A Trip to New Jersey

I took a road trip to New Jersey once. It was a long time ago when my step mom lived there for a short stint due to work responsibilities. My husband had a class in Wrentham, MA so I flew to Boston with him. We rented a car and drove another 30 miles or so to our destination. While he was in his class during the day, I would drive around exploring places. On my own, I drove to Providence, Rhode Island and to Cambridge University and all over here and there.

When my husband's classes were completed we decided to finish out our trip by driving to New Jersey to visit my step mom. To get there we had to drive through Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York. That was quite an experience. I thought I knew what tall buildings were considering how often I had been to L.A. Well, I didn't know shit. The buildings in New York were overwhelming and it was almost terrifying driving through it at first. We survived going across the Washington bridge in congested traffic and we made it to New Jersey in just a few short hours. No problem! Garfield, New Jersey. That's where my step-mom was living at the time. Why am I writing all of this? Because I needed something to lead in to the pen pal letter I just wrote. It's going on its own journey to New Jersey. That's why.

Write on!

Pen Pal Letter Out the Door.

Little by little, I'm catching up on correspondence starting with my most recently received letters. I figure I'm so far behind on the rest, that it will be better to reply to those who have most recently sent me mail. Then I won't get behind on those letters.  Seriously, I'm behind in some letters by a year.

Letter going to South Carolina in a handmade envelope, adorned with vintage stamps.

Hopefully, I will get another letter or two written by the end of tonight.

Sealed With Wax

Hello and good evening.  I can't recall the last time I received a letter sealed with wax, but today was one of those days.  Not only is the letter sealed with pretty wax, but the envelope has some colorful drawings on it that are so adorably cute. The letter comes from a fellow blogger who also loves mail. I am more than happy to link you to her blog, but first I want to make sure it's all right with her before doing so.

Notice that it comes from South Carolina. I love the south.

So cute. I wish I had a talent for drawing. I really do.

Update:  Here is a link to the sender's blog.

Today's outgoing mail

Hello. I planned on writing this post early this morning but as usual, procrastination took hold of me. I'm sure some of you can relate to that. Ha ha.  Well, here's the mail I sent out today. One Postcrossing and one pen pal letter.

This image of the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville is headed to Russia.

I write: Dear Olesya, I live in Las VEgas, Nevada but I really love Nashville, Tennessee. Sometimes I can see and hear spirits. I belong to a group where we practice giving each other readings. Wishing you all the best. <3 JarieLyn

A letter on the way to Rachel in Illinois.

It's a hot one here, but I'm not complaining. I feel very fortunate to have the sun shine down upon me.

Have a great evening.

Elvis is in the building!

Good morning all you amazing people in the world. Today is a great day because for once, I woke up early. Normally, I'd just be waking up at this time. (8:45 a.m.) I got out of bed at 6:00 o'clock this morning, bursting with energy. It must be all the juicing I've been doing. Yay. It feels good to be among the normal people who actually have to get up early to go to work. (not that I work, but you know what I mean).

I received a fantastic pen pal letter recently from a wonderful person. She always uses such quality stationery. I hadn't heard from her in awhile so it definitely put a lift in my mood. Check it out.

She also sent me the two postcards you see in the photo as well. But that's not all.

I am a HUGE Elvis Presley fan. 

Some of you may know that I spent my honeymoon in Tennessee specifically to see Graceland.

 It was a dream come true.

So when I saw this inside the envelope too, I was ecstatic.

Elvis was such a goodlooking, sexy, hunk of a man. Oh, sorry. On with the mail.

It looks like a postcard but it's actually an envelope. It is absolutely  amazing and I love it.

Thank you, Rachel. You're a peach, so sweet. I will treasure this for as long as I live.

My dear readers, what are some of your favorite items that you have received from pen pals?

I'm curious to know.

Have a fabulous day my friends. I look forward to your comments.

