Red Hook Really Speaks to Me

I don't know what it is about my friend Kristin, but every other time I am with her, I somehow spy cool graffiti that I just must capture on camera (case in point: she was with me when I took these photos just last month).

These latest pics are from a trip to the Brooklyn nabe of Red Hook over the long weekend. And, um, how awesome is the Hook's smarty-pants graffiti?

Preach it, Red Hook.

What's your favorite writing tool?

My job as a Copy Director requires that I not only write words, but also edit and approve them. And that means that I am constantly armed with a red pen (it's my magic wand of sorts).

Now, I am a girl who can commit to a pen. In fact, a coworker was teasing me just the other day because my current red pen is pretty much on its last leg. But I will tell you this: that pen is going to be used as long as it can. And then I shall move on to a new pick that shall have to work just as hard and just as long. It shall!

As a replacement for the old pen, I am currently considering using an ACME pen I received from my friends Lucia and Matt as a thank-you for doing a photo project for their wedding last year (see that here). This pen is just lovely: it's called "QWERTY" (a nice nod to my writerly ways) and is designed by Michael Doret.

I am on the prowl for a red refill as we speak, and as I troll through the ACME website, I am learning that, holy cannoli, these are some sexy-ass pens! Several are designed by influential artists like Constantin Boym, Eva Zeisel, Stefan Sagmeister, Karim Rashid, and Pentagram Design. The best part? There's also a pen designed by Billy Dee Williams. And it is named "Lovers Pen." Because of course it is.

Oh! Lando!

Check out whole pen collection here (and fall back in love with Billy Dee here).

A Growing Collection

I am constantly on a scavenger hunt through the city looking for posters with moustache graffitti (and I am especially enamored with the person who writes "moustache" on unsuspecting upper lips. So clever! So artsy!). But at this point, I am realizing that I am probably getting more excited than a grown woman should when I discover a fabulous act of vandalism.

But come on. "Moustache" for a moustache? DELISH.

Atelier Shinji Ginza: Japanese for "lovely-cool"?

Because my job is what it is, I had to search the term "hook" today for a project. And what initially began as detour into old-timey fisherman's hooks (they're so rad and dangerous!) ended up leading to this (nice; also awesome) and then finally to this: a funky-fun Japanese shop called Atelier Shinji Ginza.

With jewelry inspired by everything from chocolate and macarones to potato chips (POTATO CHIPS) and okra (OKRA, ya'll), this store couldn't help but make me a little curious (and also hungry, but that's nothing new). I had a hard time figuring out which were my favorites, but the above is what I narrowed it down to. Dig it.

Also, why does everything always seem slightly cooler in Japan?