Bullet Journal for 2017

I’m going to warn you right now that this is text and picture heavy…

A year ago I started bullet journaling and I really enjoyed it. I don’t think that I was more productive, but I definitely was more organized. I also loved the freedom to create in it and to use it as a diary. I have kept a diary since I was really little. I have books and books of unfinished diaries and basically anytime something disastrous happened in my life, from actual disasters like when my dad passed away from cancer or I got my heart broken to not actually disasters but it was to me like when Nick Carter got his first girlfriend (shut up, I was like 15 years and it was a big deal because he was the love of my life!!!) I would need to end it and then start a new diary. I’m pretty sure this was the only year that I finished it all the way through!

Anyway. In the year that I have been bullet journaling, I have changed a few things from my original setup. Including……my brand new Leuchtturm1917 lime green journal! I thought I would switch it up and try out the Leuchtturm1917 this year. I love this a lot because the pages came pre-numbered and index pages already set up and most of all I LOVE THE COLOUR!! Though in terms of paper, it’s not really that different from the Moleskin – there’s still some bleed through.

The first thing I did at the back of my journal was set up my monthly pages from January to July. Because I do shift work where every two weeks I work am shift and then the next two weeks I work pm shifts, I like to and need to know when I’m working so that I can make plans. This is one of my most useful things in my bujo. Last year I did a full year but I ran out of space and had to re-do the last half of my monthly pages. This year I did only half the month. I really liked the morning/afternoon/evening/tasks and goals columns, so that I’ve kept the exact same. I still needed to know what shift I’m working for the rest of the year and to be able to plan for the future, so I added two things: a quick calendar for August to September and also a Future Dates log.

The last month, I started doing a weekly 2 page spread set up so that I could see and plan out everything that I had to do and this ended up being really helpful to me, so I brought this over into 2017. I left one side to plan my week and the other side to plan my meals. I’m also trying to pick back up some of the Chinese that I learned years ago, so that’s what the squares are on the bottom of the meal planner. I pick a word that I want to learn for that week and every day I practice a little. Hopefully I’ll pick up some new words and phrases before the end of the year!

After that I start my daily pages. I usually have a to do list for the day, some times I doodle in it, sometimes I journal in it. I’m currently following the Dawn Nicole Designs year of colour challenge, it’s been fun trying to figure all the colours and stuff that I can do.

Finally, these are the things that I have added for me:

The first thing is a resolutions page of sorts. I haven’t really figured out what else I want to accomplish this year. I know I want to learn or re-learn some Chinese and my horoscope said that I should really focus on my mental health this year and to learn to meditate. Other things that I think will go up is to save an x amount of money each month. I just need to sit down and sort that out. And probably to try to read and art more and tv less.

Another thing I have added for myself is a vacation tracker cause otherwise I am not going to remember what I have taken and what I have left! Though even though I have a tracker, I always end up with extra vacation days – not that I’m complaining 🙂

Kensi is a butthead and I’m having issues getting her to eat over the last year or so. The vet doesn’t really believe me, so I’ve been tracking her daily meals so that I can bring it with me for her yearly check up coming soon. I also have a tracker for her weight which isn’t shown here. I mean, she’s fine and is playful and everything, but no matter what type of food I have tried on her (and I have tried what feels like every brand of food – I also have a tracker for that!), she eats a few bites here and there and then leaves it. So I thought that I would keep track of that for them to see what I’ve been doing.

And the final thing I’ve added is a tv schedule since I have so many shows I am following and I don’t remember when most of them are! 

So that’s my bullet journal for this year! I’m sure it’ll continue to change and evolve as I move into my second year of journaling. If you’ve stayed with me til the end, thank you 🙂 If you bullet journal too, let me know in the comments; I love checking out how other people have set up their journals!

QOTD – 01.25.16

Happy Monday everyone! I have lots of stuff that I need to do this week to be ready for other stuff I want to do next week, so this seems like a fitting quote to remind me to just begin!

