What’s in a name…

So a million years ago I named my blog scribbles, scratches and scrawls. My blog turned eight last week and I didn’t even notice. And what I also haven’t really noticed was that my blog seems to have ben taken over by postcards…but I’m not going to dwell on that too much…

Today this little package arrived in our mailbox. I knew what was in it…but I was still excited to open it!

Inside the envelope were two little cellophane packets and it seems I have some kind theme going on…two little girls reading…

J helped me arrange them so we could see all of them at once…I think I’ve passed my love of postcards on to her…she couldn’t decide which was her favourite…I think she decided on the owl, the giraffe and the mice mailing postcards!

We’ll see how they stand up through the mail…hopefully they will do well – the card stock is a nice weight so they should be find. I’ve been trying to find a good place to get postcards in Vancouver…non-tourist cards. When I lived in London there were postcards everywhere…you could get them in bookstores, stationery shops, tobacco shops, news agents and of course Paperchase…but the only place I’ve consistently found postcards is at the Postcard Store on Granville Island, but they are so expensive! I do buy cards there sometimes, but not often. These cards are still more expensive than the tourist cards, but they were much less expensive than the Postcard Shop.

Canada Post has kindly raised international postage from $1.85 to $2.50 starting April 1, so I’ve been trying to find inexpensive cards…J and I have amassed quite the collection of prepaid cards (they’re only $1.99, so even at $1.85 they are quite the deal!)

So now, now it’s time to put myself on a postcard diet…

A Broken Magazine...

I'm all for technology, but first the "suffering" caused by lack of Blackberry and now this. Check out the link and watch the video.

This make me sad. Yes, I am a self professed paper addict. Yes, I read real books still (we don't have an ereader or tablet of any kind). Yes, I still have two subscriptions to magazines and pick up an occasional magazine on my way through the check stand at the grocery store. The last lines of text on the video make me the saddest: "For my one year old daughter, a magazine is an iPad that does not work.It will remain so for her whole life. Steve Jobs has coded part of her OS."

Steve Jobs didn't do the coding, the parents did. J is a three year who has grown up in the same world of technology as this kid. True, we don't have an iPad or even an iPhone in our house, but you can bet J knows how they work. She's known for a good two years. But she also knows how a magazine works. She knows how books work.

Will tablets take over part of the book and magazine (and likely newspaper) markets? For sure. But I don't know that tablets will make books, magazines or newspapers obsolete. While there are still people who love to read "real" books, magazines and newspapers, there will still be "real" books. I imagine that one day soon the majority of that stuff will be available on tablets, but I'm not convinced the paper products will go away.

That said, I would have loved to have all of my university texts available on a tablet. Can you imagine how much lighter my book bag would have been!?!

PS Sorry about all grumpiness today...maybe it's a sign that I should be in bed long before midnight. Like hours before midnight. I'll try that tonight...

Lovely, lovely paper

Ooooooooooooh....

I went to visit Paperchase. I haven't been there for a while.

Guess what! They deliver to Canada now...not just to the UK. Unfortunately it looks like there are no stands in the Borders stores in the US - it appears that Borders sold Paperchase (and they've now go bankrupt and Borders stores are closing all over).

But I can order online if I want. Not quite the same as going into the store, but I'll take it for now. It's a good thing the shipping is £20 or I'd be ordering from the site ALL THE TIME.

Sigh...

Serendipity Designworks

I have a friend who has a business doing something I can only dream about - she designs and sells greeting cards (okay, so I don't really want to design greeting cards, but I would love to have a stationery store. One day when I win the lottery, that's what I want to do...) And her business has the most lovely name - Serendipity Designworks. I love the word serendipity!

Anyway, I ordered a few cards from her a few weeks ago and I was so excited when they arrived in the mail:


They are awesome! I am very particular about my stationery. It has to be the right weight and the right finish and have the right feel and I could go on and on and on about my requirements. Theses cards totally fit. I can use my favourite pens and they work perfectly and they don't smudge or bleed or anything...I love it! The cards are awesome - some are printed, some have awesome little embellishments attached. And, everyone I've shown them to (or given them to) has commented on how cute they are! I've already sent a few of these away and I'm sure the rest will be on their way shortly...

I really love the Christmas cards too...I'd be putting in my order for those RIGHT NOW if we hadn't gone to England last fall and I hadn't maybe, possibly, bought a bazillion Christmas cards then.

Anyway, I recommend checking out Ann-Marie's goodies and her blog, even if you don't have a paper addiction like me!

Serendipity Designworks is not paying me to write this...it's all me...just because I love paper and I want to share!

Uh oh...

I found a new paper site full of lovely things to covet.

