Phase 2 of Wedding Letters: The Thank You Cards

I've been working on Thank You cards in response to the wedding gifts my husband and I have received a few months ago. There has been a few things I realized while I've been working on them that I wish to share with those who aren't quite sure what to do for Thank You cards.

1. Don't rush. You want the person receiving the card to know how much you appreciate them and their gift. Time is one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone. Take time on each card. Don't try to get them done in a short amount of time.
2. Be sincere and honest. My husband and I loved all of our gifts. Occasionally we had duplicates of things, but we were so grateful to have too many than to not have one at all. When thanking the person for their gift, really mean it. Find something you love about every gift and mention it to the person who gave it to you. For example, "I just wanted to say how grateful we are for the colander you gave us! We've love using it for our pasta nights or quickly rising vegetables for a stew. Thank you so much." Don't make up a fake reason why you are thankful for it; it reads falsely, and you want to show your sincere thanks to someone.
3. Thank them for who they are, not just what they gave you. This takes longer, which is why time is valuable. It can be hard to know all of your guests. But call your parents and your in-laws. Ask them for some basic information on those you don't know. Mention your gratitude for their presence in your life, in your spouse's life, in your parents' lives, in your siblings' lives, and why. Thank them for always being cheerful. Or always having an open home. Or guiding you. Or being a wonderful example. Etc. Make it personal. Express your gratitude for them.
4. Handwrite them. It doesn't have to be much. Write three or four sentences. But write them by hand. It expresses more of the time you were willing to give to really thank them for what they gave you.

My favorite part of writing these cards is the response I receive from them. "I wanted to send her a thank you card for the thank you card." You can brighten someone's day if you take the time and opportunity. And that, well, it brightens your own.

Two Lessons for a Writer

My Creative Writing professor gave two parting lessons to those who wish to become published writers.

Write for an hour each day. Thinking about writing isn't writing. Talking about writing isn't writing. Only writing is writing. Schedule a time everyday were you simply write. Block out all distractions. Find a secluded spot and drop your phone in a potted plant on your way there (you can pick it up on the way back). It's best if you go to a spot where it's impossible to have internet access. If your spot does have internet access, turn it off. Be protective of your writing time. Let no one and nothing interfere. Schedule the time. Be protective of it. Be religious about it.

Give yourself permission to write bad. When you have an hour of time sitting in front of your computer, you have to allow yourself to write horribly. Elsewise nothing would be written. You'd think of something to write but you wouldn't write it because it isn't great. You don't like it. But you have to allow yourself to actually write it down. At the end of the hour you may have an hour's worth of junk. You hit the "Control" and "A" keys on your keyboard and then press delete. It just means you'll write better tomorrow. Nothing is perfect the first time. The second time. The third. Give yourself permission to write horrid. You just need to write.

Poetry Meters

I've always had a difficult time with poetry. Not only because I didn't understand what it was supposed to mean and represent, but because I didn't know how to figure out the feet and meters even though I've been taught over and over again. However, I finally got it this past semester.

Trochee    / ˘     as in "ugly"
Iamb         ˘ /     as in "because"
Anapest    ˘ ˘ /   as in "intervene"
Dactyl      / ˘ ˘    as in "butterfly"
Spondee  / /      as in "fast paced"
Pyrrhus   ˘ ˘      as in "at the"

Each of those are a foot. Think of / as the sound DUM and ˘ as the sound da.

Point of View

When analyzing a work of literature, or trying to figure out your own story, it's helpful to ask yourself four questions:

1. Who Speaks?
2. To Whom?
3. In What Form?
4. At What Distance?

Characterization

Characterization is the formation and presentation of a character.

There are two ways an author presents a character: directly or indirectly.

Four methods used for Direct Characterization:

1. Action
2. Appearance
3. Thought
4. Dialogue

Six Word Stories

There's a lot in stories that don't need to be written. An author's most used key is the deletion button.

Writing books is a great goal, but begin perfecting yourself with short stories. Ernest Hemingway's colleagues bet he couldn't write a short story in just six words. He came back the next day with:

For sale: baby shoes, never used.

They paid up. Write your stories and condense everything to it's purest, strongest form. Imagine the process of creating perfume. It takes time to discover just the right combination of concentrated oils. You want to perfect your concentration skills before continuing. If the concentration is not perfected, then nothing you do will make it any better. Practice writing short stories. It's hard to write a good one.

