Random Acts of Kindness

Just today, I got an email from my roommate about a neat idea for New
Years. I wanted to share it with everyone because I think it is
wonderful, and maybe it will inspire others to participate as well!
It is called The Birthday Project.

The idea originated from a woman, who on her 38th birthday did 38
random acts of kindness (RAOK). Her story and her random acts of
kindness can be found below.

http://mixmingleglow.com/blog/?p=1358

Do you have an idea for a RAOK? Post it below! I would love to hear
your ideas!

Uptown Updates

It has been far too long since I last updated my blog! As many of you know, I had to put Uptown Stationery on hold for a few months while I studied for my Masters Comprehensive Exam, which I took October 27th. Now that I officially have my Masters, and am finished with school (for now) I have a lot more time to work on Uptown Stationery.

Aside from designing cards and working on the Prescott Wedding, I have been busy these last 6 weeks! I wasted no time getting back into Photography; I had my first-ever Maternity shoot the weekend after my exam! (Becca is due in less than 1 month!) On top of that, I became a USO volunteer last week and am working on my application to
Daughters of the American Revolution. Additionally, I am still working on my book. It is coming along slowly, but hopefully I will be scheduling interviews come 2012 to really get it off the ground.

In regards to stationery, the Holiday season has been busy, earlier this week I finished a custom order for a good friend of mine, (photos coming soon!) and am currently working on a "Navy/Military" themed card set. I am looking forward to posting some photos of my recent work!

Correspondence Cards

I have a new favorite way to communicate. Correspondence cards! Obviously I did not come up with this idea, correspondence cards have been around for a long time. I have just put a fun new spin on them. Here is a sneak peak of a few I have started working on. I actually made these for my cousin as a birthday gift. She made me a beautiful painting for my new apartment, so I figured a new style of cards would be great for her! :) But shh, I am not giving them to her until this evening...I hope she is not online in the mean time. :)

Andy & Jordan's DC Engagement

I also love photography, and I had the opportunity to take Andy & Jordan's engagement pictures! Here is a snippet of a few of my favorites. More can be found on my photography blog! www.maureenmartinphotography.blogspot.com

America!

I LOVE the 4th of July! Actually, to be honest, I love every patriotic holiday! (Who doesn't?!) It is nice to remember the sacrifices that so many brave men and women have made throughout the years, and continue to make for our freedom. Here is a custom order I did for this 4th of July!

Like what you see? Let me know! If you have suggestions, I love those as well! Or if you would like to get a custom order started, my email is maureen@uptownstationery.

The Prescott Save-the-Dates

This is the first of a series of cards for the Prescott Wedding. I am extremely excited to be doing Mike & Laura's Save-the-Dates, Invitations, Thank You's & table settings. I went to college with both of them and am looking forward to their wedding! :)

The Carter-Skipper Wedding

Graduation Invitations

I was so excited when a friend from high school emailed me about designing graduation invitations! This was such a fun set of invitations to make because Michelle knows how much I love pink and green, so she left the design of her invitations up to me! I also LOVE the color set her sister chose! Congratulations Michelle and Stephanie! Best of Luck, and thank you for having me create these invitations for you! :)

Uptown Updates

It has been way too long since I have updated! So let me fill you in on what's new! I just finished graduate classes and have a bit of time before I have to start studying for a big exam in October. So with that time I am trying to expand Uptown Stationery. I am currently working on the biggest order to date! This weekend I will post some pictures to show my progress! I am also looking to re-design my website to show more of my work. I am adding a few new lines (these are top secret, so stop by in about a month for more info!) and want to really get more photographs of my invitations I have made!

