#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.

 

My Posting Schedule and My Planner for December and Next Year

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

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. 🙂

Saying Good-Bye to World Mail Panel Postal Surveys

Tags

leuchtturm, world mail panel

Back in March of 2014 I started processing postal surveys for World-Mail-Panel.com. I received letters from all over the world and recorded details about them on the website. I returned electronic transponders to their offices in Germany. I filled two Leuchtturm jottbooks (one small, one large) with the details and the stamps from all over the world.

The small purple jottbook that started it all.

In February of 2015 I finished the first notebook and moved into an A5 jottbook.

And then in November of 2015 they asked me to start sending letters as well as continuing to receive them. I agreed and a new notebook was needed.

Once again I turned to a Leuchtturm but an actual notebook this time, with the elastic closure and pocket in the back. However I quickly found that it wasn’t needed; for Letters Sent I only had to keep records for a week, whereas for the Letters Received I had to keep those for three months.

The really fun part was looking at all the stamps from around the world.

***

***

And I made some money doing all this! They paid me around $15 Cdn per month to receive the letters and that increased to around $20 when I started sending letters. Since I joined I have redeemed just under $500 in gift certificates for Amazon and credits for my PayPal account. They also offer occasional bonuses based on participation.

All of this coming to an end soon. 😦 I notified them in April that I would be moving to a new province, and unfortunately they do not require surveys to be conducted in this demographic. I still receive the occasional letter but it has slowed down to a trickle. I am very close to having enough points to redeem $100 in gift certificates. I am sad because this was alot of fun and very interesting. If any of you are interested check them out at world-mail-panel.com.

Maybe someday they will need my services again, and I’ll be ready!

Some Journals and a Planner for Christmas, Part 1

Tags

ex libris, leuchtturm, purse notebooks, reading journal

Christmas is over for another year and I feel grateful for all of the gifts I received, and wanted to share some of them with you in this post.

Here are some goodies I found under my tree. I also got some fairy lights for Christmas and just can’t seem to put them away… 🙂 Clockwise from top left: Ex Libris reading journal by Leuchtturm, unnamed journal, Manufactus leather refillable journal, unnamed journal and Pocket Pal diary. Sorry for the “unnamed” journals; there are no identifying marks on these books but my friend said she bought them because they are just so beautiful, and I totally agree.

I love anything Leuchtturm does and the Ex Libris Private Reading Journal certainly doesn’t disappoint. It is hard cover, and measures 8.25″ x 5.75″. My sister gave this to me, after we discovered it in our favourite stationery store earlier this year. I already have a reading journal but fell in love with this the instant I saw it. Can you have too many? Of course not!

A view of the back cover. The red paper cover comes off and the journal itself is all black.

Inside the front cover. Lovely thank you from the Sturken family (I presume they own Leuchtturm) and details on the history of the company.

It’s hard to see all of the fields but there is space to indicate whether it is a book or an audio book (no box for ebook I see, which is odd), title, author, when and where did you read it, date of publication, original language, genre (this is something I do not currently track and it is an interesting idea), notes/quotations, appraisal from 1 to 6 (checkboxes), gift from/discovered by, and gift to. The paper, as with all Leuchtturm products, is amazing. Each page is numbered. There is no Contents page but rather an index at the back, which I will get to. Most of the book is made up of these pages; they go to page 156. And that’s where the page numbers end, which is not what I would have expected. Then there are three sections, with about a dozen pages each: To Read, To Give (great idea), and Lent To/Borrowed From, followed by about 20 pages of simple lined paper, for whatever you want.

At the very back of the journal is an index. It looks like an address book and you can file books by title and/or author using the lettered tabs. I think this is a fantastic space saving idea, as I currently have a Title Index and an Author Index in my reading journal, which is my own design.

There are also stickers included, as with all Leuchtturm notebooks, for labeling the front and sides of the notebook. All in all it’s a very beautiful and useful reading journal, a great gift for the reader in your life. Or for yourself!

Let’s move on to some stunning smaller notebooks, which measure 5.5″ x 3.5″. I love using this type of notebook in my purse for quick notes.

