Yours Faithfully, Amanda

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 ...

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...

January 19, 2016 Dear Jane, As you may have noticed, this letter looks rather different from those of the past. In truth, I was becoming quite bored with the color scheme of the last few years and decided that a nice blue would certainly liven up the first letter of this, the Year of Lord, two-thousand and sixteen. How exciting. It is almost as though I revived a tired, old bonnet with new lace and fresh ribbons. After all, we must do what we can to stay fashionable in these ever changing times. Firstly, I must bid you a much belated, "Happy New Year!" I am appalled that it has taken me so long to wish you (and my gentle readers) glad tidings and a new year filled with happiness and good fortune. The idea of a new year is much like that of a blank page. As the authors of our own stories, we have the ability to write a new tale filled with hope, imagination and adventure...we just have to be fearless and creative enough to begin it! Now, that being said, my new year ha...

December 29, 2015 Dear Jane, As I sit on my sofa in Queens, waiting for my dear mama's lasagne to warm in the oven, I find myself happily reflecting on the joyous Christmas I had with my family. I truly had the most delightful week at home and I miss it terribly already! I am all astonishment at how quickly the holday passes by and find myself overwhlemed at the thought of having to  prepare for the approaching new year. Fortunately, my resolutions have been declared and will be put to the test when two-thousand and sixteen arrives in three days time.  I dare say I was inspired to write you a letter this evening after watching a movie called "Becoming Jane." It is a wonderful (though at times rather fictional) movie about your life as a young lady in Hampshire. As a hopeless romantic, I confess that I am quite moved by the story. The movie implies that you were madly in love with a Mr. Tom Lefroy and almost eloped with him. Unfortunately for your most avid admirers,...

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) ...

November 25, 2015 Dear Jane, Is it truly possible that we are exactly one month from Christmas? Where has the time gone? I feel as though it were only yesterday when I was writing to you about my car brakes ceasing to work whilst I was driving on the highway this past August! I dare say time has undoubtedly sped up without our knowledge. You will be glad to know, Jane, that I have been constantly reading as of late (not that this is news per say as I can often be found reading). In truth, I do not feel complete if I do not have a book by my side. My latest reading material will be quite familiar to you as it is a collection of your lesser known and unfinished works, specifically: Lady Susan , The Watsons  and Sanditon . So far, I have completed the first two and thoroughly enjoyed them, although I wish most ardently that you had finished The Watsons  as it is such a charming story and was sure to be beloved by all. I confess that I was astonished to read the villainous a...

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...