8:30 a.m. Wake up, prepare for a long morning out, starting with a 10:30 appointment in Flatbush.

9:00 a.m. Panic because of the ambiguous "Expect delays" alert on my subway line. Shove whatever's nearby into my bag and run out the door. 

9:30 a.m. Curse MTA alerts forever. Arrive a full hour early. 

10:15 a.m. Try to explain to my optometrist "No really, we only sell pencils." 

10:30 a.m. Wander back to Ditmas Park, stopping in at least 4 different $0.99 discount stores to peep the stationery section. Note: there's a great one on Cortelyou Road next to CorTHAIyou restaurant. 

11:25 a.m. Seat myself on the patio at my favorite cafe to eat and doodle. BUT FIRST: an inventory of what I shoved in my bag: 

- 1 pencil, a Blackwing 530 that I didn't mean to grab (I'm currently working through a different pencil!)
- 1 eraser, a Mono Zero that I am now extremely fond of
- 5 scented highlighters. Obvs. 
- 1 Windsor Newton travel watercolor palette
- A random mini notebook I'm now filling with creature doodles
- Zero of the normal things I normally fill up cafe time with: my planner, my sketchbook, letters to write, pens, common sense

12:30 p.m. Meander home

1:00 p.m. Frustrated with my poor packing skills, decide to organize my stationery  (for the third time this month). Dump out all my drawers and bins and shelves until I'm totally encircled by piles of Stuff. 

2:00 p.m. Existential crisis. Why Caitlin, why did we decide to do this?

2:15 p.m. How I Met Your Mother break

3:00 p.m. Oh, Stuff is everywhere? Better do the dishes. 

3:15 p.m. You're still here, Stuff? Man. Time to categorize the stickers (sticker sheets, puffy and non puffy stickers, loose stickers, scratch n sniff...)

5:30 p.m. Shit, I have a lot of pencils

6:00 p.m. Shit, I have A LOT of pencils

6:25 p.m. How I Met Your Mother break

7:15 p.m. Law & Order SVU break

9:00 p.m. Shit, Stuff. Why aren't you put away yet? 

10:30 p.m. Wind down for the night, by shoving everything back in essentially the same place it came from. Pat myself on the back for having accomplished so much. 

1:37 a.m. Step on a stray pencil. 

Images: Hermit crab I painted at the cafe; One of several stationery stashes in my apartment; a tiny portion of my pencil stash; the results of my day of organizing. See how tidy it is? :P