Christmas cards 2011

It took me a long while to come up with my Christmas card design for this year.  I thought I wanted to shy away from stamps, since I'd used them the previous two years, but in the end, a stamp is my most efficient cardmaking friend.  I toyed around with different ideas to practice, and a little light bulb turned out to be the final for most of my cards.  I also carved a snowflake and a star from a couple penciltop erasers.  They're awfully cute!

For the past couple of weeks I have been carrying around my cardmaking supplies, creating a card here, a card there... during lunch, a few minutes after work (before heading down to the post office), at home before bed.  Here's what I've been using:

• My favorite Fabriano Medioevalis cardstock


• Hand-carved stamps


• Black stamp pad


• "Satin rose" stamp pad


• Sharpies


• Japanese glitter and metallic pens

It was fun to bust out the old Japanese pens; they add just the right amount of sparkle and shine worthy of a holidlay card.  For the most part, though, the cards are pretty plain. Here's an example:

I explored a few different designs but ended up with an asymmetrical string of lights across the front of the card.  At first I randomly stamped the light bulb and added the "cord" with a black Sharpie, but then started drawing the line first and stamping afterwards.  Some have the bulbs colored in, too.  Just whatever I felt like.  I added stars or snowflakes in rose gold.  "merry and bright!" is the phrase I used most often; but some cards say "comfort + joy" or "happy holidays" or the four Advent themes of "hope, joy, love, peace."

Today is the last day I'll be making cards, as time's basically up.  I didn't pressure myself this year to write to everyone in my address book.  Instead, I just jotted names and addresses as they came to mind.  No-pressure cardwriting, what a concept.

I'll spend the next few days penning some new year's cards to send abroad, since I didn't come up with the design in time.  Better get to practicing my Japanese!

Still strewn

A few days after the Sunday LA Times Travel section finally featured my neck of the woods in its series highlighting various SoCal neighborhoods, the crazy Santa Ana winds paid a visit and left much of the SGV one huge, hot mess.

Three weeks have passed, and the sidewalks are still piled high with broken branches.  As I drive about town, the tress still standing show evidence of their branches twisted and snapped off; lifted sidewalks and root balls the size of cars are common sights; and there are piles of branches, pine needles, and palm fronds broken up here and there by parked cars along the roads. 

Here's a series of photos, where the damage is totally unreal (courtesy of the L.A. Times); it's hard to imagine that a huge tree can fall so suddenly until you see it. And it wasn't just a few, but a few hundred trees that toppled. Below are shots I took on a walk around the block the other day.  This is the street one over from me, which  is lined with huge eucalypus trees that are probably as old as the Craftsman homes there.  In one of the picutures you can see a hydrant, for scale.

Poor, old trees. It makes me sad.

Hyper organization

Delving into pen, ink, and paper blogs has sent me down a rabbit hole into an entirely new-to-me world. Amidst all the reviews and advice, there are stories about actually using these everyday items. And, in turn, the question of personal organization and productivity is asked and answered in many, many ways.

I discovered people who use a different planner for different aspects of their life (e.g. knitting, health & fitness, finances, professional, etc.). That's too much for me; I want to keep as little as possible on me at all times. And as I clicked on to more and more blogs, I found that a lot of people go the DIY or hack route to personalize a calendar or organization scheme to meet their personal needs. Fair enough, right? It's fun and encouraging to read about and see people's ingenuity and creativity. But it also added a lot of options for me, in addition to what's available commercially.

A few weeks ago, as I was pondering and exploring the options, my eye was piqued by the phrase 'nifty Japanese planner' on the sidebar of the DIY planner blog. And it was like falling down yet another, wonderful rabbit hole. Said planner is nifty indeed, a uniquely accordion-folded format, each panel a quarter sheet, each panel divided into eight columns for days of the week plus notes. I like the accordion style because it doesn't necessitate a separate month view (which Moleskine's weekly doesn't have and desperately needs!). Which means I wouldn't have to write things twice (once on the monthly, once on the week view). Each panel is 1/4 of a regular sheet of paper; printed double-sided, I can get a whole year in six pages. Not bad!

