I've been itching to write a post about my bullet journal since I started using it at the end of December. This past month has been a period of trial and error for me, so I could figure out what I liked, disliked, and actually used. I decided the best time to share my own would be at the start of a new month - which is finally here! In case you're unfamiliar with what a bullet journal actually is, it's essentially a cross between a journal and a planner. The dotted pages allow for much more artistic freedom than a regular agenda, but the bullet journaling system and structure gives it more form than a regular journal. But in the end, you can customize it anyway you'd like. This is just how I use mine. First off, here's my February title page. You'll notice that I keep my designs and doodles quite simple. I'm not incredibly artistically talented, but I like the minimalist approach better, anyway. I don't use this page much through-out the month, but I like using it to mark important holidays, birthdays, and events. Can you spot the important celebration coming up on February 13th? The next page proved to be extremely useful for me in the month of January, so I copied it exactly for February. Since I want to be more financially conscious, I decided a spread dedicated solely to my money would be a good way to track everything. I have a section to write in details about my paycheques to track my income. As a very lucky young adult, my only bill I need to keep track of each month is my phone bill, so I add this as well. If you had multiple bills to remember to pay, I imagine this visual would be useful to keep track of them all. I also added a tracker for my savings account at the bottom, where I record my opening balance and closing balance at the start and end of the month, so I can see if it's grown, shrunk, or stayed the same. This seemed to do a good job at resisting my urge to dip into that account unless I really felt it necessary. On the next page, I have a place to write in little things that make me feel grateful through-out the month, and a section for monthly goals. I'll be honest - I was terrible at keeping up with my January Tracker, but I just love the idea of one, so I'm trying again in February. As opposed to last month, I made the tracker a full two page spread instead of just one, so I'd have more space. On this page, you can add any kind of habits, tasks, or other activities that you want to keep track of daily. If you learn visually, it's a good way to reinforce habits and motivate you to get stuff done. Side note: One horrible thing that will occur in your bullet journal is typos. Example, I wrote "Febuary" at the top by accident. Sort of wanted to die. But in the end, the functionality of it is what really matters, so don't get too stressed over that stuff. Finally, I have my first weekly spread for the upcoming week. I've found this spacious horizontal layout to work the best for me, because there's plenty of room for to-do lists and text in general. I like to keep these pages pretty minimalistic as well, so I only ever add simple doodles and designs.
And that's my bullet journal for February! I hope this somehow inspired you to be more organised for the upcoming year. Remember, it's not about perfection. If I'm being honest, I don't open or use this every single day, but it's a good way to spend my Sundays, and it's nice knowing that I'm at least making an effort to condense the mess that is my life into something aesthetically pleasing. C
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Music has been such a dominant part of my life this month that it would be silly of me to not document it in a post. The new music and old music I've been rediscovering my love for has been my biggest source of inspiration over the past few weeks. I find the winter blues particularly difficult to deal with, and this set of feel-good songs have kept me going.
1. Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys 2. God Only Knows - The Beach Boys 3. Here Today - The Beach Boys 4. Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys As you can tell, I've been on quite a Beach Boys kick. Until recently, I only knew of their most popular hits, but now I'm smitten with the entirety of the Pet Sounds album. They are quickly becoming one of my favourite bands. Their music makes me feel like I'm sitting on a beach in California in the middle of the summer, with no stress or worries. Which is all I really need in the bitter cold month of January. 5. Across The Universe - The Beatles 6. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da - The Beatles 7. Strawberry Fields Forever - The Beatles 8. Penny Lane - The Beatles While most people go through their Beatles phase when they're 13, I'm going through mine at 19. You just can't say no to these classics. These have been my favourites as of late. 9. Arabella - The Arctic Monkeys 10. No. 1 Party Anthem - The Arctic Monkeys 11. Heroes - David Bowie Honestly, Heroes is probably one of the most iconic songs of all time. It's quickly becoming one of my top favourites. 12. In The Light - The Lumineers 13. Patience - The Lumineers 14. Imagine - John Lennon 15. How Do You Sleep? - John Lennon This month, I visited a music shop downtown called "Cheap Thrills" that sells used and new vinyls. I found John Lennon's "Imagine" album for $13, and despite only having heard the matching titled song, I snagged that deal and have been loving the sound. My instant favourite was "How Do You Sleep?", which has such a unique and funky vibe to it. I absolutely love it. 16. All I Have To Do Is Dream - The Everly Brothers I honestly cannot express my deep love for this song. It's such a lovely, dreamy tune. 17. 10,000 Emerald Pools - BØRNS 18. Castle on the Hill - Ed Sheeran 19. Shape of You - Ed Sheeran 20. Underdog - Imagine Dragons 21. Ya Hey - Vampire Weekend 22. Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa - Vampire Weekend I just adore the chilled vibe of Vampire Weekend's music. "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" is probably my all time favourite song for them - it's so fun and uplifting. Like The Beach Boys, these two songs remind me of summer. 23. Sleepwalk - Santo & Johnny This month, I discovered a new youtuber (Lucy Vallely) whose videos I've been in love with. She uses this instrumental track in the back of most of her videos, and I slowly grew to love it. It sounds very whimsical - and, again, summer-y. Do you sense a trend? I've also had a little listen to the rest of this album and it's beautiful. They have original songs, such as this one, but also do instrumental covers of other tunes. I know I didn't go through and talk about each track individually, but I feel like we would've been sat here for ages if I had. Besides, music is something you need to feel, not over-analyse. Click the link below to have a listen. If you have any music recommendations based on what I've been listening to, let me know! Click Here To Listen | Click Here To Follow My Spotify C I feel so full of love today as I scroll through photos from the numerous Women's Marches happening around the world this afternoon. It is so comforting knowing that you are a part of something so much bigger than yourself, so much bigger and more important than any force of hatred, leader, or government. I feel so connected today.
Although I sadly didn't make it out to my city's march, I stand in solidarity with all the women, men, and children who are out there, as well as those across the globe who are using their voices and power to spark change. I never want any woman to feel silenced again. My feminism stands for women of all colours, ages, sizes, and sexualities. It stands for men who have been oppressed by the patriarchy for not fitting the societal mould. And it stands for everyone in between. We will not settle. We will not turn a blind eye to injustices. We will not back down. We will not lower our voices. We are feminists. If you knew the real definition of that, you'd probably be one, too. C "When you're accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression." Thrifting is a concept that has been gaining more and more popularity over the past few years, especially online. I've spent hours upon hours watching just about every thrift haul uploaded onto Youtube, and each one has given me motivation and inspiration to hit up my local secondhand shops. With the new year upon us, one of my main goals is to work towards reducing my waste and living a more environmentally sound lifestyle. My eyes have been opened to the cruel conditions under which fast fashion brands that we know and love operate. Pollution, slave labour, and animal exploitation are some of my main concerns. Buying secondhand is an easy, cost-effective way to avoid supporting these corrupt corporations. Here's a list of pros to convince you.
These are all common sense, but I just feel like thrift shops get a bad rep from a lot of people. They might think they're dirty, gross, or that the clothing isn't cute. But you can always wash clothes, and you never know what hidden gems you'll find if you look hard enough. Even if you enjoy following trends, there's always a way to style pieces in a way that fits your personality if you're creative enough. Thrifting has inspired me to think outside of the box, and to play around with pieces to make them not only fit my style, but also further evolve it. Pictured above are three slip camisoles/dresses that I picked up this afternoon to wear overtop of t-shirts and long sleeve tops. I absolutely cannot get over the embroidered rose! These look incredible when tucked into jeans - especially mom jeans. These were $3 a piece. I found a long denim Gap skirt for $4.99 this weekend, which I'll just have to take in a tiny bit at the waist to make it perfect. I also picked up this paisley printed blouse-y collared top for $5, which hangs low in the back. I'm picturing it with black jeans and a choker. Now go read up on fast fashion, go thrifting, and be creative. I'll probably be visiting another thrift store this weekend... I have a problem. C A question I've been receiving all too often lately is something along the lines of: "So... what do you want to do with your life?" Or the classic: "What are your plans for University?" These are usually followed by a blank stare on my behalf, because really, I have no idea what the answers are. I've just graduated from a pre-uni cegep program this past December, and I'm currently taking (at least) one semester off to (hopefully) figure things out.
