My New Travelers Notebook and How I Organize My Knitting

Okay, so I'm so freaking excited I can barely stand it. My bestie over at Lucky Clover Leather worked with me to custom create the most amazing FauxDori Travelers Notebook. It is a thing of beauty and sass. It fits me perfectly. I am shamelessly plugging all of Alisha's everything today because y'all NEED to get some Lishy in your life. Here is a quick pic I snapped yesterday between squealing fits.

Everything fits inside perfectly. She left the elastics untied so that I could make sure both of my Moleskines fit perfectly. It has a cute pen holder inside and it feels like heaven to touch. I might have rubbed on my face.... that's not weird, right? RIGHT?

Oh.... okay....

Soooo, if I haven't totally lost you, I want to talk about how I organize my knitting in my Bullet Journal and Book of Lists. I keep 2 books, it's easier for me to keep my lists separate from my daily and monthly spreads. Otherwise, I would lose all my lists between my dailies and my other notes.

In my book of lists, I have 2 pages devoted to knitting goals I want to accomplish this year. Things like learning to read charts (*dies*) and knitting a sweater for MYSELF. Whaaaa? Right, I've knitted 3 sweaters now and nary a one for myself. I want to learn how to knit short rows. This one is super important because I'm knitting a shawl for Alisha that is all short rows... I better get cracking on that one!



I have a list of WIPs, or works in progress, it shows how far along I've gotten. I started with Xs and realized I liked coloring in with brush markers. I might actually have more in progress but these are the ones I'm trying to finish up most quickly. There are always cast on projects lurking about trying to make it into my knitting rotation. I ignore those bad kids. I won't let myself start a new project until I get the two closest to completion finished. That's what I'm trying to do. You know, best laid plans and all.

Below, I try to make space for myself to knit into my dailies. Most times, I knit at night while we're watching whatever on Netflix. Right now we're watching Z Nation. It is probably the worst zombie show ever but we're anxiously awaiting the return of Walking Dead and Scandal so it'll do.


I've also changed up how I use my bujo. I used to just make a list and mark them off. It felt boring and really utilitarian. I'm a horrible artist/doodler/letterer so I'm filling in the empty space with thoughts about the day and things to get my mind and heart back on track. It feels more like ME. I know that the purpose of bullet journaling is to be clean and easy to read but I'm messy and emotive so this feels juuuuuuussssst right.



Share your blogs about layouts and knitting! And go talk to Alisha about your very own beauty!

Bullet Journaling = Productive Days! And Snowmageddon.

I'm almost a month in using a bullet journal to organize my days and let me tell you, I am getting SO much more done. We recently had everyone else's equivalent of a dusting (8 inches of snow) but here in Nashville, it was basically a blizzard. The Mayor shut down the city. The husband still had to work, however, because people have to eat. For some perspective, the last time we got this much snow was 2003. Yep. We have this awesome bubble over the city that makes it either rain or sleet, which turns to ice overnight. I'm using my sarcasm font there, can you hear it? It rarely ever actually snows much here though, an inch here and there but that's it really.

This was my bujo entry for those days.... Pardon the *adult* world, I don't get to say them out loud often because having a 7 year old and a 4 year old with super sensitive grown up word hearing, sometimes I just gotta write them.. We had been trapped inside for far too long. As you can see on Sunday, my mother quite possibly saved the boys' lives.




Things were much better this week, obviously. I am trying to add doodles to my bujo. I consider myself possibly the worst doodler ever. Which is moderately hilarious because for 3 summers as a teen, I made those parasols with flowers or hearts or whatever and your name on them. I'm trying to let go of the anger I have at my lack of hand/eye coordination and doodle in the empty spaces in my bujo. I pulled out my staedtler's and tried to remember flower art. It's not perfect but it's fun to fill in the spaces. One of my big ideas for this year is to learn how to hand letter a little more and doodle a bit more adequately. Baby steps, right?

