Details below:

Never created an etegami? Debbie has written a good explanatory post here. And here’s a post she did with even more explanation. In fact, her entire blog is a good tome on the topic of etegami.

But, I noticed something the other day. I’ve been hiding the non-professional part of myself. I’ve been hiding in plain sight. I’m still around, still visible, still accessible—but I’ve been hiding.

Let me give an example. I keep all of my social media sites active. However, I have other people help me keep them updated with professional stuff and like with Facebook, I no longer post personal items at all. And I’m not talking about ridiculous updates people post about whatever personal issues they’re having, but more like things just about my life and not about work. Maybe that I’m having a rough day because of whatever, or I’m having a good day because of whatever or here’s a picture of this really cool thing I found at a really cool place. You know, snippets of life.

‘Where did Cole go?’ I thought. I peeked through my Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. And I discovered it was all mostly professional-type updates.

I never advocate publicizing your whole life on the internet, but I do think there is a certain amount of healthy sharing. Sharing about things that are important, and true. Life is interesting and joyous, and so should that be reflected.

I realized why I’ve been hiding, though.

I’ve been grieving.

Grieving for a lot of things, all at once. And I decided I’d like to talk about it here a little.

In November, my Aunt Susan passed away very suddenly. She was also my Godmother, my Mom’s best friend, and one of my more regular pen pals.

Do you know how awful it is to lose a pen pal? I’d never lost one to death before. It is a really awful feeling to send a letter and know you’ll never get one back. It is hard to flip through my pen pal log and land on her entry and to realize, again, and painfully, that I’ll never again update that page with an item received or sent. That is one of the saddest, deepest, empty things I’ve ever experienced.

Her death has been very hard on me, as it has been on everyone else she left behind. I think part of why it has been so hard is because she knew so many of my secrets. Secrets I shared with her in letters. Nothing major, just little things you don’t really tell anyone unless you know they’ll understand. She is one of the few family members I had that knew so much of me, and now she is gone.

All of this hiding, even in plain sight, was–is–just false protection. A way to make myself feel a sense of safety, even if it is not real. And that is what happens when people grieve. They may seem the same as ever if you bump into them, but look close and you might discover that they are hiding in plain sight.

You see, when people grieve, they have a hole. A hole where whatever was lost, once was. Sometimes they sit next to that hole and stare into it and can’t look away at anything else. Sometimes, they protect that hole. They protect that hole by hiding themselves. If you don’t see me, you won’t see my hole. Sometimes, people quickly fill the hole up with other things, stuffing everything in and packing it in tight.

Grief, friends. Grief. It is ugly, and sad, and messy.

I’ve been doing the second thing—the hole is there, but I’ve been hiding it by hiding myself.

You know, it’s funny. I’m working towards a Thanatology Certificate (Thanatology is the study of death) and so through my grief studies, I’ve learned all these things. It sure took me awhile to identify these things in myself and to connect the dots.

I also lost my ability to have children. I mean, I didn’t lose it like I woke up one day it was gone, but it is not an option for me and I’ve known about it for years. I am at the age in life where my peers are going through and experiencing the joys of having children. And I get to experience it with them, and be joyful about it with them, too. It’s just I realize I still have a hole there myself. At the time I found out about this years ago, I was very sick and dealing with health issues spiraling out of control. This particular hole, I realized, I just filled up with stuff to make it go away so I could focus on everything else that needed my attention. But, it’s still there, you know? Even though it’s filled in, it’s still there. I need to empty it.

And, my life has changed since November. My husband and I had to move suddenly, abruptly and without notice. We had a building we were purchasing luckily, but the group we were purchasing from essentially disintegrated, leaving us house-less. We are in flux, and have been in flux for awhile. And I really don’t know where we’ll land. I am grieving the loss of my rock-solid, organized, planned-out life. You know, that’s not totally true. I’m still organized, my day is still planned….it’s just that the form that it took is gone, and I didn’t have time to prepare for it. So I feel it. I feel it when I wake up.

Holes. I think we all have them, don’t we? I do know that hiding, even if you keep yourself entirely visible, is not a solution and will not make that hole go away. It just kind of preserves it.

That said, grief is, well, it’s heavy. Thanks for letting me lighten my load. My holes aren’t as ugly as I thought and I’m betting some of you have similar holes of your own.

