My sweet friend Amanda made a post this week about the miscellaneous and trivial things that she was thankful for, and it made me think of similar things. I started a category here on the blog for posts to focus on thankfulness and point out things of that nature…things that truly make my life more pleasurable but aren’t your average, everyday items to be grateful for.

Of course, we’re all thankful for our homes and cars and food and heat. We do tend to take those things for granted, but I wanted to this post to be about something smaller. Something not so fundamental that brings a tremendous amount of joy to my life. I couldn’t have made this post in a timelier manner, as I just received my first delivery of Happy Mail. You guessed it…the thing I’m thankful for today is STATIONARY!

I mentioned my love of paper products in the post about our moving announcements, but I didn’t mention how truly thankful I am for having beautiful/funny/witty/thoughtful pieces of stationary to send to my friends, family, and clients. The release of the A Beautiful Mess Happy Mail program might have been the happiest day of my life. Ok…I’m exaggerating a bit, but seriously. I was SO. EXCITED. I was also literally bummed when I realized that my first kit would arrive while we were in Nashville. I couldn’t wait to get home and open it to start planning what I’d use these beautiful products for. This post is filled with photos of the first month’s items, but feel free to watch their video if you’d like more details.

As I was thinking about being thankful for the small things, I pulled all of these new cards/items from the gorgeously designed mailer, and this post was a no-brainer. I am truly thankful for having access to such beautiful items, and I’m thankful to have the money to purchase them. I’m thankful for a husband that lets me sign up for programs like Happy Mail. I am thankful for having wonderful people to send these sorts of things too. I am thankful for a career in which I can use personal touches like this to grow my business. I am thankful to be able to show people that I care about them with heartfelt cards. I am also incredibly thankful when I receive mail like this myself. (Send me some!) I can spend hours and hours browsing the isles of stationary and journals, and I’m so thankful that people design such wonderful things.

Cards are how I show people that I care. They’re how I say things that otherwise might go unsaid. They’re how I try to brighten someone’s day or how I send support. Granted, this is a bit unconventional for a Thanksgiving Day post. However, I thought this would be a perfect time to share just how thankful I am for items like these that bring joy to my everyday life. I also took this opportunity to really explore what paper products mean to me. I know that I love them, but I hadn’t thought much about why. (See above.) Today, while I’m thankful for my family/friends/home/career/stability, I’m also thankful for paper products and the opportunity to receive a delivery of new items to my mailbox every month. Thank you, A Beautiful Mess!

P.S. If you want to get on my random-card-receiving mailing list, send me your address!

P.S.S. Here’s a link to what Matthew and I were doing last Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!