$14B in love

Business owners say it's profitable -- and that has only grown in recent years. The obscene amount of candy, the 189 million roses and the date nights at fancy restaurants (something I recommend against, as do most restaurant critics, since it often affects service quality. Just go on the weekend and make something at home that night!). VTD is also the top time of the year for OTC sales of greeting cards. 65% of households will celebrate with one.

Apparently, one of the biggest things in Mississippi this season will be choosing the right tune...

"They're $4.99, but it's worth it, I tell you. You open the card and it will play a few lines from a song - like 'Jamaica, Bahama, come on, pretty mama,' " Singh sings, reciting lyrics from the Beach Boys' Kokomo.

Ah, the beautiful romance of the song my 7th-grade boyfriend performed with his best friend at the school talent show in 1988. And true Beach Boys fans the world over wept.

I was in a card store last week and checked them out. They were big -- fat with graphics and images -- pricey and kind of heavy. The envelope looked like a cross between your acceptance letter to college and your taxes going out. And the music was very loud and played immediately upon opening the cards -- so it didn't make for quiet browsing, which may be a detterent for some. One of the great things about buying cards in a card store is reading through at least 5 of them. If everyone knows you are more drawn to the "I Love Lucy" designs, it's like allowing a peek into your soul. That may be a little intimate than what you want to reveal at (insert name here)'s Hallmark shop.

Greetings from the White House

I work about 4 blocks from the White House. I walk by it when I decide to make the 4-mile track home on foot, including last week on balmy 30-degree evening. Regardless of who is in power, it's always quite a sight. Crowds of tourists taking their photos in front of the fence. The woman who has been camped out in protest under her blue tarp for years. Security. TV cameras. More tourists. The street in front is mainly free of traffic as it was sectioned off following Sept. 11, so you can basically walk down the middle of the road without having to worry about being run over -- unless a motorcade is coming or going.

Lights glow in many of the windows and it makes me wonder what is going on in there (since we know not much thinking is going on the Oval Office) -- in the kitchen, in the side rooms, in the offices. Apparently, someone is sending out greeting cards. While Im sure these folks are not actually working inside the White House, folks at the White House Greetings Office apparently send cards to "U.S. citizens for special occasions, including births, 80th birthdays, weddings and 50th wedding anniversaries." Requests can be made here. If you're into that. Personally, I think I'll wait until the next administration come along. Or see what would happen if one of my friends in a single-sex relationship decided to tie the knot.

CardSavers

Doreen alerted me to this via DailyCandy:

CardSavers give your old cards new life.

A cursive "Z"

Teachers at my public elementary school in Auburn, Maine, was going to make sure we had handwriting as good as the the Catholic School kids in Lewiston. But "z"s -- which I unfortunately had in my last name -- were a bitch. It looked nothing like Zorro. It just looked stupid.

Luckily, the cursive stuck. And depending on how fast I write a letter or a card, people comment on how nice my handwriting is. However, get me going too fast or emotionally, and I'm scrawling all of the page worse than my father on an estimating sheet or my boyfriend trying to figure out new layouts for work.

Now, kids are taking keyboarding classes in kindergarten and only the gifted kids get to devote time to penmanship. No wonder I got 90% typed notes from people during the holidays this year. Everyone has forgotten that a "Q" has a curl.

The year of challenge

Last year was the year of bread -- part of my celebration was working on my cupcake recipe with great success. Doreen can hopefully back me up on that. This year is the Year of Challenge. Work and new clients. New homes (for both of us). Finding our way -- with great design and ideas.

"Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk."

Time to take more risks.

Of course, it's hard for me to the quote the Dalai Lama without thinking of Carl from Caddyshack: "So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one---big hitter, the Lama---long, into a ten-thousand foot crevasse, right at the base of this glacier. Do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga... gunga, gunga-galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."

This doesn't bode well for me reaching a stage of enlightenment anytime soon.

Bad to the Bone

Hallmark is using its (apparently) incredibly popular musical line to attract more men to card buying.

