Incoming mail.

It's hard to believe it's been so long since my last blog post, and I would like to apologise to everyone who has been waiting for a new blog entry. During the last four weeks my life has changed radically. I managed to find a new job and it took me a while to get used to the new routine and responsibilities. I have less time for myself, although I do my best to be productive even on my days off. It's not easy to try to maintain everything well, you know, working around the house, trying your best to spare your own time through your family and friends, reading and responding to all the letters you receive. I cannot say I dislike my life right now because I actually love it. I feel better than I ever have.

In this blog post I would like to show you some of the recent incoming mail. If you follow me on Instagram (@rasmuser), you might've already seen these pictures. If not, I hope you enjoy seeing them here because all the mail my pen pals send me is so beautiful!

From Ada (Poland)

 From my new pen pal Haylea (United States)

From Lozzi (England)

From Sabrina (Germany) who finally published her blog post on our meeting (you can read it here)

I love all my pen pals and I am grateful for the friendship and support they give me ♥

Till the next time,

Caroline xxx

PS. Changed my Tumblr URL to Grace-Beneath-The-Pines.

Meeting my German pen pal Sabrina!

Hey there! Meeting a pen pal can be a wonderful thing which I had the pleasure to experience last weekend! Sabrina and I have known each other for about two years now. We met each other on Instagram thanks to the fact that we had Ireland-related posts on our accounts (we both really love Ireland!) During the last weekend I realised that meeting a friend from a different country (or even from your own one) can be so much fun! We exchanged thoughts, had long conversations, wandered around Dublin in the pouring rain which I really loved because it felt like autumn and that's my favourite season! I showed her places she's never been to (the Trinity Library that looks like a Harry Potter movie location, for example,) and she brought me to a pub I had never been to before. Moreover, I had a chance to meet a great English musician called Simon Gynn! He was playing music there for the night and took loads of various song requests. I was surprised and happy to find another R.E.M. fan when I requested one of their favourite songs of mine - Daysleeper (I'm listening to it while creating this blogpost :) 

In this blogpost I am going to show you a few photos we took throughout the last weekend. Although, before I start I want to thank Sabrina for letting me upload her pictures. 

We met late on the previous Friday night. My boyfriend Noel and I collected Sabrina from the train station near our house. When we came home, we had a chat and exchanged some gifts. I gave her Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and a letter I had written the previous evening. She gave me a Harry Potter-themed pocket letter, a handmade wand, a beautiful dreamcatcher and a gorgeous heart-shaped gingerbread that has "I like you very much" written on it! I'm not going to eat it because it's so pretty. I hung it on the wall in my dining room instead! You can find some pictures that I took of the gifts below.

Finally got my letter from Hogwarts, hehe :)

I really love dreamcatchers. I've started collecting them.

The gingerbread ♥

We spent the evening watching The Fault in Our Stars, eating pizza and trying different flavours of Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans. How unfortunate - I got a rotten egg flavoured bean, eww! It was such a fun night, though!

***

We woke up early enough the next morning, had breakfast and headed into the city centre. It was raining quite a lot but my boots and umbrella saved me! We took a stroll down Grafton Street where we found a guy who was busking in the rain! I felt so sorry for him, yet I was really impressed that he was sitting there in the cold and rain playing his guitar. I gave him a €2 coin. He played some of my favourite songs including Damien Rice and Lisa Hannigan's Remember ♥ ♥ ♥. 

The busker.

Sabrina doesn't like to pose while wearing her glasses but I think they really suit her!

We also visited the Trinity College Library which is really famous thanks to its well-known Long Room. It looks like a Harry Potter movie location, although it wasn't in Harry Potter at all (I think it should have been!) Pictures below.

Afterwards we popped into one of the best and most beautiful Costa Coffee shops around. I ordered a small skim latte as usual, and Sabrina had a raspberry-white chocolate cooler. She let me try it and it was so yummy! Sabrina had brought a polaroid camera with her so we took our first polaroid selfie there! 

I also brought Sabrina to my favourite bookshop called Hodges Figgis where I bought myself a small guide book through James Joyce's Ulysses. I have a thing for James Joyce. I wrote my BA thesis on one of his books and he's close to my heart. I have never read Ulysses before but I am planning to do it before June 16th next year - that is when Bloomsday takes place. It is a great celebration that people from the whole world take place in.

