Possible uses for these minicards:
1. Business cards - memorable ones, too
2. Personal cards (for when you meet someone in a bar but don't want them calling you at work)
3. Gift cards, so the lucky recipient knows who that awesome gift is from
4. Use them to announce your new house or new puppy or, well, pretty much anything
5. You could, I don't know... make a Concentration-style game from them? Because they can all be different, but you could make 50 pairs.
Sometimes you want to have a cocktail party to show off your cooking skills, your drink mixing skills, the renovations to your home or maybe just the fact that you actually own a sofa now.
BUT. Then you realize that you hang out with all these random people who don't know each other and probably have nothing in common and will stand around your home with drinks in hand but nothing to say.
Since nobody wants that, get yourself some of these handy conversation starter cocktail napkins, and let the fun begin.
My best friend of 14 years is a lot more mature than I am. She got married, bought a house in the burbs and then she decided to breed. Now that she's ready to pop a little one out it's time for me to send cards, buy baby gifts, make noises that other humans don't make at each other and most importantly be supportive.
To stay on the good side of my overly hormonal friend I'll be sending this wonderful card from Side Pony.
Sure, email and text messaging are great. But the disappearance of thoughtful, handwritten notes is really a tragedy. I know, I know... it's so much easier to send an ecard, but this lovely stationery might just change your mind.
Go ahead: drop a card in the mail to your grandmother. Just remember to use vowels when you write it - Granny doesn't know text speak.
Or take notes on your plot for world domination in one of the cute scalloped-edge notebooks. No one will ever suspect.
I have such a terrible time keeping New Year's resolutions and then end up feeling like such a failure, which makes me depressed and unproductive and then even further off the path of reaching goals and improving myself or whatever. So this year I decided to make it easier on myself. This year I decided to stick with resolutions that wouldn't overwhelm me and set me up for failure and a year of anxiety and feelings of inadequacy. This year I decided to wash my face every night before I go to bed.
It's a good resolution, no? It's manageable and doable and something that will reap good benefits--both visible and invisible ones. And think of how successful I'll feel! Why, I bet my self-esteem will sky-rocket! I'll be ready to take on the world! Next year I might even be ready to tackle a more challenging resolution--like throwing out leftovers before they get smelly!
So, in honor of my awesome resolution, I think I'll get another 2008 calendar--especially since a bunch are on sale now--so that I can mark off every day that I am a success. And what with a 29th day in February this year, that's 366 days of success, people!! So, bring it on, 2008.
Does anyone still send Christmas letters with the year's big personal events and happenings? Mine would go something like this:
"Dear Friends,
2007 year has been a big year for me! I've cleaned up more cat barf than ever before. And those holiday pounds I put on last year? Still here! I didn't make much of a dent in my mountain of student loan and credit card debt, and I think my hair is starting to fall out. The good news is that my boobs are still big and I've managed to avoid getting knocked up. Thanks, birth control!
Anyway, Happy Holidays to you and yours!"
Maybe I'll just buy some pretty cards from Rock Paper Scissors, sign my name and call it a day.
Our friends at Cricket Press are offering a fantastic steal for the holidays - check out this gift set for just $45!
Each set includes a t-shirt, card set, pin set and a fancy additional item of your choosing, and it's all boxed up and shipped to you for the holidays. It's the perfect kind of grab bag gift for that person you can never find the right thing for, or a great set to hang onto if you happen to forget someone on your list.
Not that I've ever done that. Ever. Because I am thoughtful and a very good person.
I really cannot believe it'd the holiday season already. Wasn't it *just* the 4th of July? And where did Labor day go? Did I miss it?
At least if I forgot a holiday this year, I can cover all the bases with this card, that lists them all easily in cute, iconic form.
Which reminds me, I totally forgot to send you a card for Presidents Day. Well, happy Kwanza, anyway.
Every year I mean to send out holiday cards, and every year I get so sidetracked by all the pretty lights and mistletoe and marshmellow snowmen that I never get around to it. And after the holidays I even go so far as to stock up on holiday cards that are 75% off at all the stores so I can save money and have cards when the next holiday season rolls around. But by then, I have no idea what has happened to said 75% off cards and once again, I get sidetracked by the pretty lights and mistletoe and marshmellow snowmen and I never get around to buying new ones.
WELL NO MORE! This year I will start early, I will get cards before I am sidetracked. I will buy pretty cards, like these, and I will write in them and address them and mail them off in record time and everyone will love them! And then they'll say, "Hmm...., who's this Wendy girl?" because it's been so long since they've heard from me, they will have totally forgotten who I am.
When you've lived in a city less than a year, your coffeetable and fridge door become a very cluttered version of this Where I Live notebook. There's scraps of napkins with recommendations for hair salons up the street, a few coupons you got in the mail from the nearest pizza place, a Google map to the nearest Ikea with pinpoints at every bar detailing the way home.
Since that stuff isn't the best kind of new home decoration, just get the notebook.
I mean, really, "Congratulations" is so boring.
So yesterday I was driving home from work on Lake Shore Drive and the sun was bouncing off the lake and everything was pretty and serene when all of a sudden, it was like God flipped a switch, and the sky BAM! turned black just like that, the heavens started pouring, and the wind began lifting enormous trees from their roots in the ground and hurling branches the size of my entire body around in the sky. I'm a pretty bad driver to begin with, one of my windshield wiper blades was broken, as traffic came to a virtual standstill and all of us drivers let out a collective, "WTF?!"
Miracle of Miracles, I made it home ok, dodging not one, not two, but nearly ten fallen trees in the road. When I opened my front door, the cats ran to greet me, relieved to have me back in one piece.
This rain and cat stationery from Mau Studio doesn't really remind me of that, but I still it's pretty cute.
