thinking of hosting a handmade envelope swap since that is my current obsession and I have about 35 envelopes ready to be used. After a while you do get sick of staring at your own things, and I'm sure there's people out there who would appreciate and use the stuff I've made, and vice versa. I'm always interested in seeing other peoples' artistic and creative styles and this would be a perfect opportunity to do all of the above. Well, that's that for swapping. Onto the sunshine...

We had absolutely beautiful weather here for the past few days (after a couple weeks of awful on-and-off rain) and we took advantage of it! On Saturday and today J and I got out and played tennis...about an hour and a half on Saturday and and hour today. He has only played a handful of time and basically the only instruction he has had is from me, and I have to say, he has improved immensely since I first started hitting with him. He hits some really great shots and we can actually rally now, where as before it was much harder to carry on a point. It's nice to have a tennis partner who's always around and who you know will always want to play.

Alright, time to head to the kitchen and whip up some din-din. Hope you all are well...until next time!

Aaron :)

Happy [Early] Valentine's Day

Hello, hello! This is going to be what I consider my first 'real' post. I have finally taken some good quality photos of some incoming and outgoing mail, edited it properly, and am ready to roll! This will be a mail-only post, with a culinary club post [hopefully] soon to come. We had an amazing dinner the other night and I can't wait to share our menu and photos from the evening. I have an amazing group of friends... Now, on to the mail!

I started making valentines about a week ago and finally got around to finishing them up tonight by writing out the cards, putting stamps on the envelopes, and sealing them up, ready to go in the mailbox. Most of my effort went into the making of the envelopes, so I bought some simple, cute handmade cards at the store - hopefully people will enjoy them! Before I started making all these, I had this epiphany that I should use paper grocery bags to make envelopes! I know, I know, there's no way I'm the first one to think of that, but it was the first time I had thought of it and had never seen it anywhere, so I was pretty proud of myself after that one! Haha... ok let's get to the pictures!

This is the whole bunch together. Pretty cute bunch, don'tcha think?

Close-up of one that I thought came out particularly well, going to my dear friend Sean.

This one goes to my co-worker Maria; it is her birthday on Valentine's, so her envelope was a little extra special! :)

So that's that for Valentines. What do you guys think? Onto some more outgoing mail, non-Valentine...

This is another grocery bag turned envelope, already delivered to my [long-lost] cousin Colleen. I think the last time I saw her was when I was about 8 or 9 or 10...we reconnected on Facebook and discovered each other's love for mail...how perfect is that!? BTW, I love how the 'REUSABLE RECYCLABLE' words on the bag came out [pretty] perfectly on the front of the envelope! Very apropos, no?

Reply to Belen, a fellow blogger who has become a regular correspondent. It has been great finding new pen-pals who share the love of mail! The envelope is another I made from a children's Beauty & the Beast book I bought at the thrift store.

Zoom-in of the recipe I sent Belen. She's trying to eat healthier and make a positive life change so I thought I'd help her out with a healthy go-to recipe of mine.

Replies from Belen, both envelopes I love, made from scrapbook paper. I especially love the labels she cut out on the black envelope. I recently sent a reply to her on an envelop I made out of scrapbook paper myself. (no picture...)

Reply from another blogger named Lauren I wrote to a week or so ago. I don't think I ever took a picture of what I sent to her to begin with, but her letter back is great, no? Whoops, didn't take a photo of the back either, which was great. It had a great 3-D sticker on it that I loved...oh well...I'm still getting the hang of all this...

My favorite postcard I've received from Postcrossing so far. It is from South Africa and was FILLED on the back with a great message from the sender. I loved it too because it reminded me of all the postcards I sent and received from my BFF Madison when she was studying abroad in South Africa.

Phew! That was a lot of work. I don't know how some of these bloggers do it with all their numerous amazing photos and multiple blog posts in a day...kudos to you all! Signing off for the night...I hope there is more to come soon.

Aaron :)

Song of the moment: The Sound of Music

Artist: Julie Andrews

Album: The Sound of Music Soundtrack