I'm aaaaaaalive!

I have been lazy about posting.  Life took a few unexpected turns and was a bit busy here and there.  I turned 34 (a.k.a. 29 v.5) on the 26th.  It was such a wonderful day. In recent years past I haven't done much for my birthday. There's an inside joke of the birthday curse with me. So dismal, I know! But it's a running "joke" amongst my family and friends for ages now.  Either: there's really bad weather on my birthday that puts plans on the backburner or I get crazy sick.  This year, technically neither happened. There was no blizzard and I only had a sore throat. Take that birthday curse! HA! 

Some friends and I went to Madison for the day.  We had lunch at Village Bar which is just really a dive bar but they have amazing burgers with brick cheese. They were actually featured on the Travel Channel awhile back.  Then we went to GiGi's Cupcakes which was absolutely divine!  I got one with chocolate chip cookie cake and chocolate chip cookie dough frosting. SINFUL and deeelicious!  The one featured on the right is the Peppermint Patty one. Our last stop in Madison was to Archiver's where I got a few rolls of deco tape. You know, gotta feed the addiction a bit. :)  When we got home plans fell through for more friends to come over for Cheesecake, but it seems like a lot of stuff came up for everyone, which was fine.  B's gift to me was a laptop! I so went out and got one. A HP Pavilion g6, which is great for basic web use, my love of Netflix streaming and for gaming (i'm a Warcraft nerd. Shhh. Don't tell!)  and I really love having a non-ancient computer.  So I chilled at home with cheesecake and my new computer.  The next day, my sore throat turned into influenza.  So I was out of it for awhile. I do feel almost back to normal thankfully. 

I ordered as a birthday treat for myself some tape from Raquel's Esty shop.  I really loved the ones I picked out.  I have been using more of my washi/deco tape lately decorating backs of letters, it's a great use of it for borders and also makes my stash look less scary huge.  And why have all of it if I never use it?

I am still loving my Lamy Safari and I liked Goulet pens ink drop for the month with its shades of red, purple and pink.  I will definitely get it next month. I did like the Deep Magenta color by Diamine, but I am a little sick of pink by now from all the Valentines Day themed letters, but it's definitely a color i'll consider if I am looking for a new shade of pink ink.  Currently loaded in is the sample of Sailor Jentle's color called Grenade which I absolutely love.  I'll never (ever!) tire of red ink. 

Alas, I am going to go work on some mail and watch Grey's Anatomy. I'm up to season 3 now. :)
Happy Valentines Day, friends! :) <3

*looks innocent*

I just got back from Michael's. In my email this morning there was a coupon for 25% off my entire purchase.  PURR!!  hehehe.  So, of course before I went to the store I had to stop by and see what there was.  I've been good and stayed away from there since Monday.  I didn't even buy anything on Monday!  I got four rolls of washi tape, which again, I really need to not buy anymore.  Some Valentines Day stickers by Darice. I have a few books already but I have a few epically long letters to write, so I will want some extras to make the backs of stationery pages look all pretty. :)  Also two packages of labels which I think would be loads of fun for slams or envelopes. 

Today my plan is to work on signing a stack of slams as well as working on Lucy's letter.  While I do this i'll watch "Bones" on Netflix.  I got Netflix back in August which, I haven't watched a single movie on it!  I've been addicted to TV shows with a few documentaries chucked in.   So far television wise i've watched all of: "Wonder Years", "The Tudors, "Lillyhammer", "Downtown Abbey", "Nip/Tuck", "The Glades", "Pretty Little Liars, "Gossip Girl" (!!!! <3 <3 <3 !!!!) and now of course it is "Bones".  I was incredibly hesitant to start watching this as I adore the book series by Kathy Reichs and the show is so drastically different. But, I  gave it a try and I am viewing it like I view "True Blood":  completely separate entities between the book and the television series.  I have a few seasons left of "Bones" then I'll start another series.  Any suggestions?  I was hoping to get much more done this weekend. I did get the house picked up and also baked a cheesecake. And my local BFF Eric came over for dinner and we watched "Looper" on DVD.  But, I was hoping to sign those slams and Lucy's letter yesterday.  There is always today and I can work on both at work between calls. :)

As a side note, come to find out I did not have the stomach flu!  I had food poisoning!  I typically am obsessive about checking expiration dates on food, but for some reason I hadn't checked the dates on the lean gourmet dinners I was eating.  They expired well over a year before.  I had a sinus infection/cold thing going on so everything tasted odd to begin with, so I didn't notice the flavor off.  I feel incredibly stupid but I've also gotten even more obsessive about checking dates. Better safe than sorry!  I am back to nearly 100% again, so that's good. I have Gastric Reflux and my stomach is a bit wonky after having my Gallbladder taken out last year, so it takes me a bit longer to recover from anything stomach related. 