Anyhow, I'm filling in more and more tasks as finished every day. Actually, after I hit publish here, I'm done for the day!! Whatever will I do with my free time?!

I'm going to plan my day tomorrow and knit some more. I'm reading Stephen Covey's book, "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" right now and didn't know if I was going to have time for reading today so maybe I'll knock out a chapter or two there... I am finding so much more time in my days now that I'm bullet journaling.

I've always liked to do lists but I'm an incredible procrastinator. There's something about sitting down the night before and really thinking about what needs done and what my schedule will allow and merging those two together. I also think having a nice book and pretty pens to write with helps. The list doesn't seem arbitrary. As I'm making my daily, I'm really seeing if I'm living in balance. I no longer feel like all that motherhood has to offer is endless laundry and dishes. And if I'm housework heavy one day, I can adjust my plans for the next day so that I have some self-care and fun built in.

I'm Doing It!!! Keeping My Goals! Or, my new favorite thing to do!

I have recently discovered bullet journaling. It's sort of like a planner but not quite. I always got off track when I tried to use a whole planner, I needed something more specific to each day. And something I could customize to fit my life exactly. Enter the BuJo. Favorite brands are Moleskine (which is what I own) and Leuchtturm. You can choose from lined, blank, dotted grid, or solid grid. There are no rules on how to create your BuJo! None! You design monthly spreads, daily lists, and trackers to fit your life. You can be as detailed or as plain as you want. Bulletjournal.com is the original system. It is quite plain in comparison to mine. I'm not a doodler, but I do like color coding and using a different bullet system than the most simple. Below are a few pages of my bujo.

My legend is pretty straightforward, everything has a specific bullet, a mark if it needs, and a color. If I've started something for work but not finished, I use a green slash to show that it's not quite finished. If I've completed the task, its box gets colored in completely. Not everyone color codes but it makes me easy to see if my days are balanced or if there's something that I'm not working on enough.

I can tell you that I don't enjoy housework so I try to plan it in the middle of days that awesome things are happening. Because, laundry. Housework gets migrated pretty regularly.

That's another awesome thing about my bujo, I have factored in that I am not going to have time or want to finish every single task, every day. I love being able to migrate a task to another day. I don't feel anywhere as lazy if I migrate rather than if I just don't mark a task completed.

Here is a sample of my daily layout. The small print at the bottom of each day are a couple of things I like to track daily. I'm doing the 30 Day Yoga Camp with Yoga with Adriene, so I mark each day if I've done it or not. I also like to track my water, I am able to see how I'm doing each day. I think next month I might draw little cups instead of boxes. And the last thing there is a writing prompt. I like to take a few seconds and track my mood each evening. That way I can adjust my daily task list if I'm feeling overwhelmed or I can add things if I'm feeling bored or particularly energetic!

I love inspirational quotes, this is on the page opposite my legend. It reminds me every single day that I can do what I put my mind to. And it reminds me to be myself, I tend to water myself down at times. I shouldn't do that! I need to let my ME flag fly! :)


Below is a day in my bujo. I chose a word for this year and it's "Push". I need to push myself in all areas of my life so I write it each day in my bujo. It would be really easy to just write it in when I do my monthly layout but that would defeat the purpose. I like to consider the word each day for a few minutes while I write it out. To think about what area in my life I need to push myself in that day.

So, that's my bujo in one post. I am finding it incredibly useful and I am getting so much more accomplished each day rather than waiting for everything to pile up on me and rushing at the last minute to get clothes washed, Thrive business attended to, the house cleaned, etc. When I was doing that I found that I had very little time to focus on self care and doing things I enjoyed. Or, I would goof around doing things I wanted to do while ignoring things I didn't. Ha!

There are some amazing blogs out there about bullet journaling. One that comes to mind immediately is Boho Berry, she has BEAUTIFUL layouts and her lettering is incredible. I'm not much of a doodler so mine is pretty straightforward. My best friend, Alisha, has an amazing bujo. I'm going to make her blog about hers, y'all need to SEE her awesomeness.