Way back in the early 90's when I was 17, I went on a school trip to Russia. I stayed in a fancy hotel in Moscow for a few days and then I took a rickety train for 8 hours to this small town where I stayed with a host family for another 4 days and they only had running water for about one hour a day and that was in the middle of the night. You know you can't flush the toilet if you have no running water, right? But that's okay--a friend of mine stayed with a family that didn't even have a toilet! Or toilet paper.
But on a more positive note! The Russians we stayed with were some of the kindest people I've ever met and my host family even spent their entire month's food rations to provide a Thanksgiving feast for their American guests that November. So I learned some valuable lessons on that trip:
Just because everyone can't afford a Park Avenue apartment, doesn't mean we all can't have address labels fit for a Park Avenue residence. When I move to New York in the not too distant future, I imagine I'll have to spring for labels that say "City Wendy, c/o Friends' Couches, NY NY." Oh well--at least my bills will get paid in style.
What: Beach BBQ!
When: All Summer long, yo.
Where: At the beach, duh!
Why: Because it's summer. Totally.
Just a friendly reminder that life isn't all doctor appointments and meetings. Get some friendly reminder cards from MelissaHead Designs to pass to your friends with all the details of the fun stuff you're planning this summer. And don't forget to invite me (Especially if you're making maragaritas. Which you totally should.)!
Somehow the Gods smiled on me and I ended up with a bunch of friends who never get married or ever have babies, which not only means lots of late nights, spontaneous parties, and none of that "let me check with the husband" bullshit, but I also don't ever get stuck spending my booze money on blenders, bibs, or other wedding and baby gifts. Woo-hoo!
However, somewhere, some of you out there are perhaps not so lucky, and maybe even it's YOU who is putting the (b)"ummer" in "summer" with your growing baby bumps and weddings and endless calls for gifts.
Luckily, I have two ways you can make it up to your friends: the first way is with these adorable wedding invitations from Anna Bella, because who doesn't like to get a bit of class and sass in her mailbox? The second way should be a no-brainer: open bar.
As a bonus, use code SUMMER20 at checkout through August 30 as often as you want for 20% off anything from the Occasion Collection!!
Today, I identified so much with this adorable painting by Jaime Zollars.
There I was just lounging on a Friday afternoon when all of the sudden I realized I was out of salsa! I fell to my knees just like the girl on the left in this painting and wept to the heavens, "Nooooooo!"
But then a flying fish floated into view and reminded me that I bought a whole new jar of salsa last weekend at Whole Foods and it was just on a higher shelf in the cupboard! I jumped to my feet and held that little flying fish with wonder and thanks, like the girl on the right.
When I have enough salsa, my world is just like a Jaime Zollars painting.
I love that these cards are called "etiquette notes" rather than just "fancy notecards." Because it is in fact good etiquette to send handwritten notes from time to time. For example, thank you notes should be handwritten, and "howdy" notes to your grandma or lonely widowed great-aunt who lives in an assisted-living center and looks forward to correspondences from you to fill her time should be handwritten. And I don't care how cute the singing cat is in the e-card you found for your sister's birthday, if you didn't send a handwritten card, you should be ashamed!!
Then again, if etiquette isn't your thing and you just like being an asshole, these beautiful cards also look great in wood frames and lined on your wall for decoration.
Ribbons are so passé. Forget those clunky, dusty bows and go for something much more simple the next time you wrap a gift. Top off some solid-colored wrapping paper with this awesome lace tape and it will go from looking like something the Unabomber dropped off to something you slaved over for hours.
You can even make up some story about how you dipped the back of real lace in homemade epoxy that's made from lavender petals and yeast extracted from Amish friendship bread, or you can admit it only cost you $10.
You know, some of us just need a little extra reminding, that's all.
I'm obsessed with lists: grocery lists, to-do lists, things-that-bug-me lists, what-I'd-do-if-I-won-the-lottery lists, cool-stuff-to-post-on-Awesome lists...the um, list goes on.
So since I'm constantly thinking of or noticing something that must be listed, it's essential that I always have a pen and a cute little notebook with me, like this one, which I just used the final page of last week writing a list dog-friendly areas on the west coast...in case I ever move out west. Or... get a dog. Hey, a girl's gotta have a hobby--don't hate.
It's true that my Martha Stewart obsession parlays itself into how I clean, cook, and wrap gifts, and that includes feigning for every type of gift wrap featured in MSL and Blueprint like a junkie fresh from the clink.
This intricately designed gift card envelope (!!!) is just the fix I need. I mean, it's a gift card envelope! And it's GORGEOUS! I could wallpaper my entire home with that shit!
But then Martha would come over and I'd be embarrassed, and then she'd tell me that it was ok, she wallpapered her cell with bits of tissue paper she collected and dyed with teabags she bought with money earned from braiding her cell mate's cornrows.
Then I'd be all, Oh yeah, Martha's been TO JAIL! And I'd get her some Coors Light.
Do you have a baby shower or bachelorette party or wedding coming up you don't have any idea what kind of gift to buy? Maybe you're stuck on a birthday or Mother's Day...or maybe Earth Day has you stumped! Well, have I got the perfect solution for you!! Beautiful wrapping paper.
Yeah, beautiful wrapping paper. See, everyone loves a gorgeously wrapped gift, but not everyone likes what's inside it, and since it's nearly impossible to make brides and mother and babies...and earth lovers happy, why don't you just throw a bunch of random shit in a box and wrap it exquisitely. The recipient will be so busy ooh-ing and ah-ing over the outside, she'll hardly notice she's just received some painted river rocks and jogging socks. And anyway, river rocks make awesome Earth Day gifts.