Maggie over at Foodie Comes Clean is doing a giveaway today of these and these and they are from a company called Meri Meri and I think I'm in trouble. I'd never heard of Meri Meri before and it's probably a good thing or I might have more than two drawers full of fun stationery.

Mmmm...I'm loving this though. Good thing I haven't really jumped on the online shopping band wagon so far. Otherwise, yeah, trouble with a capital T would be an understatement!

Twenty-five random things about me

As posted on Facebook

25 Random Things About Me

1. I ignored this note thing until Minda harassed (okay, gently prodded) me about it!

2. I love staying at home with Baby J and would like to be able to do it all the time and never go back to work, but part of me is actually looking forward to going back to work...I may not feel the same way in September, but we'll see.

3. I have a serious book addiction. I have put myself on a book diet which means I am not allowed to buy books for myself unless someone gives me a gift card to the bookstore. I've been borrowing books from my aunt and uncle's collection instead. I tried to pare down my collection when we unpacked this time, but I only managed to find three books I could bear to part with.

4. I have a love-hate relationship with our new place. I'm hoping the hate part will go away once we paint and maybe get a couple of pieces of new furniture...

5. The smiles I get first thing in the morning from Baby J make getting out of bed worth it and bearable...even when she decides to wake up before 6:00 am.

6. I only lived in London for just over 1.5 years total. I've lived in Vancouver for 10+ of the last 13 years. London feels more like a second home than Vancouver. I still feel a bit transient in Vancouver. I have good friends and family in Vancouver, but I feel like many of the special people in my life are scattered around the world...probably because of the time I spent living in Hawaii, London and Switzerland!

7. When I'm working, I only get to see Alex for about an hour, maybe an hour and a half everyday - it's hard and we try to make up for it on weekends. That's part of the reason I'm enjoying maternity leave so much - now I get to see him for four or five hours a day and we even get to eat together!

8. I love going to bed early and getting up early, but I also like staying up late and sleeping in. I need 8-9 hours of sleep to function...unfortunately it usually works out that on the days I stay up late, I need to get up early. Not so good for the sleep quota.

9. I worked in an industry that required talent and skills that I know I don't possess. Thank goodness I was in administration not production, because I have those skills. When I told people where I worked, the looks of disbelief I got from the people who knew me were great. The looks of relief when they heard I was in administration were even better! They made me smile every time!

10. I have an irrational fear of birds. All birds. Alive birds, dead birds, stuffed birds, photographs of birds in books.

11. When I was a kid I thought there was a monster/bad guy/bird living under my bed. I'd turn the light off and take a running leap from the door to my bed so the monster/bad guy/bird couldn't grab my ankle. Good thing my bedroom was tiny.

12. We shared the Blue House with at least two ghosts.

13. I learned more about the Bible from my AP Lit class than I did from Sunday School.

14. When I was in high school, I used to go camping at least once a month. I miss it and I'm trying to convince Alex that camping is fun.

15. I don't like condiments, but our fridge is full of them because I married a condiment fiend.

16. I love that my family is large and that we enjoy spending time together.

17. I had my first migraine when I was ten or eleven. At the worst, they were coming every seven to ten days. My usual trigger is abrupt changes in barometric pressure or altitude. Sometimes lack of sleep, too much sleep, dehydration or food can also trigger them. They have varied in severity and frequency since I started getting them. One of the best side effects of being pregnant was the complete absence of migraines, even when the Vancouver weather was crazy!

18. When I was admitted to the hospital three weeks early to have Baby J, our coworkers knew, but we didn't tell our families until she had arrived safely.

19. I'm a pack rat. Really and truly a pack rat. It's mostly organized, but I know I don't need all that stuff. I'm trying to be more ruthless at getting rid of stuff. It's working better in some areas of my life than others (see #3 above and #20 below).

20. I also have an addiction to stationery and all things related to it. I have three drawers and a bread box full of stationery. I have more pens than I could possibly ever use. But certain types of paper demand certain types of pens. Too bad we're no longer a society that uses the postal service much. I'm kind of on a stationery diet too, but it's not working so well.

21. I have a big postcard collection that started when I was seven.

22. When I was at boarding school I got so much mail that they were surprised at the bookstore when there was nothing for me to pick up from my mailbox. Even when I lived in London I got lots of mail. Not so much now...but that's okay!

23. Maybe my addiction is to all things paper - books, stationery, postcards, letters? Hmmmm...

24. I love having an empty laundry basket but I hate doing laundry, in particular the folding, hanging and putting away part. I never iron, but when I lived in London, I found ironing sheets to be very relaxing and a good time to think!

25. Everyday I look at Alex and Baby J and I can't believe they're my family or how happy they make me! I think I'm pretty lucky to have both of them!

20 days 'til Christmas

step one

Where do you live?

