may photo journal ♥ day twenty-six ♥ patriotic

patriotic ...

And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free
And I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I'd gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
'Cause there ain't no doubt I love this land
God bless the USA

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Land of the free because of the brave...

Thank you to all the men and women who have given their lives in service to our country, 

to protect the people who call this blessed land home,

who gave up so much so that we could live our day-to-day lives

in safety, peace, quiet, and calm.

On this day, we remember your service and ultimate sacrifice.

For those who never returned home, our hearts are filled with gratitude to their families and loved ones for their sacrifice as well. We truly are the land of the free because of the brave.

And how thankful and proud I am to be an American. 

How grateful I am to call this place my home.

There is no other place I'd rather live than the good ol' U.S.A.!

❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙

M A Y ♥ book club chat & J U N E ♥ book choice

Well, dear reader friends, the time has come to discuss one of my all-time most very favorite books...

Because of Winn-Dixie.

This book brought me ever so much joy and friendship as an 11-year-old girl sitting all by myself in school, no friends in my class, feeling very much like I just didn't fit in. But one day, I opened this book and was welcomed into the friendship circle of Opal and Winn-Dixie. And this book has stuck with me ever since.

As an adult, some of the same things that I loved as a schoolgirl remain the same. The quaintness and heartwarming feel of the story. The cast of characters, who I'd love to know in real life. The sweet friendship and joy that a pet can bring. The magic of summertime. The way Opal felt out of place until she found "her people". 

All that still remains in my heart and is very much why I love this story.

But, there's more now that I'm a "grown-up". I absolutely love the generational friendships in this story. I love how children are seen as people who very much have something to bring to a friendship...and to the world. I love how the adults truly bring those children into their spaces and never once were they made to feel like a nuisance. I love that friendships can bloom at any old time and in any old place...and sometimes because of a dog. Because of Winn-Dixie.

I love how hopeful this story feels. I love how it reignites so many summertime memories of my own childhood. I appreciate the idea that friendship can happen between any people who have a common interest of getting to know one another and being there for the other. I love how this book always makes me crave egg salad sandwiches...with pickles on the side. I love how magical and utterly delightful this story feels. 

Truly, one of my all-time favorites, of any genre. Every time I read this, I am reminded why. 

And have you seen the movie? It's one of my summertime must watches...in fact, I may have to pull it out soon for an evening of comfort and coziness.

There isn't anything I don't love about this book...

it's such a special story, and I'm thankful and glad it fell into my 11-year-old hands. ♥

As for June's book choice, I've gone for a fun, summery cozy mystery set in Scotland. This is the second in a duology, but I haven't gotten to read the first yet, and it's no big deal. This is a standalone story and I'm having no problems reading it without having read the first.

Let me tell you a bit about it...

Fiona Knox thought she was pulling her life back together when she inherited her godfather’s cottage in Duncreigan, Scotland—complete with a magical walled garden. But the erstwhile Tennessee flower shop owner promptly found herself puddle boot-deep in danger when she found a dead body among the glimmering blossoms. One police investigation later (made a trifle less unpleasant by the presence of handsome Chief Inspector Neil Craig), and Fiona’s life is getting back on a steady, though bewitched, track. Her sister Isla has just moved in with her, and the grand opening of her new spellbound venture, the Climbing Rose Flower Shop in Aberdeenshire, is imminent.

But dark, ensorcelled clouds are gathering to douse Fiona’s newly sunny outlook. First, imperious parish minister Quaid MacCullen makes it undeniably clear that he would be happy to send Fiona back to Tennessee. Then, a horrific lightning storm, rife with terribly omen, threatens to tear apart the elderly cottage and sends Fi and Isla cowering under their beds. The storm passes, but then, Fi is called away from the Climbing Rose’s opening soiree when Kipling, the tiny village’s weak-kneed volunteer police chief, finds a dead body on the beach.

The body proves difficult to identify, but Kipling is certain it’s that of the parish minister. Which makes Fiona, MacCullen’s new nemesis, a suspect. And what’s worse, Isla has seemed bewitched as of late…did she do something unspeakable to protect her sister? The last thing Fiona wanted to do was play detective again. But now, the rosy future she’d envisioned is going to seed, and if she and Craig can’t clear her name, her idyllic life will wilt away in Death and Daisies, national bestselling author Amanda Flower’s second enchanting Magic Garden mystery.

