I received one letter today at the post office.  It was nice to have some mail.  I also got the LWA patch I ordered at home.  I just wish I could get my package with my messenger bag today!  It is supposed to be delivered tomorrow and I don't want to wait. :P  It was bad enough that it took almost a week to mail it out.  I don't want to wait another day.  If I would get confirmation that it's at the local UPS, I'd ride over there and pick it up! 

Getting the the patch made me want it more.  I also found another patch that I didn't remember I had.  It's going on the bag too.  Now, I just need to get the bag.  Yes, I'm impatient! :p

Yes.  I decided to make a layout change today.  I think it looks pretty nice.  I'm always wanting to change everything.  I hope to keep this one for a bit.  I like the colorful macaroons.  I wish I could just customize it a bit more.

I had two letters in my mailbox today!  One was from a regular pal, and one was from one that I mailed a letter to last month hoping to be pals.  She wrote back and does want to be pals! Yay!  She is from Spain and her handwriting is so pretty.  I feel bad about how bad my handwriting is.  I'll just have to decorate her envelopes to make up for it! :)  It was cool to have mail today.  I will probably sit down and write letters either tonight or tomorrow.

When I go to Starbucks to write my letters, I've been using an old messenger bag.  I have wanted to get a new messenger bag for ages, so I started looking for one.  I figured it would be my go to bag.  It's also to be my 'pen pal' bag.  I found one in military green on Amazon that I loved.  I almost bought it in Khaki, but I love that military green  color so much, I couldn't resist.  I also ordered three patches while ordering it.  I am going to have a cool bag with iron on patches.  

I got the idea of patches from my membership at the Letter Writer's Alliance. (LWA)  In the membership kit, they send a cute little patch with LWA on it.  I thought it would be cool to put it on a bag.  Then, after finding the perfect bag, I ordered a few more patches.  From Amazon, I ordered a Zombie response team patch, a Starbucks patch, and a patch of Finn and Jake from Adventure Time! :)  I also ordered a larger LWA patch from LWA.  I can't wait to get my bag and patches and plan how I'm going to place them.

I have an old Air Force jacket of my Uncle's that my aunt gave me several years ago.  She was just going to toss it! NO!  I said, I would love to have it.  I may take some of the patches off of it and add it to the bag.  I think that would be cool and it would be a nice tribute to my uncle.  He passed in 2003, two years after his sister, my mother, died.  

I have been thinking if I had anymore patches.  I realized I had one of an Afro Ken.  Afro Ken is a character by San-X out of Japan.  I have several stuffed Afro Kens and a mug with them on it too.  The patch is small, but it's cute so it's going on the bag too.  Now I just need something Blogilates!  I have a cloth 'tag / patch' in my jacket I ordered.  I make carefully take it out of my jacket and add it to the bag.

Yes, I will take lots of pictures of the bag when I get it and when I put all the goodies on it.  I can't wait.  It's pretty big, so it will hold all my pen pal stuff for taking with me.  Also, it will make a great travel bag/overnight bag/goodie bag.  

I love getting letters.  I was so happy when I saw letters in my post office box today.  I received two letters from two different pen pals.  These two are pretty consistent with their replies.  I like that in a pen pal!  I have two other letters besides these that I haven't replied to yet.  I haven't had those long.  I am not about to get behind on my letters.  I try to get the reply written within a week of receiving the letter.  I always mail them out on the next day's walk.

I am hoping to up my envelope game!  I see some really creative ones online and think, my poor old white envelopes are boring!  I want to make some cute envelopes to send out.  I would draw on them, but my drawing skills suck!  I do have stampers and I have some cute stickers, but I would love some really cool envelopes.  I follow Donovan from the Letter Writers Alliance on Insta and she does the nicest looking envelopes!  So very cool.  Speaking of LWA, I have the logo on the right in the sidebar.  You can click on it and go to the site.  I'm a proud member and I love being a part of it.  One of the envelope stickers I use came from them.  They have a section of free downloads for all, but they have an even bigger and cooler section of downloads for members.  The membership fee is very reasonable.  It's only $5 for lifetime membership.  They mail you a membership kit which includes your membership card, a postcard, a note, and a cool LWA patch. I did a post about it when I got it over at Wordpress. If my posts get imported, you can see it here.  