I don't know any guy who would buy a greeting card for another guy that plays music when its opened, especially one that plays George Thorogood, but when it comes to TV theme songs, I could totally buy into the idea of "Law & Order" -- boom-boom!

Sketchy

Hi there! As the desinger I thought I'd start posting stuff now that we are starting to get things rolling ... I'm actually at the sketching stage now :) So here is a little thumbnail sketch for our first holiday card! Jess came up with the idea, and on the inside of the card the tagline will be something like "The Holidays are sneaking up!" The sketch is of a snowman and a little snowflake sneaking up around the corner from a chick walking down the street!

Rock, Scissor, Paper

Doreen turned me onto Rock Scissor Paper several years ago, and I have ordered some of their things online. A funky vintage feel with bright colors featuring cute animal designs -- I especially like the hippo -- a love of dachshunds and some naughtiness.

The company, started by 2 sisters 13 years ago, has grown to sales of $600K. In a recent profile in the Los Angeles Times, founders Heidi and Susie Bauer discuss the industry and shed some light onto how they have flourished in a heavily-saturated market where most start-ups dissolve in 5 years. They learned as they went. They discussed how tough it is to break into the large retail market. They started out by focusing on an untapped market -- the 35 and under set -- one that is lucrative in its influence and buying power. But now -- how do we -- all greeting card companies -- keep those buyers buying -- and not just sending text messages all day/night long?

I bought 5 cards in the last month, becoming part of the more than $7 billion in revenue in this industry. I purchased cards for weddings, for new babies, for inspiring friends and sending my brother Michel off the college. What did you buy them for? And where? And more importantly -- why?

How do we slow down this world to let ourselves in? We can't. So instead we have decided to speed up to meet it. Learning, we realize, also as we go.

HELLO!

Cash only, please

There are things coming to this space. I promise you. Things we want you to check out. You -- the buyers. You -- the readers. You -- our friends, family and pets. You -- the lurkers trying to get into our hearts and minds. You -- lovers of paper and correspondence. With any luck, it will be graphically represented in much lovelier way that I, and my 4 years at Carnegie Mellon working on designing Web sites/e-zines and other related editorial worlds from scratch (when I wasn't leading drinking chants, yelling at hockey players to skate harder in foreign languages or timing pledges while they chugged beer), can now represent visually and virtually.

Luckily, that is why I am the writer and Doreen is the designer.

Just wait. Not much longer now.

Dinner on Friday with our lawyer person -- Via Emilia. Recommended by my boss for its great food, quiet atmosphere and good location in the Flatiron District. Cash only, please.

We can save Craft for when we fill our first order.

OK, when we fill our first 100 orders.

Work

I know it may not look like it, but we're working here. Lawyer meeting in Sept. in NYC. Mock-ups due. Ideas flying. Wine being consumed. Baxter -- our official pet -- is wonderful for moral support. He also chases one hell of a piece of paper around the room.

What it means to be from Maine

Picking wild blueberries in the yard for breakfast. Finding chanterelles along the front of the property to saute in olive oil and fresh herbs for dinner. Hauling lobsters off the dock. Watching a crab pick his way through the seaweed under the walkway. All-you-can-drink iced tea and Wi-Fi in a place you have been coming since you had delayed-start Wednesdays in high school; and not being charged because you still know the barista -- he was named best eyes in his high school class. Duck fat-fried fries with truffle ketchup and making little girls squeal as you photograph their lavendar-frosted vanilla cupcakes. Vodka made from local potatoes and spring water, bottled like Chopin and handled like a newborn. Fried clams, crab rolls and a Maine root beer with Dad.

Be thankful you can always go home again. And that black flies are so annoying that you have to run faster in the mornings to escape them -- so that second (and third) helping doesn't feel as sinful later on.



But getting around the card side of this day: lobster pots. The lobstermen around Quahog Bay have banded together to sell placemats with the pictures of their pots -- and boat names. This symbol of the working water would be a beautiful picture -- and one that supports a critical industry -- plus a tourist draw. An interesting partnership idea for the future -- small, local industries and giving their cause a chance to be seen around the world, via cards.

