Since our family started traveling in mid-June, I have been carrying my Traveler's Notebook everywhere. It's my wallet and my journal all at the same time. And maybe because we are away from home, I feel that holding my TN grounds me more than ever.
I finished my first travel refill and moved into the 2nd one. I'm using BK Sketch Notebook and loving it! Ame has recommended Global Arts Papers to be outstanding mixed-media papers and she was totally right. The pages have the mat tactility with just enough texture, and it works so well with fountain pens and watercolor paint. I also really appreciate the notebook cover Frido designed for this refill. We wanted to create an open-ended feel where the blank notebook does not intimidate anyone to start using... so all the design elements on the cover are hand drawn and written by Frido using his favorite mechanical pencil from Modern Fuel.
I know I will treasure my travel journal so much for many years to come.
Between our stay in Ishigaki Island and the final travel destination, Germany, we spent one night in Tokyo. We arrived in mid-afternoon, and we only had time until the next morning, so we kept our time simple. We booked a hotel nearby Tokyo station because we knew to arrive at Haneda airport from Ishigaki and to depart from Narita airport to Hamburg, Germany would be fairly accessible from there. We were also looking forward to visiting the Traveler's Factory in Tokyo Station.
Traveler's Factory, Tokyo Station
Maybe because I never lived in a metropolitan city with large transit facilities..., but Tokyo Station was pretty over the top for my senses. The underground avenues below the train stations that were laid out like spider webs very much felt like a giant maze to me. I researched ahead of time where the Traveler's Factory was inside of this large station, but it still took us a while to find it.
It was helpful to know that the store was inside of the section called "GrandSta Marunouchi". I kept asking people where this area was and once we were inside of the GrandSta Marunochi section, we were able to find an area map that gave us detail directions. I found out later that a part of the GrandSta Marunouchi (but not the whole) was inside of the paid part of the train station terminal (inside of the actual JR station) where you could only access with purchased train tickets. We bought the cheapest tickets even though we didn't need to ride any trains only to find out that Traveler's Factory was actually 'outside' of the train terminal. Ah! But we did find it after all, and all four of us had a lot of fun adding some exclusive stamps to our notebooks. Some of the special stamps featured different prefectures of Japan, so of course, we added: "Shizuoka," "Tokyo" and "Okinawa" to our pages.
On our last day in Japan as we were departing from Narita Airport, we had a few hours of an unexpected flight delay, so we luckily got to make a quick stop at Traveler's Factory in Narita Airport and once again stamped on our pages. At this store, the exclusive stamps featured different countries you could visit! I really loved how Traveler's Company differentiated the offerings based on the location of the stores. Satchi made a page on her TN refill about places she would like to visit. It included Egypt, Brazil, and Africa:)
Both stores are very compact and fun stops to make if you are trespassing the area.
To my joy, both of our girls are finally enjoying the art of adding stamps to different journal pages. It was delightful to watch Satchi and Coco's intentional face as they added different designs to their pages.
Few stars are aligning to lead me back to nature journaling again and I am really excited. To be able to take some time here and there to jot down my observations and time spent with nature and kids.
(As you can imagine), I have gone back and forth between different notebook size and wondered what would work the best. I wanted something that had enough pages so I could have a documentation of seasons captured over time yet more pages meant heavier and bulkier notebooks. At the end, I settled with my Traveler's Notebook. I can easily grab it wherever I am and it's slim enough to fit in any bag I might be carrying at the time.
We are so excited to share that we have received our first inventory for the new TN Blue at our studio. It's nearly impossible to conclude exact color of the TN Blue (since each TN blue will be slightly different from one to another due to the nature of the leather as an organic material). But I thought it might be visually helpful if you get to see the new and original TN Blue next to each other.
TN Blue Passport in the photographs is the new version added to our collection!
