Yours Faithfully, Amanda

December 27, 2017 Dear Jane, Season's greetings and Merry Christmas, my dear friend! But more importantly, Happy Belated Birthday! I know not if you are aware of this (I, myself, would surely lose track), but you recently celebrated your 242nd birthday on the sixteenth of December in the Year of Our Lord, two-thousand and seventeen. Quite the milestone, I must say! Happily, I celebrated your birthday in the best way possible and I shall tell you all about it in this letter. Before I get to that, however, it is also worth noting that Christmas was but two days ago and as it was my darling nephew's first, it was a most joyous occasion. And to make it even more special, we woke up to a beautiful blanket of Christmas snow which was ever so charming and festive. Being amongst my family for the holiday was the best gift I could ever ask for. Merry Christmas from the Forkers and von Gootkins! Now to return to your birthday festivities. The sixteenth of December began with an ...

April 19, 2016 Dear Jane, If I am to be completely honest with you (which I have decided to be), I have nothing new to report in regard to my life in Queens. My jaunt with the Miss Nelson is Missing tour came to an end at the end of March, and I have returned to my life as a "temp." I dare say you shall agree with me when I conclude, that life has once again become a quick succession of busy nothings. (Your brilliant words, of course.) Before I move on, I must state that I heartily agree with the quotation above from your novel,  Mansfield Park . Unfortunately, there has been no "active indispensable employment" to be had, so my sorrow has not been much relieved as of late. Let me explain. When I say that I have returned to temping, I must also admit that I did not work a single day last week. How is it possible that in a city as giant as New York, not one office needed a last-minute, fantastic receptionist, such as myself? I was all astonishment...and anger...

January 24, 2016 Dear Jane, Pray, dear friend, I fear you must forgive me my giddiness at the moment. I have been reading through a couple of your letters (from a marvelous book called, Jane Austen's Letters  by Deirdre Le Faye) in order to find an appropriate quote for the title of my letter today and I must tell you that I have found the most perfect one yet. Two-hundred and three years ago, precisely to the day (Sunday 24 January 1813), you wrote a letter to your dear sister, Cassandra and started with these sentiments: "This is exactly the weather we could wish for, if you are but well enough to enjoy it. I shall be glad to hear that you are not confined to a house by an increase of Cold." I feel as though I have travelled back through time! Luckily, I am quite well enough to enjoy the cold and it is a good thing because the cold has certainly arrived.  Allow me to explain.  New York City (as well as Washington D.C., Baltimore, the Carolinas, etc.) experien...

November 3, 2015 Dear Jane, It has (once again) been far too long since last I wrote to you, dear friend, although I do not believe that I should be blamed entirely for this. One never realizes how easily time slips away from one each day, but even more distressing than this however is the notion that once time is gone, there is nothing one can do to get it back! I must confess that I hardly know what to write in this letter for I have two rather conflicting thoughts: the first is that nothing much has occurred as of late and the second is that despite not much occurring, there is still far too much to write about! (Nothing so exciting really, just rather the fact that over thirty days have come and gone since my last letter reached you and life has inevitably gone on as it always does.) If I may, I cannot help but think that I have written some particularly wise words thus far in my letter, Jane... how very lovely, indeed! Oh dear, I fear that I became too pleased wi...

September 19, 2015 Dear Jane, I dare say that you will not believe the fantastic week that I have had unless I give you a thoroughly precise account of it. (Do not let yourself become too excited for I have not yet fallen love with a modern day Mr. Darcy, but it is still exciting news!) I hardly know where to begin! (How often is it that I start a letter with so much glee? I must endeavor to have a happier tone in my letters if this such an uncommon occurrence.) ... The three dots above indicate a lapse in time in which instead of writing, I walked to the local washer woman (or rather, the laundromat) and dropped off (or rather, did myself) my clothes to be cleaned. This is my least favorite errand to complete as I am now very weary and have no desire to do anything else for the remainder of the day. That being said, I shall do my best to continue this correspondence. Where was I? Oh yes...my adventures. I shall go day by day so that I can be sure that I do not leave a single...