Presently Green -

An inaugural week, this is. Let me know how I am doing in 100 days or sooner.

My husband and I celebrated our first anniversary last weekend. He’s never been a big present-giver, which has made me realize he’s not an incredibly gracious present-getter. I don’t mean that negatively. In fact, his reaction to gifts, “Thanks! Want to go for a bike ride?” drives home the point that traditional gifts aren’t always necessary. Creativity and thoughtfulness do play in his favor, even if weekly flower bouquets do not.

Our anniversary celebration was his idea. Right before sunset, we sat balancing back to back on the rocky shore of Jackson Lake in the Teton National Park. Three hundred and sixty five days earlier we were married on the beach in Michigan. With the Tetons as our back drop, we began a new tradition. Sipping wine, eating cheese and crackers (that was an old tradition, not the new one) and attracting an unromantic parade of red ants, we knew we had about forty minutes till the sun set and the temperature dropped frostily. Time became of the essence for the gift exchange. We had purchased- so yes, there was an actual gift involved- two leatherbound  journals made with recycled paper. They will stand the test of time. We are hoping to fill most of the one hundred pages, one page at a time, once a year on our anniversary. So we wrote. We didn’t set any rules or parameters except that the journal entries will go unread until next year.

My husband BJ gets full credit for the first very green and very present idea on my new blog.

Some green journaling picks:

I can picture tucking my thoughts away in this golden creation by Binding Bee. $25

I ♥ You, treeless paper journal from LaPaperie. $50

“A Couch I Was,” green leather journal. A lush volume, repurposed from a leather    couch-you may even see a few cat scratches. By KupoKiley.$20

Recycled leather sleekness by Jenni Bick ($28) and Ciak ($16).