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secret sister project

I cannot believe that it is already time for round FOUR of #OTSPSECRETSISTER!!

Let’s first get some housekeeping things out of the way…

The two most important things to do when signing up to be a part of this project are:

Head over to the google form which coincides with your monetary tier and fill it out in full. NOTE: IF YOU FORGET TO DO THIS THEN YOU WILL NOT BE PAIRED. THIS IS LITERALLY WHAT WE ARE USING TO PAIR YOU UP, IF YOU AREN’T ON THE FORM, WE CAN NOT PAIR YOU.
BEFORE scrolling down to the questions, and BEFORE signing up to be a part of this project please THOROUGHLY read our FAQ and Rules post. Memorize the rules and refers back to it throughout the project. We are going to have to put more strict standards in place this round and therefore there is little leeway for tolerance of people not abiding the “rules.”

Just to cover all of our bases let me reiterate a few things, but please keep in mind that this is just a basic glossing over of these rules, we go more in detail and clarify everything in the main post that we are asking you to reference.

First, please remember that this is a commitment. By signing up to be a secret sister you are promising to send at least one small card AND/OR gift to your secret sister a month depending on the “monetary group” you sign up for. IN ADDITION to this, you are also asked to send letters and or/postcards to foster positive communication. Many people asked for their to be an emphasis on the pen pal aspects of this project and we have been working hard to remind everyone that it’s not about the gifts, and this seems like the perfect way to do so. It is very important that you don’t sign up for this unless you are willing to follow through. Please think of how sad (and unfair) it would be for someone to be working hard to make their secret sister feel special and not receive anything themselves!

Last thing, sign-ups run from January 16 to midnight on January 29! Continue reading →

Hey there loves! As many of you know, one of the biggest “rules” that we are pushing is that we hosts must “know” you. A lot of you have asked what constitutes us “knowing” you, and that is a very valid question in this digital age! Basically, we want to have faith in those that we are allowing into our precious project. We want to be able to say, “Oh yeah, that is the girl who chatted with me about her search for a job as a Librarian.” Or, “She is the girl who was active in the hashtag despite not being able to join in on last round.” We look at your avi picture, we memorize your name, we make notations next to your sign-up in our spreadsheet. Full disclosure: when we go to our spreadsheet and one (OR TWO!!) of us has to notate, “no idea who she is, she doesn’t even follow me” we give some serious side eye. Are we looking for followers? Not in the least bit. Do we think that you ONE BILLION PERCENT should know who ALL THREE hosts are? OH. YES. We actually had a ridiculous amount of people this round thank two of us, not know that they were speaking to one of the hosts when we reached out to inquire about an issue, and so on. It is embarrassing for YOU when we bring this info back to base as the information on who we are is so readily available in a few different places. With that being said, we thought it would be helpful if we each wrote up a little “about me” so that you had some points to bring up when you chatted us up over the next month. HINT: THIS MEANS IT IS A VERY GOOD IDEA TO GO AND VISIT BRITT AND AMY’S POSTS, THERE MIGHT BE A QUIZ LATER. We put the question to twitter, and some of you had some things you just HAD to know, so let’s get goin’!

How did you get the idea for The Secret Sister Project?

To sum it up, I was having a rough 2014 and needed some cheering up and I remembered about this Secret Sister project that is put on at churches where my family attends. I brought this idea to Britt and Ame and we pondered if we could take this idea and put it to the test with our online community because who doesn’t need more cheer in their life? We launched a mini group as a sort of trial to see how it worked out and we were so thrilled to see how well it worked. I am always astounded and proud to see how well it is working and feel so lucky that this community is filled with such kind people.

How did the three of you meet?

Through the magic of the Internet. To be perfectly honest, it is somewhat hard to remember a time in which we weren’t friends as we have become family over the years. I do know that Britt and I bonded over The Princess Bride after she saw my reference in my Twitter profile and continue bonding to this day over our conversations that can be carried out by using only quotes from the TV show, Friends. I was lucky enough to be paired with Amy for my first year participating in The Broke and the Bookish Secret Santa. I remember being floored at how perfect she is at picking out presents for me (something I am still thankful for to this day) and it wasn’t long before I realized that she was the best listener and kindest person I may ever know. Somehow we got a group chat going that now is a literal consistent conversation all day, every day. Fast forward through weddings, 15 hour road trips, tears, laughter that makes you pee a little and here we are – soul friends! There are few things that I am more thankful for.

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