I thought I’d answer this question myself and show you where and how I keep my inks, cartridges, converters, seals, sealing wax, stamps and ink pads. I keep all of that in one desk drawer. One. I keep my fountain pens and calligraphy nibs and my enclosures in another drawer. My things weren’t always arranged like this. Years ago, they lived in an old shoebox. Then, they took up three boxes. I downsized and now they live here.

See, it was overwhelming having lots of supplies. Why did I need so much? I didn’t. That’s why I think I felt that way in the first place–felt the need to question the amount of things I was keeping around. I decided to only keep things I used 80% of the time. Boy, that cut out a lot.

I have about half a shoebox full of stuff yet to get rid of. Stamps, pens, stickers, ephemera, pins, buttons, bits and bobs. I’m debating on it. Should I try to sell it to someone who really wants it? Should I just slowly send each piece off to a pen pal one-by-one, as the occasion calls for it?

I don’t want to be someone with a ton of ink, a ton of paper and a ton of stuff. I want to keep a lean desk. I want a desk full of things I actually use.

I think most of us are like that. None of us want a ton of stuff taking up space in our lives, especially when we don’t use it. Stuff is heavy. And stuff we’re just hanging on to for arbitrary reasons is really heavy.

In all my years of yoga, one thing that has really had sticking power is this concept of non-attachment. Yoga is not just physical exercise. The physical part is probably actually the smallest component. Yoga is more like an approach to life. Yoga tells us to practice non-attachment. To avoid having attachments to things. I think this is good advice. I’ve seen family members with entire basements full, literally full, of things they have not used or needed in years and years. I don’t want a basement full of my arbitrary attachments. I don’t want a closet full of things I don’t want or need but are somehow guilting me into keeping them. Why do I let this cheap heart stamp guilt me into keeping it? Why?!

I suppose this post is about just that. I write letters and I receive letters. That in itself just requires pen, paper, envelope and stamp. It doesn’t require 3 dozen stamps, 25 types of ink, 40 fountain pens, 80 packs of stickers. The stickers and ink aren’t what make a letter meaningful and treasured. It’s the words on a page. When I sit down to write, I want to focus on the words I’m choosing and not the placement of all my stickers and stamps, what ink to use, how to place my stamps.

I’m pretty sure that’s a good approach to life in general. Keep and use only that which serves you. Don’t give up physical and mental space to things that serve no purpose.

So what about you? How do you keep and store your supplies? Do you have things you keep for no real reason other than you’d feel guilty if you got rid of it?

If you are like most people who love fountain pens, fast forward 1 month and suddenly you only write with fountain pens, read pen blogs and are plotting your next purchase. It’s a slippery, inky slope.

Then there are those of us who have pretty much always had and written with fountain pens. Maybe we just don’t remember when our journey with fountain pens began.

Let’s just not be snobby about it. A disposable fountain pen may not have the best nib, the most comfortable grip and certainly not 60+ features and things to point out and enjoy. They are utilitarian and they are useful.

I am sharing and comparing the Pilot Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen, the Pilot Plumix Refillable Fountain Pen and the Bic Disposable Fountain Pen. All three of these were found at Staples. I imagine you can find them anywhere else that has a pretty expansive writing utensil section.

Disposable fountain pens are great to have on-hand for travel. If you bring one along on a trip and you loose it, no problem. Many times, when we travel somewhere, even for just a day or two, our routines get shaken a little. It’s easier to lose things. Bringing along a disposable is a pretty smart choice in my opinion because you are, in essence, protecting your non-disposable pens.

These three disposables are all fine and dandy options, but I prefer two. My first choice would be the Pilot Plumix. It is refillable, inexpensive, has some flex in the nib and honestly, writes just as well as my Kaweco Sports (I have a problem with Kaweco Sports. I have 10. More on that later.) The Plumix has a nice shape, weight and the cap posts.

My second choice is the Pilot Varsity. It comes in a ton of colors, has some flex in the nib and I do believe you can find some hacks online to make it refillable. It is the shortest of the three and has a cap that posts.

My third choice is the Bic Disposable Fountain Pen. It, in my opinion, writes just like an ink pen. Not a ballpoint, but just a regular old office pen. The nib doesn’t really flex, the ink isn’t very black and it looks and feels like a lot of other standard pens you’d find in an office. The cap posts. The Plumix has a unique look and the Varsity has a slightly retro feel.