Also, picked up some photo cards by Stacey Cramp -- a beautiful set of coastal works by this photographer who lives in Portland and went to Bates.

PEP Magazine

Hallmark is launching a magazine to further expand its uber-brand. Don't we have enough kitsch on newsstands? Every time I go to Whole Foods there is another "organize your life with Pilates and broccoli (steamed)" publication. What does Hallmark bring to the table? Doesn’t sound like they know yet, exactly, other than they plan to rip off a combination of Real Simple and O.

“Is it going to make an affluent, 30-year-old woman excited to pick up the magazine? That’s what I have to be sold on,” one ad exec says.

Ok, this fantasy reader is me. And I read OK magazine tonight at the gym and washed it down with the New Yorker (an issue from April -- I am way behind). I dont think the Hallmark magazine is really going to grab anyone in that demo -- but I do think PEP could.

Yes, I am conceptualizing a magazine before we launch our first card line.

What would you want to read? Stories about fashion are unlikely as I lean toward blacks and blues and Doreen wears cartoon socks and fantasizes about a starfish tattoo. Art is a given. Food -- highly likely considering we both would rather spend dough on a great meal and wine than nearly anything else in the world. Except books. And travel. And more wine. Hmmm. How did this concept suddenly turn into Gourmet?

Oh, there would have to be a section completely devoted to monkeys. And giraffes. Conde Naste doesn't have anything on that.

Maine

Tomorrow I begin my summer pilgrimmage up the East Coast to the homeland. First stop, brainstorming and wine with my best girl Doreen, super-pup Baxter and No. 1 hubby Mikey. Hopefully Doreen and I will work some details out, get the biz cards finalized and have info for you, our loving fans, on the debut line.

OK, so there are like 10 of you. But everyone starts small. Unless you're Paris Hilton launching a hotel line. In that case -- I guess I should start my own insulation company.

It's blistering hot in D.C. and all I want is ice cream I can eat without it giving me a stomach ache 20 minutes later. And a martini. An ice cream martini.

One of my favorite things about driving 95 is stopping in N.H. at the liquor store. Dad has requested a 1/2 gallon of Kettle. The pear don't fall too far, folks.

So, in the spirit of local wine and martini recipes, I can guarantee you one thing --these cards of PEP's will be created in the best of spirits -- and those spirits will be nothing less than top shelf.

Unless you're into playing beer pong with Mad Dog. Not that I know anyone like that.

Bald guys get jokes

I was first struck by the Bald Guys Greetings' booth because there were just men in it. Men manning their own booth at a stationery show -- not just men hanging out their girlfriends or wives or sisters -- was quite an unique. I also loved the quirky designs they had on their cards, scattered on a table.

Then I picked one up and read it. I laughed so hard and so loud -- people around me were startled. Im used to this, but the creators -- Ian and Sean, only one of whom was actually bald -- seemed so thrilled to have someone laughing so hard and so loudly in their booth (and at their stuff) that they kept giving me more cards to read.

Each one made me giggle more. Eventually, they were one of verge of embarrassment.

"People are going to think that your a plant," they beamed -- and then handed me another one -- "What do you think of this?"

The reason why these cards are so cool, aside from the fact that their partnership is similar to Doreen and myself with a 'designer' type and a 'writer' type -- is that they were dead honest. A card you would write for yourself if you could create the cards that you thought up in your head. And were that damned creative. Which most people just aren't.

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday ...

Shoebox 401K

From the land of finance, this bit from Investment News:

CHICAGO - In an unusual move, Metrics Partners has begun creating 401(k) greeting cards to send to plan sponsors. Sending out greeting cards to third-party administrators will help them retain business with plan sponsors ...

"Personal greeting cards seemed low technology but a touchy-feely way to stay in touch," he said. "It's a real effective way for a 401(k) company to communicate with their customers."

