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inlovewithjournals

~ musings on the hand-written life

inlovewithjournals

Category Archives: my journal collection

#4 of 53: Molly and Rex, Zibaldone and Brinded Cats

04 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by inlovewithjournals in book reviews, my journal collection, notebook reviews

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

alan bradley, molly and rex, sue gee, zibaldone

Hello! I’ve been working steadily moving my pictures over to Flickr. It is a long and boring process but I am so grateful to have found a way to keep my posts while reducing my media usage. Apologies for missing last Sunday. I’m hoping to double up at some point to get back on track.

It’s been a long time since I’ve reviewed a notebook and I must say I’ve been enjoying my Sunday morning taking photos and inking pens. Today’s notebook review is the Anything is Possible softcover notebook from Molly & Rex. The balloon and whale on the cover is slightly raised. I think the cover treatment is called linen embossed.

Anything front cover

A good friend gave it to me as a going away present when I left Alberta for the Nova Scotia adventure. The cover reminds me of her as she and I worked together and would often be the first ones in the office. We would often watch the sunrise together from our lofty perch on the fifth floor of our office building. She would educate me on what kinds of clouds we could see. There was even a scary (but exciting!) afternoon when we watched the path of a funnel cloud (that ultimately came nowhere near us). She knew of my passion for notebooks and chose this beauty for me.

Anything back cover

The back cover mirrors the front.

Anything whale front cover

The inside covers. I love the whimsy. Wouldn’t this be fantastic as wallpaper in a child’s room?

Anything cloud writing

One of 4 spreads, and I think my least favorite.

Anything baloon edges

This is definitely my favourite!

Anything balloon corners

 

Anything balloon bottom

These journals are produced by Molly & Rex.

Anything inside back cover

These beautiful journals are available on Amazon and Chapters, and from the company directly. And their website! Beautiful stationery. They love animals, penmanship and illustration and their products definitely show that. Michaels also carries some of their items. Love the stickers!

I tried a number of pens and the paper is definitely fountain pen friendly.

Anything pen test

The fountain pen ink did not feather. All of the pens were very smooth on the paper. This notebook is not in my current rotation but I look forward to it when it’s time comes.

In other news I was tickled to learn a new word this week: zibaldone. In the Italian vernacular it refers to a commonplace book, and in translation means “a heap of things” or “miscellany”. Of course this is what we do in our journals. I really enjoyed this article, detailing the history of the form, and in particular a young poet named Giacomo Leopardi, who created a 2,000 page “zibaldone di pensieri” with his sketches, lists and frustrations. It’s good to know we are in good company and keeping such a long tradition of authors and scientists. Lots of good stuff to be copied into my journal.

And finally on to reading news. I’ve been getting into e-books from my local library and just finished Alan Bradley’s Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d. His books follow the adventures of the precocious twelve-year-old Flavia de Luce, amateur sleuth and chemist extraordinaire. I’ve read all of the Flavia books and I was thrilled with this one, number eight and not just because the title is from my favourite Shakespeare play. All of the books have been set in a delightful English village, Bishop’s Lacey, with the exception of number seven, which was set in Toronto after Flavia is sent (or in her words, banished) to Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy (As Chimney Sweeps Come To Dust). It was not as satisfying as the others, and Thrice is a wonderful return to the tried and true. Number nine in the series has just been published (The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place) and I hope the library gets a copy soon.

Next up is Sue Gee’s Trio, a novel set in 1937 England in which a young man lives in a remote moorland village and mourns the loss of his young wife to illness. He takes up with a small band of musicians and starts to fall under their spell. As war approaches a decision is made that will call all of their lives into question. It was recommended by one of the booktubers I’ve been following. Hopefully I enjoy it as much as they did.

Happy journaling.

 

 

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

14 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by inlovewithjournals in journal writing, life, messages, my journal collection, planners, websites

≈ 5 Comments

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.

