Tag Archives: journals

Color Inspiration Design Inspiration Faith Talk

On a hunt for a new journal; Thoughts on Psalm 86:15

August 3, 2012 – 6:59 pm

Where’s a Peter Pauper Press Journal when you need one? I haven’t seen any in the usual places lately, much to my frustration. And just now I find myself browsing PPP’s online catalog and daydreaming about getting my hands on the journals, specifically these two designs:

Yellow is such a happy color, yeah?

My last journal ran out of pages, and I’ve been using this non-PPP notebook for a while now. And it’s affecting my writing rituals! The paper is too thin, the lines are too thick.. Or I could just be lazy and simply finding excuses. I haven’t written long journal entries lately, and have been merely jotting down verses and quick notes here and there. I miss being absorbed in paper and ink and letting my hand speak for my heart.

When will I ever have the time? (And the journal? Hah!)

I have so much going on in my list, not to mention the house is still a mess, and I’m killing myself for not being able to keep up with everything. It’s a horrid habit of mine, putting my standards up too high—on others, and mostly on myself. Then I end up feeling disappointed about not meeting my own expectations.

And then words like this hit me hard in the head, and I’m amazed once again how God knows what I need to hear/read when I need them:

But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth. ~Psalm 86:15

Our Lord understands our limits. He realizes our struggles. He knows how much pressure we can take. He knows what measures of grace and mercy and strength we’ll require. He knows how we’re put together.

Frankly, His expectations are not nearly as unrealistic as ours.

When we don’t live up to the agenda we have set, we feel like He is going to dump a truckload of judgment on us. But that will not happen.

So why do we fear it could?

~Chuck Swindoll

I heaved a sigh of relief, thanking God for being merciful, and gracious, and forgiving, when others, or even we, can’t forgive ourselves.

I grabbed a pen and a paper to write these words down. And I thought maybe that’s why I suddenly miss having a journal—I remember things better when I write them down.

And these days, these are the kind of stuff I need to remember.

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Paper Stuff

New journal, new adventure

April 7, 2012 – 1:12 pm

I have a new journal, and it’s pink!

I say, it takes some serious brand obsession familiarity to spot a Peter Pauper Press journal in local book stores here in Manila. Especially since there are many other pretty journals of various brands and sizes these days, piled up together in one place. Peter Pauper Press doesn’t have an exclusively labeled section, but for some reason, one quick scan through a pile of notebooks and I already know if PPP’s available or not. So you can just imagine my delight whenever I find one when I need one!

I found this Pink Ascot Journal at National Bookstore in Greenbelt 1, just in time for my last journal to run out of pages. It’s a different shade from the other Peter Pauper Press journals I had (I obviously prefer blues and greens), but hey, change is good.

It’s that time of my life when I want to just.. write down everything! Every thought, every verse, every prayer, every name who’s touched our lives in a special way. I want to remember these days, preserve them in the pages of my journal so that someday, I can look back and remember how God made things happen.

Now if only I can get over the first trimester’s nausea, then maybe I can actually write (and blog) more! Ahhh, the dizziness is just too.. overwhelming! Like, no amount of sleep is enough.

I remember blogging one Saturday in March,

Do you feel it too, when something BIG is about to happen—a new adventure looming in the horizon? Time spent in solitude, they say, prepares us for changes and challenges that are about to come our way. My husband and I don’t know what our new adventure is going to be exactly, and when, and how, but something inside me is feeling giddy and restless these days. In a good, bring-it-on-Lord kind of way.

I didn’t know I was pregnant already when I typed that!

It makes me smile now; oh the humor of it all! Be careful what you ask for, is what they always say.

This God we live for, He’s so full of surprises. :)

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Paper Stuff Photo Dump

Crazy about Peter Pauper Press Journals

January 11, 2012 – 6:06 pm

I’m very brand-loyal. When I found the right brand of pen, you bet that’s the only brand you’d ever see me buy. Same goes with cosmetics. And laptops. And journals.