In 2014, I began studying Creative Arts in the Media Arts profile at John Abbott College, which isn't like traditional college outside of Quebec. Cegep is like an intermediate step, usually lasting two years, in between High School and University. It's essentially an opportunity to test the waters and dabble into different interests without forking over thousands of dollars in tuition just yet. My program was interesting, as I got to experience and try my hand at many different forms of art, such as creative writing, photography, writing for news, and digital media. I definitely grew as an artist over the course of these past two and a half years. However, I still haven't quite found my calling. Hence, why I haven't committed myself to University just yet - and truthfully, why I'm shying away from the idea altogether. For the past few years of my academic life, school has been very challenging for me. Not so much in the sense that I wasn't getting good grades, but more mentally and emotionally. My heart just wasn't in it like it used to be when I was young. It didn't feel like what I truly wanted to be doing with my time and energy, but I pushed those feelings away since school is the only thing I've ever known, and no one else seemed to be having these thoughts. Almost everyone else seemed to be figuring out which programs, schools, and careers interested them, while I felt like I was a million steps behind because I didn't even have a single direction to turn. At first, I looked forward to this time off to recuperate, and hopefully get back into the swing of school as soon as possible. However, now that it's finally come, it feels like such a liberation I can't even describe. Like weights off my shoulders, and like I finally have time to create the life I've always wanted to create. Yet, there's a looming shadow of doubt in the very corner of my mind, never letting me forget how unconventional the path I've taken is. But I must keep reminding myself that I am my own person, and what works for most may not work for me. And I must keep reminding myself that I'm only 19, on the edge of 20, and I don't really need to be sure of anything just yet. Recently, I've fostered a deep appreciation and love for word art, such as typography and calligraphy. It's always been something I've admired, but now it's a hobby that I'd love to incorporate more into my life somehow. I've bought myself a drawing tablet to create my own art that I plan on selling to whoever likes it, and I want to put even more effort into this blog. I enjoy having an online presence, and raising my voice about things that I'm passionate about is very important to me. I'm hoping that eventually, this blog can expand into something bigger. I don't know what, exactly, but I'm excited nonetheless. C Happy 2017! I know we're already a week in, and the resolution posts have pretty much exhausted themselves, but I wanted to make my own anyway. This year, I wrote mine in my brand new (!) bullet journal. I've been having so much fun with this little guy, and I'm glad these will be kept somewhere safe and close to me. You can read all 5 of my main resolutions in the photo above. I'm going to go a bit more into detail and explain them further in this post.
