Random Journal Reunion

Can anyone tell me how we got to the last week of March so soon? Happy Spring everyone! And yet, it is still flurrying a little here this morning---which makes me perfectly happy, but I am well aware that I am in the .00001% of the world's population that actually appreciates the cold and snow...I know the rest of you are more than ready for some warmth, sunshine, and brighter, beautiful days. It's coming, it's coming--just hang in there!

So, this morning I am linking up with some great old friends from 'back in the day' for a Random Journal Day Reunion. My dear friend, Dawn Paoletta, from Enthusiastically, Dawn, has wrangled a bunch of us up once more to share some of our journal highlights and journeys like we used to do, and it's always joyful inspiration to see what these wonderful women have to share.

If you are not familiar with my journaling history--this was from a whole other blog I used to post on, I have been journaling for as long as I can remember. Journaling has transformed over the years, like everything else is wont to do with life. I've gone from basic diary writing, to art and prayer journaling, and for the past few years I've fallen head over heels for bullet journaling. I am a self-confessed journal/planner junkie and had been bouncing between three or four different books, calendars and planners to trying to keep track of my days when I discovered bullet journals and knew immediately this was something that would work for me. That was almost four years ago and I love how it's evolved and become my central focus point for organizing and staying on top of life. So, that's what I'd like to share here today, some pages from my current bullet journal and a little from another journal that stole my heart this year as well....Daphne's Diary (it's the cutest thing to happen to journaling EVER!!) But first, let's bullet:

I use a simple grid style journal--everyone has their own personal preference and the grids work great for me to block out my week, make check boxes for tasks, and I find the grids super helpful with lettering layouts which I love to play with. Below are a few recent weeks' pages--it's just super fun, extremely easy to personalize to what works for you, and open to all sorts of possibilities:

 

Finally, here is my most recent week's page with a sketched out layout for next week. I've penciled in a few notes and appointments. It's so much fun to watch the blank page come to life each week with color, lettering, doodles, stickers, washi--and it's an incredibly effective tool for tracking tasks, lists, goals and so much more--I love it!



THEN!! I discovered Daphne Diary's annual journal and had to have it! It is bright, colorful, fun--there's stickers, postcards, monthly mood trackers, coloring pages, and plenty of space to plan and play every day:



One of the monthly mood trackers--each month you designate a color to correspond
with a particular mood and color in each day accordingly--super cute and so much fun!

There's plenty of room for fun lettering and doodling.

A weekly layout--look at these beautiful pages!! So inspiring to work with every week!

Fun stickers from Create365 add easy beauty and great inspiration

February I created the theme No Fear February as an inspiration to push fear and self-doubt aside and to bring creative efforts to the front. March's theme is Make Magic March (I wish the glitter would show up better in the pics...so pretty) More motivation to be creative and play...

I love the bright colorful pages all through this book!

So these are my daily journals--I keep track of gratitude and health stuff mostly in Daphne's, then weekly appointments, homework, chores and such in the bullet journal. I do write daily morning pages in another journal, but that's more brain dumping rather than anything creative--just a way to vent, breathe and refocus. If you want more journal inspiration, click on over to Enthusiastically, Dawn for our reunion post and check out some other incredible journalers' blogs! And, by all means, if you're a journaler and feel inspired to link up and share, please do so!! We love finding new friends!

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

I realized I forgot to include two more reading challenges I'm taking on for the new year. First is the Ultimate PopSugar Reading Challenge for 2017 (they also have a Goodreads group you can join here) And the Grand World Of Books Bingo Challenge for 2017 (Who isn't a sucker for a bingo board, right?) I've printed out both of these challenges just for help determining what I need to read next and in no way to justify buying new books (hahahahahahaha) I'm so super excited to get started!

Today's plan is to power through and finish Leviathan Wakes by James A Corey. At just about 130 pages left, I have my work cut out for me--but I'm anxious to get started on Tolstoy's War and Peace. I've created a daily tracker for my bujo, allowing nine weeks to finish, though I hope to complete it in a month. Here's a quick pic of my tracker:

 

I color in each day's page goal as I finish it--a great visual to seeing how far I've read and how much more I have ahead of me yet.

I also whipped up a few bookmarks to track the titles I'll be reading for the new year:

 

First will be simply titles in order as I read each book, including my ratings up to five stars. A to Z will track titles alphabetically and the authors on the back--intending to read a title and author for each letter of the alphabet through the year. On the right is just a quickie bookmark to track titles that I made for a friend at work. I'm as much of a bookmark junkie as a book junkie! I think those addictions simply go hand in hand and it's a fun creative outlet making my own bookmarks for the year!

And finally, I think I've decided to also track my total pages read this time. I've never done that before and it'll be great to see what that grand total will turn out to be. Book Dragon's Lair is hosting a Pages Read Challenge, so signing myself up for that one as well! Why not, right?

Time to get reading!! What challenges are you taking on this year?