Yours Faithfully, Amanda

September 24, 2018 Dear Jane, I shall, Jane, I shall! This is a quote from your masterpiece, Pride & Prejudice , and it reminded me of my time in England. I must confess that my imagination was taking flight with every new, astonishing location we came upon...  Also: Huzzah! I have begun Part Two of my England adventures! In truth, I was not sure that I would actually follow through on this momentous task, but here I am...following through. Small accomplishments, Jane, are life's greatest pleasures. And cake, of course. Small accomplishments and cake. Now, where did I leave off? Ah, yes- after Rachael and I nearly fainted from elated exhaustion onto our beds the night before, we awoke more or less refreshed and ready to explore London the next morning. Happily, another busy and delightful day was ahead of us! Day 2 If I remember correctly, day two was a Friday and it was exceedingly diverting. Now, to remind you of a delicate situation from my last letter: My glas...

October 31, 2017 Dear Jane, I write to you after a rather long reprieve, and for this I must apologize. In truth, I do not quite know the reason for it, though it is most likely a mixture of laziness, being engaged in various activities and then, I fear, a bit more laziness. Please, do forgive me, dear friend! Anyway, I write to you on this, one of my favorite holidays, All Hallows Eve (better known as Halloween). Even when I have no engagements to speak of (such as plans to beg neighbors for candy, dinner parties, balls, etc.), it is still a day filled with magic, mystery and possibility! If there are any naysayers out there who doubt this magic, then I put this question to them: As a notoriously slothful individual, what could suddenly possess me to take up my pen and write a letter to my favorite authoress if not for pure, unadulterated magic? The answer? Nothing. Eighteenth-century quill drop. Now then, since last I wrote much has happened. Firstly (and most importantly) my...

December 31, 2016 Dear Jane, How I have been longing to write you a letter this past month! Pray, forgive my long absence from corresponding for I dare say I have found myself rather busy of late. In truth, now that the last day in the Year-of-Our-Lord, two-thousand and sixteen, has come upon us, I could not have let it pass without writing to my most favorite authoress. Firstly, you must think me the most terrible blackguard in the world for not writing to you on your birthday! I want you to know that I had a delightful cup of tea on the sixteenth of December to mark your two-hundred and forty-first year. How glad I am that you were born, Miss Austen! Your faithful Janeites would be quite lost without you. Now, Jane, since last I wrote much has changed. About two weeks before Thanksgiving, I quit my apartment in Queens and removed to Connecticut. I wish you to know that this was a most difficult decision to make and  I already miss my wonderful friends there . However...

February 29, 2016 Dear Jane, I write to you on this, the twenty-ninth of February, a day that will not come again for another four years. You may be inquiring as to the reason behind this, for I dare say you would not have been familiar with the term, "leap year" in your lifetime. As you may very well know by now, I have never been known as a woman of science but from what I understand (or rather, from my recent "google search") a leap year occurs every four years or so because the earth does not orbit the sun in exactly 365 days. Forgive me, for that was a very vague and rather boring explanation. Luckily for you, I know nothing more on this subject so I shall say nothing more about it. You have my word! Since we last spoke, the weather has become much warmer and very unseasonable for the month of February. It is very odd for one not to need their cloak on a February afternoon, but that is exactly what happened today. It was nearly 60 degrees outside!  You ...

December 8, 2015 Dear Jane, I do detest being deceitful, but you and I both know that the quotation above has not been displayed in its original entirety. My apologies, for playing such a trick on you, gentle readers, but surely you should know better than to believe I could claim to have any sort of genius. An amateur authoress stops at nothing to get her blog read...even if she has to lie to her dearest friends at times by claiming to be a genius. The quote (in it's entirety) is as follows: "Expect a most agreeable letter, for not being overburdened with subject (having nothing at all to say), I shall have no check to my genius from beginning to end."  In case you had doubts, I shall now present three reasons to prove to you that I truly am not a genius. (I told you that I had nothing much to say, after all). Oddly enough, all three examples are from my time in high school. Many of my dear friends and family know this already, but I often boast (yes, boast) ...