LeaTheShark

Heya! My name is Lea, I’m a 26 year old Librarian from Richmond, VA.

I love books, reading, writing, and my job at the library! I have a ton of varied interests, including but not limited to:

• Papercrafts
• D&D
• Cooking
• Baking
• Reading & Writing
• Board Games
• Plants
• Tea & Coffee
• Star Trek
• Studio Ghibli
• Thrifting
• Scuba Diving
• Travel
• Cosplay
• Tarot/Witchiness

My style is a combination of cottagecore meets witchy/gothy pagan punk. Big Baba Yaga energy!!

My apartment number is a little confusing in the swap-bot font: It's the letter "i" and the number 13!

Lo-fi chillhop beats to relax/study to, Folk, Filk!, Punk, Metal, Alt; All time favorites include Sleep Token, Lord Huron, Protest the Hero, The Wonder Years, The Oh Hellos, Ice Nine Kills, Poor Man's Poison, and The Devil Makes Three

• Anne of Green Gables
• A Psalm for the Wild-Built
• The Tea Dragon Society
• The Long Way To a Small, Angry Planet
• North American Lake Monsters
• Sci Fi Anthologies
• Uprooted

I try to read over 100 books each year - check out my Goodreads! I tend to read a lot of YA/Middlegrade since that is the age group I work with.  

• Overall, I would say my aesthetic is vintage and modern combined. I love the juxtaposition!
• I REALLY love Flow magazine and the flow book for paper lovers but it's hard to find Flow stuff where I live
• I love plants, nature, space, witchy stuff, cats, tea, and books, so anything with those motifs always makes me super happy!
• Sharks are my favorite animal! I also really like possum, raccoon, moth, and cat motifs
• I love Pusheen the Cat

• My birthday is in October, I love the fall, and Halloween is my favorite holiday! I appreciate Halloween and fall-themed stuff year-round.

  

• I love cryptids, especially mothman - I have several cryptid pins, mothman mugs, and even made an intro to cryptids zine! (P.S. Now I made a cryptid swap group, check it out!
• I like goth aesthetic stuff, eldritch horror stuff, ghosts, monsters, paranormal, general spookiness~
• Cottage core is also great!!
  
• My favorite colors are black, purples, blues, and greens, and metallics. But I love all colors! I think monochromatic color palettes are super cool, and I also like rainbows.
• I love graphic design, type elements, and illustrative lettering. Jessica Hische and Aaron Draplin are two of my favorite graphic designers today, and I am fascinated by vintage branding/packaging/type.
• I don't mind inappropriate or snarky designs! (I thrifted this set of postcards for 10c and I am in love: Baron Von Fancy)

Dislikes:

• I don't really like paisley
• I don't like dolls... they creep me out!
• Not a fan of kid/reward/teacher stickers, unless it's specific to my likes
• No planner items, please! I don't really use them
• No rose scents or flavours
• No skincare products (except from Lush, I have sensitive skin and that's the only brand that doesn't make me break out)
• Not a big fan of plain chamomile teas (which is funny because I have a chamomile tattoo)
   

My favorite holidays to celebrate are the Wheel of the Year! I especially love seasonal crafting, celebrating the turning of the seasons, and feeling in tune with nature.

I love celebrating Halloween too! And we celebrate a combo of Yule and secular Christmas in our house, which leads to a whole lot of cozy winter celebrations.

I also love weird and wacky holidays, they make me laugh! Sometimes we even plan library programs around weird holidays which is always a lot of fun. Did you know "National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day" is August 8?

I like pretty much all tea and coffee, though I am much more of a tea drinker than a coffee drinker.

I love both tea bags and loose leaf teas, and I am always happy to receive either! Flavored black tea and green teas are my all time favorites!

Please don't send anything with dairy mixed in because I am very allergic!!

I'm very allergic to dairy, and I am not a fan of rose scented or flavoured things. Sorry! I like it in theory, but it's just not my thing (it gives me a headache).

I keep a (mostly) vegan diet, but I'm not terribly strict about it.

Re: other people's allergies, I have a VERY fluffy Australian Shepard named Austin! I try my very best to keep his hair out of my swaps but he is a furry beast... apologies in advance if he sends you a little fluff as an extra.

I am so sorry to everyone that received a late swap from me or who was missing mail. I've reached out to everyone to see what I can do to make it right!

I was struggling a lot with my mental health in the fall of 2021 and decided to take a break from swapping after sending out my final batch of mail, but it seems that some things never got to folks, and since I was offline, I didn't know that they were MIA. I have done everything I can do to make up these swaps, but folks are either offline or have declined my offers to resend.