Fictional Time

As a writer you control time.

Time.

You control it.

There are four types of fictional time:

1. Scene
2. Summary
3. Flashback
4. Slow Motion

Ten Rules of Good Writing

Brother Josh Allen is my Creative Writing teacher during my Winter semester at BYU-Idaho. I've learned a lot from him that I want to share with those that  have hopes and aspirations to be a writer. He made a list of Ten Rules he believes will make a story much better. If you have all ten of them, you are definitely on the right track.

1. Good writing is about desire. A character is someone who wants. Only people who want are interesting. People who want nothing mean nothing.
2. Good writing is about trouble. Perfect lives are boring and so are perfect people. The only interesting events that ever come to humanity do so because of trouble and human flaw. Therefore, good literature makes use of antagonists.
3. Good writing is carefully structured. Our work should generally adhere to some version of Conflict → Climax → Resolution.
4. Good writing earns its climaxes. Our stories and poems must "reap what they sow." They must build to a climax, avoid the dreaded dues ex machina, and bestow grace or punishment upon our characters only when doing so is warranted.
5. Good writing doesn't happen to characters – it happens because of characters. Good writing is about transformation, so we should avoid the stagnant. We must end our works either 1) in a new emotional place or 2) in the same emotional place but with greater emotional intensity.
6. Good writing "belongs" to somebody. Our works should be about a specific character and that character's struggles. Everything we include should relate perfectly to that character's development.
7. Good writing presents at least one round character. Preferably, characters will not be revealed through summary but through their speech, appearances, names, gestures, actions, and reactions to others. To make a character round, we can set one of these characteristics against the others.
8. Good writing presents at least one dynamic character. Good writing is about transformation, so we should avoid the stagnant. Also, interesting characters learn. They move from Point A to Point B.
9. Good writing communicates emotion through concerete images, not abstractions. "There are no ideas but in things," said William Carlos Williams. Communicate through the 5 senses that humans used to explore and learn about their world when they were only babies. 
10. Good writing avoids clichés. Cliches are unoriginal and emotionless. Don't use them.

These are basic rules for the beginning writer. When you become better, you can tweak these rules. You could use a cliché just to make fun of it. You could do a lot of things that aren't mentioned in here. But these are good guidelines to get off the ground with.

Uses these rules a basis for critiquing your own and other's work. I've found them to be extremely helpful in my own.

Note: Other posts where I've talk about things I've learned in relation to writing this semester are Two Poems of Mine and Mosiah 11, Alma 30, and Alma 42.

Friendship Basket Investment

I've decided I want to invest in a basket. I want something like a picnic basket or an Easter basket. I'm sure that they actually have official names. But I'm going to call the two different types of baskets picnic or Easter baskets. However, I'd like to have more of a combination of baskets.

Picnic Basket

In my head a picnic basket looks like the picture on the right. Meaning it's deep. It has two handles. It has two lids. Simple.

Though I'd like something more like the Easter basket. Easter baskets are a bit more open and round. Yet, it's not very deep. Usually. I think.

I've wavering between having a basket with a cover or not. If the picnic basket was a bit more round... well. I'd probably choose that kind of basket.

Though you are probably now wondering why I am even considering in investing in a baket of any sort. I've decided I want a basket so I can entitle it my "Friendship Basket." There are a number of things I would do with such a basket.

First, it would have a pretty little cloth in it. Girly-ish of course. Both to cover the bottom as well as to cover the contents of the basket itself. As its contents it would have a copy of The Book of Mormon. Then I could pass it out when I felt like it. I'd have my own copy of the scriptures in there. I'd also have the most recent General Conference issue of the Ensign. Of course, I'd also have the most recent Ensign issue. I'd also like to have a few pens. And a few blank 4x6 index cards, cause then I could use them as cards for whatever purpose. It could also hold cookies, or little loafs of breads, or some other little treat that I could give to others.

Easter Basket

I'd use this basket for when I would go out to visit people, whether people I don't know well just yet or people who I am already fast friends with. Meaning, I'd definitely use it for visiting teaching. And for visiting my own visiting teachers. and my friends. and people I want to get to know. and people who are feeling down. or sick.

