Pear-what?

Ever since I could hold a pen, I’ve been writing letters.

Mom trained us well in the art of thank-you note writing, and I loved being pen-pals with Nana and my Aunt Mary Lou.

If I became your friend at summer camp, you were going to get a letter from me in the mail. Same goes for my friends who lived just down the street. Yep. I wrote letters to people who lived within spitting distance of our house.

Because, why not?

I absolutely LOVE getting mail. Real mail. The kind that comes in a hand-addressed envelope. And I love writing letters almost as much as I enjoy receiving them.

Even in this age of digital communication, I’m proud to wave my letter-writing flag proudly. I still do it. With a pen and paper.

As a kid, I’d save my allowance for a trip to the cute shop that had a whole wall of stationery to choose from. My favorite was the ubiquitous brown-on-brown teddy bear pattern. Any other children of the 80s remember that one?

So when I discovered the opportunity to partner with Pear Tree Greetings, I jumped all over it. Because CUTE PAPER!

Their designs are gorgeous, and their philosophy is even better: Beautiful stationery can be affordable.

As a Pearista, I’ll be able to share the paper love with you guys! Each month, I’ll host a giveaway sponsored by Pear Tree Greetings, and there also will be great coupons and discounts up for grabs.

The timing is serendipitous. This month, Pear Tree has issued the “Pen to Paper” challenge, encouraging us “istas” to write one letter a week for four weeks to anyone we want, for any reason. I received a set of beautiful orange notecards (pictured above), and I wrote my first letter to a good friend who’s about to have a baby. She lives in Austin, so we never get to see each other.

The note is short and sweet. But I hope it will make her happy.

Because who doesn’t love getting real mail, right?