.........................................................................

I'm currently in the middle of this book and let me tell you...I am L O V I N G it! It's such a fun mystery, and the characters and setting are so phenomenal. Plus, it's got a bit of magic, which always is a huge bonus for me. {{smiles}}

I'd love to have you read along with me in June. You can find used copies of this book on AbeBooks right here. And, of course, your local library may have a copy as well. If you're in the mood for a lighter mystery, this is the book for you!

The chat for June's book club will be on Thursday, June 26th. I'll announce July's book then as well.

Until tomorrow, happy reading!

Oh, and I almost forgot, I have updated my YouTube channel as a bookish channel. And I've got a short little trailer up with plans for a summer book recommendation video coming soon...this is something I've wanted to do for a long time, and I'm so excited to begin sharing bookish videos! If you have any suggestions or specific topics related to books and the reading life, please let me know. I'm all ears!

You can find my channel HERE or by simply clicking the "my reading nook" button at the top of this page.

may photo journal ♥ day twenty-three ♥ wellness

wellness ...

a few things I've found lifegiving recently along my wellness journey:

♥ fresh air and neighborhood walks...despite the mosquitoes that pester me nonstop (I do make a spray that helps tremendously, when I remember to put it on!), the sun beating down, and the rising summer temperatures, I am thoroughly enjoying getting some nature time each day, and am being very purposeful about it, too, as I find it very much a "must" for my wellness journey

♥ making and using essential oil roller blends...I absolutely love making new blends and learning and studying about oils as much as I can. I have about 5 different blends that I use daily, and they seriously bring so much to my wellness- physically, mentally, and emotionally.

♥ drinking iced herbal teas...as summertime is fast approaching, it's iced tea season. Down here in the South, iced sweet tea is a mainstay, but I don't dare drink that stuff anymore as it is loaded down with sugar. But summer wouldn't feel like summer for me without mason jars filled with iced tea, so I opt for the healthier herbal tea versions. Just herbal tea bags steeped in water and chilled with ice. Nothing added. Pure perfection.

♥ reading before bed...this is a habit I've been practicing for the better part of the last 16 years, and it's one of my most favorite times of the day. Settling into my bed, cozied up under a couple really soft blankets, a delightful book in hand...and another two or three next to me, depending what kind of bookish mood I'm in. 

♥ developing a skincare routine that works for my skin...at thirty years old, I'm finally figuring out what works best for my skin...it only took me about 15 years or so to figure that out. {{winks}} I've been trying this and that for years, and I'm trying out some new things now, and hoping that they all weave together nicely into a little routine that is practically perfect in every way. One thing I've learned is that skincare is a lot of trial and error, especially when you want to do it the most natural way possible. It's a learning journey all its own!

.........................................................................

Wellness is the complete integration of body, mind, and spirit-

the realization that everything we do, think, feel, and believe

affects our state of well-being.

~ Unknown ~

may photo journal ♥ day twenty-two ♥ bookstack

bookstack ...

“Books give a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” (Plato)

This is a post to celebrate reading and books and the stories they tell. Truth be told, for me, everyday is a little celebration of books and stories and the adventures and journeys I go on within the pages of a book. I’m an eclectic mood reader, so I never know which direction my reading life is going to take me. One day I may be solving a mystery and the next, I’m living vicariously through the pages of a book in some quirky small town in the mountains hanging out with a bunch of unique characters. I could be in England one day and pottering about the Southern coast of America the next. Reading is an adventure. It is, for me, a comfort, a companion, a delight, a necessity. I’m a physical book reader only…I need that feel of a book in my hands. I need to turn the pages, see books stacked and lined up on shelves and tables. I need to smell that unmistakable book scent. I need to feel my books in every sense of the word.

How thankful I am for books and for the authors who write the stories I love. They are magic makers, word weavers, and story tellers. I’m so thankful that I decided to delve into the world of fiction when I reluctantly tiptoed in nearly a decade ago. Now, I can’t imagine my life without stories!