When I consider who I want to use this basket for, then came my thoughts of what I could contant in it. Because what is better to give a person and share your love for that person than an expression of said love with some sort of baked good, a note, and some spiritual nourishment! As well as whatever help I could do at the moment I stop by besides a smile.

Which is why I'd call the basket my Friendship Basket. and why I'm considering investing in one. Sadly, not until I get back up to school, because transporting such a basket would be a bit of a hassel. So I have a few more months to consider such an investment. Though I think it'll be worth it.

Writing Letters

"To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart." 

~Phyllis Theroux

Do you ever become excited when you see your name on an envelope with the return address indicating it's from a friend or family member? I know I do. Even if it's just an invitation, announcement, thank you card or the annual Christmas newsletters.

Of course I love the wondrous inventions of the internet with it's e-mail and Facebook. I adore cell phones with the ability to call and text others. I truly revel in instant communication. But there is something about having a letter with my name front and center delivered to my mailbox that just makes you feel special.

To be sent a letter from a family member or friend represents the love they have for you. They took the time to update you on their lives in order to keep you included. They want you to know that they care that you know. They want you to share in the excitement of their lives. They want you to know exactly how much you mean to them.

In today's world, personal letters are no longer all that common. We certainly use it for formal invitations. We use it for graduation announcements, wedding announcements, and even baby announcements. We use it for the sincere Thank You cards and the joyful Happy Birthday cards as well as the heartfelt Get Well cards. The annual Christmas newsletters are always a favorite of mine so I can be included and be aware of all the achievements and growth the family friends realized throughout the year. I love receiving any mail like that.

But personal letters? They've mostly been replaced by e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, texting and phone calls. Which undoubtedly is a fantastical thing I truly love. It allows me to be updated in real time. However, the occasional letter to know that I'm cared for is something I treasure.

There's a trick to receiving this sort of mail. You write others. When you take the time to show others you care by writing them a letter, they are more likely to write back. Or at the very least know you love them. I've been writing different people regularly since the first week of January. In the process, I've discovered I love writing others. It makes me feel so cheerful and happy and I'd totally suggest it to everyone. However, if you really want to write someone that'll write back, write to someone who doesn't really have access to real time information, such as Latter-day Saint Missionaries. They love it.

I've collected such a huge list of people to write that I'm intimated by the list as it's grown. All I have to do it take one person at a time. One person a week, or day or somesuch and before you know it, you're through and recycle back through the list.

Letters. They do special things to people's hearts.

Oreos

Finding the perfect birthday present is one of the most difficult things to do. Honestly. You'd think that even when you are good friends with a person you would know what to get them. But, somehow, you have no idea.
So I ended up just buying my friend Oreos.
Thus, I associated Oreos as a I-had-no-idea-what-else-to-get-you-but-here-are-some-Oreos gift. But she really liked it. Surprise to me. There was then another birthday soon after, and again, I had no idea what to get her. So I ended up just buying Oreos.
Surprise again! She loved them!
I would have never guessed.
My boyfriend, seeing that I was just kinda disappointed in myself for not coming up with anything else, told me that Oreos are, in fact, an excellent gift.
After a few more birthdays in which I gave Oreos, and seeing how much they enjoyed them, I began to believe him. So I thought about it myself and came to the conclusion that if I were to receive Oreos for my birthday, it'd be perfect. :)

Oreos are wonderful!
You can just eat them with milk, make an Oreo shake, an Oreo pie, "mud pudding", Oreo pizza, Oreo cheesecake, Oreo ice cream, etc. There is sooo much that can be done with Oreos.

I've decided that Oreos are going to be my signature birthday gift. So if you have a birthday coming up and you are nearby, be warned, you'll be getting Oreos.

Derby Racing

FHE today was pretty fantastical. Though, I must admit it normally is. However, today is our second to last day of FHE together. It's a sad realization. We've had some great times. Today we raced our Pinewood Derby Car that we made.
We had begun making it last week. Though none of us knew how to make one. See, even though the guys had made one in cub scouts, well, apparently their fathers made it, so they didn't really know how. And we girls had never made one in our lives.
Miraculously though we made one.
And it turned out fabulously:

