Sometimes I am late in sending notes of congratulations…but I send them! This one is to my cousin Dianne and her fiancé Jeff.
I made a liner for this envelope and did some embossing on the front of the card.
Dianne and Jeff,
I am long overdue in sending my congratulations on taking this exciting step together. I look forward to seeing you both soon and getting to know Jeff. Enjoy this special time.
Wishing you all the best,
Jason
Posted in Congratulations
Tagged celebrating, DIY, embossing, engagement, family, greeting cards, handmade, handwritten letters, notes, Paper Source, Year of Letters
Several of my letters this year have been about my involvement with Street Sense, a nonprofit here in Washington, DC that gives men and women experiencing homelessness economic opportunities through their media center. It’s a beautiful organization, empowering people and giving them much-needed income through producing and selling a newspaper, photography, film, theater, audio storytelling, blogging, etc.
At the core of this organization is a very small dedicated staff of four. They’re supported by a group of amazing volunteers and board members. I serve as secretary of the board which is led by today’s recipient. Margaret works tirelessly to increase the impact that the organization has on the community.
Tonight she hosted a happy hour for her birthday to raise money and awareness for the organization. We met at Penn Social, surrounded by corn hole, giant connect four, ping pong and other games.
I learned that being president of the board of directors was not Margaret’s only leadership dream in life. When she was in high school she dreamed of being president of the United States. In fact, I’m told that there were even cards made up saying MARGARET 2016!
While it seems another woman is garnering all the attention for the upcoming presidential race, Margaret might just make a run at the 2020 election, or maybe go back and be governor of her home state of West Virginia. Either way, she’s got my vote and my 173rd letter.
Happy Birthday Margaret!
I’m honored to be a part of your special day. Thank you for everything you do for Street Sense. I want you to know how much I appreciate your enthusiasm, optimism and leadership.
You’re a Rock Star!
Reed
Posted in Birthdays
Tagged DC, fundraisers, handwritten letters, Margaret2016, nonprofits, Street Sense, Washington, West Virginia, Year of Letters
wikipedia.com
My beautiful niece Jacqueline rode a Ferris wheel for the first time this last week. Ironically it was on this date in 1893 that the first Ferris wheel premiered at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. I found this out as I came across a letter that was sent from the Exposition.
Designed and constructed by George Washington Gale Ferris, Jr., the wheel measured 264 feet in height and featured 36 cars. Each car accommodated up to 60 people giving it a total capacity of 2,160 people! That’s almost three times the amount of people who can ride the London Eye.
After the Exposition ended, the wheel was transported to St. Louis for the 1904 World’s Fair. And then for reasons unbeknownst to me, they blew the thing up two years later. Weird.
Letter sent from Chicago on Sep. 22, 1893 featuring the Ferris wheel from the Columbian Exposition in blue at top left. stampauctionnetwork.com
The letter was written on official World’s Columbian Exposition stationery. stampauctionnetwork.com
Posted in Sunday Letters, Sunday Notes
Tagged 1893, East Stroudsburg, ferris wheel, handwritten letters, historic, history, old, PA, stationery
You may recall that I stumbled upon Lovely Handwritten Notes, another letter writing project here in DC, a few months ago…I even sent them a letter and they sent me one back.
I had an idea I wanted to share with Korrin, who started Lovely Handwritten Notes. I decided to send her one of my new cards I got courtesy of the good people at 1canoe2.
Korrin,
It was so nice to receive your note and learn that LHN is back up and running. Since we both live in DC and share a passion for handwritten notes, I was thinking thqt we should get together. I started doing some meet-ups where people come together to write their letters – usually an hour or two at a coffee shop on a Saturday morning. I was thinking that we might try to plan one together and unite the DC letter writing community.
What do you think?
-Reed
Posted in Replies
Tagged 1canoe2, corresponding, greeting cards, handwritten letters, lovely handwritten notes, replies, responses, stationery, Year of Letters
Look at what I found in my mailbox today!
I recently went to the National Stationery Show. Yes, there is a convention just about stationery and cards and accessories, etc. It was pretty awesome I have to admit. I went because I’ve decided to launch my own greeting card company (Second Story Cards) that will give men and women experiencing homelessness a revenue stream for their artistic talent. Stay tuned over the coming months to learn more about that!
I didn’t really know what to expect – I mean besides writing a letter every day this year, what do I know about the stationery and greeting card business? The answer is not much. My friend Jami from Day 99 told me that I had to go see one of her favorite card companies: 1canoe2. Well, I did and they were awesome. Everyone on their team was really cool and ridiculously talented. Check out their website.
They learned about my Year of Letters project and decided to send me some of their awesome cards to help me out. So it only seemed appropriate today to send them a thank you.
Kate,
Thank you so much for the thoughtful care package of 1canoe2 cards – you guys are awesome! I really enjoyed meeting your entire team at NSS last month. The cards will definitely come in handy for the Year of Letters project. And on that note, you just became Day 170! Welcome to the club J
Thanks again. I look forward to staying in touch,
Reed