Mail time...

Incoming...
     Well, I got NOTHING in the mail today- no bills, no samples, no junk and certainly no letters or postcards. However, I did get a few things over the past week that I really enjoyed. Here they are:

     I received my first letter from a new penpal, Jodie, who is from Australia. I'm really excited to get to know her. She sent a beautiful letter, a cute cupcake card that had a recipe on the back, 2 pictures and map of her area. It was really neat to go through the thick envelope and I'm looking forward to asking her about a few places on the map she sent.  Here's a picture. Isn't the cupcake card nice?  Looks like you could eat it right off the page :)

        I also got some postcrossing cards this week. 
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Unfortunately Kristin resent a card for me from Postcrossing and I had just registered her 1st card. (Sorry Kristin :( )  This is the beautiful bamboo bridge over University Pond at Luku Chitou.

 
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The more I see (and taste!) of Finland, the more interest I have in it. I don't think I've ever actually met someone from Finland before. This is Suomi, Finland. It looks very peaceful. This city must have great things to offer because I have numerous postcards of Suomi and all are very different from each other. I like that.

     Speaking of tasting Finland- I tried the cheddar and broccoli soup. The taste was good. It was a little different from the American soups I've had. It is still creamy but maybe not as buttery tasting as the cheddar broccoli soups here. It was a little thinner and tasted more peppery. Overall, it was pretty good.

Outgoing:

     I forgot to post the mail I sent out a few days ago. I sent a few swaps out and a few letters. My pal Kathy from Australia sent me a swapper sheet (I don't know if it has a formal name) and an x-slip. The swapper sheet had numerous items on it that you could send to other swappers- such as stickers, friendship books, postcards, x-slips, surprises, etc. You then cover the names of the people you sent items to with your own address. So, hopefully I will get lots of interesting surprises from this sheet. It is my first time doing this kind of a swap. My packages went to South Africa and Norway.  I also sent a few letters. The items on top of the envelopes are the first friendship books I've ever made.
      A friendship book contains paper inside and is sent from penpal to penpal. Each new person adds their address and can state if they are looking for new pals, swappers, etc. When all of the paper is used, the completed book is then sent to the person who the book was made for. Again, a new thing for me.
     An x-slip is almost like a chain letter. You send something- in this case I had to send "an envelope of goodies"- to the first person on the list. You then take their name off of the slip, move everyone up a number and add your name and address to the bottom. You then pass it on to 10 people. 

     Today seemed to be a "send mail to Germany" day! Jenny, Christina, Melanie- heads up!

     And who could this be for? You?  Don't get too excited, you're going to laugh when you open it!

The 366 project:
Received: 20
Sent: 48
     I'm finally making some progress. I love sitting down and getting all the way through a letter. I feel like I'm getting back into the swing of things. School starts again in September. It's a lot easier for me to write during the summer. Feel free to flood my mailbox. If you don't want a new penpal but want to write a letter, feel free to just write to tell me about the details of your day, something about your city, blogs you like, what makes you unique, tell me about someone/something that inspires you... whatever you'd like. If you want me to write back, I will write you back.  E-mail me with your address if you'd like a letter from me first.