We ended up coming in 6th out of 12 different cars. We also ended up winning the "Heaviest Lifter" award. Which wasn't quite what we were aiming for (1st, 2nd, 3rd, slowest, OR most likely to be found in a movie). But oh well. It was a lot of fun. To make and to experience.
I love my FHE family and I'm going to be sad when the semester is over and people leave, go home, move, graduate or are in some way no longer in my FHE group. But I'd like to think that they've become some of my really close friends. And I'm grateful for that. :)

Holidays

Today is St. Patrick's Day. Normally, in my family we use food coloring and make everything green: milk, eggs, waffles, pancakes, etc. It's awesome. When I was really young and in elementary school (before No-Child-Left-Behind) we used to make leprechaun traps. The next day at school all of our traps would be set off and treats left behind for us. I loved it! My school also had tiny little green footprints that would be new all over the school. We loved to follow them around to see where the leprechaun went, but he always ended up inside a vent where we couldn't go. 

I love the holidays. Not necessarily only the legal holidays we would be off of school or work, but the fun ones. Like St. Patrick's Day or Valentine's Day. I think that there is just so much that can ben done for each little holiday, especially with children, and to create a tradition for each holiday that just makes you enjoy the day that much more.

Thus, I decided to look up some holidays that I knew or couldn't remember. While reading them I would come up with ideas for each holiday, and I hope you will too!

January

Birthstone: Garnet

Flower: Carnation, Snowdrop

Month of: National Thank You; National Eye Care; National Volunteer Blood Donor; National Book; Apple and Apricots; Arichoke and Asparagus; Bath Safety; Birth Defects; Celebration of Life; International Creativity; National Polka; 

Holidays: New Years; Save the Eagles Day; Amelia Earhart Day; Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Benjamin Franklin's Birthday; 100th Day of School; Inauguration Day; Chinese/Lunar New Year; Tu B'Shevat; Australia Day

February

Birthstone: Amethyst

Flower: Violet

Month of: Black History; American Heart; Chocolate Lover's; National Bird Feeding; Abocado and Banana; Bake for Family Fun; Exotic Vegetables and Star Fruit; National Mend A Broken Heart

Holidays: National Freedom Day; Groundhog Day, Boy Scout Day; Valentine's Day; Presidents' Day; Superbowl Sunday; Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday; Washington's Birthday

March

Birthstone: Aquamarine, Bloodstone

Flower: Jonquil

Month of: National Nutrition; National Women's History; Girl Scout Week (10-16th)

Holidays: Read Across American Day/Dr. Suess Birthday; Mardi Gras/Ash Wednesday; St. Patricks; Daylight Savings; First Day of Spring

April

Birthstone: Diamond

Flower: Sweet Pea, Daisy

Month of: Cancer Control; Alcohol Awareness; Celebrate Diversity; Couple Appreciation; International Guitar; Jazz Appreciation; Keep America Beautiful; Military Child; National Card and Letter Writing; National Garden; National Kite; National Poetry Month

Holidays: All Fool's Day; Passover; Palm Sunday; Good Friday; Easter; Patriots' Day; Arbor Day; Earth Day; Administrative Professionals Day

May

Birthstone: Emerald

Flower: Lily-of-the-Valley, Hawthrone

Month of: Steelmark; National Physical Fitness and Sports; Asian/Pacific American Heritage; Family Wellness; Creative Beginnings; National BBQ; National Bike; National Military Appreciation; National Photo; National Salad; National Smile; Personal History; Tennis; National Family

Holidays: May Day; National Teacher's Day; Cinco de Mayo; Join Hands Day; Mother's Day; Nurses Day; Armed Forces Day; National Maritime Day; Victoria Day; Patriots' Day; Law Day; Loyalty Day; National Day of Prayer; Peace Officers Memorial Day; National Defense Transportation Day; Shavou'ot; Ascension Day; Police Week (week w/ 15th)

June

Birthstone: Pearl

Flower: Rose

Month of: National Rose; National Dairy; Audio Book Appreciation; Caribbean-American Heritage; Great Outdoors; National Camping; 

Holidays: Shavou'ot; World Environment Day; Flag Day; Father's Day; First Day of Summer; St. Baptiste Day; Juneteenth; National Go Barefoot Day; Doughnut Day; Drive-In Movie Day; Raggedy Ann and Andy Day; Family History Day; Fudge Day; World Handshake Day; Descendants Day; 

