birthday surprise

I love birthdays. It is a day when a person is celebrated for their existence on the planet.

I never had extravagant celebrations for my birthday growing up. I had sleepovers with my closest friends, expensive dinners with my family, or scattered meals with different friends. As my birthday was approaching this year,  I did not think that I was going to celebrate my birthday with anyone, considering the fact that it was during finals week and that I was going to Cleveland for a week for spring break. Two of my friends told me that they were going to do the traditional "kidnapping" and caking, but I don't know, I honestly thought that it was too much of hassle during such a busy and stressful week. 

On March 19th, at around 9:00pm, I was in my friend's room eating dinner, taking a break from studying chemistry. I intended to leave but I was quickly stopped by being blindfolded.. I immediately realized what was going on and then I kind of just followed wherever they leaded me. They took me in circles and then at one point carried me to where I could hear whispers and hushed voices. the blindfold (or jacket I would say) was taken off and was surprised with thirty familiar faces of my friends (many of whom I met this year). They sang happy birthday and I tried to have conversation with everyone there. I was so grateful to spend time with these friends, though the time was short. I felt extremely blessed and loved, even though I ended up being caked with a red velvet cake. 

the art of the personal letter

I love letters. Especially handwritten ones. Especially handwritten snail mail.

I remember the first time I received a letter (in the mail). My friend had just graduated high school and was moving to New Jersey. In order to stay in touch, we decided to exchange addresses and write mail to each other. One day I got home from school and my dad said with a slightly confused voice; "Sheena? I think this letter is for you. From a Japanese friend?" I rushed over and saw my name and address neatly written by my friend. I was so excited that I waited until after I was done with my homework to sit down and enjoy reading the letter. We still write from time to time, even though we first started writing to each other about four years ago.

Although a letter about updates in personal life are my favorite, I do also love thank you letters, congratulatory letters, apology letters, love letters, encouragement letters, sympathy letters.. you get the idea. There's a lot of power in words - it can heal relationships, lift up spirits and warm a heart. When a person takes the time to sit down, ponder, draft, and write a letter, I think the words that he or she will write will have deep meaning and care.

I recently read a book about writing letters, and I learned that it takes a lot of time and effort to write a good letter.  I want to write more letters and try to master the art form. It may seem old fashioned or out of style, but it's something that I think can have great meaning and impact.

bye bye until next time ^

ten things that make me exctied

Recently, I had a conversation with my brother and one thing that he mentioned was that there wasn't a lot of things that excite me. I would have to disagree. And as a response, I decided to write this post.

1. Arts and Craft fair (shout out to Michelle!)
If you don't know what an arts and craft fair is, just look at my other blog posts (here, here, and here) to get a feel. I even wrote about craft fairs in my my college application essays - here's a segment of it:
"These craft shows have a way of making me feel happy inside – like a child on Christmas Eve. Every time I attend one of these craft shows, I get a “quaint” feeling inside, almost giddy with excitement.  Everything is unexpectedly charming and attractive.  I can’t help but gravitate towards the booths and stare at these incredible pieces of artwork. "

2. Ice cream and cake
In short, I have three stomachs - one for food, one for ice cream, and one for cake. (read more)

3. a familiar tune
There's something about music that moves people. When I hear a song that I know and love, it puts a smile on my face.

4. taking pictures
I only recently started getting into photography (read more), but I love it so much! I'm little slow at getting the right settings on the camera and it takes an incredible amount of patience, but it's all worthwhile when I look back and see the few pictures that turned out great. I also love using disposable cameras and Polaroids. They are generally more expensive though..

5. stuffed animals
When I see a cute stuffed animal at the store, my first instinct is to buy it and cuddle with it. Usually my rational side controls myself before I take out my wallet, but there have been times when I have made pretty irrational stuffed animal buys. haha.