In the film adaptation of my life, my jaunty sidekick would be my notebook. It has always been my notebook, ever since I knew how to write in one. When I was still young and wanted to grow up to be a librarian / private investigator / Indiana Jones hybrid, I would catalog seemingly random details of the world around me in a spiral reporter’s notebook.

These days I write in a Midori Traveler’s Notebook, which was a gift from FunkyPlaid a few years ago. Currently the Traveler’s Notebook (or MTN, or Midori, for short) has a significant cult following, but I didn’t know about that when I first saw one in a Japanese stationery store in downtown San Francisco. I remember being entranced by the rugged yet classic cover that ages with use. (It looked like something a librarian / private investigator / Indiana Jones hybrid would carry!) The notebook is easy to personalize, too, because it takes its own brand of refills as well as any other brands in the general 8″ x 5″ size. And then there are the accessories. I decided to photograph some of mine today. Hamilton fans will recognize the stickers, which were terrific gifts from my friend Sharks. The monkey-knot elastic closure and the monkey-knot bookmark are both Etsy finds, and the little amber and silver charm is a token from Mr Wood’s Fossils in Edinburgh.

All of this adds up to a pleasant writing experience that makes me feel a little like a librarian / private investigator / Indiana Jones hybrid. Which is important to me because that is still my dream job.

Writing from: a quiet room in Marin. Listening to: so much rain!