#2 of 52: Space, Spells, Sisters and Systems

Tags

austin kleon, bookblock.com, bullet journal, eccolo, jackie morris, leuchtturm, robert macfarlane, ryder carroll, the lost words

So I’m running out of space on this website. In fact, my dashboard tells me I have already done so. I don’t have a premium package anymore, as I downgraded my services last year when I really wasn’t sure what would happen to this blog. That means no new pictures until I can delete some old posts, which I am slowly doing. I’d like to keep the posts I actually wrote, and delete the links to books I enjoyed, or the Friday cartoons. Re-read them if you want, because some posts from June of 2012 will be disappearing soon.

I promised I would talk about notebooks this week, but before I do that I want to talk about a beautiful book my sister sent me for Christmas: The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane, illustrated by Jackie Morris. This heavy and huge book is a picture book, a self-proclaimed spell book, of magical words that have vanished from the language of children. Essentially it is a collection of poems about certain words, like acorn, heather, raven, and wren, to name a few. The poems are glorious and definitely meant to be read aloud. But the real wonder of this book are the illustrations. Jackie Morris brings the natural world to life , interspersed with beautiful floating alphabets in whimsical fonts. I hadn’t heard about it at all but my sister is much more in tune with new titles and the latest publishing marvels. So it was the perfect surprise on Christmas day. It is very special, as is the sister who gave it to me. She continues to surprise and delight and support me, and I only hope I do the same for her.

Okay so let’s talk about notebooks! It’s pretty much the same system, with a planner and a journal or three. 🙂

My most used journal is the Eccolo World Traveller discussed in this post. It is almost filled up and I have loved writing in it and pasting things into it. I will probably start another one when it is filled (there are three blank ones on my shelf!)

I am also using one of my custom Bookblock Original notebooks to organize my blog posts. I jot down ideas for each week as I think of them, with my overall aim to have some sort of coherent plan for the year.

As for my planner, I have HUGE news!!! In December of 2016 you may recall I wrote a blog post about my plans for 2017, to use a Leuchtturm 1917 Jottbook as a bullet journal planner. And I used it all through 2017! And I’m still using it! I can’t believe I actually stuck with a planner for over a year. Very proud of myself. I don’t have a lot of appointments/tasks to keep track of, but it works for me. Who knew the simplest system would work the best? I still love my Filofax binders but just can’t bear to carry them around with me. My bullet journal weighs nothing and I don’t feel bad if I don’t look at it for a couple of days, because there are no wasted pages. Ryder Carroll is a brilliant man. I’ve heard he has introduced a Bullet Journal app to support the analog journal but I haven’t tried it out yet.

And here’s another piece of huge news (lowercase huge): I have added a log book to my journal system. I got the idea from Austin Kleon from his post On Keeping a Logbook. My writing is long-winded (bless you reader if you’ve made it this far!) and often I find myself running out of time for my long journal pieces. Right now I’m still trying to write a coherent journal entry about Christmas – the joys of getting together with friends and family, tempered by the power being unable to stay on – and then something amazing will happen in my day that I just have to write about (saw David Letterman’s new show for NetFlix, My Next Guest. The guest was Barack Obama and what he said about voter apathy really got my cylinders firing). In the past I would tear into a new journal or have two, three or four journals on the go. But I may have solved this with a logbook: I can at least write down a brief description of what I want to write about later. This has the obvious benefit of prompting me to remember it and empties my brain so I can focus on other things. I love Austin Kleon’s newsletter; I almost always have something to copy into my journal, or to send to David, as Austin has an eclectic taste in music. If you haven’t already done so, check him out. Oh I almost forgot – the notebook I am using as my logbook is the Colouring Notebook. Today is January 14 and I haven’t missed a day. They say it takes two weeks to form a habit so this bodes well!

Hope you all had a great week. Happy journaling.

 

Hello

I wasn’t sure this was going up tonight but here we are. It’s been almost a year since my last post and I’ve been wanting to get writing again for a while now. What better time than the first day of a brand new year?

2017 was a hard, frustrating but ultimately magical year for me. I’m happy to report that my health is vastly improved and my new life in Nova Scotia is settling down wonderfully. I don’t know for how much longer I will be able to get away with being “new”; in May it will be two years since we moved here. I think the “new” is wearing thin. But that’s ok because with each passing day I feel more and more connected to my present space in the universe. And more and more thankful for the opportunity to shine.

My plan for the blog is simple: 52 posts for 2018, one for each Sunday in the calendar. I am still in love with journals and stationery and fountain pens; I still have something to say about them. But when I was blogging somewhat regularly in 2016 I found myself buying items not because I loved them but because I was running out of things to talk about on the blog. I have beautiful pens and notebooks that I’ve used for years; I want to celebrate them. So the new items may be few and far between. I can’t tell you more than that what the new format will look like because I’m still figuring that out. Hopefully it will be of interest for those of you who still visit this space; thank you for sticking with me.

I hope 2018 is a great year for all of us. I’m looking forward to journaling my way through it.

My Last Post….For Now

So first let me apologize for my extended absence. Over the Christmas holidays there were two trips to the emergency room, and one phone call for an ambulance. Not to be alarmist or dramatic, but my health has taken a turn and my energy levels are most definitely not what they once were. I received a beautiful fountain pen from my sister for Christmas and I have not even inked it up yet. I also received some beautiful journals from family and friends and they have not been opened. I have not been able to write in my journal for more than 10 minutes at a time.

My life right now is about pain management stemming from my scoliosis. I have not been sleeping very well and I find it difficult to concentrate. I took three weeks off work and probably went back too soon. Even writing this has taken far longer than I anticipated.

