A Letter To July - 2014

I was inspired to do this by Yulin Kuang's video A Letter To July, which itself was inspired by the Letters to July project by Emily Diana Ruth. Since I write so many letters to people, and I can only tell you small fractions about them because part of what makes letters special is that its kept between the sender and the recipient, I thought I would share a different kind of letter with you.

Each month I will be writing a post which will act as a letter to the month that has just concluded. It will sort of sum up what I've been up to for the past 30/31 days, I will be sharing my hopes for the next month, and I will also be trying to give you guys more of a personal glimpse into the way that I write letters. This style of letter writing is quite different than the way I would write to my pen pals or to my boyfriend, since this is a bit more reflective and sentimental, but it will still give you guys a taste of how I write letters on a regular basis. Anyway, to start things off, here is a letter to July.

Dear July,

Here you were and now you're gone - another month to fly away in the blink of an eye. I can recall some very hot days and come very pleasing rain showers, but all in all you seemed to pass me by in a blur.

You've always been one of my favorite summer months, but you you always seem to be the one to breeze by the quickest. Why is that? Even with August marking the month before I'm back to school, you've always been the most evasive of the summer months. Perhaps you're shy? Don't want to be out on display for too long? I suppose I know how that feels.

Regardless, I have rather enjoyed the short time I spent under your sun - and my time in the sun was especially short given the number of days I spent indoors and in front of my computer screen XD But you've always given me the freedom to choose how I want to spend my time without the added responsibilities that come with the school months. For that, I am eternally grateful.

You are the first month I have chosen to address directly in a letter. Does that make you feel special? :P I'm not really sure how much of an honor it is. I think that in order to really be able to inform you of how your days have impacted me, I will structure my letter thusly: I will tell you about all the things I am grateful to you for bringing me in the past 31 days, I'll then tell you about the things I came to regret or that brought me sorrow, and finally I'll share with you the things I'm looking forward to when your brother August rolls around.

In your early days, I was able to venture out to Toronto and actually get to experience the city for the first time in over a year. Never before you arrived did I fully realize that all I need to do was put myself out there in regard to asking my Toronto-dwelling friends if I could spend the day with them and my wish would be granted. It was that simple! I visited my first board game cafe, I was able to reconnect with two of my high school friends, and even with the rain that came down hard for the majority of that day, I was able to take in Toronto in all its splendor! I'm sure I'll be grinning ear-to-ear when it's time for me to become a resident of this amazing city.

Fun fact: The purple ribbon on the inside was put there both because purple is one of the recipient's favorite colours, but it was also set against the black of the box to replicate the design on the neck ties that are part of the Ouran Academy male uniform.

You were also the month in which I participated in my first ever Gift Exchange with members of the IGGPPC! The theme for this particular gift exchange was Christmas In July. As soon as I received the email pairing me up with a fellow iggle, I set off to work rounding up gifts, specifically with the box I made for her. Box painting was a hobby I picked up in my last year of high school, and it is something that you reunited me with this year. Before this gift exchange I made a box for my mom's boyfriend, which was Saints Row themed and he really loved it. This box was based off the anima/manga series Ouran High School Host Club, and I did my best to get the painting on it just right and to add as many cute personal touches as I could. I also tried to correspond with the iggle's favorite colours as much as possible.

Along with that giveaway package, I also included a copy of one of my favorite books, Dash & Lily's Book of Dares because it's such a funny read and it's not too popular of a book and I hoped that she wouldn't already have it. I also included issue 0 of the new 52 version of Harley Quinn, since we're both members of House Quinn and I figured that if she wasn't a comic book enthusiast than this sampler would work perfectly and she still might find it entertaining. Enclosed with her gift I left a note telling her that if she already had the book or the comic in her possession to let me know and I promised to send her something different. I wasn't able to include any other small items with this package (mainly I was trying to stick to the spending limit since I was still in the process of purchasing items for my upcoming giveaways) but looking back, I wish I had, and now I will know better when it comes to participating in the next gift exchange.

Within your 31 days I also received my own package as part of the Christmas in July gift exchange :D The effort that this lovely lady put in to collecting all these glorious items for me - a handmade bookmark, various postcards and note cards, chocolate-covered pretzels, stickers galore, and even a paperback book among other items - was extraordinary. She told me in her letter that came enclosed with an adorable Christmas card that she'd read my blog as well, and her methods of gathering research to put this package together astounded me beyond words (and you all know how I love my words :] ). I'd like to send a big shout out to Shelby, aka @shelbyfromthtwp for sending me this incredible package, and I can't wait to send you a letter in return, most likely with a little something extra :)

My boyfriend wouldn't be comfortable with me sharing his picture on the internet, so here is a picture of the last things I sent him in the mail.