Above and below you’ll see some writing samples. The Plumix and the Varsity provide a look I like. There is variation in the stroke and you can see where ink pools at the end of some of my strokes. None of that ‘character’ with the Bic Disposable.

Part of the reason we use fountain pens is for their look and feel right? Disposables can’t (and shouldn’t) try to mimic that, but they can have some nods to the classic style of fountain pens so many of us love.

If any of you have written with these or used them, please provide feedback in the comments. And if any of you have written about these or have a link to a hack, please post below. Simplicity Embellished gets a lot of traffic and I’d like to pass on some of that juice to you all, especially if you have more to say and share on the topic than I do.

I’ve never shared anything on Simplicity Embellished other than posts that fall into one of my 7 categories: Correspondence, Craft, Diversions, Food & Health, Home & Garden, Reviews & Tools, Travel & Style. I’ve never wanted to post anything outside of that for fear of turning Simplicity Embellished into some kind of self-promotion too. It just isn’t that. However, I’ve had a lot of really lovely people write to me, leave a comment or send an email to me asking about who I am, what else I do and if there’s more Simplicity Embellished out there. And, there is a lot more Simplicity Embellished out there.

Rarely and sparingly, I’ll post these News & Updates posts to details anything outside of my 7 categories that I think might be useful and interesting to everyone. And I’ll be filing these posts under Diversions.

Thanks for letting me share, and please let me know if this is a good idea, or maybe a well-intentioned bad idea. ;)

Love & Letters,

Cole

Do you want to know who I am? I’m Cole and this is my professional website. Visit HelloCole.com

Want more reading material? I’m a staff writer for the European Paper Company Blog and I get to write about all things epistolary. Here are some recent articles:

How to Write Sympathy Notes

Fountain Pen Water Painting

Finding the Fountain Pen Nib That’s Right for You

The Language of Stamps and Free Printable

Why Stationery is Important and Free Printable

Penmanship and Calligraphy: Swashes and Flourishes and Reader Spotlight

Penmanship and Calligraphy: Tips and Resources

Penmanship and Calligraphy: Library Hand + Call for Submissions

Penmanship and Calligraphy: A Look at Several Calligraphic Styles

Penmanship and Calligraphy: Where it all started and Where it is todday

Penmanship and Calligraphy: Where to Start

Exciting Announcement! I was accepted into the Cooper Type (at Cooper Union) Type@Cooper Condensed program. I’ll be in NYC for 5 or so weeks this summer studying typography and lettering for 12 hours a day. The news is still sinking in. I’m sure you’ll hear more about this.

Want to chat or connect elsewhere? I’m on Twitter (@ColeImperi) and you can find Simplicity Embellished’s page here and my biz page here. I’m trying to grow my biz page so throw a like my way and I’ll appreciate it a ton.

Personal Monograms I’ve started a new project. I recently purchased a large set of old paper and books rife with fantastic hand-lettered monograms and letters. I’m going to be taking orders for custom and historically authentic monograms. I can link them to your ancestry and area of origin, too. You’ll get the monogram as an image file (.jpg and .png) so you can use it on your blog or website, or create designs yourself and a simple 8.5″ x 11″ letterhead design you can print at home and a 1/2 letter size letterhead design you can print too. Those fit an A2 envelope perfectly. My special price is $69 but only for people who see this update! Use the contact form here to get in touch. I’m only taking 5 orders at this price! I’ll get you more details and a Paypal invoice. Turnaround is 5-7 business day.

Thanks to everyone for reading and subscribing to ye olde blog. And thanks for reaching out and writing me letters.

I feel very lucky that we just had lots of rain. Cincinnati was basically skipped over, even though the storm clouds moved right over top of us. The neighborhoods and cities to the South, East and West of us, however, were not skipped over. Many of those towns are completely flattened today.

I sat down to my etegami supplies over the weekend feeling a little sad and a little hopeful. Spring is coming! Crocuses are peeking above the ground. The sun seems brighter, too.

And this morning? We awoke to an inch or two of snow. A quiet, clean blanket of fresh snow. It was quiet, it was sparkling in the sunlight—it is now melting. And it will leave behind grass that is a little greener and new growth that is a little taller.

I wasn’t so sure I’d share my enclosures with the world, but you know what? It might inspire someone to write a letter. I will admit I feel a little exposed sharing with you something so private between my correspondents and I. I have a hunch, though, that you’ll appreciate it.