 

My Posting Schedule and My Planner for December and Next Year

04 Sunday Dec 2016

Posted by inlovewithjournals in ideas for themed journals, planners

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

boho berry, bullet journal, leuchtturm, ryder carroll

Hi everyone hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I was hoping to resume my pre-move posting schedule, but as you have seen that has not happened. My back has been giving me trouble since the September Labour Day Weekend and this week I wrenched it mightily which did not help. I find when I am in a lot of pain my focus is very narrow; I go to work and get only the essentials done at home. My amazing husband is keeping the house running while I concentrate on chiropractic appointments (finally found one I connect with), massage therapy and light exercise. This weekend I spent the majority of Saturday in a medical clinic waiting to see a doctor about pain medication. I shall put regular blog posts as one of my New Year’s Resolutions.

Anyway, onto more fun stuff, like what planner I will be using in 2017. It seems everyone is talking about their plans so I thought I would share mine. I’ve been using my A5 Filofax Finsbury since July. I’ve had so much to keep track of during the move that I needed the big binder. But things have calmed down somewhat, most of the To Dos are checked off, and I thought this month might be the perfect time to try out a Bullet Journal.

I last wrote about Bullet Journaling in July of 2014 and I’ve been watching YouTube videos about this system ever since. I like the simplicity of it; I find the A5 Finsbury big and bulky to lug around. So this afternoon I took a couple of hours and wrote some notes in my journal about Bullet Journaling. I watched videos from BohoBerry and Ryder Carroll and decided to tackle my own.

bullet-journal-notes

Ryder says to commit to the system for at least two months to determine if it works for you, so I decided to start with a Leuchtturm Jottbook, something small to start off with.

jottbook

The squared option is best, because with Bullet Journaling you are essentially making lists, of tasks, events and notes. This is much easier to do if the squares are already there for you.

index-bullet-journal

Luckily the Leuchtturm notebooks come with a Contents page (which I am using as my Index) and the pages are numbered. Perfect for mapping out the Future Log, Monthly Log and Daily Log.

future-log

I’m starting my Bullet Journal in December 2016 so my Future Log starts with January 2017. I chose the 6 month layout. I only had to draw two straight lines – easy!

future-log-2

Here are some future tasks I wanted to make note of. You can see I am using the standard Bullet Journal legend: a dot for tasks, a dash for notes, and a circle for events. Well I hope you can see it; the photos didn’t seem so dark when I was editing them. Sorry about that!

monthly-log

Here is the Monthly Log page. I covered up some personal events. Ryder says to be super brief here, so if you have more than one thing happening on a given day you can fit it all in on the one line. And I see that I put a circle by Christmas but forgot the circle by New Years.

If you want a day or event or task to have priority Ryder suggests adding an asterisk to the left of the symbol. Be sure to leave space on the left margin for such signifiers: an asterisk denotes priority, an exclamation point denotes inspiration, and an eye denotes exploration, meaning that idea or tasks needs further research.

daily-log

December is a busy month, and so far my tasks all have to do with Christmas! The task list goes on the opposite page to the Monthly Log.

daily-log

And here is my Daily Log. It is suggested not to plan the days ahead; do that on your monthly log or future log. This space should be free form in that you never know how much space you might need for a particular day. And this space isn’t just for tasks; record whatever you want, from ideas to the weather. This was my To Do list for today and I only have one thing left. Notice I didn’t write down blog post! But I will now, and mark it done, using an X. To change the status of a task, X denotes complete, > denotes migrated to the next month’s log, and < denotes migrated to the future log. You wouldn’t start the migration process until the end of the month, when you likely will have your next month’s spread laid out.

Ryder has made provision for tasks and notes that are similar, which you might want to keep together. He suggests putting these in a Collection spread, in the next blank spread available. This could be tasks for a project or a shopping list. As I move through the month I will see what makes sense for me.