But…I will get better. I have a medical program I am following and every day I see improvement. I have incredible people in my life who help me and foster positive energy. I am slowly getting my life back to normal but I can’t give this blog the attention it deserves. I’ve been feeling terrible about the radio silence but at least now you know.

Thank you so much for supporting this blog and for all of your kind words. This is not the end but a hiatus to allow me to get back to fighting form. I don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver so I will not put a time frame on how long I will be away. Know that I truly miss this blog and writing in my journal with my beautiful pens. I can’t imagine I will be able to stay away forever.

Thanks for listening and happy journalling.

 

Happy Fountain Pen Day!

Tags

fountain pen day

It’s that time of year again, the day we celebrate our fountain pens! How will you celebrate today? Check out http://www.fountainpenday.org/ for inspiration and giveaways!

Grateful for the Wonder

Tags

gratitude, magic, reunions, unpacking

This weekend we moved into our new, permanent home. And our things have been delivered from their storage. So many boxes! I have a small mountain of them in my new office. I am beyond excited to unpack and say hello to notebooks, inks, books and desk friends that I haven’t seen since April. It seems like a lifetime ago that I packed up my office in Calgary. And in some ways it is.

Moving to Halifax has been amazing and terrible at the same time. Any of you who have made a great move, or indeed pulled off any great change, will know what I mean. We are so happy here and know deep within that this is where we need to be, spiritually, physically and mentally. But the process of “getting back to normal” has been a minefield of emotion. My job has been wonderful but frustrating in that it demands so much of my time; there is so much that needs to be done the only solution I can find is to work lots of evenings and weekends. The process of buying and furnishing a home has been daunting and time consuming. All of that takes away from “me” time, where I find myself unable to keep up with my previous schedule on this blog. I lose time for journaling and reading too, which makes me sad and fractious. To add to this my back conditions (scoliosis and sciatica) have been acting up ALOT of late. I am without my usual network of chiropractors and massage therapists but I’m slowly building a new team. I am blessed with a wonderful husband, family and friends who have helped enormously on this journey. You know who you are and I sincerely thank you.

The great lesson of this move and my life for the last few months has been to be grateful for the wonder. I am aware of the magical more than ever before. Positive forces are at work in my life that I acknowledge and honour. This next chapter will be the best yet. And I intend to share as much as possible here, with you.

So end my musings for another Sunday. I am sorry for my absence and I am working on that. I hope to resume normal operations on this blog before the end of this month. I’ve said that before but I feel better able to accomplish it now, with my old familiars jumping out of every box I open.

 

Happy Hallowe’en

Winners of Thank You for 500 Subscribers Giveaway

Tags

giveaway, random.org

I have the results of the Thank you for 500 Subscribers Giveaway! First let me say a huge thank you to all of you who entered; when I was going through the comments this morning I didn’t see a reply from me to all of them and I meant to do that! So thank you, thank you, thank you.

And to those of you who follow this blog, a huge thank you as well. I started this blog as a creative outlet for myself, never thinking I would connect with so many of you as I have done. This blog is a source of joy for me and I am so happy that it’s still going strong and all of you are still here. It means a lot to me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Now on to the good stuff! Below is a screenshot of all the names (16) that commented on the post, within the time frame set by the rules of the giveaway. I made one entry per commenter.

And here is the screenshot immediately after I hit the Go! button for random.org to randomize the list of names. You can see the date and time stamp. 

I took into consideration the prize packages each person indicated they wanted. However, as each was awarded in sequence the next name would get their choice if it was available, and if not get the next prize that was available. So based on the random list generated, here are the winners:

Prize no. 1:

andrea jacole 

Prize no. 2:

amy stewart

Prize no. 3:

marji peterson

Prize no. 4:

odette

Prize no. 5:

cheryl wright

So the above 5 people have until midnight on Sunday, August 30 to send me their mailing details via the Contact Me button above. If I do not hear from one of the winners by the deadline I will choose the next person on the list to win that prize. And to those of you who did not win I will be having more giveaways.

Congratulations to the winners and thank you again for all your support!

Giveaway Ends Tonight

Tags

giveaway

If you haven’t already, enter my Thank You for 500 Subscribers giveaway.

 

It is open until midnight tonight and I am giving away 5 prize packages.

 

Good luck everyone!

I Want To Say Thank You…With A Giveaway!

Tags

giveaway, thanks

In May of 2012 I wrote my very first blog post. I was hoping to write once per week and now I’m into a rhythm of at least 5 per week. It is my joy. And it wouldn’t be as joyful without you, my subscribers.

Recently I hit a personal milestone of 500 subscribers. To say Thank You I am giving away everything you see in the picture above (excluding the computer, the white stand and the desk!) There will be 5 winners (5 for 500!) and the giveaway will be open internationally. Check back this Saturday for all the instructions on how to enter and the details of each prize.

I am delighted by all of the comments and questions and discussions we have had over the past 3 years and I just want to say…

Thanks!

Happy Birthday William Shakespeare

Tags

usa today, william shakespeare

Happy Birthday to my favorite bard! This article, from USA Today, on the frighteningly low number of colleges that require Shakespeare courses to be taken by English majors, is rather sobering. And sad. Or as the great man himself said, in Sonnet 75:

So are you to my thoughts as food to life,
Or as sweet-season’d showers are to the ground;
And for the peace of you I hold such strife
As ‘twixt a miser and his wealth is found;
Now proud as an enjoyer and anon
Doubting the filching age will steal his treasure,
Now counting best to be with you alone,
Then better’d that the world may see my pleasure;
Sometime all full with feasting on your sight
And by and by clean starved for a look;
Possessing or pursuing no delight,
Save what is had or must from you be took.
Thus do I pine and surfeit day by day,
Or gluttoning on all, or all away.