Working late in my studio tonight, I get a text from my husband that he made “Sloppy Joe’s” for dinner.  Yum. What’s a Sloppy Joe?

From Wikipedia: “A sloppy joe is an American dish of ground beef, onions, sweetened tomato sauce or ketchup and other seasonings, served on a hamburger bun. Commercially made sauces are also available…. The Original Sloppy Joe Sandwich was invented by a cook named Joe at a cafe in Sioux City, Iowa, as a variation of the popular “loose meat” sandwich (which does not contain tomato sauce).”

As my husband is learning to cook, I won’t hold it against him that he bought a can of the prepared sauce, but I will someday soon teach him to make it like my Mom used to. She’d first saute green peppers and onions, (always chopped very small) then add and brown the ground beef which she’d season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. The sauce? Heinz Ketchup mixed with Gulden’s Spicy Brown Mustard. (The 2 major condiments of my youth) Super simple and very tasty. She’d serve it along with her homemade macaroni salad – comfort food at it’s best.

When was the last time you ate a version of a loose meat sandwich? Do you have a special recipe for the sauce?

Superbowl fever has gripped NYC.  Everyone I know will be glued to the TV or out at a bar watching the game on Sunday.  Except me.  My team–Green Bay–got knocked out, and the NY Jets never made it to the playoffs. My spouse is a big Eli Manning fan, so she’s rooting for the Giants.  Her family–Massachusetts born and bred, considers her a major traitor!

But ever since girlhood, when my Packers would go up against my Dad’s NY Giants, I have loved to bet on games.  This year is no exception!

Anybody who guesses the final score will get a new Webnotepad (flip top reporter style with dot grid) when they arrive from France!

Good luck!

My guess: NEW YORK GIANTS – 27   NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS – 24

From www.officemuseum.com Large Office. Photograph by National Photograph and Advertising Co., Chicago, IL.

Cleaning Fountain Pens at Pentamento

Notebook Necklaces at Notebook Stories

Intuitive Ink Prep at Creative Every Day

What’s in your DIY Toolkit? at Lifehacker

Eight Charachteristics of Good Writing at Writing Forward

Carving stamps the other way at daisy yellow blog

LiveScribe your planners and notebooks at QuoVadis Blog

Pen Storage: How do you store your pens? at A Penchant for Paper

US Postage Rate Increase in January 2012 at Missive Maven

Fountain Pen Nib Comparison Video at The Pen Addict

Abandoned Hollywood Theater Hidden Above NY Shop at WebUrbanist

Favorite Brand of Fountain Pen Ink- The Poll Results at Inkophile

Starting a New Journal – Which Format do you Use, Digital or Analog? at The Gadgeteer

Visit www.officemuseum.com for many more vintage office photos like the one above.

And finally, searching “Office Supplies” on Pinterest cool stuff!

FOX CLASSICS – Forever Classic ID – A Full Minute from The DMCI on Vimeo.

Thank you to everyone who signed up for our 1st ever Rhodia Journal Swap! We had quite a few entries and it wasn’t easy to chose 12, but we did. Once I confirm their participation, the swap will commence!

You might like to know that since we had so many people sign up for this first swap, we are considering implementing a second one in 6 months – stay tuned!

Several years ago when I first started writing with a fountain pen, I quickly discovered that many brands of paper did not play well with the water based fountain pen inks that I had grown to love. This lead to my somewhat obsessive testing & publicly reviewing various paper, pen & ink products on my personal blog biffybeans.com. While some brands like our Rhodia & Clairefontaine products are known to be fountain pen ink friendly, (no bleedthrough, seethrough or feathering) this recent post on the Writer’s Bloc blog says it best:

“Each fountain pen nib, each brand of ink, each color of ink and the paper in each notebook or journal will interact differently when used with each other. The equation pen + paper + ink = good/bad results changes each time you change a component of the equation.”

I’ve also found that humidity can sometimes be a factor in how quickly the ink dries (or fails to dry) on the page.

Have you found a specific combination of paper/pen/ink that you are happy with?

