I have my postcards...what about you?

I love snail mail. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love sending out postcards and receiving them in return. I also have pen pals all over the world. I say that I only work so I can sustain my postcarding habit.

I belong to three postcard groups and am quite active in two out of the three.

Postcardcafe is a small group (well..relatively compared to a couple of other groups I belong to) of people that exchange cards with each other. Every month we have a special round that you can sign up for and exchange themed postcards. People also post if they have any offers for exchange, it's great too if you are looking for a specific kind of card...usually someone has one! Postcardcafe feels like a close tight knit community of friends, I love sharing postcards with this group of friends.

Postcrossing is a much bigger community with hundreds of thousands of postcard addicts exchanging postcards. It works differently as well. After you sign up you can request up to five addresses to send postcards to. After you send the postcard with the special ID code on it and it is registered by the receiver your name enters a queue and a postcard is sent you by another random user. You never know who is going to send you a card or where it is coming from. I think that is one of the best part.

Both groups make me and my mailbox happy. Even if I am having a bad day I almost always come home to find postcards in my mailbox, it always makes me smile.

Total of postcards sent 29/1000

I have 931 days left to finish the above task!! No problem!!

Happy Musings!!

Nearly a Week

It has been nearly a week since I last posted anything...my job seems to be getting in the way of my blogging and my general craftiness! lol. That being said though, I am loving my job and the people that I work with. I think that it also helps that I brought in rice krispy squares, lol. EVERYONE (including those that weren't in my direct dept) were at my desk looking for snacks on Friday lol.

I have decided which trip I am going to do in October...I just need to figure out which days I am going to be going! This is the trip that I have decided to take. I am BEYOND excited that I will be able to take a holiday this year. I am technically going on my own but I will be part of a tour group. This is the first thing I am truly doing on my own without really knowing the people I am traveling with beforehand. Part of that terrifies me and the other part is screaming for this adventure.

I will have so many stories of this adventure when I return home. I can't wait to write about it all.

I am sick with a cold...and now have to attempt to get some rest.

Happy Musings.

I-T-A-L-Y

Today was my first day of work. I had an amazing time!! Everyone is so nice...and no one's thumb is stuck up their ass...(like at my last job)...or at least from what I have seen and I have met the team a couple of times before. I am given two weeks holidays this year, which I think is totally amazing since you normally don't get holidays until after you have worked for the company for a year.

So if you haven't guessed where I am taking my holiday...I've decided that this year I am going to Italy for two weeks on a Trafalgar tour! With my fibromyalgia I have decided to do a tour instead of doing a trip on my own...plus this way it is less stressful and I leave all the planning to someone else.

I just have to decide if I want to go for 11 days or if I should for 14 days. The 14 day tour has a day trip to Switzerland and the 11 day tour only goes to Italy.

Tough decisions right? I have set up hyperlinks to both the tours I am looking at.

11 day tour

14 day tour

Both the tours go to Verona and stop at Juliet's Balcony. Not only is it the balcony from Shakespeare's famous play but it is also the setting in the movie "Letters to Juliet".

I have to say that I love the play (even though it is a tragedy) and I am absolutely in love with the movie. How could I go to Italy and not visit one of the most inspiring places of love?


Once I have decided on the date of when I am leaving my countdown will begin. I am terrible about that...but I know it will. It happened on my last two trips to Europe, so be prepared for a constant update on that front!!

Happy Musings!!

Dangerous to Know

This is the fourth book that I have read in my goal to read 101 novels in 1000 days. It shouldn't be difficult...but I get easily distracted by my crafts, or my postcards, or guides....or geocaching...OMG!! Can we say ADHD Manda??? Want to go for a bike ride??

Read "Tears of Pearl" before you read Dangerous to know...it picks up very close to the ending of Tears of Pearl. I wasn't paying attention and picked up Dangerous to Know before the other one. I wasn't sure that I wanted to to read the previous book...but since I own it, I know I eventually will.

I am still undecided about how I feel about this book to be honest. I had the murderer down to two suspects by the middle of the book although I have to admit that I had it wrong until the 'ah-ha' moment.

I cried when I read this book, with everything that Emily went through all I wanted to do was give her a hug. I have felt the way she did...to an extent. I am as emotional as her at times...I wear my heart on my sleeve. If someone doesn't like me I take it personally and I try and figure out why (after I have had my pout).