The books featured in today's post are simply some of my favorites. These are pretty much all books I've talked about here many times before. But, even after all this time, when I stand in front of my bookshelves, and think about pulling a stack of my beloved favorites, these are still the ones I reach for. And, of course, now that I'm looking at these photos, I'm realizing that I forgot a few books that I really, really love. 

I could talk and write about books for days and days and days. 

But this post was just intended to be a little celebration of stories and the wonder of reading.

I'd love to hear 5 of your top favorite novels, so please share with me in the comments!

Have a wonderful weekend, lovely readers!

may photo journal ♥ day twenty ♥ haven

haven ...

my room. my quarters. my chamber. my lair. my space. my burrow. my hobbit hole. my haunt. my cave. my hideaway. my sanctuary. my hidey-hole. my nest.

my haven.

haven...a place of safety, comfort, and peace.

how thankful i am for my cozy little haven. how much it sparks J O Y every time I walk through the door. how much fun it is to make it into a space that feels, looks, and embodies little ol' me. 

i love my little space. it's where i go to read, ponder, write, create, relax, rest, and have a moment. it's taken me quite some time to find what felt like me when it came to my space. all through my teens and early twenties, i wasn't sure exactly what i wanted my space to be and feel like. as my twenties began to roll on and reach their end, it finally became clear...i wanted it to feel warm and cozy and like some place i never want to leave. i wanted it to have colors and textures that made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. i wanted it to reflect me in many different ways. and just like how i can't narrow down my interests or hobbies or passions to one or two, i don't need to narrow down my style to one aesthetic or color scheme or look...social media can make you begin to think that sometimes. i learned that i could embrace all the things i love and bring them into my space in various ways. and, finally, in my late twenties, something just clicked. i know just who i am and what i like and how i want my space to be.

i want it to be a haven that feels like i just stepped into a hobbit hole or a little hole in a tree where the mouse-folk of brambly hedge dwell or a bit like the weasley's burrow that feels all cozy and magical and warm inside. i want it to feel like a scrapbook, a collection of all the things that make me happy and that i love. i want it to be a place where i can just be me and where everything i love and delight in is held and shown in all sorts of ways, whether it be my patchwork curtains, my reading chair and the lumpy pillows on it, my desk and all the knickknacks on my shelves, or the hundreds of books that i have read and want to read. it's all me. and it suits me just right. it's a goldilocks sort of room. and i love it.

may photo journal ♥ day nineteen ♥ at the moment

at the moment ...

~ reading ~

I've been in a bit of a reading slump since mid-March and honestly have only read one or two books since then, which totally isn't like me. This is due to reading the same genre for about five books in a row and burning myself out, dealing with some stressful things that have gone on this spring, and having a bit of a hard time finding a book that clicks with me. At the start of May, I decided to try and get back to it...because I was really missing my reading time at that point. So, at the moment, I've got three books going. One is the first in a family saga trilogy set a decade after WWII, another is a cozy mystery with magical elements, and the third is a Southern fiction novel about friendship, starting over, and opening yourself up to goodness again. I'm really enjoying all three...thankfully. Here's hoping that keeps up!

~ watching ~

My sister discovered two new-to-her shows earlier this year and has since shared them with my mom and me...and now, we all love them. Definitely new favorites in our house. They are Monk and Psych. Both comedy-mystery-crime dramas, which is honestly everything I could want in a show. We're about halfway through each series and very much enjoying them.

~ listening ~

Spotify playlists continue to bring me much joy, both in creating them and finding just the right songs that I want for the feeling I'm going for, and then, of course, listening to them afterwards. Right now, I'm listening to a playlist I made that I named "my inner world". This is a playlist of all the gorgeous film scores that I've come to love over the last handful of years. And these arrangements and such are exactly what my inner world sounds like in my mind and in the depths of my soul. This playlist beings me endless joy and delight and I listen to it every chance I get. You can check it out here if you like. I like to put it on shuffle because I didn't want to take the time to arrange the film scores so that the songs from one movie or series weren't all together. I should have, but that is a ton of work. And the shuffle button works just as well. I highly recommend listening to this playlist whilst cooking dinner, baking bread or cookies, cleaning or organizing or tidying your home, working on a creative project, playing board games or cards, journaling, reading (if you can listen to music while reading), folding laundry, pretty much anything. These musical arrangements really take the most ordinary of moments and tasks and make them feel like some sort of magic just got sprinkled down over you...and that may be a bit over-dramatic, but that's truly how it feels for me. Oh, and don't forget to light a candle!

