Love getting real mail? Try Postcrossing

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A month ago, I signed up for a postcard exchange program provided by postcrossing.com. You can check out the website for more information, but this is the jist of how it works:
1. Sign up for an account (which is free)
2. Create a profile which includes your address and a little about yourself, including the types of postcards you like.
3. Mail your first postcard, and when a user registers the postcard number, you are then the next person to get a postcard.
4. Receive and register your own postcard.

For those wondering, these are real postcards. You can find postcards in dollar stores, post offices, or souvenir shops to send.

The site has hundreds of thousands of users, which makes it more fun, as a postcard can come from anyone in the world. I also like that the site encourages postcards rather than letters. Writing a letter to a stranger can be a little intimidating. You just don't know what to say. But a postcard offers a small space to say a little about you, like your hobbies. The task seems easier, since sometimes just putting your favorite quote is enough. And of course, it's fun to look at the different pictures of places and things around the world.

Last week, I received my first postcard from a site user :D
It was from a lovely lady named Eva, who lives and plays the violin in Budapest. Eva and I have one thing in common: we both love resting, when we are not busy. I think the card she sent is perfect. It gives me a chance to see where she lives. 

Lessons from the Swan Princess

The Swan Princess is a 1994 animated film based off the ballet Swan Lake. It was never one of my favorite movies, but now, looking back, I found it offered some more insightful lessons than many Disney movies.

The movie is about a girl, Odette, who is supposed to marry prince Derek, her childhood playmate. Every summer their parents had the two of them meet in hopes that they would one day fall in love and marry. As children, they really can't stand each other and dread their summer's together. But as the years go on and they enter early adulthood they begin to grow fond of eachother. Meanwhile, there is an evil enchanter, Rothbart, wants to take the kindgdom. His plans are foiled in the beginning but he vows that one day everything Odette's father loves will belong to Rothbart. 

At a great ball, Prince Derek expresses his desire to marry Odette. And this is where the lessons begin

Odette asks him why he like her and prince Derek admits it is because she is so beautiful. Odette then asks, "what else?" And prince Derek says a pretty heart hitting line, "What else is there?"
Hurt by his response. Odette rejects him and leaves the ball.

Society has made it so being thought of as beautiful by someone you like should be enough. As if somehow if a girl can get a guy to be satified with her looks than she has accomplished something. Even as a child, I watched Odette leave that ball feeling proud of her and any woman who had the sense to demand her man see her as more than a pretty face.

Yes, it's nice to get a compliment but you can't mistake someone liking your appearance with real love.

I have actually used the line "what else?" with guys because it's amazing to see how suddenly the guy has to try and consider who you are as a person rather than feeling like he did some good deed for calling you pretty.

 Girls are being raised to accept any "pretty" compliment they can get (guys aren't off the hook either)

If their "prince" thinks they are attractive and nothing more, they accept it. They don't even ask if he sees more to her. Even if she is talented, full of good virtue, and an all around great person a guy will still rely on saying "you're pretty" to entertain her ego.

Prince Derek was so excited to see himself married to a pretty girl and that's all he saw. This is repulsive and fearsome for a number of ways.

 Odette as pretty as she is was not responsible for her looks. No one is because no one decides how they come out of the womb or grow up physically.

If your blue eyes are stunning that's God's doing not yours. Even if you change your physical appreance through surgery it's still someone else who had a hand in it. Thus "you're beautiful" never has been or will be a compliment. It's like when someone says I like your top, but you didn't make it. It means nothing.

For Prince Derek to think he was giving Odette a compliment proves he is a very vain man.

 When he no longer finds you beautiful, he will move on and the fact that he believes a girl has some role in her beauty means he expects you to do whatever it takes to remain beautiful. That is a rather cruel task to put on any human.

 It means, for the rest of your life you owe your selfworth to being appreciated by something you actually have no control over.

This is why a girl or guy will skip meals just to be a certain weight. Or why they will mentally put themselves down until their self esteem is so low they can't even imagine liking themselves.

You have a resposibilty to be a good person not a good looking one!

Odette was smart enough to see through Prince Derek and left. She may have cared about him, but she loved herself more; she knew she was more than just a pretty face and decided to take a personal stand against being some doll for Prince Derek.

It wasn't until Prince Derek could love Odette for more than her looks that she decided to be with him. I wish more girls and guys would do that.You may be attracted to someone physically and they may like your features but you shouldn't make someone feel they always have to be "pretty" for you. Nor should you feel like you have to look a certain way for them. If looks is all there is in the relationship, you have no real relationship

The Swan Princess is a movie that shows girls it's ok to walk away from someone, even if you like them, if they don't value you as more.

Winter Weeds

In January, I see winter weeds. They are those who try to survive despite the harshness and coldness of their surrondings. They are the ones who force themselves to be seen, even though they are so often overlooked. They are the remaining ones; the courageous ones; the hopeful ones.

Photo and words by me
  

Spilling Ink: The beautiful beast

Eyes like diamonds

Teeth like pearls

Skin like satin

Hair that curls

Make him gentle, make him fine, if he be all this…make him mine

And from the spell made by the young queen’s brew came a boy with thin limbs and features off skew. The queen gasped as she saw the hideous sight, trying hard not to deplore him. Trying, with all her might. She put him in room, dark colored with little light and kept the boy hidden for 20 years, out of sight.

