Stampalia

2/10/2024 My heart is broken. Today I said goodbye to my beloved cat Tutuola. I was lucky to have her in my life sixteen years. She was my princess.

I'm interested in earth science and art history. I have a chihuahua and a cat. Both are rescues. I studied Horticulture and I enjoy gardening. I like going to the beach and camping. I love rollerskating. I play golf and softball. I don't cook much but I love food and especially desserts. I do make gelatin desserts.

My last job was working for a stamp dealer. He sold stamps from the US and all over the world including countries that no longer exist. I liked traveling to many different states like New York, Ohio, Arizona, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas, D.C., Virginia to work at stamp shows.

I also love flowers and flower arranging. I worked as a florist and I also have experience growing flowers to sell at farmer's markets. In the past I have grown many different kinds of Succulents and bulbs but I am in an apartment now with no proper outdoor space to grow anything.

I like to do cross stitch and sewing projects. I do a little knitting but not in a long time. I have also done some jewelry making. I love stationery and writing or drawing with different types of pens and ink. I'm also starting to experiment with making my own paper and pressing flowers. I'm new to this site and I just started Postcrossing, too. I'm very interested in swapping postcards, stationery and also stamps and stickers.

I am the kind of person who leaves the tv on as background noise and i watch all kinds of shows.

Watching a lot of wrestling these days. Raw, Smackdown, NXT Season 46 of Survivor has started. Looking forward to the Amazing Race, too

Gameshows: The Price is Right and Jeopardy

Stuff i watch on DVR: Bones, Twilight Zone, Matlock, Quincy, Las Vegas, Murder She Wrote, all the Real Housewives franchises, Top Chef and most of the shows on Bravo. Fringe, X-Files, Yellowstone, Perry Mason, Hunter. I like reality shows that focus on art like Face Off, Ink Master and Project Runway. I watch a lot of the 90 day fiance shows. I love Eurovision now that we can watch it on Peacock in the US. I also love to watch shows like Nova or anything documentary style about animals or the planet or weather, oceans or deserts and rainforests.

I'm getting back into reading to limit the time I spend on social media. Right now I am most interested in science fiction. I like getting ideas of what to read from people's profiles. Please do not send bookmarks. I'm using my library card with the Libby app. I thought I was devoted to having an actual book in my hand but this is far more convenient.

Some of my favorite things are

bees, butterflies, dragonflies, ladybugs

Birds - quail, hummingbirds, peacocks, swans

lobsters, octopuses, crabs

Artists: Gorey, Kliban, Gary Larson, Sendak

the colors green and gold

Cryptids - Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, mermaids, Moth Man, Jackelopes, Krampus etc

Jewelry, gemstones and minerals

desserts especially gelatin types, lemon bars, all puddings, flan, cakes, anything orange

fruit especially strawberries, cherries and citrus Vegetables: corn, brussels sprouts, greens, squash, artichokes, sweet potatoes

All flowers but especially pansies, fuchsias and orchids, also bulbs like daffodils, hyacinth, iris

succulents

hippos, elephants

Lunar new year dragon

Astrological sign Leo

Birth month July

Fashion anything from couture to streetwear

Stickers and washi tape

Teas: I am switching my morning cup of coffee to tea instead. I still want the caffeine but I'm not finding many variety in black tea choices at the grocery store other than Constant Comment and Chai (I love them both). It would be awesome if you have any good, reasonably priced, favored, caffienated teas you can recommend. I live near several Asian grocery stores, a Russian shop, an Indian market, several Mercados and other places I could source something new and different if you can tell me your favorites. I don't like green tea but I just tried a cinnamon Rooibos that was yummy.

Halloween and everything related, witches, bats, pumpkins and gourds, skeletons, ghosts also The Nightmare Before Christmas

Fairies, mushrooms, moss, lichen, gnomes, squirrels, fruit and nut trees. Cherry blossoms

Animal Crossing

Gudetama, Bananya, Rilakkuma, Afro Ken, Pompurin,

Christmas but secular only like lights, tree, Santa and reindeer stuff, I'm not religious

Snoopy characters (especially Lucy and Woodstock) Strawberry Shortcake, Jem, Rainbow Brite and Care Bears, Winnie the Pooh, Alice in Wonderland

Bric a brac - Feathers, beads, sequins, shells, seeds but no glitter, please

Ive always liked Hello Kitty and I'm just getting to learn about Kawaii. So far I love it all

Cards I like to recieve "naked" (with stamps and addressed to me) would be anything from my list above. They can be a photographic style or illustrations. Cute stuff and cartoons but also spooky and goth work for me. Any card with a cat on it. Vintage cards, too. I save all my cards and I love them as little pieces of art so if you like to embellish with stickers and washi tape, go for it.

I am not offended by cards with nudity or adult humor. I like things that are subversive and anti-fascist. I'm a feminist. I am not religious but I do like cards relating to Buddhism and other non Western religions. I celebrate holidays like Easter but only the secular elements like the Easter bunny.

If you're sending a realy touristy type postcard I prefer them to be from your area, town, country or state. Unless it is a swap that specifically calls for somewhere different like "I'm not from here" or state trivia postcard swap or if it just fits with the overall swap theme like a vacation you would wish to go on.

Cards that I would like to recieve for my stash (unadressed and sent in an envelope) could be from my list or even better, would be subjects that probably aren't on my list above but are popular to other people. Topics like Stadiums. Birds. Trains, airplanes and transportation. Keep Calm. Recipes. Bridges. Harry Potter. Royalty. Lighthouses. Disney. Space. Maps. Large Letter. I tend to buy the postcards I like so swapping with others is a way for me to diversify. Also for Postcrossing popular topics seem to be Loupaper, Moomins, Blue Cats and Tausdenschön.

Things I would not like are: maxicards issued by countries like Australia (exceptions for maxicards you create yourself if you like to be artistic)

I'm not a stamp collector but I love stamps.

If we are swapping used stamps my preference would be for modern (year 2000 to new issues) of foreign stamps on or off paper.

For US used stamps same time period but preferably not forever postcard stamps.

Please no CTO's

Take care when you cut out stamps to not cut off any perforations.

Don't feel bad if you don't have exactly what I'm looking for. I'm always grateful and I will share with others what I do not keep.

I post all my mail in the drop off indoors, never on a Sunday or holiday, usually in the morning or by the second pick up, and I mark it sent that same day. I cover my bases but we know the post office will never be perfect. I'm not either, so I wouldn't expect it of the USPS. Their job is not easy and has gotten harder since DeJoy took over. At any time, if you have concerns that a swap I sent you is lost please message me and I will resend. I'm not a flake and I've had great times swapping here. I want the swaps I send to bring smiles and good vibes.

Zip Code: Please include all nine numbers of my zip code. The four at the end are important. As much as I love art and beautiful lettering it is better to print my address as simply and accurately to the postal version. Using CA instead of California and the entire nine digit zip code makes it more accurate for deliveries. Don't get me started on the poor Instacart and Doordash drivers who get lost in our maze of apartment buildings.