~ making ~

Over the weekend, my "making" was a whole bunch of meal and snack prep in the kitchen. I'm studying and learning from the Nourishing Traditions book, which is very informative and somewhat daunting, if I'm honest. This weekend, I made black beans using the method in the book of soaking overnight for an extended period of time and then cooking the next day. We also soaked a bunch of raw peanuts, and they are currently in the dehydrator for a very, very, very long time...maybe up to 24 hours according to the recipe. Some are going to be for snacking and the rest are for homemade peanut butter. And that, I'm super-duper excited about! I also made an incredibly delicious soup for dinner on Sunday. I doubled the recipe so we'd have lots of leftovers for lunches throughout the week. It's a cauliflower-based broth with chicken and veggies. It is seriously divine!

~ words ~

I am rooted, but I flow.

(Virginia Woolf)

I stumbled upon that quote last week and it's been on my mind ever since. I'm a firm believer in being rooted and living a rooted life. In today's world of nomadic lifestyles and very much nonrooted living, in every sense of the word---morally, physically, mentally, emotionally, you name it--- my belief of being rooted gets reiterated just about every single day. Sometime I want to share my thoughts on this rooted life thing, but I know it will definitely be against the cultural norm and modern value system, so I am a bit hesitant to share. But I also know that several of you have so kindly reached out when I've shared my thoughts on rooted, gentle living in the past and shared how much you believe that yourself, so I know there are indeed kindred spirits out there. Let me know if that's something you'd like to read about. I will tell you it definitely goes against the hustle culture, more-is-better belief, constant travel (especially international) lifestyle, nomadic/don't have an address/live in a bus or RV trend, ultra-materialistic/consumerist and inauthentic tendencies of today and such.

Do share your "at the moments" with me in the comments below!

Until tomorrow...

may your Monday be filled with beauty at every turn!

may photo journal ♥ day eighteen ♥ delight

delight ...

You can imagine my utter delight when I discovered our pink rose bush in bloom a few days ago. These roses are SO huge...almost as big as my hand. I haven't really seen too many roses this huge before. And truth be told, we had no idea these were so large when we planted them a few years back. It was quite a surprise when it bloomed for the first time...so full and gorgeous.

Delightful, indeed.

may photo journal ♥ day seventeen ♥ sparks J O Y

sparks J O Y ...

hot chocolate in the evening...I usually don't make it so decadent, but I was feeling in the mood for a bit of freshly whipped cream and a spoonful of mini chocolate chips on top. It was divine!

This may be a bit weird, but one of life's little pleasures I'm unashamedly obsessed with is seeing lights on inside homes from the windows, especially little lamps lit in windows. There are few things in the world I find as cozy and as homey as this. In the photos in this post, I was walking up our driveway from doing some yardwork and noticed how charming and welcoming our kitchen window looked with the light dimmed and our twinkle lights on the shelf. One of my favorite things to notice in the evenings, whether I'm on a walk or in the car, is the gentle glow of light coming from windows of people's homes...it's such a comforting sight.

I recently completely redecorated my bedroom. I didn't buy anything new or add anything different. I simply took everything down from my walls and shelves and just redecorated with the same things. It's made my room feel refreshed and I love it. My mom and sister helped me out quite a lot with hanging my shelves, which is definitely NOT a one-person job, and with arranging the frames on my walls. Even though it was such a simple project, using what I already had, it was such a fun thing to do and made me feel creative and inspired all over again.

Another thing that's sparked joy in my life is continuing my self-studies of herbalism, aromatherapy, and holistic wellness. This has been an ongoing interest of mine for years now, but it's only been in the last couple of years that I've really begun studying it through some online courses and videos as well as reading different material...and it brings me endless joy. I recently made a batch of our very favorite medicinal salve, which is always a fun afternoon project for me. Do let me know if you'd be interested in me sharing about herbalism, aromatherapy, holistic wellness, and things like that. It's one of my biggest passions!

