TinyPrints and the Art of Thank-Yous.

Growing up, there were certain things that were required of my brother and I in our home. We had the usual chores that we cried and complained about (like making our beds - the horror of it!); we had to be outdoors for at least part of the day if the weather permitted, and we had to write thank-you notes.

My mother insisted upon us writing a thank-you note for every single gift that we ever received - ever. It's a lovely thing, and I never complained about it for the sporadic gift that Poppy would give me, but once the winter holidays and birthdays rolled around and Patrick and I were writing at least thirty thank-you notes, we started to regret it a little. It was her rule that if we didn't send a relative or friend a card, our mother then had the right to tell them not to send us anymore gifts.

When I got to college (after my high-school graduation party where I wrote no less than 200 thank-yous), I felt at peace because now, I didn't have to make my bed and I could be done with those life and time consuming thank you notes!

I found though, that I've kept writing them. There is something about taking the time out of your day to let someone know that their generosity and time is appreciated that I just cannot turn my back on.

I saw a flash of myself as my mother after I was in a friend's wedding during college - so as a poor college graduate with no full-time work lined up, I had to buy my bridesmaid dress, shoes, throw a shower, buy gifts, etc. - and this friend never sent a thank you note to anyone who attended her wedding. One night at dinner someone brought that up to her, and she sniffed and said, "No one should expect that, it's an outdated tradition."

Call me old-fashioned, but I don't think that taking less than five minutes out of your day to let someone know that you appreciate them is something outdated, or that we should forget about. There's something really special about getting mail - real mail, aka not a bill - that shows that someone took the time and effort to acknowledge you.

The art form that I have adopted for writing thank-you notes is as follows:

1. Get some amazing thank-you notes that you WANT to write on. No one says that you can't show off your impeccable taste while being grateful, right?

2. When starting out your thank-you note, begin by just thanking that person for not just the item they got you, but also for thinking of you. Be genuine though, and try to switch up the way that you phrase it so it doesn't come off as though you have a pre-written, generic thank-you.

If someone gives me money, I always tell them what I'm planning on doing with the money, even if I have to self sabotage a bit and say, "I really appreciate the money you sent me. I'm planning on being very boring and putting it into savings until I can figure out how I want to use it!" Being more specific can help connect people to you personally and just feel like they're a part of your life.

3. Restate how much you appreciate their generosity, and include information about any time you might see them soon.

*Even if you hate something that someone sent you, try to find something positive to say about it without going overboard.

For example, one year my Poppy's girlfriend got me a huge sweater that had enormous mice with pieces of cheese all over it. Is there anything I could be thankful for with that gift?

Dear MaryAnn,

Thank you so much for the thoughtful gift that you gave me for Christmas. The mouse on that sweater is too cute for words and it was a very unique sweater - none of my friends have one! I really appreciate you taking the time to think of me. It was great to see you during the holidays, and I'm sure we will see you soon. Say hi to Suzanne for me!

Thanks again so much.

Love, Allison

Don't be confused and think that a thank-you note needs to be a novel. All it needs to do is show genuine thanks for whatever it was that someone bought for you.

Tiny Prints, an online store, can't help you in actually writing an awesome thank-you note, but they can easily check item #1 off of your checklist.

Tinyprints.com - a division of Shutterfly offers a TON of awesome thank-you notes in a ton of different designs. They're easily customizable so that you can personalize them too. I was sent an email to check out TinyPrints and their thank-yous, and no joke, I spent a good 45 minutes debating on which ones I wanted to order before choosing mine.

Even the boyfriend said he was impressed by these - he said they remind him of the chalkboard writing in a bar or speakeasy (shocker that is where his mind went!).

Having great stationary absolutely motivates me to actually WANT to write thank-you notes - while my seven year old self looks at grown-up me and wonders where life took such a wrong turn.

These were my TinyPrints thank-yous and a note I wrote to a family who bought me a housewarming gift!

Tiny Prints is way more than just notecards though - they also offer invitations, photo iPhone cases, and, my favorite - address labels. Their choice of designs for address labels are on point and very versatile, so ou can easily customize something that fits your personality (and a great thing to put on the envelope of your thank-you notes so that people who are in awe of your writing ability will be able to send you money for your birthday!).

Here are some of the beauties you can get from TinyPrints - and there are MILLIONS of amazing options for men and women.

Any favorites from the TinyPrints site? Did anyone else have slave-driver parents who made them break their hands writing thank-you notes? Share your stories!

Currently listening to: Myth - Beach House

The One Where I Play Catch Up.

My life as of 2013 has been beautiful. Without saying too many words, these events have made a big impact on me so far this year (and I've gotten too lazy to dedicate an entire post to each).

The one when I turned 25. 

My birthday this year was filled with great food, dancing until it hurt, time with my favorite friends, a ridiculous amount of iPhone pictures that I did not remember taking the next day, a really awful hangover, and more cake and celebrations. All in all, I cannot complain one bit.