1. Spread Kindness. I think, or at least, I hope that I've always been a relatively kind person. While some find it a boring trait, I've personally always loved being associated with the words "nice" or "friendly". There are far too many awful people in the world, and I don't want to contribute to that. As I touched on in my previous post, I was overwhelmed in 2016 as my eyes were opened to how much hate and sadness there is in the world. This year, I want to go out of my way to make the world a lighter and happier place. I want to be less shy and compliment strangers and my friends more. I want to continue reflecting on the thoughts I have, especially regarding other people. No judgment. Just because you don't voice negative opinions or thoughts doesn't mean that the negative energy isn't still there. I want to be full of positive thoughts and energy only. Furthermore, I want to strengthen friendships and create new ones. Through dealing with mental illness, I've realised how focussed on myself I've been these past few years. Not that there's anything wrong with that, per se, but I feel as though I've neglected relationships in my life that are important to me, and I want to put more into them and let those in my life know that I care about them. 2. More Self-Love. Over the course of 2016, I feel like I've really blossomed into somebody I'm happy with. I feel very at peace with my spirit, and learn to love my physical self more and more each day. Of course, some days are a step backwards, and comparison has always been my worst enemy. In 2017, I want to truly focus on bettering myself for myself. I want to realise my worth, and appreciate myself and the struggles I've been through to get to this point. I want to do things that I care about and that make me happy, just for the purely selfish reason of making myself feel alive again. 3. Conscious Beauty Shopping. Despite having been vegan for 7 months, vegan beauty products and toiletries are still challenging for me. I always, without a doubt, buy cruelty-free, but the ingredients are what I sometimes struggle with. I want to do much more research on shopping vegan this year, and really get to know which non-vegan ingredients to look out for. The amount of times I've bought hair or body products and then realised afterwards that there was honey in them is heart-breaking. It's only a mistake, but that's not an excuse. I can do better. 4. Eat Healthier. Oh boy.. well, it's January 7th, and let's just say I haven't made any significant strides towards this one. If you know anything about my diet, you would know that I'm the personification of the term "junk food vegan". Like, junk food vegan times twenty. Truthfully, it's pretty gross. I'm so sick of feeling constantly lethargic, drained of energy, bloated, and unsatisfied. It will be a process, but I want (and need) to start eating a more balanced diet full of nutrients and wholesomeness. I would love to cook more. In the end, I just want to be taking care of my body and giving it the nourishment it deserves. 5. More Creative Stimulation. 2016 was a strange year for my creativity. It was a roller coaster of ups and downs in terms of motivation and productivity. I went through periods of time where all I wanted to do were write and draw; other times I didn't pick up a pencil for weeks or months. Being in school was a major obstacle. This past final semester was especially draining for me, both mentally and physically. School took up just about all of my free time, yet I had no motivation for it at all. This then left me with no motivation for anything creative on my own terms. With my time off this year, I want to focus on making this a priority in my life. I want to blog more, read more, draw more, and constantly surround myself with art in any form, because it's what I love the most. I no longer want to starve myself of things that I'm passionate about. I need to find that artistic motivation within myself somehow, and I'm determined. There is probably another infinite number of goals I could add to this list, but I want to keep it short and realistic. Remember that it's never too early or late to make positive changes in your life. C I've always been a sucker for the cheesy resolution lists and vows to be a better person every time a new year rolls around. Maybe it's partly due to my love for writing lists in general, but I think it's mostly because I love the idea of self improvement.
2016 was pretty bad. It was a year full of political horrors, significant deaths, and an all-encompassing blanket of sorrow seemed to smother us all, more and more with each passing day. My ability to feel empathy so strongly is both a blessing and a curse. It allows me to be compassionate, kind, and caring to everyone - but it's also very overwhelming for me to see such horrible things occuring all around the world. It breaks my heart that people are living in such terrible conditions. It breaks my heart that some people are punished simply for being who they are. And, simply put, it absolutely kills me that I cannot do much to help them. I feel like I've grown so much in the past 12 months. My eyes have been opened to so many things, and I've grown passionate about so many issues. I've also realised that most of the western world doesn't care about a lot of these things that mean so much to me. Most of us don't actively care about people across the world who are suffering, or what's happening to our planet. 