Karina2

I'm Karina, I'm in my mid to late 30s, and I like both coffee and tea, good conversations, scrapbooking and crafting, writing letters and postcards, spending time in nature, doing sports (like yoga), and traveling. I find joy in the little everyday things, I'm always curious about other countries, as well as inspiring stories. I like to listen to music and sing along when I cook. :)

Notes:

• If you don't receive a swap from me, please notify me. I send out my swaps on time. I'm so happy that I discovered swapbot, and it brings me so much joy. So in case something doesn't arrive, it has to be a postal problem and I'll try my best to figure it out.

• When I told my mom about swapbot she liked the idea so much that she wanted to join too. Therefore, both my mom and I are on this site now and since we live in the same house, we have the same address. I do not have a second profile it is just my mom ( @SabineM ). While we do enjoy similar swaps we are not the same person!

I love reading. My favorite books are from authors from different places in the world.

Some examples:

• "Conversations with my Cat" (Conversaciones con mi gata) by Eduardo Jáuregui. He is a psychologist specialized in the sense of humour and positive psychology, and to me there is so much wisdom in his novel.

• "Das Café der guten Wünsche" by Marie Adams, a German novel that's delightful to read.

• "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. There is something magical about this book.

• "The Little Book of Joy" by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu, a wonderful children's book that's beautifully illustrated.

• I also love Lisa Currie's "Surprise Yourself", an activity book with lots of cool ideas to try something new.

I like beautiful and inspiring movies. Just like with books, my favorite movies come from different countries:

• "The Intouchables" is a wonderful movie from France about an extraordinary friendship.

• "The Odd Life of Timothy Green" is my favorite movie at the beginning of autumn, and such a beautiful story.

• "The Velvet Queen" (La panthère des neiges) is an amazing documentary in which photographer Vincent Munier and writer Sylvain Tesson attempt to see a snow leopard in Tibet.

• "Spy Game" is a movie that I find exciting every time I watch it.

• "La Misma Luna" (Under the same moon) is a Mexican-American movie that I like.

• "He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not" (À la folie... pas du tout) is an exciting movie from France (especially the first time you watch it because the story is told from two perspectives and takes a surprising turn).

I have two pen pals. We regularly send letters to each other. One of my pen pals started to craft beautiful pockets and other things for the letters she sent me. I liked it so much that I wanted to try it myself, and since then I love crafting with paper (and creating happy mail). I also started scrapbooking and enjoy it very much.

I like crocheting, especially little things that fit in an envelope so that I can send them with letters.

My Mom and I love to travel together! Our favorite destinations are Portugal and Ireland.

In my 20's I spent 5 weeks in Peru with friends and we traveled the country together. That was one of my biggest adventures so far and an extraordinary experience.

I also have a blog on which I share letters from children from all over the world in which they write about what a happy day looks like to them, and my answer to the children. I started this project about 5 years ago, and I received letters from 45 countries so far. It's a heart project of mine, and it allows me to "travel" in a special way by learning what happiness looks like for children in different parts of the world.

I love the ocean (and nature in general). I like Portuguese azulejos (beautifully painted ceramic tiles), and Irish leprechauns. :)

I love to receive happy mail, and I like lovely surprises. I don’t want to list too many specific Likes & Dislikes because I think it’s fun to receive a surprise and to get a glimpse of somebody’s creativity (what you put together, maybe craft, draw, or decorate, depending on what kind of swap it is).

I like for example stickers, postcards, and notepapers. Everything for crafting and scrapbooking is nice. I also love handmade items. What I don't really need is used stamps.

I value quality over quantity. So you will make me happier with something special rather than sending as many items as possible. For example if you could send a postcard or stickers that you got from a local shop near you, instead of something that is easy to order on the internet from everywhere in the world, I would be overjoyed. :)

As for tea, I like black tea, green tea, fruit tea, as well as herbal tea. The only thing is that I don't really like when it's with vanilla, cinnamon, and stuff like that. I prefer if there's nothing like that added in the tea.