Postcrossing ~ and "A Collection of Postcards" Blog

In August of 2009 I joined a site called Postcrossing ~ the postcard crossing project (postcrossing.com). The idea is simple: "send a postcard and receive a postcard back from a random person somewhere in the world!”.  I thought that this was such a wonderful idea.  It is not like writing a regular pen-pal as I had done in junior high, but still exchanging a little bit of myself and my home with others all over the world.  I love being able to 'cross borders' to share a little bit of ourselves as friends, all without leaving home. By the way, I'm still in contact with two of my junior high pen-pals.  One of them became such a close friend that she was my maid-of-honor in my wedding!

I was eager to sign up (it's free to join!) and start sending out postcards.  So I went out and bought some postcards and stamps, and sent out my first cards the day after my birthday (August 27) to Finland and Switzerland.  Then I soon sent others to Florida, Germany, Canada, and New Zealand.  When the cards you send out reach their destination and are registered by the person receiving them, then your name becomes eligible and someone can send a card to you.  I received my first postcard on September 9, 2009, from Ohio, then another card on September 11 from the Netherlands.  I received a total of eight postcards in September of 2009.  So far I've sent out a total of 45 postcards and have received 33.  


To some this may seem a silly waste of time, but I've learned new things about a lot of places, been able to send personal greetings to 45 people in 16 different countries, and received 33 personally written cards in my mailbox. It's a good feeling!  For me, it's nice because I'm not really a "people person".  I do better with written words than in person, so it's a perfect hobby for me.  

The longer I participate, the more fun it will be to see where I send the next one to, and even more fun to see where mine arrive from!  There are "postcrossers" in a lot of countries.  Sure, I will get a lot more from the US, Germany, China and the Netherlands as these countries have more participants, but I will be delighted if one shows up from Mongolia or Monaco, or perhaps Laos or El Salvador!  I can't wait to see what arrives in my mailbox next...


I've just started a new blog to "show off" my collection of postcards:  

acollectionofpostcards.blogspot.com

Here are just a few of my favorites (if you want to know more, you'll have to read the new blog):

There are many more to come!  

If You Need Directions, Just Call Your Mother...

I am a human search engine for my children (and often for my husband).

It started when we stopped using the actual yellow pages and started using the internet yellow pages. When we started looking up directions on Google Maps, we really got hooked and couldn’t go anywhere new without them.  Now when my children are out and about, and need to find a place, they usually end up calling me and I hear that familiar request: “can you look up directions and/or a phone number for me?”.   Recently I received a request from one daughter who was out with friends for dinner in Colorado Springs for movie times in Denver (which they never ended up going to, by the way).  I even got a call from a friend of my daughter's once, trying to find the location to a conference up in Boulder. Luckily I was home, so I got on the computer and helped her find where she was going!  Just add "search engine" to the list of all the jobs mom's do to come up with a new 21st century job description!

I usually have pretty good idea where I am going most of the time as I am a Denver native, but if I'm looking for some place new, it can be pretty sad.  So much new growth, especially out in Aurora, makes it hard to find places sometimes, then Google comes in very handy!  

 

I do give better directions than this (usually)!