Guest Post Wednesday: A Thank-You email

Dear Optimists,

You might remember Carolynn the Dyer, the lovely lady who won our 100th post contest?

She won a hand-painted one-of-a-kind watercolour by me, Nadia. Not too long ago we received a Thank-You email from her, which reminded us why we do this (just like every single comment from you guys reminds us!):

Dear Nadia and Den,

I got the drawing in the mail today. What timing! You see, I’m in charge of a major activity at church tonight, and just this morning I realized that about half the things I thought were completed hadn’t even been started yet.

It’s been Stress Central Station over here ever since.

Anyway, I was running around like a squirrel on entirely too much caffeine, going to dash off to the store for (yet another) something I forgot, when I heard the mailman at the door–with a package. Package! Who doesn’t love that? Better yet, it had your picture in it, all smiling and lovely. It got me to stop, breathe, and just… smile.

Thank you, you lovely people!

Love,
Carolynn

It’s prettier in real life. We’re less orange-y.

Thank you, Carolynn.
Nadia & Den.

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Contest With Den!

Dear Optimists,

I have to admit I love writing posts for this blog. Not only does it keep me optimistic and give me the opportunity to make others smile, it also, sometimes, opens my world to new people and friendship.

After months of friendly emails with a certain optimist, I finally got the opportunity to have a Skype conversation with a new optimistic friend from Canada. And it was a blast! I just love Skype and how it makes everyone just a bit closer to me emotionally. We talked for a bit, laughed a lot, told stories…what fun!

So now I’m offering a different type of contest on DO. Nadia gets to offer you artwork, but I can’t exactly send you some random scribbling and expect you to get excited. So I’m trying something a bit off the wall – everyone who comments today will be entered into a random drawing to have a Skype chat with Den! Or maybe if your comment is especially enticing I will choose you! Got something you’d like to chat about? Know a funny joke? Just need a bit of a laugh?

Not really sure this is much of a prize, and yes I am nervous that nobody will enter for this prize, but heck, it’s the best I can offer…a few moments of entertaining chat with a disgustingly optimistic person. And trust me, worst comes to worst I WILL make you laugh. I guess the only steadfast rule is that you have to be comfortable speaking English.

Good luck, even though I’m not sure anyone wins in a chat with Den.

Love,
Den

P.S. I did the artwork today since Nadia started a very difficult semester this week.

And the winner is…

Dear Optimists,

We have picked a winner! This time we had some help from the website Random.org, and the winner is comment no. 10!

To be perfectly honest, I (Nadia) happened to win quite a few times myself since I commented a thoussand times… so after subtracting my comments the winner happened to be:

Congratulations Carolynn! It may not be such a surprise for her since we’ve already sent her an email about it earlier.

To the rest of our optimistic readers, we’re so sorry we couldn’t pick every single one of you! But, don’t worry! We’ve got a plan! Nadia is now open for commissioned work and we’re planning on setting up a shop for the old, original drawings.

So keep your eyes and ears open, and maybe YOU can be the owner of an original Dear Optimists drawing! Uuuuuuh…!

Love,
Den & Nadia.

Rolling in the deep (+ 100th post contest!)

Dear Optimists,

It’s a very special day for Dear Optimists! This is our 100th post!
We’d like to take a moment to thank every single reader, commenter, guest poster and optimist out there who are taking a part of this joyful ride. We are truly grateful, and we love you to bits!

With that being said, we’d like to have another contest! YOU have the opportunity to win an original drawing with a handwritten short story! All you have to do is to comment on this post and you’re in! We’re gonna pick the winner on Saturday!

And on with today’s story:

It was one of those very dark evenings. I had been at a friend’s across town all night . After I got up on my bike I noticed that my lights weren’t working.

I considered to keep on riding, but I wouldn’t risk it. Not to make sure I wouldn’t end up in an accident, sadly, but because it’s illegal to ride your bike without lights at night in Denmark. 550 dkk is a lot of money!

I plugged in my music to keep me company for the next 40 minutes of walking when suddenly my favourite song by Adele started playing. Coincidence? I think not.

It didn’t take me long to realise what a perfect moment this was. It was late, not a lot of people were roaming the street, I was in a good mood. So I started singing…

… as if my life was depending on it.

I’m not a good singer, but it sure as hell doesn’t keep me from doing one of the things I enjoy the most. Next time you’re out strolling, riding your bike or just in your car, sing along to your favourite song. Even if it’s just under your breath.

Believe me, it’ll change you.

Love,
Nadia.

Aaaand the winner is…

Dear Optimists,

Thank you all for entering our little contest!

The question you had to answer was:
Two cartoon sounds were used in this post. Wherefrom do these sounds originate?

The answer:

• “Snikt!” is the sound Wolverine (from X-men) makes.
• “Cowabunga” is an exclamatory yell of surprise and anger used by Chief Thunderthud in the 1950s kids show Howdy Doody.

And we only had ONE right answer! This blew us away!

Congratulations jakennicksmomma!

HOWEVER, dear Optimists, we noticed that the question could be somewhat missleading and perhaps made people believe that they had to guess in what cartoon the sound “Cowabunga” was first used in. And that, darling readers, was indeed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! (and later Peanuts).

So we went on to pick another winner! To assure you that we didn’t cheat, we took pictures:

CONGRATULATIONS LIFESINCETHEN!

(jakennicksmomma and lifesincethen, please send us an image or a description of yourself or someone you want illustrated at dearoptimists [at] gmail.com)

Thank you all! This will not be the last contest!

Love,
Den & Nadia.

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Don’t forget to send in your stories!

Pick up

Dear Optimists,

Have you ever been picked up? I am…all of the time. No, not like THAT! (Although I do get hit on quite often…hehe)

I meant it in the literal sense. See, I’m small and thin, and for some reason that gives everyone a reason to pick me up and throw me around a bit:

But I really don’t mind being short, I like it down here. If I was any taller, I’d be (even more) scared of falling – and falling is something that I do quite often.

Besides I’m just as tall as a 160 cm tree:

Love,
Nadia.

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Darling Optimists, remember that the contest, where you can win a drawing of yourself closes today! We’ll pick a winner tomorrow!

If you don’t win, don’t hesitate to send in your story (stories?) and have it published here (with a drawing!) – deadline is Sunday! Send it to dearoptimists [at] gmail.com

Kitty surprise (+ A CONTEST!)

Dear Optimists,

I used to have a cat. Like many others, really. He was the cutest thing in the whole world, and he thought the same of me. But sometimes he wasn’t all that adorable.

Feivel used to sit on the door (yup, on top of the door). It was his favourite spot.

However, it didn’t take him long to conceive a terror plan. He was one of those cats.

What happened next doesn’t come as a surprise:
You’d think I’d learned, but no. Every time I entered my room I was greeted by Feivel this way. Awesome cat. May he rest in peace.

Love,
Nadia.
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Now to the CONTEST!
Answer following question in the comments by Friday and we’ll draw a winner on Saturday! The winner will receive a virtual Optimist drawing of him-/herself!

Two cartoon sounds were used in this post. Wherefrom do these sounds originate?

Leave your answer and remember to add your email, so we can get a hold of you!