catterly

Update 10/21/16: I'm taking a bit of a break due to some pet issues and home projects that are just colliding a bit too much for me to keep up well. I will still do the occasional small PC swap, but that's it for awhile. If you are one of my pen pals or PC pals - I will get back to you! One day!

Hello, my name is Avery. I mostly participate in flat mail swaps in the form of postcards, note cards, and pen pal letters, but also enjoy "goodies" swaps.

I mark my swaps as “Sent” when I put them in the mail drop. This means they will sometime be postmarked the day after or, in the case of the weekend, two days, but I do try to find a drop that hasn't picked up for the day.

I follow through on anything I sign up for. If you haven't received something from me, please contact me before rating.

Rating is important to me, and so I make it just as important to rate others. Besides that, it's a good way to say thank you! I usually rate within two days of receiving. If I have not rated you, I probably have not received that item, so feel free to message me if it seems as if your item should have arrived and been rated.

I am 32, married, and live in a house with a lot of cats, dogs, ferrets, rats, snakes, and more besides. If you can’t tell, animals are kind of my life.

I work at a book store, which is convenient and a little catastrophic for a bookworm. The books outnumber the animals, which is good because they don't leave nearly as many messes.

My hobbies include reading, writing, gaming, hiking, and of course, snail mailing! I started with Postcrossing a few months ago and have gotten quite hooked. I am not an artsy-craftsy person, though, except for the occasional coloring page. I love seeing and receiving art/crafts, but my brain is not really wired to make it myself. I may eventually try a few simpler things and see what happens.

Postcard swaps are my favorite! I love getting postcards - store bought, handmade, Zazzle, whatever! My only request is for swaps of blank postcards, I would really rather not get touristy cards unless they are Oklahoma or Texas based. Those are the only two states I've lived in and would feel comfortable resending. :)

But really, I prefer naked, written, and stamped postcards the best. I enjoy the messages as much as the pictures, often more. I like reading about what you like to do, your interests and experiences, what you’re reading, just about anything really. I also like recommendations for books, movies, shows and music.

Below is a list of some of my favorite images, but I also like to be surprised, so don’t feel obligated to only select content from here. This is in no particular order, #20 is just as exciting as #1 (though #4 might make me explode into sparkles and rainbows).

1. Animals - Photos, art, illustrations, cartoons, kawaii, anthro, whatever - favorites are cats, tigers, mountain lions, ferrets, possums, rabbits, sloths, foxes, wolves, hedgehogs, rats, bats, owls, crows, ravens, magpies, bluejays, geese, snakes, lizards, spiders, moths, mantids, cicadas, seals, octopi, and seahorses… and anything unique to where you live. Also dinosaurs and any cryptid.

2. Old natural history art - zoological, botanical, entomological.

3. Kawaii and mock-kawaii, especially animals and food. I love me some Sanrio as well.

4. Jetoy Choo Choo Cats! I've received a few of these now, and I love them. If you send me one of these, I would give you a 10-heart, 50-point rating if I could.

5. Doors, windows, and pathways. Older architectural structures, either photography or art.

6. Fantasy - Fairies, dragons, other mythical beasts, landscapes, witches, and anything else a bit whimsical.

7. Pagan or Occult - Symbols, astrology, deities, spirits, spellcasting imagery, herbs, crystals, wheel of the year and other holidays, anything really.

8. Interesting skies - weather, night, stars, clouds, aurora borealis, etc.

9. Holidays / festivals / events from your home.

10. Dark / creepy / horror / monsters / ghosts / skeletons / abandoned places (please nothing extremely gory or violent)

11. Books / reading / reading nooks / printed page / ink / writing / journals

12. Humor - can be a bit rude / sarcastic / dry / morbid. Profanity is fine, but I do not want anything racist, sexist, or otherwise hateful or bullying in nature. I would also rather avoid politics in my snail mail.

13. Anything LGBTQIA-friendly.

14. Video games - my favorite is World of Warcraft, but I also enjoy Dragon Age, Skyrim, Tomb Raider, Fallout 4, and Diablo III. Retro video game stuff is always welcome, too. I’m also a huge Sims fan.

15. Animated movies, like Disney, Studio Ghibli, and Pixar - favorites are Zootopia, Spirited Away, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Brave, Inside Out, Monsters Inc, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Lego Movie, Despicable Me / Minions, and How to Train Your Dragon.

16. Other fandoms I’m at least a part-timer in - Jurassic Park, American Horror Story, Harry Potter, Star Wars (I heart BB-8), Fullmetal Alchemist, Adventure Time (Marceline love), Lord of the Rings, Bob’s Burgers, Futurama, Home Movies, and King of the Hill. My spouse really likes Pokemon, Steven Universe, and Doctor Who, so I’d welcome those as well.

17. Any pop culture outside of the US is very interesting to me. I don’t even mind ads when sent from outside the US.

18. Anything with non-English words. A translation would be appreciated, though.

19. Circus / carnivals / clowns - can be cute, weird, or creepy.

20. Anything else just weird or quirky.

I detest post office lines, and being rather non-crafty on top of that, I tend to stick to Type 2 flat mail swaps. I do enjoy sending and receiving stuffed envelopes of randomness though, especially if they have to do with the postcard favorites listed above! Here are some examples.

