A little Guy time.

(Photo of super hip dinner party imprintable invitations courtesy of Urban Bark Paper.)

I just want to say: Whitney and I love guys. We really do! OK, ok - now don't get ahead of yourself here. Of course we love the various men in our personal lives - fathers, brothers, significant others, friends, whatnot. But what I mean to say is that we love men, boys, guys, dudes - in the store. As customers. Some of our most favorite customers are men. Men who are into stationery? Is there a better combo!? We think not.

We are constantly striving to fill the store with a variety of items that will appeal to a variety of tastes - women and men, simple and ornate, colorful and neutrals, functional and frivolous.

So why not highlight a few things we have in the shop that our male customers have really been digging. They are hip, non-girly and functional. Perfect for the design-savvy guy at work or home. Stop in to see!

Urban Bark Paper goodies:

Some faves from Hammerpress, including awesome letterpress notebooks!:

Hey, how'd you get in here? Oh well, you can stay. You're pretty cute and hilarious. Nom nom nom nom.

Good point, Will.

You. must. watch. this.

WhoMi? Yes, You!

(All photos courtesy of WhoMi)

One of my most favorite (and blogged about) passions is list writing. I have lists of every darn thing under the sun: date spots, dog names, movies I want to rent, books I want to read, hotels I want to visit someday, people I want to learn more about, words I like...the list of lists goes on and on.

Well, folks, we just got a shipment of divine 2010 agendas by WhoMi. The crazy cool thing about these puppies is that they have 3 separate color-coded (oh man, I die!) sections each day that you can use to organize your life and lists.

For example, my WhoMi sections are: yellow = work schedule, green = exercise regime, and blue = social calendar. I love that I can plan my day or month by activity, time, date, or general category. SO functional, so fun.

As if that wasn't enough, these agendas have a whole separate section of lined paper for notes/doodles, a section for contacts, a monthly view calendar and a whole pre-made section for lists called "favorites!" I can't even tell you how awesome these are. Plus - they are sturdy and durable - sure to last throughout the year without looking beaten and battered by the 5th month. The snazzy designs and plastic coating make them aesthetic and truly usable.

Celebs and real-world peeps alike find these planners irresistible. For goodness sakes, Kelly Ripa uses one! Oprah featured it! They are that good.

WhoMi - come see!

A break from the press

And by 'press' I mean our front page news stories, not the Chandler & Price. As most of you know, A.K. and I have rescheduled our wedding for August 14, 2010. That means I get to design another Save-the-Date. Yippeee! We are set on our invitation "theme", but I need to flesh out some ideas for the layout. I have seen so many gorgeous suites over the summer, but one of my absolute favorites comes from a talented designer who is the face behind Mint Design Blog. I just adore everything about them, but especially the programs, which melt my heart every time I see them. For more beautiful invitations and other design inspiration, head on over to her blog.

{All photos courtesy of Mint}

Flags for All!

(Photo courtesy of Rich Beauchesne/rbeauchesne@seacoastonline.com)

As some of you may have heard, we've had a heck of a time getting permission from the City of Portsmouth to put up any sort of signage outside our little shop. It took 2.5 months for our request to be approved for a projecting sign (should be installed within a few weeks!). While we were waiting to have our sign approved, Whitney and I had hoped to hang a simple "Open" flag outside our door in order to draw a bit of attention our way.

Well - Whitney didn't even have the flag secured in the bracket before a city official marched over and told us, in no uncertain terms, that we were not allowed to hang a sign without express permission from the City Clerk. Being the law abiding girls that we are, we promptly wrote a letter to the City Clerk requesting permission - assuming it would quickly get approved and we'd have a little visibility while we were waiting for our full sign to be approved.

No such luck. After a 3 week waiting period, our request was shot down at the planning board meeting and a moratorium was put on all new flag requests. The city claims that granting any more flag requests (most businesses downtown already have flags outside their buildings) will result in a detraction from the "economic vibrancy" of Portsmouth. Whatever that means.

Goodness gracious; it's hard to understand how helping businesses attract business will detract from the economic vibrancy?! The good folks of Portsmouth have rallied and we've gotten some great press highlighting our plight (ha!) and bringing to light all the silly hoops that City Hall requires businesses to jump through in order to pursue the most basic of marketing tactics (like signs!!). We've had an outpouring of support from residents and business owners alike. I can't believe the number of stories that we've heard in the past few days about other businesses having similar problems.

Check out the articles below:

The Portsmouth Herald

Fosters Daily Democrat

Flags for all, we cry! Small business success is success for the whole town! Which is why we proudly support and believe in the 3/50 project. We shop local and are so very thankful for the many G&R patrons who do, too. You guys are the best!!

Keep fighting the good fight, everyone. Together we can keep small business alive and well.

Finger Lickin' Fridays: Caramel Apple Cookies

(Photos courtesy of Craft:)

I'm in 100% in fall mode. Autumn is happily in the air and I'm enjoying all it has to offer: pumpkin spice lattes, cozy sweaters, the smell of crisping leaves, and baking baking baking!

Look at these caramel apple knock-outs! I'm going to bake up a batch this evening before Flatbread with the girls. Shaping up to be a pretty good Friday!

Enjoy the weekend!

xoxo,

The girls and pups at Gus & Ruby Letterpress

Dear Smock, we heart you!

(All photos courtesy of Smock.)

Smock smock smock smock. Fun to say, even more fun to work with.

Smock is a super incredible letterpress studio based in Syracuse, NY. Gus & Ruby Letterpress proudly sells Smock greeting cards and works with clients to create inspired invitations and paper pieces from the Smock social stationery and Smock wedding invitations albums. We've already had the immense pleasure of working with the Smock team on several custom projects (and boy oh boy are they pretty!). Their albums are absolute must-sees next time you're in the area, so swing by!

Well, get this, Smock featured little old us on their blog!! We are so super stoked and honored to be a part of the Smock family. Cyd is a pretty talented writer, don't you think?

Thanks Smock!