Hiphopsideproject

If you didn’t know already, I’m a bit of a notebook/sketchbook-aholic. At any given time I have been known to have upwards of 4 notebooks in my bag, although I tend to just stick to my red moleskine pocket year planner (seriously, that thing OWNS me) for my day time jotting. I keep my lists in a bright pink moleskine cahier notebook, and sketch up jewellery designs in a hardback grid moleskine. I keep an A5 generic cartridge paper sketchbook by my bedside for night time doodles, and an A3 sketchbook by my bed for occasional collages. I have a long running history with sketchbooks & notebooks, and I don’t feel comfortable without one close at hand!

Since completing an art degree (and several art courses beforehand), where I used to polish off an A3 sketchbook in a few weeks, I must admit that my use of the beloved things has kinda… stalled. That being I can make one last a while now, and don’t fill double figure pages daily. Anyhoo, I still have an obsessive need to purchase any sexy notebook that glances at me… and sometimes a set of new pens/pencils to go with it (new requires new!). Here’re my favourites & some pages from my current notebooks.

I’ll start with my every day moleskine, that being my red pocket organiser. It’s the first year that I’ve used a moleskine organiser, using a pocket filofax before now. It’s the perrrrrfect size, though, and has just enough space on each page to fill with appointments, to-dos and general notes. Alongside that it comes with stickers so you can see a splash of colour whenever something important’s going to happen :D The organiser has an extra, smaller, notebooks tucked away into the back cover… it is a tabbed soft cahier style pamphlet book I don’t use this though.. yet. I couldn’t live without this organiser now, espcially in the midst of all this house stuff ^_^ I think I’d forget all my appointments if it weren’t in here!

The next notebook I rely on is my list book. Currently growing a list of books read in 2009, films seen, books bought, places travelled, things I need, things I want, my new years resolutions. It’s a pink moleskine Volant that Adam bought me for christmas :) Perfect size for a years worth of important lists.

My (slightly underused) squared moleskine (bought on the way to Australia last year), houses some website sketches and a few little doodles. To be honest, I lost this notebook for a long while and only just recovered it from the back of a book shelf :O Check out one of the early hiphopsideproject designs!

A stack of small notebooks that range from ongoing art projects, travel notebooks, handmade books (the brown notebook on the bottom was one I bound by hand at University.. I’ll show you it one day).

Phew, this is turning into a super long post… I think I’ll do another sometime with my other notebooks, most of them are currently packed away anyhow!

Have some links (moleskine orientated as that’s what this post talked about!)

http://www.moleskine.com
http://www.moleskineasia.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moleskine

This year I’m going to be really big on keeping lists, like obsessive about them. I guess that’s a weird thing to have an aim for right? a new obsession? Anyway, here’s a list of the lists I’ve already started constructing…

• Books Read in ’09 – Naturally. My plan is (as usual) to read 50 books over the course of 2009. I got a fair few for Christmas, and have a few others that I plan on re-reading before the year’s out. I’ve almost finished A Lion Among Men by Gregory Maguire (book 3 in the Wicked series), and then I’m either going to move onto the Twilight Saga or the Eragon books :D Yay for young-adult lit!
• Films seen at the cinema – I constantly forget the films I’ve been to see. I could probably only name half of the ones I saw in ’08. List currently stands at Twilight (x2) and Australia. Damn, need to get me to some action films and cancel out all that girliness!
• Things to achieve – I made a pact with myself this new year that resolutions were dumb, so instead I’ve made a list (hopefully one to be continually added to) with tasks I want to achieve this year. They range from the mundane (pass driving test, go to the gym 3/4 times a week EVERY week) to the captivating (Visit Hong Kong, do some kind of creative writing course… ). This list also doubles as my ‘Quarter Century’ list, I turn 24 on Saturday and have a damn lot to get done before my 25th.
• Things to buy – This is a bit of a ridiculous list, really. It’s more of a reminder-list, certainly not as exciting as it first sounds. I always have moments when I’m like ‘Oh, I could really do with a potato masher’ or ‘God damn, times like these certainly DO call for a bookmark’ (that’s quite a regular thought). So, I now have a list of generic items that I need, at some point, to acquire.
• Blog Article ideas – I’m planning on becoming a much better blogger this year, in order to achieve this I’ve made a purpose built list of blog article titles. Obviously a growing list…
• List of Lists.. – And this is where the obsession becomes apparently. Yes, dear Readers, I have constructed a list of possible Lists that I can list in my List book.
• To-Do lists – Such a boring, but necessary, list. These lists exist in my red moleskine daily planner rather than my book of Lists :)

This year my lists will be housed in a hot pink volant moleskine notebook (courtesy of the boy at Christmas! Still undecided over what I will use the baby pink one for…). Oh, notebooks….

I’ve just discovered the delightful blog of a wonderful Moleskiner. One of my most favourites already, infact.

Mattias Inks is full of delightfully inspired posts featuring wonderful imagery and a great use of the humble moleskine.

I’m not only obsessed with the subject matter (everything from pigs in hats, to steam powered drawing implements), but the use of colour and a subtle palette that’s used is just delicious.

Go check it, you won’t be dissapointed.