I’ve always been more of a fan of writing on off-white paper than white. I think the off-white is easier on the eyes for long writing sessions, but I do like the intensity of  a white page for brainstorming, mind-maps, and event planning. Fans of fountain pens love to use the plethora of available ink colors and while I know that white paper will really show them in their glory, I don’t mind the nice warm hue that the off-white paper adds to my favorite ink colors.

Which color paper do you prefer and why?

We recently received this request from a fan and are wondering what you think – would you have a use for a Webbie Lite?

“I love my dot Webbie and would love it even more if a slightly different version were available. I am thinking about one with a thinner cover (like the premium pads) and slightly fewer pages (~72 vs. the current 96) but still with the elastic closure and expandable pocket and still with the gorgeous ivory 90g paper.”

From Mike in AZ

Are you a fan of our Rhodia Drive Facebook page? Yesterday it was revealed to our Facebook fans that something new will be blooming in the Spring with our new orange covered dotPads. Are you excited? We had many, many requests for these.

What other kinds of Rhodia products are you hoping to see in the new catalog?

We recently received an e-mail from a Rhodia fan looking for some kind of folio/pad holder that would hold an A4 top wirebound pad and allow him to flip the pages without removing the pad from the holder. I don’t use the top wirebound pads and don’t know what to suggest to him other than maybe having Gfeller make something custom for him.

Can you help point our friend in the right direction?

It’s happening!!!

I am putting together the final details surrounding the 2012 Rhodia Journal Swap and expect to start searching for our 12 participants sometime next week. If you haven’t heard about the swap, we are going to be providing 12 large dotWebbie journals to a dozen creative people to utilize for a few weeks at a time, who will then mail the book on to the next person, and so on, until it reaches the last person who in turn, mails it back to the person who started that book.

The dozen participants will be sharing their creativity via a group Tumblr Blog for us all to see.

You do not have to be an “artist” or a “writer” to participate, You should however, be creative and willing to share. This swap will be open to US residents age 18 or older. An international swap may happen at a later date.

More details, including the *Theme* of the swap, to be announced soon!

Though I don’t celebrate the holidays, I observe a magnificent energetic surge from the day following Thanksgiving to Christmas day and then another from Christmas to New Year’s Eve.

I’m assuming that by now, the holiday leftovers have been cleaned out of the fridge. That many of you have put away the presents and taken down your holiday decorations and that maybe the batteries have already died in some of the new toys you bought for your children.

Now that it’s a whole new year, what does that mean for you? What if anything, is different or what do you wish to change?

I carry around three:  a ratty, beat-up No. 12 Rhodia in the inside pocket of my Mills canvas tote.  This is for jotting down ideas and contact information. I also carry a 6 x 8 Clairefontaine spiral. This one is the most comfortable for taking notes and making lists while I’m riding the Hampton Jitney.  Finally, my pocket planner is used as a “daily notebook”  with milestones, priorities, tasks and personal information.  All three notebooks are important, and thinking about this post I realized I use all three for different uses. I also have a notebook in the car to do my food shopping list!

How many notebooks do you carry around? 

I write, create art, teach, plan events, work on marketing, and sell my art. I keep a journal, about 3-4 individual project books, write in Scrivener and Google Docs, on index cards and tablets. I title, tag, keyword, place edited photos in sets and collections. I highlight quotes on my e-reader, underline and place flags in my books. I use a software calendar app synced to my phone & laptop. Admittedly, I’d love to hire someone to perform many of these functions but for now, it’s all me and it isn’t really pretty at times.

One of the things I plan to manifest this year is a better way to stay organized. I tend to procrastinate with some things and go bullet train fast with others. I’m sure there is a better balance – but then my right brain kicks in and says, “NO! You must write now!” and there I am at 3am blurry eyes drooping and drool leaking out the corner of my mouth pushing forward because it’s an “Inspired” moment.

Tell me, how do you manage to stay on top of everything and manage a healthy creative balance?

Having a birthday on the last day of the year gives me a slightly different outlook than most people because when the clock strikes 12:01 on January 1st, I will literally be a year older in a whole new year.

