snail mail | kimberly ah

Aug 15 2013

Honor Flight 50

Last Wednesday, Honor Flight Chicago flew its 50th flight of World War II veterans to Washington DC. I’m not sure if the women who founded the Chicago organization in 2008 ever thought it would take off and grow the way it has. Now, over 4,000 World War II Veterans have been honored with a trip to see their memorial in DC and we have many more on our waiting list to fly on future flights. The urgency of our mission is not lost upon any of us…

Most of you know that I’m in charge of collecting and organizing the “Mail Call” surprise on the flight. (If you’re new around here, please feel free to click the link for more details.) We are always looking for extra letters from both kids and adults to fill out the mail packs of Veterans who don’t have family to write mail. If you’re a letter writer or a card maker and you’d like to participate in thanking a veteran, please feel free to send the mail to our new Honor Flight Chicago Mail Call address below. (I used to get the mail sent to my home, but now we have a mailbox at the local UPS store to collect things…I enjoy having a tiny bit less mail clutter around here lately!)

Honor Flight Chicago Mail Call

c/o Kimberly Adami-Hasegawa

159 N Marion St #375

Oak Park, IL 60301-1032

Logo and 50th flight picture courtesy of the Honor Flight Chicago website.

Tagged celebrations, Honor Flight Chicago, snail mail

Aug 13 2013

2 Comments

snail mail, Sweet Tooth, Those Were the Days

Sweet Tooth Part 2

I’ve been on a little bit of a vintage candy kick again lately. It all started with a Twitter conversation with Danielle about ZotZ. About a week later, I had a package full of ZotZ delivered to my mailbox! (Thank you, Danielle!) On the outside, ZotZ look like a regular hard candy. But when you bite into one, there’s a powdery inside made of acids and sodium bicarbonate that react with your saliva and create fizziness. It’s a little bit of a shock at first, but then you grow to anticipate the fizzy fun. ZotZ have been around since 1968, which seems like a long time considering how technologically advanced they are. They are pretty sour and a lot of fun! I’ve been enjoying/hoarding them, choosing a new bubbly flavor to try each day or so.

Recently, Naoto and I were perusing World Market and I bought a couple of candies that I enjoyed as a child. The first, Chick-o-Stick–a long orange stick of candy made from hardened sugar with peanut butter and coconut. I loved these as a kid and I was happy to eat this one up again without the help of Naoto. (He hates coconut.) For those who have never had one, it is kind of like a butter finger, but sweeter and without the chocolate. Chick-o-Sticks have been around since the Great Depression…I love thinking about eating a candy that my great-grandmother may have eaten!

And of course I had to pick up some Fruit Stripe Gum. Fruit Stripe is just as I remembered…super fruity and tasty for about ten seconds, then flat, no flavor. Womp. Womp… But it’s still delicious, and well worth the $1.25 I paid. Fruit Stripe has been around since the 1960s (when apparently no one cared how long the flavor in their gum would last). It really does evoke the best childhood memories…no matter how fleeting.

We are thinking about bringing some vintage American candies to Japan for our omiyage (souvenirs associated with location, as customary in Japan). I only have a few more weeks to collect some good ones for Naoto’s mom and sisters and their families. Can you think of any “must have” American candies we should take?

Tagged food, snail mail

Jul 26 2013

4 Comments

Office Supplies, snail mail

Japanese Care Package

I came home Tuesday to a care package from Naoto’s sister (my sister-in-law), Hisae. Holy cow, was it a good one! Hisae sent Naoto some stuff (the serious looking packages on the left side) and she sent me a ton of Japanese snacks, sweets, some awesome office supplies, a huge bag of Japanese postage stamps and super-soft socks.So far, I’ve only eaten the little peanut candies (in the bag with orange and yellow stripes) and the cheese curl-like snack (behind the peanut candy)…both are really wonderful. The peanuts have a hard candy shell and tiny crumbles of peanut candy inside. Naoto remembers eating them as a kid. The cheese curls have three strong cheeses pictured on the bag (cheddar, bleu and one other), but they were cheesy and sweet…weirdly delicious.

