Journaling Obsession

Howdy everyone!  A few weeks ago, my friend Gae visited me at the store.  Gae owns Temptations Fine Candies....her store is up around the corner from mine.  We have become good buds over the years, sharing the common interest of having store fronts in downtown Marion.  Little did I know we had so much more in common!  As we share and talk, we find we are alike in many ways!  (don't you just love it when that happens?!)

During her visit, I asked how their new building was coming along.  (they will be moving to a new location not far from the current one)  To illustrate, she pulled out her moleskin notebook, flipped around a little bit, and showed me some pictures of the inside of the building.  It was really cool to see the progress they are making on the new place....but I gotta say, what stuck with me hours later was that NOTEBOOK!!!  Ha! I just couldn't get it out of my head.

 So I sent her an email, telling her I realize that I'm being weird and nosey, but I was so intrigued by her notebook, which was full of notes, doodles, pictures, sketches, bits, pieces and stuff.  I asked if she would share a little bit about her method of journaling....and she did so much more that that!!!  The following week, she dropped off three of her notebooks so that I could browse through them!  Wasn't that nice?  She fills a notebook a month, and has done this for about a year and a half.  Below is a picture of her journals, piled in a basket in her home.  Wouldn't it be so much fun to paw through all of these??!!!  Eeek!

Well, this little exchange with my friend Gae has lit a FIRE in me!!!  She really got me excited about documenting the little moments in this crazy thing called life.  One thing I noted about Gae is that she mostly journals about the good stuff.....sweet things people say, tickets to a concert, quotes she runs across, doodles by her grandson, and more.  I like this.  This suits me too.  I am not one to put the icky stuff in my journal.  I just don't care to record negativity.  I'm not judging folks who do....everyone should make their journal THEIR OWN.  But seeing her method of journaling really resonated with me, and got me movin'.  I'm mean, MOVIN', people!!! 

 I became obsessed for a few days, and for a while, I was really kicking myself for not documenting the many months and years before this!!!  But as they say, better late than never, right??  Would you like to take a little peek?  I would just like to point out quickly, that this is not the same as my altered book or my art journal.  Soooo.....you will see snippets of magazine pages, post cards, pieces of gift wrap that I love, and little bits that I find and love.  Some of the doodles are my own, but some of it is not....just things that inspire me and everyday stuff.  I journaled about the day we brought Elsie home....

Love my Iowa Native stickers that arrived in my Christmas stocking......

I found old newspaper and magazine articles that I had been hanging onto for a long time.....



Random pictures of things that make me happy...like my tokens of affection......

Snippets of funky gift wrap, and doodled pages waiting for my notes.......



Saved concert tickets from a favorite band....

and on the right, a postcard from Tara Ross, an artist I admire......

Doodly doodles....

A funny face that Lovin' Man drew for me to cheer me up....note the nose hair.....cracks me up!!!

Did you notice that I'm adding more color as we go along?  I thought you would.  (Smile.)

More to come soon.  Hope you had a great weekend!!!