Do you remember that article you inspired me to write? No? Then take a look inside the Pretty Nostalgic Yearbook 2016.

Hi you.

If you're:

• [a] looking for something lovely to read over the Christmas break [and beyond] ... OR ...
• [b] looking for a beautiful gift for a vintage-lover [by which I mean someone who loves vintage and not someone who's old but who's still got it going on ...]
• OR [c] at all likely to feel happy for me when I reach one of my life goals ... then have I got the book for you! 

This also gives me the chance to say thank you to those of you who helped me reach that goal. Even though you probably don't yet know that you did! 

The Pretty Nostalgic Yearbook 2016 is the first book from Pretty Nostalgic with their new publisher The History Press. They previously published big, beautiful, magazines with a focus on vintage-inspired living and are now continuing that theme in book format.

And this is how they describe this latest publication:

"An old-fashioned annual for grownups who love traditional things, gloriously illustrated with original vintage images and filled with fascinating facts, pearls of wisdom and heartfelt glimpses into British social and domestic history.

A Passion for the past. Making things last. Putting people first.

This is the perfect read for anyone who yearns for times gone by and respects the past enough to see that not all modern things are good for us."

Here's the contents page:

And ... if we just zoom in a little  ... to the 'Winter' section ... you'll see why this book means something in particular to me:  

See that Julie Kirk there?

That's this Julie Kirk here.

That's me that is!

My article 'Addressing Life' is not only the first time I've had any non-crafting-related work published ... it's also the first time I've had work published in a book.

And if we're talking life-long dreams ... then this is one that became reality for me on page 138:

And while I was the one who wrote the article - which is all about the importance of the humble address book - there are many of you reading this, right here, right now, who helped me do it!

So THANK YOU!!

To jog your memory ... quite a while ago now ... I struck up a conversation about address books on my Facebook page where I talked about how I'd stopped writing in a 'real' address book around about the time I started to rely on email / social media as my main forms of communication.

• And many of you joined in the conversation and shared your own address book histories in that thread.
• And I was completely enthralled by how similar many of your reflections were. 
• And, quite frankly, I found that your responses [many of which were touching and profound, for example, how you can't throw away the address of relatives who are no longer here] were too interesting to allow them to end up floating off into Facebook obscurity; forgotten about; languishing down the bottom of the internet somewhere. 

So I decided to take pull out the main themes, reflect on what we can all draw from them and then turn the whole thing into an article which will hopefully inspire more people to hang on to ... or to even begin keeping .. a 'real' paper address book; rather than rely on their less tangible email 'contacts' files.

And I sent it to Pretty Nostalgic, because - as they describe themselves as "promoting creative and sustainable living inspired by the past" - it felt like the perfect fit for them, and they accepted it ... and now it's in print! 

I'm not saying you should buy the book purely for 'our' article ... but ...

I am really proud of it ... I mean, I even managed to mention Shakespeare and Game of Thrones in the introduction:

But look, I only take up 4 of its pages, the remaining 160 plus are equally worth a glance.

Here are a few to give you the idea of the mix of vintage images and retro-fabulous topics on offer:

History of the sandwich anyone?

How about fossil hunting?

And there are plenty of shorter features too:

If the Yearbook looks like something you - or someone on your Christmas list - might enjoy then:

• you can find it here via the Pretty Nostalgic website 
• or from other retailers such as here on Wordery [one of my best 'go to' book stores this year]
• and here on Amazon where you can 'Look Inside'

For the record: this isn't a sponsored post, I bought my own copy. Likewise none of the above are affiliate links.

However, the gorgeous vintage Christmas wrapping paper in the background of the photos [peeking out from under the book] is available from my Etsy shop here!

So .. there it is ... the perfectly splendid Pretty Nostalgic Yearbook 2016: home to my article on the importance of the address book.

And if there's ever a time of year when we're all reaching for our address book ... it's the time of year when we've all got Christmas cards to send! 

Julie