diff --git a/smtp_send.ipynb b/smtp_send.ipynb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4351b2e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/smtp_send.ipynb
@@ -0,0 +1,134 @@
+{
+ "cells": [
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 1,
+   "id": "0cbbf99b-5a86-47fa-828c-0e85b271b215",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "import os\n",
+    "import smtplib\n",
+    "from dotenv import load_dotenv"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 2,
+   "id": "87c5df80-c9f8-4fe8-a9a0-41e91fe22fe6",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [
+    {
+     "data": {
+      "text/plain": [
+       "True"
+      ]
+     },
+     "execution_count": 2,
+     "metadata": {},
+     "output_type": "execute_result"
+    }
+   ],
+   "source": [
+    "# need to recall when edited\n",
+    "load_dotenv()"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 3,
+   "id": "544fc052-7e2d-4434-a168-74c3c32739a9",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [],
+   "source": [
+    "smtp_server = os.getenv(\"SMTP_SRV\")\n",
+    "smtp_port = os.getenv(\"SMTP_PORT\")\n",
+    "smtp_user = os.getenv(\"SMTP_USER\")\n",
+    "smtp_pass = os.getenv(\"SMTP_PASS\")"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 4,
+   "id": "9109a375-d6b7-4ebf-b955-1447a26f2cf7",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [
+    {
+     "data": {
+      "text/plain": [
+       "(235, b'2.7.0 Authentication successful')"
+      ]
+     },
+     "execution_count": 4,
+     "metadata": {},
+     "output_type": "execute_result"
+    }
+   ],
+   "source": [
+    "server = smtplib.SMTP(smtp_server, smtp_port)\n",
+    "server.starttls()\n",
+    "server.login(smtp_user, smtp_pass)"
+   ]
+  },
+  {
+   "cell_type": "code",
+   "execution_count": 5,
+   "id": "1c2fb0f0-b18b-44af-a65c-0ff001e48114",
+   "metadata": {},
+   "outputs": [
+    {
+     "name": "stdout",
+     "output_type": "stream",
+     "text": [
+      "email to: cheeloychang@gmail.com\n",
+      "email from: spareclass@spareclass.com\n"
+     ]
+    },
+    {
+     "ename": "SMTPDataError",
+     "evalue": "(550, b'5.7.0 From address is not one of your addresses')",
+     "output_type": "error",
+     "traceback": [
+      "\u001b[31m---------------------------------------------------------------------------\u001b[39m",
+      "\u001b[31mSMTPDataError\u001b[39m                             Traceback (most recent call last)",
+      "\u001b[36mCell\u001b[39m\u001b[36m \u001b[39m\u001b[32mIn[5]\u001b[39m\u001b[32m, line 9\u001b[39m\n\u001b[32m      5\u001b[39m \u001b[38;5;28mprint\u001b[39m(\u001b[33mf\u001b[39m\u001b[33m\"\u001b[39m\u001b[33memail from: \u001b[39m\u001b[38;5;132;01m{\u001b[39;00memail_from\u001b[38;5;132;01m}\u001b[39;00m\u001b[33m\"\u001b[39m)\n\u001b[32m      8\u001b[39m \u001b[38;5;66;03m# sender’s email, recipient’s email, and email message.\u001b[39;00m\n\u001b[32m----> \u001b[39m\u001b[32m9\u001b[39m \u001b[43mserver\u001b[49m\u001b[43m.\u001b[49m\u001b[43msendmail\u001b[49m\u001b[43m(\u001b[49m\u001b[43memail_from\u001b[49m\u001b[43m,\u001b[49m\u001b[43m \u001b[49m\u001b[43memail_to\u001b[49m\u001b[43m,\u001b[49m\u001b[43m \u001b[49m\u001b[33;43m\"\u001b[39;49m\u001b[33;43mThis is a test email sent from Python\u001b[39;49m\u001b[33;43m\"\u001b[39;49m\u001b[43m)\u001b[49m\n",
+      "\u001b[36mFile \u001b[39m\u001b[32m~/.local/share/uv/python/cpython-3.12.11-linux-x86_64-gnu/lib/python3.12/smtplib.py:897\u001b[39m, in \u001b[36mSMTP.sendmail\u001b[39m\u001b[34m(self, from_addr, to_addrs, msg, mail_options, rcpt_options)\u001b[39m\n\u001b[32m    895\u001b[39m     \u001b[38;5;28;01melse\u001b[39;00m:\n\u001b[32m    896\u001b[39m         \u001b[38;5;28mself\u001b[39m._rset()\n\u001b[32m--> \u001b[39m\u001b[32m897\u001b[39m     \u001b[38;5;28;01mraise\u001b[39;00m SMTPDataError(code, resp)\n\u001b[32m    898\u001b[39m \u001b[38;5;66;03m#if we got here then somebody got our mail\u001b[39;00m\n\u001b[32m    899\u001b[39m \u001b[38;5;28;01mreturn\u001b[39;00m senderrs\n",
+      "\u001b[31mSMTPDataError\u001b[39m: (550, b'5.7.0 From address is not one of your addresses')"
+     ]
+    }
+   ],
+   "source": [
+    "email_to = os.getenv(\"EMAIL_TO\")\n",
+    "email_from = os.getenv(\"EMAIL_FROM\")\n",
+    "\n",
+    "print(f\"email to: {email_to}\")\n",
+    "print(f\"email from: {email_from}\")\n",
+    "\n",
+    "\n",
+    "# sender’s email, recipient’s email, and email message.\n",
+    "server.sendmail(email_from, email_to, \"This is a test email sent from Python\")"
+   ]
+  }
+ ],
+ "metadata": {
+  "kernelspec": {
+   "display_name": "Python 3 (ipykernel)",
+   "language": "python",
+   "name": "python3"
+  },
+  "language_info": {
+   "codemirror_mode": {
+    "name": "ipython",
+    "version": 3
+   },
+   "file_extension": ".py",
+   "mimetype": "text/x-python",
+   "name": "python",
+   "nbconvert_exporter": "python",
+   "pygments_lexer": "ipython3",
+   "version": "3.12.11"
+  }
+ },
+ "nbformat": 4,
+ "nbformat_minor": 5
+}