Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Bullet Journaling

Bullet Journaling is a fantastic system for capturing and organizing all your various lists and thoughts. Getting things out of your head and onto paper really helps to clear your mind so you can prioritize and focus on what needs to be done right now. One of the best features of the system is that it is entirely adaptable to your needs once you learn the basics. I first heard about Bullet Journaling on the Pen Addict podcast. Brad and Myke interviewed Ryder Carroll, the inventor of the Bullet Journal system, in episodes 70, 124, and 255. Brian Goulet also interviewed him last year.

If you haven't been to Ryder's website and watched the intro video yet, it's a great place to start to get the basics:
http://bulletjournal.com/
https://www.youtube.com/user/RyderCarroll

My friend Sarah put together a wonderful BuJo 101 presentation here.

Ryder's TED talk is very inspirational. Sit down with a notebook and take some notes!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym6OYelD5fA&t=3s

After that, I'd recommend BohoBerry for beautiful layout ideas:
https://www.bohoberry.com/
https://www.instagram.com/boho.berry/
https://www.instagram.com/tinyrayofsunshine/

My favorite markers for BuJo:
Sakura Pigma Micron markers
Staedtler Triplus Fineliners
Paper Mate Flair

Boho Berry's favorite pens:
Faber Castell PITT Artist Pen
Tombow Dual Brush Pens

Some good notebooks:
Rhodia (very fountain pen friendly)
Leuchtturm (has numbered pages, saves time if you want to use an index)
Traveler's Notebook (flexible system that allows you to use separate books)

Here is my system.

I have separate books for work and home. It would be useful to have everything in one book if I worked at home and didn't have to transport things back and forth, or if I were a student and "home" was an extension of school. But for my week, it's easier to leave my home book at home and my my work book at work. I use email as the link between them. If I'm at work and I think of something I need to do that night or that weekend, I write myself an email with the task as the subject line and nothing in the body so that I can move those things into my weekend list. If it is something I can do quickly when I get home then I just do it, archive the email, and don't even bother writing it down. For me, this is all about efficiency. Less time capturing and organizing my lists means more time getting things done.

One thing that is helpful is deciding what you do NOT need to track or list. Some people list absolutely everything - wake up, brush teeth, make bed, dishes, etc. Last year, when I started bullet journaling, I decided there were certain things I did not need to list out. There are some things I know I will do every day and writing it down would just be a waste of time for me, i.e. everything I wrote above. This keeps my to do list short and purposeful.

These are Ryder's recommended symbols for tasks, events, and notes, but you can use whatever works for you:

dot = task
x = completed
> = migrated
< = scheduled
- = note
o = event
strikethru = irrelevant (or no longer relevant)
* = priority signifier

(snapshot from the Bullet Journal app)


Here's how I do it: 
  • Strikethrough = complete
  • Double Strikethrough = removed from list
  • Strikethrough with arrow at the end = migrate

At home I use a regular size Traveler's Notebook. It sits on my kitchen counter and it's always open to my weekly list. A Traveler's Notebook is a system that allows you to put multiple notebooks into one soft leather cover. My TN has 3 inserts: the first is a place where I can write down cute stories about the kids, the next one is my "currently inked" log from Pen Habit, the third is my actual to do list. I use one spread per week. The left is usually blank except for random notes or side-lists that need to get categorized later such as letters to write or a packing list. On the right side is always my to do list for the week. I don't do the month at a glance or future log like a real bullet journal because I find that's redundant to my google calendar. My main use for this journal is to collect through the week what I need to do that weekend, and that's really it.

My favorite TN inserts are: 
TN Refill 013 - 128 pages of blank 52gsm Tomoe River paper, lasts forever! 
Goulet Refills - 52gsm and 68gsm Tomoe available in dot grid, lined, blank
Currently Inked log from Pen Habit
Zipper Pocket

At work I use a Hobonichi Weeks. I love the layout for work. On the left I write out my major meetings, reviews, deadlines, or events and on the right is my task list for the week. Short and sweet and focused. At the end of each week I "migrate" what didn't get done over to the next week. It is handy to quickly be able to look back at 4-5 weeks of crossed off lists to see what I accomplished that month or what took up the most time. The Hobo is Tomoe River paper, so it's fountain pen friendly.

I really enjoy looking at all the beautiful bullet journals in my instagram feed on a daily basis. But I tried doing that in my Leuchtturm once and it took so long that I decided it was not for me. My work planner (Hobonichi Weeks) already has a built in layout that's perfect for me and my home system is only 1 page per week. I also use google calendar for appointments. I tried the bujo habit tracker once and that just made me crazy. It's so important to try different things and do what works for you. It took me a good year to figure out the system that works for me and my life.

