I miss back to school shopping!

I was practically pee-my-pants-excited when Jacki suggested this week's list. An absolutely brilliant idea for our saunter into autumn!

If only I had some crayons to really spruce this up.

There's just something about binders. I love them! Searching for the perfect binder at the beginning of each school year was a treasure hunt. Sometimes I wanted a fat one, sometimes thin. Some binders didn't have the clear sleeve aspect, and I needed that for personalization purposes! I occasionally wanted a binder that had the additional 'protective' clip so that the three rings wouldn't... I don't know... suddenly pop open...?

The pen aisle is still draws my attention whenever I go past it, and I have to be careful to not go into stores likes Staples or Office Max too often. I pore over the pens, wondering with open-mouthed curiosity how they write, and how bold the color of the ink will be, and if it'll be smooth and if it'll become my new favorite. I remember in junior high some company came out with new pens that had clear ink inside the body of the pen, but when you wrote the ink would become COLORED! They still sell them, actually, but I can't remember what they're called. Oh well.

M-effin erasers, mirite? (image found here, I do not own it)

Sweet, sweet Lisa Frank. I was up to my eye balls in the stuff. Pens, pencils, erasers, stationary sets, you name it. My sister and I loved us some Lisa Frank. I still light up a bit whenever I happen to see a Lisa Frank folder in the school supplies center of Target or something. Those garish, happy colors and the demented looking animals really tug on my heartstrings.

I miss the age of Sanrio and Keroppi (image found here, I do not own it)

Each year didn't see the purchase of a new pencil box, because sometimes I'd pick out one that was sturdier than others. The pencil box shown above, however, is almost identical to one that I got when I was in late elementary school. I still own it, it's in the garage. I came across it not terribly long ago. I was overjoyed to see that I managed to hang onto it all of these years. I used to be completely Keroppi'd out. I love that little frog!

Colorful dividers. Hell. yes. (image found here, I do not own it)

My new binders had to be paired with some beautiful new dividers. I remember one year I purchased a malleable clear plastic binder, and inside of it I put colorful transparent dividers. The dividers didn't have the little slip-in area for labels, but instead you'd put a page in the back of the binder and you'd write the labels there. I still have this binder as well. Part of it is held together with duct tape. I just can't seem to let go of it! I really loved the feel of the traditional dividers too, though. Writing tiny labels to slide into the primary colored goodness of the pages. 

Can't wait to see Jacki's!

-Miranda