Empty Inside

Hi Ya'll. It's been a rainy day here in Las Vegas and I am loving it. It's perfect for catching up on blogs, making homemade soup, and watching black and white movies on TV. Oh how sweet it is. I hope you all are having a wonderful day full of things you love.

Awhile back I received a handmade envelope from an unfamiliar person. I was so excited to get it. when I opened the envelope, it was empty. I'm not sure if it was intentional or somehow lost its contents in the mail. (maybe someone meant it to be mail art) Forgive me for not knowing who it's from. If you are reading this blog post and it's from you, can you please let me know if I received it the way you meant or if something is missing. I do love the paper that was used to make the envelope. The return address says it's from Jennifer.

Found!

I know the day is nearly over but I still want to say, Happy Sunday!  Yesterday I was looking for something in the massive pile of junk that I had on my desk and I found two postcrossings that I wrote at the end of March and never sent. Shame on me. I always put the date on my postcards, so now, I will add the mailing date as well so the recipient will know that it didn't really take almost two months to travel. Without further ado, here are the postcards.

The above postcard is goin to China. 

I write: Hello pretty girl. I had the priveledge of traveling to Death Valley last weekend with my camera club. We photographed wild flowers, salt flats, and the badlands at sunset. It was a vrey long day, but a lot of fun. The weathr had been very hot for this time of year. Ihope your world is a sunny one. <3 Many Blessings! <3 JarieLyn

This card is on its way to Italy.

I write: Greetings Agostino! My husband and I traveled to Kentucky last year for our vacation. It is a beautiful state with lots of lush green grass and horse farms. It is quite a contrast to the desert landscape of Las Vegas where I have lived for 16 years. Life is good and I am most grateful for everything I have. <3 Wishing you lots of sunshing. <3 JarieLyn

Pen Pal Letter Out The Door And Postcrossings Out

Good evening gorgeous readers and bloggers. Even though my days are basically the same whether it's a weekday or a workday, I still relish the weekends. It has such a different vibe. I have my camera club tonight and our guest speaker, Parish Kohanim from Atlanta, Georgia will command a full house. I'm looking forward to hearing his story and seeing some of his work.

I feel accomplished that I got one letter written today. I feel so proud of myself.

This is going to a phenomenal pen pal who writes the best letters ever and loves to create art. It's cold where this person currently resides. Hopefully, this colorful letter will bring some warmth to her door. Yeah, you know it's for you even though I'm not putting your name here. I don't know why I'm not but I am.

This postcard is going to Finland.

I write: YOU ARE fabulous! Dear Sirkku, last night's full moon was amazing. I put all of my cyrstals in a bowl and set them outside on a tree branch so that the energy from the moon could charge them up. I left them out there until the next morning. Do something every day that nourishes yoour soul. <3 JarieLyn

This one is going to Czech Republic.

I write: Helo Tereza, warmest greetings from Las Vegas, NV. I used to do a lot of sewing and crafting when I lived in California. I once made some roller shades for my living room that turned out really nice, and some curtains for my step-dad's law office. Those were probably my favorite fabric creations to date. Now I mostly do mail art and doodling. It relaxes me. Someday I will teach myself to knit or crochet. Have a wonderful day. :)  <3 JarieLyn

This is traveling to Malaysia.

I write: Hello Kelsie, I live in Las Vegas, Nevada but I thought you might like this card from Florida. Disney World is located in Orlando, Florida, but I've never been there. Wishing you all the best. <3 JarieLyn

This one is traveling to Japan.

I write:  Hello Sakia, I used to love to ride motorcycles when I was younger. We lived out in the boonies and it was my favorite thing to do. My dad and my brother raced motorcycles and we enjoyed going to the races. Keep on riding but be safe. Have fun whatever you do. <3 JarieLyn.

Have an awesome weekend everyone. Hopefully, I get some more mail out this weekend.

