Mail, mail, maiiiiiiil!

Mail calllllll!

via

Isn't this mail box just the cutest? Haha. Oh, how I love my Hello Kitty! Anywho, I got so much wonderful mail this week!

Lets start out with a lovely box of goodies for a review and giveaway from Zombie Heart!

How cute is the tape she used?!

A lovely letter from Miss. Merissa! Oh, how I swoon at the sight of her penmanship!

How cute is her stationary?! And she also sent me a little matching paper goodie. :D

I'm in love with the pocket/tag design. ^^

Next is a fab letter from Kiki on even fabber stationary! Does that make it 'fabu'? I think I might just be making up words now...

And my goodness, stickers! I loooove them! I love Rilakkuma!

Next was a lovely letter and goodies from Anastasia! She sent me some teas and also a really helpful map to help me find the coins she needs to complete her collection! She also sent a photo (but I don't show personal photos.) as well as a very special vintage postcard that has promptly gone on my inspiration wall! I also put ALL of my pen pal photos on my inspiration wall, so her photo is up there, too! :D

Check out the new coin for my collection!! bjhfx-2985512889@sale.craigslist.org

Here are the stamps:

The postcard:

Oh! I almost forgot! She sent me this awesome collection of air mail labels! SO GREAT!

And here is the awesome coin list (it seriously helped me SO MUCH.) and the coins I'm sending! Don't worry, you can't see the states. ;)

Up close!

And what I'm sending! It's not all of it, though! I still have a piggy bank to go through later on today!

A fantastic package, right?! Moving on! To an equally fantastic package! My dearest friend J. from The Cute Side of Life posted a Lord of the Rings quiz and apparently I got the answers right! So, I was EXTREMELY surprised to find such a wonderful present in my mailbox! I was so excited because I adore her so much! She sent cute card, ADORABLE recipe cards, and an (as always!) great note!

I am in love with these recipe cards!!

Rose sent me a great letter! I can tell a letter is from her as soon as I pull it from my box! :)

And last, but CERTAINLY not least! A great (and gorgeous!!) letter from Bee! She always decorates her letters beautifully!!!

WELL! It's rather early in the morning here, but I want to get to writing and working on my Pinterest board for the Chronicle Books contest! :D

Betta Fish: A Guide

I have officially named my new fish 'Ruby'! In fact, I'm thinking about buying a few more 'baby' bettas to raise! For those of you whole aren't familiar with these guys, they are those 'siamese fighting fish' you often see in cups! Not many people know that they come in various 'tail-types'! I figured I would give you folks a rundown on them (like I did tortoises!). I buy most of my fish at mainstream pet stores but I do occasionally visit 'LFS' stores AKA 'Local Fish Stores'. Also, you can buy them online! It's crazy, I know, but you can actually receive aquatic animals in the mail! Aquabid.com is pretty much the eBay of the fishkeeping world!

Oh! I also wanted to mention that males CANNOT be kept together, however, females can be! They are often kept in what we call 'sororities'. Sororities often contain more than/at least three female fish so as to maintain a sort of hierarchy between the females.

So lets get into the various tail-types! They can be quite flashy! The most interesting and crazy looking fish are mostly bred in Thailand and are shipped here from there, direct from breeders. (I've done this before, myself.)

'Veil Tail': Veil Tails are the most common betta fish. Typically the type you see most people having. they are the ones with the long tails. The photo below is of a male veil tail betta fish. Bellow that, is a female, which is the type I believe Ruby is! Notice the rather plain shape to the female's tail.

Next up is the 'crowntail' betta. You can see where they get there name! I'm rather fond of this color. :) Also pictures below is what a female would look like.

Up next is the 'halfmoon' betta. Again, you can tell where the name comes from! First photo is a male, second is a female. You can see that the female's fins are much more...errr...moon-ey? than the female veiltail.

Next is a traditional plakat betta. Below is a male. These guys are often referred to as 'short tail' bettas and are the common 'fighters'. I do not AT ALL condone fighting, by the way! It is awful! But this type is what was used to fight.

Next is the 'halfmoon' plakat, which is a breeding cross between a halfmoon and a traditional plakat. I love these guys as they can be quite flashy and are much faster and a bit more feisty than other types! Sherbet is my only male in this tail type:

Here is another look at a halfmoon plakat:

These are the only types I'm going to display. Other ones to have a look at are doubletail, super deltas, deltas, and various other versions that are the result of crossbreeding. You can check those guys out here as well as have a better look of how these various tail types look on female fish! oh! And don't forget the wild betta types!

OH! And here are some updates on Ruby since she has been in my care!

Most importantly, remember that betta fish ARE NOT meant to be kept in small environments! They do best in at lease a 2 gallon, filtered, heated fish tank/aquarium! These guys are tropical fish and require warmer temperatures! Also, they get stressed out just like any animal! When stressed, these poor things will even eat their own tails off! Dont be the betta owner keeping his/her fish like this!:

Why keep your betta like that when you can keep him or her like this? (I have a bit larger version of this exact tank, only I can't manage to grow such lovely plants!):

And there you go! K's short guide to betta fish! haha. wow, that was longer than I thought it would be!

Mail! (and a cute little brother!)

