Document: Forget the List

You're busy.  I'm busy.  We're all busy, and doesn't it sometimes seem like more often than not a little too busy for the things we really love?  Every once in a while, don't you just want to say "forget the list!" and go do something you have absolutely no time scheduled for, just because you really want to? 

That's what this little bit of journaling was for me.  It's a couple years old, and I don't know if I'll ever journal like this again.  Or maybe I will.  While it took me some time I "should have" been spending on other things, it was fun to make, and fun to write in.  But the thing I love most about flipping to these pages now, is to remember not just what was going on that February, but that sometimes the thing you don't think you have time for ... is just exactly what your life needs.

Document: Favorite Things

If anyone ever wanted to put the story of my life together chronologically, they'd have to pull pieces from this journal here, and that journal over there, then back to this one, then another one entirely, etc. etc.  Sometimes I keep a continuous journal, but I really like to journal by category.  At any one time, I'll have a number of different journals in progress: one for each of my kids, a gratitude journal, a scripture journal, a bullet journal (more on that in another post), a journal dedicated to hand-lettering.  You'll probably see snatches of each of them in the coming days, but today I want to show you one of the simplest, most straight-forward category journals - a "favorite things" journal.  

For this journal, I took a small, simple, wire-bound scrapbook and gave it a title and a start-date.  When I finish, I'll add the end date.

Next, I decorated the pages (they were plain white) with paper and ephemera I had on hand.

I keep it on my nightstand, so that when I feel inspired I can just pick it up and fill a page.  I don't want just a list, so each thing I write about gets a whole page.  The best part is that I don't have to think of all my favorite things at once, I just write whenever the fancy strikes.  There is no "I haven't written in my journal for a month!" anxiety.  

It's easy, simple, and meaningful: Three more of my favorite things.

Romance at the Book Festival.

On our first date, my husband took me to Northwest Bookfest.  Really, he was a keeper from day one.  Most of the day is a heady blur, but I do remember some of the amazing book art on display.  And I was most impressed with the books that had been altered in some way.  Growing up in a family that reverenced books to the degree we did, it had never occurred to me to take a sharp blade and some glue to one - the horror!  So my world opened up to new ideas, I said "yes" 3 months later, and we are living happily ever after.  

I thought about that day recently, when I saw an idea for a journal made from an old book.  It looked fairly simple to do, and more than that it looked like fun.  And it was.  Here's a peek at the results:

What do you think?  Seriously, they were so much fun, I think everyone should make them.  

Of course, if you'd rather, you can find them in my shop.