inspiration

journal challenge rules~

1. write SOMETHING every day – it doesn’t have to be profound or long

2. make it “fancy” – experiment with typography, add a border, add a doodle, glue something in

3. if you have nothing to say, pick one of the topics below and fill in the info

this is the cover of one of my old journals.
self-portrait?

-inspirational quotes

-clips from magazines (etc.) that inspire you (ie. pictorial or single words)

-notes/cards you receive

-travel – places you’ve been or places you dream of (add pictures)

-fashion – ideas or desires

-lists – top 10’s, favourites, bucket list, to-do’s, etc.

-goals

-recipes and favourite food

-reading list – finished and tbr

-architect and home deisgn

-project ideas

-dreams and sleep patterns

-eating out / restaurant reviews

-music – favourite songs, lyrics, playlists, etc.

-funny things people say

-current events – what’s going on in the world, in the news, at work/school, etc.

-favourite things

-my thoughts are full of…

-memories – the first time i…

-advice to a younger self/future self

-(single) words that mean something to you

-instead of a wish-list, do a wish-granted list

-reflections on being the receiver of an act of kindness

-aspects of yourself you are thankful for

-a proud moment in your life

-a hard lesson you learned

-a positive impact you had on someone else’s life

-best compliments you’ve ever received

-little things that make you happy

-who are the people you are thankful for in your life

-snapshot of today – weather, what you did, plans for the rest of the day, eating, wearing, listening to, reading, thinking about/wondering, feeling, etc.

-describe the room you’re in right now

-introductions – yourself, your family members, your friends and loved ones, etc.

-breakdown of your friends – who do you go to when…

-all the words that describe you

-a day in the life – what your typical day looks like

there are thousands of pictures of random people's journals on google that give me lots of ideas. try looking up "smash book". those are pretty cool. such as...

i also have an entire pinterest board full of journaling ideas
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an idea

a few years ago for christmas, i gave one of my SILs a big fat journal with this message inside:

This isn’t just a journal… We’re calling it “The Uplifting Book”. Its purpose is to be filled with thoughts, quotes, bits and scraps of things that inspire you so that when you’re feeling down, you only need to open it up to feel … uplifted!

Write down all the warming things that occur in your life, no matter how small they may seem at the time. It’s so easy to forget the blessings when things aren’t going as you want.

If someone gives you a touching card or letter, stick it in here.

Make lists.  Top 5’s ~ snells, items, movies, songs, books, people, places to be, etc.

What was your happiest childhood memory?

Describe something you did that still makes you feel proud.

Write your own personal mantra ~ repeat it aloud to yourself when you need a boost.

What do you want to be remembered as?

What are the things in life that matter most to you?

Just a few suggestions ~ it’s a thick book! Be creative and make it pretty!

shockingly, there is a blog post about it. 

journal challenge

i used to write in journals a lot when i was younger. there was even a period in high school when i wrote in one every day for 6 months. if you know me, you're probably aware that i don't stick to anything for long. usually i can stay focused for about 2 weeks. so 6 months was unheard of behaviour.
i can't say exactly why i stopped writing, but i know it's linked to how i've been feeling the past few years. i feel like their is a stopper in my throat sometimes that keeps me from being able to speak my mind. it's not that i don't want to, but i am at a loss for words. i'm hoping that by writing more often, i will be more in tune with my emotions.
by nature, i'm very reflective about everything i do. i ponder. a lot. it only makes sense to write these things down. when i did write in my journal in the past, i found it to be a very cathartic practice. in recent years, i have developed an unhealthy habit of holding everything inside, partly due to that pyschological block i mentioned, and partly because i just don't want to bother anyone. too often, my thoughts are dark and toxic. they stew and fester and cycle back on themselves which can leave me in an unpleasant haze of nastiness for days at a time. this is when i sleep the most. it's sometimes the only reprieve i can get from my brain. ...as long as they don't follow me into unconsciousness and plague me with nightmares, of course.
obviously, this is not the healthiest method of coping. so~ back to my point. i use my journal to dump all these thoughts. purge them from my brain in the hopes of lessening their toxicity. once they are out, it can help to stop that cycle.
the original plan was to write every day. but i don't want to set myself up for failure, so i'm just going to say i will write more. since i wrote only one entry in the last year and a half, it shouldn't be hard to beat!

now, i want to pose this challenge to you. if i find it helpful, i'm sure that anyone would. but there are numerous reasons to write. some people do it as a creative outlet, some simply to record memories, others may do it just to have a habit to stick with. or maybe you just want to practice your penmanship? whatever. start writing. see what it can do for you.

i'm going to do a separate post with ideas and pictures and stuff.

a year in review

my mom always sends out these "newsletter" things with her holiday cards. apparently a lot of people do it. while i think it's weird, i can see the merit in the idea. it basically lets everyone you care about (and hopefully care about you) that you may not keep in regular contact with what you have been up to lately. it works for my family because we are spread out all over the country ~ the main hub of it all around the winnipeg area but also aunts, uncles, and cousins in vancouver and edmonton, a few more stragglers in other parts of ontario, manitoba, alberta, saskatchewan, and even the states. (not to mention, friends... ALL over the place, of course.) people come in and out of your life for various lengths of time but these letters are a good way to answer the question "i wonder what's new with so-and-so".
that said, i think it's incredibly dorky. but i'll do it anyway. because, overall, it's been a good year.

