Yes, it's time to undeck our halls and deck out yours. Join us for our annual pre-Holiday sale featuring a select but extensive array of Holiday cards, greeting cards, stationery, wrapping paper and other delectables at up to 75% off. We'll be showing our discounted yet lovely wares on Friday from 11 to 6:30, Saturday from 11 to 6 and Sunday from 12 to 5. Please join us early to, uh, maximize your selection.

Admittedly, yes, but let's give exteriors their due. Would receiving a gift from Tiffany be quite as pleasurable without its signature blue packaging? Would a Laduree macaroon seem as refined if not for its neat arrangement in an elegant embossed box? A fine presentation elevates the experience of both giving and receiving any gift.

Let GREER help you improve your gift-wrapping skills with the help of Wanda Wen, author of the newly released book The Art of Gift Wrapping: 50 Innovative Ideas Using Organic, Unique, and Uncommon Materials.

Ms. Wen is the founder and creative voice of Soolip, the renowned Los Angeles stationery and lifestyle boutique known to celebrities and tastemakers alike. She has been featured in Martha Stewart Weddings, Town & Country, Vogue, InStyle, Travel + Leisure, The New York Times, People, Elegant Bride and The Wall Street Journal, and has appeared on Today, HGTV, the Style Network and E!.

Join GREER as we fete Ms. Wen on Thursday, April 22 with a book signing and cocktail reception from 6 to 9 pm. Return on Saturday, April 24 from 1 to 3 pm to participate in Ms.Wen's hands-on, in-store demonstrations of her innovative wrapping techniques using such wide ranging materials as leaves, fabric, photos, ribbon, and vintage stamps. Learn the skills to make your gift's exterior as thoughtful and unique as what's contained inside.

Here at GREER, we believe that everyone has the right to be beautiful and Norwegian artist Morten Traavik agrees. Traavik is the creator and director of the Miss Landmine pageant, a project close to our hearts since we discovered it on a trip to Norway in August 2007. Miss Landmine was organized to create awareness of the plight of landmine survivors while also making an unconventional statement about what is beautiful.

In last year's event, which took place in the African country of Angola, contestants who had lost limbs in landmine accidents competed for the grand prize of a specially-designed prosthesis from Norway's leading orthopedic clinic with other prizes and cash being awarded to all of the participants.

This year, the pageant (at least in theory, more on that later) moves to Cambodia where twenty women between the ages of 18 and 48 will compete to become Miss Landmine Cambodia 2009. Traavik says a shocking 40,000 landmine victims live in Cambodia today not to mention those who have died from their mine injuries. Even after 10 to 15 years of active mine clearance, he says, there are still believed to be millions of landmines in Cambodia, the horrific "fruits" of over 30 years of civil war.

As part of our continuing mission to use GREER for the positive we are thrilled to bolster Miss Landmine's much-too-slim budget through the sale of these t-shirts we've created for sale at GREER. All proceeds ($17 per shirt) are donated to the pageant. Last year we raised almost $1400 for Miss Landmine Angola and hope to contribute even more this year.

Sadly, in early August the Cambodian government forbade the pageant from continuing on its soil on the grounds that it would be a "mockery" of the landmine survivors. Traavik believes, and GREER wholeheartedly concurs, that this couldn't be further from the truth. Challenging established concepts of physical perfection isn't a mockery of these survivors; it's a compelling celebration of true beauty and strength in the face of adversity.

In exile from Cambodia, the pageant continues online, with international voting to determine the winner of the title and grand-prize prosthesis on December 3, 2010 World Disability Day. Until then, you can vote for your favorite contestant at www.miss-landmine.org.

A very dear customer recently emailed asking for advice about turning 30 (when I told my husband this he said "Tell her you can't remember." Very funny, Mister Man.)

Well Ms. B, my advice would be don't worry about what you can't change of which your age probably qualifies as number 1. Instead, think about all you have to be grateful for which I'm sure is plentiful. Focus on being the most caring, healthy, productive, character-laden, loving, engaged, helpful, fabulous 30 year old you can be. Here's a bonus: I've noticed that people with this attitude seem to age amazingly well.

And, you know, just be thankful you're still here (warning, Sadness Alert.) My husband and I recently lost our friend Greg, who was in his late 50s, to a sudden illness. I can tell you for certain Greg and his family would have loved for him to have been an "old guy" of 60.

We received an invitation to the Inauguration and have posted it on our flickr photostream as it is truly quite beautiful, all engraved on heavy ivory stock in the lovely font Shelley Allegro. Click here to take a closer look. Did we attend? Uh, no, decidedly d-list we received an invitation but no tickets. Oh well, it's still nice to have and look at.

