My Gratitude Journal and Daily Experience Album

Good Evening Everyone! Well, it was a somewhat non-productive day for crafting! It's hard to get back in the groove. I hope y'all had a wonderful New Year celebration. We watched a movie and had dinner to celebrate the end of 2007 and the start of the new year.

Did anybody watch "Sweeney Todd" or the "Golden Compass"? Sweeney Todd was an interesting movie. I really liked the movie. . .a bit gory, but very entertaining. Both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter were fabulous in their roles. It's amazing how well they sang. I recommend the Golden Compass as well. It's a kid's movie but I think adults will also enjoy it. Nicole Kidman was great playing a sinister role.

Okay. . .the journal on the right is one of my resolutions. It is to start a "gratitude journal". Everyday I write an entry of what I am grateful about for each day of the year. It's just a reminder for me to see how fortunate I am and that life is good.

I basically altered a note book using designer paper and modge-podge. The sentiment and swirly branches were cut with my Craft Robo and to finish up the journal, I added ribbons to the wire binding.

Daily Experience Album

I will be creating a "Daily Experience" album. One of my resolutions was to come up with an "experience" that I don't typically do in my day to day life. I have tendency to do the same things everyday and once in awhile do something different. I want to experience more things this year. Nothing major. . .just little experiences that are new or different from my regular life experiences.

I will be creating mini scrapbook albums consisting of pictures of my daily experiences that I come up with everyday and I'll add a little journaling of the experience. I haven't created the album yet because I was working on my "gratitude journal" today.

Today's experience is to "pick a book to read". One of my other resolution is to read at least one novel or book in its entirety once a month. I chose to read "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. Did anybody read this book? It was highly recommended to me by my husband. Okay. . .it's thick book. I really believe it will take a month to read this book but I will give you a synopsis of my impression of the book when I'm done. . .okay.

This is my first "daily experience" of the year. What is it? Obviously, it's a vase with a bouquet of flowers. The daily experience was to "bring in cut flowers into the house". Why did I choose this experience? Well, I don't typically buy fresh cut flowers on a regular basis and I felt that something fresh, natural, and beautiful in the house is a great way to start the new year. It symbolizes a sense of renewal for the new year and the beauty of what the year will bring.

Anyway. . .anybody have a gratitude journal? I think gratitude journals and daily experience albums are a great way to look back at the end of the year of what my life was like. It's great to look back and to know that there were many positive aspects of it to feel good about. Sometimes we have a tendency to not see the positive experiences in our lives and this is just my way of reminding myself of them.