Chocolate Musings

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Life is Happening Now – Layout Your Planner To Keep it on Track

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Life is Passing by so Fast! Keep Life on Track.

Ah yes. November is zipping by. November is great here in the states because the focus seems to shift to gratitude. A whole month dedicated to gratitude. And food.  But it really is a nice time to reflect on the year gone by.

One thing I am thankful for – my planner. It keeps my life on track because I don’t just watch it pass by. I may seem like I have my nose stuck in my planner all day; but in reality, I plan at night when the kids are in bed as my creative release. My planner actually reminds me to put down my phone and have ‘kid time’ and enjoy their moments.

Life is Happening Now Hand Lettered Quote

If We Could Just Pause Time

My husband was talking to my two oldest children – they were trying to both climb on his lap. He told them that they were getting so big that they weren’t going to fit anymore and he would like for them to stop growing up right now.  Needless to say, the 6 and 8-year-old were not agreeable to that notion. They look forward to all the things in their life. They have so many possibilities to look forward to! But as their parents, we know that this time is all too fleeting.

I included ‘kid time’ as part of my habit trackers. This has spurred me to play outside with them, invent games, read with them, I remember to put my phone down and live in the moment as their childhood flits by. I am not missing it and for that I am grateful.

Squared boxes for the month of November - Minimal Row Layout with mini time-blocking - Keep Life on Track

Weekly Spread Design

I created this layout in kind with the other weeks in November. Minimal with a lot of white space. The 12×12 boxes seem to work well when I want enough room to plan for each day’s activities and still leaves ample space for doodling or writing in between. The extra box on the bottom right is just for symmetry. Last week I was all about the asymmetry. This week, the rows are nice and even and very symmetrical.

One thing I would do differently if I were to use this spread again – is I would start with Monday and label the days across the two pages to Thursday then start with Friday under Monday. Instead of Wednesday underneath Monday (see the picture versus the digital measurements below). I think it would flow better. It’s what I get for doing a ‘Plan With Me Video’. Sometimes on video things are not as clear as they would be when it’s just you planning. View the video here in the monthly setup post.

I enjoy these weekly layouts, just like I am enjoying life right now.

Guess what?

Life is happening now. And I am not letting it just pass me by. I am enjoying every moment.

I hope you remember to plan your life so you live beautifully and don’t let life pass you by either.

~Tricia

The Beautiful Why of Planning

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Plan Your Life So You Live Beautifully – The Why of Planning

Someone very near to me (who will remain unidentified) questioned why I plan. They didn’t see a point to practicing my handwriting and my lettering. They suggested that I get my priorities in order. Um… Isn’t that what I am doing when I am planning? This conversation devastated me, and probably took a month or longer to shake off. It was with someone who I expected to back me up and to understand me – no matter if they understood what I was doing. Their suggestion stated that they did neither.

I don’t know what they were meaning when they told me that I should get my priorities in order. I took it to mean that they thought I was wasting my time. But the thing is…I have so many big plans and so many ideas! Tired of sitting, doing nothing but I had no purpose. It wasn’t until I started planning that I felt like I had a purpose to my life. Before I started planning, I was wandering blindly through life, not enjoying anything. To be completely honest, I was miserable and I made everyone else around me miserable too.

I realize a lot of people out there who might not understand what I do or why I do it.

I came up with a list of reasons why I plan:

  • I plan so we, as a family, know what we need to do.
  • So we don’t miss an appointment.
  • Personally, I plan so I can have more time to carry out what I want to do.
  • I plan so I can get my errands done in record time so we can do other fun things like go to the park, go on walks, so we can play outside, or watch a movie as a family.
  • I plan so we have more quality time together.
  • I plan so I can live better.
  • I plan so I don’t spend as much money on eating out.
  • I plan to save money.
  • I plan because I like feeling accomplished.
  • I like to set goals.
  • I like to see how far I’ve come.
  • I plan because it helps balances me emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

I plan so I can live more beautifully.

This has become my planning/life mantra when I came up with it a couple of months ago. You may have noticed in earlier blog posts. Now you know why.

The beautiful why of planning | Reasons why I plan. Plan your life so you live beautifully.

There are lots of different ways to plan.

There are many planning systems to use: hardbound, traveler’s notebooks, spiral bound, pre-dated, disc bound etc. Styles of planning are endless – minimal, art journaling, weekly, monthly, daily and a mix of these. Add accessories such as stickers, washi tape, doodling hand-lettering, or stamps. None of these options is wrong if it works for you. I like the bullet journal because I can change it to suit my needs. One week I may need a very clean, minimal layout, the next, I may need to immerse myself in a full-color water-painted page with pretty lettering and motivational quotes. Creating is part of my ‘why’ for planning and I like a variety.

