eileendoe

Hello everyone! I'm a female, 30, and I've lived in states as varied as Missouri, DC, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. I'm originally from Columbus, Ohio and have recently moved to California. I'm always interested in doing private swaps--just contact me!

I try to put a lot of thought into the swaps I join and always read my partners' profiles. I appreciate when my partners read my profile, too, and put together a thoughtful swap. What is the point of swapping when you just throw something into an envelope and do not even write a note?

I love stationery and enjoy letter writing, thrifting, and going to estate sales to find new things--it's fun and adventurous because you never know what sort of vintage items you will find. Take a peek at my Flickr photos to see some stationery I love and vintage items I own. Yes, I LOVE paper!

Tell Me
Tell me about your day or week. I'd like to hear about the great cities you've visited or the wonderful restaurant down the street from you. What do you like to eat and why?

I really enjoy traveling abroad (Paris and Rome are favorites, Singapore was fascinating, and I adore Seoul), tasting my way across countries. I'm not the most adventurous eater, admittedly, but I consider myself something of a foodie. I also don't eat beef or pork or lamb, purely for environmental reasons. Anyway, don't be surprised if you receive letters from me about what I grew, cooked, and ate!

Thus far, I've been to France, Italy, England, Ireland, Belgium, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand. I've been quite fortunate, I know, but there is still so much more of the world I'd like to see!

I love visiting farmers markets, picking fresh peaches straight from the tree, cooking both American classics and ethnic favorites as well, and growing my own tomatoes and herbs. I made a lot of thin crust margherita pizzas from scratch this summer using homegrown basil and tomatoes, and sometimes homemade mozzarella.

On Baking
I'm quite the baker, though I tend to use about half the sugar many American recipes suggest. I've also started baking with agave nectar. I guess I don't have the biggest sweet tooth, but I enjoy baked goods enough to recreate less-sweet versions.

I would love to see recipes of what other people bake (in the US and in other countries, too). I enjoy making molten chocolate cakes (with Valrhona chocolate, of course!) and recently made some carrot cake and zucchini bread, too. I love rustic fruit or chocolate desserts. If you're sending me a recipe, don't worry about sending a less-sweet one (but don't send one with canned fruit). I will adjust it as needed! I love dark chocolate (70% or up), too, but sadly I don't think that will survive most swaps!

On Music
I love anything with a lot of passion in it (think some of James Blunt's more passionate songs, what he calls "miserable songs"). I also love Bruno Mars and Jason Mraz.

I love jazz, including anything from Ella Fitzgerald, Eva Cassidy, or Frank Sinatra.

One of my favorite songs ever is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" by Israel Kamakawiwoʻole.

On Movies
Anything Pixar is a big winner in my book (A Bug's Life is my favorite); I love Tangled. I also love Pride & Prejudice (with Keira Knightley), A Very Long Engagement, Atonement, and other period dramas. I enjoy old movies such as those starring Cary Grant, Gregory Peck, Katharine Hepburn, or Audrey Hepburn. Shawshank Redemption is probably my favorite movie of all time, though.

On Television
As for TV, I enjoy watching Monk, In Plain Sight, Grey's Anatomy, Big Love, Glee, and Mad Men. I've also recently grown to like Little House on the Prairie. And though I haven't seen it in ages, I love Star Trek: Deep Space 9, too!

I also enjoyed watching the second season of MasterChef and was able to meet and chat with the winner, Jennifer Behm, at the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival!

Most of the books I read are non-fiction because I love learning about events that shape our lives today.

Some of my favorite books include The Devil in the White City, a fascinating tale about murder and Chicago's architecture; Botany of Desire, about the origins of four different plants; Sex with Kings, about some of the more famous royal mistresses; Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, which I enjoyed shortly before seeing the Sistine Chapel; and Freakonomics, because it is a book about life told from the perspective of economists.

I'm a former scrapbooker so I have a lot of scrapbooking supplies that I might send out in swaps (to those who want them, of course). I do not wish to receive anything for scrapbooking or most crafts, including scrapbook paper, ribbons, sewing items, or random bits and bobs.

Lately I've become interested in mail art and I've always loved rubber stamps.

STATIONERY--half sheets (A5 size), please!! I can't manage to write a straight line across A4 paper! Correspondence cards, too!

• French paper (Clairefontaine, G. Lalo, Jean Rouget); Belgian stationery (Original Crown Mill); Italian stationery (Kartos, Rossi, Amalfi, Florentine)

• Crane (love their engraved stuff)

• paper with a nice texture (cockle finish onion skin or lokta paper)

• letterpress cards

• cats, peacocks, birds, matryoshkas

• Paris, vintage Paris; France, Italy, Korea, Japan, England, Belgium, Mexico and anything related to them!