2016 was a year of frustration for me. I was so frustrated that bad things were happening everywhere, and even more frustrated that most people didn't seem to care. I wanted so badly to grab each person by the shoulders, shake, and tell them to snap into reality and make a change. I wanted change on a large scale so badly, that I lost sight of the small impacts I could have on my own. 2017 will be a year of healing. I will channel this years frustration, which was only fueled by passion, into my own actions. I have come to realise that sometimes, the only thing you can do is lead by example. This past year, I learned where my morals lie. I discovered the things that I care about, and that give me a purpose. The things that I want to climb a mountain and yell about for everyone to hear. Going vegan triggered such a significant transformation within myself, and I feel such a deeper connection to my own mind. I had many ups and downs with mental health, but I feel better now. I staggered through fits of helplessness, self doubt, and loneliness. But now I feel at peace. On a personal level, 2016 wasn't all bad. I've learned so much about myself through the hardships this year has thrown at me. I've said those words before, but I don't think I've ever truly meant them until right now. I don't believe that everything happens for a reason, but I do know that all these things that happened to me had some sort of impact on who I've become, and it all worked out in the end. This coming year, I will be gentle. I will cherish relationships that I've realised are important to me. I will be kinder, and I will spread love wherever I can, including to myself. I will continue to grow and heal. I will flourish. I've never been so excited to watch the clock strike midnight. I wish you all the best as well. C Ahem... let's skip the awkward reintroduction of myself and my blog, since I haven't made a post in two months. Sometimes school and life get a bit crazy, and thats all I can really say. Not that anyone actually reads this thing, but I guess just to my future self who will look back on it - it's okay to slip up sometimes. Tonight, a friend of mine is hosting a holiday party with the theme of sustainable vegan food! I was so excited to get invited, since it meant I would have the chance to make some treats of my own. Since we're going to be eating a whole dinner, I decided to control myself, since I had quite a few ideas of sweets to make. In the end, I settled on two little nibbly bits that hopefully everyone will enjoy: salted caramel cookies, and chocolate bark. As the queen of lazy baking and cooking, I feel a bit silly including recipes. But I mean, this is a food post, so I guess it's kind of necessary. Here we go. Salted Caramel Cookies
Mix all of those together. Roll into balls. Whack 'em in the oven. Vegan goodness. A lot of people are surprised to hear that a good number of premade cake and cookie mixes are actually accidentally vegan. Just make sure to check the ingredients, substitute non-vegan additions to the mix with vegan versions and you're good to go! Chocolate Bark
To make your own DIY double boiler, boil some water in a pot. Rest a glass or stainless steel bowl that fits snug in the opening of the pot, and pour in whatever you're melting - in this case, chocolate chips and a couple of teaspoons of coconut oil. In all honesty, I obviously have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to baking. I've just heard many people say that the coconut oil helps the chocolate melt easier and makes it silkier, so I just followed their lead. I added the second pack once the first was melted, and then poured it onto a flat pan lined with parchment paper. Not gonna lie, this whole process made me feel like a Lindt chocolatier in one of those commercials. Except I was a lot more anxious about the boiling water and having to remember to put my oven mits on every time I held the bowl so I didn't burn my hands off. Smooth the chocolate out evenly across the pan, as thick or as thin as you'd like, and while it's still melted, add your toppings. You can add anything, really, but I just crushed pretzel sticks and oreos in a Ziploc bag before sprinkling them on. Once it's finished, stick it in the freezer to harden. Once it's done, you can break it - possibly use a knife, this is way too hard to break with your hands - into irregular shapes, and you'll have some fancy looking chocolate bark. It's so crazy to me that Christmas is already coming up this weekend. 2016 seems to have sped by, but at the same time, feels like it just kept dragging out. It was definitely a difficult year for the world, and also for me personally. I know it's cheesy, but I can't wait for that "fresh start" feeling of the new year. I know a new calendar doesn't really mean anything, and not much actually changes, but I do have a few resolutions for myself in 2017. Maybe I'll make a post about them - one of them is blogging more frequently, anyway. I hope you all have a wonderful end to the holiday season, whatever you do or don't celebrate. Let me know what vegan goodies you've been baking and cooking to celebrate!
C Sometimes I feel like the world holds vegans to a much higher standard when it comes to morality and right actions. I'm not necessarily complaining, because to be honest, as a society who causes so much harm to our planet and to other beings, we really do need to start questioning what is moral, what isn't moral, and how we can do better. I'm grateful that veganism can be something that gets that conversation going. However, with these passing judgments come the inevitable criticism and scrutiny of the lifestyle. Are we doing enough? Are we hypocritical? Why care so much about animals when there's so many other problems going on in the world?