Word to the wise - don't drink wine and then switch to beer.



The one with the Rangers game.
When they won 5-3 against the Lightning. Aka my first hockey game ev-er (though down to my nails, I looked like a fan).


The one where we went into the city at 3:30 a.m.
Because some nights at the bar require an impromptu trip to the city for chicken and rice from a street vendor past 3 a.m. after leaving the bar.
(I ate neither chicken or rice, but danced to house music in the car the whole ride there).


Edwin decided to play a little music for the parking lot - to which someone yelled out of a window, "Shut the f*ck UP." So rude to diminish such talent.


The one where Edwin and I were extremely overdressed for my aunt's 50th surprise party because we were double dipping on parties that night.



And my dad got to play bartender for all of us - fact: he is as heavy handed as I am, which is why sticking to beer was a brilliant option for moi.


The one with Steph's champagne birthday celebration.
Which featured everyone dressing up, too many drinks (mainly featuring champagne, including beer brewed with champagne!), and glow stick earrings/necklaces/etc. Aka the one where my phone died 3 pictures later, so I don't have any of the birthday girl.. whoops.



The one where my boyfriend and I were mice.
...For a wine and cheese party that said costumes were highly suggested. We were the only ones who dressed up.



The one with BYOB sushi night with the girls.
NO BOYFRIENDS OR HUSBANDS ALLOWED.


The one when I had the greatest mac and cheese of my entire life. 
Edwin picked me up after my class in the city and surprised me by taking me out for ridiculously amazing mac and cheese on the Upper East Side, and then to McSorley's - a bar in the city that was frequented by Lincoln (!!) and has been around since 1854 (!!). You walk in to sawdust on the floor, uneven floorboards, and bartenders who carry at least 12 beers at a time. They have two kinds of beer - light or dark, and when you order one, they bring you two. This was my kind of afternoon - especially since we ended it at Trader Joe's to buy $4 wine.


The one with all the beer, pizza, and Kan Jam.
An impromptu pizza making party at Edwin's, along with his entire family/extended family. We all made our own pizzas, then Edwin, his two brothers, brother-in-law, and I played KanJam (a game involving hitting Frisbees with your bare hands - I have bruises all over my body today) that Team Edwin/Allison dominated.

Pre-pizza snacks in the backyard for deux.


The only pictures I have of the actual pizza were from Edward's Instagram account. Oops!

The greatest game on earth.

What are your favorite activities to take part in with your friends?
Any fun, cheap, creative date ideas?

Currently listening to: Sweet Pea - Amos Lee

Two Years Later.

It still blows my mind that it's been two years since Poppy has been gone. After he passed away, I was in a really bad place - down under 100 pounds, couldn't/wouldn't eat or go out or really do anything enjoyable. The fact that it was so unexpected and that I lost my number one fan and supporter in life took such a massive toll on me that my emotional and physical well being was just falling into pieces. 

It was the lowest point in my life, and was a huge part of my absence from blogging during that point. There was nothing in my life that made me happy, and looking back now, it's scary to me to think of the low point where I was. I have no shame in admitting where I was and how far I fell - and that I needed therapy and a lot of support from family and friends in order to work my way up from that scary, dark point in my life. It's so cliche, but I firmly believe that all the things in life that we go through make us stronger - we may not see it right away, but down the line, we'll be able to place how we grew from point A to point B. 

Two years later, I'm in a MUCH better place, but my heart still hurts so often from the void that he left in my life. I've had so many huge things happen that I wish I could call him up about and just sit with him in his backyard or on his sofa after walking in his sliding glass door (that was NEVER unlocked) and discuss with him.

I know he would be so proud of all of our family - my brother and I are now ridiculously good friends, which happened after his funeral, when we gave up on the petty bullshit that had kept us from getting along for so many years; my cousin Thomas got recruited on a full scholarship for golf to an excellent school, and my cousin Tim just accepted a football position at Georgetown for the fall. My dad and his brother meet at least monthly for dinner or lunch to catch up, and they go out for drinks with their sister bi-monthly. We've all learned to deal with our hurt over him not being physically present (typically over a LOT of drinks), but we've gotten through it by learning to reach out and express how we're feeling to one another - something that we've never been able to do beforehand. 

When I found out that my offer on my condo was accepted, I burst into tears - part happy, and part sad because I knew how proud he would be of me and how he would probably be the first one to send a card and gift with congratulations and his name signed in a huge heart - his signature signage. My housewarming party is going to be empty because he isn't going to be here to see it all and be a part of this next step in my life, and that makes moving forward so difficult for me.

I wish that I could get his unsolicited advice about work - since he was a principal for 20+ years, he was always giving ridiculously outdated advice (like how to write lesson plans by hand) - but right now I'd do anything for another lecture that isn't at all applicable to teaching in 2013.