I love the copper clips from The Container Store. The page flags are Happy Planner accessories from Hobby Lobby.

Cover of my Traveler's Notebook

Currently Inked Log

Layout for Home

Hobonichi Weeks for Work


 


Saturday, January 6, 2018

Fountain Pens

I just love introducing friends to fountain pens! I've always been into stationery and pens, but only recently got into this hobby.

The journey started for me in fall 2015. I was looking for a new journal and talking with Mitch about types of paper. He asked me if I had heard of Tomoe River paper, which led to a review on the Pen Habit, which led to Leigh Reyes videos, which led to Goulet Pens YouTube channel.... and down the rabbit hole I went! It's funny because Mitch had showed me his Safari several years earlier and I wasn't interested at the time. I thought it was "scratchy" and told him I preferred my ballpoints. 😜 

As with so many things, Mitch was waaaaaay head of me. But when I finally gave it another shot, I fell hard. The first taste is free...

So now that I'm two full years into the hobby, plus change, with a small collection of fountain pens and over 100 inks, my favorite thing to do is get other people started. Here is a collection of where to start. I guess I should back up and talk about what is a fountain pen, how does it work, what types of nibs are there, and so on... but others have already done that so much better than I ever could. Instead I would point you to this gem...

The hobby doesn't HAVE to be expensive. With just $10 you can get a pen and ink. But I like to start people out with the Pilot Metropolitan because it is basically perfect. It is a smooth writer. It will probably be the smoothest writing experience you have ever had if you've only used standard office supply ballpoints. It has a good amount of weight to it, so it feels like an expensive pen, not cheap plastic. It has a snap cap which is nice and easy to use (rather than a cap that unscrews) and you don't have to worry about it leaking in your bag. It can be fully disassembled which makes it easy to clean and swap out nibs. It has 3 types of nibs including "italic" which instantly improves the look of your handwriting. They come in a wide array of colors. I started out with a black one and a white one, and now I have 6 of them. Like I said about the first taste...

Good starter pens:
Pilot Metropolitan - $20
Pilot Plumix - $11
Jinhao x750 - $7
Fountain Pen Revolution, starts at $9 for flexible nib
Pilot Parallel - $10 <-- can probably find at Michael's or art store
Kaweco Sport - $20-25 for the plastic ones
LAMY Safari - $25
Noodler's Konrad was my first flex pen - $40
Other starter pens

Online Shops:
Goulet Pens
Anderson Pens
Vanness Pens
Jet Pens

Brick and Mortar Store:
Dromgoole's in Rice Village, new youtube channel! 

Paper:
Nanami Paper (Tomoe River)
Traveler's Notebook (this is a whole rabbit hole in itself, will need a separate post)
Hobonichi (planners)
Field Notes (not always fountain pen friendly, but check out their awesome videos!!!)

Stationery Podcasts:

Favorite Pen People: 
Pen Addict, blog, instagram, twitter, podcast
Pen Habit, blog, youtube
Gourmet Pens, instagram, blog, youtube
The Well-Appointed Desk, instagram, blog
Leigh Reyes, instagram, blog, youtube
Goulet Pens, blog, instagram, youtube
Inkdependence, youtube
Hand Over That Pen, blog
SBRE Brown, youtube
The Nib Smith, youtube

Inks:
There are well over 500 fountain pen inks on the market today. As of this post, I have sampled 102 inks. The nice thing about ink is that a sample costs a dollar or two and you can get quite a few pages of writing with just a couple milliliters. So every couple months I buy a dozen or so and if I really like it, I buy a bottle. On the BYOB podcast they talked about a good technique for deciding whether to buy a bottle: if you're sad when your sample runs out then you should buy it. My ink drawer is currently full, so I'm trying not to buy any more bottles. We'll see how long I can hold out. 

Warning! ONLY use fountain pen ink in your fountain pen. Do not use calligraphy ink or india ink or anything else. 

My first ink was Noodler's Texas Black Bat which is a custom ink made for Dromgoole's fountain pen store in Rice Village, Houston. You can't go wrong with Iroshizuku or Sailor inks. Diamine has some very bold colors and shimmering (sparkly) inks. Robert Oster has some very interesting high-sheen colors. I like inks that have interesting properties like sheen, shading, or sparkle. There are just too many things to cover in this post, so I'll leave you with a couple pictures. 