More lovely mail in my mailbox

It's a gorgeous day here in Vegas. The weather is perfect, warm with clear skies. I love the different aromas drifting in the air as I'm outside. I just breathe it in and smile and acknowledge how grateful I am to experience such awesomeness. I am also so thankful that I keep getting good mail. Here's the latest incoming correspondence.

A letter from L. R. in Georgia. I've always adored Minnie Mouse. This made me smile. The thing I love about snail mail is the variety of papers that my pen pals choose. It's never boring.

Another lovely postcard from my sister. This one is from Albania. Of course she beat the card back to the states by more than a week.

Look at the cute stamp she used. It's so cute.

This is an official Postcrossing from Germany.

The sender writes: Hello JarieLyn! Best greetings from North Germany with a card from Potsdam where I went last week on holidays. I work in Denmark as a teacher. Best Wishes. Christina.

I have some postcards ready to go out but I haven't photographed or scanned them yet.

I hope you all are having a fabulous day. May you all be blessed with the perfect for your area.

Until next time...........

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.

Clearly, not the norm

Hello my lovely peeps. I've been in such a creative mood lately. Every day I wake up and I want to create art. The only downside to that is that I can't really draw details or paint details. (well, sometimes I do okay) But I keep slapping some watercolors on some pages because I love how the colors look. It makes me feel cheerful. I never know what it is that I want to do but I feel guided to just create. And so I do. I don't have an art journal per se' but when I'm creating it feels like I'm making a visual piece for a journal.  The other day I was creating and I decided I would write a pen pal letter on my pages and send it in a clear postcard sleeve. This is clearly stepping outside of my normal box.  But, I wanted to make my letter stand out, be different, and at the same time spread some colorful cheer across the country for the postal workers and for my dear friend to whom it's written.

The computer screen does not show how colorful this really is.  The only disadvantage to sending a letter this way is that if you use vintage stamps like I did, they don't stick very well to the plastic. I had to secure the edges with packing tape, leaving the body of the stamp alone so that the post office can postmark the stamps. And of course, you know that everyone who sees this envelope during its journey will try to read what it says. So, if you're a private person or you have some juicy secret to share, than I suggest leaving that for the middle pages so no one can intrude upon your privacy.  Of course, you could always cover up the writing with stickers and washi tape.

On the last piece of painted paper I wrote a couple of quotes. This is the back of the envelope. You know, it still makes it fun, but again, I'm not revealing any secrets to the universe. Yeah, the good stuff is in between. Don't you wish you could read it all?  

So make some art, write a letter on it and send it in a clear envelope so you can share your creation with the postal workers.  I used a 5 x 7 postcard sleeve for the envelope.

Have a fun and creative day!

Incoming Postcards and a Letter

Hello out there. Who? You! I went to bed fairly early last night and yet I woke up very late. I'm off to a rough start this morning but yesterday's mail was a smile maker.  First, a pen pal letter I received.

 

From my pal Margie.

 

 

This Postcrossing comes from Ukraine.

The sender writes: Spring- a time of love, a new life, the most beautiful flowers. You-JARIELYN R. embody the most wonderful quality of spring: sunny smile, unpredictable spring thunderstorm, tenderness and freshness of the first leaves. Happy spring! greetings from Ukraine. Sveta.

 

Aren't those words the most thoughtful you've ever read on a postcard?  If that doesn't make you smile I don't know what will. It sure made my day. :)

 

 

My guardian angel I mean, a postcrossing from the Netherlands.

The sender writes: Translation text of the front: May the angel of consolation give you power when you are hurt by the loss. (author: Marinus van den Berg)  Dear JarieLyn, I have found a card with an angel for you! I am a writer of children books and a painter as well. I've also made a painting of an angel. You can see it. www.miekevanhooft.nl/schilderijen   Best wishes! Meike

 

I looked at her website and her paintings are very colorful and nice. They kind of have a whimsical feel to them. I like them a lot and wouldn't mind hanging one in my house to remind me to play.

 

 

A Postcrossing from Finland.