July

Birthstone: Ruby

Flower: Larkspur, Water Lily

Month of: Air-Conditioning Appreciation; Cell Phone Courtesy; Family Reunion; National Blueberries; National Ice Cream; National Hot Dog; National Wheelchair Beautification; Sandwich Generation; Tour de France

Holidays: Canada Day; Independence Day; Bastille Day; Parents' Day; U.S. Postage Stamp Day; Compliment Your Mirror Day; Chocolate Day; Father-Daughter Take a Walk Together Day; Tell The Truth Day; Teddy Bears' Picnic Day; Embrace Your Geekness Day; National Lollipop Day; Gorgeous Grandma Day; Take Your Houseplan For A Walk Day

August

Birthstone: Jade, Peridot

Flower: Gladiolus

Month of: National Inventor's; What Will Be Your Legacy Month

Holidays: Islamic Ramadan; Friendship Day; Assumption Day; National Aviation Day; Women's Equality Day; Isamic Eid ul-Fitr; Spiderman Day; Watermelon Day; National Chocolate Chip Day; Girlfriends Day; Respect For Parents Day; Purple Heart Day; Sister's Day; Smithsonian Day; S'mores Day; Best Friends Day; Bad Poetry Day

September

Birthstone: Sapphire

Flower: Aster

Month of: National Hispanic Heritage; College Savings; Childhood Cancer Awareness; National Honey; National Piano; One-on-One; Women's Friendship

Holidays: Labor Day; Grandparent's Day, Patriot Day; Stepfamily Day; Constitution Day and Week; International Day of Peace; Native American Day; First Day of Autumn; Gold Star Mother's Day; September 11; Google.com Day; Mayflower Day; Hobbit Day; Love Note Day

October

Birthstone: Opal, Tourmaline

Flower: Calendula

Month of: National Disability Employment Awareness; National Breast Cancer; Apple; Down Syndrome Awareness; National Book; National Chili; National Go On A Field Trip; National Popcorn Poppin'; Stamp Collecting

Holidays: Child Health Day; National Children's Day; Leif Erikson Day; Columbus Day; Canada Thanksgiving; Sweetest Day; National Boss Day; Mother-in-Law Day; United Nations Day; Halloween; National Lace Day; World Teacher's Day; Balloons Around the World Day; National Chess Day

November

Birthstone: Topaz, Citrine

Flower: Chrysanthemum

Month of: Aviation; Good Nutrition; National American Indian Heritage; Banana Pudding Lovers; Family Stories; National Adoption; National Life Writing; National Scholarship

Holidays: All Saints' Day; All Souls' Day; Guy Fawkes Day; Veterans Day; Remembrance Day; Armistice Day; Thanksgiving Day; Islamic New Year; Election Day; Use Your Common Sense Day; Cliché Day; National Girls Day; I Love To Write Day

December

Birthstone: Turquoise

Flower: Narcissus

Month of: National Tie; Rising Star

Holidays: ADIS Awareness Day; Islamic Ashura; Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day; Human Rights Day; Wright Brothers Day; Pan American Aviation Day; Hanukkah; Forefather's Day; First Day of Winter; Christmas Day; Boxing Day; New Year's Eve; National Cookie Day; National Haiku Poetry Day; Tick Tock Day

These are all some holidays, some random and some well known. There are so many others out there... Wouldn't it be great if we could find some things to do for the ones we choose? Incorporate it so that it's a tradition? A memorable one?

Sources: Holidaysmart, Federal Holidays, Brownielocks & The 3 Bears

Missionary Poetry

I've mentioned previously that I don't like most poets; that Billy Collins is my favorite and I enjoy Robert Frost. Yet, now I have another to add to this list of poets I like.
My Young Adult Literature class had required that I have 25 cards on which I had written about 25 different books. The cards were to be 4x6, and I just so happened to pick blank ones. Thus, when finishing the assignment I had 75 4x6 blank indexcards that I had no idea what to do with. They've been sitting on my desk for a few days.
This same class required that I look up and bring a poem to class, and that's when I told all of you about Billy Collins and some of his poems. In the midst of this assignment, as I glanced at 75 huge blank cards, I was impressed with an idea.
Hallmark cards, or any professional cards for that matter, usually have a little poem or thoughtful/humorous message. I thought, Hey! I have 75 huge blank indexcards... I can totally make cards and send them out to my friends on missions!
As a result I googled Missionary Poems. There isn't a lot out there. But I finally did find an excellent source. My Mormon Mission Poems: a Witty Poem a Week for 2 Years. Written by Russell Elkins and first published December 2006, it is the most hilarious thing I've read for awhile. Elkins served his mission in Guatemala and these poems seem to be truly expressing his feelings on the matter. On the copyright page he says:

Feel free to use the poems for anything you see fit, but if you ever claim them as your own or somehow figure out how to make money off of them, I’ll hunt you down and rhyme you to death.

