Rick Steves and Jennifer Behr Use the Same Pencil

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We’ve been asking celebrities about the stuff they love ever since the Strategist launched in 2016. We’ve always enjoyed the commonalities among the very famous — like how ten celebrities use a Hydro Flask and Claire Saffitz, Kristen Bell, and Kourtney Kardashian all use the same silk pillowcase. So, we found it pleasing that Rick Steves and Jennifer Behr both can’t live without this Papermate mechanical pencil. Jennifer stashes them everywhere and chooses it over a pen because she enjoys “the process of erasing, which sounds weird, but being able to change your mind is important.” While Rick won’t travel without them and likes to play with them while he thinks. “I drum with it. I do a little rattle back and forth between my fingers and my thumb, and I put it in my lips. I have this deal where I jam my thumbnail between the twisty part and the body of it, and I can make it look like it’s magically connected to my thumb.”

Also on the site: Senior writer Liza Corsillo went on the hunt for the perfect cabinet for her small kitchen, our tech writer Jordan McMahon sold his Kindles to get a Kobo color e-reader, Chris Black suggested some non-denim pants for summer, and here’s everything our editors bought in May.

Oh, and Father’s Day is coming up fast. If you have a dad who says he doesn’t want anything, start here. And if you have a hyper-specific gifting question, try asking our Gift Scout. —Ashley Wolfgang, newsletter editor