Of Journals, Diaries, and Blogs

One of my favorite memories from childhood is that of my Grandma's diaries. Every year (or five, depending on the type) my Grandma would faithfully start a new diary and write in it most days. She had years worth of them, and she wrote of everything from the mundane to the marvelous.

I have tried over the years to follow her example and keep up with some sort of daily documentation of how my days are lived out.

I have failed miserably every time.

So, this past Christmas season, when I opened a sweet little spiral bound journal with sparkly looking cupcakes on the cover, I just knew I was turning a new page in my failed attempts at journaling. (Pun fully intended.) I mean, after all, it had sparkly cupcakes on the front and it was from my mom - who wouldn't start writing Pulitzer-worthy material immediately??!!

And it wasn't a diary, which, though wonderful in its day, seemed a little outdated. This was a JOURNAL, baby. People fashion bestsellers out of small journals that are written upon while sitting at the local and trendy coffeehouse.

I started in late December just full of optimistic thoughts and fresh ambition. Here is my first entry:

Dec 26, 2011
"What a perfect little cupcake journal. Maybe now, at the age of 38, I will commit to journaling!"

And she's off and running!!

January 1, 2012
"New Year again - they pass so quickly."

January 19, 2012
"Gym today!"

January 20, 2012
"Snow today - glad I'm home today!"

January 26, 2012
"Good day - hard work, tired."

"Hmmm", I thought to myself, about a month in....."I recall Grandma's entries seeming to be a little more, uhhh, informative and insightful??"

Maybe I just need a little fresh outlook.....

January 30, 2012
"Miserable head cold."

February 2, 2012
"Finished baking cupcakes. Ate too much frosting."

February 15, 2012
"Helped in Kevin's class. Cute little buggers:)

February 27, 2012
"Sore ankle:( And I'm so bad at nightly writing, even though I see this journal on my night stand."

April 4th, 2012
"Softball and T-ball. Who knew so much stuff was needed?"

April 15th, 2012
"It's official....I am ready to fall asleep reading/writing this journal.

So, for now I think I will stick to blogging. For some reason it is 100 times easier to write my daily nonsense for whoever and their mother to read than it is to sit down with a pen and compose a few thoughtful sentences into a pretty spiral bound notebook. (With sparkly cupcakes, for pete's sake!!)

And the fate of that cute little journal??

I think I shall use it as a baking/recipe experiment recording device. (Note, I did NOT use the word journal - it's like the kiss of death.)

And possibly also use it to mention how much frosting and cookie dough is consumed.