It was quite the surreal jolt when we learned Debra Messing's character in the critically-acclaimed USA Network series "The Starter Wife," lists GREER as one of her five favorite stores in Chicago:

"Looking for the inside track on where to shop, dine, drink and sleep while you're traveling? Meet your ultimate insider guide: Molly Kagan. This jet-set Starter Wife has spent time (and a whole lot of money) in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and LA, and is ready to share her wealth of wisdom with you!"

"If you're feeling like it's time to bring back the lost art of letter writing, this Old Town shop should be your first stop. It's stocked with a beautiful collection of stationery, paper, invitations and announcements, desk acessories, journals, photo albums, ribbon and interesting odds and ends, like a little red book entitiled George Washington's Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior. Since "Civility is not a sign of weakness" is the store's motto, you could consider the book a manifesto of sorts."

"I'm tempted to toss out the Blackberry and start writing more letters, just so I can use the beautiful cards and stationery from this shop."

Not only are we blown away to be noticed by this dazzling, style-setting talent (just received her 7th Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress) and her equally stylish television persona, the joints she lists are truly the creme de la creme and on our personal wide-eyed list. The House of Greer and ABC Carpet and Home, Ikram, Jeffrey, Barney's, Bergdorf Goodman, Decades and Koo De Kir?....as our friend Vicki says, "Man, that's rich!"

And, we might add, much appreciated.

Molly's Guide to Five Cities

We are delighted to be highlighted as a Featured Retailer by our friends at Elum (click here to see.) Thank you for the honor and for eight years of a relationship that has beautified our lives and that of our customers.

We attended the National Stationery Show in late May and have come back with a fully loaded trunk of exciting new lines and products for GREER Chicago. We hope you'll keep checking back over the summer as we add these new offerings to our website and store.

Walking the show helped reinforce why we believe what we do at GREER is important. The talent in this most positive of industries is deep, passionate and in some cases, daring and groundbreaking. It has always been our pleasure to support it and provide an enthusiastic and beautiful showcase for it, especially for the smaller companies who don't have the name recognition or sales representation that some of the larger firms do.

When we bring a new line into GREER we feel we're making a promise to merchandise and describe and represent it to the absolute best of our abilities. We're delighted with the fact that many of the companies we were the first or among the first to carry either in Chicago or even nationally have gone on to great success -- Jill Bliss, La Familia Green, Art School Girl, You Send Me, Russell and Hazel, Snow and Graham.

One of the things that struck us as we talked to designers at the show was how many of them run these businesses "on the side" while working full-time jobs. Knowing what it takes to run and grow a business it was awe-inspiring to see how passion, drive, belief and creativity give them the strength it takes to pursue their dreams in what little free time they have. These are hard-working people, but we didn't hear a single complaint about the hours they must work. They love what they do and are committed to it.

Another thing we noted was the number of spouses and partners who were at the Show, standing by their women (and it is mostly women who are doing this stuff.) Actually they were literally standing by their women, working the booths just as hard as anyone. And we tell you, there is no better spokesperson than someone who's crazy about the product and its creator. These guys were talking up their wives/girlfriends and their work like nobody's business.

During our trip to NYC we paid a visit to the fabulous Greenwich Letterpress in West Village (39 Christopher Street between Waverly Place and 7th Avenue.) We had heard great things about this store and wanted to see what we could learn from some folks who are apparently doing things right. Well, they certainly are.

The shop was an indie design paradise reflecting the owners' desire to nurture this segment of the paper goods market. We saw a lot of things we've never seen before and, when it comes to stationery, we've been around the world three times and back. Greenwich also has an eponymous, really unique and well-crafted line of letterpress cards and wedding invitations that they print on a couple of presses in their studio; we're hoping to bring some of their work to GREER.

And talk about civility. When we introduced ourselves to Beth, who owns the shop along with her sister Amy, we were ready for a reception we've received in the past, the "What is this competitor doing in my store?" reception. Instead, she couldn't have been more warm, welcoming and gracious even going so far as to point out things she thinks we should carry at GREER! Quite a lady. If you live in or visit New York, pay Greenwich Letterpress a visit, you'll love Beth and her store.

Last month Chandra Greer participated in a panel discussion entitled "Off the Beaten Path" as part of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business' Women in Business Conference. The annual event, a "comfortable place" for female GSB students "to talk to corporate women about their jobs, lives and interests in a non-threatening environment" was attended by 200 students, essentially the entire female student body of the Business School, and twenty-five alumnae.

Our particular discussion included four panelists, three smart, articulate women from the not-for-profit world and Chandra (from the hope-for-profit world) there to speak on the rewards, joys, difficulties, experiences of foregoing the more conventional and far more lucrative paths of investment banking and management consulting (two professions receiving a healthy infusion of new GSB grads each year) for the less impressive financial rewards of not-for-profit and fledgling entrepreneurship.

