(Rifle) Paper Calendars

I am a sucker for a good, paper calendar. I try to keep appointments in my Blackberry and it just never seems permanent enough for me to remember. My friend Erin and I have had our Kate Spade planners for more than a decade now (I know, embarrassing), and there's always something so exciting about buying the upcoming year's inserts.

But I am also a big fan of Anna Bond's work and am always thrilled when Rifle Paper Co. comes out with new products. (I actually wanted her to design our wedding invitations but she was booked for the summer. C'est la vie.) This morning, I got the email about her 2012 calendars and notepads, and was thrilled to see the beautiful new designs. Her florals manage to be both elegant and whimsical at once. Check the botanical calendar and the rest of the new items here!

On the Wall: State Prints Part 2

Not to be repetitive, but here is another round of state prints I've fancied for a while. The Fifty and Fifty project is curated by Brooklyn-based designer Dan Cassaro, with one designer from each state finding a way to illustrate their motto. The prints have a completely different feel to the birds/flowers—much more graphic. I think the crisp color palette would look great in an office or study. Coral and navy, who'd have thunk? Which do you prefer?

On the Wall: State Prints

Our walls are anything but bare, but I would like to put more artwork up, especially some groupings or large-scale pieces. Today, I found these amazing state prints from Dutch Door Press. (Check out their Etsy shop, too!) I have an admitted love for owls, but I can be an equal-opportunity bird lover. The combination of state bird and state flower with the texture and dimension of letterpress printing makes me pretty happy. And the price is fantastic. I would love to make a set of these, with one from every state Justin or I have lived in. My only disappointment was that they haven't created Oklahoma or Missouri yet...

Monday Newsstand

(Photo courtesy of AntyDiluvian)

Here are some of the articles that piqued my interest or amused me today:

• Great profile of J. Crew's creative director Jenna Lyons in New York Mag
• Virginia Heffernan on whether Facebook birthday greetings are a touch of "humanness" or fake "social capital"
• Warren Buffet's op-ed on why the super-rich don't need any tax favors
• GOOD's story about an interactive tool to compare "affordable" housing in NYC neighborhoods
• A beautiful, brief history of menu design, and what it shows about our economy and culture, from Brain Pickings

4 Years, 3 Apartments Later...

... also 1 marriage, 1 graduation, 1 bedbug infestation, zero pets, zero muggings, countless books, too many jobs and lots of love, prayers and dreams.

Today is the 4-year anniversary of my move to New York City. My roommate and I packed everything into a Budget Truck named Betsy and drove from Texas to Missouri, from Missouri to New York. We arrived on a Saturday morning at 6 am, after having spent the night at Howard Johnson in Hoboken. I started grad school on Sunday and things haven't slowed down much since. Lots of ups and downs, highs and lows, and every cliché I could throw at you, but in all seriousness, moving here has changed my life for good.