Time to start afresh...

Hey everyone! I know I have been missing in action. I have been around. As you all know I was gone to Las Vegas when I came back I was in the last two weeks of class and I had finals and papers due so something had to take the background. My blog and letters got behind. I am so sorry and I should be caught up by the end of this week. I am actually writing you all from Florida!! YAY!! I am on my week long vacation. My birthday was this past Sunday and I turned 31. I am feeling some kind of way. Don't get me wrong I thank God for everyday that he gives me here, but I had imagined something so different than where I am at right now. I know everything happens in his time and not ours but I am trying to patiently wait until it does..well enough of the pity party.

How has everyone been??? I absolutly LOVED LAS VEGAS!! I had wrote a blog on it but when I went to publish it somehow it got erased. I was devastated and didn't rewrite it..lol. We stayed at the Tropicana Hotel it was right across from the MGM Grand! Everything was so lovely and I won in all about $1000 dollars! The last night I was there we went to Las Vegas Hilton. It was at the Hilton I won almost $800 dollars. After leaving the Hilton (I was grinning from ear to ear) we went to Bally's to eat dinner. After dinner as we were waiting for one of our friends to use the restroom I put a $20 bill in the slot machine and hit for $236 dollars...YAY! When I say you couldn't tell me anything! You couldn't tell be nothing bout nothing (like my dad says0..lol I came back home with some new friends and a pocket full of money!

Now I'm in Tampa for my vacation from work. This is where I grew up at. It was after high school that I moved to Georgia. I am enjoying my break from work and the hustle and bustle of Atlanta so far. However by the end of the week I am sure I will be ready to get back to my bed! Right now though I'm enjoying mom and grandma! Well you all have a great week! Talk to you soon!

Heidi

VIVA LAS VEGAS!

Happy Mailbox..

Hey everyone!! Happy Monday! Hope all is enjoying your day. I have had a pretty hetic end of October and hectic month of November. The last weekend of October I went out of town to my alma mater for homecoming, then I went out of town this past weekend, and on Thursday I am leaving for VEGAS BABY!!!! I am so excited becuase I have never been anywhere past the state of Louisiana and this is my first plane ride. Please wish me luck! Before leaving I am going to go to the post office and stock up on stamps and postcard stamps. So i can write all of you all or at the very least drop a post card in the mail. I want to do that my first night there. I'm soooo excited.

Let me tell you all my mailbox has been busting at the seams. I have received all the love and then some. So here are some pictures. I had to take them with my cell phone. I have for whatever reason misplaced my camara which hurts my feelings becuase I need it for my trip to Vegas. But here are all the goodies I have gottenI have gotten more than this but I had this mail on me to post. I love the post card that Limner sent me! Then I got a card/letter from a pen pal her name is Heidi too! Then one from Austrailia and Russia! I'm on a ball yall!

If you turn your head sideways you can see all the nice mail I received from Bev!

We were destined to be snail mail buddies. Bev got my name twice in a swap and plus she had already written me! awwwwwww.....

Movin on. This is a card that I got from my pen pal in west sacremento, california. Hands down its the best card I have gotten so far. I absolutly love it and whenever my friends ask me about how pen palling is going I pull out this card and show them and of course all the other lovely mail I have recieved too. You all didn't tell me pen palling was this fun!

Well I am to end here with a big Thank you from my mailbox to yours.! Enjoy your week!

Heidi aka Lolastar

HAT'S OFF TO YOU ALBANY STATE...

Since I usually blog about mail or pen palling. I have decided to not only dedicate this blog to just mail but everything not mail. Give you all an insight into life here in the Big city, NO not New York, But Atlanta,Ga and an insight into my personal life (not to personal) . So here goes: (I preface this as saying I hope NO one takes any offense to this blog, when race is involved you have to really careful.) This blog is dedicated to my alma mater Albany State University