Letters are like private conversations. Good ones; ones that happen between old friends who never judge. When your friendship is rooted on paper and colored with ink, things like this matter. There is no body language to decipher; no inflection to figure out. If you want a true friend, look in the mail.

An enclosure can take many forms. Enclosures from my pen pals include things like photos of family or drawings or etegami. Sometimes, I get tiny hand-carved rubber stamps or a neat vintage stamp someone said reminded them of me.

I picked my enclosures in December of 2011 for this year. They are each special to me and hopefully will be special for the recipients. Adding an enclosure is a way to really personalize your letter and a way to connect with a far off friend. It’s a memento they can keep. It’s something to remember me by. It’s a detail of life found tumbling out of paper and ink.

I have no idea where this tradition came from, but I’ve been doing it since I was a child.

Saying ‘rabbit, rabbit’ at the start of a new month or a new year ensures good luck will come your way.

Yesterday, I had a little luck with my New Year’s etegami. Must have been from last year’s ‘rabbit, rabbit.’ ;)

Here’s the etegami that challenged me. 2012 is the year of the dragon and I struggled with this guy. He turned out OK, but it took me a few tries.

Happy New Year!

This one was done for my good friend Nancy. She loves bright red goldfish and FDR is her favorite US President. I combined the two in this etegami to her. (She has a bit of a career in politics, so her love for US Presidents is far and deep.)

This is one of my favorite etegami ‘formulas.’ I combine an illustration of something someone likes with a carefully chosen quote.

I chose this quote:

“Happiness…it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort.”

Because Nancy is extremely happy and bright. She’s also very smart and has achieved quite a lot in her life. She loves to work and has recently undertaken a pretty creative endeavor (blogging.) It just seemed perfect for her.

Just wanted to share my etegami process with you. If you want to learn from one of my favorite etegami artists ever, check her out here.

This time of year is a comfort to me. Not because of the so-called ‘dreariness’ outside, but because it is set up for progress, for functionality. Summer is distracting. I head to the pool in the afternoons, stay active until late at night, rise early, and fill my time with people and places. Autumn and winter set me up for success. I am well-rested, stay home and find a focus I just don’t have in summer. Perhaps because there is less to do outside and more to do inside? Inside, where I work. Inside, where I can turn on the oven and cook. Inside, where I can insulate myself from distraction.

My daily walk last week took me through my usual pathway to the local post office. Down a hill, across a street, into the woods, through the shopping plaza, to the post office. Scenery transitions from semi-urban landscape to completely natural and back again.

I share the sidewalks with no one. I share the path with no one. Everyone is in their cars, windows up.

There’s no sun peeking behind the clouds and no kids on the baseball diamond.

No one hangs out in the parking lot to talk to neigbors and friends leaving the grocery store, and there’s no group of kids on bikes riding circles.

The post office is still busy as ever. People running in out. Packages being mailed. Letters being picked up.

The post office seems to have no seasonal change. But I do!

In my position of Creative Director at Doth Brands (I’m also the Owner), I wave the ‘Write Letters’ flag often. In fact, I can’t name a client we’ve ever had where the topic of writing letters wasn’t broached.

Writing letters, notes, thank you’s….whatever the purpose—it’s just important. People do business with people, not fancy websites, not glossy business cards. And if they do, are they really the type of client you want? I want clients that want to work with me, that are confident in me and want to hire me. And I want the same thing for my staff as well. Life and business is all about relationships.

This month at Doth Brands, our quarterly journal came out and it was all about the handwritten note. It’s all from a business perspective so it might be of interest to you. There’s also a free download of some business-style stationery too.

Here’s the link to the newsletter.

I just thought this would be so appropriate to share here on Simplicity Embellished. Let me know what you think and if you found it useful!

I wanted a couple bracelets and a few pair of earrings that played to my interests and pursuit of yoga but didn’t want it to scream ‘yoga! yoga! I do yoga!’ I also wanted to create something to act as a support of my current life situation. We need help wherever we can get it!

When I make something for myself, or someone else, I generally stick to the rule of 2.

Pick one ‘spotlight’ bead or charm.

Pair it with one solid colored bead.

That’s it. You just can’t go wrong with this combination.

When I was picking beads for this little project, I thought about the chakras. We have 7 major chakras and the colors commonly associated with them are Red, Brown, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple. We (my husband and I) are in the middle of major, major change and I want to do as much as possible to make sure I remain grounded and focused. The root chakra (located at the base of the spine) is associated with your base nature and the adrenals (which go nuts in times of stress) among other things. It links us to the physical world–it literally is the key to letting us be grounded. Red is the color associated with it and keeping some red around is a reminder of my focus in the upcoming weeks–staying grounded!

