g'day mate

for those of you who know me well i started off my 20's the best way i could have ever imagined...my 20th birthday, i would say many others haven't experienced the same thing but that wouldn't be true seeing as elizabeth, pig, and i were all in australia welcoming twenty with open arms...


some of the best memories of my life were made there and some of my greatest lessons learned as well...finding out who your friends were, discovering just how important talking to your mom daily could be, learning that it may taste good but 5 crumpets a day smothered in nutella will make you fat, what it feels like to live alone & at the same time what it feels like to be seven people deep in a twin size bed in the dead heat of summer without AC, how you can be in the best shape of your life but not all at the same time, learning how passionately some people dislike americans, and just how much we take things [cars especially] for granted.  

forever the australia girls

though we promised no tears at the airport [good until kiki] things were good...once you were past security you can no longer turn around [without getting detained] and the fighting back of tears as the flight attendant pries the cell phone out of your hand saying goodbye to joe one last time was a priceless moment i would soon forget about drifting off into an ambien induced sleep sprawled in between pig & lizzie for the next 13 hours.


probably my greatest lesson learned in australia [or rather rekindled from my girl scout camp days] was the value of a handwritten note...i for one may have been spoiled as a child. every summer throughout elementary school i would arrive at girl scout camp and at the first mail call that very first day my name was always called and a letter covered with stickers was handed to me. my mother never sent me to camp without a note waiting.  that first horrible day in australia after the most dramatic airplane/travel experiences ever, we finally made it after a blown tire and no cell phones to campus. in that mailbox waiting for me as if i had been there ages was my very first letter...no doubt from my amazing mother.

my mother

one of my new favorite coffee table books is one by Margaret Shepherd titled The Art of the Handwritten Note: A Guide to Reclaiming Civilized Communications. this truly is a great book not only to casually read but like Emily Post, a great reference book too.  one of the other women in my life who is constantly writing me is my [paternal] grandmother. she has always written me and more so since i have been in/out of college and been able to appreciate the letters and write her back. she will receive her own copy of The Art of the Handwritten note for Christmas among other things...i can say that because i'm 99% sure she doesn't read blogs yet haha...

my grandmother and me at my bridesmaids luncheon--july 30, 2010

i have a priceless stack of notes handwritten from my grandmothers, mother, sisters, and friends throughout the years which is so fun to frequent and love that they start with my first birthday cards. i can tell those cards from my grandmother though as they rarely come without a sticker on the outside and whether she intends it or not i guess i'll never know but the most special ones always seem to come with a pop-pop honey bee sticker sealing the top flap...


making it through twenties [or life] without an amazing, solid, loving family would be no fun at all.