I am also getting back into photography in June, so if you are interested in being a model for a photo shoot please send me an email at maureen@uptownstationery.com. That's all for now, check back soon for more pictures! :)

Day 3: Monday April 3, 2011

Today was a really neat day. We started out taking a tour of the FBI Academy which was so neat, seeing as I am so interested in becoming a Special Agent. It was really interesting to see where the Agents train and go to school. Following the tour of the FBI Academy, we went to visit and tour Mt. Vernon, which was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I cannot believe I had never been there before! Not only did the sun come out but it was about 85 degrees! We could not have asked for a better day! During our tour we took a ton of pictures and got a chance to enjoy the beautiful weather. We ended our day with a tea at the Lithuanian Embassy. We had a chance to talk to the Ambassador, who by the way was so down to earth and extremely friendly, as well as try a traditional Lithuanian Wedding Cake. It was really good, it tasted like a waffle. Yum! Looking forward to tomorrow!

One week as a Princess Day 2

Day 2: Sunday, April 3, 2011

My Mom and I woke up early this morning in hopes of avoiding the horrible traffic we ran into yesterday getting to the Hotel. Luckily, we made it into the city in record time, and were actually extremely early. When we got to the hotel, we put our things down and went to find the other families. Orientation started at 10am, where we found our sashes and some neat gifts on our chairs!

After Orientation, came lunch and that really gave us some time to get to talk to each other, find out more about the other states etc. It is really neat to hear all of the other representatives stories as to how they were chosen to represent their states. From lunch, we loaded the bus, which by the way is a personalized "Cherry Blossom Princess" bus. (I will have to get a picture of this bus, it is so neat!) We made our way to the Tidal Basin for the Japanese Lantern Lighting Ceremony. We got there pretty early, so we found our seats and waited for the start of the ceremony. The Japanese Ambassador spoke as well as a former Congresswoman. My Mom as well as my boss from work came and we were able to talk for a while after the ceremony ended.

So far this has been a really exciting experience. It is so funny to have people come up to us and ask us for our pictures! I am really looking forward to the rest of the week! :)

One week as a Princess Day 1

Day 1, Saturday April 2, 2011

The Princess Tea: Saturday was the day as the Maryland representative to the Cherry Blossom Festival. At this event the State Princesses helped the "young princesses" decorate tiara's. It was a great way to meet the other state princesses as well as meet some future princesses!

Uptown Updates

It's only the end of February, and there has already been a lot of great things happening in 2011! This year marks the first set of wedding invitations and announcements. And the orders keep coming in! Looks like this is going to be a great year! :)

Additionally, a total of close to 1,000 letters have been collected for my trip to the USO during the National Cherry Blossom Festival as Maryland's representative! Thank you for all those who have helped with this!

Look for photo's of the first set of invitations and announcements soon!

Written with Love

Today I had the children at Sunday School help write letters to the Soldiers. There were four different classes ranging from Kindergarten to third grade. The second I announced that we were writing letters, a lot of little hands shot up, each child telling his or her story about their experience with Soldiers. Some had parents currently overseas, others had sisters or bothers, grandparents or friends that were in the military. They were each excited to share their story. It was so neat to see them working so hard to write the perfect message. Here are a few of the cards they made! :) There are also cards that my friend Emily collected as well! Thank You Emily!!

Valentine's Day Cards

Wedding Thank You Notes

The final step in planning and carrying out the perfect wedding is writing the thank you notes. I found this helpful article from Real Simple to help you write the quintessential thank you note to your guests!

http://www.realsimple.com/holidays-entertaining/weddings/etiquette/fill-in-the-blank-wedding-thank-you-notes-00000000027418/index.html

Letters for Soldiers

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed your break away from work or school! To start of 2011, I am collecting letters for the USO. As many of you know the USO is one of the largest non-profits that is dedicated to supporting the troops both at home and deployed.

Just a few months ago, I was selected to represent Maryland at the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC, and one of the events that week is a day spent helping out at the USO! (You know I was excited when I found out about that!) I want to bring a little something from Maryland, so I decided to collect as many letters as I could! My goal is 1,000 but I think we can get more than that.

If you would be interested in helping out, I would really appreciate it! I already have a few schools and churches that are collecting letters, so if you think your school, student organization, church, or you personally would like to write a letter, please email me at maureen@uptownstationery.com!