Brown is also associated with the root chakra.

Blue is associated with the 6th and 7th chakras, found at the spot between our two eyes and the top of our heads. This is the part associated with spirituality and the connection to the divine. In order to connect with what’s around you, you need to be grounded.

And gold; gold is a warming metal. I literally need some fire to keep me moving.

I chose my ‘fancy’ beads based on the carving. It’s of nature. For me, a lot of ‘connecting with the divine’ or whatever you want to call it, happens when I’m outside. Some of my most dear teachers have all, at one point or another, told me the same thing.

You need to take a walk outside in nature every single day.

I want to remember that. And I want to DO that.

So, this is my approach to ‘beading.’ Beadery.

And now you know the story behind these items I’ll be wearing in the next few weeks.

And the big change? We’re moving, and I’m buying a building for my company! A very big deal.

This year, my husband and I spent a few days in the Port Clinton, Ohio area and spent most of our time on two wonderful public beaches.

You know, just because it’s in Ohio doesn’t mean it’s any different from a beach elsewhere……

We’ve got blue sky.

And warm sand.

And we had lots of space.

Maybe Lake Erie beaches are a little different from the jam-packed beaches found on the East and West coasts…

Oh, and of course scenery. We had lots of that.

And we had the beautiful Ohio flag blowing in the background. Proud buckeyes, sitting on the beach, we were.

And my husband gave me presents! We both had birthdays (two days apart) that week and had a birthday celebration early one morning by the waves.

We both had the same sand-covered feet that you’d find at any other beach too. ;)

But really, the week away served the same purpose as any other vacation by the beach: to soak up some sun, go to bed tired, wake up rested and spend time with the ones you love.

The convention took place at the Hilton Netherland Plaza Hotel which is a beautiful building. It is one of the finest examples of French Art Deco in the US and my favorite building in Cincinnati.

Instead of telling you about thimbles, I’m just going to show you.

I’ll start with my collection:

I like religious-themed thimbles.

My first thimble. A gift to me when I was 13 from Lucerne. She handmade this thimble. It’s silver.

Pope hat! It has a chip, but you know what, it’s awesome.

OK, now for some photos from the convention:

First of all, the place was packed. Hoppin’! Actually, the energy was very positive and lively.

Table decorations above. Giant plastic thimble. Where does one find that?

Some of the thimbles for sale. Look at them–you can see one is ‘stained glass’, some are silver, some are brass—how cool.

Photos from a different booth. As you can see, starting a thimble collection can be inexpensive.

The one above was a favorite. It has a little embroidered flower in a window. How cool.

There was more! More!

The little animals above–those are thimbles too.

Another thimble with embroidery. Charming.

There were even sewing accessories and the like. Special cases. Vintage stuff. It really was something you could totally get lost in. Even me, who had never really had an interest or knowledge (of any kind) of thimbles.

This is one of my Mom’s thimbles. It’s a working abacus.

And this one. Made of peacock feathers.

So, welcome to the world of thimbles. They are so much more than the little aluminum ones you can buy at Joanne Fabrics for 99 cents, aren’t they? I feel really lucky to have gone to something like this and I hope you’ve enjoyed the photos.

I pull this pen out when I want to write with something that is both lightweight and offers a bit of precision.

This pen has a fine nib and I really love the way it writes. The nib has just a slight flex and it writes beautifully with my Diamine inks. Diamine’s Monaco Red is my favorite ink to use in this pen because it matches the barrel (of course!) but also because the edges of the lines end up with a slightly higher concentration of ink producing some beautiful shading.

The cap posts gently on the barrel (with a satisfying ‘click’ noise) and the entire pen is of sturdy construction. It is definitely a metal body….aluminum?

The lines this puppy lays down are always smooth and I’ve never had an issue with it skipping. I’ve also had it sitting around, completely filled, only to pick it up weeks later: it writes on the first try with no issue.

You’ll see I purchased the converter with this pen. It slips on snugly and I’ve never had an issue with leaking. The converter is a plate press—you squeeze a metal strip housed within the converter and release it when you want to fill it. It’s easy.

I ordered this pen from JetPens back in August of 2010. I’ve run a lot of ink through this baby!