That's it for today! Do you use a planner or bujo?

Resolutions, shmezolutions...

I am the worst at New Year's resolutions. The literal worst. I some half-hearted statement about "this year is THE year". But, the year for what? And whatever it was is usually forgotten by the end of the first week. For me resolutions=magically attaining whatever I only sort of want.

This year, I threw out the idea of a resolution. This year, I have GOALS. Goals have a start point, a list of steps, and an end result. There's no magic in that. Only hard work and determination. I don't feel like halfway doing things in my life anymore. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to DO it.



Here are my list of goals and a few of the steps I'm going to take to reach them.

• Better Self Care
• I'm going to stop feeding myself junk food. My body is a dang temple that deserves healthy food.
• I'm going to push myself physically and then I'm going to rest when I need it.
• I am going to set myself up for success with meals by buying healthy foods.
• I am going to have days where I just veg and read, sometimes I need to just go inside my head and that's okay. It is NOT selfish.
• I am going to practice affirmations.

• Moving Up Ranks in My Thrive Business
• I'm going to build new relationships.
• I am going to help people improve their lives by taking control of their wellness
• I am going to help my team in any way I can
• I am reading books on Network Marketing

• Move My Body
• I am going to do some sort of physical activity every day. My preferred mode is yoga but if it ends up a dance party in the kitchen while I cook dinner, I'm going to be happy for the movement.
• I am going to hit 10k steps 4x a week. I have a feeling I'll be doing lots of laps around the house! HA!

• Keep Up with My Bujo
• Oh my gosh, this one is easy because I love doing it. Checking off color coded boxes just makes my heart happy. 
• I will set up my day the night before so that I know what is coming up and what needs to be done. I'm thinking that this will make more effective use of my time.
  
  
  
  
• Knit More!
• I have so many knitting projects that I want to make this year. My plan is to finish at least one a month!

Do you make resolutions or goals? Do you keep them? Do you have a plan? Share with me in the comments!

Bullet Journaling, the Cutest To-Do Lists!

I am a horrific procrastinator. I will wait until the very last minute to do most anything. It drives me crazy that I do this so I'm trying to put some better habits in place going into 2016 because I'm tired of being mad at myself. That's just plain crazy. 

Enter my partner in crime/chosen sister, Alisha... this girl has it together! She's got all these awesome planners and washi tape and stickers and and and. I bought a rather pricey planner, well I consider it pricey because it is currently collecting dust hanging out with old knitting patterns, random paperwork I feel I should keep, but probably don't need. Anyway, you get the picture. I'm NOT organized.

Alisha shared in a Facebook group we're in together about her bullet journal that was really helping her keep track of all of the things she needed to remember in a day. A to-do list? I can do a to-do list!! I actually LOVE crossing things off of a to-do list. It makes those tasks that you don't have physical evidence of doing, like making appointments or reading a blog post, feel like they now have a physical presence. And I'm much more likely to do something if I can see that it needs done.

I started with this cute notebook that Little C picked out for me at the craft store. I'm starting off REALLY simple. Just to-dos. I'm not much of a doodler so I am using the stencils I ordered from Amazon to make my pages look a little prettier than hand drawn pages.

I was at Target on Saturday and found a great deal on a Moleskine and some super cute marker pens. This will be my 2016 list bujo. Lists of books to read, recipes, yoga poses to work on, goal lists, and so forth. I'm really looking forward to not being a procrastinator any longer and really getting into my bujo-ing!

This will be my grand book of bujo lists. I can't wait to fill it!

I'm just getting started so I'm pinning things on Pinterest like crazy. Here's a link to my Pinterest page. I plan on adding more stuff as I learn more. I'm so excited to really get into it! Share your hits and misses with me!






*Note, I'm not affiliated with Amazon. I just linked to what I purchased.