Royal Mail

We all know how much I love to get mail from England. I mean, maybe not as much as Melissa enjoys getting mail from England. But seriously, that's a pretty tough act to follow.

So I came home from San Francisco to a package on my desk, which is always nice.

Remember how I was clutching at straws looking for any reason obsessively refreshing airfares to Heathrow soberly considering when to return to London with Melissa for #OMGLondon2?

And how I stumbled across a bunch of Twitter and bloggy friends in the UK who were swooning over the Threads of Feeling exhibit at the Foundling Museum in London?

Well, so. The plane tickets have been purchased. The hotel reservations have been made. We'll be three nights in London, three nights in Bath, all in the first week of March, which means we'll make it for the last weekend of Threads of Feeling.

So I've been back-and-forthing about our upcoming trip lately with one of my very favorite bloggers, who is a pal of mine on Twitter, Julie at Austen Only. If you don't already read her blog, and you like such things as generally cause me to swoon with pleasure over here on this blog... well then I think you better get started. She covers Austen-related topics -- including all manner of details about daily life for all classes during the Georgian and Regency eras -- with a depth of research, an attention to detail, and a enthusiastic verve that I consider to be unmatched in the world of Austen bloggers.

There, I said it. Julie's blog rocks. Ergo, Julie rocks.

Anyway, it was Julie who posted the review of Threads of Feeling that finally tipped me over the edge. You should read it. Gorgeous pictures of the exhibit, and of the souvenir fabric that the museum had made to mark the occasion of the exhibit.

Because guess what was in that envelope she sent me?

Dear God, do I love the internet.

She said in the note attached (on the flip side of that fabulous black-and-white postcard, which you will recognize as the header to her blog) that she knew I would make better use of it than she would.

Well, if she means reach out to stroke it several times an hour while writing a steamy regency romance novel, well then I suppose I shall. I mean, I'm not going to do much of anything more impressive than that, really. But perhaps that will be enough, hm?

And yes, we'll be meeting up with Julie in person at some point during #OMGLondon2, quite possibly during a day trip her home city of Stamford. If only to take a turn or two about the assembly rooms at Meryton.

I think that to do otherwise would be simply insupportable, don't you?