the coolest notecards ever.

i believe i have mentioned here before that i still enjoy writing letters that require postage stamps. this is especially the case for thank you notes. i just find it to be so gauche to thank via email. i thank my mom and dad for instilling this belief. growing up, after every birthday, holiday or significant even that resulted in the receipt of gifts, they would hover over us as we wrote all our thank you notes. 1. they had to be sincere in nature; and, 2. always include a mention of the item given. as a kid, i didn't understand why it was so important that we write these things right away. i get it now, as i certainly notice when i have given gifts for weddings, graduations, etc. and don't get a thank you note in return or just a tacky email thank you. if someone puts the thought and effort into getting you a gift, please find it in your heart, time and budget to buy an envelope, a piece of paper and $.42 (i am sure that will change before we know it) to thank the gift giver.

nowadays i always enjoy receiving letters and thank you notes from my parents--my dad in particular, due to the unintentional comedy they provide. i still have saved all the letters he wrote me in college that warned me about the dangers of accepting drinks from strange guys and having my tire pressure below 30 pounds. those two topics made it in every letter. while most "letters" from my parents come via email nowadays, the handwritten thank you notes still arrive. my dad has been using the same thank you cards--now referred to as "the caterpillar card"--for at least 5 years now. "the caterpillar card" is just that--a card with a painting of a colorful cartoon caterpillar on it with "thanks" written over it. birthday thank you card--the caterpillar card; father's day thank you card--another caterpillar card; Christmas--yes, the catepillar; random gifts or post-visit--that damned caterpillar. i swear he bought a case of these things once and probably has hundreds of them left. i figure they were on sale. my dad now will tell me over the phone, "hey, nicole, we got the (insert gift here) today. i need to get around to sending you a caterpillar card, but just wanted to let you know the gift made it here safely." while it has become a running joke in my household, those cards always make me smile. my mother, on the other hand, never seems to use the same kind of card twice. but she is the type to notice if someone sent out the same Christmas card that they sent 5 years earlier. sometimes she does add a little note to the caterpillar card, though.

while my dad has a penchant for caterpillar thank you cards, he also has a short list of guys (living and dead) that he finds very worthy of his admiration. this list includes: clint eastwood (as dirty harry especially); charles bronson ("death wish"--back when i was in college, my dad even gave me a sock of quarters to use for self defense, but was saddened to learn that i used the quarters for the laundry room); steve mcqueen ("bullitt"--while this has to be one of the slowest car chase scenes ever, it still excites him); herman munster; mickey mantle; walter payton (aka "sweetness"); and, jimi hendrix. i always like to give him things that have some short of tie-in with these men of greatness. given his love of thank you cards, how clever would it be to get to send him a thank you card with one of their images? this is where the lovely tristan brando of the bella bella company comes in. if being a pr genius and the nose behind the successful monyette paris and other perfumes were not enough, she has also taken up stationery by using some of her original art and illustrations. i found the most lovely surprise from tristan in my mailbox the other day. lovely mini note cards that feature some of my dad's manly icons and a couple of my style icons. i can't wait to surprise my dad with notes written on dirty harry and steve mcqueen note cards. i am sure those will be special enough to him that he will write a thank you for the great thank you card...

...using a caterpillar note card, of course.

note cards above by the bella bella co.