With this comes certain rituals. I am mere pages away from finishing a journal and will begin anew on the 1st. I will continue to work on my “Manifestation” list for 2012 – a bucket list of sorts which isn’t only about what I want to accomplish in the new year, but also who I wish to be. It is also a time when I like to select a single word to set a specific for the new year, words like: Positive, Abundance, Focus, Clarity, Presence, and Joy all come to mind. I will also “look back down the mountain” to remember my experiences from 2011.

A trip to the river, a last mandala, a smile as I turn forward and continue looking ahead.

Happy New Year everyone! See you next year!

The Benefits of Journaling at The 14 Day Experiment

Review: Exacompta Plain Journal at Comfortable Shoes

Let One Form of Creativity Drive Another at Daisy Yellow

Improve your Writing by Reading like a Fiend at Writing Forward

New Home at Dave’s Mechanical Pencils

peppermint hot fudge sauce at Smitten Kitchen

For the Love of Maps at Judy Wise

Introducing R by Rhodia at The Writer’s Bloc

My tangle pattern Klok #2-steampunk series at Life Imitates Doodles

And because this is still funny every time I watch it….

Once I started calling myself as an artist, it’s interesting how many people have shared with me that they have no talent for art.

I beg to differ.

While art to some may be the ability to create 3D renderings of what the eye sees, I believe that art=creativity and that it doesn’t have to come at the end of a paintbrush. It can come in the kitchen when looking in the fridge and cupboards to see what you can “whip up” for dinner. It can come when planting a garden and deciding which plants should go where. Putting together a slide show presentation for the boardroom is most certainly creative as is juggling your schedule to get all of your errands completed this week.

I just wanted to make sure you received the credit you deserved. :o)

Wishing you and yours a festive Holiday Season!

Original art © by Stephanie Smith

I saw this article the other day about a 76 year old woman who just had removed from her intestines a pen that she had swallowed TWENTY FIVE years ago. Once removed, it still worked! But who really cares about the pen, if she knew it was in there, I’m curious why it wasn’t a priority to get it back out again! I don’t even know how she managed to sleep at night knowing that there was a long pointed object lodged somewhere in her abdomen that could potentially poke a hole in something fairly important in the organ department.

When I searched for other pen swallowing incidents, I happened upon this rather amusing video…

Exaclair’s Top Ten Bestsellers of 2011! I have to admit that I am slightly disappointed that Rhodia only managed 9 out of 10 spots. :o) Next year we will have to get the dotWebbie onto that list!

So which of these are your favorites?

#1 Rhodia Pencils
#2 Rhodia Pad N.11 3″ x 4″
#3 Rhodia Pad N.16 6″ x 8 1/4″
#4 Rhodia Pad N.12 3 3/8″ x 4 3/4″
#5 Rhodia Staplebound Pocket Notebook
#6 Rhodia Mousepad
#7 Rhodia Large Meeting Book
#8 Rhodia Pad N.18
#9 Clairefontaine Classic Staplebound Notebook
#10 Rhodia Pad N.14 4 3/8″ x 6 3/8″

In the last however many years that I have been using fountain pens, I have yet to have a personal encounter with another FP user. I’ve spoken to thousands of them on the Fountain Pen Network just never anyone in person, until this month when I met 2! One is a photographer sharing studio space – Olaf gifted me with a bottle of Yama Budo as a studio warming present and has been seeing using a sweet Pilot pen with a cursive italic nib. The other was a man who visited my studio yesterday, he pulled out a TWSBI demonstrator which he said was a copy of a Pelikan M800.

Do you think this is simple coincidence? Or do you think fountain pen use is on the rise? The man with the TWSBI had come to see my mandalas with his teenage son who also liked to draw them. I asked his son if he also used a fountain pen to which his dad laughed and said that he wasn’t interested. I then explained to his son how I first started using them because of their effortless flow (my hands had been known to cramp after long writing sessions) and how many of my early mandalas had been drawn using a fountain pen.

I bet he gives it a shot…