Wearing the leather also changes the leather color over time, and each leather seems to act and react differently. I have seen TN Brown get both darker and lighter over usage. (My original TN Brown have gone very light compared to my friend's TN Brown which got richer and darker in color). Humidity in the air, oil on your hand, coffee and water stains, etc. all go into the color factors.
I hope you get to see "YOUR" Traveler's Notebook evolve with continuous usage.
The other day, we received an update from Traveler's Company that they will be integrating TN Blue regular size, passport size and pen holder clip into their permanent collection! We are, of course, beyond excited as it was a pretty special color for a lot of people.
Right now we are waiting for more updates from our distributor reg. the timing of the first delivery as well as the quantity we will be receiving. If you are interested in getting more updates about TN Blue, please send us an email so we can add you to our contact list.
Since TN Blue will be a part of the regular TN collection (instead of limited edition item like TN Olive), we should be able to carry them as in-stock items in a long run. But we might have a limited quantity at first.
If you are wondering where to start your analogue adventure this year... I would love to share one place where we can all begin our journey from. It's simple. Just open a page on a notebook and start writing a letter to someone special whenever you can. I started writing letters to our girls back in October, 2014. It was my way of scrapbooking our day and to create more space to reflect on the memories we were creating. Since then, I have written/drawn some form of (almost) daily letters for them. At the beginning, I was writing and documenting and thought they might enjoy looking back to these notebooks when they grow up. Since the beginning of 2017, I shifted the contents a little and started writing directly to them each night so they can wake up every morning to read the letter from the previous night. Sometimes they forget reading. Sometimes it's just one word I write on the page. I tuck letters they receive from their friends and families in there too. In few occasions, they leave me their notes and drawings on the pages and I treasure them. In 2017, I used TN refills to savor this tradition and was able to compile all the notebooks I used for each girl in the archive binder on the last day of the year. The TN system worked really well in 2017 since it was our most traveled year and I wanted to take a TN refill notebook for each girl with me in a suitcase so I can keep writing to them while on the road. The monthly tabs from TN Customized Sticker Set came handy to keep the refills in a chronological order. I watched both Satchi and Coco picking up the archived letters address to them and flip through the pages and it was truly priceless. This year, I decided to go back to the minimalistic MD Diary (which I used back in 2015). One for Satchi and one for Coco. I am hoping to capture my letters to them as well as the drawings and letters they make for me in this notebook. Also to use the monthly pages as a way to help them orient their days in a context of month and year. So I hope this year... if you are wondering where to start..., I hope you start writing to a person who is in your mind. It could be a friend, a family, or a stranger you run into the day. The letter can be read by the addressed person or not. I believe in the act of pouring our hearts out in order for us to connect with the world around us. Just imagine how peaceful our world would be if we choose to spend more of our time writing to someone we love...
Here are some photos from 2017 letters and first few pages from 2018 letters to our girls. I hope they bring little bit of sparkles and inspiration to your analogue journey. xoxo -wakako 2017 Letters to Satchi & Coco with TN
Fall has been incredibly full for us! But we did squeeze some fun time as a part of the BK work and spent an awesome November weekend (sunny, warm, and beautiful) on the rooftop of ACE Hotel with the team of Traveler's Company from Tokyo.
It was such a big project for Traveler's Company to visit Los Angeles and New York, especially because the event was much anticipated for many many years by so many TN fans and I was glad to be a small part of the local support in Los Angeles.
Probably the biggest highlight for me was to give big hugs to all the amazing TN fans whom I got to meet through Baum-kuchen to celebrate the day. The analogue community here is incredibly warm, encouraging and passionate and I can't thank all the customers for all the support!
Oh, and of course having Satchi and Coco visit me on the last day of the event. Frido held the homefront for the weekend while I was pretty much away for the entire weekend... and I just missed them so much to be away. It was so sweet to watch them make their own spiral notebook with special papers provided by Traveler's Company and hold their proud notebooks:)
I can't wait to see what's ahead of the Traveler's Company in 2018!
