journal J, v. 2.0
all right, i’ll take the hint! several of you have written comments + emails asking for a more complete review of the somewhat exotic planner that i began using last year and have just replaced with an updated version [for the new academic year, of course!].
clearly, i am a fan of this little book, crossing my fingers for the second time as i hit ‘purchase’ on ebay [hoping it wouldn’t be lost in customs on its way over from korea]. luckily, it seems to have had an uneventful trip for the second year running. so here you go — for your planning pleasure!
grand tour
the front cover is sky blue [although there were several options available!] and made of a leatherette-covered cardboard. while not made to last forever, last year’s edition went EVERYWHERE with me and is still in pretty good shape.
diving in! the J opens with a yearly calendar page, which could be used for practically anything; i was boring and put down my already-determined 2012 call dates. of note, the paper itself is quite nice — smooth but not too slick, with a bit of a weight to it. using my beloved 0.4 mm hi-tec cs, there really isn’t any bleedthrough.
next come the monthly pages. i love that there is plenty of space on the left to write down any goals or projects for the month! july is currently blank, but i don’t plan on keeping it that way . . .
5 weekly spreads are in between each monthly page. that means that once in a while, there is an extra week [since months are really ~4.5 weeks each], and i leave those as seasonal planning pages. i am addicted to the ‘days on one side, blank space on the other’ format.
since i can’t write in consistent straight lines to save my life, i definitely appreciate the [new!] graph design on the opposite pages. those of you who are curious to how i use this space — click to zoom in!
after all of the monthly/weekly pages, there are two blank sections. the first is white, and i designated it the important info section. [numbers are partially blurred out for privacy protection . . . although anyone can feel free to add to our frequent flier accounts.]
i taped in my current 10 in 100 list to another page:
after a [not super useful to me] brief map section, there is a second blank/graph paper section. i love tracking ideas for books to read, movies to watch, music to check out, day trips to go on — etc! i may be a little bit crazy, but somehow this adds to the fun.
one new feature of this version is this little plastic sheath which is meant to be tucked in between the pages [the elastic that holds the planner together is attached, as is a pen-holder that i’ll probably never use]. inside are stickers [for marking the calendar pages and tabs], and i also threw in the russell + hazel sticky pad that i use for making daily lists on occasion.
all closed up — you can see the pen holder as well as the little red tabs marking each monthly calendar from the side:
to those of you wondering if this book has magic properties that allow me to get EVERYTHING i want to done — the answer is no. there are plenty of tasks that end up unfinished [and onto the next weekly page!], as well as workouts left undone and meals left uncooked. but beginning each beautiful week with the idea that it’s all theoretically possible?
priceless. or at least worth $19.
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6.26.11
workout: nada!
farmers market bounty
confession: the vegetables used in this dinner were from over a week ago!
thankfully, in buying things at the local market, i guess you get an extra few days of freshness! because i was able to use up last weekend’s beauties in last night’s dinner — and it was good.
garlic beans + greens [using kale] + roasted zephyr squash + asian red cabbage slaw inspired by this recipe
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