Afterwards, we headed into Penneys (Primark) where we did some shopping. We also had lunch in Supermac's. We ate food that I call diet-free food (Sabrina had chips covered with grated cheddar cheese, and I had plain chips.) We also shared a large cup of Sprite.

We didn't have much time after finishing eating at Supermac's, and we needed to rush towards Temple Bar where Sabrina had a tattoo appointment. She got a Harry Potter-themed tattoo which I am really jealous of! I love how it turned out:

Here's a picture of the tattoo just after it was finished. 

We needed to celebrate our meeting and the new tattoo so Sabrina and I headed to a great pub called O'Sullivans where Noel (my boyfriend) joined us for a few drinks. The atmosphere in the pub was amazing thanks to the musicians who played live music and the friendly staff. We had so much fun there! Also, we met Simon Gynn in O'Sullivans, the musician that I had mentioned in the beginning of this blogpost. He was taking song request so we had a chance to hear some of our favourite tracks. We had a chat with him after his performance and he turned out to be a really nice lad in person.

That's Simon!

Sabrina <3

Noel, I, Simon and Sabrina!

So this is where the journey has to end. I hadn't expected it to turn out so long! Hope you enjoyed this blogpost nevertheless. There are loads more to come as I have so many ideas for all the upcoming ones. Summing up, meeting Sabrina was an amazing experience that I truly enjoyed and will never forget. I hope we'll meet again later this year.

Bless snail mail friendships!

Caroline xxx

Incoming mail!

Hello from beautiful and sunny Ireland! It's been a while since my last blogpost and I can only blame life for causing the delay. I am in the process of looking for a job since I am a graduate now! You know, somebody has to earn money for stamps and stuff! ☺

I took a trip to the local post office today so I could send a couple of letters to my dear friends. I love the feeling of excitement when I'm standing in the queue in the post office, and thinking of being able to drop my letters at the counter in just a few seconds. That is where their own journey begins. They will travel to different places across the world. I find that truly amazing. Hardly anyone can afford to travel the world but you can always post a letter that will do that for you. All it takes is a €1.05 stamp...

In the past couple of weeks I have received some lovely mail from my pen friends. In this post I am going to share some pictures of all the received letters and postcards. There are a good few of them!

Below you can see some pictures of a letter from Shay. This is Shay's second letter to me. This time she attached a beautiful postcard that is now being displayed on the mantelpiece in my dining room! The letter itself was so lovely and special. I found it inspirational and encouraging, and I have a feeling Shay and I will develop a beautiful long-lasting friendship. Thank you!

Next there is a letter from my Slovenian pen pal Anka. She decorated the envelope very nicely, and she also attached a postcard like Shay did. Thank you for such a nice letter Anka! Here are some pictures of what she sent me:

Moving onto the next letter, here's some more lovely post from Enric. Enric lives in Barcelona and I am very happy to be able to correspond with someone from such a beautiful city. This is the second letter from Enric in quite a short period of time, and I have a feeling our friendship will bloom as we keep sending each other mail. Thank you Enric! My letter is already on its way to you!

Here's another letter from Slovenia that my beloved friend Damijan sent me! We've been sending each other letters for over a year now. Maybe it's even been two years? I can't tell! Anyway, thank you kindly Damijan! I love all your letters and the fact that they're all so long... Oh, by the way, look at those lovely stamps! I have already replied to Damijan's letter and he got my letter last week. I can't wait to receive more mail from him!

I was so happy when I saw this letter at my doorstep! Matthieu lives in France and he's one of my long-term pen pals and friends. His letters are always so interesting, inspiring and thoughtful. We are planning to meet up next year! So here are the postcard and letter that Matthieu sent me:

Last but not least, this letter was sent to me by my German friend Sabrina. It arrived rather unexpectedly, although I loved reading it because it consisted of our meeting plans described by Sabrina! She and I are meeting this weekend and I'm really happy and excited because it'll be the first time that I will meet a pen pal of mine. Yay <3 Thank you Sabrina! I'm looking forward to meeting you at the end of this week! It's going to be so much fun ☺

As you can probably guess, that would be it for today's blogpost. I hope you enjoyed it! The reason why I don't post outgoing mail is because I want to keep my letters a surprise for their recipients. I might change my mind in the future, though.

Have a lovely day,

Caroline