Did a serious round of pretty heavy defoliation. Overnight she just started dropping leaves left and right so I went ahead and got rid of all the older large fan leaves and she responded by densing up so it was the right move.
Thanks for the luck @Ferenc. Used to doing this as a hobby but I'm ready to get serious. I had to restart another journal with this same name. Running photos and autos and 8 journals at once and it got messy sorting it all out. I do appreciate you taking a look. Any advice along the way is welcome.