Notebook Collection, part 16

November 8, 2024 / Kristi / Leave a comment

This batch of notebooks all came from Amazon. I don’t generally go online looking for notebooks, because I could end up spending way too much money. These were procured over the course of about a year, some by my husband, some by me.

I’m a sucker for a nice leather cover, which my husband knows. That’s why I ended up with 2 different notebooks with similar covers (though they were procured a year apart), and why he took a risk on getting me the one on the right, which has unlined pages. But since it’s a 6-ring binder inside (see below), the pages will be easily replaced with lined paper, if/when I get to using this notebook.

The escape room enthusiast in me was drawn to these notebooks with locks on the covers. The one on the right also appealed to my love of maps on notebooks.

This spiral notebook is notable because the subject separators can be removed from the front and put wherever in the notebook I need them to be.

These are both from the same company, and they’re both beautiful leather covers, with a notebook inside that can be removed and replaced when I fill it.

Is it crazy that I still have the ambition to eventually use each of these notebooks? I keep telling myself that I need to do more writing in a notebook, even though it’s just so much faster to write on a computer. Plus, my writing work consists of revision far more than actual writing these days, so there’s just not much to use a notebook for. Then I get sad, thinking that so many of these will never be used…

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!

Notebook Collection, part 15

September 3, 2023September 2, 2023 / Kristi / Leave a comment

I did not mean to wait this long to post about new notebook acquisitions, and some of these I’ve had for a while. I have enough for more than one post, since I try to avoid having too many in one post, but I will spread them out a little over time.

My husband bought me this notebook at Walmart. It stood out to him because it’s the exact same cover as a Bible cover we had recently seen in a gift shop at the Ark Encounter and considered buying for him. It even has a zipper around the edge to keep it closed, like the Bible cover did and has a ribbon bookmark inside with Bible verses on the pages.

Whoever came up with the idea of a quiz where people could find out what house they would be in at Hogwarts is a marketing genius. It’s difficult to not feel a sense of loyalty to your house and to want to acquire items related to it. For me, this means a notebook. My husband is the one who bought it for me, but I have to admit, it’s an incredibly nice notebook in general. It has a cloth-like hard cover, it’s larger than the average A5-sized notebooks, and the house crest that you can see on the right side of the cover, where the elastic band is meant to catch to hold the book closed, is metal.

There is clearly a theme going in this post, as this book was also bought for me by my husband. I watched a lot of Mr. Rogers as a kid, enjoyed seeing my kids get into it some on streaming services, and love the look of the notebook, inside and out. There are a few full-page spreads like shown below and also some quotes at the bottom of some pages.

There’s not a lot to say about this one. I have a weakness for maps on notebook covers, especially vintage maps, and the gold embossed look of this one is especially nice. It came with a pen that I did not have for the picture, but it’s black with gold trim, which matches the notebook really well.

This notebook is a work of art, inside and out. I can easily say it is one of the most beautiful ones I own; I sometimes display it on my shelf—open, so the pages are visible. I love notebooks that are, or at least appear as if they are, handmade, and this definitely has that look. The pages look like they were pulled directly from an old ship captain’s log book, except that they have lines printed on them (which is certainly my preference as a writer).

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!

Notebook Collection, part 14

December 15, 2022December 15, 2022 / Kristi / Leave a comment

This installment of notebooks all came from the same places—the Creation Museum or Ark Encounter in Kentucky.

This notebook and the one below are two of many of the same style both attractions carry, all with different covers. I’ve had a few from the Creation Museum for years, and this time I got a couple from the Ark Encounter.

This notebook is a bit small, but it was marked as clearance. It has a beautiful cover (and the back cover is shown below), so I’m very glad to have it.

This notebook was also marked as clearance, which tipped the scales, since I was on the fence about it. That is mostly due to me trying to keep myself to only buying notebooks that I love, since I already have so many, and this one wasn’t quite my style. Some pages inside have sketches and tidbits of information about Noah’s family and life in their day, though, which is pretty neat.

This was definitely the briefest post in the series, but probably only because the notebooks all came from the same place, so there’s less of a story to share. I have 8 more notebooks to share (it’s a sickness), which I’ll split into 2 posts. I hope to get to them quickly, though, and with Christmas coming, by the time I get through those, I might have procured a few more.