And that’s it for my Bullet Journal, at least for now. Boho Berry has some amazing spreads, and there are lots of Bullet Journal examples out there from which to get inspiration. People have added tracker pages for every habit imaginable, along with book, movie and tv show lists. I will revisit my Bullet Journal before the New Year to see how it’s working. Please comment below if any of you use this system, and your thoughts on it. Until next time. 🙂

The Colouring Notebook and a Different Kind of Advent Calendar

27 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by inlovewithjournals in journal writing, my journal collection, video

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

advent calendar, coloring notebook, hannah braime, journaljoy

Hi everyone. Tonight I wanted to tell you about a Colouring Notebook that I purchased on a whim; I saw this video and promptly went to the link and ordered one. I don’t do that too often but I just had to have one.

I have been watching JournalJoy’s videos for a while now and always enjoyed them. A few times I have been tempted to buy a notebook she has reviewed but usually the companies either do not ship internationally or the shipping is prohibitively expensive. But this time everything was in my favour; Colouring Notebook ship internationally and right now the price is only $14.95 US! You can order one yourself at https://coloringnotebook.com/. You can choose blank, lined, or dot grid. Mine arrived in a little over a week. The postmark on the package said Ukraine.

I have some adult colouring books which I use on occasion but as soon as this arrived I started colouring in it right away. The 100 gram paper is very smooth and creamy. There are about 50 beautiful illustrations in it, interspersed with lined pages for writing. I will not be using my fountain pens in it due to feathering, as mentioned in the video. But my gel pens look fantastic in it, for writing or for colouring. I used my Staedtler Triplus 0.5mm markers for colouring and there was no bleed through.

I’m thrilled with it and would recommend it for a Christmas gift or a treat for yourself. It adds a new dimension to your journaling. I didn’t post any pictures of mine as I thought the video did a wonderful job.

And the second thing I wanted to talk about was the Hannah Braime Becoming Who You Are Advent Calendar. I get weekly emails from Hannah and her site is an amazing resource for journal writing and self-awareness. Her articles and classes encourage authentic living with compassion and courage. Her weekly emails are free for subscribers, as is her library with tons of thought provoking material.

I signed up for her Advent Calendar where I will receive a prompt each day, focusing on the year that has passed and the year to come. I’m so excited! Maybe I will write about them in my new Coloring Notebook. 🙂

A new pen and notebook from Amazon

20 Sunday Nov 2016

Posted by inlovewithjournals in my journal collection, my pen collection, notebook reviews, pen reviews

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

blue myosotis, blue upon the plains of abraham, clairefontaine, fuliwen, j. herbin, lamy blue, noodler's, paradise blue, parker blue quink, straffen, valery, waterman serenity blue, x-fountain pens

Last week an Amazon package was delivered to my door, which is always exciting. I had ordered a Fuliwen pen after seeing a Youtube video, and a Valery refillable notebook which I had found when browsing notebooks.

pen-on-desktop

I am unfamiliar with the Fuliwen brand. Amazon says this pen was made by a “famous company in China called Fuliwen”. I thought the barrel and hardware was very pretty, although now that I see it in person I am not a fan of the pearl bead on the clip.

uncapped-pen

The section is an interesting shape, one which I have not seen before. The material is advertised as celluloid but I would be surprised at this price point: $19 Cdn.

nov-13-nib

The medium nib is on the small side for the size of the section I feel. It is stamped Straffen, which I read are made by X-Fountain Pens. I cleaned it and tried to find a blue ink that would match the barrel.

all-the-blues-desktop

Clockwise from top: Noodler’s Blue Upon the Plains of Abraham, Parker Blue Quink, Paradise Pen Blue, Waterman Serenity Blue, J. Herbin Blue Myosotis, and Lamy Blue. I chose Parker Blue as the best match to the barrel.

nov-13-writing-sample

And here’s the writing sample. I chose a Clairefontaine notebook. The pen is very smooth with no skips or hard starts, and it started writing as soon as it hit the paper. I was using it in my regular journal later on that day, and it suddenly went dry. I shook it a few times and it resumed writing. But it will never be a favorite pen of mine. That pearl bead is ugly, as I mentioned before, and the pen can’t be posted, which this pen needs, due to it being super light. It just doesn’t fit well in my hand either. But I can’t fault it’s performance, other than running dry once, which was soon fixed.