I have gotten some awesome mail this week!  I got a full mailbox with letters and some slam swaps from my lovely friends. I had ordered a Lamy Safari fountain pen and 3 bottles of ink.  I was just getting bored of my cheap no-name brand one and also my Parker Vector just was starting to wear out.  I am really loving it. It writes like an absolute dream and I adore having a converter so I can used bottled ink.  And my Janetstore order came in.  Now I need a break from shopping so damn much. I've been on a total free for all lately and now I need to save for moving and also for my trip to Amsterdam next summer.

I had asked in my previous post, what your pen pal pet peeves were?  I promised to share mine, so here it goes.  I am typically very laid back when it comes to things. I understand that life gets in the way and it can take a bit of time to write back.  But there are a few things that drive me absolutely batty...

* When I work hard on sending out a pretty  letter to someone, ask questions, inquire about their life and also talk about my life and I get back a one page letter that doesn't answer any of my questions, doesn't even inquire how I am doing. And I basically get a, "Hi! Today I went to work. It sucked. Tomorrow is the weekend, I think I'll go out and do something" and it's one page of that.  I just think those are sadly the types that love to get mail more than they love to actually write it! 

* When someone sets a zillion rules when it comes to writing.  Such as letters have to be so many pages long at least, you have to write back withing "x" amount of times, please use the backs of paper, do not put your address on the outside of the envelope (yes, I actually had someone say that!) and the list could go on.  Then, what irks me more is when they don't follow their plethora of rules themselves!

* Finally, when people keep saying, "I am working on a letter for you!" and you never get it. A few months later, "I am finally starting a letter for you!" and this keeps going.  It's like they think if you always think they are writing you, you'll still want to write when they finally DO get around to it.  I mean, just be honest you're too busy to write or don't want to!  This also ties into the one I saw on Facebook lately.  Someone who hasn't written in well over a year, keeps saying the, "Life is so busy thing!" to me and a few others.  Then she's on pretty much every pen pal Facebook page looking for pen pals!  And posting to her Facebook, that she's sending out mail to all the new people.  I know it's a case of she's just not really interested in writing to some people as our lives are drastically different. It's understandable sometimes you grow apart, but again, honesty! And also acceptance that people change and also, sometimes the people whom you are drastically different from you get along with wonderfully AND learn the most from. Ah well, c'est la vie! 

I think I have ranted enough about that subject and seriously I am not that cranky ALL the time. Ask Mayra if you know her:  we write epic letters AND chat on AIM pretty much all the time. HA! 

I still haven't found the camera cord, so copying from my Instagram it is.  I have tried to e-mail myself photos I take but for some reason the Yahoo! Mail app isn't working. I am super hesitant about getting a new cord, because the only big purchase I am thinking of making in a few months is a new digital camera. I have a great one but it's huge and bulky. I have seen much smaller ones that take even  nicer photos than mine AND have more options that are not too costly.  But, maybe i'll just cave in and see how much a new cord is for mine.

I am curious, lovely readers... what do you want to see on my blog?  Just pen paling related things? Some non paling related things?  Let me know. :)

I'm alive! ALIVE!!

I have been out for the count a good portion of the week.  I woke up Monday morning with a stomach bug, so I stayed home from work.  Unlike my co-workers do when ill.  I swear, the office (a.k.a cubicle farm) I work in is a cesspool of whatever is going around.  People go in sick and yes, get sick at their desk.  Yeah, it's rough when you don't have vacation time. I've been there, but to me, I would NOT want to get my co-workers ill, because I figure: there's someone less fortunate than I that cannot get ill due to financial reasons or other things.  And, to get better faster: stay home and rest!  Okay, i'll end my rant.

My day off, I slept, watched a few movies on OnDemand:  "In Time", "The Other Boleyn Girl" & "Hysteria".. Both were excellent, but I loved the book of The Other Boleyn Girl much better.   I also finished one letter.  I was back to work on Tuesday and feel loads better.  I haven't gotten a whole lot of mail this week. A few beautiful letters and slam swaps.  Which always makes me happy.

Tonight, I am going to finish a letter I started at work whilst watching "Bones" on DVD.

Something I am curious about (and I'll answer this in my next post), of you, dearest readers of this blog:

What are your pen pal-related pet peeves?  It doesn't matter who small or even how catty it is: What drives you nuts when it comes to pen paling? 

Also, thank you very much for becoming a follower. <3 I am hoping this will shape up to be an interesting blog.