Re-discovered Talent and Passion

I used to paint and draw every day. Then life happened to me and I forgot. I literally forgot that I liked to draw and paint for 12 years. When I started keeping a bullet journal as a planner, the pages were open for my interpretation. I started doodling again. Then I started drawing again. Shortly after, I found a paintbrush and I tried something new for me – water coloring. I had never attempted to watercolor before. What was this magic I had missed? Not long after this, I started seeing this concept of hand-lettering words and phrases that looked like calligraphy.

I practiced calligraphy a long time ago, but this looked different to me. I started trying to make the thin and thick lines that were so clear in this newfound version of calligraphy. And quickly fell in love with it.

Personal Changes Accompanying the Filled Pages

As I filled up the pages of a dotted notebook, I realized that I was changing too. I had passion in my life and I loved more deeply, not just journal-related things, but the people in my life as well. I found that I wanted to improve – as a person. Setting goals became a regular thing in my life; I haven’t liked to set goals before I started planning and keeping a journal. I do now and I enjoy it. Seeing the improvement is addictive.

What’s more, is I have started to accept myself as a person. I have started to see my worth.

This change is the most significant change I have seen in my life. Ever. Because there were times that I questioned if I belonged anywhere.

So to the anonymous person that questioned me and told me to get my priorities in order. I am. I am more than you know. This little book has brought me from the lowest of lows in my life to a place where I enjoy living again.

So friends, ask yourself why do you plan? And be honest with your answers. Certainly, you’ll discover some real gems in your life.

I plan so I can live more beautifully.

I hope you live your life so you can live more beautifully as well.

~ Tricia

Read: Give your Goals & Plans a Defined Timeline or View my November 2017 set up

Look on the Bright Side – It’s About Perspective | Life in Comics

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Life in Perspective

So this happened yesterday. No, I did not randomly come across snails painting Mona Lisa portraits, but a painting of mine got smudged by a well-intentioned significant other. It was a painting for someone else. There’s no saving it, I will have to redo it. I went to bed last night trying to control my anger. I tried to keep things in perspective – that there are bigger problems in life. However, my subconscious was serving up dreams that would have said that I was angry. My vibrant dreams were riddled with me running away and crying.

Positive Perspective - snails painting and learning to look on the bright side, even after the worst seemed to happen

Perspective is a Choice

But the thing is, I don’t want to feel angry with my significant other. He didn’t mean to. If I were completely honest with myself this painting for someone else and the quality was not up to my expected standard. I would be embarrassed to give it to them. It needed to be redone. It’s just hard to admit that after you’ve spent time and energy producing something that could be classified as just ‘alright’.

I will redo the painting, and this time, I will be proud of the end product. But what’s more, is that this idea of life in comics actually took shape. You see, I have had this idea for a month or so, but how to implement this idea was elusive. So as I dreamt in my restless state, the ideas formed and came together.

I woke up early this morning, even before my 8-month-old woke up. I created what was in my mind in about 45 minutes. Where in the past, it took me hours and I would end up with nothing to show for it. It’s amazing when and how inspiration comes. It was a very welcome change, especially since I’ve been in a slump for really being productive and getting things done.

So here’s to the choice of looking on the bright side and finding good in every situation. It’s all about perspective. And perspective is a choice.

Random Thoughts and Great Ideas Collection | Bullet Journal Brain Dump

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If you are like me, there are a lot of thoughts bouncing around inside your head all day long.

Some of them are pretty creative. Few are deep. Some are reflections of the past or regrets. Others are just random, funny thoughts. I wouldn’t mind keeping those around once in a while to distract from the crazy of life.

Most thoughts are fleeting, but others I would like to develop and see if something bigger will come of these individual thought nuggets. I had never organized these golden idea droplets into a common space, they were all haphazardly written in various places or lost in the abyss of the day-to-day.

Brain Dump - a place to write down all your thoughts no matter what they are

I felt that this collection of thoughts was not just a ‘brain dump page’. If you are not familiar with the term, brain dump can also be known as a ‘mental download’ or a variety of other terms. I’ve called it a ‘brain dump’ because I imagine my brain’s contents being spilled on a page by a dump truck. No organization, no common themes, just all the thoughts being dumped on the page for sorting later – or not.

A brain dump is great for when there are just too many thoughts to process.

I use a brain dump page for when I can’t sleep at night because the thoughts are running in every direction and won’t slow down. In this case, I record every thought that comes into my head until I cannot find another thought to think and my brain is able to {finally} rest.

Why this collection is not a brain-dump:

To be honest, I rarely revisit a brain dump page because its contents are mostly worries and irrational, unfounded thoughts that I can’t seem to let go usually as I am trying to calm my mind down before I go to sleep or when I am trying to work on a project and I am completely distracted. I want to keep my best ideas here. These ideas are more than fleeting. These ideas are pure inspiration that just need more coaxing to become valuable pearls.