Gosh the lighting makes it seem to glow! When I first saw these I thought they were Paperblanks. I don’t think they are, although they aren’t labelled as anything. The gilded pattern is raised, so it feels embossed. The material feels like a vinyl or thin plastic. The pages are blank and the paper is really great quality. And each notebook has a ribbon bookmark.

The pattern continues on the back cover.

This one is definitely a cloth binding. Such an amazing cover! And the pattern is once again continued on the back.

I tested eight fountain pens and found no feathering at all.

There is significant show-through but that matters much less to me than feathering. I generally only use the right-hand side for writing in these smaller notebooks anyway.

This is a good place to make a break. Part 2 will follow next Sunday, when I will discuss in detail the Pocket Pal diary and the Manufactus leather journal.

Until next post, happy writing!

NaNoWriMo, World Mail Panel and Fountain Pen Day

Tags

fountain pen day, leuchtturm, nanowrimo, world mail panel

Today marks the beginning of NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. I am doing it this year and hope to achieve the 50,000 words but I’m not putting immense pressure on myself to do so. Some writerly friends of mine and I are attending a few writing workshops next weekend and I’m really looking forward to that. We’ll see how it goes. Anyone else doing it this year?

I mentioned in this post that World Mail Panel have asked me to send envelopes as well as log envelopes received. My first batch arrived last week and I spent a couple of hours today getting myself organized.

Sorry about the glare.

I record the letters I receive in the purple Leuchtturm Jottbook and now I’m going to record the letters I send in a black Leuchtturm Notebook.

Each envelope should be sent on a set date and I wrote the first batch in my notebook. If I don’t manage to send the envelope on the specific day I need to tell them what day the envelope actually went out. It’s fun to see the destinations.

Every two weeks I will receive the envelopes for the next week. Currently I have envelopes ready for Week 46. I thought separate plastic pouches for each batch of envelopes would help me keep track. We’ll see how it works as I get through them. Should be fun! If you would like to join the team, go to this page and fill in your details. If they need someone in your area they will contact you. I get paid about $16 per month to receive envelopes and now with sending envelopes as well that amount will rise to $21. It adds up over time, believe me. Each month I am awarded a set amount of points and once I reach a certain amount I can redeem them for Amazon giftcards or Paypal deposits. I can also donate them to Doctors Without Borders. It’s a great program.

Don’t forget Fountain Pen Day is coming up soon: November 6. Anything special planned? Whatever you do enjoy your pens, whether you are a long time fountain pen lover or just discovering the hobby. More on that from me on the day. 🙂

One Night in Portland

Tags

aurora, cartier, cross, edelberg, filofax, harmonious green, j. herbin, leuchtturm, lierre sauvage, montblanc, oberon, online switch, paradise blue, paradise pen company, portland, rhodia, schmidt converter, scully, vineyard burgundy, vintage trouble, visconti, waterman, wonder ballroom

As a birthday present to ourselves David and I flew to Portland, Oregon to catch Vintage Trouble at the Wonder Ballroom last week. It was a magical 24 hours which included staying at a fabulous hotel (the Crowne Plaza Portland), grooving with the band (we got to meet them!), eating amazing food and shopping. We crammed three days into 24 hours and just one of the many highlights was visiting the Paradise Pen Company, a retailer of “high-end writing instruments offering fountain pens, leather goods and accessories.” And when they say high-end they aren’t kidding.

The Paradise Pen Company is located in Pioneer Place, alongside Kate Spade, J Crew, Louis Vuitton and Michael Kors, just to name a few. Very swish. According to their website they have 15 locations across the US. We had great fun looking at the Montblanc, Aurora and Visconti offerings, as well as Cartier and Edelberg. I had never seen a Cartier and their fountain pens do not disappoint. But like their jewelry they have a considerable price tag ($1,000+). Lovely to dream and drool over though.

They had an impressive selection of notebooks and planners, such as Filofax and Rhodia. I got to fondle an Oberon journal for the first time and I’m so glad I did, because I have been considering purchasing one. Although the leather craftsmanship is breathtaking I am not a fan of the paper in their notebooks. And they don’t lie flat, which is disappointing. But at least now I know.

