A Diary Left Open, and Soap-Inspired Chaos

A Diary Left Open. Two days ago, a lovely comment appeared on one of my posts from Patty Mooney ... I clicked on it so I could go 'meet' her, and found her blog, A Diary Left Open. The reading of 4 posts and I was IN, man. But when I had closed out of it and gone on about my bidness, I could NOT stop thinking about the blog name: A Diary Left Open. A magical phrase -- diaries and journals are intoxicating; I read all that I can find, old logs, travel journals, botanical diaries/sketchbooks. The idea of one left open, as if deliberately, as if to say, 'Yes, do please sit to read and enjoy'? oh man. So last night I looked at my big ass journal and thought I just had to build a small little diary, right there on the bigger journal page. Absolute fun! This one has 4 pages, for a total of 8 sides, a wee mini diary to complete when I reach this background. There may be MORE of this in these journal pages. Ah yes, and on the flip side, we have a page born of a great idea, gone haywire! Story, you say? Well, Double BB and I, being the great pursuers of how-to-keep-the-romance-in-your-marriage that we are, stumbled across a really cool idea. In one of my ETSY-surfing jaunts, I came upon this shop, Magic Hands Workshop [you may have to log into ETSY to access it]. Premium handmade bath & body. Given that Double BB and I both love baths, separately and together, and given that we're both very attuned to scent, it seemed brilliant to me, that day, to order a few of the sample bars in various & sundry 'flavors'. Stroke o'Genius, t'was, stroke o'genius. We now have a Soap Date Night established, during which we open a new 'flavor', light candles, turn off the lights, and run a bath for sudsing and soaking and banter and dialogue. And naturally you know where that leads once the tub is drained. The 'cedar & saffron' bar is so incredible, so wafty and lofty, so wondrous and reminiscent of campfires & rain-soaked earth & deep tree-shaded hiking trails [not to mention Double BB's skin, both color & fragrance], that we have dubbed it 'the horny soap.'

But whoa, Nelly! Lest I get lost & go initiate a Saturday-morning soap date before Double BB leaves for work, let me get back to the making of this journal background. [Is it hot in here?] I had this magazine image, which always felt dreamy and exotic and happy and sensual to me. [I think it's of the actress, Evangeline Lilly.] I glued it down, then started using scrap to build a frame around her. Each scrap, in my head, represented a slice of soap, each different, each also exotic or happy or sensual or relaxing, each representing a whole new venue for discovery. As always seems to happen when I use a build-up of scrap pieces, I ended up with soap-inspired chaos. No place to write, but a page that evokes in my head & heart what I felt when I made it. By the time I get to writing on this, it will likely morph -- paint swirlies are probably going to be added, in a darker color, so I have somewhere to journal.

But meanwhile, I've already ordered the next installment of soap flavors, and confidently encourage anyone out there who feels inspired to do the same! I'm off to work on some self-prompted visual journal pages next! Happy Saturday!