Last year (my first year teaching), after one of my huge reviews that I did very well on, my aunt (who works in my building) told me that the principal told her I was a shining star in the field and someone that the district should watch out for, in a good way. She came to me and told me how proud Poppy would be of me, and I just broke down because all that I wanted was to call him up and thank him for being the person who believed in me and encouraged me the most when I was in high school and college. No matter what I did or how badly I messed up, he was always there to either kick me in the ass and tell me that I could do better, or reassure me that everything was going to be okay and that I could pull through and turn a negative into a positive. 

I think the reason that I hold on so tightly to his memory is because I wish I could be more of the person who he was.



He was a traveler - going to Hawaii every spring for at least a month to play golf and get impossibly tan; he was an artist - taking time to master oils, acrylics, and watercolors and doing everything from memory; he was a reader - devouring books left and right, and underlining his favorite passages and portions (and now that I've inherited a ton of his books, I try to figure out why certain passages were meaningful to him). He sang songs to us that made absolutely no sense, but he sang them because they made us laugh or smile - even though we heard them hundreds of times.

His family always came first. Even when he was in Hawaii every year in his beach house, he made a point to go shopping for all of us - shipping pineapples back to us every week directly from Hawaii because he knew we loved them and buying us knick-knacks that we absolutely did not need, but now treasure. He bought a townhouse in Wildwood, for the sole purpose of us all spending time together as a family (and the memories that ensued from eleven of us being in a four-bedroom townhouse will be something that I will share with my nieces and nephews, or possibly children one day).

He was so proud of my brother on his graduation - and he was also at every single one of my brother's track and wrestling meets, to the point that he was awarded an "honorary coach" position at their annual sports banquet; him at his Wildwood condo, just being himself.

He was stubborn as hell - but now looking back, I think he was just so sure of himself and his opinions, that he wouldn't let anything else rattle him or shape him.  There were so many arguments that we got into with him, and never got anywhere, because he did not care - he wasn't changing his mind. Nowadays with people who never make a stance on anything and blow whichever way the wind takes them, I think we need more stubborn jackasses who stand their ground and refuse to accept less than the standards they've set for themselves.

Dying Easter eggs at my parents' Cape Cod house (where we both dropped at least 4 eggs and my mom had to go out and buy more); with Cooper who he hated at first, but became best buddies with after the first year.


God, he loved us all so much. He loved us no matter what and found something to compliment us on, no matter how badly we messed up. He never held a grudge with us - all of our mistakes were seemingly forgotten and we got to start over every time we saw him. He held us to high standards, but they weren't impossible or unattainable standards - if we were happy, we were succeeding; if we weren't happy, it was time to find a way to shape up.



He was so happy - almost always. I can't picture a time when he wasn't smiling or laughing. If we weren't happy or laughing, he would try to get us there - tickling us or telling lame jokes just to crack a smile.

All candid pictures from the Wildwood condo.

Everyone he met loved him because he was so filled with life up until the very end. Before his knee replacement surgery, which ended up causing an infection that took his life, my dad spent an entire day with him while he went about his errands. Poppy had his routine - the bagel shop, bank, grocery store to buy two things, coffee shop, local lunch place, country club, etc - and my dad told me that everywhere he went, he was greeted by name. When he introduced my dad to the people at every single place they frequented, everyone said that they had heard so much about my father, and asked how Patrick and I were doing (again, by name). Poppy was so proud of all of us, and established relationships with everyone he met, and he couldn't help but brag about his family and all of our accomplishments, as if my brother, cousins, and I were making millions of dollars doing our sports or with school work.

St. Patrick's Day (with his beloved Guinness shirt, his favorite beer) and Easter 2009 at the Cape house.


Looking back, two years down the road, I don't think I'll ever be over it. I remember people saying that it would get easier and would hurt less, but that's not the fact at all. I think we kind of learn how to cope and deal with things, but you can never expect to get over losing someone who you love so very much.

With a Magnolia Bakery cupcake and at Pat's graduation in 2008.


I wish he could still be a part of my life in a tangible way, but all that I can do is hope that I can make him proud and be even half of the person that he thought I could be become. I wish he could visit my new place, come visit work with me, meet my boyfriend, celebrate birthdays and holidays with me - but as much as it still stings not having him here, I know he will always be such an integral part of my life forever.

I'd like to pass on some of his key advice to all of you - advice that I'll always remember:

1. Don't take life too seriously - do the things that you love and make time for all of your hobbies.

2. Remember that there are more horses asses in this world than horses - learn how to handle that [this was his favorite saying ever]/.

3. Never, ever let ANYONE tell you that you're not good enough.

4. Fight like hell for what's important to you and don't worry about what anyone else thinks.

5. If you're not happy with the direction of your life, do something about it - don't rely on other people to dictate your happiness.

6. If all else fails, have a pint of Guinness.

What's the best advice you've ever received from a family member?

P.S. Unrelated, but don't forget to follow on Bloglovin! I don't want to miss out on any of you and will follow you all back <3 i="" nbsp="">

Currently listening to: What Sarah Said - Death Cab for Cutie