Of course I obsessed about the origin and evolution of this system. It was designed by an economist named Yukio Noguchi. There's not a whole lot of information in English, despite the face that he spent time at Yale and Stanford. The best one I found was on Postalco's site:

Chou seiri translates to " hyper-organized." These planners (chou seiri techou,「超」整理手帳) are still popular in Japan, and have, in the 15 or so years since their debut, a league of imitators. As you can see above, Postalco reimagined their version of the calendar, complete with leather or pressed cotton folio cover. Standard inserts and covers are easily available on Amazon Japan, too, but I won't have anyone buy it for me for two reasons: standard paper size in Japan is A4; and the weeks are printed with Monday as the first day. Secondarily, Japanese holidays are kind of irrelevant to me.

I found the link to one that someone created (can't find the link anymore) but it still didn't meet my needs: the week still begins on Monday and there is too much wasted margin space. Plus, Tuesday is written, "Tun" and Wednesday, "Wen." Small details, but still. How to get around this? A little DIY with Excel. I set all the margins to zero, created a basic grid, and drew in some boxes. Then I punched in each date separately (couldn't wrap my head around doing it by formulas). A little but of a PITA but not overly taxing. (And I can always leave it blank and write dates in as I go.) Fiddled around some more with formatting, shading the weekends and putting in a grid; and finally came up with this:

It might work! Now I'm cooking up ideas to create some sort of holder, with slots for cards, sticky notes, and blank paper for notes and doodles. Kinda like the original. But custom built for 8 1/2 x 11 and the U.S. calendar. I've been using my beta version for the past month and will give myself until about mid-January to decide what to do for the remainder of 2012. Here's to gettin' everything together for a productive year!

Tiptoeing @ TJ's

A while ago I picked up a call from a friend while shopping at my local Trader Joe's.

"Oh, you're right on time. I go to my TJ's about this time to check out amy single ladies."

"What do you mean? I always go around this time."

"Exactly. I bet you're holding a single basket, and there's a quart of milk and three bananas in it so far. "

"How'd you know?!"

"Because you're at TJ's now; that's when all the single people go. Just look around you."

Sure enough, lots of other lone shoppers with baskets carrying small quantities of food. I shared the story with some girlfriends and one of them posted to my Facebook wall soon afterwards, "Was at TJ's today; you were right!"

Since then I've been particularly self-conscious about my trips to TJ's. I feel like everything about the endeavor screams, "Hey, I'm single!" Especially when one of the cashiers said, "You shop here a lot, don't you?" Although I'm sure he was trying to be neighborly.

I felt extra self-conscious with tonight's haul:

On top of the quart of milk, there's the single-sized pizza and bottle of wine. "Hi, I'm totally single and have no Friday night plans. I'm just gonna eat and drink wine, at home, all by myself."

Not that I need to explain it here, of all places, but I did so most intentionally. It's the only night I've had to myself all week, and though I considered going out, the introvert in me won. It's been a pleasant and productive night of hanging up some holiday decorations and watching a cute documentary from China called Please Vote For Me, about an election for Class Monitor of a third grade class.

Now it's time for the true winding down: a shower, writing some Christmas cards, and maybe even a manicure. Not a bad night to be single.

Oh, and that pizza was pretty good!

Artsy Autumn: Florence Architectural Walking Tour

You know that saying about not breaking in new shoes while traveling? I was stubborn. I thought my feet impervious to new leather. Then I opted for the architectural walking tour and walked all over Florence -- on cobbled streets, no less (beautiful to look at, painful to walk on).

First off, mad props to our tour guide, a chic Italian young lady named Alfreida who was an Art History student.  I loved her accent and the way she spoke of the city and the sights and their creators with such love and admiration and understanding, claiming these places and people not simply as names or pieces to be memorized for a course of study, but as part of her history, her identity, her very self.  It's always so rewarding to witness a person in their element, exuding their passion. 

A day of spotty rain made the smell of leather all but permeate the city.  It was a nice, organic smell as we walked by the San Lorenzo central market and across long rows of stalls selling belts, wallets, purses, and more.  The cathedral itself is quite old; I snapped a neat shot of colorful bikes leaning against bricks that are hundreds of years old.  We walked onwards towards the Dome and Cathedral, stopping to look at Giotto's reliefs of Bible stories on the Baptistery doors.  Then to the Palazzio Vecchio, which is now City Hall. Past the old Palazzo di Medici, all the way up to the Piazzale  Michelangelo, where you find that sweeping, panoramic view of the entire city.  I waited patiently for the clouds to move so I could get a picture of the sun shining on the Dome.

