Hooray! My first ever swap! If you're not already familiar with the
International Geek Girl Pen Pals Community, then you should know that one of the many fun activities they plan for members is what's known as "mail swaps"! Each month, there are several themes to choose from, and you can sign up for as many as you want. You get partnered at random with another member, and you both agree to send each other a package of goodies that fit that month's theme(s). So much fun!
Back in February, I finally decided to sign up for one: the
Fictional Crush Swap, because I was so curious about it. The rules were that you had to essentially pretend to be a character that your partner has a 'crush' on/wants to be friends with, and send them a package full of goodies as that character. If you've been getting to know me these past few months, you already know how crazy I am about
Supernatural and
Doctor Who, so my own list consisted of (who else?) but
Dean Winchester and the
10th Doctor as a secondary choice. (But mainly Dean.. 'cause I'm "Team Dean", haha). We mutually agreed to give each other an extra week in sending things,
hence why I'm blogging about this in March!
I was so lucky to get partnered up with none other than official
IGGPPC cooking and book review blogger LydiaJoy, who just happened to be a big Supernatural fan like I am! She was totally willing to pretend to be Dean, and she even had a couple of Supernatural characters in her own list of 'crushes' for me to ponder over and become.. It was meant to be!
Check out what Lydia (as Dean) sent me!
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| Dean doll, dvd, Tardis mug and tea pot are my own! |
In the letter that Lydia included, "Dean" told me the story of how during his and Sam's last hunt, they ran into some British dude who called himself "the Doctor"! (How amazing would a Supernatural/Doctor Who crossover be?!?!) And apparently the Doctor let Dean borrow some of his personal stationary... In keeping with true "Dean-fashion", he mentioned how he thinks this "Doctor" dude is crazy and weird and how they come to disagreements about hunting things. Believe me, I was grinning like the Cheshire Cat the entire time I was reading it.
Dean, however, is now worried enough about encountering weird things that he felt I could use some "protection". So he sent me a bottle of rock salt and a demon-protection pentacle charm necklace:
And for fun, he sent me some hand-written recipe cards for his favorite kinds of pie. (Who knew the guy could bake? I sure didn't!). The Doctor also wrote down his own recipe for homemade Jammy Dodgers! Yum!
One of these days I'll actually try my hand at them! (As I mentioned before, Lydia writes instructional cooking posts for the IGGPPC website, so I know she knows what she's talking about, here!)
There were also several 'postcards' of some of the places Dean has traveled to, made out of a U.S. map. He did circle specific towns, like "Lawrence, Kansas" (his home!), and seemed quite adamant about warning me to stay away from "Carthage, Missouri"!! ;)
OH, and check out the silver polishing cloth! Gotta keep those silver hunters' knives in top shape!
And finally,
the books!!
When we first emailed each other, I thought it'd be a good idea to let each other know our hobbies, to help with item ideas. We both mentioned reading, so Lydia/Dean gave me some cool books: H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" and Ray Bradbury's short story collection: "The October Country"! (And yes, I think it's kind of a secret, but Dean apparently *does* read/is familiar with classics, such as Kurt Vonnegut's works.. he mentions this in the episode "the Monster at the End of this Book" in season 4 - yes, I am a nerd about these things). But ANYways, I have been wanting to read more classics, myself, so I'm super excited about these two selections. "War of the Worlds" is of course, a nod to the Doctor with the sci-fi/alien invasion theme, and "the October Country" mentions demons and apocalyptic omens and the grim reaper, himself! I wonder if
Eric Kripke read this when he was dreaming up Supernatural???
And now, check out what I sent Lydia! I was originally going to go with another, completely different character from her list, but after having some trouble finding the items I had in mind, I decided to 'stay with what I know', and what I know is, of course, Supernatural.
Guess who the character I'm supposed to be is?
I pretended to be none other than the King of Hell himself's human secretary. My boss man asked me to help him put together a gift for his "future queen" Lydia.
Lydia mentioned she liked tea and reading, so I found some delicious hibiscus tea that turns the water super dark red, almost like blood! ;)
And I included a d.i.y. paperclip-bookmark with a cross-stitch image of Crowley that I stitched myself!
*(The pattern for it was purchased on Etsy from the seller GeekyStitches)*
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| isn't he so cute?! |
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I also included a chocolate bar (the darkest chocolate! I love the 'Chocolove XOXO' brand because they include love poems inside the wrappers - they did half my job for me, haha). And the heart necklace charm and mini bouquet of black roses were gorgeous finds from the craft store. The black candle holder was something I already owned, and the red candle looks so perfect inside it, don't you think?!
After taking these photos, I also added a mini glass vial charm filled with some garden soil, (but it was meant to be dirt from the secret location where Crowley's human bones are buried - yes I went all out with this!)
OH, and guess what?? Both Lydia and I received our boxes in the mail on the same day, so she couldn't have had any idea that I had gone with Crowley for hers.. (because we didn't mention who exactly we chose for each other, anyways). But there was a bonus gift inside my package for me..
from Crowley!!
Serendipity. At it's finest.
I guess it was a 'thank you' from him for helping him out with putting together the care package. What a nice boss man.. ;)
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| He says "I wanted to send something as well. Hope you don't mind." |
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I have to give a massive
THANK YOU once again to Lydia for being an awesome swap-partner! I loved what I received and I especially loved putting hers together, too!!
This was a fun experience and I look forward to signing up for more IGGPPC swaps in the future.
