All my life, I thought writing in books and marking them up was really disrespectful. Every time I ever ripped a textbook, even by accident, I would feel so bad because that's someones hard work. Toward the end of high school, I realized how pretty it was to mark up books when you read them. Bended corners, important words highlighted, thoughts scribbled in the margins. All of that is so cool to me now because it makes each copy so unique. Not a single person would mark up a book in the same way you would. Writing down your thoughts and highlighting what's important to you makes the book look truly loved and used in the way they were really meant to. My roommate and I took this a step further when we found out a small, used bookstore near us was closing.

My roommate had this great idea that we would buy an older used book and turn them into junk journals. If you didn't know a junk journal perfectly reflects the name. You basically put whatever you in it. Pictures from when you were little, favorite song lyrics, a list of what you want for Christmas, anything! We started by looking around for a book with a title that reflected what I wanted our books to be about. Carol's is entitled "Adventure" and mine is entitled "Stories of School and College Days". I thought this title really fitting for what I wanted to do. I want to preserve my life as it is right now, my interest, my friends, my life in general. I think it'll be a really cool thing to look back on when I'm older. A window into my past self.

I started by writing in big black letters on the inside of my book, "Welcome to my mess." I did this first because if we're being real and honest there is not a better phrase to explain my life right now and as I said before this project is about preserving. I then wrote a short letter from the author about my intentions and what I hope this book to be. While we were at the bookstore, I also picked up a book about Bach's cantatas in the original German. I cut out some measures and put them in my book. I did it because I'm of German heritage, I love music, and I just liked it. Remember that's the only criteria for what goes in here. On the next page, for example, I drew a picture of the floating house from the movie Up. I wrote "Adventure is out there" because I've always loved that movie and the search for adventure is a big motivator in my life.

This project is one of my favorite projects I've taken on because it's so original and so "me." Some might say that photo albums can do the same thing but this is so unique to me and the story that I'm writing. That being said, if you like being creative and doing little artsy projects, I highly encourage you to be the author of your own original junk journal.