Letter A Day v 2.0

Such a huge delay between updates! I have been busy with the start of my final semester, and of course being engrossed by the always fantastic The Walking Dead and now cult hit True Detective.  Sadly for me, the last units I have to complete for my degree are essay based. So many essays. Bah. It is almost the end of semester though, so soon I shall have all the time in the world.. to work full time. I am not sure which option is better. The units are all based on novels still, so I have had the opportunity to read and re-read some pretty amazing books. Handmaids Tale, The Hunger Games, Lolita, American Psycho are just a few.

Now for the actual purpose of this post. On January 1st I decided to try the letter a day challenge.
Annoyingly, I had some personal stuff come up and basically I have restarted the challenge.
I have been noting down who I sent the letters to, but forgot to take photos. Remembered last week  though and today. Yay for mail.

Swear I have a fish brain sometimes. Either way, I had been making brilliant progress, writing every day, not second guessing/self editing everything. Until last Tuesday.
Instead I had to have a few days rest after an idiot decided that the give way sign was entirely optional.
Thankfully I wasn't injured too badly, though the car is a mess.
Now I have the lengthy and frustrating wait to hear back from the insurance company.
There is damage to both sides and the front. So very frustrating. Today I managed to drive a fair distance without much trouble, and dropped kids off to daycare. Got a coffee before leaving to attend work meeting and idiot cab driver cut across double lines to stop at the taxi bay. Argh! I have always heard comments about Canberra drivers being some of the worse, but now I am hyper aware of what they are all doing, it is both frustrating and disappointing that people risk their lives and others just to get somewhere quickly.

I wasn't ready to drive over the long weekend, but I did do plenty of reading and binge watched Naked and Afraid. Camping made all the more unappealing once again.

Now I have a wonderfully fast printer, it is time to print all my form site replies and get cracking on letters for fellow LEP & IGGPPC members. Woo.

Letter Mo and Op Shops

Received my first #LetterMo letter on Friday. Very exciting.
Have sent out quite a few letters and postcards for both #LetterMo and my regular letter writing. Forgot to take photos though. So here is a shot of today's postcards.

First week back at uni has been rather hectic. Lots of planning, time management and of course reading. So much reading. Have only had one tutorial, but we spent the whole 2 hours discussing graffiti and whether it was art or not. Fantastic to be in classes with 3rd year students, no one has been hung over in class etc. Will see how the year goes.

Friday was class free so I happily spent the day doing mail art & of course the rounds of local op shops.  

1. Postcards out for #lettermo
2. Pearl tea of doom
3. Op shop bag of wool. Can't wait for winter
4. New tea cup
5. Catching up on letters
6. Vistaprint order on the way!

Last Week of Holidays

Uni is rapidly approaching and I may in fact be wasting the last days of freedom I have.
January is almost over, and I am almost done with replies. Good thing I am caught up as it is nearly A Month of Letters time. Just discovered this, and am amazed there are so many people out there looking for penpals.

1. Sign up here: Month of Letters
2. I am level 41 on Skyrim, so that is something. Not necessarily something useful. Oh well.
3. Fantastic movie. Made me want to cry. And eat southern food as well!
4. Missed it in the cinema. Ended up watching it twice at home. So good.
5. Uni text I have started reading & 'The Mandarins' by Simone De Beauvoir
6. Catching up on mail with the help of my fav cup of tea.

Mail Call #3

INCOMING

OUTGOING

1. Ballet Mail Art from the extremely talented Sarah

2. Letter from the lovely Nicole
3. Christmas letter from my darling Christine. The letter was lost for a while due to awesome postal system.
4. Owl love from Cheryl
5. Last but not least, letter from fellow Potterhead Rin

Mail

Just a quick post.
Catching up on letters slowly. Having a stupid amount of joint pain at the moment, so that is making everything go slow.
:(

Work & The League

Trapped in dreaded office till end of January.
Then back to freedom. Glorious freedom of weekly writing tasks, bi monthly assignments, and lectures starting from 9:30am. Not sure which is the lesser of two evils.

While the workplace has shut down all out of office emails (normal department rule), I have my trusty iphone to deliver my good news.
And it did! In the form of ....

The League of Extraordinary Penpals

Linky link link: http://www.extraordinarypenpals.com/2013/01/joining-league-of-extraordinary-penpals.html

Sticking to my resoultion re writing each night, though I did crack the shits at my messy writing, so re wrote a weeks worth in a new book. Yes, I am that picky about things.
Nothing much creative due to full time work. Does killing dragons on Skyrim count as creative?

Happy New Year

Happy New Year

Continuing on my resolution to do more creative things, here is an update of the last few days. Nothing like making ice mocha at home with nespresso machine to help with cleaning and sorting.
Not sure what coffee it was, I just go by colour. Kept ice cold most of the day with help from the super awesome Starbucks mug.

On top of this major resolution I made a few extra ones while watching fireworks with husband.

2. Read more and not just uni books *

3. Write more *

4. Healthier lifestyle *

and finally 5. More time with my babies & husband *

* Currently re-reading Of Mice and Men. When a single unit at Uni comprised of 7 different books, there was very little interest in reading anything else. This time last year I finished the complete Hunger Games series in less than 3 days. Have downloaded a few reading apps on phone & of course found more books at the op shops to read (pictures to follow).

*When a writer isn't writing, she should be reading. I have been reading and writing less since I started my writing degree. If it wasn't for uni, I wasn't interested. Letter writing has helped get my hands used to writing, something I worry will be a lost skill for my children. My father & husband have beautiful writing, and I have nice writing if I focus, otherwise it is chicken scrawl of doom. Alarm goes off at 8pm each night to write, but usually I am doing something with or for the kids. Making a rule now to stop and go write at least one line. A lovely woman I am following on Instagram recently purchased a line a day journal. I bought one last year, but never followed through. Am starting this year with a new book (pictures to follow).

* Being trapped either in an office, or racing between classes means I don't eat that well. I often skip breakfast, and lunch, but always make a proper dinner. So I am slowly making changes to my diet. No point in saying no junk food. Seriously I last 3 days before I am going crazy for a coke and cheeseburger. So just little steps. Little steps away from Krispy Kreme.

* Working on planning my days out better so I can have more time with those who are important to me.  

So that is just about it. Hope everyone had a Happy New Year

Mail Art

1.Watercolour mixed in ice cube tray
2. Vintage golden day books
3. Envelopes painted by Miss I & Miss S
4. Golden day envelope
5. Golden day envelope
6. Golden day envelope
7. Golden day envelope
8. Watercolour on old music sheets & Shakespeare pages.
9. Washi tape envelopes
10. Watercolour and ink rainbow envelope
11. Doodles on envelopes
12. Headphones

Bad blogger and penpal

Clearly there are moments that rip through your life, and something as simple as posting on a blog, or being able to write letters becomes impossible.

There is also the underlying fear that the bringer of said moments, could track down your blog and have an insight into what you try to keep private.

I am terribly sorry for the lack of contact. In particular Laura Ly whose recorded letter has been redone twice now, but still not something I am happy with. Still working on it lovely :(

I am hoping that now there is a temporary break from matters that have consumed this house for the last 3 months, I can get some positive things done. 

Even though things have been incredibly difficult lately, there have still been moments of utter joy. Mostly being bought to light by my children, the numerous loving letters I receive, and of course this....

Picture Post