I am most curious to try the actual Cheetos–one is salmon roe & mayonnaise flavor and the other is barbeque sauce flavor. I love when American snacks are made with foreign flavors…I usually find them far more interesting than the American ones. (It could be the novelty though…) Green tea Kit Kats are my favorite (and Hisae sent those along with mango Kit Kats!)

The office supplies deserve their own post next week once I’ve gotten a chance to try them. In the meantime, I think I’m going to try the mango Kit Kat while I clean house this afternoon!

Thanks again, Hisae!

Tagged food, snail mail

Jul 23 2013

1 Comment

snail mail

Postcards from Cath

One of my penpals, Cath, is from the Netherlands. We “met” through the Letter Writers Alliance website when they posted about my volunteer role with Honor Flight Chicago. Cath sent some gorgeous postcards with beautiful notes for the World War II veterans. I was touched by her lovely words and I sent her an email to thank her for writing. We’ve been corresponding with each other ever since, and Cath has continued to write postcards for veterans this year.

Along with regular cards and letters, Cath has been sending a series of postcards about her community of ‘s-Hertogenbosch and specifically an old cathedral–St. John’s Cathedral–in the town square. I’ve loved receiving these little tidbits and a peek into Cath’s hometown. (I’ve never been to Europe so it is fascinating to me that cathedrals and communities have been around for several hundred years. Everything in the US seems so young, comparatively!) On the back of each card, Cath writes a description and a little history for each card. In the picture above, the man with the peas and the angel on the cell phone are both part of the cathedral. The man with the peas is from the 14th century (he has been restored since then). According to Cath, “the story goes his wife had cooked him peas and put them on the stone floor to cool. As he saw them, he got angry and said this was a meal very much beneath his status as a building master.” The cell phone angel was added two years ago, and according to Cath, “you can call [a number] and she gives you information about the cathedral…And her phone only has one push button, for a direct line to heaven.”

I have really enjoyed this postal series from Cath! I love this concept as a way to share communities and favorite places with pen pals.

Thank you, Cath, for the glimpse at your hometown! I placed the whole postcard series in the timecard holder on my desk so I can enjoy the lovely cathedral just a little bit longer.

Tagged mail art, snail mail

Jul 17 2013

4 Comments

snail mail, vintage

Boxes of Brooches

Last week, I came home to a surprise package from Mary (of Tiny Plastic Pig fame). Mary and I have been writing letters for awhile now, and in one of her letters she asked if I wore accessories. I admitted that I rarely wear anything but my wedding ring and, when I do feel like being fancy, I have a collection of vintage brooches that I like to wear. She encouraged me to blog about my brooch collection. (And I will!)

So, what I shock to see a sweet note from Mary saying she was cleaning out her grandmother’s things and thought I would enjoy some of her brooches. Isn’t that the sweetest? And aren’t they beautiful? I especially love the black flower and the big pink iridescent flower. Even though Mary has never seen my collection, it was as if she knew what would complement it perfectly!

Thank you again, Mary! (And, of course, a proper thank you is in the mail!)

Tagged snail mail

Jul 15 2013

1 Comment

Forest Park, Oak Park, home is a 1970s apartment, summer manifesto, thrifted

Saturday on the Balcony

Saturday was the last of a string of perfect summer days–low 80s, no humidity, sunny skies, gentle breeze…

Naoto and I had grand plans for the day, but we ended up lounging around on the balcony enjoying the weather and soaking up the rare gem of a summer day in Chicago. While Naoto caught up on reading the Japanese news (hence the laptop), I watered the plants, caught up on some letter writing and worked on cleaning my thrift store typewriter. It was a nice feeling of lazy productivity. While we were outside, this was happening inside: After lounging all day, it felt good to put on a dress and walk down to Cafe DeLuca for drinks and dinner. They make the best limoncello martini…a perfect drink for summer.Today, when I walked outside and into the thick-as-pea-soup, heavy and hot air, I decided that we made the right choice on how to spend a summer Saturday.

