Sweet Notes & Thoughtful Reminders

Many years ago, I listened to Oprah challenge her viewers to do one thing different – not differently, although I am sure that would also yield noteworthy results. She urged her viewers to do something different, no matter how small, and to do so often. I was struck by the potential of this. I saw an experiment forming, but knew that the results would not always be tangible or observable. Still, I was intrigued by the idea. I was reminded of this recently when a small act without any motives or intentions had a large impact on the spirit of our home.

I think a magnetic-backed notepad must be staple on every refrigerator from here to Japan, and like millions of others, there’s always one stuck to mine. Convenient? Yes, to a degree. The paper is always handy…now if only I could find a pen. I use it for writing shopping lists and doctor’s appointment reminders, but little else.

Enter my super pretty Vera Bradley magnetic backed notepad and pen holder!

After opening it, I was a little disappointed to see that the notepad pages were not bound together, but simply left loose; however, I slapped it on the frig and thought that it WOULD be nice to finally have a pen and paper in one place. Still, I was leery that I’d actually scrawl “Milk, Bread, Ziploc bags” onto such pretty paper. I thought it would just sit there looking pretty until the paper started yellowing, at which time I’d finally begin to use it as it was intended.

Enter my wake-up surprise.

I woke up one morning to find this note from my husband taped to the window above my kitchen sink.

My son found this one taped to his entertainment center.

In response, my son left this one on my bathroom mirror. (Translation: “You are the best Mama ever.")

And this one on my husband's. (Translation: “You are the best Daddy ever.")








I am struck at what a difference small pretty bits of paper and a pen stuck to the side of the refrigerator has made. The convenience of having both paper and pen together, coupled with small paper sizes so that you don’t feel as if you’re wasting paper when you are just writing a short line or two, has made writing on my “pretty-to-look-at, but not-to-be-used” paper well worth it. I am completely in favor of my pretty paper being used for such purposes. It would almost be sacrilegious to write such sweet words on ugly paper.

I received this set as a gift and have tried in vain to find the exact one online; however, I was only able to find Vera Bradley’s On That Note set which is similar.