Here in the south WE LOVE FOOTBALL. I am sure this is the case with everyone all across the country but down here in the south, its just something about fall and football that makes everything right with life. If you don't know, now you know, I am black. (not that is matters) I attended a HBCU in Albany, Georgia by the name of Albany State University. For those of you don't know an HBCU is a historically black college university. ASU is located in Albany,Georgia which was one of the key cities in the Civil Rights movement it was here that Martin Luther King went to jail. So as you can already probabaly imagine this city is filled with history, not all good but not all bad either. Albany State had meager beginnings first starting as a bible institue, then it turned into a teacher and agriculture training college, then 1943 became Albany State College, after enrollment started to increase greatly each year it reached University status. 1996 was the year it bacame Albany State University. To all alumni like my grandma who raised me, myself, and others this was a dream come true it was everything I imagined. It was here that I learned my potential. As a matter of fact our motto is POTENTIAL REALIZED (take a moment a reflect on those two words). Attending a historically black school was diffrent. It was momentous. The experience was life changing, it was an experience I will not soon forget. It was where for breakfest they served fish and grits, Sunday dinner consisted of collard greens and chitlins.(your laughing but i'm tellin the truth and if you don't know what chitlins are look it up). This is where I became a proud member of Zeta Phi Beta, Sorority Inc. I graduate December 13th, 2003 with the people who I came to love and look at as family, a united front of talented young african americans who wore their potential as a badge of honor.

Every year is the annual homecoming festivites. This is joyous occasion uniting all classmates young and old. This weekend is homecoming. I wish I could just tuck all my pen pals and those who read my blog into my purse and take you all with me. Since I can't you all will have to settle for pictures which does the event absolutly no justice what so ever. This weekend I will be traveling to the small city in South Georgia to reminesce on all the good times. This time of year is to BEAUTIFUL for words to even describe it. I have been excited all week. Mentally i'm already there unfortunatly my body is physically still in Atlanta. This time tomorrow I will gas up the little toot boot (my nickname for my car) put the dog in the back seat and going back to where it all started! I will make sure I take plenty of pictures to show you all.

So I hope you all are planning a happy fun filled weekend. I can't wait to come back and tell all of you all about it.

On to the mail news:

I've had a good mail week I must say. Thanks to all have sent me mail. I'm going off the top of my head so if you sent me a letter and I didn't mention you please forgive me. Bev Sykes Thanks for all three letters we must be destined to be pen pals since you got me two times in both swaps. Kimi..Thanks for the love! Emily from Canada and Melissa thanks for the postcard. I will be sending out all mail that I owe out tomorrow because I doubt I will be doing any writing this weekend! Happy weekend and talk to everyone really soon!

Heidi

Incoming..

Hello Everyone out there in Pen World! Hope everyone is doing well. I am doing good. I didn't have the best day on Monday, however when I made it to the post office to check my mailbox I had two letters and a post card!!! YAY! I did want to post pictures of my incoming mail becuase I got two or three letters friday too, but I left the camara in the car and I can't muster up the strength to go out there and get it! Plus...I have a winner of Heidi's fall/survival pack :-) its Chrissy over at VaGirl. Now if your wondering how I got VaGirl I used a random name picker on classtools.net. I hope you enjoy your gift!

Rollcall:
Between last week and today I have received letters from
Bev (YAY!) your one of my pen pal heros!
a postcard from Sissy (YAY) wish you would have left your address so that I atleast could send you a thank you card, however none the less Thank you
Lisa from Texas!! (YAY),
Heidi from Indiana, we have the same name so you already know she is da bomb.com!! Courtney from down under in Australia!! Thanks for writing!!! YAY!!!

Tomorrow is a big mail day for me I will be mailing out lots of letters and fall cheer.
Atlanta is actually getting a cold front coming thru which is really nice. I bet its not like the seasons that most of you all see but living here in the south any cool weather is welcomed. Hope you all enjoy the rest of the week and keep writing!

Heidi

Top 5

Its Sunday, time to relax, sip on a glass of wine, and "wine" down from the weekend! For me it was a rather busy weekend. Took the dog to the groomer, had sorority meeting, then went to a high school football game. Came home and decided to get mail ready to go out for Monday! So all in all a very productive weekend. What about you guys?

So since Halloween is here and I want to spice up my blog just a tad bit, and talk about something else other than mail. I have decided to give you..wait for it.....TADA!!!!!

HEIDI'S ALL TIME SCARY MOVIE TOP 5 LIST!...Now as a child I could watch scary movies in the dark, at home, by myself..but as an adult its sad to say I know longer watch this kind of foolishness...(I'M A SCARDY CAT): So here goes :

5: Amityville Horror
4. The Ring
3.ANY of the Texas Chainsaw Massacers
2.ANY of the SAW's
1. ANY of the Hellraiser series

This titles aren't in any particular order. Hellraiser was the scariest I think. However, Texas Chainsaw Massacers and Saw it just really disturbed me with all of its GORE...ewww.. my stomach turns just thinking about them. Although the ring was disturbing I didnt really understand it alot, i missed the plot. So what are you all's top 5 scary movies??