I also purchased this notebook and cover, made by Valery.

front-of-notebook

It’s not leather but a very nice imitation. I really like the white stitching and the tree motif on the cover and in the charm bookmark. There is another charm on the spine of an eagle with wings unfurled. It doesn’t seem to fit in with the tree motif; kind of sinister really. But luckily it can be removed.

empty-notebook-cover

Here is the inside of the notebook cover. The cords could easily be loosened to release one or both of the charms if needed.

inside-notebook

The notebook is pretty standard, lined with very thin paper. I do not know the gsm. I didn’t have high hopes for the pen test but it stood up fairly well.

nov-13-pen-test

I’m just realizing now I deleted the photo of the opposite page. Oh well there was no bleed through and just a touch of ghosting. And very little feathering. Safe for our fountain pens.

Overall I am happy with the pen and notebook. Taking a chance on unknown products can be fun.

Happy writing everyone.

New Journal (s!), Old Desk

30 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by inlovewithjournals in desks, flip throughs, journal writing, my journal collection

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

eccolo, rolltop desk, william hannah

Last Monday I wrote about my struggle to choose a new journal after finishing my Franklin Christoph notebook. I was torn between my William Hannah Kingfisher and a large Eccolo journal I bought at Staples. The truth is I couldn’t decide so I chose both of them!

two-journals

Let me explain. I LOVE the William Hannah notebook and it will become my daily journal. The paper is amazing for fountain pens and the notebook just makes me happy. BUT – I have a love of pasting things into my notebooks and I wanted the Eccolo (pictured above) because it wasn’t so precious, and it was larger than the William Hannah, so I can stick all kinds of stuff in it without feeling I’m ruining the pages. So both of them have been brought into my rotation.

eccolo-journal-desk-page

Here you can see the Eccolo. I’ve pasted pictures of old desks and tea sets from old issues of Victoria magazine. You can just see my journal entry peeking out. It’s quite personal so I felt the need to put the magazine cutting on top of it.

eccolo-journal-folded

Here’s another page from the Eccolo. It’s more rough and tumble than the William Hannah but my heart really belongs to the William Hannah. I couldn’t show the pages because they are ultra personal. But trust me, that journal now goes everywhere with me.

I thought you might want to see more of the desk these journals are sitting on. This is my rolltop desk, which I have owned for more than a decade. In my previous home it lived in the living room and was rarely used. Now in my present home I have a much larger office and I can use both of my desks. You’ve seen my black desk in a few posts, and my computer and extra monitor live on it. When I work from home I use the black desk. It’s just a simple desk with a very large, flat top, perfect for typing. However my rolltop desk is perfect for writing and I am so happy I can use it in my new setup.

rolltop

I took this photo without too much thought, apparently, as I cut off the drawer that is underneath the lock. When my office is completely set up I will take a better picture. For now, this is the top of the rolltop desk. It is made out of oak and is a rich brown colour. The lock works and miraculously I still have the keys!

top-of-desk

I have a banker’s lamp on the top (thank you Christine!) and I try to keep it relatively clear of stuff. Right now I have my letter box, a few books and a card file stationery box.

front-of-desk

You first saw this desk in my post about my glass pen. Here is the main part of the desk. I have a white desk blotter to protect the writing surface. The banker’s lamp gives a lot of light but the cubby holes can be a little dark so I added the fairy lights and the candle holder (with a battery operated candle) to further illuminate the area.

left-side-of-desk

I have my glass inkwell on the left, with some small notebooks just above it. I keep my Harrod’s pen set and some page flags in the next slot, followed by a couple of ink bottles (Gypsy Rose Deep Ocean and Noodler’s Raven Black). You can also see my glass pen sitting in the pen rest built into the shelf.

right-side-of-desk

On the right side you can see another ink bottle (Waterman Inspired Blue) and a resin stamp box in the shape of a stack of letters. On the top shelf is a notepad and a tin model of a typewriter. Behind the typewriter is an amethyst. The drawers contain various office supplies that are small enough to fit in them, like post it notes, page flags, paper clips, scissors, etc. Finally I have a blue leather pen case and my ampersand paperweight on the desktop. And that’s my writing desk. I try to keep the surface clear so I can write whenever I want, and keep my computer desk covered in the latest project, either work or home related. So far it’s working out really well.

