We came to Columbus with admittedly dismal expectations… we thought Ohio basically consisted of Baby Gaps, various chain retail outlets, and concrete. Though we still remain certain that Ohio has its fair shares of strip malls and middle aged women wearing holiday-themed sweaters, our preconceived notions were for the most part completely dispelled. The part of Columbus we saw today definitely reminded us of parts of Charlottesville and DC, reminding us that every city has its gem areas. Caitlin was an exceptional tour guide, and Meredyth may or may not be looking at apartments available for rent directly above Jeni’s.
As for an update on the postcards, we gave them out today to employees at Jeni’s who were extremely excited about the idea, Levee (this really cool creole place where we ate lunch that also gave away free tattoos!! If you know us, you know we are devoted fans of temp tats), and he also liked the idea, The Book Loft (the massive bookstore down the street from Caitlin’s), and at a few other stores we liked along the way.
This is Justin, the owner of Levee. He gave us samples, and a delicious lunch.
We’re getting pretty good at explaining our post card idea in 15 seconds or less – we are pretty sure that we made mailing back the postcard to us sound enticing enough to everyone we gave one to today that they will actually follow through… we hope! We also have slightly altered the directions, telling people to just write us a letter about whatever they want, sometimes suggesting to write about something that made them happy that day. We think making it more vague and open-ended will give people more opportunity to be creative (or they may write things that are boring, hard to know).
We also went to the post office to stock up on post cards. As a recommendation from a few people, we decided to get the pre-stamped post cards and bought 100. While these are pre-stamped and a less expensive option, they are also blank aside from the stamp. We decided that we needed to spice them up a bit by decorating. Ashley decided she wanted to draw a map of the US (pictures to come) which a rough sketch of the route – lets just say they improved as she practiced and actually used a map as reference. Caitlin drew different things on each card – cool square patterns, some UVA inspired pictures, etc. Mike (Caitlin’s boyfriend) even helped out some and drew a vegetarian inspired picture. We then got a little more creative and started writing questions on the front in place of a picture. We hope people will answer the questions and still write us a letter on the back. The questions included things such as, “Where did you grow up?” “Coke or Pepsi? Why?” “What is your favorite book?” “What would you do with a million dollars?” “What is your favorite trip you’ve ever taken?” “What is your favorite food?” “As a child did you want to be when you grew up?” “What is one thing that always makes you smile?” Etc, etc. We then channeled UVA and did the ultimate ice breaker: “Please list 2 truths and a lie about yourself and indicate on the back which is the lie.” Then, when our creativity peaked, Caitlin and Meredyth even created MadLibs. They were quite amusing. Meredyth made a pretty epic one and then gave the adj/ verb/ noun requirements to Ashley and Caitlin and the story came out as follows.
One day, Sarah started thrusting down the street in her spicy navel. Then, all of a sudden, a surreptitiously hairy mold dropped from the sky and Sarah screamed, "Yikes"! She picked up the foot and decided to jump it. But when she realized that it was a sexy idea to struggle it, Sarah left the peach to bone and continued on her way home.
Needless to say, we were extremely amused. We hope people actually fill them out! Can’t wait to start getting these post cards back.
On the agenda tomorrow: yoga class, raspberry and edamame picking (yep, that’s right, edamame picking), and the famous Greek Festival of Columbus!
Total Post Cards Given Out: 9
Post Cards Received: 0
States Traveled: VA, MD, WV, PA, OH
This sort of thing makes me proud to be friends with you two.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I have a feeling these postcards could become an NPR story. I can already hear it...