What's been sparking J O Y in your life lately?

may photo journal ♥ day sixteen ♥ baking

baking ...

This week I baked two loaves of our very favorite Japanese milk bread...one for us and one for our neighbors. Oh, it was such fun doing all the folding and rolling up of the little dough balls. This is one of the recipes in my collection that I love "playing with" the most.

What have you baked recently?

 

may photo journal ♥ day fifteen ♥ relax

relax ...

"Having a home where you can relax without ever wanting to escape is truly underrated. I love my space and being in it."

~Unknown

may photo challenge ♥ day thirteen ♥ writing

writing ...

a wildflower...

someone who is a free spirit. uncultivated by the mainstream.

independent thinker. bravely growing wild and free in a world

plagued by conformity. unconventional. unafraid to be yourself. 

not easily influenced by societal norms and trends. 

not overly influenced by mainstream opinions or ideas, 

but rather, they remain true to themselves.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

She was the kind of girl that never quite fit in...

She's a wildflower

 🌸🪻💮🌼🪷🌷🌺🌻

may photo journal ♥ day twelve ♥ wonder

wonder ...

 As I stood in the grass, mosquitoes swarming me and the sweet, intoxicating scent of honeysuckle circling round me, I looked up. I was encircled by nature. The gentle, kind, ancient ways of nature. Trees and only trees. Green, bright, deep, vivid, green. Lush, full, thick...a forest of trees everywhere I look. Bits of sky peeping through, and glimmers of sunlight shining through the leaves dancing int he breeze. 

I'm thankful to live under a canopy of green. Whenever I look up, I nearly only see green, with teeny bits of blue sky and puffy clouds poking through. I don't mind one bit being covered and surrounded and within nature. It's peaceful, it's quiet, it's calming, it's healing. It's comforting and lifegiving. It's beauty and magic and wonder all tied together. It's home.

Today, my hope for you is that you will take a moment and go out into nature, whatever that looks like where you call home. Look up and close your eyes. Breathe in and breathe out...slowly. Let that gentle kindness of nature fill you from the inside. Open your eyes and notice what's above you. Drink it in, soak it up, savour every tiny bit of it. Be filled with gratitude for the utter beauty and peacefulness of it all. This, this right here...this is what it means to encounter the magic of an ordinary moment. And you, yes you...you get to be a part of it. What a wonder!

Come back here and tell me...what did you see when you looked up?

may photo journal ♥ day ten ♥ nature wandering

nature wandering ...

One thing I've really been trying to add to my daily life in the last few months is going for *at least* one walk each day. The benefits of walking are beyond measure, as you probably well know. Just look it up online and read for two minutes and you'll be convinced to get walking as soon as possible. I find it not only beneficial to my physical health, but also to my mental health and wellbeing. Let me just say, I can feel it if I haven't walked in a day or two. 

My favorite place to walk is outdoors surrounded by nature. We live in a suburban neighborhood, however, there are lots of wooded areas all around where we live. We often see creatures and critters that definitely aren't the norm for a neighborhood setting, as they come from deep in the woods for a little adventure. And, despite being in a neighborhood, we still have lots of nature all around us. Our neighborhood streets are full of trees of different kinds, all blooming with various colors and showing off different tones in the autumn. And in the summer, it's lusciousness everywhere I look with everything in different shades of deep green. Then when it snows in the wintertime, everything is covered in sparkling white and it's so shiny, you have to wear sunglasses just to be able to see clearly.

In our own garden, we have an assortment of trees and bushes that bloom and give off loads of color. Some we don't even know what they're called. But others, we're quite familiar with. And dogwoods are one of them. At our previous house, our next-door neighbor had a gorgeous dogwood right in her front yard. It was the first time had, knowingly, come across one. Every spring, I looked so forward to the creamy white flowers that would pop out of the branches. I'd make my way over to her yard with my camera for an afternoon photo session of them...she didn't mind one bit. And in the autumn, we'd admire their ruby red leaves from across the way. You can imagine our sheer delight upon discovering we had our own dogwoods in the yard of our new home the spring after we moved in. It was a grand surprise!!

