week twenty-five 2025

Friends. I'm exhausted. I'm guessing most of you are too. And if you're not, you're probably watching Faux News. 

And yet, we're all expected to keep on, keeping on. Which is what I'm doing. Last week's email I mentioned printing the wrong card (wha...wha...). I reprinted the correct card this week and die cut it too. I shipped the order today and relieved to have it marked off on my to-do list. I also finished printing, cutting and scoring my giant order. The order is for 2,592 cards. It ships in two weeks. At the moment we're folding and packaging the cards. I'll be reviewing the giant shipping manual again this week to make sure we can use our recyclable paper bubble wrap and the boxes we have on hand. Again, these BIG businesses have a lot of specifics we must abide by. This makes it much easier for them to quickly process but for us little guys, it can be overwhelming. Trusting it'll all go well.

In the shop we got a restock of stickers and some new designs too! We've already sold several, you all really love stickers! We also got a restock of Creeping Moon. We love their journals and washi tape.

We brought in some fun D&D inspired goods including character roll post-it notes, brass page markers, lock & key paper clips, fantasy map washi tape and potion bookshelf washi. And we're fully stocked on everyone's favorite Moon Journal and their Forage Journal. Stop by and check out all the goodies!

This week we'll be open Wednesday for Flavors of Albany Park. I was misinformed last week when I mentioned we're on the Kedzie route. We are not. This year we're on the Montrose route. Thankfully our neighbors at Northside Kung Fu clued us in. Be sure to stop over if you have tickets. We'll be hosting Miko's Italian Ice and our neighbors, Northside Kung Fu are hosting Luella's Southern Kitchen. Even if you don't have tickets, we'll be open for shopping until 8pm. 

Our next Letter Writing Meet Up is Thursday, July 3rd. I've heard from several of you, you'll be out of town. I'm guessing many people will be traveling. If we have guests, my plan is to stay open until 7pm. If no one's writing letters, we'll close up early. Stop by if you're in town. Write a note or two while being surrounded by other snail mail lovers. 
Letter Writing Meet Up
Thursday, July 3rd 5-7pm

Heads up, we will be CLOSED Friday, July 4th for the holiday. Come see us on Saturday, July 5th. I hope you all have a safe fourth.

Random, randomness...
• I've been intentionally seeking out good news. It helps me feel a little more hopeful in this increasingly dark time. Good Good Good Co does an amazing job of sharing Good News! You can follow them or even sign up for good news delivered to your inbox or postbox.
• On the Summer Solstice this year we celebrated my mom's birthday. She loves crab legs, so we wanted to treat her. We took her to King Crab House and had a delicious dinner. It was a really nice night out.
• I listened to The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt. I know, I know. I'm late to the game. It's been on my reading list for years and I finally gave up and just listened to it. Little did I know it was a 32 hour book. Thankfully Chicago Public Library lets you loan audiobooks for 21 days. Anyway, it was long and quite the roller coaster but I really enjoyed it. I found it frustrating at times with very few moments of celebration. It was intense and curious and when I thought it would become predicable, turns out, it wasn't. If you love an uncomfortable mystery, check it out. I'll be thinking about this one for a while.  
• Tom and I had a couple house projects too. We added trim with antique doorknobs we'll be using for coat hooks to the entryway. It was a process. I had designed them months ago and once we found the antique trim, Tom lightly sanded and treated with linseed oil. After they dried a week, I took most of the day to attach part of my antique doorknob collection to the trim. Once done we needed to wait till we had plenty of time to install. Finding studs in plaster is no easy task. We truly needed all four hands to get them level and secured. We finished it and they look really great! The last thing on the entryway list - find vintage inspired battery operated lights to install. 

That covers Week 25! I'm sending you all a little extra comfort and hope this week.