It has been a while. Like, a long while. When I wrote my last post, I didn't realize I would be taking a year-long break. But my family was in the middle of something life-changingly difficult, and I realized that I just couldn't balance everything. Some things had to be put on the back burner. And that was okay. Because now we've made it out to the other side, and things are good. And then some.
One thing I was able to keep up with, no, NEEDED to keep up with, was my bullet journals. I can't describe the amount of chaos these things help me sort through. And that's just for my own brain, let alone organizing an entire family. I use them for lists, planning, ideas, scheduling, finance tracking... everything.
For the past couple of years, I've kept more than one notebook. One, my Field Notes, goes with me everywhere. It is my base notebook, and I change it out on the first of every month. This thing is my organization hub. Every month gets a calendar and a loose theme, and sometimes a "font" if I'm feeling up to it. I have "weekly meetings" with myself where I create a landing page for the week where I write out our schedule, important things that need to be done, and sometimes a goal. I also keep my lists in this notebook. To-do lists, reading lists, supply lists, lesson plans, etc. It all sounds very organized, but every other page is filled with doodles and ideas and chaos. If I'm really on top of it I'll keep my index in order and it becomes a little guidebook to my life.
The other notebook is where bigger ideas are given space to exist. This is where I do my big monthly header images, like the ones you see above. This notebook is more free-form, and usually just lives at my home. I use it to plan out big projects, often ones that span over a few months. I have found that it's nice to have an over-arching notebook because ideas don't always get transferred between the monthly ones.
I discovered a few new things about my journaling needs this year. You'd think after 5 years I'd have a standard system, but I've found that my organization needs are always evolving. For example, this year I did a few Instagram-focused projects that used graphics and photos to communicate my ideas. I found that the easiest way for me to visualize and plan this was to actually draw out a grid in my notebook and then write what the posts would be within the grid, with notes to the side (the middle image is the best example). This helped me picture what it would actually look like when published.
I've already got my first notebook of 2023 ready to go, and I'm interested to see how my journaling will change this year. A lot more social media, because... well you'll see in a second, if you keep reading.
The most exciting news of our year is that our family has accomplished a dream that we have been talking about since before we got married: we are now the proud owners of Sword and Board Game Store. It's in a historic building in our beautiful downtown, and I love it there. It's decorated with the historic nature of the building kept in mind, and it has plenty of space to play the vintage board games we have lying around. We sell board games, both classic and new, Dungeons and Dragons equipment, Magic the Gathering and other card-collecting games, plus a variety of other table top entertainment stuff. It is a small slice of hobby heaven in our tiny town. You can check it out at our website: swoardandboardhavana.com or follow us on Instagram @swordandboardgamestore
