As we moved from winter to spring to summer, April and May have been full and busy months. Kicked off April with a visit to Summit Brewing in St. Paul with some family for a fun afternoon.
April was #write_on, National Letterwriting Month, and I had so much fun sending out snail mail to so many different people! I've participated in this campaign to write more handwritten notes and letters throughout the month of April for the past few years. I've collected many cards, envelopes, and stickers over the years and it gives me a chance to send out lots of those for happy mail!
More fun stationery and paper goods arrived in the mail! My monthly #thehifive from 1 Canoe 2 arrived with beautiful gold foiled cards for the month. This design company has quickly become a new favorite of mine and I love the quality of their products. I also won a giveaway from Cardtorial featuring Nicole Miyuki Santo's new book "By Hand: The Art of Modern Lettering". The pages of the book are absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait to work my way through them.
As weather in Minnesota can be odd... we experienced quite the blizzard in the middle of April with inches and inches of snow over only a few days span. So we enjoyed lots of Frankie snuggles and staying away from the cold.
Shawn and I celebrated being together for 6 1/2 years doing some of our favorites things once it warmed up a bit - grabbing coffee on a cute patio at The Finnish Bistro and taking Frankie for a walk. We also started summer brewery patio season with a visit to Urban Growler - Frankie came with too! We also had a relaxing afternoon at Surly celebrating some big accomplishments for both of us over the past 12 months!
Frankie's been out and about quite a bit these past two months as well. We took him to Total Wine in Roseville to start picking out his selection of summer drinks :) and we walked inside at Rosedale Shopping Center on their dog walking mornings. He came with us to Art-A-Whirl in Northeast Minneapolis and enjoyed the beautiful sunny day!
We celebrated Mother's Day with my mom and with Shawn's mom. For Shawn's mom all the kids made a fun flower pot with their hand prints on it (including Frankie) and we enjoyed a relaxing afternoon grilling. My mom and I spent time together at the Saint Paul Farmer's Market picking out flowers for her garden as well as enjoyed yummy treats and coffee at Cosetta's in downtown St. Paul. We also got great pasta salad for lunch and hung out.
I've gotten back into my outside walks during my lunch and it's nice to walk around the St. Paul Campus of the U of MN with everything blooming. There are so many different plants and flowers to stop and enjoy along my way.
Memorial Day hit record heat in the Twin Cities so we took Frankie to Como Park and the lake to cool off. He had a blast jumping in the water after his toy and splashing around.
New MN Mystery Card packs were launched and available now in the online shop. These sets are perfect for all your summer snail mail sending!
Other fun card styles made recently:
