Outgoing Mail

Good morning peeps. It is a gorgeous day here in Las Vegas, but even on the dreariest days I find beauty hiding in various places just waiting to be noticed. I went out and had some fun last night.

Michelle on the left and me on the right. We've been friends for 46 years. She lives in Central California and she and her fiance' decided to come to Vegas for a few days. We went out to dinner, then went on Fremont Street to experience all the craziness of the freaks, geeks, and tweeks. Seriously, we had a great time and I'm so glad I got to meet her fiance'. 

Now for the outgoing mail:

A letter to my friend Deyanira who lives in Texas.

A Postcrossing going to Svetlana in Russia.

I write: Dear Svetlana, I am a former private investigator turned housewife. I love being creative, especially through mail art and journaling. I have many hobbies including reading tarot cards, writing pen pals, traveling, photography, collecting piggy banks and much much more. I strive to learn something new every day. I hope you do too. Dream big. Have a great day. <3 JarieLyn

This is going to Karen in Florida.

I write: Hello Karen, I enjoyed reading your profile. It's been rainy here in Vegas the past two days, which I love. It was a beautiful day on Saturday, warm and sunny. My brother and his family surprised me by coming to town for their twin daughters jiu jitsu competition so my husband and I attended the match and then we all went to dinner afterward. It made for a great week-end. <3 JarieLyn

This is going to Anke in Germany.

I write: Hello Anke, the mint julep is the traditional drink of the Kentucky Derby. (horse race) My husband and I were lucky enough to attend the derby last year for our vacation and trying the mint julep was on my list of things to do. The drink was the most awful thing I have ever tasted, however, my taste buds were soon satisfied with another derby favorite, The Pink Lady. Now that was yummy. Be adventurous! <3 JarieLyn

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Incoming:

A Postcrossing from Germany.

The sender writes: Dear JarieLyn, we are pretty much the same! I also love snail mail, I have a wonderful pen friend in Hong Kong. I like Chistmas and bright colours. I like all kins of music except heavey and hard head banging music. I love dogs (especially huskeys). Best wishes, Jasmin.

Slower Than Email

Hi all, just a sneak peek at my latest postcard for the Liberate Your Art Project.

A bird and some flowers

It's evening time already. I really don't know where the times goes. I mean seriously, my days go so fast. I wish time could just stand still for a few hours and let me do more than I get done. I'm happy to report that I received one postcrossing and one letter. Yay! I love getting mail, especially from my favorite people. (my pen pals)

A postcrossing from Florida. 

Sender writes: I live in the oldest city, Saint Augustine Florida. The streets are tiny and the buildings are old. I love the beach and the weather is amazing. I am originally from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Someday I hope to spend half the year in North Carolina and the other half in Florida. Gail.

Amazing letter from Lynn, which I have been waiting for. Her letters are always interesting and fun.

Today is a great day! 

Liberating, Monumental, Animated, Fat, Cool and a Happy Valentine

It's time to liberate my art. I finally got all of my postcards made via Moo.com and VistaPrint.com. I came up with 3 designs, two of which I've already posted. I think I will leave the third design as a surprise since the deadline for this project is March 15th.  Anyway, It was fun trying to create something by hand to put on postcards. I thoroughly enjoyed the process and I plan to keep doing it. Here is the envelope that is on it's way to Kat Eye Studio where the Liberate Your Art project was born.

I wish I had done something different on the envelope, but this is how it turned out.

The back of the envelope, sloppy, messy and hurried. But it's art, right?

In addition to the above envelope, I sent a couple of more postcrossings.

To: Barbara in Portugal

I write: Hello Barbara, I am a 50 year old woman living in Las Vegas, Nevada. It makes my heart happy to know that there are still young people like yourself who want to send and receive postcards & letters. I have a whole trunk full of correspondence that I have saved over the years. Every now & then I like to re-read what my friends wrote about when we were kids. Wishing you much happiness. <3 JarieLyn

To: Ameya in India

I write: Hello from Las Vegas where the sun is shining and casting a warmth which makes it feel like spring. I am dog sitting my sister's chow this week and we've already been for a walk in the park today. I love to just breathe in the air when I'm outdoors. the aroma of flowers and cherry blossoms are intoxicating and it makes my soul smile. <3 JarieLyn

My mailbox is finally starting to see some life. I recieved a big fat envelope from John in the Uk.

Inside was all kinds of mail deliciousness.  He sent me some vintage postcards as well as writing his letter on several different postcards.

