Jeanne Verdoux, a French artist/graphic designer who works with Clairefontaine paper (and whom we’ve blogged about before), just sent us an image from her upcoming show in Paris—la voila.
If you’re in Paris this December, stop by the Galerie Magda Danysz and check it out!
You may have noticed the quote at the top of our blog, “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.” It’s from a John Lennon song called “Beautiful Boy,” and we figured it did a good job of capturing our sensibility—make plans, but don’t be surprised when life hands you the unexpected.
As a reader from Frankfurt pointed out, however, that’s not a wholly accurate version of the quote. The full lyric is more direct (and it uses a different conjunction): “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”
If you’re not familiar with the song, you can watch a tribute video here.
Alliance Francaise held their annual Beaujolais Nouveau Fete last night in New York.
Three different kinds of Nouveaux were served with pate, charcuterie, and cheese. French singer Pascalito performed, and wine writer Robert V. Camuto signed copies of his new book Corkscrewed: Adventures in the New French Wine Country.
The Ordre des Compagnons du Beaujolais, dressed in full regalia, inducted Caroline Webber, Professor of French Literature at Columbia University and Barnard College and Charlie Rose, the esteemed newscaster, to their New York Chapter.
Created in 1948, The Ordre des Compagnons du Beaujolais is an esteemed French organization dedicated to promote the wines of the Beaujolais region in France. It has “Devoirs,” or Chapters, in many countries around the world. 
Joined as much by a taste for bonhomie as well as wine consumption, the common objective of the Compagnons is to share their love of Beaujolais with a broad audience – in the liveliest fashion possible. To that end, the Compagnons host an array of activities appropriate for all kinds of “bon vivants.”
Four main events (called Chapters) dominate the yearly agenda, starting with a celebration of harvest in September, the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau in November, Valentine’s Day, which begs for a tasting of St. Amour, and springtime, when the Crus are released.
Quilter and fiber arts artist Marie Z. Johansen of Z Quilts in Washington State has been quilting for around 30 years. She started after seeing an exhibition of Amish quilts at the Whitney Museum in New York City. Marie loves to make traditional quilts and art quilts. 
Marie recently participated in the Houston Quilt Festival. She exhibited several pieces including “Butterflies & Cream” which was in an exhibit called In The American Tradition. She said, “I can’t think of a more quintessential traditional American Quilt pattern than these butterflies that were so popular during the last great depression.”
Lucky for us, Marie is also a great fan of Clairefontaine paper and Quo Vadis notebooks.
“Although some folks might think it odd; I generally travel with two journals. One is strictly my written (and sometimes illustrated) personal journal & one that I bring along for taking notes on things that catch my eye, observations, thoughts to develop for quilts or felted pieces – that sort of thing.”
“For the Houston trip this was the little beauty that I used to capture those scattered thoughts, and to hold all the information I needed for the trip. It’s a lovely notebook that’s available in two colorways from Exaclair. Called the Quo Vadis Robert Le Heros this journal definitely has a lovely European flair. I love the Clairefontaine paper – works great with just about any ink I use in it – including some watercolor washes.”
Read her whole blog entry here. We loved the image of the Robert le heros flower patterns against the butterfly quilt!
Please visit her site and see all her beautiful quilts, artwork and hand-made pieces.
We’ve already written about Geralin Thomas of Metropolitan Organizing, and the alphabetical system she uses to customize her Minister.
This weekend, she sent us a link to a video (embedded above) from Organizing Connection wherein she explains the system. Enjoy!
Now that my garden’s up and running, I figured it was time to take the next step in domestic outdoor activities. I ordered a birdfeeder from the amusingly named Droll Yankees company website, bought a shepherd’s hook out in New Jersey, and hung everything on a fencepost.
Not so fast, evidently. Here’s how things played out:
Phase one. My first hook wasn’t nearly long enough, and the squirrels had a lovely time hopping over from the fence and eating all the seed. Also, the birds weren’t very interested; they hung out in the tree behind our shed and didn’t approach the feeder.
Phase two. I went back and bought a longer hook and re-hung the whole contraption. A few days later, the birds discovered it. And a couple days after that, the squirrels figured out how to make the longer leap.
Phase three. My birdfeeder came with a small tray on the bottom to catch the seeds the birds spill as they eat (they’re very messy eaters!). It also gave the squirrels a nice place to land as they leapt over from the fence. Once I figured that out, I removed the tray, and the squirrels suddenly became much less adventurous. I can’t describe how satisfying it was to watch them try and fail to make the leap—or better yet, to try to shimmy across the hook and dangle down over the feeder itself, which has a protective dome.
Nature: it’s an arms race.
A 97-year-0ld document that contains clues to the identity of Eleanor Rigby, the subject of one of the Beatles’ best-loved songs, is expected to fetch $775,000 this month.
The manuscript is a salary register from Liverpool City Hospital and features the name E. Rigby, a scullery maid.
According to its owner, Annie Mawson, the document was sent to her in 1990 by Beatle Paul McCartney when she wrote to him on behalf of her charity. 
Exciting news this morning: we just finalized a partnership with the folks at Etchstar, a company that offers custom laser engraving for notebooks, laptops, jewelry, and more. The result is available at NotebookEngraver.com, where you can purchase artist-designed Quo Vadis, Rhodia, and Clairefontaine notebooks, or upload your own artwork and have it engraved onto a notebook of your choice.
We’ll be featuring more examples and information about NotebookEngraver over the next few months. Meanwhile, I can’t wait to see how my little Domo looks in person!
I went to a business roundtable yesterday where the speaker was describing how social networks (LinkedIn, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) help to generate clients and keep her current with people she wants to follow. She also posts daily about what’s going on in her own life and career. 
Having just gotten my email manageable, I felt my alarm rising at the thought of spending my day posting, twittering, and generally trying to manage an increasing flood of communication from all over–solicited but mostly not.
So here’s a question: how can you be productive and also be active among online communities and networks? Your thoughts, tips and techniques are welcome!
Erin Doland, the Editor-in-Chief of the great blog, Unclutterer, shares how she gets uncluttered in this interview.
Christine Nusse, the head of Quo Vadis in the U.S., picked up a copy of the magazine Paris Match to read on her flight from Paris to New York.
The cover and cover story of that October 23-28 edition featured Soeur Emmanuelle, who passed away on October 20, one month short of her 100th birthday.
In a photo of Soeur Emmanuelle’s desk Christine spotted a familiar object – a Quo Vadis planner.
Sr. Emmanuelle lived for more than 20 years among scavengers in Cairo’s slums and who has been compared with Mother Teresa for her fight to defend the rights and dignity of the poor. The association she founded now operates in eight countries from Lebanon to Burkina Faso. 
During a television interview she was asked what her favorite word was. Sr. Emmanuelle replied with the Egyptian Arabic word Yallah, or “go ahead.” She said stop was her least favorite word because “you must always go forward in life.”
