I was invited to dinner at Girl Scout camp Wednesday night.  So many stories and memories came rushing to my mind.

• I heard the silly songs I used to sing.
• The doors I put up in 5th or 6th grade (with the help of a contractor for a badge) were banged up, but still there.
• The smells were the same; the dishes we ate off of were the exact same.
• I still drank all of my water before I drank anything else, just like the old days.
• I even heard someone call me my old camp name… and I still knew to answer.

Is there a place close by that you haven’t been to in years?  Where is it?  Grab your camera.  Pick up the phone if you need to.  And go for a visit.

It’s no secret that I love documenting stories and listening to stories.  I was always called shy as a kid, but now I think that “listener” would have been a better fit.  We all have stories.  I thought I’d share a few tips on documenting journeys.

1.  You don’t have to have fancy accessories. I don’t have fancy hole punches, scissors, and charms; it doesn’t mean I’ll fail.  You won’t either.  Scrapbook tools are fun; they’re not required.

A daily journal of my first Christmas in Germany – made with papers & ribbons we already had.

2.  Forget about what you think story pages should look like.  It’s easy to compare journal pages with professional scrapbook page layouts that get published.  Don’t compare.  You are not them.  You’re the lovely you!

3.  Think about your senses. Stories come to life when you include bits like the taste and smell of something.

A {Journey} Travel Journal during Holy Week in Malaga, Spain

4.  Expand. I’m not sure how often I have sat down to write in my journals, only to find something completely different than what I expected come out on the paper.  That’s why I love writing prompts.  You bring out little bits from the back of your mind that are so worth capturing.

5.  Just write. Many professional writers will sit down with a cup of coffee and absolutely no idea what to journal about.  It’s how they start every day, and they let the stories take them away.

6.  And trust me.  The stories do come. (That’s where writing prompts are so beautiful!)  Don’t beat yourself up about writing the perfect thing.  Which is better?  Writing a decent story or sweating over the best way to tell the story… only to have no story?

7.  Pick a few stories.  It’s impossible to ever capture every story.  Write the ones that come to mind time and again.  Write stories you want to remember.  Write the ones that matter to YOU.

8.  Love yourself. Love what you are doing, who you are becoming, and what you’re learning.  Love begins within.

9.  Listen to stories. I always have a tough time transitioning from silent Germany to chatty America.  But once I get adjusted, I love asking questions and just listening to the people I interact with every day.  You never know what you’ll walk away with.

10.  Know that your stories do matter. My grandmother is constantly saying that her stories don’t matter.  She lived just an ordinary life.  Do you think that your grandmother’s stories don’t matter?  I sure as heck love hearing my grandma’s stories.  Her stories are not ordinary to the world I know today – not by a long shot!  So even if you feel like your journey is just an ordinary one, write it.  I promise there will be people (including YOU) who will want to know what your ordinary was.

11.  Read those old journals.  Give yourself a high five or a warm hug for all those pieces of your world that you’ve captured.

My {Love Where We Live} Journal, capturing our life in Berlin, Germany.

12.  Write for YOU. The most successful writers and bloggers start writing for themselves – not for other people.  It’s so essential to feel in your heart that you are writing for you.  You may be writing a baby book or stories of your childhood for other people… but the books that are finished always include an element of “I’m writing this story for me.”

13.  Write now. Celebrate a piece of your story.

* * * * * * * * * *

I made it to my destination yesterday morning – flew here all by myself!  If the guy at the airport weren’t so masculine, I think he would have passed out when I stepped out of the airplane without Martin.  Yeah for being brave, self!  And thank YOU for the well wishes and cheers of courage.

Outside the window is the most beautiful rainbow right now.

I’ve been writing silly postcards and upbeat letters to family.  It’s one of the greatest ways to let my creativity flow.  I know they won’t judge me for sending them ridiculous jokes, so I will sit with half a dozen postcards in front of me and just start writing.  I can just be me and let that goofy side we all have buried deep inside come out – laughing!  (I started sending random postcards last summer.)

My closest friend in elementary school and I used to always get these insanely crazy postcards at summer camp.  If anyone got more than three letters in one day, she had to sing.  We were always singing for our corny mail.

I’ll never forget getting one postcard with a bunch of shirtless men posing on a sports car.  The back of the postcard said, “Oh baby, hurry home to us.  We’re just so lonely without your smiles.”

