Marking a Milestone

Last Sunday was my birthday. 40 years old! With the craziness of my life in that moment, it just wasn't on my mind to write about it here. I'm not a big one for birthdays, perhaps because I spent my childhood not celebrating them (religious reasons) and perhaps because I feel uncomfortable with the attention. It's just another day to me. But a milestone birthday is not to be ignored by family and friends, and I was celebrated. 

Part of "sorting the piles" this weekend included looking at all of the birthday cards I received. Sometimes I save them, sometimes I throw them away - but this was my 40th, I felt the need to do something with the cards. I decided to create a fun collage with the images from them, and cut out the words that spoke to me, which turned into the poem. In the back I tucked the personal notes people had written. This is why I needed to get organized, so I could be creative again! Creating a fun marker for this milestone, with the bits and pieces of my family and friends mixed in, was a joy.

My friends in Corvallis planned a suprise party while I was there, which was a bit foiled by the fact that I disappeared from the face of the earth in the time they were trying to get me to the location of the party. In reality I only turned off my phone for a couple of hours for a massage appointment (wouldn't you turn off your phone?) but it was quite funny the voice messages, emails and Facebook posts that happened in that time. You can see below that I made it, although late, to my own surprise party. It was a great evening of laughter and friends, margaritas and Mexican food, along with the perfect cake made by my friend Becky!

I am truly happy to be 40 years old. I feel like there is so much ahead of me, and I'm no longer weighted down by trying to be something I'm not. I'm just happy to be... me.

Mail Time!

Wouldn't you love to get mail in a door like this? I know I would! I loved all of the door letter slots I saw Bath, adding to the door personality. The ones marked LETTERS are cool, but kind of humorous to me. What else would the slot be for? Milk delivery? I found it interesting that much in England is labeled or named. Many houses don't just have an address, they have names like "Victoria House" and "Park View" etched in stone above the door. So I guess it's only fair that the mail slot has equal labeling importance.

And today, it is important because it's Postcard Drawing Day!  Many of you think that today is a holiday in the US because of Labor Day, but this is the real reason, so you can all be online to find out if you won, right away. Too bad I don't speak enough Italian to convince the government here we need a day off for this momentous occasion as well. :)

And the winner is.... Lisa, of the White Cotton Tee photography blog, aka L Gordon on Flickr. There were 42 entries, after eliminating the duplicates and unidentifiable Anonymous "Happy Sunday" comment. And Lisa was number 6! Congrats Lisa, send me your snail mail address and the postcards will be on their way to you.

But, you are all winners, do you know why? Because if you commented to win, I will send you your very own postcard with a personal note. Just send me an email at kat[at]kateyeview[dot]com, identifying your comment and include your snail mail address. Who wouldn't like some mail from Italy? I might even have to order more postcards, perhaps with a window theme as requested. Everyone deserves some happy mail! I enjoyed reading all of the comments and appreciate the participation in this first-ever giveaway of mine. (And don't worry, I promise your personal information will never, ever be shared. I will send the postcards and delete all info!)

Another piece of great news I am excited to share today is that I've joined the Mortal Muses photography site as one of the nine muses. There is a post from one of the nine muses each day, with their photo on the current theme and one from the Flickr pool, where you can participate by uploading your photos for the next theme. I was so excited to see my photo selected a couple of weeks ago in the black and white theme, and now I get to wax poetic once every nine days and be part of this wonderful team of photographers! Come on over and start participating with us.

One final shout out today... My 9-year-old son and I are participating in the Wish.Play.Create playgroup in the wishstudio. You can still join in too! We just finished up the Week 1 project yesterday, Mixed Media Love by Shona Cole. We had fun together playing with paints and coming up with the poses to go with the artwork provided in the class. Brandon said I had to use my own pictures, I couldn't use him, so I had to get in on the fun more than I had planned. I'm glad I did, because this finished card perfectly expresses how I'm feeling right now.

 Up, up and away, borne on the wind of creative dreams.