Take Another Little Piece of My Heart

On Valentines day, I was lucky enough to find a piece of the community art project  lala-letters.

"once upon a time there was a girl and she hated valentines day but really deep down she wanted it to love her. she wanted valentines -- she wanted wanted hundreds! she made valentines - she sneaked em - she hid them - she kissed em - whispered secrets to them"

I found # 592, sealed with wax and hanging in a tree branch walking to breakfast with my boyfriend. We also spotted two more - but I left those for other people. It's not good to be greedy with love.

I'm not the most observant person (I walk out into the street pretty often) but carrying my camera really makes me open my eyes, and look at things around me. The other two letters were still there after we finished. We live off a busy street full of little shops, and I was surprised no one had caught them. But maybe they were too busy smooching.

Since then, they've been found in Portland's places of worship: coffee shop tip jars, bike helmets, and dive bar condom dispensers. Someone even had a letter slyly slipped into their pocket. 

Mine read "Valentine, let's pluck our unibrows for eachother."

And, when I entered the included code on the found map, the pop up window added "and maybe wear matching man panties. cuz it is fun and makes me feel tough. xxx-ooo sweet valentine" 

It felt like a little love letter from my city. Since she's been so cold lately, I really appreciated the gesture.

(1 and 2) on film with my Pentax k1000. More on flickr . ( serendipity made possible by) The lala-letters project ( p.s. ) If you enjoy random acts of kindness, you'll love the new online community One Kind Word. They come up with encouraging assignments every month, and share the results of participants across the county.