Saturday, December 23, 2006

At Barnes & Noble

My friends and I went to the Wild Animal Park today to see the Festival of Lights, and afterward two of us stopped at Barnes & Noble. She wanted to find a book on Adobe Photoshop Elements, and I was hoping to find something for the kids for Christmas. But before I started looking, I gravitated toward the left wall, where the blank books and journals are.


They had this display at the end of one of the rows, and that book in the middle says it all. I love blank journal books. I can't have enough, because if I filled one up, I'd need another one ready to go. But it would have to be the right one for what I was writing, so I'd need several to choose from. I looked at the one on the top right. It has a thick leather cover and costs just shy of $60. The one on the top left isn't leather and goes for $6.95 (much more affordable), but I didn't buy it, because I bought it the last time I was here.


Then I saw this one. It's beautiful. It has a map. And the cover is the softest leather. But it was outside my budget, and besides I was shopping for my kids.


My son has inherited my love of maps. Since he and his sister are trying to plan a two-week trip to Germany, Austria and the Netherlands for next year when my mom and I are driving around the country, I thought a map of the area would be a good idea. Obviously the map-makers didn't agree. They have Austria. They have "German." But they don't have both. Western Europe chops Germany in half. The Alps has even less of Germany, and not the part they're planning to visit. It would have taken two or three maps to show the whole area they're interested in, and that's just not satisfying for overall trip planning. So I didn't get a map.


He wants this. The Complete Calvin and Hobbes. It's on his Amazon.com Wish List. It costs a small fortune, and I'm not ready to part with one of those just yet.

So I found my friend looking at Photoshop books and hung out with her until she was ready to go. I left empty-handed, and now I'll have to hit the stores tomorrow after church and hope I can find something besides gift certificates to give the kids.

5 comments:

Bekah said...

Oh my goodness - a fellow blank journal lover. I am a sucker for blank books and at any given time, I try to have no less than three journals running. I've been journaling since I was fifteen and let's just say i have quite a collection of pointless (but yet so fun) trivia from my life - alongside a great treasury of thoughts that I would have lost forever if I hadn't written them down.

I have to visit bookstores in moderation...books are my addiction.

SkyePuppy said...

Bekah,

I have to visit bookstores in moderation...books are my addiction.

I'm with you. I used to work next to a mall with a Borders, and after the first lunch-time visit to Borders, I realized that I have a problem, and I am helples to overcome it... So I just had to avoid the bookstore the way alcoholics have to avoid bars if they want to stay sober.

Anonymous said...

I don't ever really write in journals, but oh my goodness if you had gotten me that map journal I would have loved you forever. You seriously don't understand how I feel about maps, especially old, inaccurate maps.

One time I was talking giddily about maps to a friend, and he called me a "cartosexual". I have to admit it's true.

-Skye Puppy's son

SkyePuppy said...

My son,

Does this mean you're not going to love me forever?

Anonymous said...

Well, you did get me a map for Christmas, so I guess I can love you forever.

(P.S. we're not going to Austria, just Germany and the Netherlands.)