National Handwriting Day - Oh My !!!

Wow, who knew? Not me, that's for sure. But thanks to the PAPER SOURCE calendar pages that I inserted into my beautiful Kelly Rae Roberts 2010 ORGANIZER, I now know ...

Today is, apparently, NATIONAL HANDWRITING DAY. I just had to look that up, being a lover of words, and a lover of things handwritten. And having recently enjoyed perusing a vintage AUTOGRAPH BOOK that my friend Ann Deakers now owns ... it's full of charm.

So I GOOGLED it and here's what I found:

National Handwriting Day is "celebrated" on John Hancock's birthday, "to encourage more legible handwriting". Problem is, there are some (quite reliable) sources that place John Hancock's birthday on January 12 (1737), and not on the 23rd, but let's not quibble.

Here's a quick reminder of just how lovely & legible the old John Hancock signature really was:

The signature of John Hancock on the Declaration of Independence is the most flamboyant and easily recognizable of all. It is, then, no surprise that the story of his part in the revolution is equally engaging. Few figures were more well known or more popular than John Hancock. (courtesy of www.ushistory.org )

Pentel of America is celebrating National Handwriting Day 2010 with a CONTEST ... Describe how you declare your independence, what independence means to you, in 500 or less handwritten characters and submit to Pentel of America. Five (5) people will be chosen by Pentel and given their own Independence Day. See Pentel's website for contest rules and information:

http://pentel.com/handwriting_day_rules.php !

And here's a link to the FOUNTAIN PEN NETWORK (again, I never knew such a thing existed; did you?!):

http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=5152&pid=252256&start=&st=#entry252256

The FOUNTAIN PEN NETWORK site has links to cool handwriting stuff.

If you want to have a little fun with this whole handwriting business, you can visit an online HANDWRITING ANALYSIS site, such as:

http://www.handwritingwizard.com ... they offer a free "personality analysis". Hmmm.

or

http://www.handbehindtheword.com/SelfEval.shtml

And last but not least, these fun ideas for how YOU and your CHILDREN can celebrate National Handwriting Day, courtesy of www.ehow.com ...

Bake a Cake for JOHN HANCOCK and share it. Have everyone SIGN THEIR NAME with frosting on top first !!!

Check out a book from the LIBRARY on handwriting and have fun analyzing your friend's signatures, as well as your own.

Learn a little bit about John Hancock and the Declaration of Independence.

Have everyone you know and love sign a page for your scrapbook. If you have an old-fashioned AUTOGRAPH BOOK, all the better !!!

Handwrite a letter to someone you love who lives far away (or even just around the corner) and sign it with a big beautiful signature !!!

Enjoy National Handwriting Day, everyone, and remember:

"Never believe that any document you sign

your name to is unimportant."

-- Davielle

FREE IS GOOD

No, not the FREE that we, as Americans, usually take for granted - although that is an amazing thing, when you think about it.

No, the FREE I'm talking about is when a local retailer GIVES STUFF AWAY ... and right now, I personally know of two (2), yes, TWO retailers with a giving heart.


One: PAPER SOURCE - spend $40 {or more} and get a freebie - I was in last weekend and the freebie is your choice from some cute little packs of Paper Source cards -- nice ones, too, worth $8 - $9 per pack. So get in there! And by the way, Paper Source has online HOW TO video clips that are a real laugh - the founder of PS is a riot! Very relaxed, sort of the anti-Martha, if you know what I mean :-) ...

Two: LULULEMON, the athletic wear company. is offering FREE yoga and pilates classes at LULULEMON in THE FORUM shopping center {which, by the way is where Paper Source is also located} here in Carlsbad, CA.
Sat., Nov. 21 and Tues., Nov. 25 / In-store
Ambassador Stacy McCarthy from Sculpt Fusion and PAC will be teaching our Sat. yoga class from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. in the store. Colleen from Pillar Performance will burn our buns in a free mat Pilates class on Tuesday from 9 - 10 a.m. Come 10 - 15 minutes early to set up and harness your energy. Join us after for a light breakfast and a perusal of our new products in the store.

Now come on, isn't FREE a beautiful thing?

I have Christmas cards to get cracking on, and since Ingrid - my most gifted acupuncturist / massage therapist - really took good care of my back this afternoon, I can hardly wait to sit & create for hours on end this weekend ... with some nice stretching breaks thrown in!

TTFN,
Davielle

your not-so-daily DO SOMETHING CREATIVE EVERY DAY reminder

Sometimes I lose sight of why I started this blog in the first place: TO STAY IN TOUCH WITH FAMILY and FRIENDS. Okay, so I think that's been a success to date.

Secondly, to ENCOURAGE OTHERS to DO SOMETHING CREATIVE EVERY DAY {don't you love that saying? It's the motto of Paper Source, http://www.paper-source.com/ }.

And where I find myself so often {too often?!} is in the realm of ... just jabbering.

I mean to stop that - if it's useless jabbering, anyway - and get back to FAMILY UPDATES and ENCOURAGING FOLKS TO BE / STAY / GET CREATIVE. I've always intended for my blog to be POSITIVE, and not negative, but ... I'm human, and I get down once in a while on things. Sorry!

From time to time, my "pet" causes will surface ... hey, I'm human ... and you'll just have to accept that, or skip those items. Deal? I am the first to admit: I have many interests and many causes that stir me up --

You all know how much I like to READ, and I can't help but share my thoughts on the books I come across ... this summer, I read the story of the legendary Secretariat and his groom, Eddie Sweatt ... it affected me deeply.

And I have lots of things that I just plain LIKE ... animals, esp horses ... travel, esp to Europe ... stuff like that. And Feel-Good Stories -- those are always fun to share. So uplifting.

Good day to you all.

-- Davielle

DO SOMETHING CREATIVE EVERY DAY

For inspiration - I like to visit PAPER SOURCE online ... they have such colorful, tasteful, FUN paper goods and project ideas. Check them out at: http://www.paper-source.com/ and have fun just clicking around.

And remember their motto: "Do Something Creative Every Day". It's good for you!