12.10.10

the bold and the beautiful

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For me, autumn has always felt like an especially contemplative season. Something about the combination of spending more time inside staring longingly out windows, the necessity of putting a bit of thought into layering up clothing in the morning for a change, rain storms, endless pots of tea, the kind of things that make you want to just plant yourself in some corner of a warm cafe and doodle away an afternoon.

When Melissa from To Boldly Fold approached me about doing a giveaway, I thought that this would be the perfect time of year for such a prize: a gorgeous, handbound, softcover leather journal, fastened with a button made from a beachstone found on the Cape Cod shore. At 6.5" x 5" x 3/4", it's the perfect size for slipping into a beat up old back pack or satchel, or even a nice deep coat pocket.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment describing your favorite spot to draw/write/journal/compose dirty limericks. For example, mine is a tie between my old room at home, preferably with a big cup of Vanilla Rooibos and a cat lying on my feet, and the Coney Island bound Q train. The contest will be open until Sunday evening. Please be sure that if your email isn't available on your profile you leave me that as well.

Check out the To Boldly Fold Etsy shop for more goodies, and best of luck one and all!

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED! (Thanks so much for all the amazing entries, everyone!!)

Update: There were just WAY too many great stories to choose from, so in the end I used the number generator at random.org to pick...comment #32! Congratulations Viv!! Your journal will be on its way to you shortly. Since after a week Viv is still MIA, I've made the executive decision to move on and choose a new number. Congrats #49, Alice of The Brimborion! Thanks again to all who participated, and I promise you can look forward to more giveaways in the future.

49 comments:

Tyler Parker said...

Hard to go wrong with the classic coffee shop/cafe

AFitz said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sophie said...

Well, if I can't be on the island (preferably leaning on a log on the beach in Cowlitz Bay with the sun warm on my shoulders), I usually choose to write at the Kona Kai Coffee Shop in downtown Kent, WA.

Bella Di Nonna said...

Oh so pretty!

The best spot I ever found for writing my inconsquantialities was a specialist hot-chocolate shop in Edinburgh, which was like someone's hippy-souk-living room. They served white chocolate hot chocolate - mmm... I only went there once, but that spot has never been bettered.

Bella x x x
belladinonna (at) gmail.com

genevieve said...

almost anywhere, anytime, but especially when I'm sitting at my desk, or when I let my mind wander in traffic

Anonymous said...

I just can't beat my comfy bed, late at night when everyone is sleeping--it feels like I'm the only one awake in the whole world :)

cristine.navarro (at) gmail.com

Anonymous said...

Definitely on my grandmother's back porch in Paradise, Utah. She has the most amazing view of the mountains and pastures from her backyard!

katherineb@nycap.rr.com

~ Faith said...

I would have to agree with Cri. I find that I write best in bed, late at night when everyone else is asleep. It also helps to empty my head before drifting off...

~Faith

romantic_atheist@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

my favourite place to write is either in the basement of the wired monk coffee shop in halifax (hidden, cozy, free wireless & free food when my neighbor's working) or balancing on one leg in the middle of a sidewalk with a pen cap sticking out of my mouth 'cause either i've grabbed someone to interview or something hit me and I just /have/ to write it down. Or in bed. Or trains. Or anywhere?
leilani (dot) grahamlaidlaw (at) gmail (dot) com

Anonymous said...

i love writing while i'm sitting in class dying of boredom, or in my favorite coffee shop, sitting on their vintage couches.

C said...

My window-seat bed, snuggled amid sheets covered with zoo animals from IKEA's children department. A mug of tea is a nice addition.

Bethany Kellen of bunnypicnic said...

i usually end up writing almost head to toe under the covers with my chin on the bottom of the pages barely able to see past the top of the journal. ideally i like to write sipping tea/coffee sitting in a giant pile of pillows.

Brenna said...

My grandma's private beach on Washington Island, WI in the middle of Lake Michigan, during the summer

Jenifer said...

Agree with Faith and Cri, in bed nobody awake, bothering or distracting.
kisses honey

Eveline said...

Lying on the couch, crisping fire (in the fireplace), hot chocolate, some good music loud on the speakers, a cat sleeping and purring on my back.

evelinefijen@hotmail.com

Anonymous said...

my favorite place to journal is my car, because it is always moving and take me to all the amazing places i go.. so i never know where my car will be.. or where i will be..

katie edwards said...

the best place for me to draw/journal is either at work when it is slow up at the front desk, or in my bed at night when i am resting before falling completely asleep.
also during a phone call!!

katieredwards@gmail.com

Katie said...

