I've always loved writing, and as a child I loved reading and making up my own fairytale stories. A true millennial, I had the luxury of growing up without a smartphone and social media until about age nine or ten. I feel lucky to associate my childhood with waiting in anticipation for world book day to pick up my new Roahl Dahl or Tracey Beaker book, and the smell of fresh pages that were full of adventurous chapters I was yet to have with my favourite fictional characters.
As a teenager and in my early twenties when blogging started to be the in thing, that childhood love of reading and writing developed into a love of writing blogs and writing in general, whether that was on paper or digitally. (And yes, I am that person who buys a new diary every January and plans all her goals for the year).
When Allie Stephens Interiors was just a thought in my mind just a few years ago, I knew that I wanted it to be a place where I could bring together that love of books and writing that has been a part of me since I was little.
I knew that having a digital journal was something I had to do, somewhere that I could write and talk about all things interiors, life, travel, and business that was personal, but also allowed me to connect with people personally, somewhere off of social media that was mine and not at risk of being unplugged without notice.
I've been thinking about ways I can achieve this, could I write an editors note perhaps? But that felt a little bit too corporate for me. Recently I've been really enjoying Lydia's monthly journals, and it really emulates that of which I've been hoping to achieve, but in an informal relaxed way. Not only is it the perfect way to bookend each month, and have a moment to check in and out mentally, the name has a really nostalgic connection to why I started The Journal in the first place. So, inspired by Lydia, I'll be sharing the opening and closing of each chapter here on The Journal.
I promise they won't be this long each month, and as we're already half way through October so there's just a few things on my list for this month:
Finalise our living room design and prepare the drawings
Learn and perfect a new winter recipe
Get out walking more often, taking in the fresh country air surrounding me
Let me know what you've been up to this month so far and what you think about the new chapter.
Allie x