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!

Notebook Collection, part 13

May 1, 2022May 1, 2022 / Kristi / Leave a comment

That’s right. Thirteen. And by now, I’m running out of unique things to say at the start of these posts. So let’s just dive right into today’s notebooks.

Barnes & Noble has some of the nicest-looking, leather-bound notebooks anywhere. Most of the time that I go, though, I see the same ones I’ve seen before and decided I didn’t have to have quite that badly (or the couple I already have). Every once in a while I’ll see one I don’t remember seeing before that I really like, and if I don’t hide my interest well enough, my husband usually pushes me to buy it. This is one such notebook.

Very few times have I known of a notebook’s existence in advance of then seeking it out to buy it. This is one such notebook. I’ve now read all but the last book of this series and enjoyed it overall, so when I saw on Goodreads that there was a notebook themed after the series, I looked it up online. Not only does it have a creepy cover that fits the overall feel of the stories, every 7 pages or so inside of the book has a picture like those in the books (some are ones I definitely remember seeing before) and a quote from one of the first 3 books in the series, like this:

This marks the first of the largest batch of notebooks I’ve ever bought in one outing, trip, etc. My husband and I went to Cincinnati to visit the Ark Encounter and Creation Museum, and being the thrift-shopping lover he is, we went to three different Half-Price Books that were not far from our hotel. HPB has lots of notebooks, all brand new, but my husband spotted this one in a clearance box. I guessed immediately that it was originally from Barnes & Noble, and that it would normally be a lot more than the $2 price tag on it, which meant it was probably written in. I opened it, and sure enough, the “This journal belongs to” line had a name on it. And that was all. My name may not be Emily, but I can pretend it is for such a great deal on a beautiful notebook.

This notebook also came from HPB in Cincy. It’s one of those that I can’t necessarily explain why I liked, but it caught my eye immediately. Maybe it comes from liking Stargate so much, who knows. Some pages inside have images of items in the Ancient Egypt collection in the British Museum, which I also think is really cool.

My only experience playing a musical instrument more than a brief moment in a general music class was when I was in the middle school band in 6th grade. Though I’d always wanted to play the trumpet, I was talked into playing the French horn, I assume because they needed French horn players more than they needed trumpet players. However, while my fellow French horn player had taken lessons before the year started, I was learning from scratch. I remember using the music book to try to understand how to play it while the entire class was learning new songs together, but it was a huge failure. Playing the French horn is about more than just knowing which buttons to push (other brass instruments probably are too, but from what I understand, the French horn is particularly difficult to learn for a beginner). In the entire year I was in band, I never really knew what I was doing and did not choose to continue on the next year. I don’t think there’s anything I could have done differently (YouTube wasn’t a thing back then), and though I don’t exactly look back on that time fondly, since I often felt inept at my inability to play the notes right, I do still think of the French horn somewhat fondly. This notebook, also found at HPB, has a magnetic closure, which is also kind of neat (though might be more trouble than it’s worth during actual use).

Wow, that last one took longer to explain than I expected. I have 4 more notebooks to share, and while I’d like to say they’ll be my last for a while, I’d be like a broken record if I did (plus, both my birthday and Mother’s Day are coming up, so I can’t completely control what those might produce). So I’ll just say…we’ll see what happens.

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!

Notebook Collection, part 12

April 19, 2022 / Kristi / Leave a comment

It’s official. I have a sickness. I had planned to get caught up on new notebooks with this post, but then, I bought 3 more. And then last week, my husband and I took a trip, and I came back with SEVEN notebooks! Even for me, even though buying notebooks on vacations is common for me, seven is a lot. Now it’ll take me 2 more posts after this one to be caught up. I know I say this often, but I really need to stop buying notebooks.

Now and then, I buy a notebook for which I can’t really explain my interest. As soon as I saw this in a local bargain store, though, I knew that I had to buy it. The unique design that made it interesting to me will make it difficult to actually use, as the pages inside are split the same way the cover is. But since I have so many notebooks and won’t use most of them for a really long time (if ever, as sad as it makes me to say that), it’s easy to disregard the potential difficulty. The pages, both top and bottom parts, have images of various food on them too. I really wonder who the creator(s) of this notebook had in mind when designing it.