I was introduced to Scully notebooks and promptly fell in love. This beautiful “Old Atlas” journal has wonderful paper and lies flat as a pancake. But the price ($113) was just a little beyond my budget (especially when you consider the exchange rate these days). At least I am familiar with the product and can order one from their online site if I save my pennies.

Stephanie was very friendly and interested in our very quick trip and the reason for it. She was very touched that we took some time to visit their store in our whirlwind tour of her city. I had done some research on their site before arriving so I had an idea of what I wanted.

The pen is from ONLINE and is the Switch model. Designed for students, it has a medium fountain pen nib at one end and a stylus at the other. I thought it a wonderful metaphor for modern but elegant note-taking: casually surfing the net, finding something interesting, flipping your stylus round and writing it in your notebook with a fountain pen. And it was on sale! So I picked a green one. And amazingly Stephanie offered me a converter to go in it, a Schmidt. I did not know that brand of converter fit the ONLINE pens so that was a real bonus. I also found a Cross notebook in a size I have never seen before, so I chose one to match the pen. And finally I chose two bottles of ink: Vineyard Burgundy and Paradise Blue, made exclusively for the Paradise Pen Company.

It occurs to me now I should have purchased a bottle of green ink to match the pen but I thought two bottles were enough. I really love these two colours. I also enjoyed the label although Stephanie told me they had a new label, with some new colours just released (Vineyard Burgundy being one of them). I like the old label, shown below on the blue bottle; what do you think?

I haven’t inked up any pens with these inks yet. As for the new green ONLINE Switch I inked it up with Waterman Harmonious Green. I was thinking J. Herbin’s Lierre Sauvage would be nice too.

Here’s a writing sample on Leuchtturm paper. The slight shading in the ink comes through. The nib is a little hooked, much like my Waterman Junior, and is very smooth. The Switch is part of the Youth line and indeed, it feels very sturdy and puts down a solid line. It wrote right out of the sleeve with no skips or hard starts. It’s a fun pen to use.

I’m very happy with my purchases and will write more about the trip in my Journal Writing Wednesday post. Thank you so much Stephanie and the Paradise Pen Company for a wonderful experience. Check out their online shop and if you are in Portland include this little shop in your travels; you won’t be disappointed.

 

Moleskine Planner

Tags

broleatherworks, filofax, finsbury, leuchtturm, moleskine, pentel slicci

In January of this year I purchased a Filofax Finsbury in raspberry. I was using it until mid-August. I really love this planner but it is too big for the purse I am currently using. And I thought it was high time for a change. So I purchased an 18 month pocket Moleskine in the weekly format. These have been around for ages and I’ve always liked them. I love the small format and the setup is the same as in my Finsbury: week on the left with a ruled page on the right for notes and lists.

I thought about a cover for it and thought it might fit into my BroLeatherWorks notebook cover, and it did. I have been wanting to use this cover since I got it in September 2013 for my birthday. It’s a perfect fit.

I swapped out the heavy Vade Mecum charm for a little bird which I think suits it better.

I used a file folder I had made and stuck on some inspirational stickers. I also added a Leuchtturm pen loop, in red to match the red beads on the outside of the leather holder. It holds a black 0.4 mm Pentel Slicci.

The other side of the folder holds my sticky notes, a paper clip and a small book of Shakespeare’s Sonnets, which I carry with me always. I also put a bird sticker on the front of the Moleskine planner, in keeping with the theme that seemed to be developing.

One page is devoted to each month. This makes for a very small space to write in appointments; I would prefer a month on two pages. But there is always the weeks section if these squares get full. I use a magnetic bookmark to mark the current month. I also used masking stickers to differentiate between months along the top.

The all too familiar week on one page layout. Over the years I have found this layout works best for me. I like to make lists and the ruled right page is perfect for that. Again, I use a magnetic bookmark to mark the current week.

The back folder holds page flags and another paper clip.

