New 52 | Week 6: Colored Sharpie Pens

This week I actually had so many "new" experiences that I couldn't decide which one to go with for my New 52 | Week 6. We went to a couple of new places to eat: Bull Taco and The Pantry. Todd aged gracefully into a new decade. But while Todd's new decade is very exciting, it's not something I actively made happen. So I decided on my new colored Sharpie pens as my New 52 for Week 6.



What's so special about these pens, you ask? It's not exactly about the PENS themselves per se. It's more about the POSSIBILITIES of what the pens do, and the potential of the pens, that are meaningful. You see, I've long been a collector of pencils and pens, almost my entire life. Todd was so amused the first time I showed him my mechanical pencil collection in college. I had a See's Candies chocolate box (decorated with stickers) full of my mechanical pencil collection. I had all sizes and shapes. I had Hello Kitty mechanical pencils. My most prized purchases came on a trip to Taiwan in 8th grade, when I went ape-crazy at all the cute mechanical pencils sold in little stationary shops there. Back then, the only mechanical pencils you could find in the U.S. were just prim and proper functional ones, no cute ones.

But I digress. It's the act of putting pen/pencil to paper that I love. LOVE. Big puffy heart ♥♥♥.  I've kept journals almost my entire life and I still have the ones I've kept in grade school.  Writing and journaling is pretty ingrained in me.  It's how I work out my thoughts and feelings.  It's therapeutic and cleansing for me.  It's where I make lists.  It's where I go back and read my thoughts from years ago and see growth.  These new pens represent the enjoyment of writing in my journals for me.  And my Moleskine daily planner.  As much as I love the digital age and the computer, there's still nothing like putting pen to paper for me.  Which may be why I was very excited to come upon a Lifehacker article the other day about the benefits of "analog" writing with pen and paper.  (Lifehacker article:  Why You Learn More Effectively by Writing Than Typing)  I will never give up putting pen to paper, even if I do love using my computer as well.

In case you are a pen-aficionado like me, I'll share my favorite pens.

Sharpie Pens (see above) - These new colored ones are new to me. I've had the black retractable ones before and loved them because they do not bleed through to the other side of the paper, and they dry fast and write smoothly.

Pentel EnerGel Deluxe RTX Gel Ink Pens (0.7 Millimeter Metal Tip) - I love these and stock up on them. They come in many colors and write very smoothly without skipping. They also dry fast so even left-handed writers like them.

I'll leave you with a random Noodle photo, because he's cute. Todd was opening his gifts and Noodle just loved playing amongst the tissue paper. He loved making the crinkly sounds and hiding in them and attacking them.



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About This Project

New52 is a project started by Peppermint and I to encourage each other and others around us to try something new every week in 2011. The "new" each week doesn't have to be something big. It could be something as simple as ordering a new dish instead of old standbys at your favorite restaurant. It's simply opening your heart up to NEW possibilities.

Don't worry if you're late getting started on joining in. It's totally OK if you miss a week here or there. We encourage everyone to keep an open mind about trying something new. This is a life project, and a photography/blog and even scrap challenge if you wish. If you participate this week, please leave a link to your blog post in the link list below. You can also post images to our New 52 Flickr Group! We would love to see what you were inspired to do.