Gearing Up for the Month of Months!

Hello Friends!

Well, it certainly has been a while, but I’m returning here feeling fresh & feeling GOOD! Healthy AND chilled! As if I’ve been granted an early fresh start! (Though I am sure I will need another come the new year :P) Can you believe it’s been over 5 weeks since I last popped up in your inbox?! Yet things have not remained completely stagnant on the site. I was here just last week uploading a new product … which you may or may not have seen … ;D

Moreover, the lack of posts didn’t mean I wasn’t tapping away at the keyboard, so let’s dive back into things with a little recap of mixed feelings from past Fiona.

Take One – 29th October

Hello Friends!

It seems to be that this blog is becoming something of a fortnightly affair. The simple reason being is I just don’t get enough done to report each week! Let’s be honest, even today I’m unconvinced I’ve got enough juice to spill, but maybe short and cheery is all we need? Though I’m not quite convinced that I can deliver on the cheer – I admit Sunday nights always fill me with a fair bit of dread – there feels like far more pressure to deliver on the home front, than at my actual paying job. It’s the reason I try to keep Mondays to myself so I can try to find some positivity and excitement for the tasks ahead –

Take Two – 1st November

I’m not sure what took me away from getting any further in the above, but today is now Wednesday and I admit I’m only back because I am trying to hype myself up. For a time, I felt I had really stabilised my moods, however, this last fortnight or so, particularly this last week, I’ve often found myself on the verge of overwhelm and tears. I desperately want to be excited about my course … yet I never feel like I am achieving enough. Nor am I delving into any of the optional tasks/learning! I just think I’m a bit disappointed with ‘reality me’. It’s like realising you’re not as driven as you always believed –  maybe this is a minor identity crisis? :P I’m just not the all-in, motivated nerd I thought I could be. Obviously, this is a little dramatic… and trivial? Don’t mind me, I am just here trying to write myself into a better mood! Can I share what I am currently meant to be working on?

A brainstorming session! Like, that’s my jam! And yet, I feel blobby and can’t bring myself to get started. Honestly, I think I’m a little scared of starting and failing to envisage any decent ideas….

This is all beginning to feel a little self-indulgent & whiny so I think I’ve almost succeeded in wanting to get back to it – I’ll pop Taylor’s 1989 bonus tracks on and sing it out of my system, then I reckon we’ll be right! –

Take Three! – 7th November: The real deal, I promise!

(It wasn’t)

This may shock you, but I am ACTUALLY in a positive mood today. It certainly shocks me because yesterday I felt like I would never be motivated or interested in much again. I’ve got much to talk about but now I’m wondering if I need one more week to actually do the things on my list before I share-

Take Four!! – 23rd November:
The present day.

So, like I said, mixed feelings.

We missed out on the stint of sickness, (& the rediscovery of Rollercoaster Tycoon), more study ‘anguish’, the full stop on dating for a time … but honestly, that all feels like a bore, so we are moving on! Onto more exciting things.

The Release of a Christmas Advent Calendar!

Man, did I put a lot of effort into this product. With 24 illustrations, plus a tree to draw, I started this work back in … August? I think? Maybe end of July? Yet, as with such things, it was always a bit of a struggle to get into the mood for Christmas so far in advance, even for me. Therefore, (special thanks to a poorly timed cold), I was working on this right up to the wire.

I crammed in a day of test printing, cutting & mock ups last Monday (13th), before popping down to Melbourne. Then, upon my return, I spent another day creating the listing and promotion material to launch. I created 6 calendars, ready to go, just in case I received any orders over the working weekend! I’m pleased to say it was a very efficient production line. Demand hasn’t outstripped the number of calendars I created just yet, so if you’d like one, they’re still available here, AND I’ve got more of everything ready to go should this prompt a flurry of orders. Ho Ho.

If I’d allowed for more time, I likely would have added a bit more detail to the background, and played around with sizes some more, but I’m still proud for actually finishing this one. There were many, many, times that I felt I would never get it out into the world. We’ll see if it proves a satisfying and festive time!

Sticker plans for the Remainder of the Year?

None! :p The release of the Advent Calendar marks the end of my sticker releases for 2023, a break to creatively re-fuel. This also means I can begin narrowing my focus for the next 6 weeks: school, work and December festivities!