These are some of the fun stickers that come with the Moleskine, in the back pocket. I couldn’t figure out why you would need to remind yourself to blow dry your hair (the red hair dryer sticker) until my friend pointed out that would indicate hair appointment. D’oh! Of course it does.

So this will suit me fine, until Jan 2016. I don’t have a very busy life. The most complicated thing I have to keep track of are chiropractic and massage appointments for me and my husband. I usually book those well in advance so we can get the times we want, and the monthly spread is where I can see them all at once. The tiny squares are getting to me a little bit so I have ordered another planner that has the monthly pages over two pages instead of one. I ordered it this weekend and will write about it when it arrives. Excited! But for the next four months it will be me and my Moleskine. 🙂

World Mail Panel Journal Update

Tags

amazon, andrews + blaine ltd., doctors without borders, jottbook, leuchtturm, paypal, postage stamps, world mail panel

In my post of April 7, 2014 I discussed my involvement with World Mail Panel Postal Surveys. I am still processing surveys for them and I’ve had to start a new journal. So I thought I would share some pages from the old journal and introduce you to the new one.

Both the old and new journals are Leuchtturm Jottbooks in purple. The first one was a lined jottbook, approximately 5.8″ (15 cm) x 3.5″ (9 cm), and lasted from March 2014 to the first week of Jan 2015. The second one is grid, approximately 8.25″ (20.75 cm) x 5.75″ (14.5 cm) in size. Because of the bigger size I’m thinking the second one will last a good long time.

One of the great things about this program is, obviously, receiving mail from all over the world. And of course said mail have stamps from their countries of origin. I really enjoy the variety of stamps I’ve received so far and I started putting them into the journal, once the suggested retaining time for each survey has expired.

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Countries so far: USA, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, Japan, France, Hungary, China, Spain, Britain, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and, most recently, South Africa and New Zealand. I was delighted to see on the New Zealand postal stamp: From Middle Earth New Zealand. 🙂

In the new journal I’m putting the stamps at the back, with the intention of working my way backward. Eventually I will meet the recording pages and have to start a new notebook.

These are the recording pages. As each retaining time expires I cross out the entry, stick the stamp in my journal if it’s new, and throw the survey out. As each survey comes in, I record info on their website and then I record the number, id code, when it was received, how long I have to keep it, the transponder number, and the date of the postmark in my journal. Since I don’t keep the stamp with the entry I should probably start recording the country of origin as well. Most of the surveys come from the US.

So far I’ve never been contacted about a past survey. And I am not required to record the info in a notebook but sometimes when a bunch of suveys come in I like to have a paper record so I can keep track of those I have entered on the website and those I have not. And if a transponder goes missing (which hasn’t happened with mine as far as I know) I will have a record of when I sent it back to them.

This is where I keep the envelopes for returning the transponders, and on the left is a transponder awaiting a mate for its return trip.

I keep each survey in this expanding folder from Andrews and Blaine. I attached tabs for each month.

World Mail Panel pays me $15 a month to process their surveys. There are a variety of gift cards to choose from (I like Amazon), or you can choose to have a payment made to your PayPal account (I’ve done that too). You can also donate the money to Doctors Without Borders. It’s fun, easy and quick. You can read more about the program and register if you like at this link.

One final note: World Mail Panel sends me return envelopes with the postage already attached. I had not seen a $5 Canadian stamp before – isn’t it cool?? The owls are cute too but I LOVE the moose! 🙂

 

Christmas Notebooks and Ink

Tags

janet conner, leuchtturm, peter pauper press, peterson field guide color-in book, waterman

Today I wanted to show you some notebooks and ink I received for Christmas from my husband’s side of the family.

Waterman ink, Peter Pauper Press bird journal, Leuchtturm 1917 pen loop, Birds adult colouring book, and The Lotus and the Lily book.

Let’s start with the bird journal. It’s from Peter Pauper Press. I love the bright colours and the birds of course.

I’m becoming quite the bird lover in my old age and I’ve wanted this one for a while.

Inside the front cover.

