The Notebook

The neighborhood I live in exposes me to more than my fair share of Asian kitsch. So instead of, say, blocks of stores peddling African sculpture and shea butter like you might find on Lenox Ave. in Harlem, I wake up to Morning Glory. The Korean outpost offers a cornucopia of prepubescent Hello Kitty pencil cases, Chococat hair ties, and tote bags.



Whether it's my hard-knocking nostalgia that kicks in every time I set foot in one of these stores (my mom indulged my H.K. jones like crazy when I was little! Stickers, stationery, erasers, toothbrushes), or just that there's something so cheerful about the color pink, I don't know. But I stay up whenever I'm browsing. The 11-year-old girl in me has taken to collecting quirky notebooks ($0.99-$3.50), with price tags that are much more palatable than the to-die-for Sanrio/NEC notebook PCs (above) sold in Japan only. My perference is for bound not spiral, lined not blank, and they have to be pint-size and skinny (clutch-worthy). The one I'm jotting ideas in now is plain blush with the words 'PINK IS SWEET' on the cover.