After finding a package of handwritten notes in my garage last year, I decided to make letter writing a New Year's resolution. My mother trained my sister and I in the art of handwritten thank you notes and good penmanship. I knew I had the tools for the task and vowed to write one letter each month.In January, I decided to write an note to my cousin, Michele and her daughter (my goddaughter), Taylor. I was late in sending their Christmas gift so I thought that a funny little note would makeup for the fact that I had relabeled the gift as a Valentine.
I selected a cute little set of cards, cleaned off my desk and opened an ice cold can of Diet Coke. As with pancakes, the first card was more or less a trial run. I quickly discovered that I would need a dictionary. It appears that years of education have been neutralized by spell-check. The second and third cards were tossed out because my letter looked as though one of the dogs had written it. My handwriting seemed to change from sentence to sentence.
Finally, I was successful at filling up the fourth card with a little family gossip and good cheer. I had to shove a separate piece of printer paper in the card to finish a story that, in retrospect, was hilarious only to me. With a feeling of accomplishment, I sealed the letter. The feeling was barely diminished when I later found the stamped envelope in the middle of a keep-away game between Reggie and Layla.
Finally, I was successful at filling up the fourth card with a little family gossip and good cheer. I had to shove a separate piece of printer paper in the card to finish a story that, in retrospect, was hilarious only to me. With a feeling of accomplishment, I sealed the letter. The feeling was barely diminished when I later found the stamped envelope in the middle of a keep-away game between Reggie and Layla.
Encouraged by my success, I ordered personalized stationery from one of my Etsy peeps, Dawn from Lydia & Pugs. The process was great fun. Dawn did a fantastic job of capturing the personalities of my three dogs, finished the picture quickly and sent the notecards with matching envelopes.
It is almost the end of February and I am trying to decide which of my friends or family will receive my next letter using my cool new stationery! My sweet son (whose office is paperless) patiently reminded me that turning into a crazy lady who sends out letters is not all that attractive....oh well : )