This book takes place in Normandy in 1892 at her new mother-in-law's house. A young woman is killed and Emily is the one that finds the body. Her new husband, Colin, doesn't want her to help him with the investigation as she had done with previous cases because of what she had recently suffered. She takes great offense to this because they had agreed that if she were to marry Colin she would keep her independence.

I feel like I can relate to Emily on some level. I may not be a rich woman or a detective but her stubbornness and independence I can. I use to be meek and mousy, now I have a new found independence and I am afraid that if I am with someone...if he doesn't understand...that I will lose that again and I don't want to.

Emily found a new sense of self after her first husband was murdered. I found a new sense of self after I left my husband. I wasn't under his thumb anymore. It scared me at first when I left, I moved back home to my parents house and I asked for nearly everything. I asked if it was okay if I ate something...or if I went out with one of my girlfriends. There are times when I still catch myself asking if I can have a can a pop or an apple.

Now...I like the new me...someone that answers to no one but herself. Some people haven't liked the change and I have had to stop talking to them...while other people like Andy has embraced the new me and has told me how proud he is of me. My parents have noticed the change too and when I get overly emotional or I get really quiet they suggest that I go back to see my counselor. They are proud of me too, they are proud that I was able to leave the situation I was in. I thank every single person that is proud of me.

Most important...I am proud of me.

I like how Emily stands up for what she believes in and how she always holds her head up high even when those around her don't think that she has done the right thing. She truly is my new favourite character.

My 101 things in 1000 days Project

I was terrible and lost track of how many postcards I had sent out...my original goal was to send out 750 postcards but I have now bumped it up to 1000. Am I crazy? Quite possibly...but I have 944 days to send out 1000 postcards and I am sure that I can handle it!

I have also completed another task without even realising that I had it on my list...DUH!! I didn't think that I had put it on my list, I had put 'get a job' on that list. I had a job, it wasn't very consistent...I was temping but now I have a real job and I can't wait to get going on it! And now that I have this job I can start putting $100 aside for every challenge that I have completed.

Do you realise that I will have $10,100 in my savings when I have completed all the items on my list? Perhaps I will use it to take a fantastic trip somewhere...somewhere I probably would never go...Perhaps I will to South America and snorkel with the penguins...A girl can dream right?!? I think I will do that trip next year...

I am going to go through my list over this weekend and see what I can complete before Fall 2013 to make sure that I have that money put aside for the trip. OK, so this my plan. I want this holiday more than anything.

Now that I have gotten slightly off topic...

I have seven items completed:

1. My Crochet Blanket
2. Donate to Kiva
3. Walk in the Rain
4. Go to the Zoo
5. Buy a Zoo Membership
6. Get a Job
7. Go to Dinner by myself

Only 94 more things to go!!

My Blanket

I finished another item on my 101 things in 1001 days. I am making progress on other items as well but I have not kept track as well as I should...I keep forgetting with the postcards (which is really bad!!)

But onto my favourite completion...(even if at the end it was anti-climatic). I finished crocheting my blanket!! When I got to the end it was anti climatic because all I had to do was weave the yarn back into the knots and then it was done...I said 'What??! That's it?!?! Ugh!!'

The first picture is fuzzy (sorry for the quality, it was taken with my phone), but is shows the socks that my mami had knitted me and when she made them she didn't realise how much they would match with the blanket that I was matching. We both thought it was quite hilarious!

This picture when near the end of the blanket, I had six more double rows left and a row of single crochets. I had been doing double crochets my whole blanket (except the first two rows to start it) I had completely forgot how to do single crochets. Mami had to show me how to do them.

I finished the blanket while I was watching The Oscars. Speaking of which...I bought the DVD The Help...must watch that tomorrow lol!!

I have four more items on my UFO list at the moment but I am unsure which one to work on...although I believe that the last four are all on my 100 things list...and if not...they should be!! I will have to look at that more later. Perhaps while I am more awake? I am itching to do something crafty again...between geocaching, me being crafty and my postcards...oh!! Not to mention my blogging I wonder how I find time to breathe some days!

I love my blanket! I am always using it...if I am cuddled on the couch or if I am sleeping in my bed it is with me. I suppose you could say that it is a security blanket of sorts!! I don't think it's a bad thing though, it is good to have something that brings you comfort...I just won't take it out of the house like Linus does from Charlie Brown...or suck my thumb :P

Happy Musings...