August 2018 Bullet Journal Set-Up

Hello there!! Towards the end of July I decided that I wanted to pick up my bullet journal again- I’ve been slacking off a bit these past few months! May, June and July were hectic for me, and, ironically, probably the times when I would’ve needed my journal most due to final exams and setting goals for the summer.

However, by not completing layouts for those months, I now have waaaaayyyy more pages to use up before the end of the year, so I was able to switch up my layouts pretty significantly to include some exciting new stuff! Throughout this post, I’ll be doing a sort of “before and after” thing, comparing my past layouts and my sweet new ones. Here’s a peek into my August bullet journal set-up;))

My theme for this month is watermelon, because in my opinion, there’s nothing that says summer like a big, juicy watermelon. Well, reading your book on the beach while eating a banana creamsicle also screams summer pretty loud, but I wasn’t sure how to make that into a bullet journal theme, so I just went with watermelon. On my title page I drew some slices of watermelon, as well as a watermelony quote, and, of course, I wrote August on the opposing page. Some green washi tape accents it all. I like this set-up better than my previous one page set-up because I have more room for drawing, quotes, and literally anything else that I want to include, which is great. This is the before and after:

Before:

After:

The next two pages I used for something new; a monthly log! This is basically just a monthly calendar. I had something like this on my title page in previous set-ups, but this bigger calendar allows me to plan my month in more detail because I have much more room. I made a bit of a mistake here by starting the calendar on a Wednesday, because I didn’t draw the squares out properly😬. Later I realized that I could’ve fixed it by drawing more squares in the bottom row, but oh well. Life goes on. I included another watermelon drawing and quote on these pages as well.

Before:

After:

Next, I decided to move my mood and habit trackers from my weekly spread into my monthly spread, so that they each have their own pages. Now I’m able to get way more creative with these trackers!! Down below, you can see that my mood tracker consists of 31 little watermelon slices that I’ll colour in according to the legend at the bottom of the page. I kept my habit tracker just about the same though, while staying with the watermelon theme.

Before:

After:

My last two pages before my weekly spread are my blog schedule and gratitude log. Here, I’ll write down post ideas and stuff like that, but if this doesn’t apply to you, you can always turn it into a schedule for any kind of goal you’ve set for the month or a challenge that you’re taking part in. The next page is reserved for my gratitude log, books that I want to read in August (see my Summer TBR List), and any goals that I have for this month. You can see the before and after below:

Before:

After:

And finally we get to my weekly spread!! With the removal of my gratitude log, goals, mood and habit trackers, I had more space to play around with. So I added a mini calendar, and a space for a weekly reflection, while keeping room for a word and quote of the week from my past spreads. On the other page, I split my daily planner thingy into three sections: To-do, Events, and Today in One Word, which should be fun.

Before:

After:

Whew! That was a lot of writing! But I think it covers everything about my new and improved set-up. Remember to do what works for you in your journal, and feel free to experiment to find your favourite layouts. Thanks for checking out my post!!

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked;))

Chickpea Nutella

Hello again! I’m back, and this time you only had to wait ten days in-between posts! I think that’s a new record. Seriously though, this “Nutella” is amazing. If you’re skeptical about the whole chickpea thing, don’t worry, I was too. But the end result was this delicious chocolatey spread that goes well with just about everything. There is an option to add some peanut butter, which I obviously did, but if you’re sick of all the peanut butter recipes on this site than feel free to take a break from it! Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of peanut butter. Before I give you the recipe, I want to commemorate shaneandsimple.com for coming up with it:)

Ingredients:

  • 1 15oz can of chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
  • 1/4 creamy natural peanut butter (optional)
  • 1 small ripe banana
  • 1/4 cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • a pinch of salt
  • 2 tbsp water (or more; add until you reach your desired consistency)

 

Directions:

  1. Add all ingredients to a high-speed blender and blend until desired consistency is reached. Add more water if needed.

 

And……………. wow, that’s pretty much it. I think that’s the simplest recipe ever! Enjoy this spread on toast, with fruit, or anything else that needs chocolate on it! (Which is pretty much everything.) Thank for checking out this recipe! I’ll definitely be posting more in the summer – this darn invention called “studying for final exams” is killing my free time! Enjoy this spread in the meantime!

 

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked;))

 

 

 

April Bullet Journal Title Page

Hey everyone! Can you believe that it’s almost the end of March?!I finally got around to designing my April Bullet Journal title page, which is what I’ll be sharing with you in today’s post. My theme this month is “April showers bring May flowers”. Here it is:

It turned out pretty cute! My colour scheme consists of a few shades of blue with an accent of purple, and I want to keep it at that because too many colours can make your Journal look busy, like this January layout that I did:

This layout isn’t too bad, I just feel that if I stuck to 3 or 4 shades of blue it would’ve been way better.

Anyways, back to April…

I love the way that the umbrella and the raindrops look, and so I’ll keep the theme running throughout my layouts. Also, the contrast of the pretty handwriting to the bold uppercase print looks nice;) The other elements are pulled straight from my other title pages; the quote, calendar, and the goals and events sections all came out pretty good.

I used my Crayola Super tips markers and my black Tombow dual brush pen for this page.