This notebook came from the store in our area that’s only open at Christmas time. Curious George was a major favorite show of both of my kids, now 20 and 12, so it will always hold a special place in my heart too.

This notebook and the one below were picked up in the Dominican Republic when I went down there for a week to visit my sister’s family and bring my daughter back, who visited for a month. I knew the one souvenir I wanted to be sure to get was a notebook of some kind that would reflect the culture down there in some way. In particular, I was hoping for some Spanish (which I don’t speak) as a reminder of my time there. Though both of these notebooks were picked up at La Sirena, a big-box store similar to Walmart here in the states, I really liked the look of them, inside and out. They seem to be geared toward students, based on the pages inside, like this one:

Also from the DR, I particularly liked some of the pages inside this one, info from various subjects, all in Spanish, of course. Below are a couple of examples:

I saw this one at Half Price Books and really liked the look of it. At first glance, it looks like the inside of a geode, but the more I look at it, the more I see other things in the cover. I can imagine it being different kinds of liquid swirling together. Or even a nebula up close. It’s like a Rorschach test in a way—maybe what someone thinks it looks like says something about their personality.

I have to laugh when I realize that at the end of my previous notebook post, I said I may have even bought a single new notebook by the time I get to writing the next post about them. Because in fact, I’ve bought ten more since then. One is the last one from this post, and the other nine, I’ll split into two posts. Even though it’s laughable to say this by now, I really am going to try to reign myself in going forward.

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!

Notebook Collection, part 11

March 18, 2022March 18, 2022 / Kristi / Leave a comment

It’s been over a year since I last posted about most recently acquired notebooks for my collection. However, that’s not because I haven’t gained any; I’ve simply put off posting about them. Nine new notebooks since the last post isn’t too bad for over a year, but it’s definitely time to start sharing them.

There are only a few thrift stores that my husband and I frequent where I even bother to look to see what kind of notebooks are there, since used notebooks have obvious issues. However, I did find this on a shelf at one store. I’m a little disappointed in myself that it took me a (fairly long) moment to recognize what it was, but having watched Annie a lot in my life, I snatched it up quickly once I did. Other than a layer of the cover being ripped off across the top where it looks like someone might have ripped off a sticker (seriously, why do retailers put stickers directly on books and notebooks?!), it’s in really good shape.

Because Meijer has surprised me several times by having notebooks that I really like, my husband now insists I check out that aisle every time we go. That’s where I found this notebook, which looks better in person than it does in the picture, with silver outlines throughout the artwork and some texture as well. Plus, purple is my favorite color.

One of many notebooks that my husband’s brought home for me, this was an unusual one. He found it at Walgreens in the post-Valentine’s Day section. He probably wasn’t sure how much I’d like it but knew I always like a good deal on a notebook. I also do think it’s cute, though; the decal on the front is like an iron-on badge.

I don’t have a lot to say about this one. I think I found it at Walmart and simply liked the cover.

These days, it’s not very often that I buy a notebook with a specific purpose for it in mind. However, when my husband and I volunteered to take over the planning of our church’s VBS program in the near future, I quickly realized a dedicated notebook would be helpful. The logical side of me tried to find a notebook I already own that would work for the situation, but none quite fit. So when we went to a bargain store that I’ve bought notebooks at before, one that I knew often has notebooks with Bible verses on it, I found one that seemed perfect.

I’ll save the rest of my new notebooks for another post. I may even have another one by the time I write it up, since I can’t seem to help myself.

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!

Notebook Collection, part 10

January 23, 2021January 23, 2021 / Kristi / 2 Comments

Ten posts about my notebook collection is quite enough, I’d say. I don’t think I can ask for better notebooks than those that I have, especially a few I’ve gotten just in the last month. As much as I love finding new treasures, I’m out of room on my shelf anyway. So while I anticipate still adding some that are gifts from loved ones, I don’t plan to go looking for notebooks any more after this. We’ll see how long that lasts.