The only problem is that the previous owners cut them in a funky manner so now they're super tall and only bloom at the very top. I had to jump up and grab the branches you see in these photos and have my sister hold them in place while I held my camera...it was quite amusing. 

My sister learned several years ago that there both white and pink dogwoods. I've only ever seen white ones up close and personal. I think I've spotted a pink one or two whilst out running errands, but for all I know, they could have been some other similar looking tree. I'm not sure which one I'd love more...pink or white. Either way, dogwoods are one of my most very favorite.

What do you delight in encountering in nature? Have you discovered the wondrous benefits of going for a daily walk? Share your thoughts with me!

Have an absolutely lovely weekend, dear readers! ♥

may photo journal ♥ day nine ♥ craft

 

craft ...

For Christmas, my mom and sister got me several different crafting kits of various kinds. One of my goals this year is to try out different types of crafting in hopes of seeing what fits and suits me...and what I enjoy most. So far, I am loving needlepoint. This kit is so much fun and it's safe to say I'm obsessed with this type of creative project.

What have you been crafting lately?

may photo journal ♥ day eight ♥ rules for life

rules for life ...

Drink lots of water and herbal tea. Eat balanced, nourishing, whole foods meals. Treat myself with healthy, earth-sweetened baked nibbles. Cook and bake from scratch. Listen to music whilst cooking and make it a whole experience. Wash my face with soft, gentle goat's milk soap. Roll essential oils on daily and nightly. No excuses. Do breathing techniques. Be diligent with my anti-stress exercises. Focus on good sleep. Keep to a gentle nighttime rhythm. 

Read a good book before bed. DNF any books that I'm not absolutely loving. (That goes for pretty much everything else, too.) Watch shows and movies that I enjoy. Listen to music that gives me all the feels. Journal. Craft. Create. Sew. Take photos. Go on long drives through the country. Visit little free libraries regularly. Roam the library and peruse the shelves, just for fun. Wear clothes that feel good on my skin and make me feel good in my body. Spend less time online, especially on social media and reading the news. Be strict about that, too. Continue making our home a haven and a place of beauty, happiness, magic and whimsy, cozy comforts, laughter and fun, peace and calm. And have fun doing it, too!

Take walks. Sit outside. Breathe in the fresh air. Drink in the healing power of nature. Feel the rain. Smell the honeysuckle and roses. Notice little critters on leaves. Listen to the nighttime symphony of grasshoppers and crickets and frogs. Look for magic. Pay attention. Savour. Live, do, and be authentic to my truest self. Laugh a lot. Rekindle the spirit of my younger, little girl self. Practice gentleness towards myself, even in the smallest, most "meaningless" ways. Only say yes to what suits me.

What are some of your rules for life?

may photo journal ♥ day six ♥ outside my window

outside my window ...

One of my most favorite things about my room is the view...especially in the spring and summer months. As soon as the leaves start filling out the tress, I have a green haven right outside my window. And despite living in a neighborhood with next door neighbors, I have pretty much 100% privacy. It's an introvert's dream! I love looking out my window and seeing nothing but green....no houses, no people, no roads, no cars. Just nature. Yes, please and thank you. Our kitties love our windows, too, as there are tons and tons of squirrels and birds and the occasional wild turkey flock that come visit out garden daily. We say that our windows are like a big screen TV for a cat, and they have so much fun perched on the windowsills looking out to see what they see. As 100% indoor, house cats, that's about as much nature excitement as they get...aside from when we put a bird video on the TV from YouTube. {{smiles}}

Do tell me...how are you doing? Are you enjoying a lovely spring where you live? Let's chat!

may photo journal ♥ day five ♥ in my mug

in my mug ...

In my mug today was a delicious elderberry tea with a teeny bit of raw honey. I've had a sore throat thanks to our weather temps going up and down. And I've been in and out a lot lately, doing lots of yard work, and my temperature hasn't been the most regulated because of that. So now, I've got a slight sore throat...it's completely minor compared to when I had the flu in February. Thankfully. But I am doing a couple of things to take care of it, including drinking tea with honey and slathering myself in Thieves essential oil.

