So I've seen other bloggers run contests...and I thought maybe I'd do the same....why not?
Here we go. As you may or may not, I am a big writer. As in, among other things, letters. I love writing letters and sending love notes to people far away from me in DC (ha, I rhymed!). I love coming home and finding something special in my mailbox. It makes the day brighter, I really do think. I spend a lot at Hallmark and I have a lot of stationary. A lot. A lot a lot a lot, like a whole lot. I don't have room to store it all.
So this is where you come in. Do you like mail? Really, who doesn't? This drawing will have two parts. You can enter one, or both, if you like, but there will be two winners. One will be a random drawing. One will not. For the second, I want you to tell me the best thing you ever received in the mail. It can be a love note from an ex (or current!) significant other. It can be a letter from a penpal or a long lost friend. It can be a surprise package or something totally adorable that you ordered from etsy (post pics!). In that one, I will pick my favorite story as the winner.
The prize? Some stationary and notecards! I'll send out a large assortment of fun stationary. It might be a few cards from Hallmark, Papyrus or elsewhere. You'll also get random pieces of stationary and fun envelopes and maybe even some stickers and other random surprises.
The contest will end a week from today- Sunday, 23 November at midnight (eastern time). I'll pick the winners Monday and let them know :)
Questions? Ask!
Now, tell me stories!
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14 comments:
I looooved sending letters when I was younger, and at summer camp. I would say the best thing I ever received in the mail was a letter from my ex boyfriend, while he was in Iraq. He knew I was down in the dumps about myself, and he sent me the nicest handwritten letter, full of nice things that he thought about me (even though he was my ex, we're still friends), and filled with compliments and words of praise. Just the thing to make me feel better. :)
What a fantastic contest - I absolutely love stationary.
I went on a 19 day road trip after I graduated from high school and my mom got the addresses of all the places we were staying and sent things along to almost every one of them. Toward the end, we checked into the hotel and I discovered she'd had all my siblings and my dad write me letters too, so I had a whole lovely set of fun cards and notes. Made me ready to go home :)
Best thing I've gotten in the mail...hmm...
The summer before 11th grade I was dating this really horrible guy. It's not that he really did anything deliberately wrong, but he was just a general POS and I was for some reason spending 24/7 with him.
I went basically the whole summer without seeing or speaking to any of my friends until a few weeks before school I got a letter in the mail... It was from one of my good friends who was really concerned about the fact that I had dropped off the face of the earth. Parts of the letter were kind of mean (but honest) and it kind of made me snap out of my own little world.
Moral of the story... I broke up with the asshole and dated the letter writer for about 3 years :-)
I once got a knife in the mail. Not a cute little pocket knife either, a big black switchblade type knife…no note, no return address, nothing.
It turned out that a friend of mine had it in a cargo pocket in his pants when he tried to board a plane. Needless to say, he set of some security alarms and when they took it away he explained that it was sentimental and asked if they could please mail it to the address on the card in his wallet. They found my business card and sent it to me. It was a pretty interesting week until I figured out who it was from.
This friend and I have been exchanging letter for over 10 years to and from three different countries. So, it is ironic that I would tell this story for a contest about letter writing.
My most recent favorite thing to come in the mail: http://ohhowlovely.net/shops/2008/10/15/shop-recommendation-oh-hello-friend/
I lovelovelove getting mail!
This is actually about what I DIDN'T get in the mail...
Do y'all remember when we were little, there would be those little pen pal postcards near the cash register at some stores? You know, they were white and had a blue- and red-striped border? And on them, you could pick a country you wanted a pen pal from, how old you were, and whether you were a boy or a girl. You mailed it off and hoped for the best.
Being the strange child that I was, I picked Pakistan as the country I wanted a pen pal from. I waited and waited and waited but never heard anything from my pen pal. I was pretty sad about it.
To this day, I'm remember NOT receiving that long-awaited letter.
I've had a long affair with the pen and paper. My longest being since I was in the 7th grade. My English teacher had us participate in what was called "The Great American Mail Race." Basically schools sent big packages of letters to the post office and then they sent them to other matching school on the other coast.
My penpal and I are still in contact we did the whole pen and paper thing for 6-7 years then we moved on to e-mail and myspace and phone each other. We still do christmas cards the old school way. Who would have thought that a school project would end up with me having a friendship over half of my life?
The other thing I received recently in the mail is a letter from one of my sponsored little girls from World Vision in Armenia. I am so happy i sponsored.
Oh and last but not least I met LJ's family for the first time last Christmas in the Northwest and now his grandma and I send letters back and forth. Its pretty sweet. I will be seeing them again for Thanksgiving.
Pick me! Pick me!
yay for contests! i always love getting mail. when i was in college in ohio i was having a really bad day once (i don't even remember why now, but it was bad) but lo and behold i had a package waiting for me. it was from my great aunt and was a whole box of my favorite cookies and a check! it was totally unexpected and completely amazing :)
How do we enter the first? :) I love buying gift cards and sending fun letters to people just for fun!
Seriously, nothing beats a hand-written letter. And the mail is just so much fun! I've been in a rut recently where I order things for myself online for the sole purpose of getting mail, but that's just pretty sad.
I love surprise letters the best--letters for no occasion, just to say hi.
I've gotten a lot of good letters, but I think the best one came really recently--it's from my dad, handwritten on blank paper (nothing fancy, my dad), but several pages in length; just to tell me that he's proud of me, and he loves me, and he's so glad he's my dad. Things I sort of knew instinctively, sure, but having it all written out is just amazing. I keep that letter by my bed. If the place was burning down, I'd seriously take it first.
Never underestimate the power of saying something, even if it's obvious.
the best thing i got in the mail? A preppy paper swap package i entered - it was full of pink and green paper goodies that my partner had made herself! Absolutely adorable!
When I was a kid, I LOVED The Babysitter's Club by Ann M Martin so much that I wrote a letter to Ann M Martin. A couple of months later, I received a thank you letter from the author herself. I didn't believe it, so I licked the signature to see if it was real or printed. It was totally real because it smudged. So now I have a smudged letter from Ann M Martin!
The best thing I ever received in the mail was a package from my mom after I moved to D.C. after college graduation. After my mom helped me move into my new apartment, we left not knowing the next time we'd be able to see each other. The very next day (she had timed it perfectly with a friend back home who overnighted the package) I received a book about mothers and daughers with an inscription from her, a letter that emphasized the goals I set for myself and shared with her before moving, and the best part - numerous letters from my grandmother to my mom that offered all sorts of advice on relationships, careers, friends, and staying in touch. It was so thoughtful and original, that I couldn't help but share with you!
This isn't an exciting story, but in college, my grandparents sent me a letter every single month. They always included a little money to get me through the month, but their letters were the sweetest. I often wrote them back, because I knew how much it meant to them.
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