Some interesting things I’ve come across lately:

The Geography of Bliss,

how the higher price of wine makes drinking it more pleasurable (I don’t drink wine, but I wonder if it’d work if they tested with chocolates instead),

simply gorgeous bags by moop,

and because I love looking at what other people draw in their journals, this slideshow by missouri graphic designer/instructor douglas wilson who gave each of his students in his advanced typography class a field notes booklet (via Poppytalk).

I am the hugest fan of chocolate chip cookies, especially the ones from Smooch and Little Piggy Market. But I’ve given them up since one of my new year resolutions is to eat healthier (fewer non-nutritious sweets!). To satisfy my chocolate chip cookie cravings, I think I’ll try making my own version.

Does anyone have a good recipe for chewy, whole wheat chocolate chip cookies?!

There was a lovely treat waiting in the mailbox this afternoon, lillie’s companion cookbook. The recipes in the cookbook are a compilation of favorites from the kitchens of her family and friends. She made these beautiful handmade books as holiday gifts, and it is such an honor to receive one. Now, once I get over how pretty it looks, I’ll pick out some delicious dishes to make. Thank you Lillie!

Some things I’ve come across online: essimar’s work with colors and x-acto knives, hand-stitched books by permanent crease bindery, and the quiet pages of an artists’ journal, elizabeth perry’s woolgathering.

And something that might be of interest to those of you who are more adept with sewing than I am: Greenjeans has posted a call for entries for a juried exhibition of small handmade quilts. The deadline for submissions is January 20th, which is coming up really quickly, but you can submit sketches and ideas if you don’t have a quilt on hand yet. You can find out more details here.

It’s a brilliant sun-filled morning over here in Brooklyn, and I’m ready to get to work (hopefully I’ll get a lot done before jetlag starts acting up in the afternoon). Hope you all are also enjoying the beautiful winter weather!

During our stay in Asia, we took a weekend trip to Hong Kong. Towering buildings, crazy traffic, streets packed with shoppers, and an occasional moment or two that reminded me of the old Hong Kong I grew up in. I also remembered the pet bird I had when I was in elementary school, a little blue budgie named Wendy.

Sightseeing aside, we ventured out to a less touristy area, Tin Hau, in search of a shop called Kapok. We followed our map to the hillside, up a winding cement staircase, and found the store on a sloped, tree-lined street that carried the light scent of incense from the temple nearby. The minute we stepped inside, we were all smiles.

Kapok is part storefront, part gallery space, part design studio, carrying products by Asian and European designers. We spent quite a while there, looking over all the things in the store and chatting with the owner, Arnault, who told us about a great teahouse that we headed over to later in the afternoon. We left the store with a bunch of things from Postalco - marbled journals and notecards, postcards, a wallet, and two booklets, sheets of silkscreened wrapping paper from Bob Foundation, and Print’em’s Shift Calendar 2008 (we’ve been so picky about calendars and this one seems to be just what we’re looking for, except it’s missing a hole at the top to hang it by, so I’ll have to use my hole-puncher).

Seeing Kapok makes me wish I had a big first floor studio with a big glass window so that I could turn half of it into a gallery and storefront ~ how fun would that be! It’s a lot of work though, and right now, I’m perfectly content to be back in our sunny and quiet third floor studio!

Our studio is closed for our winter vacation. You can still order Five and a Half journals online, but you’ll have to be patient about receiving them, shipping is on hold until the week of January 20th, 2008.

If you’d like to get some journals before then, here is a list of retailers whose shelves we’ve recently stocked with a fresh supply of journals. Remember, each store carries a different selection, so if you’re looking for a specific cover, be sure to call the individual stores to ask if they have it.

U.S.