Only the queen knew of the beast behind the door. She would hold him and bring him gifts from her kingdom’s store. The boy grew in that room never seeing his own face. He grew to be playful, wise and full of grace.

The boy, now a man, asked why he need stay behind the walls. The queen said he was so beautiful the world would be appalled. They would look at him and see their own ugliness within. They would hate themselves by hating him and see their own sins. The man asked why he had never seen his own reflection. The queen said this was for his own protection.

The man said why, what harm could it do. The queen said the man would become like others, vain and untrue. You will love yourself only with your eyes, and that is wrong said the queen, tis better to love with your heart which feels rather than sees beauty. The man was content with the answer and said he would stay in the unlit room for his own safety.

He told the queen she must be very beautiful indeed. The queen smiled but felt ashamed and full of greed. She had made the man to suit her own ideals and when he turned out to be different she locked him away. On her thrown of gold she sat high with pride, while her subjects suffered night and day.

The queen cried in her room, why am I like this? She cried on her bed and with her whole heart made a wish. Make me more like the man, humble and pure. If there be a way from these evils, let me find the cure.

The day after that the queen went to the man and said, “to you there is something I must tell.” I made you from a brew; I made you from a spell and when the spell went wrong I banished you to hell. The man seemed puzzled for he lived joyfully. How can this be hell, when you have done so much for me?

“I would have loved you more, if the spell went as it should. I would have given you all of me, and more if I could.”

The man asked do you love me now with your heart? The queen said yes, for you are kind, gentle, loving and smart. The man asked the queen to give the man some light. So he may for once, gaze upon the queen’s sight. The queen lit a candle and stepped into the glow. Upon seeing her beauty the man bowed his head low. My queen, he said, to me your heart has been fair. You have shown me love, mercy and that you care.

The queen realized that there had been a change in her. And from this feeling something began to stir. The queen took the man outside and proclaimed:

“I am in love and things will no longer be the same.”

She was kinder to subjects; her people were amazed. All across the lands, the people gave her praise. For she was different, her heart was now true. Now longer drenched in vanity, away her problems flew.

On the day the man and she wed, she was happy, of this you can be sure. For she loved him and he loved her.

When you feel life is unfair remember this

When you feel life is unfair--that the pressure is too much, or you are exhausted from trying, remember that the flowers must start out as buds. They must wait for the rains and the sun to come and go. Up and out from the ground, they must push themselves in order to be the beauties we all stop and admire. Do not be afraid of life's challenges. Celebrate the rain, the sun, and before long you will be like the blossomed flower: beautiful and admirable.

Photo is my own. The wild rose is native to my Province.

XX 

Always be a flower

In the search for love or friendship look for someone who see your beauty in all stages of your life. Look for someone who will say “I will be there when you are no more than a budding seed; I will be there when you begin to blossom, and I will be there when your petals begin to fall because no matter what you will always be a flower.” Don’t look for someone who only wants you at your best-- blossomed with your full beauty too obvious to miss. Their eyes will turn away when you are not a typical beauty. Don’t look for someone who wants you as a seed: fragile, vulnerable, and needy.  Their need to be depended on will make it difficult to grow and find your own sense of self. Look for someone who appreciates and see all your beauty and awe in each moment of your life.

Tuesday Treasures

Is it the end of the month already? January sent many pleasures my way. I hope it was a good month for you also.

Est-ce la fin du mois déjà? Janvier vous a envoyé beaucoup de plaisirs à ma façon. J'espère qu'il a été un bon mois pour vous aussi.

Heart Lock Charm Fashion Bracelet

 

Silk Organza Pleated French Maiden Dress

 

A Large Income- Jane Austen quote mug

 

 

Lace Ballerina Dress By Rare Opulence

Lace Ballerina Dress By Rare Opulence

 

 

 

 

Sweet goodness, I adore this dress! I have a thing for tutu style dresses, so I'm not at all surprised that my eyes slightly popped out of their socket when I saw this beauty. What I am surprised about is that I still like it despite it being a one shoulder piece. I'm two or non strap kind of girl, but this number is so pretty I don't care how many straps it has. I want it on me!

 

Real Beauty

I want to be beautiful

The world is full of such beautiful things, snowy mountains, and cherry blossoms, sea coral and dirt roads and every creature that walks this world. You and I are both beautiful. But sometimes I don't feel I belong in this world of such bountiful beauty.
I don't mean in the vain sense. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so to strive to be beautiful in the physical sense is a waste-less cause. One may look at me with appeal and another can turn away without hesitation. I cannot please everyone. But I do want to please God. I want to be beautiful for him. I shudder to think he may look at me with disappointment. I don't know if he beholds me with the same esteem as we do a blossoming spring flower, but I want my friend Jesus to teach me. Teach me how to be beautiful by guiding me. Make my soul a wonder. Make my heart the fairest of them all.

Top: thirfted

Skirt: thirfted 

Stockings: thirfted

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Bag: thirfted

Necklace: borrowed

Bangles: borrowed

Side note: the red patch in my pocket is actually just at tissue I folded up to look like it was part of the skirt.

Rositas--bling bling Cupcake Lampwork glass earrings

This beautiful pair of earrings come from elsyrene, a shop on etsy.com. It was the cupcake shape that first caught my attention, because I adore the sweetness which is a cupcake. But more than just cute, these earrings are pretty with the pink patterns and pink gem topping of the cupcake. Elsy really took her time with these beauties and it shows. They would look ever so charming with a cream chiffon dress.