I do plan on composing an ‘End of Year Review’ post, one that will capture my feelings around starting & dedicating time to Friend of Note this year, plus providing a little insight into my ‘profits and losses’, so that should be a bit of fun! Personally, I just love an end of year review, to the point where I’ve already compiled one of my personal life for ’23… It’s just an interesting insight into how one actually, (roughly), spent their time, what they deemed most & least important, and whether one wishes to reshape the focuses next year!

Speaking of New Years…

After a week long cold messed up my sense of routine and progress, particularly when it came to my 30+ day streak of Morning Pages, I struggled to get back into a day-to-day rhythm. In an attempt to re-focus, I began looking at 2024 diaries, ready to chuck in the towel on 2023. I kid! However, I did want to chase the feeling of new starts so this was my solution & it is how I discovered Hobonichi Techo and their much loved diaries.

Until I stumbled across a YouTube video, I had never heard of the brand. Surprisingly, I didn’t watch the clip, (this stuff is typically right up my alley), yet nonetheless, the name lodged in my brain. At this point, I was mulling over whether to get The Quirky Cup Collective 2024 planner, pretty much the same diary I used this year. I’ve quite enjoyed this planner but it’s a chunky thing, with A LOT of in-between pages for reviews, notes, etc that I honestly don’t really use. I do love the vertical weekly view, which, weirdly, isn’t particularly common. However, it turns out the Hobonichi Techo ‘Cousin’ offers this! PLUS a monthly and daily view! It also has a soft cover, as opposed to a hardback, and the paper is very thin, making it a lot thinner than my current diary.

I learnt that, typically, one purchases a cover to protect their Hobonichi Techo diary, but they are costly, (on top of being a pricey diary to begin with), and I’m not a fan of the material. Luckily, before I made any acquisitions I would later regret, I remembered a purchase I made a few years ago – a New Year’s present for myself in 2018/19 – for this exact purpose! I had somewhat forgotten the leather zip pouch as, up until recently, I kept a small collection of moleskin notepads stored in there. This would be perfect for carrying the diary around and storing the other bits & pieces like stickers and pens that I like to have on hand.

So, I bit the bullet and ordered a diary from Minimaru, not a moment too soon because they quickly sold out afterwards. I’m excited to see how I will put this one to use, but my thought is to use the daily view for my ‘Morning Pages’. I will then be able to hold myself far more accountable for missed or slack days as the blank page would be evidence. Weekly view will be where I shape my week, but we’ll see how it goes – I’m very keen to get started.

As I’ve still really loved a lot of aspects of Quirky Cup’s diary, when Sydonie recently released a digital copy for the iPad, I jumped on the chance to add this to my cart! Especially as she offers a dateless version, which can be used, year after year. I’ve been testing it out since Monday and am loving it. Currently, I am writing out my end-of-day daily summaries in it, which I was previously recording in the app One Day. I’m just playing with this for now so we’ll see what I stick with. Either way, the blank grid pages have proved perfect for writing out tentative Christmas shopping lists and drafting out daily plans.

Attitude

We’re nearly done! Apologies, this feels like a very random post, one that delved a little too deeply into the matter of … diaries. Yet, on the whole, I am feeling a lot more at peace than I have felt since I commenced my course!

I recently found out that many of my peers had also hit a slump which slowed up their pace too and that appeased so much guilt & stress about falling behind. I’ve also been listening to the audiobook ‘Raising Hell and Living Well’ and it has proved an excellent, if at times contrary, accompaniment to my learnings. It certainly contrasts to the other books I have been listening to for school, like ‘Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products’. It’s an interesting perspective and it has me questioning and challenging my own knee jerk reactions, habits, aspirations, worries and fears.

In conclusion, the fact that I ended up taking an unplanned two week break from study proved the refresher I needed. I’m feeling far more positive about the course, and life on the whole, and I am excited to get into UX Architecture! That said, I’m keen to keep the pressure low so it remains something I enjoy, so I will try not hold myself to self-made deadlines.

Happy Snaps!

That’s more than enough for now, but I am looking forward to popping back in soon-ish with some end of year content!

Talk soon,

Fiona.  x