I’ve been able to use my bullet journal to sort of map out this week and then I’ll be able to use my dailies to plan out exactly what I need to get done in that “area” of work each day. Honestly, the bullet journaling system has been so helpful to me and in a way, I feel like I get actually get more done since I start to see all the stuff that I keep putting off and it gets embarrassing! Plus there’s the satisfaction of crossing off each task you complete and the feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.

Hope everyone has a great week 🙂

 

A Little Art

Ending my first day of 2016 with a little bit of art. I was going to do something more productive but then I was like, it’s New Years day! Part of what I want to do this year is to get back into art. Plus I have an entire blank bullet journal with pages and pages waiting to be filled! I am, unfortunately, so hopelessly blank creatively that I spent most of the day researching art journal prompts and I found a few that I think will help me get my creativity flowing again.

Today’s prompt was from Tumblr that I forgot to save and it was something like to choose a lyric and bring it to life. The lyric that has been stuck in my head lately is from Nick Carter’s new album, so obviously that was the one that I choose to visualize.

 

don’t let your heart bleed out, just let the sunlight in

It was so therapeutic. I cannot wait to get back into art and creativity for this year. I have tried to do these weekly prompts before and fallen off after the first month or so. I am so determined to do this this year.

I will need to find a better way to photograph my work though or better lighting. The phone camera is not the greatest camera in the world for taking pictures of my art work it seems

 

Bullet Journal Set Up

I had the day off yesterday so what better way to spend the morning then to finish off my bullet journal for 2016? I have been heavily researching the Moleskine vs Leuchtturm1917 debate. It seems like the Leuchtturm1917 is the favourite. Since I have already been using the Moleskine for my journals for awhile now, and I have no qualms with it, I kept to the Moleskine. The only difference is that I went with the sketchbook one hoping that the pages would be thicker. No such luck. I’ll see how this year goes with it and if I don’t like it, I’ll try out the Leuchtterm1917 next year. I can’t believe I’m talking about next year when we’re just starting 2016!

I like to colour code my things – purple for me, red for work, etc. While I put a colour code index at the top of my monthly pages, just to make it easier for me, I put initials on the bottom of my coloured pens so I don’t keep having to double check with the colour index.

My first page was the Index page. I switched it around and put the item first and then the page numbers that correspond with it after. Some of the items, like my food log, will be on many separate pages and this is easier for me to keep track of where they all are.

Next came my future events. There was a post about this on the Bullet Journal/Library page (Future Log: The Alastair Method) that I really liked, so I went ahead and used  that for my own journal. The original way of just leaving empty space felt too restrictive to me.

After that I started my monthly pages, I saw that some people do these a month at a time as the new month starts, but I decided to do all my months together since often I need to plan things way in advance and I like knowing and seeing what free time I have (or don’t have).
I also really like Boho Berry’s set up for mornings/afternoons/evenings so I borrowed that too!
I don’t know if you can see it in the August page, but there are a few dates that I know that I will be taking vacation time. Those dates, I coloured it in lightly so I don’t have to write down ‘vacation’ over and over again.

A lot of people also had some sort of goals/resolution page and I wanted to incorporate that into my journal. Help me remember what my goals are for this year and hopefully stick to it. I covered my resolutions up since some of them are quite personal. A couple of my less personal ones:

1. Instead of buying new books (with the exception of Meg Cabot’s Mediator series coming out February 2016!!), I’m only going to read all the books on my bookshelf that I haven’t read. Which I have way too many of!
2. Get back into yoga
3. Drink more water!

Finally, I have my food log and my weekly log. The weekly log for obvious reasons. I wanted to keep a food log to make sure I was getting enough protein. Since I started my vegetarian (sometimes vegan) diet, this has been the one thing I have been concerned about.

My daily log will come after this. I’m excited to start this bullet journaling experience. I kind of started in December just to see how things will play out, if I’ll like it and so far it’s working out. I don’t know where this will lead to or if it will lead to anything at all. However, this is how I’ve basically been keeping my agenda, there’s just more room to be creative and to change things to make it fit me and my life exactly.

Will update with how this goes!