Lookee What I found

I think this is one half of the original exchange!

This postcard reminds me of 500 Days of Summer... and the Decemberists (the band, not the revolutionaries. Well, maybe both now. Train of thought.)

There is a city by the sea
A gentle company
I don’t suppose you want to
And as it tells its sorry tale
In harrowing detail
Its hollowness will haunt you
Its streets and boulevards
Orphans and oligarchs it hears
A plaintive melody
Truncated symphony
An ocean’s garbled vomit on the shore,
Los Angeles, I’m yours

Oh ladies, pleasant and demure

Sallow-cheeked and sure
I can see your undies
And all the boys you drag about
An empty fallow fount
From Saturdays to Mondays
You hill and valley crowd
Hanging your trousers down at heel
This is the realest thing
As ancient choirs sing
A dozen blushing cherubs wheel above
Los Angeles my love

Oh what a rush of ripe élan
Languor on divans
Dalliant and dainty
But oh, the smell of burnt cocaine
The dolor and decay
It only makes me cranky
Oh great calamity,
Ditch of iniquity and tears
How I abhor this place
Its sweet and bitter taste
Has left me wretched, retching on all fours
Los Angeles, I’m yours

And to add a nice asian finish to this package, it came with this beauty:

 A camera from Evanston and a cat from Taiwan!  Pretty much wearing it daily.

One of my passions in this world is fake food.

I mean that in all seriousness. As a kid, I loved going to Japanese restaurants to just stand outside and look at the displays of fake food. I am a proud owner of a pencil case that looks like a hot dog and a paper mache donut from New Mexico. So imagine my joy when the trinkets shaking around in Kaitlyn's package turned out to be...



the apple was rolling off the scanning bed.

these fun little miniature vegetables are now hanging out in my room.



and the note that came with it:

And the award for most delicious postcard...

YUM. that is pretty much all i have to say.

and lately I have really been missing Pita Inn in Skokie, IL.

$2 for a dozen freshly baked pitas, delicious falafel sandwiches with the best condiment sauces, hummus...YUM.

What better to spice up a day in suburban/rural middle America than...

a postcard from Istanbul!

And so the mad pen palling begins. I guess I will start with an electronic postcard of sorts...

Dear Kaitlyn,

Thank you for being my pen pal. You are probably the only person in this world that will ever send me letters to the extent that I will send you letters. So, I'm glad I found you, my meant to be pen pal. Here's to our friendship of inspirations, world travel, cheesy postcard photographers and the US/a couple other countries Post Office...and of course Juan...who really started it all.

<3 jasmin With that...voila! Here is the first postcard of our exchange!  

I was an avid stamp collector as a youngun and by avid...I mean, I collected everything for about two or three days each. Now I have rocks, stamps, foreign bills, stickers but not very much of anything. Nevertheless, stamps still really fascinate me.

Home of My Uncle Jack