Quiver Of Love...

No self respecting artist should be without a Moleskine (Mol-a-skeen'-a).

They are legendary, they are beautiful and they fit in a purse or a pocket.

What could make them more perfect?

Well guess what? I've found it.

A Leather Pen Quiver made just for Moleskines!

No more searching in your bag for a pen, BRILLIANT!

While on Facebook (yes I'm on about how great Facebook is again) I saw an add for this fantastic invention. I immediately forwarded the website to those who share my love! Since it was just before my birthday Momma Bean bought me one and one for The Bear as he has a Moleskine too!

They come in two different designs. One is for a single pen that wraps around the spine and one that is for 2 pens that hugs the front cover. The quality is really great, the price very reasonable and how cool do they look?

They both have quality elastic so they fit very snug and will not fall off.

I'm so excited. I can't wait to take it out for it's real world debut. My friends are going to be soooo jealous. Hee Hee ;)

I also LOVE their logo. How cleaver. This Quiver has combined my love of all things Moleskine, writing instruments and Robin Hood! I used to dream of running through the woods or on horseback with my beloved Long Bow. If I can't have a Long Bow then by gawd I'll have a Quiver!

They arrived with oh so cute drawing instructions on how to slip them on you Moleskine!

How artsy!

If you have a naked Moleskine then please RUN don't walk to their site and order yours today.

THANK YOU MOMMA BEAN!

You are the BEST!

(The Bear says thank you too. He LOVES his.)

Guess what?

**DRAW BREAK**

Kindred Pen Spirits and My Beloved...

Some of you may know about my pen addiction. Yes that's right, I LOVE pens, all shapes, sizes, colors, ball points, gel, fountain, it doesn't matter. If it has ink and it's used for writing then I need it. I have a problem I know. The Bear actually has been known to break out into huge fits of laughter when an unsuspecting person innocently asks Do you have a pen? Why yes I do. What kind would you like?

When I was little, I'm talking before I even knew what letters were, I would fill whole notebooks with scribbles pretending I was writing the Great American Novel just so I could use a pen. Yeah, It's that bad. Hello, I'm Rachel and I'm a pen addict.

Oh get on with it already. Yeah yeah. Well while the Moleskiners were here visiting me, we found a shop called "The Pen Haven". How could we NOT go. That is where I found THE Pen. This is Burton or Bert as he likes to be called. We are kindred pen spirits. He totally gets me. We were having a great time, chatting about all kinds of things. Like for example, did you know that Bert used to be an Architect? No, of course you didn't, but now you do! Well when I walked into his shop I think I heard angels singing. As I stepped up to the case a ray of light came down from above and there she was.

Here's Barb testing her out. See Barb, doesn't she write so smoothly?

We all lined up as Bert was letting us play with some of his lovely pens. He showed me a couple other ones just to make sure that it was true love.

Nope, my mind was made up. "I wouldn't dream of trying to suggest another pen" Bert lovingly said "I can see this is the only one for you". I think the giddy smile on my face says it all!

Bert said that it needed a new ink bladder and that he would put in himself and also give it a good shine then mail it to me. So sadly I had to leave the shop without it that day but I do think that anticipation is half the fun so I patiently awaited my beloved's arrival by post.

On time and as promised she arrived safely to my door. Isn't she beautiful?

No really take a good look! She's gorgeous, no?

Outdoor photo shoot in the setting sun. I'm sure by now my neighbors think I'm totally nuts but who the heck cares when you're this excited about stuff, right?

Some lucky person will be recieving my hand designed postcard pictured here. I thought it made for a loverly backdrop.

So folks, what kinds of "office supply" addictions do you have? Is it also pens? Or perhaps post-its, mechanical pencils, funky colored staples perhaps? Let's have it, what gets you all giddy like a school girl?

Moleskine Trip, Photos by Linda...

I thought I'd share a few photos that my mother took during her time here with the Moleskiners. I hope you enjoy them. The group (minus my mother behind the camera of course) at the Union Street Pub.

Looking down the sidewalk on King Street in Olde Towne Alexandria.

The Capitol by night.

Where's Barb you ask? Well she's in the dark behind us finishing up her sketch in her moleskine. The camera waits for no man!

Getting ready to wander around the Antique Village.

Proof that yes I do sketch in my Moleskine even if I never actually finish a whole sketchbook!

This picture pretty much sums up the sense of happiness one gets when they find a bag's worth of treasures!

Gotta LOVE the quality of the pictures from my mother's DSLR and also her out of this world great sense of composition. Wonderful photos mom! Keep that shutter a flutter!

Moleskine Trip Day3...

Sunday was our day for exploring the town of Kensington where there are over 80 antique shops all in within strolling distance of each other. We were very excited to see what treasures we'd uncover. We arrived at 11am only to discover that NONE of the shops opened till Noon. Well we are a group that is not deterred in the least by a little thing like an hour wait. That just means more time to sit, grab an iced tea, contemplate, sketch, take photos and plan our attack on the as yet unsuspecting shops!