This was a gift from my husband’s step-mom for Christmas. I really like the colorful cover, though the inside is a little girly for me (there are unicorns O_O). However, the covers are thick, hard cardboard, and the notebook is full-size. It will be a nice, sturdy notebook that will do well for revision and writing someday.

I hesitated to buy this notebook at first, telling my husband that it wasn’t necessary to get a notebook just because we happened to be at Barnes & Noble. However, he reminded me that I had some “fun money” from Christmas, and it is such a beautiful leather cover. Add to that the leather tie and the fact that it’s very thick–probably the most pages of any I have–and I gave in. Not that it really takes much.

This is a small notebook, only about 5″ x 7″, but I loved the strap with the clock hanging from it. It’s the type where the pages are in 4 different designs–1 set of pages are lined, 1 set grid, 1 set blank, and 1 set also blank but of kraft paper (thicker, brown paper). In the past that might have been a deal breaker, but I’m past believing that I’ll get to some of these notebooks soon enough for it to be a big deal. The pages are held together in a 3-ring binder contraption, so they can be replaced if necessary, though I’m not sure how easy it will be to find 3-holed paper of this size.

This is a leather notebook cover, which did come with a spiral-bound notebook inside to start. It is a soft, supple leather that I love even more than I expected to. It also came with a clip that can be attached to the cover anywhere and would hold a pen, though I don’t want to mar the leather with it. Maybe when I start using it someday, I’ll see how feasible it is to attach the clip to the notebook itself. Sadly, I’m afraid to snap it closed, because one of the snaps was so tight that I worry I’ll eventually rip it out of the leather in the due course of closing and opening the notebook.

This is a bit of a removal from the rest of the notebooks I’ve been sharing, but I thought it was still worth including. In March of last year, about 10 months after I began sharing book reviews on my blog, I realized how much it would help me to write down notes as I read a book, so I’d remember more when I was ready to write the review. I don’t force myself to write something with every book, but if I want to remember something as I go, knowing that my memory can be pretty bad these days, I’ll start a page for that book and keep any notes (even if it’s just that first one that prompted me to start the page for it). Any time I can come up with a legitimate reason to start using one of the many notebooks in my possession is a happy occasion, and this is the one I chose for it (not the one above, click the link in the previous words to see it); I’ve had it since 2015, so it’s really about time I started using it. Plus the pen is always there when I want to jot down some thoughts.

Last summer, I saw the above journal at Half Price Books. Inside, most of the pages are designed to be used for the exact purpose of what I’ve been doing–taking notes on books as you read. There are a few pages at the back designed for keeping a TBR list, writing down book passeges you want to remember, and keeping a list of books you’ve borrowed out. I doubt I’ll use any of those pages as intended, but it’s a small portion of the journal. I’m still going to fill up the one I started before I begin on this one, but it’s almost halfway full, so I know the day will come soon enough.

I’m all caught up on sharing newly acquired notebooks for my collection. I feel a stronger resolve than normal to not purchase any more for myself, so I think it’s safe to say it’ll be a while before I have enough to post about again.

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!

Notebook Collection, part 9

January 12, 2021February 5, 2021 / Kristi / Leave a comment

I won’t say too much as an introduction, since I posted about this same thing only last Saturday. In this post you will find 4 more recent additions to my notebook collection, and if you want to see more, you can click on the links directly below this.

This is one of the very few notebooks in my collection that came from a thrift store, because as you can imagine, used notebooks aren’t particularly helpful. But now and then apparently someone donates a notebook that they never wrote in. This is actually more of a notebook cover, with a magnetic clasp. Inside is a plain spiral notebook that can be replaced, along with a slot for papers, a clear slot that looks like it’s for a business or ID card, and a pen holder. I like simple covers like this so that I can put my own notebooks in them and keep them safe when they travel in my purse or luggage. Also, it only cost 50¢, so you can’t go wrong with that!

In a nearby city, there’s a store that is only open during Christmas shopping time. They spend the rest of the year gathering things to sell, like overstock from other businesses, things like that, and they sell most of their inventory really cheap. So what they have is very hit-or-miss from year to year. I was a little sad at their selection of notebooks this year–a lot of very plain things, repeats from last year, or oddball notebooks like one with Benjamin Franklin quotes all through it. The notebook above, however, was an immediate grab for me, because I knew it would be absolutely perfect for me to write my character interviews in. After all, what says “split personality” more than talking to myself as a writing exercise?