I've discovered that I'm living increasingly in my computer. Well, maybe not in it, but my world is shrinking. Email, this blog, instant messaging, text messages, and Facebook are all big contributors. I haven't quite figured out how the Facebook addiction happens, but talk to almost any Facebooker who I still speak to using spoken words, not typed words, and they will all say the same thing...something along the lines of "I'm SOOOOOOOO addicted."

I don't know why.

At the same time, I do know that there is a quiet revolt against technology happening amongst my friends. In the last month, I've received real mail from five or six people. Real mail as in on paper, not necessarily in an envelope, came through the slot in the front door, not bills or bank statements, REAL MAIL. Of those people, four of them have said they are stepping away from their email. They're attempting to send postcards, letters and cards. One even said she's trying to pick up the phone instead of sending an instant message or text when arranging a get together...

I like real mail. My mom told me when I was a kid if I wanted letters, I had to write letters. You know what, it worked then. Maybe it will work now. Maybe if I get addicted to real letters, I can kick my Facebook addiction...You know, the whole delayed gratification thing might just work.

So...if you don't get an email response from me, check your mail box in the next week...

But I don't think I'm ready to give up Facebook ... yet

Paperchase obsession

As previously documented, I have a fascination with paper, especially paper from Paperchase. Well today, in my internet wanderings, I quite accidentally discovered that while Paperchase still does not have an online shop, you can purchase some of their lovely paper items from Amazon.co.uk....bad news for the bank account...or I can just wait until I go to London later this year and indulge then.

rival to Paperchase!

I have found a rival to Paperchase.
And I can buy it in Canada.
And I can buy it online.
And I'm happy!!!!!!!!!!!

And I'm silly because Kelsey gave me very pretty paper for Christmas and it wasn't until I was on the website today that I realized I had already discovered it by accident!

The company is called Galison and I had to buy more than one box of their note cards.

Oh yeah...they're gonna give Paperchase a run for its money...if only because it's far more accessible!!!

Paperchase

you asked for it Heddy!!!



Now you're gonna get it!!!



In something I wrote yesterday, I mentioned Paperchase...again. Heddy asked "ANYWAY I wanted to ask you about paperchase...I don't know this place...(I can hear your *gasp* from here!) AND I was hoping you could tell me about it!"


So here goes...

Look at the pretty pictures...that's some of their pretty stuff that I can't get enough of!



Paperchase is one of my most favourite stores in the ENTIRE world except for the fact that it's in London and I'm not. Although that's probably good because it means my bank account is relatively intact still! Paperchase is all about paper and pens, two of my most favourite things. It's got bright bold paper and prints and cards and postcards and I really, truly, seriously could spend hours in there just looking, touching and smelling the paper. And picking it up and then putting it back and picking it up again and putting it back again and then finally leaving with more than any person in their right mind could ever use, even if they write two or three letters a day, which I don't. Don't get me wrong, even with my lovely computer and all its abilities to communicate with my various friends and relatives scattered around the world, I still like to write letters and every once in while, I actually get one or two back! That's probably not really fair, because the three or four people I write real letters to semi-regularly also write back...it's the ones who I normally email and then out of the blue I spontaneously (yes, I know, redundant) write them a letter and mail it, but still continue to email them who don't write back. And who can blame them. THEY know I check my email and will eventually reply to it! By the way, paper is heavy. I came home with a suitcase I didn't have when I left. Ask Alex.



ANYWAY...there's some cool stuff...although I can't find a picture of my favourite blocks of writing paper. I picked three up for a grand total of £9.00. And each on has 150 pages. I just finished one and am part way through another from when I lived in England in 2001, so the three new ones will last a long time (by the way, each pad has assorted different colours. I'm not stockpiling plain-white-run-of-the-mill-available-for-purchase-in-Canada paper!).



I'm sad sad sad...there are Paperchase outlets in Borders books in the USA...but none here. Even Australia and Singapore have them in some of their Borders. Alex, let's go to Portland or Tacoma just so that I can go to Borders!!!!!!!!



My all time favourite Paperchase is on Tottenham Court Road. It's huge. It's three or four FLOORS of paper and paper products. And there's a coffee shop (it also helped that it was across from EasyEverything). The ones at Charing Cross and Covent Garden are good and I have been known to buy paper at the kiosk in Waterloo Station just before boarding a train for a day trip. Yes, their stuff was worth lugging all over Southern England! The big ones also sell cool stuff. Like picture frames and boxes and other STUFF. I love it!



And well, I haven't found anything even remotely similar here in the Great White North. Heddy, I know you'd also LOVE Paperchase...cause really, some days I think you're just a different me. I'll keep looking for a Paperchase equivalent, but I just don't think I'll find one. Hope that answers your questions. Now everyone knows about my (not so) secret infatuation with paper, in particular paper from Paperchase.