I hope you enjoyed this quick tour of my desk, and thanks very much to those who gently encouraged me to make my choice of the next journal (or as it turns out, journals) that I will be using. Happy writing!

I’m Still Here

24 Monday Oct 2016

Posted by inlovewithjournals in my journal collection

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

andy everson, eccolo, franklin christoph, spring finale journal, staples, stone paper, things engraved, william hannah

I wanted to write a quick message: I am still here! I am sorry for the empty field that is my posting of late. I have lots of ideas and little time it seems. But I am working on it. I know I’ve been saying that for months (!) but it’s true. I am just finishing up one of my journals – the Franklin Christoph Notebook – and I am trying to decide which journal to move into next, as my daily journal. I started the Stone Journal for the ink display with the glass pen but I’m not sure about it being a daily journal. Is the time right to jump into the William Hannah Notebook? I’m intimidated by it’s beauty but drawn to it every day. Or maybe into a rough and tumble Eccolo? Or a cheaper (so less pressure) Staples special? Or my beautiful dragonfly journal? Wow I’ve had that one for two years now and haven’t written in it yet. So many to choose from.

I need something to write in tonight so I will open myself to my journals and one will choose me. This weekend I will let you know which one. Happy journaling everyone.

Avery Mini Binder and Accessories

25 Sunday Sep 2016

Posted by inlovewithjournals in ideas for themed journals, my journal collection, notebook reviews, planners, stationery

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

avery mini binder

Hello! On a beautiful fall Sunday I am putting a new system together to keep track of my work tasks. In my August 14 post I talked about enlisting a notebook to help me keep track of work tasks. And it has worked somewhat but not perfectly. I find I have tasks that have many stages to them, if that makes sense, and I need to know what stage each task has achieved. So I found myself thinking of a binder system, like my ARC notebooks or my William Hannah notebook, so that I could organize the pages and move things around as needed. Currently I cannot find my ARC notebooks (still buried in a box somewhere) and my William Hannah notebook is not going out of the house. I am obsessed with keeping it pristine and beautiful for my personal journaling. So I resigned myself to the hunt for my ARC notebooks. But before I could find them I came across an Avery Mini Binder in green, with some accessories, that I purchased at WalMart a few weeks ago and forgot about. And I think it will work perfectly!!

I had heard about these mini binders first from the Pen Pixie on YouTube but only saw them in real life recently. I can’t remember the exact price I paid but you can find them on Amazon, Staples and WalMart.

binder

I bought the green binder; on Staples’ website it is “chartreuse”. It is 1″ thick, with 1″ rings, of which there are 3. It measures 5.5″ x 8.5″. I’ve seen black, white, blue and purple binders on the Staples site.

flat

One of the great features of these binders is how flat they lay when open. Very comfortable to write on either side of the paper, despite the rings.

avery-accessories

Lots of accessories with these binders. I bought, from right, Sheet Protectors, Filler Paper, Insertable Dividers and Binder Pockets. On Amazon there are A-Z dividers and calendar pages available as well. This system could give Filofax a run for their money as a planner system! Speaking of Filofax, these pages do not fit into my current planner, my Finsbury. But I could not check them in my Franklin Covey planner, as it is still packed away.

instructions

Helpful printing instructions are included with the tabbed dividers. I just wrote on mine but it’s nice that they included these.

notes

I think this will work better for my needs, as I can organize my notes and keep my tasks separate. Right now they are all jumbled together. So I will spend the next couple of hours going through my faithful notebook and transferring tasks and notes to this new binder. I must go put the kettle on. Happy planning!

Journal Giveaway Almost Here!