PS: Hat tip to Ron for requesting this review. You gave me the motivation I needed to finish this post!

Would you like me to show you? I hope the answer is yes because I need somewhere to put this legal pad experience I have. (I know readers who are lawyers also have lots of experience with legal pads too.)

M by Staples
Gold Series Writing Pads
6 Premium Pads for Writing with Style

60pt Heavyweight Backing
20lb Heavyweight paper

50 Sheets/Pad

White or Canary
Narrow Ruled (they are also available in wide ruled)
8.5″ x 11.75″
8.5″ x 14″
5″ x 8″

I actually prefer the Canary over the white. I noticed there is some bleed-through on the white!

Here is the link to the pads online.

Jerusalem. Visiting the city in February, just before recent terror outbreaks and bombings, put the city in a special light. It wasn’t the middle of winter and it wasn’t the dead of summer. The days I spent in the city were cool–it reminded me of 5k race mornings in suburban Cincinnati. The temperature of the air was familiar to my skin and the city was, somehow, familiar, too.

My visit happened over a period of precipitation. Light rain showers washed the city in the afternoon giving everything a slick glisten. By evening, all was dry.

The city is built from Jerusalem stone. From the streets of the Old City, to the buildings within it–it is all hewn from this very distinctive type of limestone. It is such a stark contrast from our American cities built from brick and concrete. Being inside a world made from slightly shimmery stone in colors from pale yellow to sunny pinks to rich creams is very much what I thought heaven looked like as a child. Sort of shimmery and golden. Sort of what a city would look like if it was situated atop a cloud.

Walking through the city on foot required an awareness of my feet I just don’t need back home in America. The city’s Jerusalem Stone roads, slippery from the light rain, required one to look down every few steps to ensure maintaining an upright position. Well, at least us non-locals. Watching men dressed in black with matching black hats stroll by made it clear that we were all standing on American feet. Feet from a country less than 250 years old. And the locals walking by? They had Holy Land feet. Feet that only know a land inhabited for thousands of years. Late at night, tucked in bed in my hotel room in Jerusalem, I remember the way my feet felt. Not just the way they would feel after a full day of walking, but after a day of using your whole foot with every step. It’s a good feeling. It’s good to feel rooted to the place you are.

The Old City is home to the Western Wall or Wailing Wall as it’s also called. It was built in 19 BCE by Herod the Great. When I made my way down to the wall; wearing jeans, a backpack, giant sunglasses and a red fleece–the outfit of an American tourist, I tucked the notes I brought from home into the cracks between the stones. Like so many had done before me. I stood there for a moment and looked up at the massive wall and pressed my hands to the cool Jerusalem Stone. I looked to either side and saw locals there beside me, deep in prayer. Despite my touristy-clothing on the outside, at that moment I recognized that I was just like them on the inside; the part that matters. Just another Jew at the wall. Just another person at the wall.

My stay in Jerusalem came at the middle of my stay in Israel. And by this point, I began to notice my sore shoulder compliments of my daypack. I still use this daypack almost every day now, I think mostly because I miss Israel and I carried that daypack everywhere with me while I was there. This little pack criss-crossed over one shoulder and housed my daily essentials.

• A 16 oz. green Nalgene bottle I purchased in high school
• A Kaweco Sport fountain pen & extra cartridges
• 2 notebooks; a Moleskine and a small, handmade book with hand-painted birds on the cover
• A bottle of ibuprofen, a bottle of Claritin and my rescue inhaler
• A small digital camera
• My iPhone
• Tissues, lotion, perfume, bandaids
• A small umbrella
• Sunglasses
• Money
• Various items of food I snagged from the hotel

I began to notice the backpacks around me. And I paid attention to the things people pulled out of them; the things people chose to carry with them every day. I saw paperback books, jewelry, art supplies, small siddurs, teffilin, extra clothes, maps, nail polish, gum, candy, makeup and ipods. I noticed that these were backpacks from people who had come from all corners of the globe to Jerusalem. They came from different countries, spoke different languages and all had separate lives. Yet, we all basically carried the same things with us in our packs and had all somehow ended up in the same place at the same time.

So, back to feeling rooted. I think travel in many ways is all about roots. Maybe you travel to remind yourself of your roots wherever your home is. Maybe it’s a way to avoid putting down roots. Maybe travel–a state of motion–is where you feel most rooted. Maybe it’s what you do to find roots that generations past have laid for you. I think that’s what Israel was for me. I went to a place I had never been only to discover the roots that were already there, waiting for me.

