I was spoiled this past week for my birthday and wanted to send ecards to thank everyone.  I checked out http://www.pingg.com/ which has some really nice designs but none of the thank you notes immediately appealed to me.  I then discovered that evite has a separate section of ecards http://www.postmark.com/.  I found several that I liked and so I ended up sending different ones to different people.  Postmark has some really cool designs and they are sent with envelopes that have coordinating liners.

Thank you correspondence:

Birthday party invites:

Cocktail party invites:

Coffee date invite:

And a lovely section of shower invites, save the dates and wedding invites:

Even though I work in a card and paper store, sometimes the ease of using an ecard or evite is too hard to resist.  Of course I prefer the feel and permanence of a real paper card.  For instance when my daughter was born I pasted almost all the cards we received into a baby book for her as a keepsake.  It just wouldn't be the same to copy a bunch of ecards onto a disc! 

Several dear friends treated me to brunch today at  JAM cafe on Herald Street to celebrate my birthday.  After a 25 minute wait in line (where coffee was available) we were seated at a booth in the front window.  Directly behind our table was a vintage old school map and on the opposite wall was a display of reclaimed windows and clipboards with maps.  Such a funky place, and the food was delish to boot!  We shared the red velvet pancakes to start and then I had the Charlie bowl (a hash with crumbled biscuit, hash browns, two sunny side up eggs, ham, green onions, cheddar and sausage gravy).  Yum.  

The decor reminded me a bit of the ACE hotel chain in the U.S. but with more of a country vibe.  The photo below is of the lobby in the ACE hotel in Portland.

Some of the rooms even have a SMEG refrigerator in them!

(Photo from the West Elm catalogue).   

 I hope to visit an ACE hotel one day!  It's on the bucket list for sure.

Even though I have never really had an office job, there are few things I love more than office accessories.  Paperclips, sticky notes and tape...oh my! 

Tape dispensers come in so many shapes, sizes and colours and it is difficult to choose just one.  Three of my favorites:

Concrete (source unknown).

Wood (Design Within Reach).  And definitely filled with washi tape from Japan please.

Acrylic (Kikki K).

As for staplers, the coolest one is the Ace Pilot Stapler that was 

originally designed in the 1930's:

Available at Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co.

Always handy are a decent pair of scissors and these ones from West Elm are heavy and very satisfying to use:

It doesn't get more basic than a ball of string (from a store that is now closed):

A cool vintage looking clock from Schoolhouse Electric & Supply Co. would turn me into a clockwatcher :

Old School phones from Pottery Barn that probably have a charming ring:

Mini tape measures and leather mousepads in fun colours by Campo Marzio (made in Italy) from Kate's Paperie NY:

The company also makes some stylish rollerball pens that I covet:

Leather journals from Paperthinks in every colour of the rainbow:

Nautical pencil cup and tray from See Jane Work:

Funky files are a must (John Lewis):

Boxes and magazine files from See Jane Work:

Cath Kidston laptop case in an old-fashioned floral print:

Bins that could be used to hold recycling from The Container Store:

Mini binders and accessories from Russell and Hazel:

A custom address stamp (www.lindsayletters.com):

And what office is complete without delightful paperclips?

Having all of these fun office toys to play with would be pleasantly distracting!

We have space on either side of the fireplace in the living room and on one side I currently have an old table I'm using as a desk.  I would like to get a proper desk and office chair and maybe a filing cabinet.  I actually tried to order this white metal desk and mint green filing cabinet from CB2, but the shipping was going to cost almost as much as the furniture!  Yikes.  I wish companies in the U.S. made it a little more affordable for us Canucks yearning for good design at reasonable prices.

This filing cabinet would have looked so amazing in my living room which has lots of accents in aqua, mint and blue.

As for office chairs, I covet the Eames Aluminum Management chair (from Design Within Reach) which comes in over thirty different colours of leather.  Alas, the price tag of over $2000 U.S. is a bit of a deterrent!  Ironic that the company is called Design Within Reach!

Once again CB2 has a less expensive option ($229 CAD) with similar features (real leather) yet shipping would probably cost the same as the chair :(.

I have always loved the metal Tolix chair, which also comes in many colours, but as stylish as it is, it wouldn't be all that comfortable to sit in for long periods of time.  I suggested to my hubby that we buy these for our new dining room harvest table but he wouldn't agree.  Dining room chairs are a whole other post!

The Parsons desk (in the white finish) from West Elm is also a classic that has made countless appearances in Domino magazine (my favourite, now defunct, magazine in the world) and others.  I would be willing to pay $375 CAD for it but unfortunately West Elm doesn't ship their furniture to Canada.  I will have to see if I can pick one up from the actual store next time I'm in Vancouver?  

And the finishing touch to the new office area would be a Tivoli Audio model two radio that you can also plug an ipod into.  They are a thing of beauty but a splurge at $300 U.S. from Room and Board. 

They are also available in funky colours and the model one is a bit less ($180 U.S.).

The lamp I recently bought from Chapters was a great deal at $39 and attractive too.  But if money were no object the Hector china lamp ($300 U.S.) with a cloth covered cord would be dreamy.  It also comes in a pale green or blue colour as well.

There is also a company (Earth Sea Warrior) on Etsy that refurbishes old lamps and makes them a little more modern by adding neon coloured cords to them. How cool is that?!

Next up, office accessories!

Just one more I couldn't resist sharing.....

My sister Katy is very crafty indeed and made some really cool Valentine's Day cards this year.  She took a box of Smarties and covered them in red or pink paper and added a playlist (with love songs) to make them look like ipods!!  Hershey's kisses stood in as earphones tied with baker's twine.  Clever, clever, clever!

Speaking of Ryan Gosling, have you seen the 'Hey Girl' series of photos on Pinterest?  Too funny...