Hobby Lobby & Deco tape

To the left is the second haul I got from Michael's for Deco Tape.  Coming soon will be the Janetstore order that should hopefully come in next week.  That one will be full of letter pad deliciousness! 

I actually didn't find anything too exciting at Hobby Lobby. My deco tape has been stored in boxes and bags for awhile now.  I needed something badly to store it in, so I got a three drawer container by Sterilite from Hobby Lobby for 40% off today.  I have a good portion of my deco tape in there. The new stuff I got from Michael's is still on my desk & I have about 15 rolls give or take in the bag I take to work.  I really really need to start using what I have on envelopes and backs of stationery sheets more.  Really, I do.

 Here is the case I got with my deco tapes inside.

The top drawer contains big tapes with some smaller ones that didn't fit below.

The middle one has just a few large ones, stacks of medium sized ones and even more small tapes.

Bottom is all my small ones from washi to kawaii. 

At some point, I should color coordinate the small tape, but I'll wait until I use up some of what I have.  For those of you that LOVE deco tape, I do know someone who sells great tape:

Deco Tape Paradise

Next time I organize and swap stuff out of my writing bag I take to work, I'll take photos of that.

And again, thanks to instigram for the photos I took. Woo. 

An Introduction of Sorts?

I have long drooled over pen pal and mail art blogs and deep down thought, "that would be fun to have one"... A new year is as good as any to start. I am sure it'll be slow to start due to a missing cable for my digital camera. It'll turn up, I am sure or i'll cave in and buy a new one.  :)  So, please do not abandon me yet! I am sure as the year goes on i'll become more and more active on here. And in time I am sure my blog will look less generic in design as I learn how to customize better. hehe.

So, who is this Sarnobyl person? 

I like lists, so I'll do a list.

* My name is Sarah Marie.  I have two first names due to a mess up with the State in regards to my divorce paperwork about 4 1/2 years ago.  They took my middle name of Marie and added it as a second first name. I thought this was hilarious in a twisted sort of way, so I never changed it.

* I am 33 years old and will turn 34 in exactly 3 weeks.  I do not feel at all like I am in my 30's nor am a "typical" thirty-something.

* I do not have any kids nor plan to.  It's just not for me.  I do have a pet dog named Chewy.  He's going to be 8 next month and is my baby.  I love him more than most people.

* I work full time at a call center.  It has its ups and downs, but I can read and write between calls.

* I live in a town called Janesville, Wisconsin.  It's pretty boring here and way too conservative for my liking.  I went to New Orleans, Louisiana last year on vacation and feel head over heels in love with it there.  For the first time, I felt like I belonged somewhere.  I am saving up to move there.

* I have been pen paling since I can remember. It's my favorite thing to do in the world. To me, my pen pals are my REAL friends, not just words on paper. I also swap high quality slams as well.  Am I looking for more pen pals?  I wouldn't mind a few more creative long letter pen pals at this time. :)

* Other things I love:  reading, writing, traveling (I am going to The Netherlands next summer for a big slam swappers meet up!!), watching stuff on Netflix, Anthropology, music, concerts, summer, thunderstorms, deco tape, garden gnomes, kawaii stationery, the French Quarter, The Marigny & Treme neighborhoods of New Orleans are fabulous as well and so much more. I am very eclectic in my tastes.

* My contact information:
            * Facebook
            * digitalodonata at yahoo dot com
            * instagram: sarnobyl

* If you want to ask me anything, please do. :)

 I am so happy it's the weekend, especially after a rough day at work yesterday.  In a little bit I am going to go pick up my mail at the post office. 
 

Hopefully when I open it up, it will be full!  I am thinking of stopping by Hobby Lobby as I have a little bit leftover from a gift card there.  I need to stay away from Michael's as the last two trips there I loaded up on Washi tape.  I do not need any more deco or washi tape.  It's an addiction.  Is there Deco Tape Anonymous? haha.   

Here is the haul from Thursday:

Thank you to my Facebook for this photo that I took with Instagram.

I will have to take a photo of the haul from yesterday and then what I get at Hobby Lobby later on.

After some non-fun errands of paying my cell phone bill and grocery shopping. I plan to work on some mail. I got pretty lazy over the past few weeks as winter tends to depress me a bit.  Oh how I loathe snow! 

TOO MUCH SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But, alas, I feel like writing all day while I watch Netflix. I am currently addicted to watching TV shows on Netflix. I just got through all the seasons of "Nip/Tuck" which was fabulously twisted.  Now I just finished up season 1 of "Bones".  Great show. :)

Have a great weekend, lovelies!  <3