This is delicious!

Ingredients:

• 3 Whole Dates (Medjool is best)
• 1 Cup Whole Organic Milk
• 2 Pinches Cinnamon Powder
• 1 Pinch Cardamom
• 1 Pinch Ginger
• A Few Strands Saffrom
• 10 Peeled Almonds (Soak them for 20 min. to an hour in water, then rub off the skins)

Directions:

1. Boil the milk with the spices (not including the saffron) until it foams.
2. Blend the warm milk with the dates and almonds in a blender or food processor until they’re finely ground. Add in saffron. Blend.
3. Serve!

Wax seals serve a purpose beyond just pinning together paper. (Wax seals were traditionally used as a way to keep a folded letter or note ‘sealed.’) In fact, there’s so much history behind these puppies that Sigillography is what we call the study of seals. Seals first originated in Asia and then appeared in Ancient Greece and Rome and then onward.

What I love about seals is that they are a representation of the person and in modern-day times, they represent what the user wants to portray.

I have another type of seal besides a wax seal and this one is called a Chop stamp or Hanko. In Asian countries, you’ll see these used and if you’ve got any art by asian artists, you might see their bright red chop stamp in the corner somewhere. My chop was made for me by a Japanese friend. Because I’m not Japanese and don’t have a Japanese name, she picked a word that closely match my name and conveyed an appropriate meaning. My stamp, when read, sounds like ‘Ko-al’ which means ‘fragrance’ or ‘scent.’

As of late, because of advancements in sorting equipment at the US Post Office, I have been putting my wax seals on the inside of the envelope. Even then, they sometimes don’t survive and arrive in a crumble. I know you can use a hot glue gun and colored glue sticks and make a seal that way (one that will stay stuck to the envelope on the outside, even) but I love not needing electricity to write a letter and seal it up just the way I like. I’m sure I’ll give this a try eventually as I think the letters I get from correspondents who use the hot glue method are beautiful.

One item I’m keeping an eye out for is a signet ring that can also be used to create a seal. A dream signet ring would have my family’s coat of arms but that’s probably for a day long from now.

So, my wax seals. Themes are pretty topical right now. My Mom got me a seal with an ‘N’ for my name, I have my Mom’s old wax seals she had when she was a kid (4-leaf clover, the letter ‘J’, two footprints, the word ‘Love) and a Star of David. I would love to find a warthog on a seal because that is my favorite animal. This is doubtful unless I have it custom-made, I’m sure. ;)

I heard a story about blacksmiths and I’m not 100% sure this is still the case today, but a blacksmith uses a seal on his work. The seal gets heated and then pressed into the metal to leave his mark, sort of like signing your name. When the blacksmith dies, his seal is destroyed. I hope this is still in practice today. In such a techno-saturated world, I relish stories like this, stories about tradition, meaning and the value and respect for the self.

A wax seal is like that. The user picks it based upon something they want to convey–a part of themselves, something they like, who they are. It’s a tangible thing, something you can hold on to forever if you like. Very unlike a text message or an email.

I first made myself a stationery wrap in 2009. This is a very old-school thing here. You take an old file, fold and stitch in the ends and bingo! Awesome place to stash letters you need to reply to and all the stationery you need to reply to them. At one point, I had a copy of an old article from somewhere (that I can no longer find) that talked about turning old files and other things made from sturdy paper into the-poor-mans-briefcase, a the article referred to it.

I made one of these for my immediate family members this year.

I hand stitched the outer wrap with regular old embroidery floss (the kind I made friendship bracelets from when I was a kid). The stationery was printed on 25% cotton stock and the envelopes were purchased from one of my suppliers. Each set includes return address/mailing labels and those were printed on a really nice adhesive stock. Each set includes a coordinating Varsity Disposable Fountain Pen, some ephemera and a whole lot of love. I tied the sets for the ladies with vintage lace and the men’s were tied with jute cord.

Do any of you recognize the bird tags? Those were a free printable from Lisa Rupp. I thought they were cute.

I need to make another one for myself. I have been carrying mind around pretty much daily for about 2 years and it’s seen a lot of wear and tear. I tie mine with about a yard of vintage sea foam green ribbon.

Update July 2011: Want to see someone elses take on this project? Visit purplepenhead’s post here.