Thankful Journals

We have now been married a little over two months and people always ask us, "So, how is newlywed/married life?" ;D (that's the big smile that usually accompanies their question).

Honestly, it is a big mixed bag of emotions! On the plus side: it is fun, exciting and new. On the slight minus side: it is hard, trying and new. Eddie grew up in a family of all boys. I grew up in a family of all girls. You do the math. We never lived together before marriage and, actually, neither of us have ever lived with another significant other. Even though we dated for 7 years and knew each other for over 10, there is just so much more to learn about each other in a married context, under one roof. When we were dating, we would always look forward to the day when we would have our own place to go home to, so that we wouldn't have to say goodbye or goodnight to each other. Now that we have our own place, I think it is easy to take it for granted when worrying about bills, chores and what's for dinner. Being newlyweds during such a horrible economic time in American history is also pretty scary and both of us have jobs that have been hit pretty hard by the downturn. Still, we are very blessed and grateful to God that we have jobs at all! And I need to remind myself how many things I have in life to be thankful for...

Basically, I feel like it's so easy to be a bit of a debbie-downer in the midst of the craziness of newlywed life. So much has happened that it is easy to forget the little (and big) blessings that have placed us at this point in our life together. This often happens for brides as well! In the busy-ness of planning your wedding, finding vendors and managing your budget, it is easy to forget the happiness and true reason for the occasion - uniting you with your love, for life! :)

my journal to eddie

Anyways, because I knew this could happen to me during wedding planning, my wedding present to Eddie was a thankful journal. We were engaged for 19 months. So, one year before our wedding date, I started a thankful journal and wrote in it everyday, for 365 days, right up to the morning of the wedding. Every day I wrote one reason why I was thankful for Eddie and why I wanted to marry him. It could be as short as one sentence and as long as a page. In the end, it sort of chronicled the last year of our engagement because I usually wrote about something that had come up that day... like something he said to me, or did for my family or accomplished at school/work.

eddie reading the journal on our wedding day. his best man said he teared up!

Now, back to the question about what newlywed/married life is like. As I said before, it can be hard. But my cousin suggested that anytime we argue, we should watch our wedding video, and we recently did! I was reminded of the thankful journal I gifted to Eddie for our wedding and I figured... why don't I start keeping one again? I used to keep them all the time, just for myself, to remind myself to be thankful at all times and in all situations. I would write 5 things I was thankful for everyday and it worked as a sort of prayer journal as well. And sometimes it was difficult to come up with 5 separate things, but it did challenge me to practice being thankful!

So, I know a lot of brides, wives and people in general may be facing difficult times right now (especially with our economy being the way it is) and I just wanted to put this little encouraging note out there to suggest trying to find things to be thankful for, so as not to be overwhelmed by all the other stuff! You'll be surprised at the power of positive thinking! And if you do decide to start a thankful journal, for yourself or someone you love, here are some great options!

classic moleskine

Snow & Graham dogwood letterpressed composition notebook


Snow & Graham eucalyptus letterpressed composition notebook

Orla Kiely signature stem print journal

Orla Kiely car print, travel journal
I have this one and LOVE it because it is the perfect little size to fit in my purses and take along with me everywhere!

Paper Source, gratitude journal
could it BE more perfect?

Paper Source, elephant and nemo journal
this is the one I used for Eddie. He like elephants and I like classic composition journals.

Brooklyn Book Binder on etsy.
She is one of my favorites! We custom ordered our guest sign-in book from her and the process was super easy with the result being super wonderful!

more views of hand-bound journals by Brooklyn Book Binder

more views of hand-bound journals by Brooklyn Book Binder

Thank YOU for reading! :) I would love to hear what some of you are thankful for!!