My cheeks turned SO red that day.  Everyone was always asking to see our postcards.  I just couldn’t hide it fast enough that day.

Just to clarify – these goofy cards came from my friend’s mom.  Oh she had humor!

She really taught me that life doesn’t always have to be serious. You don’t always have to write serious letters.  It’s okay to laugh.  It’s okay to make others laugh at your creativity.  It’s okay to write a letter that contains absolutely no objective, no “how are you?”s, and certainly no discussion of the weather.

So try this.  Pull out some of those postcards left over from some long ago vacation and write a silly note.  Put something fun in the mailbox.  Here are some postcard writing prompts to get you started.

When’s the last time you sent a letter just because?  Want to write a few with me today?  Maybe we can all team up and write to some people we love.

Be warned: when you send silly postcards, you may start RECEIVING goofy postcards! I like to hole punch them and add them to my journal (from Gadanke).

I caught him smiling in the co-pilot’s seat.  It’s hard to catch him smiling in that chair.  He likes to be pilot.  But I like being pilot now, too!

My first solo flight + overnight out of town is coming up.  I’m making Martin review emergency landing procedures with me.  He’s reassigning the engine chapter of my textbook to me, and later we’re going to practice a few touch-and-gos where we land and immediately take off again on the remaining runway.  ”Maybe I should just drive,” I keep telling him.  The airport I’m flying to is incredibly challenging because of the mountains.  I have little fears – the same kind you have on your first drive to another town or first interstate drive on an icy night.

“You are a pilot, Katie,” Martin reminds me.  ”Don’t you want to be able to fly?”

I nod, a bit timid.

I don’t know why I hesitate.  I know this stuff! And it’s not like it’s all in German.  English, Katie – English!  Martin is smart.  He reviews things with me, but he will NOT let me drive.

“You are a pilot, Katie.”

Here’s a question to think about:

What’s something that scares you?  Maybe crawl spaces?  Or getting bit by a dog?  Something bigger? Maybe smaller?  What makes you hesitate or get a little teary?  And if you can… how do you overcome that fear with bravery?

Want to catch photos and scary! stories of my first solo flights?  Here’s my very fist solo flight around the valley, my first cross-country flight stretching 200 miles without any navigation tools besides my maps and compasses, and here’s my first solo flight at a huge airport where I lined up on the runway behind two ENORMOUS airliners.  Oooh.  Those were crazy times!

Guess what!  The world is getting some more earthships!

Mike Reynolds, the man who designed tire house living (like our own tire house) is helping Haiti rebuild their country.  He’s the gray-haired man in the center of the photo above.

The earthships in Haiti are made from old tires, cardboard, bottles, Styrofoam, and all sorts of other “junk”.  Isn’t that just perfect?  In a land so badly destroyed, they’re salvaging the scraps.  Reynolds and his crew aren’t just surveying the area and drawing up plans.  They’re rolling up their sleeves and HELPING.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal that my dad discovered, Reynolds said that before he went to Haiti earlier this month, “There was nothing but tents, nothing but cleanup.”

Local people are teaming up to construct these crazy, awesome homes.  Following the earthship mission, the houses will be self-sustaining, generating their own energy and collecting rainwater.  The one above is made from 120 tires – and get this:  it’s just 120 square feet big.  I know how small that is by our standards.  But imagine how beautiful it must be to have a home when yours was lost.

The plan is to build a small village of earthships.

How do you give your talents to the world?  Do you volunteer locally or try to send relief to places like Haiti?  Every little bit helps, because after all if you help a man build good things, he can turn around and build more goodness.

(Photo & info from The WSJ)

One of the decluttering topics that slipped into the back of my mind recently is the topic of wedding dresses.  I think it’s all of the beautiful invitations, announcements, and beautiful parties this time of year.  So beautiful.

I really, really don’t like the idea of putting the words “declutter” and “wedding dress” in the same sentence.  Do you?

But what do we do with our old wedding dresses?  What have you done with yours?

Is it in the closet?  Did you rent one or borrow?  This topic is certainly one where I don’t have the answers, so I thought I would open it all to you.  What have you done with your wedding dress, and are you happy with the outcome?

I cannot wait to hear your thoughts!

Image from Ion + Vica’s wedding in Romania during last summer’s International Wedding Crashing Series on Making This Home.