7 beautiful postcards filled with a letter to me. 

Some of the other postcards that were in the envelope. Everything was so fun to look at and to read. They are all splendid, and it made my day.

Also, I received a piece of mail from my friend Deyanira.

A cute valentine card and an artsy note. She knows how much I love getting mail.

So in case you all are wondering how I spent Valentine's day here's the scoop. I'm sure you've all heard of couple's massage, right?  Well, that's not what we did, but it was similar. We had a tandem reiki session and it was the most amazing experience ever. My husband is not into the whole metaphysical, mystical, new age thing so my plan was to blindfold him and not let him know what I had in store. Well, I didn't blindfold him, but he went in blindly. He had no idea what we were doing.  I will skip over the little details but I will tell you that to my surprise he was totally feeling good and was open to doing it again sometime.  If you've never had a reiki session before, let me just say, that it is very relaxing. Some times you might experience things that make you question what happened, but it's all good. You don't need to believe in universal life force energy to reap the benefits. Anyway, my husband and I walked out feeling so peaceful and happy and we had a great rest of the day together. It was one of the best Valentine's Day I've ever had.

Postcrossings-Southern Style

Hello, it's another gorgeous day here in Las Vegas. I've been working on some pen pal letters, postcrossings, and my project for "Liberate Your Art".  I thought I'd just share a few of the postcrossings going out. I just noticed that all the postcards I chose are from the south. I didn't do it purposely, but at least it gives me a cohesive theme for today's post. Enjoy!

To: Chingle in Utah

I write: Hello! It's a beautiful sunny day here in Las Vegas. This card makes me smile. I love baby horses. My husband and I were fortunate enough to attend the Kentucky Derby last year and it was an amazing experience. I wish for you many amazing experiences throughout your life. <3 JarieLyn

To: Elke in Germany

I write: Dear Elke, I wish you a very happy birthday. (Feb.18) I hope that you et lots of good mail for your special day. Nashville is my favorite city that I've visited so far in the United States. There's so much to do there. Las Vegas is pretty cool too. (Where I live) I am a 50 year old woman who has an ecclectic assortment of hobbies. All the best to you. <3 JarieLyn

To: Kathy in China

I write:  Hello lovely Kathy, greetings from Las Vegas, Nevada where I currently reside. My husband and I went to Kentucky last year for our vacation and it is absolutely beautiful. We attended the Kentucky Derby and had so much fun. I hope to be able to go again someday. The mint julep is the famous drink that everyone has over there. Personally, I didn't like the tast at alll. Hope all your dreams come true. <3 JarieLyn

Toodles!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day. This isn't just a day for lovers. It's a day for self-love as well. I mean, if you don't love yourself how can you love someone else. You can't give out what you don't have, so if you don't have self-love, there's no love to give. Make this day special for you, especially if you are single. Treat yourself with kindness and look in the mirror and tell yourself that you love you. Don't cringe. It feels awkward at first, but it's good for the soul. And if you have someone to celebrate this day with, remember that it's because you love yourself and attracted the same love back to you.

Outgoing mail to New York and to North Carolina.

Mailbox Love, Finally!

Good afternoon my lovelies. It's 70' F outside but it feels hotter than that. Maybe it's because I just came back from a brisk walk. I hope all of you are enjoying the weather where you are no matter if it's hot or cold. I think we just need to accept our fate and make the most of it.  I'm excited to blurt out into the blogosphere that I am very happy that I finally got some good mail yesterday. I love it, especially because they are both from bloggers. One sent me a postcard as a participant of LetterMo, and the other comes from a lovely blogger named Claire in the UK. Check out both of their blogs and make a comment or follow them.

I really love the postcard. It is so colorful and dream like. It feels magical, like I just stepped into a fairytale. And the message written is wonderful too. For me, that's always the best part because it means the person took the time to write something just for me. Oh, and Claire's envelope is fabulous. Inside I found a wonderful ATC that she made for me and a vintage postcard from her alma mater, Oxford, and a lovely message.

what makes this so unique is the folder she created to hold the ATC. It's a puzzle.

I would have thought that I'd have a postcard from another postcrosser by now, but no such luck.

As far as LetterMo goes, I've already failed the task. I missed Saturday, Monday, Tuesday, and today for mailing out. There is no making it up, but I will still try to send something daily starting tomorrow.