2013 started off with me in my last semester of ECE (early childhood education) at sheridan college. in my very first semester, i had heard of an opportunity to go to hong kong to do my third work placement (more in-depth story here, if you're interested) so i basically busted my ass to maintain my 4.0 gpa. i went through a fairly intensive interview process to be selected as one of the 8 diploma program students to go at the end of 2012. (i should have done a post for last year too. it was awesome! ;) anyway...)
i finished up classes in early april, then spent 2 weeks preparing for the month-long trip to china.
hong kong was exciting, a ton of fun, scary at times, very difficult at others, and perhaps even life-alternating. one day, i plan to actually update the hong kong blog i made and then you can read all about it, if you are so inclined.
a few days after returning, we had our graduation ceremony. in general, i found college to be pretty easy, academically. but some aspects were really hard ~ going to classes everyday, doing my homework, staying on top of things, handing assignments in on time. i tend to give up on things and never stick to anything for very long. graduation for me signified that i had actually done it. i had completed something. probably for the first time in my life. (little known fact, i TECHNICALLY didn't even really "finish" high school.) and not only had i finished the program, i did it with high honours. i was sort of proud of myself.

a few other great memories were made during the first half if the year. i saw weezer in concert (again) in detroit and met 3 of the 4 members (and their fanboy/historian/buddy karl) after the show, got their autographs on a setlist, and chatted with them a bit. that was awesome! i got to see both green day and muse in concert for the first (hopefully not only) time. AND, huge highlight, hubby accompanied me to see both marcus foster and bobby long play (different times) in toronto. at that point, i had only been a fan of both of them for less than a year. i had never seen either of them live before but listened to their music pretty much all day every day. after that, i only needed to add seeing sam bradley in person to that list...

with summer, came my "relaxing" time (which has continued until the present, even though it was only supposed to be a few weeks).
a few noteworthy things happened ~ there was a fun date-day with hubby at the zoo, my friend jodi, who i hadn't seen since fancamp, came to visit, and i somewhat stalked the set of a movie my favourite actor was filming in toronto. (can't wait to own it on dvd and squeal and be able to say i was standing right outside when that scene comes on.)

one typically boring day at the very end of july, my friend brina and i were discussing the upcoming san diego and LA shows bobby long was about the do, still on his extensive tour i had caught the beginning of. we were saying how great it would be to be able to see him together one day. she pointed out that i wasn't doing anything and i did still have a bit of money left... then she just happened to hint that it had been floating around the internet that sam bradley was in town and would probably be at the LA show too... there was a lull in the conversation and she finally said "you're looking up flight info right now, aren't you?" indeed i was. i made a very short visit to san deigo (through buffalo and vegas... craziness ensued. both ways. including an unexpected night over in vegas on the way home in which i had to wash my clothes with shampoo in a hotel room sink and dry them over a lamp.) i got to stay with brina, who i also hadn't seen since fancamp, for a few days and catch both bobby's shows ...and, yes, i did meet sam bradley. ('another guy' was in attendance, but i didn't meet him. i didn't even want to. not that night, anyway.) 
i can't quite go into detail about meeting sam, but it was SO MUCH MORE than i ever expected. we talked for a few minutes, even mentioned my tattoo. but the best part was being with brina the whole time, because without her imparting her musical knowledge to me, i wouldn't even know who sam was. and witnessing that in person... amazing! (i won't embarrass brina further than that.)

september was busy! hubby and i went to san francisco/oakland, with a 2-day stop in monterrey, for his cousin, noelle's wedding, which was lovely. it was so great to be able to spend that time with his family. i wish we had been able to go back again in october for noelle's sister, vanessa's wedding too!
from sf, i flew directly (sans hub) to portland, oregon, to meet up with my twigirls for our forks adventure. i had just seen brina the month before, and jodi in june, but miranda and deena, not since fancamp, and kristin, not ever! it was long overdue. and adventure, it definitely was. forks was everything i wanted it to be ~ time with my friends, twifangirling, reuniting with other people i hadn't seen since LA, like jenn m and tracy (hi!), finally getting an actual picture with erik (even though it sucks just as bad as the only one from LA, just that he and jack showed up was great), and perhaps the best part ~ redeeming myself by being able to hold my alcohol this time... unlike some. :) 
no, the best part was meeting stephenie meyer. to meet the creator of my obsession IN the holy land... indescribable. and i almost missed it. but thanks to my PE (pocket edward, for those who don't know), she actually called me back over to take a picture with her. 
i also got to meet some more great friends who i wouldn't want to be without in my life now. tami, jenn b, angie ~ ily! < 3  
i was very sad to have to go home again and i wish every day that i lived closer to all these wonderful people. 

i realize, this has turned very bloggy, instead of newslettery. i tend to start being cryptic and speaking only directly to certain people when talking about twilight-related stuff. i figure most people aren't interested.
if you stopped reading out of boredom, you can come back now. :P

the rest of the year has been quiet. i just finished level 1 of a wilton cake decorating class with my friend, geena, and we are about to start level 2. that's been really fun and something somewhat creative to keep me from going insane.
i'm unemployed, broke, and bored ~ but hopefully that will all change very soon. i have many more fun "adventures" planned for 2014! 

i should also mention, 2013 held the births of two new nephews for me! my sister's son, saul, in february, and my brother's son, ben, in november. congratulations!

this is a collage i made for day 29 of the fmsphotoaday december challenge ~ "best bit of 2013".
it hits pretty much everything i mentioned, so i thought i'd add it.

p.s. i forgot to mention that i also got 2 new tattoos this year. yay. (both have their own blog posts ~ here and here.)