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1. August 1st is the anniversary of the Internet. The design was created in 1973 and published in 1974. Two men, Vint Cerf and Bob Khan, are credited with figuring out how to send "packets" of information from one computer to another.

• Photo Idea: Take pictures of your family members using the 'Net. Add photos that you have sent or downloaded from the 'Net.
• Journaling Idea: Save your 'Net correspondence. Often we send e-mail to friends and family that could easily double as journal entries. Why write stuff twice?
• Page Idea: Along with your photos of people using the 'Net, add a list of the ways you commonly use the Internet. Do you "cruise" for information? Do you Instant Message family members and friends? Do you look up recipes? List your top ten of Internet uses. You might also want to write an essay entitled, "Why I Couldn't Live without the 'Net." I know it's been a lifesaver to me-literally. When our dog was diagnosed as having a liver problem, I went to the 'Net to learn how we could best care for her. How has the 'Net changed your life?

2. August 19 is the birthday of Orville Wright. Orville and his brother Wilbur labored at their bicycle business while working on their obsession of building a full-size flying. As Bill Gates explains, "The reality of that obsession was a lonely quest for the brothers in the workroom behind their bike shop, plotting to defy gravity and conquer the wind. Yet that obsessive kind of world-changing belief is a force that drives you to solve a problem, to find the breakthrough--a force that drives you to bet everything on a fragile wing or a new idea. It was a force that led the Wright brothers to invent, single-handedly, each of the technologies they needed to pursue their dream."

• Photo Idea: What are your obsessions? How big do you dare to dream?
• Journaling Idea: Often we focus on our goals, forgetting to consider what we have already accomplished. In fact, commonly we feel a sense of letdown after a great achievement. What have you achieved lately? How did you celebrate?
• Page Idea: Why not headline a page "Dare to Dream Big Dreams" and share dreams that your family has nurtured to fruition?

3. August is National Golf Month. Our family will be visiting St. Andrews, the legendary golf course where the British Open is played in Scotland.

• Photo Idea: Whether you play a links course, a public golf course or a put-put course, take a picture of your crowd hitting balls. Can you fake a photo? Let's face it. You won't always be there for that perfect storytelling shot. I missed the moment when my husband chased down his ball on the PGA course in Florida and found himself eyeball to eyeball with an alligator. BUT…I have no shame. I'll photograph David, his putter, and add a die cut of the 'gator. That's good enough for me.
• Journaling Idea: The world is divided into two camps. People who love and hate golf and people who would rather sit watch the sidewalk dry than think about golf. Which are you? Even those of us who choose to ignore golf can get "sucked in." I was walking the beautiful grounds of Wentworth Golf Club, minding my own business, when an errant shot flew past my nose. Despite my best efforts, our home has a putting range…in our living room. Write about the passion and antipathy golf might cause at your house.
• Page Idea: Golf balls are so easy to make. Use a big circle punch. Punch out a white circle. Take a grey pencil and draw the letter "c" on half the circle. Ta-dah. You got golf balls, baby.

4. August is also National Foot Health month. I wish you could see my tootsies. One day in yoga, I noticed that the woman next to me had a row of little fake diamonds along her big toenail. I nearly lost my balance and toppled out of the pose. After class, she told me where she had her toes done, and now I, too, have sparkling toes.

• Photo Idea: Line up all the feet in your family and take a shot. Or a series of shots.
• Journaling Idea: Do you have any famous toe tales at your house? Our son had a nasty looking toenail. I took him to the doctor, thinking I was probably being overcautious, and we came away with a strong course of antibiotics and a warning that the next step was, gulp, surgery.
• Page Idea: Why not use one of your colored pens to create an outline of all the feet in your family? Label them and add them to a page.

Hip Tip:

Lately, I've been intrigued by using plastic netting on my pages. When I buy fruit in a webbed plastic bag, I keep the netting for pages. I added the netting to a piece of camouflage patterned paper and added photos of my son paintballing. The netting echoed the nets strung around the paintball center. You can adhere the netting with tape on the backside of your page or with a glue runner on the front.

--Joanna

Joanna's new book Adventures in Journaling is available in stores now! Look for it at your local scrapbook retailer or at my-memories.net.