As I was saying to my sister earlier today, New Year’s Eve is not a holiday I love—too anticlimactic, too couple-y—but there’s something to be said for New Year’s Day. While the 80 degree weather here doesn’t quite facilitate quiet, cozy contemplation in the way a crisp snowstorm might, I spent the day relaxing and doing some future planning nonetheless. Orange cinnamon rolls for breakfast, a matinee showing of La La Land, backing up some photos and researching better overall storage and backup options, a drink with a friend. Not as productive as I’d planned, but nice.
I’m still trying to write down some 2017 goals, narrowing down my focus. Trying Susannah Conway’s 5 day email series to help choose a word of the year—I had great luck one year but haven’t been feeling it in recent years. But I have been feeling overwhelmed by day-to-day stuff lately while simultaneously kicking myself a bit for shifting my focus away from higher level goals and spending time the way I *really* want to. (less mindless phone time, more reading and writing, among other things)
So tonight, with Bonnie Raitt in the background, I bit the bullet (yeah, I said it) and jumped on the bullet journal craze.
bullet journal + pseudo-selfie
I’m only a little bit sheepish about the whole thing. Let’s see, an organizational system using a well made German notebook with grid or dotted pages, which comes in tons of colors (Amazon, JB Welly), made by a company with the motto “Details make all the difference”? This is like crack to me.
I went with Royal Blue this year for two reasons: I knew I wanted dotted pages, and my local bookstore carried only three colors in A5 dotted: Black (boring), Orange (too close to my Moleskine planners of past years), and Royal Blue. Wanting to start the new year with a notebook in hand, Royal Blue it was! But I was tempted online by the purple. And the red. And especially the army green. Thinking of excuses to buy it already.
There’s a lot of dogma around how a bullet journal *should* be formatted at the same time that it’s supposed to be all about the individual. Hmm. I have some ideas of how I might structure mine but am also listening in a bit on the Pinterest #bujo groupies and their (often way too elaborate) systems. If it’s something I can stick with and I find useful, cool. If it’s a way to use up some of my ever-growing art supply/paper product stash, even better. I’m trying to keep my expectations low at this point—but who knows, maybe I’ll be Instagramming my layouts in a few months.
(this seems unlikely)
One goal I know I have for this year: spend more time with a pen in my hand, whether that’s making lists and notes in my bullet journal, writing letters to friends, or writing more personal stuff in my painfully neglected journal. Jotting down quotes. Words I like. Making plans for the year to come. Remembering those little details (they make all the difference).
I like writing, photography, reading, music, design, typography, paper products, days in the seventies and sparkly snow, Spanish wine and cans of PBR. I spent a year in Córdoba, Spain, working as a 
