Journal 15

So i have this obsession with journaling. 

I finished my most recent journal this morning, so this happened:

yup. those are all of them. so i decided to take some stats. 

12 journals over the past 10 years

7 handmade(decorated) 5 from a store

3 gifted:

•  The little black one with a picture of Jesus was from my fifth grade Sunday school teacher, Jennifer, I still love her.
•  The Deathly Hallows one was a Christmas present from Jonathan 2012, so thoughtful!
•  The little Gold one is second favorite. From my mama as a keepsake from the “Time Out for Women” where I helped Usher and register young girls.

and these are the decorated ones:

 oh, what's that there on the upper right side of my 2006 journal? a worn-out picture of Shaun White? hmm.
worn out with love and time,  i guess.

the other night Mallorie and i had a gooooood laugh at how i decorated these. haha. soooo cheesy.

and i wanted you to see the back side of this one, because it's cool, too. the day our pool opened!
 anyway.

10 normal journals 2 ‘blog books’ [one ordered online and one handmade,( the giant black one)]

Average number of pages per journal: 150

Average number of pages used for daily thoughts: 141

Average number of pages used of organization (table of contents, index, image pages, etc): 9

Most pages: 297, little gold journal (Mar-May 2013)

Fewest pages: 11, lime green (Jan 05 – Jan 06)

Average amount of time spanned in one journal: 1 year 9 months

Longest amount: 2 years 6 months 7 days (November ’09 – May ‘12)

Shortest amount: 2 months 16 days (March ’13 – May ‘13)

And some things about this journal specifically:

pages in journal: 158. 150 for thoughts and 6 for organization. which means there were two empty pages but there is no way i would mess up a number as nice as 150. tut tut.
Time spanned: June 03, 2013 - February 03, 2014. 8 months exactly.

I got the journal on May 18, 2013 in Nauvoo, Illinois on my Midwest trip to remember my experiences and the promises i made to myself that week.

it was "my 15th journal as Melissa Michiale Hansen" but only the twelfth journal i still have. unfortunately i don't know what happened to my teeny kid journals. what a shame.

And it's an interesting journal. haha. really happy and then devastated, and then barely legible scratching for confusion and comfort that turned into resolve. and then healing. and over time, content. and then finally happy again. It's bittersweet to look back over journals for me, because they're such personal journeys and i relive it all again when i brush through the pages. *sigh*

hahaha!
but shutting this one feels good. because it ended happy, and it's full of small acts of love that got me through a wild 8 months, haha.
It's a good story.

and in case you're wondering if you should start a journal: YOU SHOULD. no question. and if you don't know where to start, just list 3 simple things that made you smile that day.

1. The Sherlock series 3 Finale
2. playing the guitar
3. my mom came home from he store with strawberry greek yogurt


here's to new pages!