Time enough to notice nice patterns in the shadows.

Think this group would have gotten their fill of books the day before at The Book Thing? Oh, think again my dear readers, think again!

How cute are some of these shops? Just adorable I tell you. Good enough to sit for a moment and sketch.

I fell head over heals in love with these tiles. If only I had an actual house instead of an apartment where I could display some of these next to my house number on the wrap around porch of my oh so cute little home. Can you tell I'm sooo ready for house hunting?

After an afternoon of treasure hunting I drove the group to Silver Spring where our company's office is located and showed them around a bit. Apparently the town was preparing for some kind of summer concert. They closed the street, a stage was being put up and there was just a general feeling of celebrating the end of summer. Children playing in the water, people laughing and having a wonderful time.

Sadly the next morning the Moleskiners had to pack up and head back home to Ohio. I couldn't resist snapping this shot of Barb as she photographed her coffee at Le Madelaine. Look familiar to anyone? I seem to be collecting photos like this as well!

I had a wonderfully fabulous time with these wonderful people despite throwing my back out during their visit. I wasn't going to let a little thing like stabbing back pain ruin a great creative trip like this one!

Thank you Moleskiners for coming all this way to hang with me. I really needed this visit. You guys are one in a million.

Moleskine Trip Day2...

On day 2 of the Moleskine Trip we spent the day in Baltimore. The first stop was a place called The Book Thing. It's a non profit where you can bring books to donate if you'd like or you can just take books, FOR FREE! Here's the front. The garage door is where you can drop off books that you want to donate. Or you can walk in the entrance and wander around to find some treasures.

Inside there is a curtain that seperates the area closed to the public where they sort the books. This sign says it all. Everyone has their limit!

The books are shelved according to topic, but the shelves are disorganized. They have so much turn over that I'm sure that job would be impossible.

Here's a member of the Moleskine Club, Bruce. He's deep in thought trying to figure out which one of these hundreds of books he's going to choose to come home with him.

After we had gathered our free bags of literary goodies we loaded ourself back into the car and headed to one of The Bear's favorite places, The Lexington Market. He was introduced to this magical place some years ago by some co workers. Here is where he gets the best fish sandwich and oh so fresh oysters!

We parked the car in the garage and walked in. When we walked through the doors we were greated by murals on the walls! Down the Rabbit Hole anyone?

At the Lexington Market you can find just about anything you could want. From beautiful fresh fish.

To fresh produce.

They have crabs, racoon meat, rabbit, on and on. If you want to eat it or cook it then it's here baby!

Then of course you must eat the fish sandwich. My mother has been hearing about this place for years from The Bear. It's a simple fish fillet on white bread. And of course you can't eat at our favorite food stand and NOT eat some oysters! Mmmm, yummy to the tummy.

On our way back to the car lookie what we found! Look familiar anyone?

After the market we headed to The American Visionary Art Museum! What a blast this place is. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while there. 1 I was feeling a lot of pain and 2 you aren't allowed to take photos inside the museum. If you are ever in the area of the Baltimore Inner Harbor please go and check it out.

After the museum we went out to dinner and had a great meal. I even pulled out the old Moleskine and sketched the peppermill. What a wonderful end to a wonderful day!

Moleskine Trip...

The Moleskiners are here, the Moleskiners are here. The Ohio Chapter decided to take a trip to visit me the Virginia Chapter (previously the Nevada chapter, previously the Maryland chapter)! How cool is that, huh? After a long drive to get here and a little flit down King Street we stopped into the Union Street Pub for a few drinks and some Oysters perhaps?

Of course we can't stop somewhere without whipping out the Moleskine to document the event!

Oh yeah, I got yet another Oyster Virgin to try them! Whoo Hoo! I guess I'm starting to collect pics of first time Oyster eaters!

Not too bad eh? Perhaps another addict in the making?

Giggles galore! Documenting Barb documenting!

In Olde Towne you never know what you are going to find, see, hear or experience. This man was a magician with the water glasses.

I love people who are into their art so much that they have to share it with the world!

After our big day, we settled in for a fun and oh so messy crab dinner. NO, this is NOT May's Crab Shack for all of you back in Ohio that have heard the storys about "That one time we went to eat crabs in Frederick, MD"

I just LOVE the blue crab painting on the menu.

Yep, you gotta do the Moleskine!

If the meal's good and you do it right then this is what you're table should look like. Mmmm, crabs, shrimp and of course hushpuppies! Mmmm, hushpuppies.

The Bear is such a wonderful tour guide. He said "You can't have people come all the way here and NOT show them DC"! So after we cleaned up from our messy crab fest we tooled around DC in the dark.

"Can we get out and sketch?" asks Barb. What a great idea.

Not to be out done, my mother whipped out here Moleskine as well!

I was busy running around snapping photos with my camera and my mother's DSLR!

What a perfect ending to a wonderful day. More photos from the rest of the trip to come!

Gotta keep you coming back for more you know!