The Random Thoughts & Great Ideas Page is not a brain dump. It’s themed with specifically chosen ideas to enhance future creativity and brainstorming.

I wanted a collective place to store these great ideas so I could expand or explore it further when I had more time or could find a connection between other thoughts.

Instead of all the thoughts jumbled together from one session, I am compiling all my great thoughts on this page. I may pull ideas from my braindumps, but it will be selected ideas jotted in this collection instead of all thoughts thrown together.

Make Pretty Designs & Use Them Too

After creating this page I had the initial fear of writing on it. I liked the artwork! This fear was quickly overcome as I have learned in the past: I value the page far more for the content AND the creative backdrop than I value just the creative background. Reviewing my past journals, I enjoy the drawings, doodles, and painting. But when I couple those with relevant feelings or thoughts, the recollection and overall meaning of the drawing meant more than just the artwork by itself.

Reviewing my past journals, I enjoy the drawings, doodles, and painting. But when I couple those with relevant feelings or thoughts, the page meant more than just the artwork by itself.

I cannot wait to see what comes of this page when I fill it with my Random Thoughts and Great Ideas. I may just find ‘my next big thing’ ascribed to its dotted page.

How do you track your ideas and random thoughts? Leave me a comment below.

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How I created the page

I outlined the light bulb lightly with a pencil. Using Tombow dual brush pens #055 (yellow) I filled in heavily around the outside. The gray area (you could call it gray matter if you like) I used a Papermate flair to create the outline. Using a water brush pen, I blended the colors outward until achieving the desired effect. Water brush pens are (similar to a paintbrush, but it holds water inside the pen instead of dipping in a cup of water – if you don’t have these, you can just as easily use a paintbrush and water).

I found that using the Tombow Markers with the water pens did not make the page wrinkle as much as when I used watercolor paint on the page. A nice perk.

Find other Idea Organization Spreads here!

 

Want to know what supplies I used? I’ll tell you.

 

This post contains affiliate links. The cost is the same to you but, I will receive a small commission to help support my blogging and creativity habits. 🙂 All opinions expressed were solely mine and from my heart.

September Week 1: Autumn Colors and Fall Leaves

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Keeping with the monthly theme of “Heck Yes! It’s Fall!” September’s 1st week has an autumn look with the changing colors on the leaves.

See the September monthly spread here

I knew when drawing this out, that the leaves were small and wouldn’t hold a lot of tasks. Maybe I’ll just take the week off and relax. Probably not, but here in the US, Monday the 4th is a holiday, so I will just take one day instead.

I am a ‘sketch it out before painting’ kind of girl. So to create this weekly log, I found a simple leaf pattern and drew it out repeating the pattern with just slight differences. Many eraser marks later, I had just the right amount of whimsy to the branches and leaves. I labeled the leaves to make sure I had drawn enough!

Autumn leaves sketch for the weekly planner spread in my bullet journal. I can't get enough of September and Fall.

After sketching it out, I sampled some chocolate of course. Then I watercolor painted in the tree branch and the leaves. The paper tends to get wavy when I add a lot of water or paint. So I kept as much whitespace as I could. I love the whimsy of this page not to mention the fall colors. I like to fantasize about the day when I paint hyper-realistic and you can’t tell the picture from reality. But I am not that kind of painter – at least yet. This page is nowhere near realistic

I like to fantasize about the day when I paint hyper-realistic and you can’t tell the picture from reality. But I am not that kind of painter – at least yet. This page is nowhere near realistic, but I love it nonetheless for its bright hues and whimsy in the curves of the branches and leaves.

Even though I live in Atlanta and it is still dreadfully hot, I think I need to sip a cup of hot cocoa in honor of this page. Fall here I come, ready or not because I am gearing up for cooler weather, crisp nights and a school schedule for my kids.

Tag me on Instagram (@ChocolateMusingsCreates) with your fall creations or weekly layouts. I would love to see your creative muse at work.

Here’s my process for creating this page in a super speedy video. Enjoy!

I just noticed that I have a pen mark on my left hand from when my kids couldn’t get a ballpoint pen to write. Ah well. The things you do for kids.

A pile of gathered leaves and Autumn inspiration await you. Jump right in!

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Want more inspiration?

I update my Pinterest boards regularly with seasonal designs and more awesome ideas & inspiration.
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Autumn leaves sketch and watercolor painting for the weekly planner spread in my bullet journal. I can't get enough of September and Fall.

Want to know what I used to create this spread? I’ll tell you.

This post contains affiliate links. The cost is same to you but, I will receive a small commission to help support my blogging and creativity habits 🙂
All opinions expressed were solely mine and from my heart.