Weekly Photo Challenge: Alphabet

Tags

Alphabet, Dublin, Ireland, National Print Museum, photography, photos, stationary, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Alphabet, writing

I have always had a fascination with old typewriters and letter presses. I love the way ink and paper smells and the tactile nature of old fashioned printing. So ever since I was little girl I find myself in the stationary section of stores or wandering into pen shops, running my fingers along the pencils and stroking the stacks of paper and notepads. Clean paper and undisturbed nips, just waiting to write and create, standing in tidy rows tickle my inner muse and I long to own them.

This may seem a little odd to some but to me that is were one of my happy places is – along side ink, pens and pencils and all types of paper. Maybe it is the promise of an untold story or the secrets of unwritten words that I so love – but for whatever reason somewhere hidden in the alphabet of letters is where I find my joy.

letters from an old letter press in the National Print Museum in Dublin

getting ready for 2016

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2015, 2016, calendars, Moleskin, Moleskin weekly notebook, pefect gift, planning, planning ahead, stationary

With only one month left in 2015 I decide to take some time out of my morning and prepare my calendars for 2016. I don’t like mobile calendars, I find a paper and pen version much more reliable and quicker to use – crossing out and filling in only takes seconds and no electricity or internet is needed.

I always have two calendars, one  I carry around with me and one on my desk and I rely heavily on them to plan my time. A few years a ago I discovered the Moleskin weekly notebook and I have to say it is the perfect calendar for me, the left hand side is a weekly overview and the right page is left blank for notes, the perfect combination.

Since Moleskin isn’t cheap I was delighted that my wonderful siblings & Co. bought me the weekly notebook for my birthday – a beautiful and practical gift (and yes I know it is a little bit sad how excited I can get over stationary).

As I filled in important birthdays and appointments I was amazed to find how much I already have planed for the coming year. But somehow having my calendars ready and prepared makes me feel 2016 can come and I am looking forward what kind of adventures and surprises if may bring.

syncing up my dates – who knew I already had so much planned next year

counting down and notebooks

Tags

American College Dublin, collecting, countdown, new semester, notebooks, notepads, stationary, stationary fetish, writing

American College Dublin

As I glanced at the calendar this morning I realised something – one month, four weeks, twenty-eight days – that is the amount of time it will take until I start my MfA. And while I am excited and looking forward to this new chapter I am a little bit terrified of what it will actually mean.

Thankfully it is something I really want to do and I just hope my motivation (and hopefully talent) will carry me through the coming year. An added bonus is that for the first time in years I get to get myself ready for ‘school’. What a treat! After all my ‘stationary fetish’ rarely gets a chance to come out and play these days – there are only so-and-so many envelopes and notebooks a girl truly needs.

Over the years I have collected a good few notepads and my lovely sister has aided and abetted me in my papery passion, even my mother and some friends have added to my collection.

There is just something so beautiful about a new notebook – the clean pages promising so much, empty space longing for information. The only problem is I hate writing in them for the first time- ruining the pristine page with my ugly penmanship or haphazard drivel just doesn’t always feel right ( and I do already have three notepads on the go)- so I save them for something ‘better’.

So, as I countdown the days until the new semester begins, excitement bubbles up inside me. And since I will have to be putting pen to paper at an accelerated rate some of these lovely pads will finally be put to good use – ideas and information crowding the pages and hopefully more than a few “eureka” moments capture between the covers.

Now all i need to do is decide which ones to use!

my collection – all waiting to be used