The sender doesn't speak English so she only signed her name, Elsa.

 

 

A Postcrossing from the Netherlands.

The sender writes: Hi. Famous Dutch illustration with snow! We had none this winter so far- so I guess we ? have to do it. Greetings from Amsterdam. Happy Postcrossing.

 

I love the scene depicted in the above card. It makes me think of an old black and white movie.

 

 

A Postcrossing from Isle of Man.

The sender writes: Hello JarieLyn- Snail Mail card for you from Isle of Man. Since you live in the desert, I thought I'd send you a card that deals with water! All the best to you, Patrick.

 

This card does look refreshing. And I never knew there was a country called Isle of Man. I love Postcrossing.  The people I get to meet and the little things they share are really special.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Incoming, outgoing, and a cowboy journal

Outgoing Mail:

This Postcrossing is headed to Russia.

I write:

Hello! My postcard may have come from Florida but I'm from Las Vegas, Nevada where it currently feels like springtime.  I love Las Vegas weather except when it's windy. Today I spent my free time browsing ebay looking for postage stamps & vintage postcards. I did not buy anything today, but I've got a few items on my watch list. Since you like to travel I will leave you with this quote. "One's destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things." ~Henry Miller~

Happy travels to you and all the best that life has to offer.  <3 JarieLyn

Incoming Mail:

This is a Postcrossing from Taiwan.

The Sender Writes:

Greetings from Taiwan. Hope you like this card! :) Happy New Year!

A letter from my pal  Rachel.

I just love those stamps she used and the envelope is so cute.

That's it for today's mail but I do have something else to show you.

I scored this cute little journal from an estate sale.

It is brand new, never used.  It is so adorable inside. Here's a peek into a couple of the pages.

Each page has its own little personality. Some of the pages are lined and some are not.  I think its adorable. What do you think?

The Postal Machine Ate My Mail......

Yesterday I went to the post office and checked my mail like I do every day.

I was delighted to find several pieces of mail in my box and when I got out to my car I sat in the parking lot and read my postcards and then started on the two envelopes I received.  

That's when I noticed that one of the envelopes was from the United States Postal Service. 

What's this? I thought.

At first glance it looks like my mail was save completely.

I was happy.

Until I opened it.

I still have hope that the contents are safe even while looking at the mangled envelope.

There were three items inside; A pencil, a mini photo, and this piece of paper that I looked up on Google translator to understand. 

It appears to be a log for expenses of the day.

I know It's not for a swap because I have received all of my swaps.

If the sender wrote me a letter, it is missing from the envelope.

Thank goodness she put a blog address on her envie.

Now I can touch base and let her know that her wonderful surprise was destroyed by the postal service.

:(

Postcrossings:

This lovely card traveled all the way from Ukraine.

The sender writes:

Greetings from Lviv, city of old narrow streets with aroma coffee and chocolate.

Welcome to Lviv :)

I'm planning to visit Las Vegas this year.

Hope my plan comes true :)

This postcard is in your favs, so I hope you will be happy :)

Best wishes, Yura.

Yes, I do really like the postcard.  It's very pretty.

This postcard came from Belarus.

The sender writes:

Hello, my name is [Isseniys]

I live in Minsk-it's a capital of Belarus.

I hope you'll like my card, because I'm really interested in graffiti.

Best wishes.

I think he may have made this card himself from his own artwork.

Not sure, but I do find it interesting.

*******************************

This is from Amber. 

She did a beautiful job on the envelope but the photo does not do it justice.

It's a vellum envelope embellished with what looks like a cutout from a magazine but it's not thin like most magazine pages.  

It's very nice.

All the little white rain drops are drawn by hand.

Inside, were some postcards that she designed.

I love it.

Tucked inside another cute little envelope was this tiny card that measures about 1 3/4" by 2 3/4".

It was such a lovely surprise and very much appreciated.

***********************************************************

Outgoing Mail:

This is going to a pen pal who lives on the East Coast.