That’s April for you! My layouts for this month as well as my Monthly Recap will posted soon, so keep your eyes open on Twitter and WordPress;)

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked

5 Things to Start Doing in the Mornings for a Better Day

Happy Monday! Not! This is mostly because my books still haven’t arrived…… argh! But even with a great book to read, Mondays still generally suck. Why? Well, we’re tired,  unorganized, and would way rather sleep until noon than get up and start the week. I hear you. However, there are some things you can do in the mornings to lessen the pain, and that is exactly what today’s post is about. As you scroll down this page, you’ll find five things that I try and do each morning to help me get through my day. So get your mousepads, thumbs and mouses (do you say mice or mouses when your talking about your computer mouse?) ready and take it away!

 

1. DON”T PRESS SNOOZE!

Even though waking up in the morning can seriously suck, I recommend that you DO NOT press snooze on your clock. Scientists say that even though it might feel good, that five minutes of rest you get when hitting snooze isn’t a very good sleep and can leave you feeling agitated afterwards. It also prevents your body from associating the sound of the alarm with getting out of bed, which makes it harder to do so. So set your clock for the time that you want to get up, and make sure you actually get up when it goes off!

 

2. Write Down 3 Goals for the Day

You might’ve remembered that I started doing this in my Bullet Journal in January, but unfortunately I stopped recently. I have no idea why! Setting specific goals for yourself each day is a great way to focus on and prioritize your tasks. When you have something specific that you know you want to get done, you might think twice about watching TV reruns for two hours. Daily goals can support your weekly and monthly ones, like this month I want my right splits to be flat, so I’ll stretch every day. Boom. And at the end of each day, it feels so good to check of those to-dos.

 

3. Make Your Bed

This seems like a pointless and tedious chore, but it only takes thirty seconds, and I find it accomplishing to leave a tidy room behind when I start my day. I actually watched a video titled: “If You want to Change the World, Make Your Bed Every Day”. It’s really motivational, and it basically talks about how a little bit of self-discipline can go a long way. Coming home to a nicely made bed doesn’t hurt, either;)

 

4. Meditate

Meditation doesn’t have to be all fancy; I find that just having a bit of quiet time each morning is beneficial. I like to stare out my window and think about any goals I have for that day, and build up a positive attitude towards the tasks I have at hand. Ending with a few moments to focus on my breathing really calms me down and gets me ready to tackle my day.

 

5. Eat a Nutritious Breakfast

This might be the most important thing on the list! Eating a nourishing breakfast fuels you for the day ahead, and helps you focus at school, work, or wherever you happen to be. Try to include some fruit, as the natural sugars will give you a much-needed boost, but stay away from sugary cereals. My favourite breakfast right now is banana with plain greek yogurt and natural peanut butter- Mmmm! They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and I agree. Don’t skip it!

 

There’s my advice for a good morning! I hope you found something worthy of implementing into your routine, but if I had to pick one, I’d say that breakfast is the most important thing on this list. It’s amazing what your body and mind can do with the proper fuel! See you next time;)

 

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked

 

March Bullet Journal Set-Up

Ok, I know I might be jumping the gun a little on this post because there’s still over week of February left, but I’m just really excited about March! Simplicity is key for this month, as I’m beginning to find out what works for me in a bullet journal. Let’s get right into my  set-up- I can’t wait to show it to you guys!!!!!

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Here’s my title page! I’ve gone with a cactus theme in March for three reasons: 1- I feel like cactuses (or is it cacti?) are kind of trendy right now. 2- I think cactuses ( I;m going to go with cactuses) are cute. 3- I need an excuse to incorporate the quote “go sit on a cactus” somewhere in my layout. Cactuses are also green, which make them perfect for March, because when I think of March I think of new buds on trees, grass, and St.Patrick’s Day, all of which have to do with green. Drawing theses succulents was super easy, I found some clipart on Pinterest that I used as inspiration.

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Ok fine, maybe I copied the cactuses straight from the image. My definition of inspiration may be different than some peoples’. Anyways, this page is super simple but cute at the same time, which makes it a winner in my opinion. Underneath my quote for March, which is “Let Spring Begin”, I stuck with my usual mini calendar and a space for my March events and goals. This has worked for me in the past, so I’m sticking with it. One thing that’s important in bullet journaling is definitely the fact that you need to include what works for you, not what’s in your friend’s journal or what you saw on that awesome book/healthy eating/ bullet journaling blog for teens (what? I can do a little self-promo if I want to!). The point is, don’t feel pressured to keep up with the Joneses when it comes to bullet journaling.

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My weekly layout is basically the same as February’s, I just tweaked a few small things. First of all, for each day I drew a kind of tumble-weed cactus thingy instead of the date and wrote the abbreviation for the day of the week on it. This is just a nice change up, and it looks kind of cool. I still included the date on the other side, however, because I want to keep track of that. I also put in a To-Do list instead of a Brain-Dump, because I found that my brain didn’t really need to do a lot of dumping. Other than those minuscule changes, I stuck with the cactus theme and kept most of my elements from February.

That’s all for now folks! I will be sharing my Monthly Recap page later this week, so be on the lookout for that, and I also have a great recipe that I want to post soon. Thanks for reading and see ya later!

 

Yours Truly, MyDayIsBooked;)