Tagged cocktails, forest park, garden, home, mail art, snail mail, summer

Jul 01 2013

2 Comments

crafty adventures, summer manifesto

#30DOC Week 4

Thirty Days of Creativity is all wrapped up and I’m happy to say I finished, thanks to a little bit of help from July 1st. Even though I was behind pretty often throughout the month, I am convinced that I would have finished on time if we hadn’t been traveling (And if I hadn’t been so unorganized about getting ready to travel. My original intention was to bring some embroidery supplies to work on during the flight and during down time. I didn’t get my supplies together in time, and as it turns out, there was no down time and flying makes me feel too gross to craft on the plane.) I didn’t achieve my original goals of finishing more art projects for our home and stretching myself artistically. I mainly stuck in my comfort zone (mail art, cocktails…) But, I had fun creating…creating for no reason other than the mere enjoyment of it. Here’s a look at my last projects (including a bonus one!)

6/23 Vesper martinis, 6/24 letter set made with resist embossing & a tie-dye technique, 6/25 galaxy (for a future project), 6/26 artwork celebrating the end of DOMA (a joint project with Naoto who did the calligraphy), 6/27 patriotic mail art (completed on 7/1), 6/28 a perfectly packed bag (my packing skills deserve their own blog post) & a mini summer celebration in an envelope (completed on 7/1), 6/29 another patriotic mail art (completed on 7/1) and 6/30 a stack of Boston postcards!!

That’s everything, and one big thing crossed off of my Summer Manifesto. I’ll be back tomorrow to share more of a manifesto update before I talk about Boston. It’s such a beautiful day out today and I’m anxious to see how our garden is growing!!

Tagged cocktails, crafts, diy, mail art, rubber stamp, snail mail, summer, washi tape

Jun 25 2013

3 Comments

crafty adventures, snail mail, summer manifesto

#30DOC Week 3

This week was another “catch-up” week. It’s like I lost all steam. But the end is near, and it would be silly to quit now! I was tempted to count my new tomato as a “creation” but let’s be honest…it did that without much help from me. Besides, it’s bad enough that I’m counting cocktails!

From the top: 6/16 Letherbee gin & tonics (recommended by Kathy & Chicago-made), 6/17 popsicle themed mail (I stayed up super-late writing letters & had so much fun making these!), 6/18 more mail art, 6/19 birthday card (made at work), 6/20 pun card (made at work…I love a good pun), 6/21 another pun card (I’m not proud of these), 6/22 notecard

If I create something tonight (which I will), I will be all caught up. And, even though we are traveling over the weekend, I’m hoping to remain on track and finish strong.

Tagged cocktails, crafts, diy, mail art, snail mail, summer, washi tape

Jun 17 2013

1 Comment

crafty adventures, summer manifesto

#30DOC Week 2

This week was a lot harder to manage because life got in the way…in a good way! We had some unexpected get-togethers with our neighbors last week, which is always a good thing in my book. I used my Sunday afternoon to catch up on a few days, but now I’m back and ready to stay on track this week. I have a few projects planned, so that should help with the “what should I make today?” dilemma. This is what I created during week 2:

From the top: 6/8 etagmai practice, 6/9 somen, 6/10 handmade business cards, 6/11 sun tea, 6/12 Father’s Day mail art, 6/13 rope plant hanger (using this simple tutorial by Elise) 6/14 glittered bomb pop stationery, 6/15 glittered neon stationery (I’m clearly in a glitter mood! Both glittered stationery projects used the Sakura Quickie Glue Pen from my Little Red Toolbox.)

Tagged crafts, mail art, snail mail, tea, washi tape

May 06 2013

3 Comments

Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, homemaking, snail mail, what's for dinner

Scenes from the Balcony

Last week spring hit…hard. One could argue that summer hit because we had temperatures in the 80s and I got a little sunburn from enjoying breakfast on the balcony. (I need to be more careful!) For two whole days, I did nothing but sit outside and write letters, read gardening books, eat breakfast, lunch & dinner and enjoy the fresh blooms on the trees. It felt good to soak up some Vitamin D and breathe in the spring air. This week, it’s supposed to be warm and sunny again. But this week, instead of sitting around dreaming about gardening, I will be weeding out the garden plot, finalizing the planting plan. And that sounds just right to me.