Here you can see the full colour birds are carried through onto the inside pages, which are cream coloured and lined. No idea yet what I will use this one for but it’s lovely. And I don’t know which journal will have the honour of receiving the purple Leuchtturm pen loop.

Next up is the Peterson Field Guide Color-In Book: Birds. I was thrilled to open this because I’ve seen other people relax while colouring in adult books and I earmarked a few on my Amazon wishlist. I thought this would be fun to do and maybe add some colour to my journal.

I’m so glad they included stickers of the actual birds; at least I have an idea of what the birds are supposed to look like.

In addition to colouring there is a ton of info about each bird so it’s educational too. I’m excited to start colouring!

I also got 3 bottles of Waterman ink. Well that’s like getting 3 bottles of perfume for me so you can imagine how amazed I was opening that present!

I didn’t ink up any pens with these inks but I took samples with cotton swabs to get an idea of the colour. I’ve heard so much about Serenity Blue and it really is beautiful.

And yummy Absolute Brown. Looks like chocolate!

And finally here is Tender Violet. I am truly blessed as I have enough ink to last the rest of my lifetime and beyond I think!

Last but not least I had been interested in The Lotus and The Lily ever since I started reading Writing Down Your Soul by the same author, Janet Conner. I enjoy her writing so now I’m anxious to finish her other books so I can get into this one.

I was very spoiled this Christmas; thank you to my amazing family!

Journal Writing Wednesday: 8 pages

Tags

leuchtturm, literary gift company, nanowrimo, pilot metropolitan, reid's stationers

What I’m currently using: the Paperblanks Blue Filigree journal, Winnable Leather Journal and the Believe In Yourself journal

Total pages written since last JWW post (Nov 12): 8

Total pages to date since project inception (Dec 11/13): 699

Total pages written in 2014: 644

Total number of notebooks/pens/ink bought since self-imposed spending freeze observation experiment (it’s not much of a freeze these days!) (Jan 1/14): 36

• 1 pen + 1 bottle of ink = 2 items in a gift set on Jan 14
  
• 1 bottle of KoninginneNach-Blauw from Akkerman on Feb 5
• 1 Visconti Rembrandt Calligraphy set in Red = 2 items (pen and ink bottle) from Goldspot on May 15
• 1 bottle of J. Herbin Bleu Pervenche from Goldspot on May 15
• 1 bottle of De Atramentis Heather Violet from Goldspot on May 15
• 5 pens, 4 notebooks, 3 tins of ink cartridges from Reid’s on June 14
• 1 Jinhao X450 from ebay; received on June 19
• 1 bottle of De Atramentis William Shakespeare ink from Goulet Pens; received on June 25
• 1 Winnable Leather Notebook on July 10
• 1 Wreck This Journal on Aug 2
• 2 ink samples from Private Reserve: Avacado (sic) and DC Supershow Blue from Wonderpens on Aug 31
• 2 Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks, grid and lined from Wonderpens on Aug 31
• 1 Kaweco Sport Ink Roller Demonstrator from Wonderpens on Aug 31
• 1 Leaf Binder from eBay
• 1 Alphabet Journal from Suzi Q
• 1 Dragonfly Journal, 1 Wooden Fountain Pen, and 1 Zebra V-301 Fountain pen in September
• 1 Pilot Metropolitan pen from Amazon on Nov 7 to celebrate Fountain Pen Day
• 1 limited edition purple Pilot Metropolitan in Leopard on Nov 15 at Reid’s Stationers (blog post coming)
• 1 Leuchtturm 17 purple Jottbook on Nov 15 at Reid’s Stationers (blog post coming)

Some topics covered this week:

• I received my order from The Literary Gift Company, which I talk about here. So many great ideas for that reader/writer on your Christmas list!
• My friends and I went to Reid’s Stationers, my favorite Calgary pen and paper store, last weekend. I bought a number of things, two of which are mentioned above in bold. I will write a blog post about those items and other things I purchased.
• Lots of changes at work – layoffs and restructuring. Fun times.
• Still no updates for NaNoWriMo, much to my shame. This is just not my year.

Next week I will be on a little holiday so may not post regularly. But I will try.

Happy writing!