"After the Pen" in the journaling community means what does a plournal look like after it has been used for the week. Here are mine for ​May 2018.

"Use natural lighting," they said. With natural lighting you can see every bump and warp of the page from watercolor use and every line from the pages underneath. Still turned out pretty though....

I was going to just copy my BFFs April theme and colors but as I got going, it changed midstream. I did, however keep the rain theme.... although, I am not sure we will get as much rain as I might hope for here in the desert of Las Vegas.

​I am in love with all the holidays including all the quirky ones that exist. There are so many for April and while I have a lot, there are so many more. My favorites (with links) are listed below the slider.

April 3 Fish Fingers and Custard Day
April 5 Star Trek First Contact Day
April 8 Draw A Bird Day - founded by 7 year old Dorie Cooper
April 13 Scrabble Day
April 13 Thomas Jefferson's Birthday, 1743
April 14 Dolphin Day
April 15 World Art Day - also Leonardo da Vinci's birthday, 1452
April 16 Save the Elephants Day
April 17 Bat Appreciation Day
April 19 Garlic Day
April 21 Astronomy Day
April 22 Earth Day - est. 1970
April 23 World Laboratory Day
​April 23 Take a Chance Day
April 24 ​Firefly Day
April 25 World Stationery Day
April 25 World Penguin Day
April 26 Alien Day
April 27 Tell A Story Day
April 27 Arbor Day
April 30 May Eve / Beltane

After seeing a small, tiny blossom on the tree at my BFFs house, I made my March Mood tracker a tree & use little, tiny  blossom as "great" days of the month. While elated that I have had many great days, I am regretting the choice of frogs for "great" in April. Doodles of frogs for the next 4 days commencing...

I was so excited to draw my first falling fish for April that I didn't wait for the water to dry before adding more lines and the black smeared a little. A fellow bullet journaler posted a picture of an "ugly" fish as she was looking for a way to track her daughters pet fish and the whole of the community showed an outpouring of love for him. His name is Bubble and he is a Black Moor. I promised I would draw him as the next fish in my Mood Day tracker. He turned out adorable. 

I wanted to try a new style of weekly. I went a little heavy on the pencil lines and considered drawing in a separator for the double list of boxes for each day but am otherwise eager to use it. I do think I should have staggered the opener lists to start to leave the bottom of the box for journaling... maybe, if I like this spread, I will do it for week 16. The picture below this one is week 13 (I'll add week 14 next week).

While responding to a query about how to incorporate magic into the bullet journal, J. Starr from a bullet journaling group I am in, rephrased what I said in such a precise manner that I made it my front page quote.

Looking over my book last week made me realize that my handwriting was atrocious. I started the #RockYourHandwriting challenge for myself just to practice better petite note-taking handwriting. And while I don't do something special for every holiday I mark down that tickles me, I did draw a bird for Sunday's draw a bird day... I'm just not quite sure what kind of bird. Hahaha.

THIS is going to be my favorite part of this Bullet Journal / Plournal journey, I think. I've created two of these pages now and I was so very happy with the first one, but this one.. I am completely enamored with.

I first saw this from one one the heavyweights in the BuJo / Bullet Journal / Planner community: Llama Loves Lettering. Hers was all in text, albeit fancy, and I thought I would start it that way but the doodle aspect just came so readily. I look forward to these and hope you do, too.

Here's the one I did for January 2018

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Lupercalia
by Ted Hughes

                I

The dog loved its churlish life, 
Scraps, thefts. Itsdeclined blood 
An anarchy of mindless pride. 
 Nobody's pet, but good enough

To double with a bitch as poor. 
It had bitten ears and little stone eyes, 
A mouth like an incinerator. 
It held man's reasonable ways

Between its teeth. Received death 
Closed eyes and grinning mouth.

                II

This woman's as from death's touch: a surviving 
Barrenness: she abides; perfect, 
But flung from the wheel of the living, 
The past killed in her, the future plucked out.

The dead are indifferent underground. 
Little the live may learn fromthem— 
A sort of hair and bone wisdom, 
A worn witchcraft accoutrement

Of proverbs. Now the brute's quick 
Be tinder: old spark of the blood-heat 
And not death's touch engross her bed, 
Though that has stripped her stark indeed.

                III

Goats, black, not angels but 
Bellies round as filled wine-skins 
Slung under carcase bones. 
Yet that's not brute light

And no merely mountain light-- 
Their eyes' golden element. 
Rustle of their dry hooves, dry patter, 
Wind in the oak-leaves; and their bent

Horns, stamp, sudden reared stare 
Startle women. Spirit of the ivy, 
Stink of goat, of a rank thriving, 
O mountain-listener.

                IV

Over sand that the sun's burned out 
Thudding feet of the powerful, 
Their oiled bodies brass-bright 
In a drift of dust. The earth's crammed full,

Its baked red bellying to the sky's 
Electric blue. Their attitudes— 
A theorem of flung effort, blades: 
Nothing mortal falters their poise

Though wet with blood: the dog has blessed 
Their fury. Freshthongs of goat-skin 
In their hands they go bounding past, 
And deliberate welts have snatched her in

To the figure of racers. Maker of the world, 
Hurrying the litghost of man 
Age to age while the body hold, 
Touch this frozenone.