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Danielle
Feb 23, 20173 min read

Postcards from London.


London Eye travel postcard Sweet Frivolity

I'm a pretty lucky person. I don't have a huge house or fancy car, but I have great people in my life, and I've had some wonderful experiences. Among the most memorable of these are the eye-opening trips I've been able to take. I've set foot on three continents now, and I hope to add to that number as time goes by. In my non-travel moments, I like to reflect on the great places I've seen and plan for future excursions. With no trip currently on the horizon, I've found myself reflecting on perhaps my greatest adventure, a two-week honeymoon through England and Ireland.

On the trip, my husband and I spent some time driving (on the wrong side of the road!) around the Irish and English countrysides before settling into Dublin and London for metropolitan adventures. I definitely overplanned the vacation, but we saw so many amazing things; I didn't want to miss out. You never know when you'll be able to return to a particular place, so I figured we could err on the side of caution and see it all. This worked for the most part; we saw it all! It wasn't overly relaxing, though. I wouldn't recommend it. Especially not on your honeymoon.

In a calm moment, we decided to take a break on a shaded bench near the Thames. We had walked through Paddington, where we were staying, all the way to Westminster, and we needed to rest. The London leg of our trip was also at the very end, so we'd already spent nearly two weeks traveling at that point. Not to mention had spent months planning a wedding immediately beforehand.

While we rested, I had a latte from a nearby food truck. We talked about our plans for the future; buying a house, finding new jobs. The collective "we" was very noticeable as our first "future-planning" talk of married life went on. I loved every bit of it.

As if the moment wasn't postcard-worthy from the start, this was our view:

London Eye and the Thames, London, England

The rest of the honeymoon came and went, but memories like these lingered. The photos certainly helped. We were given a wonderful camera as a wedding gift, and we have hundreds of beautiful photographs from our trip to help trigger recollections of great (busy) spring days trekking across the British Isles.

One day when I was feeling particularly sentimental, I started playing around with some of our London pictures in a photo editor. I wanted to make the photos look more artistic without losing their detail.

St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England, postcard

I settled on a grayscale effect with pops of color. To me, that's basically what memories are...faded, but still vivid in particular ways and for special reasons. I remember the yellow shirt my husband was wearing when I took the picture of the Beefeaters at Buckingham Palace. I remember the pizza truck we passed while walking in Oxford, where we saw the telephone booth. We stopped for the Tower Bridge picture on our last day in London. We'd just had a delicious tea at Fortnum and Mason, and we were making one last stop at the Tower of London before we had to head to the airport. I love the fact that memories can be turned into art. And as postcards, they can be sent all over the world. Recipients of these postcards won't know the whole story, but I like the idea that they'll be seeing a glimpse into a beautiful moment.

I'm excited to announce that these postcards are now up for sale in the Sweet Frivolity shop. We're fully stocked and ready to ship, so get your orders in now! The postcards come as a set of six and include one of each of the images you see above. They're printed on glossy, high-quality cardstock, and are the USPS approved size. I'm thrilled with the way they turned out, and I think you will be, too. If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about turning your photos into art, feel free to contact me.

I've always thought that postcards make the best souvenirs. They're small and inexpensive and easy to pack in a carry-on, and they usually contain better-quality photographs than I can take. In this case, they really are "souvenirs" for me...I remember it all very well. (And the photos aren't half bad, either!)

Happy reminiscing!

Danielle

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