Assignment: Journal

"A journal is more than a memory goad. It's therapeutic. The simple act of opening a notebook to put words down stills the crosscurrents of worry, drawing to focus the essential thought patterns that best defines us, intersecting those thoughts with the condition of our life at that exact moment. A journal is one of the few anchors the human condition allows us." -"Outside," Randy Wayne White

I counted up 30, filled and blank journals that Sam and I have. After I got to 30, and told Sam what I was doing, he opened a desk drawer to reveal 21 more! So 51 total! We love to write and read. Sam definitely has an obsession with moleskin! There is something great about writing on a page, rather than typing. I picked up a cool book on making mini books from the library. And I bought a great papermaking and book binding book from a secondhand book shop. Sam has always been fond of journals. We want to start making our own. He gave me this wonderful one he made when he proposed to me.

And we both fill this little book with love letters to each other, we started that in 2003. My favorite is our little dreams list of dreams we have, we draw a little heart next to each one and fill it in when we accomplished it.

Sam gave me a lovely leather journal as a wedding gift to fill in with our travels to Europe.
I have another journal (given to me by Sam for my birthday) I fill this one with everyday thoughts, and I like to try to make this one a more artsy one. I also keep wish lists in it, and lists of ideas of what to give people as gifts. I have a list of books I want to read, movies I want to watch, restaurants or stores to check out. It's keeping me organized.

I am really into journaling lately. I started a bunch of new ones and I've been writing in them everyday. I love journals with blank pages, without the lines. That way I can draw in it paste something in it, or write as big or small as my heart desires. So my new journals are: an exercise one, a scripture one, a food one, a work one and soon to come a quotes one. I love writing in these because they hold me accountable to getting done the things I want to. Everyday I write an entry in the exercise one, and the scripture one, and if I have to write- didn't exercise, or didn't read Bible at all- I hate doing that, so these journals keep me motivated to do what I want to get done. They help me to start develop the habits I want to create. The food one is supposed to get me organized with what I make for dinner. Each week I write out what I want to make for the week in it. I also keep track of what I eat, writing it down just makes me more aware, and then I think, wow, I should really eat more fruit. And it will maybe help me figure out if their is a food trigger to my migraines. And it's fun because I put in some old time 50's housewife pictures in it. The work one is good for venting! It's good to keep track of improvements we make, struggles we have and how we overcome them, and to keep track of the interesting people we meet. It's great to write these things down, because the next time I need to interview for a job I can easily look it over and find a good problem, and how I overcame it, (those lovely questions we all love to answer)

And then, right after starting all these journals, a package arrrived in the mail from Amy. She gave me this great journal! I don't know what I'm going to put in it yet, but I can't wait to fill it up.

Another nice thing about journaling faithfully is that you can refer back to your journal for your thoughts if you're doing a scrapbook layout. I love to try new art techniques in my journal-use stamps-scraps-paint-decoupage. Start a new journal today, or tell me about one you already have. Borders always has these great big blank ones for sale very cheap. Mine is filled with magazine clippings of house decoration inspiration.

It's so fun to have journals because it's great to look back over what you have written. The hardest part about journaling is starting. I wanted to start my food journal and exercise journal for a long time, it took me about 2 months thinking about it to get it going. It's a little intimidating having a nice blank book in front of you, you don't want to "wreck it" But just start filling it up,just go for it, or alter an old one you have laying around you don't use. Paint over the pages. I just made my first altered book. That was a fun and different experience. On our little vacation to Bayfield last year I brought my little traveling art kit, and one ziplock baggie filled with random patterned paper, etc. I bought a cheap book at a thrift store in bayfield. I made a rule that I could only use the supplies I brought along, and I picked up rocks, twigs, little pieces of nature that caught my eye to put in it. It was a great way to preserve the memory of that vacation because it was nearly done when i got home! I just had to print some pictures and pop them in.

So Sam and I are a little crazy I know. But I love that we don't have a tv, but we always have 5 different random piles of books and journals laying all over the house. That makes me happy. Reading and writing is so good!

So for your assignment please leave a comment or post a pic. of a favorite journal. Tell me if you keep one at all, or if you would like to start one. Amy, maybe you can show pics of the other ones you made, or tell us about that. Or tell me if you're looking at this at all, I'm beginning to wonder if anyone is!