Written in.

          For all of my writing, I keep a small(ish) notebook on hand so that I can quickly jot down a plot outline, or the first chapter of a story. I used to just use regular Five Star college-ruled notebooks (you know, the ones for school), but that didn't seem to satisfy me. First of all, they are too large, but it also made me feel like I was just writing down a school assignment in a boring notebook which is blah. I feel more inspired when I'm writing down my ideas in a notebook that I like.
          And now we come to which notebook I use. I have to say that I haven't exactly experimented and tried out different types and brands, so it's possible I don't know what I'm talking about. However, I can still tell you that I LOVE the notebook I use. It's made by a company called Ciak, and based in Italy. I know, exotic right? The back of it even has the words "Handmade in Italy" printed on the back! I don't know how accurate those words are, but the quality of the book is really amazing!

(excuse the carpet. I know you're jealous.)

    
   It has 96 pages all evenly lined from top to bottom, and is bound in what feels like really top-quality leather. There is a thin piece of cloth sewed in so that you can bookmark your page (made from recycled bottle caps!), as well as an elastic band that is nice and tight to wrap around it. I think the entire thing feels very well made, and although a bit more expensive than some other brands, it's totally worth it!

Plus, the leather is 100% recycled, and the pages are also made from post consumer sources. Also, only Carbon Neutral, Green Energy was used to make it, and is acid and carbon free, as well as pH neutral.
PLUS, the leather cover smells really good. Not that I like, sniff it, or anything weird like that.

Anyways, back to writing.

The one I own is 5X7 and a pretty olive green, but you can get them in many other colors and sizes.  I've also found that it's taken me almost two years to fill it!

I hope this inspires you to try one out!
xo
-B

Learning.

So, about a year ago I decided I wanted to learn how to speak Japanese. It's always disappointed me that I never learned growing up, and through high school during my Spanish classes I always wondered what the heck I was doing there. However, I've finally gotten on the ball and have been learning the language at my own pace. Needless to say, my own pace is veeerry slow, but I'll keep working at it and someday be a pro! I just hope I won't get discouraged and give up!

Due to the fact that (apparently) NO schools in my area offer Japanese, I've simply been reading through old textbooks from when my dad was learning, and I've also tried out this audiobook that has helped a lot!

First, I started reading through this:

Then, I tried out this audiobook:

And now, on top of those things, I've been reading through this book too:

The first one has proven to be the most thorough and in-depth, but the audio book has been better for practicing pronunciation and such. That last one is just a nice, simple overview with a bunch of good vocab words. 

What books would you all recommend for learning a language? 

xo

-B

p.s. All images are from google or amazon. Sorry they suck.

I love pandas.

*images from weheartit

Oh so cute!!

That's all.

-B

p.s. I'm beginning to think most of these posts will just be completely random and irrelevant. 

But there's nothing wrong with that! Er, right?

starting to stray.

This is *completely* unrelated to what I intended to write about, but equally important! I want to share all the greatest (in my opinion) things about Japan!

1. The beautiful natural surroundings and architecture:

2. The shops:

3. The food:

4. The photo booths located just about EVERYWHERE:

5. The cartoons:

6. The subway trains and all the polite not-shoving people in it:

7. And just the general awesomeness of it:

*All images from weheartit.

So that's it! (Well, not everything but you get it, right?) 

xo

-B