It was a stimulating discussion. There was general agreement among the panelists that the benefits of stepping off the path were more emotional, intellectual and spiritual than financial. Everyone mentioned enjoying a more flexible schedule and greater organizational accommodation of life outside the workplace. Interestingly, some of the panelists juxtaposed our current careers with previous positions at mega-corporations and felt our impact on society was greater now than when we wielded multi-million budgets within multi-multi-million departments. Perhaps it is more satisfying to touch a few deeply than many lightly.

A few weeks after the conference a nice woman, a GSB student, visited our store. She mentioned she liked our quote in the school newspaper's review of the conference. We hadn't seen the article and were highly amused when she told us what it said because it was a comment that had proceeded directly from our gut to our mouth, bypassing our brain.

You see, upon arriving at the conference we thought we were on the set of "Women in Black." Just about everybody in attendance was draped in either a black or deep grey formal business suit, not a color in sight, not even navy or brown. Highly visual in our assessment of every situation, we were fascinated by this startling uniformity. So here's what we said that apparently caused quite a stir on campus (from an article reviewing the conference in the November 1 issue of Chicago Business:)

"And what was the [conference's] best advice from an alumna? Chandra Greer (GSB '90) Founder of Greer, a boutique stationery store in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood, had a tough time thinking of what pearls of wisdom to give all of us eager women. But looking at the sea of black and gray suits in front of her said, "You all need to buy a red suit."

We were kidding, of course. Sort of.

We're always slightly, gratefully surprised when folks take the time to write us lovely notes such as this one:

"Thanks so much! I must say, I am a little in love with your company and was so excited when my order arrived wrapped so beautifully. I lived in Chicago for two years and am sad to say that I never even knew about your store. At least I can still continue to support Chicago businesses such as GREER and Snow & Graham, from the city of New York."

Sarah, NYC

Thank you Sarah.

We receive a lot of boxes at GREER. A lot of boxes. And a lot of boxes go out. A lot. When we first launched GREERchicago.com, every order was packed in a crisp, new, pristine box...as pristine as cardboard gets, anyway. Meanwhile, the boxes kept arriving and piling up, arriving and piling up, arriving and piling up; still quite serviceable yet wastefully dumped in the trash bins behind our store.

It drove us crazy to throw out these perfectly fine boxes and it did occur to us we could reuse them, but we're fanatical about presentation and weren't exactly comfortable sending out orders in a box that was obviously, as we might say, pre-UPSed ("Mar-tha...there's a package here from a Snow & Gra-ham!")

Finally, we had an idea that would allow us to reclaim the large volume of boxes bringing merchandise in by using these same boxes for shipping merchandise out, all the while letting you know it was intentional and not just some tacky effort to save money (although it does save money as we'll tackily admit.) The idea was to design a seal, printed with the soon-to-be-trademarked phrase "Packaged in a recycled box for your environmental protection," a slightly skewed take on the old "Sealed for your protection" manufacturing phrase, and slap it on every reused box.

So, there it was, a tiny step we could take to minimize waste and spread the word that there are tiny steps we can all take to help conserve resources.

If you've ordered from GREERchicago.com you may have noticed the House of Greer seal that secures your tissue-wrapped purchases.

The whole notion of a House of Greer began as an internal source of amusement that came out of a difficult situation. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina we, like everyone else, were searching for a meaningful way to help with the catastrophe and cash just didn't seem enough. Then, through our doors walked Jen, a New Orleans resident who had fled north after the flood. She explained her situation and asked, simply, "Do you have any work for me?" At the time we had no openings but we hired her anyway. She called herself Fugee.

Fugee, a wildly creative, idiosyncratic personality had a marvelously strange influence on us. She was struck by our own rather idiosyncratic ways and deemed us to be "The House of Greer," a weird amalgamation of civility and funk that, to her, was a sort of urban aristocracy.

We fell into a deliciously bizarre mode of communication at GREER which, for lack of a better phrase, can only be characterized as pseudo British-aristocrat-speak. Profound statements were answered with a single "Quite," and the highest compliment paid a colleague was "I salute you, you magnificent bastard." The gravest insult was met with "I bid you good day, Sir!" We perfected the art of smoking air-pipes.

The decision was made that any respectable House needs a crest. We designed ours featuring lions engaged in the twin joys of having a martini and writing, a Latin translation of "We are optimistic because we are stupid," our "civility is not a sign of weakness" motto and a rendering of an envelope floating beneath the Chicago skyline.

Fugee's back in New Orleans now and to her, we say, "We salute you, you magnificent bastard!"