I watched Jurassic Park in the theater as a teenager. My parents took our whole family, thinking it was going to be more of a light-hearted comedy (what trailer did they see?!). I don’t remember what I thought about it then, but I do remember watching it at my friends house shortly after it came out on VHS. We watched it at least 2-3 times into the night, determined to watch until it didn’t scare us anymore. Maybe that’s why I’m such a huge fan of the whole franchise now. I love them all, even the cheesy ones. I have also read both books, though it’s been a while, which is why I will be reading them again sometime soon.

This was a Christmas gift from my husband last month, a leather journal cover that he had custom-made for me. It’s the name of my first full-length book, as well as the name of the book series, and also the name of the country most of the series takes place in. As you can see from the spine of the book on the left, it’s in the same font as the title on the book, too. It’s basically a refillable travel journal, which means that there are multiple smaller notebooks inside, held in by elastic bands, that can be replaced as needed. It looks beautiful, smells wonderful, will hold up to all sorts of use and abuse, and can be reused forever. Words cannot express how this cover makes me feel.

Stay tuned for one more post with 4 more notebooks, at which point I will be caught up (for now).

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!

Notebook Collection, part 8

January 9, 2021February 5, 2021 / Kristi / 3 Comments

6 1/2 years ago, I started this blog and promptly posted about the small collection of notebooks I had just realized I had. Since then, the collection has grown into a bit of a monster. As an author, I like to write by hand as much as possible, but it’s just so much faster to type. Try it; you’ll probably agree with me. Even still, I handwrite when I can, and I love gathering notebooks. I also love sharing about my notebooks.

It has been far too long since I last posted about newly acquired notebooks. Maybe not that long when measured in time (6 months), but definitely too long when measured in notebooks (13), since I try to keep these posts to no more than 5 notebooks per. So I’ll split these 13 into 3 different posts, spread out over the next week.

I bought this notebook at Meijer, of all places. Usually big retail stores like that don’t have much in the way to captivate me, though Meijer does seem to be the exception. I love the ability to customize it with any letter in front. There are also a few other options to fill the window, as seen on the left.

I remember watching my husband play Ocarina of Time back in the early days of our marriage. It’s a fond memory, though I’d never played Zelda before that, nor did I play it after that. Until Breath of the Wild caught my attention, which I’ve now played through all of.

In case you can’t tell from the picture, this notebook lights up. I almost passed on it, because the bottom-right corner, where the activation button is, is a bit dented in from all of the people pushing the “Press Here” sticker in the store. But it was a good deal, in the clearance section of Box Lunch, so I went for it. (Box Lunch will be the death of me, I’m pretty sure.)

This is one notebook that is better in person (well, they all are, really). The draw of it is the soft, suede-like hardcover, which of course won’t come across in a picture. It just looks like a plain gray notebook from Half-Price books…they can’t all have interesting stories.

This notebook and the one below it my husband bought on clearance at the Disney Store in Indianapolis on a work trip for me that gave him time to shop thrift stores (which he loves to do). Apparently he also had time to go to the mall.

This first one (above) is from the movie Onward, which we’d watched not long before and enjoyed. It’s meant to be the RPG book the older brother uses, and the back cover text (shown on the right) reflects that too. It also came with a pen that is the wand from the movie. It lights up, but it’s a bit touchy and I couldn’t get it turned on for the picture (it was on clearance, after all).

I have never seen the movie that this notebook is for. My husband was basically aware of that fact, but still thought I’d like the notebook. At first, I wasn’t really sold, but the longer I’ve had it (he bought it around 4 months ago), the more it’s grown on me. First of all, it’s huge–one of only a couple of my notebooks where the pages inside are as big as regular notebook paper. Second, the covers are thick and rigid, which makes it a very hardy notebook. Then there are the accessories. The “hinges” on the left (which are also on the back) are metal and the nail spots, though fake, do stick out. No, that keyhole doesn’t actually lock. In fact, the latch opens from the spot on the far right, not where the keyhole is. But it’s still metal and just really cool looking. And the bookmark has a tassel on the end! I’ve really come to love the overall medieval look to it.

