I (heart) journals / I am the girl who used to write

About a week ago, we went to Barnes & Noble in search of a neat travel journal for my husband's cousin.  She is heading off soon to Scotland for a semester abroad, and I thought she'd love a journal to record her experiences there.  I wrote like crazy in my journal while I was in Spain, and I love looking back at all the little bits of life I collected in it while I was there.  My Spain journal is full of ticket stubs, maps, flyers, etc of places I went and things I did, plus a lot of fun stickers.  When we went up to visit the cousins last weekend, I brought it to show her and she really enjoyed looking through it. (Even though it's all in Spanish, which she doesn't know!)  We found a really neat one for her, with an inspiring quotation on each page and cool features like a "Highlight of the Day" box on every other page. Her eyes lit up and she bounced up and down when she opened it, so I believe she'll get good use out of it!

the cover

Back to the Barnes & Noble though -- perusing the journals was dangerous because I've always loved journals, although I haven't really kept one since high school, other than the Spain one.  Too busy, too tired... you know.  Anyway, a little brown "five-year" journal jumped out at me... which my wonderful husband ending up buying for me.  I've never seen anything  like it and I couldn't resist giving it a try.  Basically, it has a page for each day of the year, with a topic or question to write about at the top.  On the page are small spaces to write 5 separate entries so you can cycle through the journal and write on each day for five years.

today's page

While it doesn't have space for long entries, the concept of coming back to the same topic and seeing how I change over 5 years really piqued my interest.  Plus, the tiny little spaces seem manageable enough to actually do every single day, and the topics will spur me to write even if I "don't have anything to write about".  (Because there's always something to write about, even when there's "not"!)

The little topics range from fun ("What song is stuck in your head?") to serious ("How do you want your epitaph to read?").  So far, I'm enjoying writing a little bit each day, and I can't wait to look back on my entries in later years.

I've really loved jumping into blogging, but it's funny how there's something special about the way a favorite pen glides across crisp, clean paper.  I do miss journaling, and when I don't journal for a while, I always end up wishing I had.  I love looking back at myself through my journals, and this new little one will be a whole different way to do it!  Besides, some of these little snippets will probably spill over to "real" writing -- they could be new slices of life or maybe even longer entries in a "real" notebook.

Since I started blogging, the girl who used to write has been drawn up from deep inside me... and now she has a new toy!