Forbidden Pleasure
I know I'm not supposed to buy any more stationery, so I'm going to have to live vicariously through the rest of you: Dempsey & Carroll, the posh New York City paperie that's been in business since the 1800s—producing stationery for people like Katharine Hepburn—just started its annual sale on personalized note sheets. You can choose from scores of different fonts and colors for the engraving; I like the idea of having my name printed in bright cherry red with a clean, modern typeface (like Copperplate or Gothic Medium) as a counterpoint to the old-schoolness of having custom notepaper in the first place. The sale price for 100 sheets with coordinating envelopes starts at $195 (as opposed to the usual $305), and if you really want to go all out—I'm getting excited just thinking about it—you could spring for the tissue-lined envelopes (an extra $150) in an unexpected, nonmatching color like pink or light blue. Okay, the stuff is expensive, but if you think about how much you might spend on an article of clothing you will doubtfully ever wear 100 times, it's actually not that bad. Right?
I am in love with stationery, too! Whenever you're out here in LA, you must visit Pulp and Il Literature on La Brea. One houses awesome stationery, while the other has great gift books, handmade jewelry, bags from Hobo International and Latico, as well as cool housewares :)