25 Thursday Aug 2016

Posted by inlovewithjournals in giveaways, my journal collection

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bookblock.com, custom notebooks, giveaway

I just wanted to remind everyone that I’m giving away a custom inlovewithjournals journal this weekend. I realize now I got the dates wrong in my original post; this Saturday is August 27 and the contest closes at midnight Atlantic Standard Time on that day. I will announce the winner the following day, Sunday, August 28. Read all about it in this post.

Thanks to everyone who has already entered. And for those who haven’t please do! Best of luck!

Back to Basics and a Look Book

14 Sunday Aug 2016

Posted by inlovewithjournals in ideas for themed journals, journal writing, my journal collection

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

bookblock.com, lg pocket photo printer, look book, staples optiflow, writing

Hello my friends! This week I was reminded of some basic truths about being organized and focused: write stuff down. As I’ve mentioned my new job is challenging; there are a lot more things to keep track of and I have at least three times the amount of email to wade through. I tried using the Task feature in Outlook but I found that when I got super busy I ignored it. Then I tried creating an Excel spreadsheet but found the same thing: when busy I felt I didn’t have time to type up the task. And too often I was missing critical things in my email. So I grabbed one of my journals (the alphabet notebook discussed in this post) and on the bus on the way to work did a brain dump of all the things I could think of that needed to be done in the office. I didn’t stop until the bottom of page 2. And once I was done it felt great! So much lighter. And throughout the work day I could focus on one thing on the list at a time. I highlighted the ones that needed to be done right away. And marking them off as they were completed was awesome! Such a simple concept but so powerful. We have blank books at work for notes and such but I thought using one of my own would make me more invested and it seems to be working. Hurray!

Another area where I needed focus and organization was picking out furniture for our new house. We sold or gave away most of our furniture before the move. Seems pretty straightforward but we have a limited budget and I wanted to make sure we spent the money wisely. So we started looking at furniture in different places: Pier 1, Wicker Emporium, Structube, Bombay Company. I took pictures of pieces that appealed to us. I made notes of what we agreed upon, what we loved, hated, were indifferent to. I had lots of photos on my phone and wanted to transfer them to a notebook where I could make notes. So I created what I call a Look Book.

furniture idea book 2

I chose one of the Bookblock Original notebooks (blank pages) and got my LG Pocket Photo Printer out. Remember that gadget? It still works great. I love how small but clear the pictures are. Perfect for my journal. In the picture above I’ve created a simple index on the left and pasted my pictures on the right. I can then put model numbers and dimensions next to the photo, as well as where we found it and how much it was. A great way to compare prices and the photos really jog the memory.

furniture idea book 1

Here you can see in closer detail the notes I’ve made about a certain piece. After viewing the piece in person I would look it up on the internet for the specifications, as well as any other pieces available in that line. I like furniture that matches!

I used a black Staples OPtiFlow pen.

furniture idea book 3

Here’s a bunch of photos from another store, ready to place in my Look Book. I even printed a couple of photos of the cats, which will go in my regular journal. Love that little pocket printer!

You don’t have to start a separate journal for a project such as this; I could have added these pages to my regular daily journal. But I wanted to keep these separate because I don’t know how long it will take us to a) find all the furniture we need and b) agree on what to purchase! It’s also a nice keepsake of one of the many house projects David and I will undertake together. How wonderful to be able to look back on the process a year from now, or 10 years from now.

Update: we went shopping in yet another furniture store yesterday (Ashley Furniture) and bought furniture for the TV room, kitchen and dining room. Because we had already done some research I think it was easier for us to pick a style we liked and to know that the price we paid was a fair one. Of course we had to order everything so having the Look Book will help us greatly as we continue the search for furniture and accessories for other rooms, so we can keep the general style consistent throughout each room.

Just one more great use for your journal!

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  • #7 of 53: Change, Lamy Pens and Mothers
  • #6 of 53: Here We Jinhao All Over Again
  • #5 of 53 File Index Sneak Peek and A Carousel of Ink
  • #4 of 53: Molly and Rex, Zibaldone and Brinded Cats
February 2023
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