I will post tomorrow the winner of my little fall package. Thank you for those who left a comment I appreciate it! Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the day, and a even better week!

Heidi

P.S.

Whats was in your mailbox today???

Where's the love...

Hey everyone! Hope everyone had a great weekend as equally a great week last week! My mail week was rather slow no mail for like a whole week then I got a letter last Thursday and Friday! Wheres the love??!!! Thats okay I know it takes sometime. This time next year I will be writing that I have a abundance of mail and can't read it all!

So I hope that everyone is gearing up for the Fall season. Hands down this has to be the best part of the year! I mean who does not love fall. Its not hot outside its just right. Football games, fair and fall festivles. The smell of pumpkin and spice feel the air. You all get where I'm going with this. So in honor of fall I'm going to have a fall giveaway. Just a little box of fall goodies. All you have to do is leave a little comment on my blog and a comment will be chosen at random and you will receive a box of goodies from non other than me! Now I know it will only be a couple of you guys who will probably comment but thats fine. I want to spread the joy of fall! Deadline to enter is October 15th!

You guys have a wonderful happy mail week!!

Heidi

Okay so guess who decided to finally find the Camera and post some pictures.ME!!! I am so excited about the mail that I have gotten and from here on out I promise to make sure I post the pictures of my income and out going mail. This is just some of the mail that I have received since snail mailing.

My list of Pen pals is slowly growing, i'm sure this same time next year I will have so many I will not know what to do with them. In this picture you can hardly see it but its a brown medium size manilla envelope that I received from Becky the Snail mailer. Her package was filled with all kinds of goodies that I LOVED and really appreciate. The Keroppi tote I got from a swap that I did from swap-bot I use it to take my pen pal supplies with me to work.

Hope you enjoy the pictures and thank you very much for all the mail received, and all the mail that we will exchange in the future.

Tomorrow is Mail Rally day across the United States. Most of the rallies begin at 4:00 in the afternoon and ends around 5:30pm. I posted a link so you can check your area and where the rally will be in your neighborhood. http://www.saveamericaspostalservice.org/map-list.html There is alot that can be done to support the mail service. If you can't make it to the rally tomorrow, make sure you keep on writing and encouraging everyone to pick up a pen and some paper and write! Have a good mail week!

Heidi

DID YOU MISS ME..

Hey everyone out there in blog land! Hope everyone is doing splendid this early afternoon. I came to my blog yesterday and I noticed I had not blogged since September 6th. I am so sorry. I have no excuse but pure laziness. Well wait, I have an excuse, I usually come home and I divide my time into facebook, writing letter, and homework. More homework than anything else, but thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I have been getting a steady stream of mail from diffrent ones and I am excited. I most recently got a letters from some well know bloggers. Misty, Rusty, Wolfey, those are the only ones I can think of right now just off the top of my head. I actually was getting Rusty and Wolfey confused. Don't know why but none the less. Thank you to everyone who has wrote me!

I read an article on last week and I saw that the post office is wanting to close more offices and cut service and workers. As an concerned citizen I am asking everyone to get out start mailing more, utilizing the post office more. Not only will we loose something that is apart of American History but people will loose their jobs. Times are too hard to loose jobs. So lets just all continue to mail more, buy more, and lets encourage all of our friends and family to snail mail more.

Well its a cloudy with a chance of rain today here in Atlanta. I will be cozy in my little apartment with the dog. Getting my mail together. Have a great day!

Heidi

BYE BYE 3 DAY WEEKEND...

Well you guys...another 3 day weekend has come and gone. Labor day, usually for alot of us signifies the end of summer, the end of BBQ Season, but if your anything like me and my country family we BBQ year round, and for those of us who work a 3 day weekend!!! yay!!! For me it was a day of relaxation and time to finally catch up on some much needed cleaning, washing, and household chores, and sleep!

But really Labor day was observed in 1882 but did not become and federal holiday until 1892. This day is put aside for labors as myself to celebrate all our achievements, so hats of too you the American Worker :-)

So last week I had a very good postal week. I received a letter from a pen pal in West Sacremento, California, a post crossing post card from Kentucky, and some more things. I am getting the hang of snail mail and I love it. I love the feeling I get when I go to my po box and open it and I have a letter. I want to get my family involved in snail mailing but I am not sure how receptive they are to it. My grandmother loves to mail things, however I want to get everyone involved..so I'm going to work that. Well happy mailings and see you guys at the mail box!

Heidi

THE WEEKEND..

