A Very Belated Happy New Year

Very sorry for the inattentiveness... but I hope that everyone had a good start to 2010! I mean, I certainly did ...

...mostly because it began with a BANG in NYC! I seem to be there a lot these days, and let's be truthful... I love it. I really used to think that New York was only second best to London, but I am starting to realise they are not competing with one another--they are just beautifully, wonderfully different.

Especially when it comes to museums. I adore the British Museum, but the Met is undeniably incredible in its own right. Plus, they both have really good postcards, right?

Well ... there's a brief snippet of my hiatus in New York. I'll keep the cards coming, I promise--especially since there's another big, commercialised card holiday up and coming: Valentine's Day.

Aww.

Got this in the mail before Thanksgiving but I didn't have time to scan it before I went galavanting off to NYC! I think it's very cute. It's from a company called La Familia Green, based in Chicago, and all their cards are made eco-friendly. Very environmentally conscience. ;) They have some very cute cards on their site, you should check it out, and perhaps order a card or two or ten? I don't know about anyone else, but once I get buying cards it's impossible to stop--as I so painfully learned in NYC after 50$ at a card shop in Greenwich Village.

She sent this with the card too, to commemorate our going to New York. It really is a beautiful city. Sigh. Wish I was still there--the winter has set in in Ohio (it was surprisingly, pleasantly warm up until this last week) and there really isn't anything beautiful, not even some delicious tidbits of food, to soften the blow. Sigh.

Oh, well--Christmas is just around the bend and that means Christmas cards. Keep your eyes open for any cute ones.

Happy Hallowe'en

Hallowe'en is wonderful because not only do you get to dress up in crazy costumes (this year I was an ent. Yea, like from Lord of the Rings. It was completely nerdy and AWESOME! Especially since I spent hours sewing the costume, haha) and be whatever you want, you also get to send awesome cards to go along with it!

I bought these cards in England! Why is it that that country has so many wonderful things? Cards, boys, accents, Susan Boyle? Sigh. One day I'll go live there!! :)

Technically not for Hallowe'en but funny all the same. Good old New Yorker cartoons. :) Hope it was a good one for everyone!

My Spiritual Home

I am sorry that of late I have not been spreading the card-love with the infrequency of my posts, but I have a very valid reason: I have been away for a week in England! My mother lives there, so going there (although this sounds very jaded) is nothing really new or special for me, but this time it was different. I brought a friend along, and we went traipsing across the English countryside--including a stop in Oxford. And so it was that I found my spiritual home, or at any rate, my spiritual college. I literally fell in love with the place, and it actually pains me that I don't go to college there. It's so wonderfully historic--J.R.R. Tolkien (I adore Lord of the Rings, this was huge for me) and C.S. Lewis both taught there, Lewis Carroll went to school at Christ Church College--I was drooling as we strolled around the streets, and especially being a history major, I became insanely jealous of everyone who went there. Not to mention that they have the cutest card shops (definitely check out Blackwell's Poster Shop if you go). Heaven, much?

I picked up this postcard. Very touristy, I know, but I still enjoy it--it gives you an idea of how gorgeous the place is. I sent it to a friend in Vermont because I know he would love it too--just the right balance of pretentiousness and history, and still small enough to be sweet and cozy. Also, the students' rooms are absolutely beautiful--some are old and some are new, but they are huge and gorgeous, with big windows and cute little chairs and some even have dining tables!?! Are you jealous yet?

These got from Alice's Shop in Oxford. The real Alice (Alice Liddell) lived in Oxford, she was the daughter of the Dean of Christ Church College! Isn't that so cool? The shop I bought these in is where she used to buy her barley sugar sweets over 140 years ago, but now it's just filled with Alice paraphernalia, which is cool too! ;) I think these are wonderful, and because I am selfish and can't bear to part with them, they now live on my wall with my vast collection of postcards and pictures! I hope this makes you want to go galavant off to Oxford--drop me a line if you do, I will definitely hide in your suitcase!

Isn't life just ...

Just got this in the mail from one of my best friends. Cute, eh? It's from Tall Cow Hand Printed Greetings, something I haven't heard of, but if you check out their website, it's pretty cute (will definitely be spending some money here later. Just got my paycheck!). I love this one. Their cards are really random, yet wonderful--I really feel like people should start sending cards for absolutely no reason at all. It makes it that much better.
This magazine clipping came tucked inside. Again... why am I in Ohio and not galavanting off to all corners of the world? With or without a sexy lover (although with would definitely be a plus)--traveling is vastly superior to hanging around here. I suppose I'll just have to continue to daydreaming and of course, looking for cards, sealed with love. :)

I wish I was ...

... anywhere but here! I am in Ohio. Yesterday it was 7 degrees celsius--IN SEPTEMBER?!?! Today it was a more bearable 11, but still. It seems a little ridiculous to me, as a native west-coaster and lover of temperate rains and relatively warm winters. And so I find myself dreaming of elsewhere (the romance of Paris, the exoticism of Beijing, the ruggedness of Uluru, the blissfully mild weather of Vancouver, Canada!) on dreary days like this, and naturally, when things get depressingly dark and cold, I go card shopping (is there a happier activity on the planet?). I haven't bought anything new recently (sad, but true) but here I just have some cards I've gotten in the past that make you want to jump up and go somewhere else. Enjoy. And take care to daydream.

Yea, yea, it's a postcard. But it's an awesome postcard that makes you really jealous when you pry it from your mailbox with shivering hands in the dead of winter, wishing desperately to be anywhere else. I mean, as I've said before, England is absolutely awesome--bleary English weather or not, how can you pass up the sheer oldness of it?
Sadly, I have never been to Paris (although I have studied French for 15 years. Crazy, right?). I have been to Estonia (I know, I know, where and what is Estonia?! It's a pretty awesome little country next to Russia. Very cute.) but never to Paris, the city of light! My friend sent me this, and as she has never been either, we vowed to go together one day! Just a little reminder of our wondrous future plans. (Think "We'll always have Paris", Casablanca style. Wouldn't that be just divine at this moment?)

Now, this is ultimate jump-up-and-go-somewhere-awesome card. It's basically saying to you, the minute you open it--where would you like to go? About what city would you prefer to fantasize today? Perhaps you'd like to sail to Stockholm (a lovely Swedish man at the helm, of course), or if that's not to your liking, you could always go indoor skiing in Dubai, or if all else fails, just some good old broadway-ing in New York, New York? Sigh. Too bad I have school. ;)

Wandering thoughts...

I think one of the sweetest things is to have someone send you a postcard--because it means they thought of you, even for a brief moment while they were off having marvelous fun. The messages are always so happy (who doesn't have an awesome time wandering about the globe??), the postage stamps are awesome, and the thought is sincere. So here's to postcards!

From Scripps College, California. Ok, so my friend wasn't on holiday when she sent this (she was at school), but I think it's a cute postcard. I mean, who doesn't want impeccably dressed men from the 50's standing outside their balconies (complete with vines and shuttered windows)? Sigh.
Marstrand, Sweden. Apparently the town is populated with cute blue-eyed, blonde men. I've never been to this particular town in Sweden, but I find this holds true throughout the country, so naturally I was a little bit jealous upon receiving this card. Must make a note to hit up Marstrand next time I'm parusing through Sweden.

Sadly, I don't remember what this place is called. But it is the very tip of England. And apparently it is 12000 miles (or kilometers? Who knows.) from Australia. So I suppose that is pretty cool. In general, England is a pretty cool place, with pretty cool postcards, so I always love getting them! But honestly, who really cares where it came from because what's better than looking your mail box and finding you've got something that travelled miles and miles to be with you?