Bouquet of Freshly Sharpened Pencils

I bought my new 2008 calendar a few weeks ago and I have a confession to make. I love office supplies! I know it sounds crazy, but I can wander in an Office Depot or Staples for hours. I don't understand the fascination, I just go with it.

In the Tom Hanks (that's a subject for a blog entry in itself) movie You've Got Mail Meg Ryan's character writes to Tom's character that if they weren't just email friends she would give him a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils. Her coworker thinks she has just sprouted a second head when she sniffs the boxes of scotch tape. Oh but how I relate to her in that aspect!

In my office at home I have a drawer in my lateral file cabinet that is full of office supplies. Most of these supplies were given to me by my previous employer when they closed an office and had too much stuff on hand. It was an office supply fanatics dream come true. Like a treasure chest the drawer contains writing tablets, sticky notes in all shapes and colors, pens, pencils, markers, and other gems I have acquired.

Each new year brings the dilemma of which calendar to choose. Several years ago I joined the techno geeks and bought a Palm Pilot. It was great and I was so very impressive when I whipped out my Palm to schedule an appointment or make a note. However, I missed the feel of physically writing in my calendar. Since the Palm has developed a weird need to reset itself frequently I have gone back to a good old paper calendar.

On a shelf beside my desk I have journals of all shapes and sizes. Many of these were given to me as gifts by friends who know I love a good journal. I have a gratitude journal that was given to me for my birthday one year. The book journal was given to me for Christmas by a fellow book club member. One of my favorites is a Japanese silk journal in bright red that I use as a prayer journal. The red spiral bound journal I currently use for my To Do List and other important reminders was given to me by a good friend, as was the inspiration for using a journal to contain my To Do List.

Crazy, but true, I love office supplies. So, if you ever bump into me in an office supply store and I seem to be somewhere else, just know I am off in a fantasy land of my own making :-)