I believe that these criticisms arise because of a certain stereotype that haunts vegans: the "morally superior" stereotype. Many non-vegans have this idea that all of us are self-absorbed, elitist, and will look down upon anyone who eats meat. I mean, yeah, maybe there's some like that, but we all know that narcissism and superiority complexes aren't limited only to vegans. I'm sure you've met plenty of people in your life who fall under those categories who enjoy cheeseburgers. Being completely honest, I don't think I'm any better of a person than someone who eats animal products. Sure, based on my beliefs, I obviously think that my own lifestyle choices are more ethically sound compared to someone who isn't vegan, but that's a given... since I've chosen this lifestyle for ethical reasons. However, I know humans are complex and I'm not so arrogant as to only base my judgment of someone's character on the food they eat and makeup they buy. I may disagree with your lifestyle choices, but that doesn't give me the right to not offer you basic respect, as long as you return the favour. One of the main attacks against vegans that I see that angers me is claiming that we only care about animals and not about human lives. As a very passionate and proud feminist, Black Lives Matter supporter, LGBTQA+ supporter, anti-Islamophobia advocate - honestly, the list could go on forever - this offends me. It irks me that people would judge me based on the fact that I also care about animal welfare and wellbeing, as if this is a bad thing, and assume that I don't also care about the lives of other oppressed groups of people. Of course I do. Animal rights and human rights are my two biggest passions in life, and I'm sure that many other vegans, especially others around my age, would say the same thing. Just because I find it equally as important to stand up for animals who are being tortured and slaughtered for selfish human indulgence does not mean I can't be equally as opposed to unfair prejudices, discrimination, and killings of minority groups. When I went vegan, one of the biggest changes that occurred to me was becoming much more humble and connected to nature. I don't think I ever consciously believed that humans were more important than animals, however now I can look back and reflect on how that is what our society subliminally teaches us. Most of us see little to no problem with enslaving and exploiting other living beings for our own gain when there are so many other easier, cheaper, healthier, more sustainable ways of doing these things. People defend their "necessity" for eating meat by claiming that we're at the top of the food chain - which is just not true, but it's what we are taught to believe, and this is the sort of ideology that enforces the human superiority complex that I despise so much. We are taught to believe that humans are the most important beings - we don't even refer to ourselves as animals, even though that's exactly what we are, just so that we can separate ourselves - and that everything else on this planet is meant for us to take. And to take, and to take, and to take. And to never give. When I went vegan and I realised how much I value other animal's lives and wellbeing, this mindset changed. I don't put myself before them. I don't put any of our lives before them. So does that mean the jeopardized lives of black people or women aren't important to me? Does that mean I put animal's lives before theirs? Of course not. That's why I openly voice my support for them, and all oppressed groups, which include animals. For the sake of this planet, nature, and all of us, I hope that one day we all learn how to live in harmony, respecting each other and not placing importance on one specific group. To me, veganism is a huge step in that direction. C Over the past year or so, I've become more and more interested in environmentalism and have grown passionate about adopting a more eco friendly lifestyle. However, being apart of a society that is so environmentally destructive, this isn't actually as simple as it seems. When you really take a moment to ponder and analyse how many actions in your everyday life are wasteful or harmful to the planet, it can be quite daunting. Our fast paced and expensive lifestyles attract us to convenient, affordable commodities. It's alarming how normalised not caring has become and how disconnected we are from the very planet we live on.
Whether you plan on integrating only one or all ten of these tips, just know that I am on the same journey as you. I am no where near perfect, nor is anybody, and I wince every morning and night when I have to dispose of my multiple cotton rounds I use for my skincare. It's not about being perfect, though, but about the effort - and, simply, just caring. 10 Tips
This is only a jumpstart. When you really start to think about everything we throw away every single day, it's eye-opening. Tea bags, gum wrappers, receipts, kleenex - the list never seems to end. But just remember; where there's a will, there's a way. Don't feel embarrassed or over the top for wanting to do your part in helping keep our planet healthy - or rather, restoring it back to health. We have a lot of work to do, and we have to start somewhere, even if it's somewhere small. C |
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