67 days and counting...

new video series: travel and journal with me

in this week’s newsletter: sharing a new (hopefully) bi-monthly video series, celebrating small and big wins, and sharing the in-between moments worth capturing as well

dear penpals -

at the time of writing this newsletter, it has officially been 67 days since i moved to kamikatsu and started this journey, and these past two months have really been such a treasured memory for me. i feel like weekly newsletters aren’t enough to capture all the things that these months have been for me, but i will keep trying nevertheless.

when i traveled to kyoto (old newsletter here), i met a friend of a friend for dinner and we ended up talking about journaling (i love meeting fellow journalers in the wild hahah!). when asked by those around us why we love to journal, her response was, “because i take documenting my life seriously” and i really resonated with that deep desire to capture and document our big and small moments in a way that holds space to remember. to reflect. and to treasure.

i’ve been an avid journaler all my life, but i really fell in love with it back in 2014 and although my journaling style has evolved and shaped alongside the way i have evolved and shaped with time, it’s definitely something that i treasure dearly.

4 years ago i came across the concept of ‘travel journaling’, which is a place in your journal to record your trip, write about your experiences, and add ephemera and mementos from the places you’ve traveled. i created my first travel journal spread back in 2019 and haven’t stopped since then.

and sadly, when the pandemic hit and i stopped traveling for 2.5 years, so did travel journaling… and i’ve been itching to get back into it ever since my flight to japan was booked 8 months ago.

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i bought one notebook (foolishly) thinking it would last me the full year, and now 2 months later…. i have less than 30 pages left. needless to say, i went and bought some more. so enjoy this little flip through of my current travel journal spreads. is there truly anything better than a journal so full of memories that it feels like it will literally burst at its seams!

i also wanted to share at the beginning some clips of moments here in kamikatsu that never got a chance to make it into a full vlog. i have experienced many mini ‘firsts’ these past 2 months that deserve some moment in the spotlight as well. holding space for these little memories that, when compiled together, remind me of just how far i’ve come, and how much further i have to go.

click on the image or the link to the video here.
please click on ‘CC’ at the bottom right corner for closed captions if needed.

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maybe one day i’ll make a video about my journaling process from start to finish, or i’ll write a newsletter that just talks about stationery because i’m literally in the country built on stationery supplies hahaha! but regardless of what i end up doing, i hope that this corner of a stationery lover and avid journaler inspires you, even just a little bit, to start documenting your life as a reminder of the things you have and continue to do that captures your growth, your healing, your adventures, and all the moments in-between.

and if you choose for yourself that journaling is not for you, i hope you’ll stick around to watch this girl, on this side of the world, simply trying to capture all the memories here in the countryside. because it truly is such a joy to document my life.

always be creating.
journal on.

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