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Dear diaries
New Year’s resolution: pick up a cool journal and start writing

BY SUZANNE KAMMLOTT

MAYBE YOU’VE NEVER kept a diary because you figured the moment you did, nothing noteworthy would ever happen to you again. Entries would read something like: Monday — Combined contents of fridge into semi-eatable chili, fell asleep watching Politically Incorrect. Note to self: have couch Scotchgarded.

But you’re looking at those blank pages all wrong. Diaries are the perfect opportunity to script tantalizing tidbits and professional triumphs. Example: Monday — Flirted with attractive exec at local boîte. Boss says my idea for motivational swing dancing at meetings is boosting morale. Note to self: you are a truly amazing person.

See? A diary is your book of life, and New Year’s is the perfect time to start documenting that life. So start writing.

It doesn’t get any cuter than Doubleday Books’ pink, spiral-bound journal adorned with frilly-femme motifs ($7.95). But who says you can’t plot your Betty Friedan–style assault on the national consciousness in this adorable daybook, each page sweetly decorated with engagement rings, nail polish, and such? Macho men, on the other hand — the trout-fishing, beer-drinking, map-forgoing masters of their own destiny — can record their adventures in Doubleday’s handsome, chocolate-brown, leather-bound traveler’s journal bound with rawhide cord ($19.95).

How many sit-coms must portray the perils of unguarded diaries before we realize there’s nothing funny about having your most intimate confessions revealed to the world? Has Marcia Brady taught us nothing? Still, some folks insist their lives are open books. For them, lock-free journals are the answer. Expose yourself with an Italian-crafted notebook boasting European-style cards on the cover ($10.95), available at Monroe Salt Works. Or pen your musings in a handsome, coil-bound, olive-toned confession keeper with "Journal" emblazoned on the cover ($19.95), also from Monroe Salt Works.

You know that annoying question that goes, "Where do you see yourself in five years?" At the end of your five-year diary, of course. You’ve got half a decade to come up with something good in this five-year gold-lock diary ($11.95), decorated with red gardenias and complete with two keys, sold at Bob Slate Stationer. However, if your moods tend toward a bit of hell or heaven, take advantage of 3-D devil- or nun-shaped notebooks ($15) from Laboratory Home Experimentation, just waiting for your tales of sin and saintliness.

Where to find it:

• Bob Slate Stationer, 1975 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 547-8624; 1288 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 547-1230.

• Doubleday Books, Prudential Shops, 800 Boylston Street, Boston, (617) 536-2606.

• Laboratory Home Experimentation, 577 Tremont Street, Boston, (617) 266-7300.

• Monroe Salt Works, 202 Mass Ave, Arlington, (781) 646-6699.

Issue Date: December 27, 2001 - January 3, 2002

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