New house. Engagement party (not ours!). Holidays looming. It has been a crazy couple of weeks! It is really easy to get caught up in the busyness of it all and it can get quite overwhelming.
There really is something special about new beginnings. In this case, buying our first home together and moving in this week which we are so excited about! We purchased a cute little renovator, so I will be posting room updates and DIY projects as we complete them. My little sister also had her engagement party on the weekend (I have a post on this coming up this week) so it was great to not only celebrate her engagement, but catch up with family we do not see very often!
With holidays coming up, I am looking forward to being able to spend some time getting back into a routine with the blog and also creating some new things for Little Miss Lorraine!
Thank god it's nearly the weekend! I have had a crazy few weeks back at work. You think your getting somewhere and then you turn around to find more piles of paper to deal with!
I thought I would check in and let you known what I have been up to recently and give you a sneak peek of an exciting new project I have coming up.
Etsy Resolution
I am currently involved in a project called Etsy Resolution run by Etsy Australia. It is a 4 week "course" to help you really establish your Etsy shop in the market. As you probably know, I have my own little shop on Etsy, Little Miss Lorraine, which I would really love to grow this year. The 4 week program runs through everything including setting up your Etsy shop, taking great photos, pricing items and how to utilise social media. If you have your own Etsy shop I highly recommend you sign up to this course!
Tailoring Course
I have also signed up for an online tailoring course run by the Burdastyle Academy. I really wanted to take my sewing to the next level this year, especially when it comes to making / refashioning clothes. This course teaches you how to make your own patterns, how to adjust patterns and a few basic repair techniques such as replacing a broken zipper. I am really looking forward to doing a few more sewing courses this year so watch this space to see my progress.
28 Day Yoga Project
Candace from Yoga by Candace has just released a blog post detailing her new yoga project for February after the success of her strength project throughout January. I have to admit I haven't done very much yoga in the last 2 weeks of January which I am very disappointed about! I am hoping to be more proactive during February so I am looking forward to this next project. I will be posting pose updates here so keep an eye out!
Exciting New Project...
I have a very exciting project coming up very soon which I cannot wait to show you. It is something I have wanted to do for a while now and I've finally got my act together to make it happen. The picture above might give you a clue as to what the project is about...blog post up this weekend about it!!
I hope you have all had a wonderful start to 2015 x
Welcome to 2015! You may remember from this post last year that I have decided not to make New Years Resolutions anymore. Mainly because there is so much pressure surrounding these resolutions that I never ever keep them!
Positive Mind, Positive Vibes, Positive Life is my new favourite quote and something I will be striving for this year.
Positive Mind.
Yoga every damn day & more meditation. Life got so busy at the end of the year (a poor excuse - I know!) and my yoga really took a back seat. I am going to get back into doing Yoga every day - starting with this 31 day strength project by Candace from Yoga By Candace (my favourite online Yoga teacher and source of inspiration) I would also really love to incorporate more meditation into my day - even just 5 minutes - to help keep my mind clear and to stay focussed.
Positive Vibes.
I really want to surround myself with a lot of positive vibes this year. Having too many negative things in your life can really bring you down and start turning you into somebody you do not want to be! To receive positive vibes, you have to give positive vibes (think positive karma) so this is something I want to make a conscious effort to do this year.
Positive Life.
Having a positive mind & positive vibes will help be to have a more positive life. However, I would also like to include a few other things to help me reach my positivity goal! Although we eat pretty healthy I would like to incorporate more of it into my diet. More fruit and veg, less processed goods. I would also like to include more exercise into my daily routine. Lets face it, your not going to find me going for a run or in a gym anytime soon, but things like more walking, bike riding, weights & yoga should help me achieve this goal. I would also like to do more things that make me happy. This includes spending more time on my Etsy shop Little Miss Lorraine, going away on the weekends and spending time with those I love!
Are you creating any New Years resolutions this year? Or are you more into setting goals / aims for yourself?
I am so excited with what's to come this year - both for this blog and me in general!
What a crazy couple of weeks. I have been a little MIA lately - I've had a few lifey things happen recently which have taken the front seat.
On the weekend I took some time out from the craziness and attended a "Spring Wellness" workshop run by Tammy, personal trainer / lifestyle coach at Vis Novo Health, Sam Efraimsen, yoga instructor at Adelaide Yoga Flow, and Dana Bell, a goal setting coach. I feel so inspired and motivated to make a few changes to my lifestyle (blog post on this up soon.)
Also look out for a couple of blog posts coming up soon with tips on how to create the best atmosphere for your yoga practice and creating a relaxing bath environment. These are the 2 things that have gotten me through craziness of the last couple of weeks!
I first learnt about this amazing organisational system after reading this guest post on The Organised Housewife and instantly fell in love with the idea.
In short, bullet journalling is a system of bulleted lists that enable you to fully organise your life.
Here is a basic overview from the creator of the Bullet Journal
There are a few things I really love about this system.
1 | Everything is in one spot
The bullet journal is essentially a diary and a list maker all in one. This is great for me, because it means I only have to carry around one book instead of a diary and a book for my lists.
2 | It keeps you accountable
I love the "migrating" feature of the bullet journal. This means if you do not finish something you can move it to another day. I go back at the end of each day / month and see what tasks I have not completed, and if they are still relevant, I add them to the next day / month. This way, I am not forgetting tasks I may not have completed.
3 | It is easily customisable for your needs.
I will run you through my version of the Bullet Journal system below, but I love how customisable the bullet journal system is. One system will not work for everyones needs, so it is really important to find a system that lets you make it your own.
My Version
Here is a look at my bullet journal and how I have adapted it to suit my needs.
First of all, I chose to use this journal from J. Burrows. I love the cream colour of the pages and the fact the lines are 6mm apart - this gives you more space! I also love the pocket at the front of the book. This is where I store my monthly calendars and tabs. They suggest using the Moleskeine notebook as the ideal journal for the Bullet Journal system - but they are really expensive!
I also purchased this pen and these tabs. I chose this pen because it has 4 different colours (much nicer than the old black, red, green & blue!) so I can use different colours for things such as events, bills, appointments etc. As you will see below, I am not using the index system, so the tabs will help me to be able to quickly find what I need.
The first page of my journal is my key. I based it on Dee's from decade thirty. I ended up basing a bit of my journal on Dee's because I love the way she set everything out.
On the next page, I included a yearly calendar - these always come in handy! I found mine at Life Your Way. I attached it to the page with wash tape (on sale at Spotlight)
Now we move into the monthly tabs. At the beginning of the month I have a monthly calendar (also from Life Your Way) this is where I record events / appointments and also bills. On the next few pages I list my tasks for the month. Like Dee, I have included a margin on these pages to make it easier to migrate / prioritise tasks. At the beginning of each month, I look back on the month before and see what tasks I have not completed and I merge them into the next month.
After I have listed my monthly tasks, I move onto my weekly tasks. Each day I write down any relevant tasks, appointments and events I have. As I move on to the next day, I check on what I have not completed from the day before and migrate them to the next day (if they are still relevant)
At the back of my journal I have general lists (in the Bullet Journal System these are referred to as "Collections.") Like Dee states in her blog post, one of the main pluses of having these "collections" at the back of the diary this is that the monthly and weekly pages can flow on from each other.
After using it for just over a week, I am seriously loving this system already. I have definitely been more organised and a lot more productive.
Let me know if you are using this system and what tweaks you have made!