 I haven't bought the book for it's cheap price (though I think it would be worth it), but I was able to download it for free. Thus began my reading of the poems. They seem to give a true sense of a mission.
I found some that I liked and decided to print them onto a few of my huge blank indexcards. After they were printed, I wrote on the other side of the card, put them in an envelope, and mailed them off. I hope they appreciate the gesture.
These are some of the poems I've gotten around to reading:


Canonized Meals
Many just cook us simple things
And that’s more than just fine
‘Cuz many people think like
The 3rd verse of Genesis 9
    The things my comp can stand
    Aren’t all the same as me
    But we don’t talk about it much
    After reading Romans 14:3
Sometimes one of us gets sick
And what he ate is what he blames
There is only one thing to do
And that’s in 5:14 of James
    Sometimes when elders get sick,
    To the bathroom they’ve gotta run
    But God won’t heal who stays in there
    Alma 60:21
If you are not exactly sure
You understand what I mean
It is well explained once again
In Jeremiah 4:19
    There is always an alternative
    When the food does not satisfy
    This is what the scriptures teach us
    In 19:20 of 2 Nephi



Another Food Poem
In the past ya’ll got in the mail
A few of my precious rhymes
About how we eat lunch with members
And how bad it is sometimes
    Elder Lesueur and I developed a plan
    That has risks that aren’t few
    But it’s more than worth the gamble
    Let me tell yous what we do
If the people have a dog
Then that takes care of the fuss
Dogs were put here for a purpose
To help ease the burden on us
    There’s still hope without a dog
    We can still make them think we ate
    We stick what we can fit in our pockets
    And leave the rest on one plate
The next part’s kind of hard
Cuz the cook you’ve gotta trick
The one still with food says he’s full
Cuz lately he’s been sick
    If they start to catch on
    There’s one thing that never hurts
    And that’s to make sure you both
    Have gotten some on your shirts


It’s Not All In the Wrists
Back in the states I didn’t think much
Of the music director up on the stand
Here in Guat the calling is so much more
Than just standing, waving the hand
    Often times members’ voices start to drift
    From the top to the bottom of their vocal range
    The director helps ‘em jump keys in unison
    So that they all sorta make the same key change
It’s the chorister’s decision to decide
Which notes to hold extra and those cut in half
Despite what the congregation wants to sing
Or what the artist wrote on the staff
    The chorister takes all the parts written down
    And decides which parts need fixed
    The chorister won’t do this with every verse
    Just the ones the chorister picks
I hope you realize now the importance
And that ya can’t just use any bum off the street
If ya follow their direction, you’ll be fine
Just don’t watch his hand or you’ll lose beat

Letters

I love technology.

I really do.

The whole instant information, staying in contact with friends, easily converse with people miles or houses away, et cetera, is pretty miraculous.

But there is something to be said about receiving a letter through the mail.

When I was younger, my siblings and I would sit and play in our lawn waiting for the mailman to arrive, as the mailbox for the street was in front of our house. We became really good friends with the different people who'd deliver the mail. It was always great to see people receive mail in their box, even better when I'd see mail enter our box.

It wasn't often that there was a letter addressed to me at 6 years old, but there were the occasional Birthday Invitations or Thank You Cards, and I loved to get them. I was slightly jealous of my parents who'd receive mail all the time. It wasn't until I was older that I discovered their mail was mostly catalogs, bills and advertisements.

Being here in Idaho,

receiving mail from those on their missions,

wedding invitations,

and the occasional package from home,

it causes me to think more about this classic form of communication.

A letter means something.

It represents a friend.

A friend who took the time to write me a letter, typed or handwritten.

It represents that someone cares,

that they wanted to make sure you knew they remember you.

It represents an invitation into their lives and your's into their's.

It means that someone wishes to communicate and took the time to do so.

