Handwritten Letters

If you remember from this post, one of my goals for this year is to write more handwritten letters and postcards and send them the old fashioned way, through the mail! This is an art, yes art, that is going out of style. However I have been seeing so many bloggers write posts like this and setting up link ups and matching people up with pen pals, it has been unreal! So maybe this art isn't going anywhere just yet. That is if we have anything to say about it.

The Fun Part

• Writing letters is fun, because it is fun getting stuff in the mail! I don't know anyone who doesn't love getting a package or a little handwritten envelope with their name on it. Much better than getting a Facebook message or an email. 
• I know there are a lot of people out there, including me sometimes, who wish they lived in an earlier time period. Writing letters and postcards is reminiscent of the old times. If you can't live back then, you can at least do some of what they did. 
• Letters and postcards are something that you can hold on to, keep and look back on when you are older. A couple of years ago, my grandma was looking through an old suitcase filled with her old pictures and letters my grandpa had written to her way back when. She read them and was immediately taken back to that time. Who doesn't want that? 
• There are so many different types of stationery and postcards to choose from that you can really make it personal to the person you are writing to. I have really been wanting some personalized stationery for the longest time! It just sounds so professional, you know? Tiny Prints is perfect for this. They have so many different designs and styles to choose from. All of them customizable with either your full name, initials or even pictures on some of them. Pretty neat huh? 

Where to get the Pretty Writing Material

• Tiny Prints! They really have so much stuff to look at. There are so many cards to choose from and personalize with your name and even pictures. 
• Modcloth has this really awesome box of postcards. I also have my eye on these. 
• I love these, these and these from Rifle Paper Co. 

Getting Organized

• To keep all of your supplies in one place, it would be a good idea to get a box to store everything like stamps, pens, cute ribbon or tape. You know. That sort of stuff.
• It would also be a good idea to get a notebook or address book to keep all of your collected addresses in one spot. I have my eye on this one and this one from Tiny Prints. 

Thanks for reading and I hope this inspires you to write more letters! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to write some myself. 

2014 Goals

I'm not one to make yearly goals, but I thought I would give it a shot this year now that I have this blog to keep track of my progress and you guys to hold me accountable. So we'll see how this goes this year.

Get a job that uses my degree: Right now I'm not doing anything that uses the degree I spent A LOT of money on and FIVE years to get. That needs to change. For those of you that don't know, my degree is Landscape, Nursery and Greenhouse Management and I would really like a job at a florist, but if that doesn't work out soon, then a job at a nursery. I just want to work with pretty plants and flowers again. Its been to long.

Clean out the greenhouse and use it again: Many years ago, my dad built a greenhouse in our backyard. I can't ever remember it being used as a greenhouse, but more for storage. See the problem? So in the next couple of months I would like to clean it out and start growing some seeds! It is so satisfying watching flowers and vegetables grow that you started from seed.

Work on flexibility: Once upon a time I was able to do the splits. Not so much any more. I've wanted to be able to do them again for quite some time but have never put in the time to work on it again. Not being flexible is so restricting, I feel… old. So hopefully this is the year. But if I were to pick a goal that I wouldn't follow through with, this one would be it. Just saying.

Take a picture a day: Well so far I have achieved this one! Follow me on Instagram and you can see my daily pictures. They may come a couple days late but they were taken on the day I say they were. I just think it would be so neat to have an album with a picture for everyday of the year. With this goal I plan to have monthly updates on it.

Learn more about photography: I have always loved taking pictures and just really started to get into it this year. This upcoming year I would like to get more comfortable with the manual setting on the camera and use the auto less. Learning what all those numbers mean would be a good place to start.

Identify trees and flowers around me: I took a plant identification class in college and completely loved it. But you know, you study just for the test and forget things after the final. So now I'm looking at all of these trees around me and I know I know what they are but the name isn't coming to me. Except, of course, for the cotton candy tree, won't ever forget that one. Its time to break out my old textbooks and identification cards and get back out there identifying these trees and flowers.

Write more letters/postcards: Who doesn't love getting mail the old fashioned way? Its just fun.