Now is as good a time as any to move on to the sorrow and regrets that you brought to me this month. Probably the biggest would be the fact that my boyfriend was given the opportunity to work at a vineyard in California. When he first shared the news with me, of course I was proud of him, but I also couldn't easily hide how sad I was by the fact that he was leaving. I probably cried for the majority of the weekend after he got the news. While this wasn't an unexpected turn of events - we talked about the very definite possibility of him moving anywhere in the world for work once he was finished with school early in our relationship - it's still very hard to not be sad about not having him around for the foreseeable future. This is something we've talked about quite a bit, and we're going to be giving long-distance a fair shake. At the moment I'm feeling optimistic about our chances - recently having read an article published on HelloGiggles titled "Why Long Distance Relationships Are Kind Of The Best" - and even among my sadness I have been incredibly proud of him for claiming such an amazing work opportunity. If there's one thing I regret, it would be not sending him more little notes in the mail before he moved out of his place in St. Catharines. Now I'll have to wait until he's settled in California to send him anything aside from a text.

You were the month in which I was able to visit my lovely aunt Kathy and uncle Mike in the gorgeous community of Wasaga Beach for 5 days and 4 nights. While I enjoyed my stay there tremendously, where I got to watch Game of Thrones season 3 and Return to Cranford with both my aunt and uncle and where I got to play some board games on the deck and go to a movie with my aunt Kathy, there are a few things that I do regret. Mainly those things would include the weather - how there was really only 1 days of beach weather, in which I was able to take this shot of Beach 1 with my aunt's iPhone - and the fact that I spent a lot of my time on a borrowed laptop. Granted, I got a massive amount of online roleplaying done while I was away, since there's something about being on vacation that is great for the muse, but typing away on a computer is what I spend my time doing at home, and I know I could have tried better to spend more time on the deck or just enjoying the company of my family. I hope that if I am able to see them again during my fall reading week that I will be able to smarten up a bit and enjoy their company more than enjoying the company of their neighbor's Acer laptop (that being said, it was incredibly generous for their neighbor to lend me his laptop so I could write - thanks Paul!).

I know for a fact that I have big change coming up on the horizon. Not long after you first arrived, I experienced my annual early summer morning, up for the 6AM registration of my university classes. This early morning came very early in the month because it's my final year and I have a higher number of credits. To my astonishment, and for the first time ever, I was able to register for all of the courses I had hoped for, including all of the seminar times I wanted. In the fall I will be greeted to the beloved Jane Austen course, which is one of the main reasons I chose Brock University as the place to continue my education (that and it's only a bus ride away from home). We have a Jane Austen expert at our school, who I've met from taking another one of her courses in 3rd year. I'm certainly curious as to which Jane Austen books we'll be reading - is it possible to cover all 6 of her novels within 12 weeks? - or if the course will be strictly made up of paratexts surrounding Austen's novels. I'm also curious if we'll be introduced to The Lizzie Bennet Diaries, Welcome to Sanditon or Emma Approved throughout any part of the course :) I love using any excuse to do a project on one of these web series.

Next month will also signify my first ever experience at FanExpo in Toronto! I'll be going with a friend of mine from university, and I am hoping that I will get the chance to meet some other iggles while I'm there. I already know that Sparklegirl Jen will be there as a vendor, and I'm looking forward to seeing her again. I'm hoping to put together a new cosplay within the 30 days your brother will be offering me, and I'll also be wearing some old favorites while I'm in attendance. This is looking to be an exciting event indeed!

Next month will also be the month that marks my 22nd birthday. There will hopefully be fun and celebrating to be had to mark the occasion. I'm planning on having a party where me and my friends will visit Clifton Hill early in the day and then head back to my house to play a bunch of board games. I've also heard word that my brother and sister-in-law will be taking me to the Shaw festival at some point to celebrate my birthday. I hope that will be happening next month and as close to the date of my birthday as possible. It will be interesting to see what sort of changes 22 will have in store for me (aside from an association with that Taylor Swift song XP).

I think that's about all I have to offer to you, July. Again, thank you for all the ups and downs you have brought to me, and you will be a month that will be hard to forget :)

Always keeping you posted,

Kacie.