• Chronicle Books postcards or stationery; 'Garden Blossoms,' Susie Ghahremani's owls, or Paper + Cup

• vintage typewriters (typewritten letters--not sure a typewriter will fit into a stuffed envelope!), onion skin paper, vintage stationery, air mail

• usable vintage items like paper, stationery, postage stamps, and address labels, NOT ephemera (unless I've signed up for a stuffed envelope swap)

• fountain pens & ink

• vintage Pyrex

• things with old lettering, new items that look vintage

• John Derian, Cavallini

• pretty or interesting postage stamps (especially on letters or postcards)

• washi (Japanese) tape, some cute or pretty decotape

• I adore cardamom chocolate bars from Zaabar in Brussels. Would gladly trade with someone in Europe since the shipping alone to the US for one bar is €40,00!

• people who send chatty notes/messages with their swaps (including postcards)--otherwise I feel like I'm buying something from a store! Thoughtful swaps and swappers. Please don't just check me off of a list.

• I'd describe my style as elegant, simple, sometimes whimsical; I love vintage 50s Kelly-style bags, trench coats, skinny jeans with knee boots or ballet slippers, blank stationery (made of quality paper), a touch of gold, thick textured paper, wax seals, calligraphy (receiving--I can't write it!), fountain pens, vintage-looking items. Quality preferred over quantity.

• blue-grey, muted colors like olive green, grey, dusky purple; most colors except for neon

• color combos: yellow/grey, turquoise/red, blue/red/white (air mail), blue/espresso brown

• decorated & air mail envelopes (LOVE air mail anything!); pretty or vintage or whimsical mailing labels; wax seals; calligraphy and hand-drawn illustrations; photographs or postcards stylized to appear vintage

• artsy or touristy postcards (from YOUR area, not somewhere else), postcards written on and naked

• breakfast (savory, not sweet, recipes!), strong cappuccinos

• quality tea (usually loose) such as jasmine pearl tea, Lady Londonderry, Lychee black, other greens and blacks (no Earl Grey or fruity herbals), Honeybush or Yerba Mate. please no cheap teas or Celestial Seasonings.

• matryoshkas, cats, peacocks, birds, owls, deer, mushrooms, gnomes, hedgehogs, squirrels, other woodland-y creatures, sheep, otters

• butterflies, bees, ladybugs, fireflies, dragonflies

• tulips, blue hydrangeas

• Paris, vintage Paris

• kawaii items with cats, matryoshkas, peacocks, or even Paris

• characters: Jetoy cats, Kutusitanyanko (a cat), Palette's Sweet Street (a cat in Paris), Kireizukin Seikatsu (a raccoon)

• long, rambling profiles so I don't have to guess what you like :-)

• items on my Amazon wishlist; I've listed it so you can see the style of some things I like, not so you can buy me things there.

• prefer store-bought cards and postcards over handmade

• Green-inspired collection at Target

I will love all illustrations or art you might want to create since I have no talent in that area and am in awe of anyone who has any.

I will always appreciate any effort you put into whatever you send me, of course!

• A4/letter size stationery (strongly prefer half-sheets--can't write straight lines for so long!), computer stationery, Disney stickers or stationery

• dogs (sorry, I'm a cat lover!)

• sticker flakes, stickers with cut-off edges, stickers for teachers (good job!), Disney stickers (bears repeating; I've received some with several swaps already!)

• smiling food, kawaii with photos (no Hello Kitty--not a fan)

• fantastical, paranormal, dark or creepy things

• neon bright colors

• collages, ATCs

• anything overtly religious (excluding images of the books medieval monks used to write by hand); Christmas, Easter are fine!

• vintage from the 70s or 80s

• recipe cards from grocery stores (send me a recipe you make at home) or recipes with pork, beef, lamb

• Earl Grey tea or anything with Bergamot (hate the smell/taste)

• anything scented (except tea) as I have a pretty sensitive nose

• smell of incense or cigarette smoke

• jewelry

• anything sweet, including drink or sugar packets, candies or cookies (and no fake sugar, please) except dark chocolate

• Walmart--I think they are evil (I do like Target, though)

• Please trim the perforated edges off of postcards or bookmarks. I don't mind if you get them from a book, but I dislike the perforated edges.

• Unthoughtful swappers. A couple of sentences (or a page!) will make your card/swap memorable!

• Cards that do not have properly sized matching envelopes (especially in notecard swaps).

I would love to do private swaps, mostly of paper! As you may have gathered, I have tons of stationery. I tend to favor quality over quantity, but in my case, I have both. I'm interested in trading sets, i.e., one/two sheets and a matching envelope or one card and a matching envelope for the same.

What I can offer:

• a fair amount of postcards, especially ones with art, birds, Delaware, South Carolina, Philadelphia

• note cards with birds, vintage-y drawings, and cats, also letterpress ones

• stationery sheets in blue, pink, grey, with matching lined envelopes, cream stationery from Crane

• tons of correspondence cards, mostly unadorned but some with printed or engraved or letterpress designs