Monday's Postcard: Happy New Year 2013!

Happy New Year! For 2013, I am going to change things a little bit by using postcards from my collection that are vintage cards. I was getting tired of all the modern locations. So for one of my new year's resolutions, I will be digging into my extensive postcard collection for all my OLD cards, starting with these celebrating the holiday.

If you want, you can get my blog posts sent directly to your email address. I will be posting a vintage postcard every Monday and once a month I will be posting about all the books I read. So just enter your email address into the box on the right hand side of the page and you can get all the posts with out having to go look for them every week. Or you can just visit lhttp://www.amandafromseattle.com whenever you feel like it! :-)

Monday's Postcard: Wilmington, NC

Where I grew up, this was labeled the World's Largest Living Christmas Tree! It is a 300 year old Live Oak and covered with more than 4,000 multi-colored lights. So famous, it has a postcard made for it!! However, this year it looks like they will not be lighting the tree. They say that the oak is now too old to support the lights. Here is a link to a story about the tree.

Monday's Postcard: Salisbury, NC

My mom sent me this postcard several years ago. She wrote that I might want to think about planting a letterbox here! :-) I believe this is the Kerr Mill in Mt. Ulla, NC.

Christmas Ornaments

cross-stitch

Antique

crochet

It has been so much fun to get out all the Christmas decorations this year. I put the tree up a week ago, but I am finally going to blog about it. I inherited some great ornaments from my Mom and Granny and now more than ever, putting up the tree is a trip down memory lane as I unwrap each one. The ornaments on the red background are homemade. My mom crocheted around glass balls and the mini ones are cross-stitch. The glass ornaments on the green paper background are antique from the 1940's or 50's. I love their unusual shapes. And the colors are so faded after all these years. They have a lot of character.

Germany

Sweden

The next grouping of ornaments are all from my travels around the world. The horse is from Sweden. Santa in an airplane is from Germany. The Blue Delft Tree with the Windmill on it is from Holland. The mukluks are from Alaska and the little Asian girl is from Taiwan (I don't even think it is meant to be a Christmas Ornament, but I re-purpose stuff all the time, the Delft tree is on a key chain!) And finally, the little man is a Canadian Mountie from British Columbia!                                            

Alaska

Holland

Canada

Taiwan

I love handcrafted ornaments. I have several from craft fairs and art shows.The quilted ornament I got on a trip to the Amish Country in Pennsylvania. (the Santa behind it is a wooden carving from Thailand) Some  that I inherited from my mom include the beautiful angel  made of seashells and  this rustic wooden ornament. I have a couple of these and they are all different!   The knitted girl is from a trip to Hawaii!

Pennsylvania

Hawaii

Seashell Angel

Turned Wood

Harrods Bear

There are ornaments that remind me of family. This Harrod's Bear (another key chain) reminds me of trips to London with my Dad and I made this ornament with my Granny's photo on it especially to place on the Christmas tree because Christmas was one of her favorite holidays.

Granny

flight attendant

Then there are the ornaments that I get because of my job! I love my little flight attendant. I always have lots of airplanes on my tree. And it wouldn't be my tree with out some Nancy Drew ornaments on it! Of course this is only a small sampling of the ornaments I have. Each year I pick and choose a few old favorites, a few new additions from my travels and I rotate through them each year. There are so many and I can't part with them when they mean so much. It would take a 7 foot tree to hold them all!! The editing process adds to the enjoyment of trimming the tree in my opinion.

Nancy Drew

Santa on Airplane

But there are lots of ornaments that did not make it out of the box this year. Maybe next year!!

Monday's Postcard: Solvang

I first visited Solvang on a road trip with my family. Since then, Ryan and I have been back several times. It is a fun stop on the drive south from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles.

Wild Card: Istanbul

A friend sent me this postcard from Turkey, still on my "to do" list.   Ryan has already been, something he likes to lord over me. It is pretty rare when he can say he has been somewhere that I have not! So he really likes to milk it for all it's worth. :-)

Monday's Postcard: London

Always a fun layover, I enjoy my time in London. I consider myself lucky that I get to spend so much time exploring this wonderful city. Although it looks like I won't be back here again until sometime in the Spring of  2013. No more international trips scheduled in the near future for me.