Touchy-feely communications for a not-so-emotional business. Like a go-between for emotion.

The cards can be customized.

"I've talked with a couple of [third-party administrators] who wanted to make them funny," Mr. Adams said. "I also talked with banks that are more conservative, and they want cards that are more conservative."

Makes sense -- and at $3 per card, lucrative sense.

For the love of Edward Monkton

I bought a few cards the other day and was happy to see that British designer Edward Monkton had a couple of new ones out. I think he is brilliant. Hilarious. Weird. Simple. And nuts.

The Pig of Happiness seriously makes me laugh out loud every time I see him. Apparently he exists in toy form somewhere in the universe. I am guessing somewhere British.

If you live in a land where there is no Edward Monkton, you can order his some of his cards online via Soleberry Modern.

Our friends

At the stationery show, we made some friends. This was before -- and during -- the time we roamed the floor looking for cheap canapes and champagne. And beer. And wine. We certainly found some companies that attracted us from across the floor -- splashes of color and fun and unique lettering --- with buttons, candies, cookies, bracelets, stickers, magnets and lots of other schwag to haul off. I'm going to post a few of them here in the coming weeks. I think we can all learn from one another.

Thank you

My father always praised me for writing thank you cards. I do love a good one. I think we have hired the past couple of people who have bothered to send one to us after their final interviews. It just makes good sense.

Few people take the time to do this anymore. It's easier to send an e-note or put together a mass mail. A phone call is nice, but an ecru card in the mail says "Wow, I really appreciate the thought you gave to this/gave to me and it made me happy/truly thankful." Even if it's a crappy candle holder. It's the right thing to do.

A recent NPR: All Things Considered piece focused on this topic, and gives etiquette guidelines to potential thank-you card writers. My favorite:

"Don't use lateness in writing as an excuse not to write. If you're still sending thank-you notes after your first wedding anniversary, keep writing."

I well remember the one person who I gave a wedding gift to and who never wrote me a thank you card. She stiffed a few of us, and we were pissed. It was one of the first things I thought about each time I saw her in the years after her wedding. I'll spare you the other thoughts that subsequently entered my mind.

Views from the show

A view of the doorway leading to the main floor.
On the stairs outside of the show. I was a pussy and didn't take many pictures inside. Fear that some security gaurd was going to shake me down for my Mrs. Grossman's stash. That's right -- stickers.
Doreen mulls on what designs we will come up with first over a ridiculously expensive salad. This was a last resort meal after we were foiled by the crepe people. Damn you crepe people. This was also after talking to the onion woman and then realizing we needed to start doing food and wine work ...

About the show

The Stationery Show last month kicked much ass.

People loved the name. Loved the pinkness. Loved that we were just starting out. Loved to chat about their experiences. Gave us beautiful hand glittered cards. Were all shapes, ages, sizes, sexes and races.

They gave us hope.

So, while we work on our pet projects, Doreen and I are going to work on turning this blog into a repository for all things correspondence: exploring the beauty of mail, notes, cards and letters. If you are reading this -- you probably already can embrace part of it -- but you may not realize how much it means to get personal mail. In these days of tons of junk mail (mostly Victoria's Secret catalogs) that clutter my tiny mailbox every day, it still makes my heart smile to see a new letter from Jessamy, or a card from Lauren or Jenny, or a funny from JenK. It's the best. Plain and simple.

I recently e-reconnected with a boy I haven't seen since I was in 7th grade. He fights for environmental rights in one of the PacNW towns where everyone is GREEN and when they go on vacation they decide to do it biking in Finland for a month -- in the rain. He told me that he stays in touch with some of our elementary school friends -- even sending birthday cards each year with one of them that he hasn't seen in 12 years. He's 30. He's been sending this male friend cards since he was a teenager. Maybe a tad sentimental and good about keeping in touch -- but all the same. That may have given me more hope that all the 600 booths full of letter press, tiny buttons, funky fonts and colors in the Javitz Center.

Cards rule!