I have a mild obsession.

When I say "mild" I mean full-blown. Many people can walk through Target without buying a thing. I like to call these people "crazy." I can restrain myself for the most part. When I find myself buying a bikini in January, there are problems--and I usually stop myself. Until I get to that aisle with the notebooks. That god forbidden aisle with the notebooks.

These people that Target hires to do things throughout the store--you know, the random small shops in the US that got a lucky break and ended up selling merchandise in Target--are angels sent from heaven. They make the cutest, most irresistible bundles of paper in the entire world. Hardly ever do I manage to walk out of Target without at least one.

Come in new obsession: I just discovered PaperSource. Yeah. Soak that in.

I found the notebooks of their office section. And I must...

Ughhhh. I die. Seriously, if anyone is stumped as to what to get me as a gift for any occasion... A $5 notebook will make me insanely happy. I still haven't thought of what to write in any of the ones I own except mindless lists of pointless issues, but someday they will come into use. I know this for a fact.

ASD // Benefit Cosmetics

Branded Environments. These two words together make a phrase that is now starting to really, really peak my interest. I'm all about branding. As a graphically-inclined individual, it is my calling in life to create brands. I create a brand for myself through my graphic style in my studio projects throughout my design education, and can only hope to continue to demonstrate that skill throughout my career. To me, branded environments are the only way to design interiors. Specifically for small restaurants and boutiques, but also for corporate interiors. CORPORATE INTERIORS. Those are just *screaming* for a brand. Every office space should be unique to its employees. No one wants to work in a boring office and/or cubicle, and I mean no one.

I stumbled upon ASD, an interiors & architecture firm in Atlanta, and noticed they had a "branded environments" tab on their website. Bazinga.

Reminds me of Serendipity 3 in Las Vegas. I'm not just saying I love this because it's pink and girly and because I'm a girl. In fact, I am not a fan of pink in the least. The graphic nature and boutique-y feel of this is just precious and darling and everything that I love. Makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.

Random Urban Planning Quote...

"One of the transcultural constants of town-making in history is the idea that a quarter mile is the maximum distance that the average person will walk to get somewhere on a routine basis.  Beyond a quarter mile, some people will either seek transport or not bother going.  This theory is born out in many different cultures around the world and is clearly due to the universality of the human scale.  The quarter-mile standard therefore seems to present an optimum arrangement.  It permits people to go about routine business without a car.  Chores that require many separate, tedious car trips in sprawl can be accomplished in a single outing on foot.  (In a culture of walkable neighborhoods, shop owners adapt by offering home delivery of bulky merchandise.)  Walking allows a person to visit many different types of shops--thereby promoting small scale, locally-owned businesses, which, in turn, promote manifold civic benefits from the support of local institutions to the physical caretaking of the street.  Walking down the street permits casual socializing.  Pedestrians make streets safer by their mere presence in numbers.  Finally, walking down the street is spiritually elevating.  When neighborhoods are used by pedestrians, a much finer scale of detailing inevitably occurs.  Building facades become more richly ornamented and interesting.  Little gardens and windowboxes appear.  Shop windows create a continuity of visual spectacle, as do outdoor cafes, both for walkers and the sitters.  There is much to engage the eye and the heart.  In such a setting, we feel more completely human.  This is not trivial."