44 + 44 + 4+ 3 + 1 + 1 + 1

I have always liked letters. And who doesn't like mail when it is something interesting? I used to have a penpal in Japan when I was about 12; the post office set up a penpal system to help kids learn about other cultures, so my mom signed me up. I got some awesome paper from my penpal. I think her name was Tomoko.

Anyway, to make things more fun, I've been sending letters to Lesley in England. I've only sent a few, but my main motivation was to send some awesome stamps. I read a lot of design blogs where people send awesome letters with genre-related stamps. Classic envelopes have classic-looking stamps, wedding envelopes have wedding stamps, etc. I decided to get some English-looking stamps, and lots of them. If you visit the USPS website, you'll discover there are a lot of different stamps you can get—not just first-class stamps (and they only charge $1 for shipping, no matter how much you buy!) I got some 1 cent, 3 cent, and 4 cent stamps, which happened to be themed with a Chippendale chair, colorful lamp, and silver pitcher. The 10 cent stamps have a clock face, which isn't exactly English-themed, but they're cool anyway. I think a variety of stamps is more fun than having one single international stamp.

And oh yeah, I made the envelopes too. Years and years ago. It's about time that I used them, eh?

I think my favorite first-class stamps are the King & Queen, a new pattern that just came out. How fitting...