Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadian friends! And a big welcome to our Penpal of the Week.

Please tell us about you!

Hi guys! I’m Naiche, a 17-year-old college freshman who loves blondie brownies, chocolate chai tea, trashy teen TV shows, movies with “happily ever afters,” Chinese take-out, and road trip adventures.

This is me. :)

A big thank you to Julie for featuring me on her lovely blog after posting my pen pal ad.

I live in the Big Apple and absolutely love it here – but I have big dreams of moving to France when I graduate from school. I guess I’m attracted to big, beautiful cities.

Other than school, you can usually find me:

Running my shop – Lyrical Notes on Etsy. I specialize in hand-drawn silhouette prints and cards. That takes up A LOT of my time, but I don’t mind it. Crafting is too fun to be considered work.

An Alice in Wonderland-inspired silhouette

I designed for my new line of prints in Lyrical Notes.

Book blogging. Three years ago, I started posting these quirky reviews on Young Adult novels on a tiny blog – The Book Girl Reads. That grew bigger than I could have ever imagined. I started getting books in the mail to review, and I ended up starting a book promotion business for indie authors who aren’t mass-marketed.

Kicking a ball around. I just joined my college’s first ever women’s soccer team. Go Hawks!

Writing. Writing is my life. (Yeah, I’m one of those intense, brooding writer-types sometimes!) Haha, anyway… I dabble in a lot of different writing styles: creative, poetic, lyrical, etc… But I’m currently a journalism major, so I guess I’ll see where that takes me!

I also get crafty with my nails! I like to experiment with nail and make up designs.

Describe your personality in 10 words!

Random, book-worm, crafty, jumpy, funny, girly, caring, nervous, happy, and excited.

How long have you been penpalling? How did you first start? Tell us about your first penpal!

Okay, so I first started pen palling three or four years ago. I started writing to one of my creative writing buddies from California. We were writing a book together through the mail. Every letter would contain a new paragraph. We’d also send little meaningful gifts to each other. That made me realize how much I loved sending and receiving mail. Even though she stopped writing when she moved away for school, I took pen palling and mail art up as a hobby.

I make and sell most of the envelopes I use!

How many penpals do you have now and where are they from?

I have about 12 pen pals at the moment – and they range from a few miles away to overseas! I’ve become extremely close to a good handful of my pen pals. For example, I answered Alyssa’s ad a month ago. Even though we exchange snail mail, we’re constantly emailing each other whenever we have big news.

I’ve also been writing to my best friend, Saleena, since the beginning of summer. People think it’s silly because we can see each other whenever we want, but it’s so fun to get her letters – we even write fun notes to our postal workers on the envelopes. I also adore Laura, Sarah, Linsey, and Hanna. They’re some of my most consistent pals, and I just clicked with all of them.

It’s also fun to take old paper (like textbook maps) and reinvent them as stationery.

What are your favorite topics to discuss in letters?

Hmmm, that depends on my mood. Sometimes it’s nice to just tell my pen pal how my day went and what I’ve been doing lately, but there are other times when I rant and rave about a TV show I like, a boy I have a crush on, or a book I just read.

I love comparing favorites and sending out lists of books that made me smile, songs that make me cry, and foods that make my tummy happy.

What are you looking for in a penpal?

My pen pals are all so unique and different, so I just love finding people who share some of my interests and are fun to talk to. I love pen pals who put a lot of thought into what they write and how they decorate their envelopes because I do the same thing!

I also love when my pen pal writes back quickly with a good amount of pages because I’m known for my long and speedy responses. They MUST be willing to receive random little gifts, requests for advice, and mail tag challenges.

I love sending birthday packages – those are the best!

What do you like the most about penpalling?

It’s the element of surprise! I love opening my mailbox and seeing another beautifully decorated envelope from Rin, a little drawing from Sarah, or a funny story from Saleena. With phones and computers, you spend all this time fawning over texts and awaiting emails. But you never know what the post is going to bring you on any given day – it’s like a box of daily surprises.

In what language(s) do you correspond?

Right now, I can only write full letters in English. Accent marks and I have always had an issue with each other, so my attempts to write in my fluent language (Spanish) kind of suck.

But I’m totally willing to learn a few words or sentences in a new language! Hanna is from Sweden, and she’s always teaching me something new about the culture or the language!

Here’s my handwriting sample – it’s a lot like a little kid’s, I know!

What are some of your habits in regards to letter writing?

Well, I recently found my old lap desk, and I use it to store all of my stationery, tape, and other papered goods. It’s great because I can carry it around my apartment with all my stuff neatly stored inside, then fold it down to respond to letters.

Now that I think about it, I do have a few writing habits. I MUST respond to all of my pals’ questions/events before I can start talking about myself, I don’t know why. Also, I hate sending the same stationery twice in a row. I just can’t do it!

My lovely lap desk isn’t just good for mobile letter-writing, it’s also the home

of my letter-writing supplies, weekly to-do lists, and inspiration board.

Has anything strange/funny ever happened to you since you’ve been penpalling?

The other day, this guy answered my pen pal ad. He was obsessed with the fact that his handwriting was too sloppy to show anyone. In my mind I was just like, then why are you looking for a pen pal? He ended up sending me a typed, half page long letter that was literally about… nothing! The whole thing was so weird. Needless to say, we didn’t become pen pals.

Have you met any of your penpals?

I haven’t, unless Saleena counts – but we went to the same high school and were already best friends. But it’s high on my bucket list to meet some of my closest pen pals!

Are you currently looking for more penpals?

I wouldn’t mind writing to a few more people! I’m not actively looking, but if you think we have enough in common and would like to write to me, just shoot me an email to nlparker95@gmail.com

Thank you Naiche! I love your lap desk!