I love journalling! It's my favourite pastime! My favourite place to write in my journal would have to be my bed—being halfway to falling asleep is the best state for writing.

Katie said...

i like to journal outside in the grass under the sun

Kellie said...

This is a great giveaway! My favorite place to journal is on my couch in the morning when no one else is home, preferably on a rainy day, with a cup of coffee. :)

Miranda said...

nothing makes me more excited than shiny new journals!

my favorite place and time to reflect and collage and write in my journal is in bed when i can't sleep with just my twinkle lights turned on. the process of journaling also isn't complete if i don't wake up hours later with the lights still on and my pen bleeding all over the bedsheets.

mirandarabuck(at)gmail.com

Cynthia said...

i always end up writing in three places: 1) at home in my big blue chair by the windows with a cup of tea, 2) sitting up in bed late at night, or 3) on the bus headed into downtown seattle from home (preferably a sparsely crowded bus... nothing kills those thoughts faster than a bunch of strangers crowding you!)

thanks for having a giveaway! :)
cynthia, ohgolly@hotmail.com

Jenny Morris said...

oh my i want to win this one!

i like to journal on the train ride home from Montreal to Toronto - its a time to look out the window, reflect on all thats happened since I last visited home, and to write away the things that I'm running away from!

fashionmademefunky.blogspot.com

Suzy said...

gahhh so pretty. for me, it's either one of the giant weeping beech trees at the arnold arboretum. they provide perfect THE perfect nooks.

Sasha said...

In my room on my bed. With the window open and the breeze coming in. My back against my wall, and my feet hanging off the bed. Some music turned down real low. And maybe a glass of pomegranate green tea, or cranberry-apple juice. The door is opened every so slightly, so the outside sounds from the rest of the apartment can come in.

terren said...

riverside park, when it's warm and there are many many babies

terren.wing@gmail.com

Polina said...

My favourite spot would have to be lying on my bed with a mug of hot tea, listening to my favourite music, wearing a thick sweater and occasionally glancing at the snow outside!
Nice journal & giveaway!

Anonymous said...

I can’t just say the place of where I have the creative juices flowing; I have to create that small quick shot for you to understand why I chose that place and why it’s my favorite place in Korea. It’s a local shopping boutique that is hidden from the world just a block away from where I live. It is owned by two Korean ladies that are absolutely wonderful in their creative thoughts that reflect on their clothing, hair style and mostly their shop. It’s a shop of wonders where the eyes start running wild ones you enter, starting from jewelry, shoes, clothing, ceramics, old radios, old cameras, printed letters and delicious cappuccinos to be enjoyed, in a space no bigger then a crack in between two industrial buildings and a second floor as big as a dinning room. Here at a window on the second floor smashed between the two giants, surrounded by antiques slightly above eye level I can watch people passing by. Here it feels like home, like a place when thoughts can recollect themselves and come out on a blank piece of paper making it part of the antiquity that surrounds it, a moment in time. Having the cappuccino on one hand and the journal in the other, reminds me the times spent in Italy, in a place where nothing mattered then the company of good friends, cappuccinos and attempting to vigorously destroy our journals, a time where ones strangers now we called ourselves family. This little place is of no great significance, not on a major street and with no glamorous advertisements, simple and so perfect; it brings the best memories of my travels. Here is where I feel content and allow myself to freely take advantage of my traveling journal.

otulei@gmail.com
Great idea and LOVE your work Miss. Chao!

seefeelhear said...

my favorite place ever was the woods behind the quarry amphitheater on my college campus. right in the middle of everything in a giant ravine where no one really ever went. since i don't live anywhere near that now i need to find a new spot, nowhere seems as peaceful though.

Danielle F. said...

I like to sit outside a cafe directly across from Ocean Beach, San Francisco and watch surfers, bums, tourists, and locals shuffle along the sidewalk leading down to the sand dunes. iced vanilla latte, with some sunshine on the side.

rakhidemi@yahoo.com

viv said...