Picking up my first Peter Pauper Press journal was random. I got the first blue floral-printed journal that caught my attention from a pile of stuff at a FullyBooked counter at the start of 2011. Since then, I never bought any other brand of notebook other than PPP.

I had a total of 7 journals last year, including the one I’m writing on right now. Allow me to share photos of them because they’re just too photogenic! And they’re actually prettier in real life than the ones you see on their product catalog!

It’s difficult finding them here in Manila, so when I was in New York, I hoarded a couple of pieces from Barnes and Noble. Later on I learned that if you looked hard enough, you’d find them at some National Bookstore, Power Books and Fully Booked branches. I love them so much I started buying them not just for myself but to give to some friends as well.

To make it sweeter, I’ve so far made sure I didn’t get the same design twice. (Hover over the photos to see the captions.)

Their paper is usually plain white and finely-ruled, but once in a while you get yourself a little surprise. Some of these notebooks come with dainty little prints like these:

Cute no?

I’ve made myself visible online all these years, blogging, twitting, posting here and there; but nothing still compares to writing things down old school way—paper, ink, and heart. My journals are the keeper of my most honest thoughts and musings, my most daring prayers, and even my dried-up tears on its pages.

I love the thought that long after my blog sites are abandoned, my eyesight too blurry to see the computer screen, and my hand too shaky to type on a computer keyboard, I still have trinkets of my life preserved in a box-full of journals, which, hopefully, I’d get to hand down to my kids.

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Photo Dump

On Starbucks Planners and Decembers

November 28, 2009 – 6:29 pm

(This is an obligatory 2009 Starbucks Planner post.)

Have you got your SB planner yet? Got mine about a week ago, and currently halfway through the second sticker card.

I’m not crazy about this year’s planners, I actually don’t dig the calendar’s experimental vertical format. But since about 5 or 6 years ago, collecting Starbucks stickers has become something like putting up Christmas trees in December. It’s irresistible, it’s tradition, it’s something you just have to do because hey, you go to Starbucks like, everyday, anyway.

Starbucks Planner 2009

Starbucks Planner 2009

Starbucks Planner 2009

Starbucks Planner 2009

Now what I’m really crazy about is Toffee Nut Latte. Ahh. Just saying its name out loud makes me crave. Up to now I still don’t understand why it’s available only during the Holidays. Then again, it’s a reason (one of the many) for me to look forward to this time of the year.

So forget all my sad thoughts about Christmas, there are just a lot of reasons to celebrate, and to be happy, and to be filled with hope whenever this time of the year comes by. (That’s a schizo moment right there, I’m preaching to myself, don’t mind me.)

I think I’m ready to face December now.

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Photo Dump

Paper Patisserie by Peculiar Pair Press

July 31, 2009 – 12:21 pm

..is an awesome alternative to Moleskine.

DAY NINE. See? I’m making some progress. I’m little by little getting out of my cave, letting go of things I’ve gotten used to (yes, I meant Moleskine), and trying out something new. *This is the part where you shower me with congratulations and pats on the back.*

So yeah, I’m taking a break from Moleskine but that’s only because I found a prettier (and yes, cheaper even) alternative. Behold, the Paper Patisserie Mini Journal Set (sounds prettier too, eh?) by Peculiar Pair Press.

By the way, I’m taking a break from being wordy also. So tonight, I shall try visual.

Paper Patisserie Mini Journal Set by Pecular Pair Press

Paper Patisserie Mini Journal Set by Peculiar Pair Press

Paper Patisserie Mini Journal Set by Pecular Pair Press

Paper Patisserie Mini Journal Set by Pecular Pair Press

Paper Patisserie Mini Journal Set by Pecular Pair Press

Paper Patisserie Mini Journal Set by Pecular Pair Press

*Got the notebook set from Full Booked at PhP 700+. Just now I found out that it’s available online too at $14.95. Awesomecakes.

Good night, one and all.

30 Days of Awesome, 9/30.

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