Stay tuned for more notebooks within the week, including easily my favorite of all of my collection!

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!

Notebook Collection, part 7

July 1, 2020January 23, 2021 / Kristi / 2 Comments

This is the second half of my attempt to get caught up on posting about the newest additions to my notebook collection (which is really more of an obsession than a collection).

If anyone is interested in the previous posts as my smattering of notebooks became a collection and has grown:
Post #1
Post #2
Post #3
Post #4
Post #5
Post #6

The story of this first notebook is a little sad. I recently read the entire Harry Potter series for the first time. Of course that opens up a whole new world of fandom merchandise to be interested in, which for me means notebooks. Though I prefer to shop for notebooks at stores, rather than online, I came across this one on Amazon (or maybe my husband did). It is not simply due to the fact that it’s from the series I’d recently read that I really liked it; it was also due to the overall look and style, being made to look like the Hogwarts letter from the very first book/movie. The seal has a magnet in it and keeps the notebook closed, and the cover is faux leather. And the best part is, like a LoTR notebook I got last year, what you see here is actually a book cover, inside which is a plain notebook with a cardboard front and back cover that can be removed when it’s filled, allowing this cover to be used again!

Unfortunately, when the notebook arrived, it had a large sticker around the bottom of the cover. And when I peeled the sticker off, a lot of the adhesive was left behind and small bits of coating on the cover were removed with the sticker. I cleaned most of the adhesive off with Goo Gone, but the damage was done. Plus, the Goo Gone got into the material a bit and just would not come off, no matter what I used on it (trying to be careful not to further ruin the parts where the coating had come off). As you can tell from the bottom picture, it’s not too noticeable, especially if you don’t know where to look. I did contact the company that manufactures them, though, and strongly recommended that they do not put STICKERS directly on their notebooks.

Let me mention now that, though I did like the Harry Potter series, I didn’t love it to the degree that this post may make it seem. But while either waiting for the other notebook to arrive or possibly while dealing with the sticker issue (I don’t remember the timing), I saw a box set at the mall that included the notebook shown to the left, a pen modeled after Harry’s wand from the movie, and the mug shown here too. I have a thing about mugs that appeal to me in some way too (though have far less mugs than I do notebooks), so it seemed perfect for me. I’ve used the mug many times (especially during the winter and early spring when I was still reading the HP books and it was cold outside).

This was an online purchase around the same time as the letter notebook. I stopped myself there, though, because I’m sure I could find so many notebooks in the the vast supply online (compared to in stores that I visit now and then) that I loved that it would bankrupt my family, if I didn’t put a tiny limit on it.

I love the nautical theme on this notebook with a leather-type cover. The anchor actually hangs along the spine, but I wanted to make sure it could be seen in the picture. And the wheel is at the end of a long piece of leather that wraps around the book to keep it closed.

While the outside has this adventure & travel feel to it, inside there is actually a 3-ring binder contraption, with plastic dividers that can be used to organize whatever you use the notebook pages for.

I’ve said it before, but I always love a good bargain on a notebook. My husband basically goes to every Goodwill store he passes, looking for uncommon board game deals (which he finds pretty often, actually). When I go with him, I generally look at the books for the same reason. Notebooks are much less common to find, for probably obvious reasons. But we did see this one, and though I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, my husband is. So he decided I should have this, and for $1, it’s not worth putting up an argument. I do like the style of artwork on it, so I’m not complaining. Besides, with how many notebooks that I have that are almost too pretty to use, it’s nice to have some that don’t give me that feeling.

While I’ve done a decent job this year in not buying a ton of notebooks (compared to before that), when my husband and I go on trips, we tend to find notebooks that I just have to have (I say “we” because he buys them for me, or pushes me to buy ones he can see I really like, at least as often as I decide to buy them myself). At the time of this posting, we’re on a week-long anniversary trip, so it’s very possible I’ll have more to share soon!

Do you collect anything related to reading or writing? Feel free to share!