And that's sometimes my inspiration.
For note pads I use Levenger pads, what the company calls Notationery. It has faintly printed boxes at the top of each perforated sheet: for topic, date, file under, and page. It has a narrow left-hand vertical column for making annotations. And it comes in a variety of colors. I started with legal yellow. That's still my default. But I also have a deep tint of robin's-egg blue and a pale flour cream that reminds me of something personal and secret. I write better on these note pads. I do all my outlines on note pads, where I can brainstorm freely with a pen.
The other place I get note pads is a southern French city called Montpellier. We have a house 45 minutes from there. Montpellier has a distinguished botanical garden, just reopened; its gate to the old city center is a miniature Arc de Triomphe; the first medical school in medieval Europe started here, in part because it was a Mediterranean port and close to the Arab world, where medicine was far advanced in the Middle Ages; it is the European headquarters of IBM; it is a conspicuously young city -- if you are a 20-something or 30-something and want to feel in the majority, like this world is your world, go to Montpellier. The clothes shopping there for women is superlative. And it's better than average for men; but you have to hunt. I bought a pair of dress boots there never seen outside France; they're made by an old (and small) French ski boot company.
But I digress. In the middle of 'ancien" Montpellier is Trait (see www.ourhouseinfrance.com for this and other shopping opportunities; under "day trips"). Trait is an branch of a Parisian company that makes custom note pads, and other paper and stationery related supplies. Trait (24, rue de l' Aiguillerie, 04 67 02 79 54) is down a narrow alley with a lot of other intriguing shops. We always drop a hundred euros there, buying beautiful notebooks, pens, handmade paper, gifts, weird greeting cards. Oh: go. Just a block away is the world's most delightful and curious toy store; absolutely one of a kind.
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