junk journal in stop-mo!

i tried something new and made a stop-motion video while journaling about my trip to colorado!

-miss think-a-lot

yearning for a version of myself, autumn equinox, and such...

artist: caitlinincolour

happy autumn equinox, fellow wanderers!

i haven't been able to stop by here for a while, things have been nonstop chaos... i am in this peculiar period of time, in between things, getting close to wrapping up a chapter of my life. that entails tons of work, and the bittersweet uncertainty of what comes after. this is probably my last year here, where i have been living for the past 4 years. it is terribly strange how our definition of home changes over time. i feel like i have, within me, pieces of all the places i've lived. i do not know where exactly to call home anymore, maybe we can have many of them? 

it might be the introspection that autumn tends to bring, but these days i find myself yearning for a past version of myself, while trying to figure out who i really am today, and who i'll be next. does that ever happen to you? do you ever look back and think, ‘wow, i miss that version of me’? granted, it's not the most productive thing to do, and yet, it's an unmistakable think-a-lot tradition. for instance, i miss the version of me that walked home skipping down the street with joy and curiosity. we go through a lot of things, and we shed some things while gaining new stuff along the way. but what stops us from becoming whoever? perhaps the uncertainty of the future is a gift, more than something to be dreaded. 

i feel like this time of the year, with summer fading away and autumn breeze settling in, can also guide our inner worlds. a time to shed the old leaves, open up space for new ones, slow down, turn back to ourselves, embrace the stillness... 

and oddly, at times, i get a sudden feeling reminding me that one day not so far away, i will look back at this very moment i am experiencing, and yearn for that too... what do you do with that? i guess you make the best of it! 

till next time <3

-ana

ode to junk journaling

hello, fellow wanderers! 

miss think-a-lot here. i'm so excited to share with you my ode to junk journaling! i have been junk journaling for over a year now, and it just turns me into a creature of pure joy. the idea is rather simple, but for a potentially hopeless perfectionist like me, it has been quite transformative. i'll get back to that in a bit. first step is to gather a bunch of things that would normally be overlooked or treated as junk. think travel guides, brochures, receipts, business cards, old newspapers, flyers, used-up wrapping paper, packaging material and whatnot... i like to do this while traveling in particular as there are just so many unique things that i run into! i carry a cute little pouch with me to collect all these items, so they are all in one place when i do my junk journaling. i also have a box of letters i cut out from magazines and newspapers. 

next part is the best part. you mix and match, cut and paste, glue down anything you like, and see where it takes you... now, if you are like me and when you get some fancy supplies you can't bring yourself to use them out of fear of messing it up, this is a wonderful exercise. knowing that this is a junk journal lets me use the material freely while enjoying the process, instead of worrying about the preciousness of it all. on top of that, being away from a screen and taking my time with all the bits and pieces lets me slow down and unwind. then, at the end, i have pages full of memories to look back on and remember. it's like a little archive of life, with random items from life! so if anyone's in search of a new hobby, hear me out, this might be what you're looking for! i sometimes add in some stickers or washi tape, which technically aren't junk, but hey, that can be our little secret...

here are some random pages i made over the last year. this one is from when i traveled to adirondacks for a few days. sometimes i like to jot down little notes about places i want to remember later, like a cute cafe or that restaurant with amazing burgers o( ˶^▾^˶ )o

this is from my trip to paris. i used the paper bag my croissant came in, along with some of my tickets. i cut out the pictures from an airport magazine i found while waiting there. 

here is one from a rather mundane weekend. i used a pasta box, a business card, price tags and a few other things. looking at it now, i remember that weekend i took myself out on a little solo date and did a little shopping. 

phew, so there it is! i talked about it, and i feel much better... i haven't had the chance to go through all the things i collected this summer yet, so it is very likely that i'll share more of these along with my travel entries in case you'd like to follow along. 

do you keep little bits and pieces from your travels, too? what's your favorite way of keeping little memories? can't wait to hear about them!

till next time <3

-ana