Many pens come with a "cartridge" which is a plastic tube that holds ink. These are convenient, but they come in more of the basic colors. You can't buy every color in a cartridge. To really open up the whole range of inks available, you need a "converter" which allows you to use bottled ink, or samples, in your pen. There are a couple types out there. The Pilot Metro has a "squeeze" converter that works like a plastic eyedropper. You squeeze the converter, stick the pen in the ink, then let go and it sucks up the ink into the sac. There is also a piston type of converter which uses a plunger. You twist it so that the piston is all the way down, put the pen in the ink, then twist the opposite direction to pull the piston and the ink up into the pen. These are nice, too, but more difficult to clean. So I prefer the squeeze converters when available. Some pens have built in mechanisms (like the TWSBI piston filler) so you don't always get a choice.

When I buy inks, I like to sample them on my Col-o-ring ink testing book. I write the name of the ink with a glass pen so that I can quickly get through a lot of inks. Then I use a q-tip to swab the sample. Then I have a handy, visual catalog of every ink I've tried. Sometimes I also put the swabs in a traveler's notebook or currently inked log



This is enough info for one post, but I have many more things I could talk about: stationery accessories, bullet journaling, dip pens, types of calligraphy, traveler's notebooks, more on inks, pencils (that's another whole story)... let me know what you'd like to hear about! Thanks for reading! 

Tuesday, January 2, 2018

2017 in Review

January
  • Degas at the MFAH and Mi Luna for dinner
  • Baby shower
February
  • Cora was born!
March through May
  • Game of Thrones concert
  • Stained the fence and did the spring gardening
  • Easter family pictures
  • Lots of fun stay-at-home mom activities
June
  • Back to work
July
  • 4th of July staycation 
August
  • Trip to Fredericksburg 
  • Solar Eclipse
  • Hurricane Harvey
  • Elissa moved to big girl bed
Harvey stats from Clear Creek Community Church
  • 2500 volunteers cleaned out 1500 homes
  • $1M donated to Harvey Relief Fund
  • 1900 loads of laundry
  • Many CCCC families are still housing displaced families and meals are being provided to the host homes
September
  • Miss Sarah asked Elissa to be her flower girl next June!
  • Swing Dancing at Rice University
October
  • Pumpkin Patch pictures
  • Astros won the World Series! 
November
  • Marriage conference at church
  • New nephew was born
  • Family for Thanksgiving
  • Elissa turned 3
December
  • Mitch led us through our first family Advent devotional
  • Snow in Houston
  • STAR WARS!!
  • Cora's first airplane ride
  • Christmas with Colorado family
  • Cora can crawl, wave, shake her head "no", clap, pull up to standing, and cruise!
Books Read in 2017
  • Grace Based Parenting, Tim Kimmel
  • Loving the Little Years, Rachel Jankovic
  • Missional Motherhood, Gloria Furman
  • My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers
  • Uninvited, Lysa TerKeurst
  • Field Guide for Everyday Mission, Ben Connelly
  • Revenge of the Analog, David Sax
  • A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle
  • Almost finished: Give them Grace, Elyse Fitzpatrick
  • Almost finished: Reflections on the Psalms, C.S. Lewis
  • Started: A Game of Thrones, George R. R. Martin

Sunday, December 28, 2014

2014 in Review

What a year! Here are some highlights:

  • Natalie:
    • Turned the big 3-0 in January
    • Completed her second half marathon in February
    • Sold her Neon and bought a new "mom car"
  • Mitch:
    • Climbed Long's Peak with his brother! 
    • Got his CrossFit Level 1 certification
    • Started coaching 3x a week at OSFX
    • Completed first Tough Mudder - and enjoyed it?!
  • Lots of friends had babies: Emily, Brittany, Kristin, Aimee, Megan, and soon Sara!
  • Lots of trips!
    • Florida in January
    • Colorado in February
    • Camping at Enchanted Rock in May
    • CrossFit Regionals in San Antonio and Texas Hill Country Wineries in May
    • Mexico in July
    • Colorado in August
  • Work:
    • Boeing won the largest portion of the Commercial Crew contract
  • Weddings: 
    • Dylan and Mary in January
    • Dan and Rachel in August
  • Books read:
    • Dude, You're Gonna be a Dad
    • Classic Christianity
    • Sequencing
    • Womanly Art of Breastfeeding
    • Your Pregnancy Week by Week
    • Excellent Wife
    • Cherish the First 6 Weeks
  • Baby Preparation:
    • Transformed the "junk room" into a nursery
    • Completed Lamaze Class
    • Completed all the pre-baby scrapbooks and photo albums
    • Wonderful baby showers from church friends, work, and gym
Of course, the biggest highlight of them all was meeting our daughter last month. Our lives will never be the same! Merry Christmas and Happy 2015!