1. Stickers (kawaii are my faves)
2. Bookmarks (storebought or handmade)
3. Washi Tape
4. Ephemera, especially non-US
5. Book Pages
6. Stationery
7. Notecards
8. Coins
9. Labels
10. Stamps
11. Fun things for my bullet journal

This is by no means an all-inclusive list. I’m still new, so I may not know everything I like yet. For example, I’m curious to know more about friendship books and some other things, but I don’t really understand what they are yet…

I would also love to receive a few ATCs. They sound really awesome, and one day I might try to make some of my own. I’d like to see a few in person, though, just to get an idea of what is expected from them. They can be from you or reswapped from a previous swap. I know I will be lucky to get any since I’m too scared to actually sign up for a trade. XD

I'm also getting more curious about pocket letters.

I am not interested in buttons, brads, paper clips, ribbons, and die cuts … I really don’t craft enough to make items like these worthwhile for me to store.

BOOKS

My favorite genres are young adult, fantasy, horror, and fiction literature. I also read a wide range of nonfiction depending on my current projects, which currently include mythology, religion, occult, Korean history and language, and the arctic.

Here's a current top ten list in no particular order...

1. Inkworld series by Cornelia Funke
2. Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
3. The Orphan's Tales series by Catherynne M. Valente
4. Too many to count by H.P. Lovecraft
5. The Guardians of Ga'Hoole series by Kathryn Lasky
6. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis
7. The Abhorsen series by Garth Nix
8. The Familiar series by Mark Z. Danielewski
9. Pretty much anything by Flannery O'Connor
10. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein & Bram Stocker’s Dracula… I love me some classic monsters.

GAMES

I play a variety of video and board games. I’ve never played tabletop RPGs, though I think it would be fun… for a few hours…

Here are my top ten favorite games, top 6 being video games and bottom 4 being board games:

1. World of Warcraft (For the Horde!)
2. The Sims 4 & 3
3. Diablo III
4. Dragon Age Origins & Inquisition
5. Tomb Raider
6. Skyrim
7. Betrayal at House on the Hill
8. Pathfinders Adventure Card Game
9. Elder Sign
10. Tokkaido

MOVIES

I’m kind of like a little kid in that I obsessively watch the same movies over and over again. I don’t know. This means I end up not really seeing a lot of movies until they’ve been out awhile, so I’m usually a little behind the times.

Here are my current favorites:

1. Zootopia
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox
3. Spirited Away
4. Inside Out
5. Star Wars (Episodes IV-VII, the prequels are dead to me)
6. Jurassic Park (all, yes, even the second one, those t-rexes were adorable)
7. Lilo & Stitch
8. Despicable Me / Minions
9. Monsters Inc. and Monsters University
10. How to Train Your Dragon

I like the occasional horror movie, too, but more the psychological or spooky rather than super violent or gory.

I do not care for romance or drama, and rarely comedies. It’s pretty much kids, action/adventure, and horror with me.

TV

So cable is expensive, and I really don’t watch Netflix that much. This means I rarely get into a tv show, and many that I like are pretty old. But here we go anyway…

1. Bob’s Burgers
2. Home Movies
3. American Horror Story (Coven is my favorite)
4. Futurama
5. King of the Hill
6. Adventure Time
7. Mission Hill
8. X-Files
9. Fullmetal Alchemist
10. Pretty Little Liars (Guilty pleasure, I have no idea, but I love it)

MUSIC

I like a lot of different kinds of music, it usually just depends on my mood. I regularly enjoy listening to metal, rock, orchestral scores, folk, pagan, and a variety of independent artists.

Here are some of my favorite artists with some of their songs I really enjoy:

1. S.J. Tucker (“City of Marrow”, “Firebird’s Child”, “Glashtyn Shanty”, “Dream of Mississippi”, “For Iago”, “Stolen Season”, “Ravens in the Library”, “Were-Owl”, “Cheshire Kitten”, “Girl with the Lion’s Tail”, like there are so many, you don’t understand, she is my favorite ever)
2. Blind Guardian (“Quest for Tanelorn”, “And Then there was Silence”, “Sacred Worlds”, “Wheel of Time”, “Mordred’s Song”)
3. Faun (“Walpurgisnacht”, “Schrei es in die Winde”, “Herr Heinerich”)
4. The Civil Wars (“Devil’s Backbone”, “Oh Henry”, “Barton Hollow”, “Kingdom Come”)
5. Nightwish (“Greatest Show on Earth”, “The Poet and the Pendulum”, “Storytime”)
6. Heather Dale (“Mordred’s Lullaby”, “Hunter”, “Medusa”, “Adrift”)
7. Clandestine (“Lonesome Heaven”, “Babylon”, “Innisfree”, “Cannonball”)
8. Leaves’ Eyes (“Meredead”, “Leaves’ Eyes”, “Angus and the Swan”)
9. Blackmore’s Night (“Fires at Midnight”, “Storm”, “Way to Mandalay”)
10. Rasputina (“Our Lies”, “Possum of the Grotto” “When I Was a Young Girl”)

Likes:

1. Anything from the Postcards or Favorites lists.

2. Favorite colors are purples and reds and greens and earthy

3. Also like black and white or antique

4. Scents: Earthy or spicy, lavender, almond, lemon, ginger, juniper, hemp

Dislikes:

1. Tea

2. Vintage style stuff

3. Yellow

4. Comics… They are just not my brand of nerdy

5. Buttons, brads, paper clips, ribbons, die cuts … I really don’t craft enough to make items like these worthwhile for me to store. Save them for someone who will love them.

6. Scents: Floral or fruit not mentioned in Likes

7. Make-up. I rarely wear any.

8. Anything cruel or hate-centric (abuse, racism, sexism, etc.)

I’m sure both of these lists will grow the longer I am here. In the meantime, thanks for swapping with me!