Well, I've got a few envies to show off here! As well as an adorable photo! Of course (typical kay...urgh.), I managed to forget to photograph my outgoing mail! I promise I'll get better at doing it! It's quite late and I want to get this posted because I've got a bit of work to do on my next post! :) OH! And I've got a job interview tomorrow! Yay! I already have a part-time job, but come June, my hours will be cut to just ten hours a week! So, tomorrow, I'm heading out to interview for a full-time position as an office aid/receptionist and I'm really, REALLY hoping I get it!

Here is the one outgoing photo I managed to take! I hadn't spruced up the envie yet! In fact, I haven't actually finished writing the letter itself! haha. Going to Hannah!

And here's my incoming! :D

I got a lovely letter from Hannah in the UK as well as a SUPER CUTE tote bag! She knows me so well and always find me the most awesome Paris-themed goodies!!

A lovely letter from Elaine in Mallorca! She included a cute little letter set but I'd squirelled it away in my stash before I could take a photo! Aren't the stickers cute? Flamingos and penguins! AND they are raised stickers! We all know how much I adore raised and/or puffy/squishy stickers!

Stamps!

Then came a great letter from Konstantina in Greece! The post lost our previous letter. It's great to finally get back to writing her!

And the always lovely Greek stamps!

Now for the cuteness....my 11 year old brother knocked out on our upstairs loft couch! Awwwwwe.

Also, I thought I would tell you a bit about my personal life here...I had a sort of 'date' (not really a date...somewhere in between hanging out and a date...) with a sort-of ex-boyfriend from quite a while back (sort-of meaning we were never official. haha.) and it went great! I'm interested to see if anything comes of it, but of course, I have no high hopes as they are too hard to crush!

It's review time! The Magic Basket!!

It's time for another review! YAY! This time, I am going to be reviewing The Magic Basket! The next review will be on a stationary product. :D So, before, I begin this review, I really want to say that Miss. J's motto for her shop is fab. Her motto in her shop banner is: "Kawaii Shop for the Young of Heart." Wonderful, right?

So basically, Miss. J.'s work is absolutely adorable! her phone charms and charm bracelets are my personal favorites!

But her necklaces are also fab! When I first had the idea of doing a review on her goodies, I hadn't seen any necklaces slisted, but since then, she has listen two that caught me eye! The first is her Hello Kitty Crystal necklace.

I think this beauty is so classy! It's handcrafted (I can't believe I just said that, haha. Duh, it's handcrafted! haha.) and features a couple of glass pearls and an added adorable pink acrylic bow! Everything is all attached by matching super cute plastic chain link! I'm a lover of this type of 'chain' and it definitely goes well with this piece!

And to top it all off...a cute heart closure!

Another necklace of hers that I recently fell in love with is her lace bow necklace (with Hello Kitty!!).

Created with a handmade lace bow, attached to an antiqued broze link chain with an adorable strawberry themed Hello Kitty figurine at the bottom! You would think that would be it, right? I mean, it's cute as it is, but take a close look at the top right of this piece! Yep! That's a strawberry! To top everything off, she attached a strawberry Lucite charm!

Oh, before I continue to gush, I also wanted to show you guys her packaging. The first thing one see when they receive and order from somewhere/one is the outer packaging. The Magic Basket certainly did not disappoint! Everything was packaged beautifully, with each piece individually housed in a cute mesh bag with gold accents. I'm sure the designs change, but it's still a cute bag nonetheless. Also, she sent along a special kawaii surprise (it will go with the giveaway!) and even that was wrapped up all nice and pretty!

The first things to come out of the package. Kawaii surprise in one tissue wrapped packet, the goodies in the other.

And the little packets inside!

Okay, enough drooling! Now it's time to showcase the goodies that she sent me and what you guys (well, one of you! haha.) will be receiving! But first off, I want to show off the special gift she made especially for moi! I was so excited and surprised! I love it so much. So here it is! A gorgeous charm bracelet!

Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

Those images alone should make ya'll want one for yourself! Anywho, before I end this review. I really want to get into what I think Miss J. is most skilled in. Her phone charms. I have yet to see any phone charms that are this sturdy. I have yanked, pulled, and tried my best to test the strength of these charms and they hold up to the test! Check out the Hawaiian themed one she sent.

As you can see, this particular phone charm has a standard strappy thing (what are those even called??). Some here though...I want you to take notice of just how many beads and accents are on this piece.

Here is an up close photo from her shop:

See them all? This puppy includes faceted quartz beads, letter beads, alpha beads, the adorable charm, AND all of the hardware used to make it (ie. the rings, wire, etc.) and the charm is STILL super light! It's not going to bug you whilst you're talking on the phone, it won't weigh your phone down. The weight thing is something that just blew me away, especially with all of the different elements she had going on this one tiny piece.

Overall...great seller and great artist. Her bead work is lovely and it's strong. I saw no issues with her closures or AND problems with anything really! And her prices are great considering all of the work she puts into each piece!

Definitely check out The Magic Basket and perhaps pick yourself up a new Charmmy Kitty phone strap? Or a charm bracelet? or perhaps you're more of a necklace person? Oh! Or maybe even a dual Hello Kitty keychain/phone strap!? Too cute!