    

    

    

Walked back to city center to meet the rest of the tour group, who had opted for the cooking class.  We were met with heaping plates of bruschetta, risotto, a braised pork.  And wine.  (Yes, for lunch--we were on vacation!)  I promptly sat down and slipped my shoes off, giving my poor, swollen feet a bit of respite.  By the end of the trip the shoes were worn in.  It was worth it, but I won't be repeating that on my next trip.

[doorknobs]

Speaking of architectural details: throughout the trip I took pictures of some doorknobs as I walked by residences, businesses, and other spaces.  My travel mates began making fun of me for taking "strange" shots, but I trusted my vision.  It came together quite nicely, if I do say so myself!  I have one of doors and windows, too, which came together by chance.  Thank you, Picasa, for making it fun and easy to create collages!

Gift guides galore

No Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping for me.  But that doesn't mean I don't like a good gift guide.  The good peeps at Apartment Therapy are starting to put up various roundups (I especially like the guide for architecture lovers and the various green guides).  It's a quick way to see what's new and fun.

I am especially intrigued by the post on surprise subscription gifts.  It's not a new idea, of course, but is being taken to a whole new level these days.  From the post, I like the idea and content behind Quarterly the most, though I must confess that I'm not *so* into design that I recognize the contributors by name or face.  I'm curious about the personality test offered by Lost Crates, and may go for it one of these days.  But realistically, I love browsing for stationery too much to relinquish the fun of discovery and curating a set into someone else's hands!  From the comments, I discovered the Craft Coffee subscription, which sounds pretty cool: three coffee samplings from artisan roasters across the country with each mailing.  Good blog and packaging design is a plus +.

Here's a short list of other gift guides I enjoy peeking into each year:

Design Sponge guides

Anthology magazine gift guide

Gifted magazine guide

Treehugger holiday gift guide 2011

More entries are coming in as Christmas approaches, too.  Where are you finding the goods these days?

Searching for 2012

I've been buying an analog calendar every year, not so much for plans and productivity but as a means of recording things I've done. I want to pivot more towards using a planner to, well... plan. My default is the Moleskine weekly + notes that has a blank page on the right for notes. A couple of years ago I tried to get by with the pocket monthly, which didn't work for me at all. This year I have a simple, checkbook size (slightly slimmer, slightly longer than Moleskine), which I like because I can use my fountain pen without ink feathering or bleeding all over the place (new vocabulary words!). But, for some reason, I haven't really loved it.

As the year winds down, I am thinking more and more of how to organize myself for 2012. What to do? Will I go back to the Moleskine pocket weekly? Or try the vertical or panoramic versions? Or should I check out the Muji calendar, which my friend swears by? Or dig up my old Day Runner (when they were in, in high school -- can I find it?!) and get a refill?

I spent a good hour flipping through the wide selection of panners and calendars at my local independent bookstore. Quo Vadis, Letts, At-A-Glance, Moleskine (the tiny day-per-page planners are so cute but entirely not functional for me), and tons more, including the Standard Daily that is the reason I alwasy keep an analog calendar (my parents used to get one of these from the office each year. One year I found and old one and spent hours poring through its contents, many of which were milestones and small moments in my brother's and my life -- first day of school, dentist appointment, etc. -- in my mom's distinct hand, complete with little hearts. Call me narcissistic, but I want my child(ren) to have the same experience one day). Sadly, after flipping through dozens of planners, I still wasn't able to commit to any of the ones at the store.

Last weekend I stopped by Kinokuniya to see their collection of Japanese planners.  They're awfully, awfully cute, and so nostalgic, but the Japanese week begins on Monday, which skews my monthly view.  When I lived there it made sense to go with the flow, but back here I need the week to visually start on Sunday when I look at a monthlong spread.  Unfortunately, this makes J planners categorically unusable for me.  *sigh* I've got three weeks to make a decision, and, ideally, the quicker the better, as I'm already scheduling appointments for January (yikes!). How are you organizing your day and your life for 2012?