Keep Me Posted

Wish you were here...

Everybody likes post. I know I do.  Especially unexpected post. Not bills, or junk mail, but proper post.  Just those little notes to cheer people up, make someone's day, tell them good news and let them know they were thinking of you.

Postcards: 30p; Gemstones: 1.50; Labour: 2 hrs; Having someone know you care: Super Safe, Yo

These postcards were something I made when I moved to London to let friends and family know of my new address.  Rather than send the lame "I've moved" pre-prepared notelets you can buy in shops that have no personality whatsoever, I decided to find the cheesiest London postcards in the world and customize them by gluing individual gemstones spelling out "I've moved" instead.

I suppose that yes, it did take longer than just filling in the template of a pre-prepared notelet. But that's not the point. The point is I used my creativity, my hands, and time to make something small but unique to send a message to the people I love.  And to me, that's worth it.

Goodies from afar!

There's someone else who knows the value of post for making people feel special.  Amber from CodeForSomething has recently been on a bit of a travel extravaganza in the Far East.  She wrote a post that touched on a lot of the points that I have above, and ended it with the generous offer of sending a little token something from her travels to anyone that wanted it.

Pamphlet from Barbie Shanghai

I entirely agreed with everything she had to say on the subject, and of course, I was not going to let an opportunity for fun post go to waste!

I emailed Amber to let her know where to send her post to, and waited.  I was really only expecting a postcard, but Amber did so much better than that!

Good luck money

She had sent me lots of small tidbits of her travels: Asian money (I believe this is good luck?) in a red envelope, an explanatory postcard, and a pamphlet from the super massive Barbie store in Shanghai! I thought that was so thoughtful, as when Amber reported on this mecca for brand-lovers everywhere on her blog, I had commented to say that I loved the look of it.  So to include this was super special!

Thank you Amber! And for the rest of you, think about how personalised post makes you feel, and next time you have the opportunity, take some time out to try and help someone feel the same. It'll make someone smile. Promise!

Easter egg-cerpts

"I've nested on a cake... and what?"

I'd recommend you get a nice cup of tea/coffee/insert your own favourite beverage here, before you start reading this.  It's a bumper post of epic proportions. 

I've taken a wee mini break from blogging to fully immerse myself in all that Easter had to offer. As you can see the first thing I did was to make an Easter cake, from my Kitchen Revolution book.  Unfortunately, whilst it looked lovely, the mini-eggs that were supposed to be found throughout the cake, all sunk to the bottom. Boo! But it gave some wayward chicks a home for a few days, so it can't be all bad!

One a penny, two a penny

For Easter weekend, the whole family gathered together at my aunties house.  After an Easter Sunday breakfast of hot cross buns, the Easter Egg Hunt planning begins.

Making tokens of chocolatey affection

After the eggs have all been hidden, the briefing of the troups begins: laying down the ground rules (it was wet, so all indoors; and no pushing, shoving, biting, scratching, eye-gauging or fish-hooking).

Dad = full brief mode; Troups = bemused

After the briefing, the specialist egg-finding equipment is dished out (ok, plastic bowls), and let the finding commence!

Happy happy joy joy

My brother was quick off the mark, scoring four mini eggs in quick succession after a particularly fruitful root around the mantlepiece.

The staircase was less successful

The troups scoured high and low: no ornament or book was left unturned!

Until, finally, success. All tokens (to be exchanged for big boxed eggs) and mini eggs were accounted for.

Later, in the afternoon, sunshine and roast dinners sprung forth:

And then, later, much much later, the best part of Easter, the ceremonial eating of all your Easter eggs as fast as is physically possible without making yourself ill.

And we're all pros at that..

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Hope everybody else had a great Easter weekend!