Extraordinary Ordinary Moments: A Journal Diary – August 9, 2016

This is an awesome journal to be as creative and expressive as you dare!

I was really curious about this journal. It is very similar to other journals I have, but a little different. This journal is about helping you appreciating the little things in life. To help slowly change the way you see things in life. This journal is very simple, cute, and bland. I don't understand the orange peel image on the cover. Also, why does the orange peel have texture on the front, but not on the back? Why not keep things consistent? I absolutely love the cool gray background color. It's very soothing.The book is fairly thick, and would take a long time to fill up. You can even make this into a diary, if you wanted to. The page thickness is nice. Thick enough to use pen and it won't bleed through. Finally, a journal that has good pages. Cute illustrations on ever page, that still leave room for doodles and writing.This journal give you a prompt on every page. Things like, "Something you learned. Your favorite thing to give. An unexpectedly good color combination. Something you never travel without." Ect. These prompts are supposed to help you find pleasure in the little things, but honestly, these are just boring. I feel like the author ran out of ideas after the first 20 pages. I'll probably end up ignoring the prompts and use this as my own personal journal. This journal has a good concept, but it didn't come out properly.♡ TIZZYI received a free copy of this book from Blogging for Books, for my honest review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The author wrote, "Throughout the hustle and bustle every day, we must remember to slow down, unplug, and take in our surroundings." She then writes about a time in her life during the recession when she was without work and needed something to do. She then decided to do a daily blog. Every night, when her kids went to bed, she sat in the quiet and drew a picture of something she noticed that day. This was therapeutic for her and led to many other career opportunities. One of them, was an author. In this book is an opportunity for her readers to begin the same ritual. On each page is a picture and a prompt to give the reader a chance to stop and think by writing or drawing or whatever they find as a good way that works for them.I absolutely love this idea! As a mother, I find that I go, go, go a lot and don't really stop to reflect on my day. As part of my process to review this book/journal, I decided I needed to institute this as one of my rituals as well so I could discuss the difference it has made in my life. It has been refreshing. I followed the advice of the writer and sat down after kids and hubby were in bed with a cup of tea. Just me and the four legged fur babies. It was quiet and just gave me a chance to reflect on my day. I loved it! While, this ritual could probably be done without the journal, the journal is a good starting point for someone who hasn't done it before. The pictures and prompts help get your creative juices flowing.

During a lull in her career and after a friend advised Jorey to write and draw every day, Jorey developed a daily drawing habit. Despite her success she continues to draw everyday. Which has ultimately led to the creation of this journal. Jorey writes, “I realized eventually that my love of this ritual-and it has indeed become a ritual-isn’t actually about the drawing. It’s about the noticing and the celebrating. I now go through my day collecting little moments and tucking them away for later… any given point in a completely uneventful, ordinary day might yield some little beauty, so long as I have the wherewithal to notice it and take the time to realize what’s great about it.” (Introduction)I love what she says here, we do need to stop and take notice of the beautiful things. The journal is unique because every page opens with a writing prompt. There are so many possibilities for this journal. Ironically the first prompt, something full of possibilities, can refer directly to the journal. Whether or not Jorey purposely wrote this prompt first, I know not. Without knowing for sure, I think she did. And if she did, she is quite clever.The journal is much larger than other journals, there is plenty of room to record your best work. There are no lines on the page, but each page includes a drawing and a prompt. The journal cover is not hardcover or softcover, but in between. Whatever the material, it has a great feel to it and almost feels like fine suede. If you look at the image of the journal you can recognize the orange peel. The surface of the orange peel actually feels like an orange peel. The cover is great, I love it.As written before each page includes a writing prompt and a drawing. For example, one prompt, “something on your street” includes a drawing of a USPS mail drop. Another “a gadget that you love” includes a image of a toaster. I really appreciate the art, it adds to the fun concept that I believe the author is trying to encourage, the concept of noticing every beautiful think, even the unlikely. I didn’t really care for the prompt, “favorite cussword,” for obvious reasons. The journal could be used to record daily writing. It could also be used as s sketch book. For those of you who like to scrapbook, I believe that this book could perfectly meet your needs. Whatever art that you engage in, each day offers a new prompt with a new opportunity for you to create.Amazon offers this journal to the prime customer for 16.99. For a journal this size 16.99 is a great price. And there is much more to this journal than space to write on. Remember, this journal is full of possibilities.In exchange for an honest review, Blogging for Books had provided me with a complimentary copy of this journal. I have written an honest review.