Like I said before, I love getting snail mail and being a part of the snail mail community.  If you have any recommendations for sites for me to check out regarding this, let me know!  I'd appreciate it.  If my description of the LWA sounds good, check them out. You won't be sorry!

Okay, I promised I would tell you about my packet from LWA.  Here is what I got:  

I received my member card, a note, a cool postcard and a patch.  I was quite pleased with the goodies.  I immediately went to the site and logged in and checked out all the awesome downloads that are provided for members.  I found a ton of goodies.  I also signed up for a pen pal.  The LWA is only $5 for a lifetime membership.  So far, it's been well worth it.  Check them out if you are interested: http://letterwriters.org They have a store where you can buy cool stuff.  I want to order some of the stamps (not postal  but stamper stamps)  I like the motto on the postcard.  "You have to send a letter to get a letter." Okay, that is my write up of LWA.  I am a fan and a member. :)

Sucked. I didn't get to go on my usual walk because I had issues at the house.  I had to walk to the dollar store and get a few things to fix that.  I did and then I relaxed a bit and did my workouts.  

I still needed to get my prescription.  That meant a late walk to Kmart.  I headed out and was more than half way there when a friend saw me walking.  He offered to take me after he ran the errands he was on.  I asked if he minded if I continued to walk and he could get me after the errands.  He agreed, so that is what happened.  I was glad, because by the time I left Kmart, it was dark.  The way I go carries me through some places where there is no sidewalk, so I didn't want to do that in the dark! (If you are thinking... hey, she says going to Kmart makes her walk longer!  It does, I didn't go all the way to town and then back across the river and back towards Kmart. I just went straight to Kmart.)

I got home and then walked the house over until I got in my steps for the day.  That pretty much exhausted me and I didn't have time for anything else.  I crashed! Today, I got in my regular walk and that was nice.  I had mail in my PO box which is always a good thing.  I got my member kit from the Letter Writer's Alliance.  So cool! I'll type up a report about that tomorrow. I'm going to fix dinner and then I'm going to get in bed and read the rest of the evening. It's a good night to relax and read while listening to Classical music. ^_^

Yes, I'm posting again today.  I almost didn't and then remembered that I was trying to stay on track.  I got in a good walk today.  It was a little cooler than it's been being, but it was still a lot better than it was!  I stopped at the post office and mailed off two letters and got 0 in my box.  Phooey!  Oh well, maybe tomorrow.

I came home and did four of the workouts, ate lunch, and did one more.  I didn't get to drive my car today.  My front tire was totally flat.  The friend that helped me with the other stuff is going to come over and check that out for me.  I'll probably just replace it next month.  It's annoying to only be able to use my car for two days before more issues arise! ~_~;  Oh well, hopefully I can get a tire in March and I'll be back in business.  

I have to pick up my prescription tomorrow.  I guess I'll be walking my longer walk. There are a few places that I really wanted to go too.  I haven't been able to go hang out in Starbucks for ages.  I thought it would be cool to go in there and write pen pal letters and just relax with a latte. As soon as my tire is fixed, I'm going to get out and do some things!

Today, I went to a friend's house to pick up some things they had for me.  I ended up staying for dinner. ^^; Oops.  They had tortellini.  They KNOW I cannot say no to that. :P  I swear they did it on purpose!  Oh well, I will get to my goal weight, and I'm not going to stress over a cheat meal every time I have one!  I eat well 80% of the time, so a few little 'slips' don't hurt!

Did I mention that I joined the Letters Writers Alliance?  I joined last week.  I should be getting my membership information in the mail soon.  I'll let you know about that.  I think it's cool that they send your information snail mail.  They also have a service for matching up pen pals.  Maybe I'll get some more great pals.  I also want to join the League of Extraordinary pen pals.  I'll probably do that next month. Okay, talk to you tomorrow. :)