If receiving a letter means so much,

we should be sure to send a letter ourselves,

even if it is only a few words long.

Fold a piece of paper and stick a photo to the front and ta-dah! you have only the inside to write in, limiting how much you have to write, especially when you have no idea what it is you want to write about.

However, I've discovered that once I start writing to a person, suddenly I have a lot to say. So, I'd also recommend leaving room to write as little or as much as you'd like, but even the mistakes in a letter make it personable.

Letters are pretty amazing.

"To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart."

~Phyllis Theroux

Gettin' Ready

The past 5 nights I've been having some very interesting dreams. Dreams about traveling, making crafts, writing lists, shopping... It's been a busy few nights in my head.

Two of the things I dreamed about were getting recipes and cute magnets for my little whiteboard so I can be "ready" for my next semester in January.

So today I was rather busy.

I began by thinking of ways to make cute magnets with the things I have or have bought throughout the years that I've kept around. Fabric, glass beads, scrapbook paper...

So I had the thought that I'd make myself a flower magnet, and one made of fabric!

On to the wonderful know-it-all machine Google:

"how to make flowers out of jean material"

Haha!!!

Found it!!

And I followed the instructions until the part where they talked about using a button, because I just hot glued it to my glass bead and then the magnet.

I also cut out interesting designs from the scraps of the scrapbook paper and glued it to the magnet and then the bead over it.

This is what I've made today:

I've also gone through my cookbooks and begun the steps of finding my favorite recipes and writing them down on cards for my Recipe Card Collection. My plan is to go through and create menus so I can mix and match and figure out what it is that I'd have to have in order to actually make the food. This way I won't starve and I'd be healthier! and Hopefully, even save some money.

If anyone has some favorite recipes that they'd be willing to share with me, please oh please contact me!

:)

It has been a good day!

Drawings and Thoughts

I love looking up quotes. I love it. Quotes on Life, Love, Friendship, Family, Happiness, Joy, Wisdom, Knowledge, Smiles, etc. I just love it all. Some of my favorite are as follows:

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”

"A laugh is a smile that bursts" ~Mary H. Waldrip

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face" ~Victor Hugo

I was in class today and decided to draw some. :D It was a lot of fun. It just makes me smile. They are rather simple drawings, but they were fun to make and then scan... :D so I hope some of them just kinda make your day and have you smiling.



I don't really know what to call this. A fuzzball? A fluffy? Whatever it is, people like them. I love to draw them.



My Blue Flower.



Luv ya!!



This? I just wished to randomly draw. :D Love the quote too. However, wings are very difficult to draw. But I think I did ok. :)



All about Living. :)



Another Happy Quote!!



I wanted to draw a home with a nice little quote. I like this a lot.



Girl + Boy


So that's really all in the drawing department for the day. But It was nice to do. Wish my mind could come up with actual amazing things as this was just kinda doodling in a somewhat thoughtful manner. But it certainly gets you to think calmly, or in other words, it's a kind of meditation. It's enjoyable.

Drawing can get you to think in a different manner then you perhaps normally do. Even if it is only doodling. Love it.

Variety

I'm sure you know what the definition of a Talent is.

It's a natural aptitude or skill.

Now, what is Variety?

The quality or state of being different or diverse; the absence of uniformity, sameness, or monotony.

Talent Show vs. Variety Show.

Love both. But I just have to say, I like Variety Shows so much better.

I want to have talents for my own list of variety.

Optional Talents:

Cook
Dancer
Juggler
Singer
Writer
Mechanic
Electrician
Painter
Sculptor
Marksman
Carpenter
Gardener
Musician
Singer
Flexibility
Wise
Witty
Smart
Acting

etc...

So let's see. What kind of talents do I have that I can work on, develop, or create? What of you?

"The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul. No matter our talents, education, backgrounds, or abilities, we each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exist before.

Everyone can create. You don’t need money, position, or influence in order to create something of substance or beauty."
~Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Happiness, Your Heritage,” Ensign, Nov 2008, 117–20

Creating something is special. I think that's what talents are mostly about. Creating things. There are so many things to create. And just the option of creating something can become a talent. And so many different varieties.

Bracelets and Necklaces.
Story.
Decoration for a house to make it a home.
Food.
etc.

I mean. There is just so many options to create.

So go out there. and Create.

Someday. I'll take a picture of something I've created. :D