Mail Call

Keeping the U.S. postal service, particularly in South Chandler, very busy...
Incoming (over the past couple of weeks):Look at the Mail Art! Octo-Queen Mum on the left, a 3-D envelope from England, and an original art postcard with Queen Elizabeth!My postcrossing account says that I would love to receive purple or lavender postcards. Ask and ye shall receive!Here are stamps from Japan (note that some are purple!) and a Hello Kitty!
Beautiful stamps from Russia:
Always awesome stamps from Finland. The middle stamp is a "Moomin," a very popular cartoon art character.
I took a picture of (and then somehow lost) my outgoing mail pile, which was a book, a small parcel to Japan, thank you card for a work colleague, numerous postcrossing postcards, letter to my Great Aunt and letter to my friends in Colorado. It was quite a huge pile of outgoing. Check your mailbox because something may be coming your way!

Monday Cuteday

During my daily blog reading, I stumbled upon a website of a brilliant artist in New Zealand. I looked at all of her illustrations and they made me smile! I think you will enjoy the ones I am posting here, from:

www.nutandbee.com

Candysaurus and Crustaceanpost are my favorites!

Sweet Fruits of Summer

Ahh, there's nothing like eating ripe summer fruit on a hot Arizona day! I made a delicious fruit salad today and included the following:

Apricots
Gala Apples
Kiwi
Nectarines
Peaches
Plums
Raspberries
Topped with some Rainier and Bing cherries!

I drizzled some agave nectar on it to add a touch of sweetness. Agave nectar is from the blue agave plant in Mexico and is similar to honey, but thinner and sweeter. Here in Arizona, we get so much delicious and seasonal fruit ~ what's not grown locally mostly comes in from Mexico and California. Helps beat the heat since there's no cooking!

Postcrossing

So I've joined this postcard exchange club-of-sorts called POSTCROSSING. The goal of the Postcrossing project is to allow people to receive postcards from all over the world. The main idea is that: if you send a postcard, you will receive at least one back from a random Postcrosser from somewhere in the world. Why? Because there are lots of people (like me) who like to receive real mail. Most people write a profile of what they like and it's fun to try and find a special card that you know they will like, based on their preferences.

http://www.postcrossing.com

My user ID is chandlerguera. Actually I have a second account for my niece, so she can receive postcards, too (ID is Emmalani). Here are a few more of my favorite postcards; some I've sent, some I've received and some I just saw on the website.Here are a couple of postcards that I made! One for someone in Finland who loves frogs and the other for a gal in Brazil that likes jokers.
I've also sent pictures that I've taken, as a postcard. You can put a special sticker on the back so you can write on it, fill out the address and postage, etc. I sent some cemetary postcards to a girl in Puerto Rico who has an interest in that. These pictures were taken in Hawaii.I also sent a picture of Ernesto and I on his motorcycle to a Finnish Postcrosser, since motorcycle postcards are hard to find!
"Gemelas" by artist PeachyCreek:I'm starting to have a lot of postcards on hand to send and it's been great shopping fun to find new and unique postcards, including art cards, Dia de Los Muertos, Black & White, celebrity, and I found vintage motorcycle photo postcards at the Harley Davidson store in San Francisco! This is an interesting and inexpensive hobby and it's nice to get something in the post.

twilight

I can't believe I've jumped on the twilight movie bandwagon! Went to my sister's this evening for girl's movie night and we had a "red" theme going and watched the movie. My niece thinks this is the best book and movie series ever, and I will admit I really liked the movie. Academy awards are doubtful but it was an interesting story.


We incorporated the red theme into our dinner: Ham (OK, I know that's pink), bing cherries, red applesauce, juicy watermelon, cherry-pomegranate drink, red wine for the adults, sugar cookies decorated with blood red icing...and a slice of red velvet cake!

It's interesting for me that the author, Stephenie Meyer, lives in the Phoenix area, and there were a few shots of the city in the movie (i.e., Camelback Mountain). She also made a cameo appearance in the movie, just like one of my favorite directors used to do -- Alfred Hitchcock. So now we eagerly await the next movie, New Moon, which comes out in November.

25 Random Things About Me

From my Facebook page:

1. I am an organized pack rat!

2. I would love to live in another country. Such as England, Wales, Italy, or Canada.

3. I am dying to visit Japan one day.

4. I snore (purportedly).

5. I've had a couple of plastic surgeries.

6. I attended the 62nd Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman walked past me!

7. When I was learning to drive, I almost took out a row of mailboxes on a country road. Just ask my Uncle Kenny!

8. I think I will be married again someday.

9. I woke up one day and realized that I forgot to have kids.

10. I love estate sales, garage sales, and thrift stores.

11. I am not a big fan of dogs.

12. My most recent celebrity sightings were baseball player Luis Gonzalez and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon.

13. I have a fear of the bathroom (lavatory) door flying open when I'm in it on the airplane.

14. My hair and nails grow very fast.

15. I cut my hair short a few years ago and donated it to "Locks of Love."

16. I drive a stick-shift and prefer it to an automatic.

17. I drove a rental car in England and Wales on the opposite side of the road ~ talk about stress!

18. I chewed tobacco (Skoal, Copenhagen) a few times as a kid.

19. Everyone in my family (blood relatives) has blue eyes.

20. My niece and I share the same middle name (Anne).

21. I have never felt more loved and adored in a relationship as I do today, with Ernesto.

22. I do not have any tattoos and currently have no desire to get one.

23. I seem to be getting a lot of gray hair, which is irritating.

24. I have a very bad sense of direction and tend to get lost sometimes. OK, a lot.

25. I dance a lot, but not in public.

Garden in progress!

We have started a garden in the backyard, at the side of the house. My brother-in-law (who lives a couple of miles away) has had a garden for a few years (with success!) so we wanted to try one, too. We don't get full sunlight all day in the planting area, which is important since we're growing in a desert region. The first picture is lettuce, cabbage and cucumber, and the second picture is corn and beans. Nesto put in the watering system and designed the garden.

Here's a picture I found showing the garden that the Obamas have planted at the White House. This is really the year to see if you have a green thumb!

My man is proving to be quite talented ~ he built a patch of brick pavers to set the new BBQ grill on, so it wouldn't take up space on the patio. The pavers came out looking so perfect and professional!


















One last picture to post from the backyard: Our jacaranda tree is in bloom! The tree itself isn't real robust ~ almost lost it a couple of years ago during a frost, but it survived and we have some lovely colorful purple blooms!