Wonderful giveaway, thanks! Notebooks are something I can't resist when it's fall. My favorite spot for writing is a small park near our house. There's a coffee house nearby, and the trees give shelter from wind so that it's possible to sit outside if the sun shines even in october. Even though now it's so abnormally cold that it's impossible :)

Kate said...

My favourite place to write is a little odd; in my city between restaurants and office buildings and bars there's a big stone basin surrounded by trees with steps leading down to a huge abstract stone statue. It's a little like an egg, but with more texture, and more contours. Sitting on those steps, slightly hidden from the pedestrians by trees, and entirely dwarfed by that weird statue inspires me so much. It makes me contemplate my place in the universe.

Wangari said...

My favourite places to write are on my bed surruonded by pillows and swadled in blankets, my favourite local cafe and work (I actually get a lot done when I'm supposed to be doing something else!) This is such a great giveaway, and that journal is gorgeous

Jesslyn said...

I really enjoy writing in corners- basically any corner. It's cozy and you can observe what's going on around you without being the center of attention. On the campus of my alma mater, there is a big terrace with two trees, and it was always really fun to write or study or read there, with leaves falling all around and the soft ground to lay on!

alex said...

I've spent every summer since I was a baby at my grandparents' cottage in Quebec. They've had the cottage for 60 years and it's just such a treasure trove of memories (my mom spent every summer up there as a kid/teenager too). The back of the cottage has a big deck right on this beautiful sandy beach. My favourite place to write is sitting in the sand, listening to the water lap against the shore. Preferably in the evening or early morning, since that's when everything feels the calmest.
Since I'm usually only up there in the summer, my second favourite place is sitting on my balcony of my apartment in Montreal. I like watching all the people pass underneath me, and watching everyone go about their days while I curl up in my chair and write. It's especially beautiful right now because I can see the mountain from there and the fall leaves and colours are amazing.

Jacky Jazzowl said...

I love to write late at night when i'm taking the train home from staying at the darkroom until all hours. It keeps you from accidentally making eye contact with the crazies on the train at three am and it's also quiet enough that you can really think and examine your day/week/life.
lovejeepster@yahoo.com

Sarah Yvonne said...

Here in London my favorite place to write is my nest (i.e. my top bunk). At home I like to write in the park across the street from my campus.

Lovely notebook!

Sarah Yvonne

Colleen said...

my favorite place to write is actually during class. instead of paying attention and taking notes, i tend to get distracted and write in my journal or compose short stories/ jokes for a comedy act.

cheers!

twiggystardust65 at yahoo dot com

JM said...

By steamed up windows on the number 55 bus; Central Saint Martins to Hackney Road
www.bretonwood.blogspot.com

Zoë said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
pajarita said...

in a tree!



lpagel@wisc.edu

Anonymous said...

Mine is preferably tucked away in a corner of my school's library. I could stay hidden in there for hours. If not that, then curled up on my couch with a blanket and a cat in my lap.

Unknown said...

Hmmm...

Really a tough decision. My truly favorite spot to write is at an outdoor table at my old local coffee shop "Element coffee" in Camarillo, Ca. with a large french-press coffee.

Sadly I've yet to find a similar atmosphere since moving into the San Gabriel Valley. Hopefully some day.

Cheers, =)

Lexie said...

my favorite spot is behind the coffee shop counter at work -- or while i'm waiting in waiting rooms at the doctor's office!

Anonymous said...

My favorite spot to write is in the shotgun seat of my band's tour van. This past June we toured from Montreal to Vancouver and back and the endless ribbon of road and the changing panorama was excellent writing fodder for this antsy, underslept musician. I composed many of the lyrics we'll be using for next record on that drive and the journal I wrote them in (now falling apart and almost full) will soon be archived in an old steamer trunk in my living room where I keep all my diaries, including some from when I was twelve.

Anonymous said...

The beach on fine spring day - sunny but not warm enough for swimming etc.

ifoundpablo@gmail.com

myers said...

I alway find comfort in writing in my journal at night in my bed before I go to sleep. I have a lamp by my bed and it envelopes my room with just the right amount of light. It's extra homey when I have a cup of tea in hand and listening to the tapping of rain on my windowsill.

shivanm001(at)gmail(dot)(com)

Unknown said...

on a windowsill with the whole world before me.

Anonymous said...

on the metro, with no one sitting next to me -- feeling as though I'll doze off at any moment

eskay@ghadibalo.com