Cog and Pearl
190 Fifth Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
718.623.8200

Composition
7180 W. Alaska Drive
Lakewood, CO 80226
303.894.0025

Edith and Edna
51 Exchange Street
Portland, ME 04101
207.761.2800

Greenwich Letterpress
39 Christopher Street
New York, NY 10014
212.989.7464

Laumeier Sculpture Park Museum Shop
12580 Rott Road
St. Louis, MO 63127
314.821.1209

Orange Lola
330 Main Street
Wakefield, Rhode Island 02879
401.284.4333

P.A.D.
804 North 2nd Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
215.925.4005

Pulp | paper & art
418 North 38th Avenue
Omaha, NE 68131
402.319.7857

International

Beautiful on the inside
45/322 Bourke St.
Surry Hills, 2010
Australia
61.2.9360.7733

Nouvelle Nouvelle
209 Abbott Street
Vancouver B.C.
V6B 2K7, Canada
604.644.3912

Magma Bookshop, London
117-119 Clerkenwell Road
London EC1R 5BY
44.0.20.7242.9503

We’ll be back in the studio in mid-January, with a fresh supply of ideas and new work to share with you. Thank you for all your support throughout 2007, we’ll see you in the new year!

If you’re looking for some great gifts, here are some I’d highly recommend (some of whom I shared floorspace with at DWR’s ModernMart), and most of which I (or Shawn) proudly have one or a few items from:

- Sleepyheads: Get one or a whole family of silkscreened sleepyhead pillows to give the sofa some major personality. It all started from a little book that designer Christopher David Ryan drew. We have the one with the long-haired moutasched fellow.

- Sovereign Beck: you don’t have to go to Paul Smith to get cool, funky ties (only to realize that everyone else has them too). Sovereign Becks’ designs are amazing, and because they’re created in limited quanities, really unique. All made from highest quality fabrics, with designs that are sure to draw a round of compliments for the wearer.

- Maxx and Unicorn: a single piece of leather, refined, polished and folded into a sleek sturdy wallet, and then embossed with an oh-so-sophisticated logo with a vintage press, all made by the designer out of his apartment. Amazing stuff. If I were a guy, I’d get one of these as my wallet.

- 20×200: you might find the perfect (and affordable) print for yourself or your friends here. We’ve already bought quite a few and boy do they look good on the wall.

- Greenjeans: You’ll find so many gift-perfect things here. I’ll mention a few of my favorites: Bill Summers’ jewelery boxes, which come in several shapes and sizes, and for the kids, child-safe wooden toys by Frank Ridley.

- Refinery 29: for those of you who want to do some boutique shopping online, the clothes that are sold here are really worth saving up for. And if you don’t mind venturing out to Fort Greene, Brooklyn, you can try on an amazing selection of them (both men’s and women’s apparel) in person at Stuart and Wright.

 - Lovely Design: These, in my opinion, are the most incredible journals out there. Anyone who remotely likes stationery really really should get themselves one of these.

And if you’re not sure exactly what you want to buy yet, take a spin around Supermarket and you’ll most likely fill up your wishlist really quickly.

This winter, remember to support independent design! Enjoy!

For those of you who are in New York City, here’s something to get you started on your holiday gift-shopping: ModernMart 3, an evening sponsored by Design Within Reach and curated by the all-new Supermarket. It’ll be a night of gift bags, chocolate, music and champagne, a stellar selection of independently designed goods, and you’ll get to meet the guest designers (including us, Judy and Shawn, of Five and a Half) in person. So if you’re in Soho that evening, do swing by and say hi!

A new addition and current favorite in my ever-growing collection of miscellany (that I’ve started painting), a set of cards with perforated pieces which can be put together to make a pair of standing reindeer, santa’s sled, a snowman and a christmas tree.

I feel like the day ends when it gets dark out, so I’m still trying to get used to turning on all the lights at 4:30, making myself a cup of hot chocolate, and working for another couple of hours. There are so many things to finish before we close up the studio and head off to Asia for winter vacation, including planning and preparing for an upcoming event that will be a nice way to wrap up 2007 ~ more details about that coming soon. I’ve also been trying to figure out some logistical stuff for new journals and other paper goods we’ll be making in 2008, using some new equipment that has arrived in the studio (which we’ve been able to afford thanks to all of you who have supported us through buying Five and a Half journals). I’ve got lots of ideas and projects buzzing around in my head, and I’m really excited!

A big part of what keeps me motivated is seeing all the amazing things that other people are doing, and here are a few of the things I’ve come across lately: kirin notebook which makes me wish I knew how to work with fabric, Debbie Powell’s illustrations, looking at How to Cook Docomodake and laughing at how many ways artists can represent a cartoon mushroom (and wondering what we should do with our mushroom sculpture that’s sealed in a big tin can), and watching (in awe) Karen Jurick painting with one brush and one layer of colors.