Enjoy simple things with total intensity. Just a cup of tea can be a deep meditation.

~ Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh ~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

What's been your go-to tea as of late? Please share your favorite tea recommendations!

may photo journal ♥ day four ♥ journal-keeping

journal-keeping ...

For today's prompt, I am allowing you into my journal for a little peek inside. A couple years back, I shared a glimpse inside my previous journal. That journal is filled up and the cover won't even lay flat anymore...it's so full of stickers, cutouts, papers, etc. You can check that out here, if you're interested.

My previous journal was just a completely random conglomeration of a bunch of different things. There wasn't any specific meaning or purpose behind any of the pages, other than the fact that I was simply putting pages together that I liked. My new journal, which is featured here today, is something I am being a bit more intentional about. This is a journal that I wish to be very personalized to me and my heart and soul and my loves and interests and all the things that bring me happiness and spark magic and whimsy in my life. I am going about this journal much slower than I did the first, as I am being very particular about what I want on each page.

In this journal, I want it to be and feel and look like "me". I'm choosing quotes or bookish excerpts that I either relate to very much or ones that speak to my heart and soul in a special way. I want words that reflect me, even if I'm not the one who originally wrote them. The above spread is my latest addition, and it features a quote that I came across that spoke directly to my soul.

It's no secret that I'm a lover of stickers...it's quite obvious when you look inside my journals. I have grown a collection of stickers that feel like me, and I love choosing just the right ones to put on each page. And, as you can see, the page on the left is still a work in progress. Previously, it would have driven me crazy to leave a page "undone"...I simply would not have done it. But now, I'm going at this journal in a very laid-back, leisurely, no-pressure sort of way. It's one way I'm practicing being gentle with myself.

Journaling, for me, has become one of the coziest hobbies and ways to nurture myself. I find that there are few things as wonderful as putting on a comfort movie or show of mine and sitting down with all my journal supply boxes out on the coffee table and couch and just have an hour or two of relaxing fun in the evening. It's a good way to settle down before bed, at least for me. {{smiles}}

Along with this journal, I keep several bookish journals (each one for a specific purpose), as well as a couple hodgepodge-y sorts of journals. I find that there is no way I would be able to keep just one at a time, and it's fun to bounce around to this one or that depending on my mood. It keeps me feeling creative, and that is a good thing for me.

What sorts of journals do you keep? I'd love to hear about your journal-keeping!

may photo journal ♥ day three ♥ inspiration

inspiration ...

One of the ways I have found to nurture myself and to practice gentleness towards myself is by reading picture books...by truly immersing myself in a beautiful storybook. I have a growing collection of titles in a basket, both for me to enjoy and be inspired by now, and for my future children one day to grow up loving.

I truly believe that adults can be inspired, nurtured, and taught by storybooks. I believe they are incredibly lifegiving and a gentle way to be reminded of some of life's most important things and be filled with meaningful value. Storybooks are one of my greatest inspirations...I adore the stories. And the illustrations just take them over the top for me.

Two of my favorite illustrators are Jan Brett and Wendy Anderson Halperin. I am working on growing my collection of any works of theirs I come across. They truly create worlds with the gorgeous artwork they put into a storybook. I am mesmerized with every page I turn as I savour the littlest details on each and every page. Seriously, they are the kinds of illustrations you wish you could just jump right into!

My favorite picture books are ones about my most favorite things...home, family, domestic details, nature, seasonal living, life's simple pleasures, old-fashioned charm and values, morals and virtue, magic and whimsy and beauty, imagination and wonder, both in word and art. The ones featured in these photos are some of my newest discoveries...and I am obsessed with each one of them. I borrowed them all from my library, but you can be assured that they have all gotten written down on my list of books to keep my eyes open for when I'm out and about at used bookshops, rummage and garage sales, and little free libraries. These are some real gems, and no matter your age, I highly recommend them. 

What are some of your favorite picture books? Or storybooks authors and/or illustrators? Please share, because I'd love to learn about some new ones to check out!