Saturday was a rainy and unseasonably cool day in NYC. Despite the “I just want to stay in the bed and read a book” weather conditions, I left home early and set out on my day of errands. First up was a trip to the hair salon (shout-out to my good friends at Hair Styling by Joseph). Side note: if you ever want to know the weekend forecast, just call me and ask if I’m going to the hair salon. If the answer is “yes”, be sure to pack your umbrella as it invariably rains whenever I get my hair done. When. Ever.
I digress.
After Joseph’s, it was time for errand #2: to purchase stationery. Upon the advice of a mentor, I decided to develop a personalized stationery wardrobe. When I asked another mentor for a recommendation on where to procure said stationery, she smiled and joked “time to become a big girl, huh?” and directed me to Sam Flax.
Braced for the cold, I traipsed over to the flagship store, inquired about stationery, and was directed downstairs to see a young woman named Laura. With my feet frozen from the six block journey (unseasonably cool = not properly dressed), I was happy to sit down in Laura’s cozy design room. We started the design process by determining the various uses for the stationery. While the primary intent was social, I wanted the versatility to use the set professionally when needed (i.e. networking, business relationships, etc.). With simplicity and understated elegance as my design guides, I picked the paper color, ink color, font, and print style. We experimented with font size, placement, orientation, borders, dingbats, etc. An hour+ later, we emerged with a stationery wardrobe that, I believe, reflects my style and will achieve the aforementioned purposes. Mission accomplished!
Designing the stationery took me back…
- Back to the days when I was I a little girl and loved all types of paper products (color paper, journals, scented stationery sets)
- Back to junior high school when I would write a letter (aka a treatise) to a friend and pass it in class (or between classes in the hallways)
- Back to a time when I would exchange hand-written letters to my big brother who had just left for the Navy
- Back to a time when I wrote love letters to my high school boyfriend—as many as four in a day—and stored them all in a secret shoe box (which I still have)
- Back to a time (in the not so distant past) where I used to write so much that I would plow through two journals every year
The art of writing—especially hand-written, letter writing—seems to be a dying one. With technology and social media, we have become simultaneously more connected AND less connected to family, friends, and associates. It has become easier to reach out and touch someone while our social relationships are becoming increasingly impersonal. Think back to the last time you opened your mailbox and received a handwritten envelope? What did you think? How did it feel as you opened it? I am hard pressed to believe you were anything less than pleasantly surprised, pleased, and/or touched by the gesture.
Guess who is looking forward to her stationery set arriving??? This girl!
Coming to a mailbox near you…
Full disclosure: I arguably have the worst handwriting in the world. Though trained as an engineer, I was often told that I should’ve been a doctor given how how illegible my handwriting is. Sigh. Well, even if you can’t read the darn thing, it’s the thought that counts, right? If you need help deciphering, text me. 😉
PS: thanks to the good people at Google Images, I found the picture above on etsy. If you like what you see and/or you’re inspired by this post to order personalized stationery, the seller for the set in the photo above can be found here.
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