Elvis Travels To Bakersfield

Elvis is traveling to Bakersfield to see his biggest fan, and my friend with whom I recently reconnected with on facebook after about 15 years. That's the main reason I love social media-finding old friends.  She will be extra happy that I also used an Elvis postage stamp.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Elvis has left the building. Bye Bye.

Day four, 3 out the door

Good afternoon my lovely beauties. My days go by so fast. It seems like I just woke up an hour ago and here it is already almost time to get diner cooking. I haven't done anything to brag about except I finally wrote brief letters to 3 of my pen pals who haven't heard from me in months and months. They will be shocked that I'm still alive. Ha Ha.

I know at least one of these people look at my blog every now and then. One is headed to Decatur Georgia, one to Algonquin, Illinois, and one to Katy, Texas. I hope it brightens up their day.
I'm in a pink mood and it's sweethearts month so I'm sticking to the theme all month long.

Have a great night and maybe a little romance too. If you can't have that then just a hug will do.

My latest art, LetterMo, and Valentines Day Plans

Hello, hello, hello! It's a beautiful day. I've been working on some more art and these are the two pieces I created yesterday. I want to use them in the "Liberate Your Art Project" but my photos aren't all that sharp. I think I will do it anyway. Maybe. I don't know. See, here comes the flakiness in me.

I had to warp this one in photoshop because it was so crooked. Other than that, I did not do any editing.  This is my interpretation of the 7 chakras.

This is an image that I always draw. Sometimes I like it better than other times. I'm not ecstatic about how this turned out, but I'm running out of time and this is basically my signature art. This is me. It's the only thing that I really know how to draw, with the exception of a few faces I sketched with pencil before. I wrote this poem just a few days ago. Those of you who know about twin flames will get it. Those of you who don't know what a twin flame is probably won't get it.

I would totally appreciate any feedback. Is this artwork worthy of being on a postcard? Tell me what you think. I like constructive criticism as well as sincere compliments.

Day 3 of LetterMo. I'm not representing very well but at least I'm sending out another postcrossing.

This postcard is headed to Hong Kong.

I write: Greetings from sunny Las Vegas. For today's Postcrossing I feel like dispensing a little bit of wisdom. "Practice the philosphy of continous improvement. Get a little bit better every single day." ~Brian Tracy~ I have that quote pinned to my vision board where I can see it on a regular basis. It reminds me to learn somehting new every day. Have a wonderful day and mae your life the best you can. <3 JarieLyn

Normally, my husband and I don't really do anything special for Valentine's day. For one thing, the wait to get into a restaurant is ridiculous, even for a regular everyday non fancy chain restaurant. But this year, I planned something for the both of us that doesn't involve eating, unless you count going out to lunch.  I'm so excited because I just scheduled it a little while ago. I can't tell you what it is right this minute but maybe after Valentine's Day I will share with you all what we did and how it turned out, etc. It's a secret surprise for my husband.

Have a fabulous day all.

Live a Colorful Life

Good evening my adorable peeps. Awhile back I decided to google images with positive quotes to post to my facebook page. There's so much negative shit that people get caught up in on facebook that it just compels me to want to spread a little sunshine. {smile} Anyway, I usually find images with quotes I like, save them up on my computer and use them whenever the mood strikes me. I came across one that had a retro image of women in colorful bathingsuits that just said, "Live a Colorful Life". It resonated with me and I really like it a lot. You could interpret the quote in many different ways, but I like the simplicity of that one sentence. Don't be an imitation of someone else, but live your own life filled with interesting things. Many different things. Face your fears and take a few risks. Don't be boring. Be enthusiastic and excited about everything. See the possibilities and jump!

That one little quote inspired me to use my own photography for the Liberate Your Art Project.

They arrived in my mailbox yesterday.  Don't they look pretty all laid out in a circle? Can't wait to start sending them to people.

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Here is what the single postcard looks like on the front of the card.

 The back of the postcard with all my information.

This is my original photo and a second place winner in an annual photo print competition. This photo hung in an exhibit at the Federal Courthouse for about a month with all of the other winners.

I took this photo while on Vacation in San Antonio, Texas during 2012.

I hope it adds some color to your day. Now go live a colorful life.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Yesterday was the official first day of LetterMo and I sent out one Postcrossing.

This is going to Malaysia, but I forgot what I wrote. The girl wanted postcards with food.

Today, I sent one of my lovely guitar postcards to my friend Deyanira who happens to Live in San Antonio, Texas.

Tomorrow, hopefully I will mail out a letter or two.