Etsy love.

So I have been venturing into Etsy!  Well, let me clarify... I have been into Etsy before. I became a member sometime in January '09.  It is quite addicting! :)  I always find oodles of interesting stuff there. I always find myself needing to click on the next page to see what else is there...
But now I have gone from customer to seller. I decided to flip the cards and try to sell some of my artwork on Etsy. I am just putting up a few photos for now. So we shall see how it goes!
If you'd like to stop by shop, please do! -->  http://www.alldayart.etsy.com

On Thank You notes.

Last month I went to San Francisco to visit Shawn; on my flight home I had read a book I borrowed from him - "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch. I was totally engrossed in the book from page one. I read the entire book during the whole flight back to Miami. It is an incredibly touching book and brought tears to my eyes several times.
While nearly every chapter has its own meaning and impact; there is a particular one I wanted to share, "The Lost Art of Thank-You Notes." Here is an excerpt from this chapter:

"Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other. And despite my love of efficiency, I think that thank-you notes are best done the old-fashioned way, with pen and paper." -- Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture.

I think it is a lost art indeed; and I think this makes it more powerful nowadays. In today's digital era, it is sometimes kind of surprising to see colorful envelopes with handwriting in our mailboxes. After reading that chapter, I immediately thought of my friend Christine, and how she has sent me 2 cards in the mail recently. I have many friends who aren't local anymore and receiving cards from them is always so nice! Whether its a Thank You, Happy Birthday, Congrats, etc. When the friend is no longer in the same city as you, it's more usual to receive snail-mail from them. But the reason why Mr. Pausch's statements reminded me of Christine's actions specifically is because she is a local friend! I talk to and see her often. She lives about 15-20 minutes from me. Yet she took the time to send me a sweet Thank-You card after I took care of her dog while she was on a vacation. Then another time I had given her a gift, a couple of days after giving it to her, I found a pretty little card in my mailbox. Despite the fact that I received hugs and emphatic verbal thank yous from Christine in person, she still took the time to hand-write a sweet card. And each time it brought a smile to my face. It just made it all the more appreciative. Add another reason to the list to why I heart that girl and why she's my friend :)

Randy Pausch has a point (among many!) in his book - do not underestimate the power of the written - literally written - word!

Having both.

Even though I've already posted this entry on my other blog (the one my fiance and I share) I like the quote too much so I just simply have to repost on here :)

"I think love can come fairly easily and grow - but really liking the core essence of someone is a much harder thing to bottle. If you have both, you're in pretty good shape." -- actor Eric Bana, on being happily married.

I came across the above quote in today's edition of The Miami Herald; and it struck a chord with me. It reminds me of what people have told me over the years regarding love and relationships; and what I now know to be true. Its that your significant other should also be one of your best friends. There are all kinds of situations. Whether yours is friends first, then lovers second; or starting out as romantic and friendship forming later, one thing is true for all: you need to truly LIKE the person and who they are. I am a lucky woman to have both with Shawn.

(And thanks Eric Bana, for putting it so nicely!)