Hey everyone! Hope everyone enjoyed there week and weekend....Monday will soon be here. If you are anything like me, then you need a weekend from the weekend. Thursday I had a really big mail day I had some post cards, A package from THE SNAIL MAILER!!!! YAY!!! THANK YOU!!! And a box from amazon where I ordered some postcards I looked like I was loved and I felt loved. I had the Kool Aid man grin, his grin was big, so just imagine me with that grin.

I spent my weekend trying to get some organization among my mail and all my mail nic nac stuff. If organization is not your forte then pen palling is not for you..lol. I did get a ledger so that I could keep track of what I mail out and receive. Its a nice ledger I found at Office Depot. Its hard back and when I was looking in my closet of junk this weekend I found an address book I had never used. I was excited when I found it. I had the feeling you have when you stick your hands in your pants pocket and find five dollars. I don't know about you but it excites me I feel like I found a million dollars. Tomorrow I will add pictures so you all can get an idea of the mail that I have received! Oh and too my first 7 followers thank you so much for just welcoming me with open arms. I would love to follow you all back on your blogs but I'm kinda confused and can't figure out how, it shouldn't be that hard..lol I will figure it out. Thank you!!! see you all tomorrow

Heidi

HEAR YE HEAR YE...

I GOT MAIL!!!! YAY (THE CROWD GOES WILD)...I am pleased to announce I have gotten some mail! When I received my first post card I was estatic. I felt like I won a million dollars, and it felt great. I called a couple of my friends who knew that I wanted to start pen palling and using snail mail more and was like hey!!!!!!! I GOT mail!!!!!! I know i'm a little silly but seriously I was excited.

So I am sure you are wanting to know who I got mail from..well lets see..my first postcard came from non other than Missive Maven over at http://www.missivemaven.com/ and Misty over at http://pen-thief.blogspot.com/. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, Thank you !!!! Look for a reply sometime by the end of the week. I also have done some swaps mainley a sticker swap and receipe swap..

So I have been having trouble finding post cards. I have visited some novelty stores but just havent found that right batch of post cards. I went online and I ended up buying some. I bought some from Zazzle.com and Amazon.com. I have already received the ones from Zazzle.com. They are pretty nice if I should say so. If anyone know of any other websites that I can order some Post cards from. Please leave in the comment box.

Well since I was away for the weekend..I wonder what I got in my mailbox??? Well you all have a happy mail week and talk to you soon!

Nothing yet...

First let me preface this by saying, you all didn’t tell me mail art, pen palling, swapping, post card swapping, and all that good stuff was expensive. It can really add up. I noticed as I was picking up little do dad stuff, I was like OH MY can be expensive. Well to be completely honest I think it kinds of level out I was just getting everything at once to kinda build up my stationary, art, pen, paper supply. I won’t have to buy anything for a while.

I joined sendsomething.net today and the other day I joined swap-bot.com. This was done in order to increase my pen pal buddies. I haven’t received anything yet. But that’s okay I have hope that someone wants to write me J. I have some going out mail on tomorrow, but after running errands tonight I doubt if I will have the energy to go to the post office. (my post office closes at 12 midnight) So I will just mail them when I go to work in the morning ( I have a full service US postal office at my job). Oh I did send out 2 pieces of mail on Friday morning. I sent something to my Swap-Bot person and a post card to California to my postcrossing person! Sorry I forgot to take a picture. It was really a momentous event for me. So I can’t wait to leave work today and go to my PO box and see if anyone else has sent me anything. My grandmother sent me a letter but it doesn’t count, grandma sent me a “I paid your car insurance, you owe me letter with a grandma loves you at the end, but if you don’t pay me I will drop you note.” Frankly grandma calls me 3 and 4 times a day (really it’s the other way around I call her 3 and 4 times a day) she could have told me over the phone. LOVE MY GRANDMA! Until tomorrow…

Happy Mail day!

Hello...Is any one out there...

This is my very first entry, and to be completely honest I am a little scared. After looking at some other blogs I have come to realize that I must have been under the biggest rock that the world has. Mail art and pen palling and using snail mail has got to be one of the biggest hobbies I have seen. I can hardly wait to get started. I'm super duper excited I have reached out to a couple of people. Maybe they will respond maybe not.I am keeping my fingers crossed. You all will have to probably help me out from time to time giving me the do's and don'ts of mail art and penpalling but I welcome on suggestions, critiques, comments! Look foward to seeing a letter from you in the mail box!

LolaStar