More Traveler's Notebooks

I'm so thankful I don't do drugs...or ever got into using them.  I have an addictive personality (I come by it naturally...my mom had it too). This "addictive personality" causes me to jump all in to new things. Or things I think I might not remember to find again. Yes, that's right "remember" to find again. I will often over purchase certain things because I think I won't remember where I got them. Which is completely ridiculous. And, the best part, I know when I'm in an addiction.

Hi. My name is Jennifer. And I'm addicted to Traveler's Notebooks.

I think I've mentioned that I have 58 12X12 3 ring binder scrapbooks. Each scrapbook contains between 50 -90 pages. Just stop for a moment and think about that.  That's a ton...literally...of books. No one looks at them unless I drop one in their lap. I long since came to grips that these books that I put so much work into would likely get tossed when I die. The Niece may keep some, but that's a lot to keep.

So, enter Traveler's notebooks. They're small 8X4 books. You can put 6 of them in a small photo box. Easier to store. Easier to view. And just less. (I like the idea of less).

I've finished 4 of them in two weeks. One for the month of August. Which I loved. One for the story of my first 50 years. This one will go into my "Planner" book that has all my information for when I die (and no I'm not planning on going anywhere any time soon. I'm just planning.).

The second two are 1 for 2018 book clubs and 1 for 2018 Sunday dinners. So nice and compact.

Then last week I had an epiphany. Why not tear apart some of my early scrapbooks and convert them to Traveler Notebooks?

That's big. That's taking something I did in the early years of scrapbooking, tearing them apart and redoing them. But if it were more compact and more available, would we glance at them more often? Taking in those memories and reliving some of my best years?

So I did it. I tore apart the year 2000 and the year 2002 books. What I found was a conundrum.

There are people in these books whom I no longer talk to. People who, for whatever reason, kicked me to the curb.  Do I include those photos? I didn't do much journaling back then, but can remember most of the stories. Truthfully, some of the people I really don't want to include. Yet, they have made me who I am in an odd way.

This is what I decided. I'd keep all the photos. Scan them. I'd keep as much of the page as I could to reuse the items.  And as I built new pages, I'd decide which photos to keep and which to toss. But since I'll have them in digital form it's not like I'm tossing them permanently.

So...here are some examples of before and after.

This was NYE 2001. I  kept the noise maker and the tickets from that night. Neither of them really weathered well ... so I tossed them. There are people in these photos who kicked me to the curb. Kippi - who was a good friend - just stopped talking to me. No conversation. No nothing. It hurt to be sure. The second was Catharine Click. She was a former boss and, I thought, a good friend. She too kicked me to the curb. Though she changed her name and disconnected from everyone in her life.

 

I got rid of most the people I don't speak to any more. One person in the photo is an ex boyfriend and I feel he's part of the story and should stay in the photo. The other guy is still a friend. And while we don't see each other often, we do still keep in touch.

This next one is of Blueberry's and Mike's birthday. The two share the same day and we used to celebrate the two together. This particular year we went o The Crab Pot.

 

I kept he crab and the pot because I thought myself quite clever for putting those together. And it was an element I could use again. Same situation as above though, some of the people in these photos I haven't spoken with in person for a long time. I like how this one turned out and how simple it really is.

 Last on, maybe. In 2002 I ended up in the hospital with blood clots. I left room to journal but never did. It was a serious time and I was in for 5 days. Family and friends came to visit in regular intervals. (The ex mentioned above...? He never came to see me in the hospital. See why he's an ex?)

This one had a story to tell and without journaling I felt I was missing that story.  Mom and Dad dropped everything and flew up. Sister and her family came up from Oregon. And of course, Blueberry was there almost every day. She brought me food...which is why she's my best friend. She knew I wouldn't be happy with the hospital food and brought me something worthy.

I loved the little stickers I used on this layout, but they were not able to be reused.

 

I found this little pill container with a face on it and little pills with faces too. I thought they were so cute and I knew they'd fit into this layout.

Ok, Last one!

I had two layouts of our cats. One was of Muffin (Blueberry's cat) and Pookie. The two were spoiled rotten.

This particular layout is horrible to me. Nothing to it. Just slap some photos on the page and there you go. Which, for what it's worth, was what scrapbooking was about in the early years.

 

I condensed this one greatly. I tired to keep the "spoiled rotten" title at the top of the paper, but it just wouldn't work in any way. So I kept the "spoiled rotten" theme.

I also used my new typewriter on this page. I put the journaling on the right page directly by using the typewriter. Yes, typewriter. Old school.

I have several more pages to do, but I'm so thrilled with what I've done. I'm most likely going to do each annual book over again in a TN. The big trips I'll most likely keep in big books. That leaves about 20 books in 12X12.