organization is fun

Ususally around this time of year I am busy wandering in and out of various office supply stores, stationers, booksellers, etc. seeking out the most perfect appointment book for the following year. For some reason, I love doing this. It fills me with great pleasure and a sense of fulfilment when accomplished. And great hope that the appointment book will be well thumbed and full of notes and well, appointments.

I am very particular about this book. It must be a weekly, so that when you open it up the whole weeks worth of daily activities can be seen on two pages. And, because the majority of my appointments are in the evening, the time must go beyond 5pm, preferably to 9pm. I like to circle the time and write in the name beside it. This limits the choices severely. I usually like it to be a professional black cover, but often alternate between black and burgundy. Secretely, I would love to have one in one of the bright springy green or light blues so that I can find it more easily. But not pink, I hate pink. And, it must feel right - the paper has to have a certain weight to it, the cover mustn't be so flimsy as to get bent, laying flat is a bonus, as is a bookmark. It should also be of a size that fits easily into a purse, or even a large pocket, but not so small that I will lose track of it or have to write neatly with tiny letters. I have been known to spend a good month or more researching every available new appointment book before making my final choice.

Then last year, I found the perfect book. So perfect, I want no other. It doesn't have a time going well into the evening, but I've learned to not be bothered about that. Mostly I have only one appointment an evening anyway, so that was the first particular to fall by the wayside. It is a weekly, but not on two pages, only one. But the other page is lined and I find I am using that for notes more often than I thought possible (sure saves on the bits of paper I usually use then lose). It has a ribbon bookmark and an elastic band thingy to keep it all closed. And the cover is nice and soft and pliable. It lays flat when open. There is an envelope attached for keeping receipts handy. It is used by the most creative and freethinking people the world over (or so it claims). It is actually a pleasure to write in its pages. I write down thoughts and ideas and overheard conversations and books I want to read and things I want to buy and addresses (she says breathlessly) and can easily find them again and when they were important enought to be noted.

I managed to get it on sale for half price. Which was good because it originally cost $40.

And is a Moleskine

And I love it.

I cannot wait to get my 2009 copy.

But I will. Because, I am cheap. No, I am thrifty.

And I know that by the middle of January it will again be half price.