BULLET JOURNAL PROMPTS AND TIPS

With 2019 fast approaching, it feels like the whole world is laying down plans for the New Year, and a common goal is to get organised and start a planner or bullet journal. I've gone in and out of bullet journalling for the past few years, often falling off the wagon just when I start to get really busy - which is, of course, the time when I need it most - but I'm determined to make 2019 the year that I stick with it.

The original bullet journal system is somewhat dry, and very much focused on function over form. Like a lot of people I took the general premise of the bullet journal method and expanded it to suit my own needs and tastes, not only using the notebook for planning, but also to store ideas and information. My own bullet journal contains recipes, doodles, trackers, wishlists, and a whole host of other stuff that makes the notebook a very important part of my daily life. Today I'm sharing a few pages from my own bullet journal, as well as some advice for getting started, and of course a few prompts that might inspire some creativity.

ON WINNING NANOWRIMO | ADVICE AND PLANS

The year of our lord 2018 marks my fourth attempt at the Legendary task of NaNoWriMo. The difference this year is that I fucking won. 

I didn't start out this years challenge with high hopes. I expected myself to fizzle out around the 20,000 word mark as I usually did - blaming myself for not preparing enough, and blaming the fact that I was busy and tired and that my novel idea was terrible anyway. Honestly winning has come as such a huge surprise to me that I couldn't really muster up any feeling of pride or accomplishment when I verified my word count and the website flashed up the winner's page. I'm still more surprised than anything else.

MY 2019 TOOLKIT FOR POSITIVE CHANGES

I generally hold fairly tightly to the idea that buying material objects, with the idea that they'll somehow improve things in your life, is bollocks. I can't count the amount of times younger-Isabelle would convince herself that this designer bag, beautiful bedding, or luxury skincare product would kickstart some kind of change, and transition me into being a better, more 'adult' version of myself. What a load of nonsense. Needless to say, I remained the same person, with the same positive traits and flaws, but with a new bag, duvet cover or eye cream.

However, I do believe that certain things can facilitate us in making positive changes in our lives, and sometimes creating new habits and healthy patterns can be made easier when we have basic tools for the job. So I'm sharing a few things I'm planning to buy early in the next year, and the changes they will reflect in my 2019 plans.

COSY WINTER READING RECOMMENDATIONS

The nights are getting longer, and the evenings are getting colder. There are a lot of downsides to the changing seasons, but one upside is that it's the perfect weather to snuggle up with a thick blanket, a warm beverage of choice, and a pile of books. So I've compiled a list of my favourite cosy reads for the colder weather to share with you. 

SMALL BUSINESS + SUSTAINABLE GIFT GUIDE // HOMEWARE BOOKS + ART

Following on from the Sustainable Gift Guide that I published last year, I thought I'd curate another little collection of beautiful, sustainable gifts from smaller businesses. I'm hoping I can inspire others to make conscious choices when buying gifts for loved ones over Christmas. 

 Anyone who loves jewellery knows how great is is to have somewhere special to store it. These dishes from PeonyLondon are a gorgeous option and would go well with any decor. Kate Charlton's bracelet stacking stands are perfect for making a dressing table instantly instagram-worthy.

A YEAR OF LONG DISTANCE + HOW WE MADE IT WORK

Alex and I have been together for well over a year and a half, and we have never lived within walking distance. When we first met we were a twenty minute train ride away, then I moved to stay with my parents for a few months, pushing that distance to an hour and a half, and then I left for York, moving five hours up the country to do a postgraduate degree.

I realise this sounds like I'm slowly edging further away hoping he'll get the hint, but I was accepted to study at York just before we met, so it was always a factor in our relationship, and it was a real moment of commitment when we decided that, after about five months, we were willing to stay together while I moved across the country for a year. I have since completed my degree and moved south again, and we are now separated by a measly seventy minute drive. Being so far away, both constricted by busy schedules and deadlines, hasn't been easy on us, but we've gotten through this last year with relatively little trouble, and never came close to breaking up. With that in mind I think we're both fairly well equipped to give a little advice, so Alex has helped me put together this little post, what a champ <3

A CRUELTY FREE BEAUTY WISHLIST

01. Anastasia Beverly Hills - Norvina Palette 

ABH have long been the keeper of my brows, but I've never branched out into their eye palettes. Modern Renaissance was a little too red-toned for me, and Subculture didn't get the best reviews, Norvina, however, is exactly my style. A gorgeous fairy-tale garden of gold, lilac and soft pink, with a perfect mixture of matt and shimmering shades, the Norvina palette is for those who like to look like they've just stepped out of A Midsummer Nights Dream... i.e me.

02. Jeffree Star Holiday Collection - Velour Liquid Lipsticks

The man behind the brand can be a divisive figure, but nobody can argue with the quality of Jeffree Star Cosmetics. Star's 2018 Holiday Collection is just another jewel in his crown and, while I'm not sure a giant alien head palette is my thing, the liquid lipsticks are utterly stunning. Standouts include Clout, a metallic cyberpunk lavender, and Triggered, a rich plum flecked with glitter.

THREE WRITERS ON WRITING

I've been doing NaNoWriMo for just over ten days now, and am currently sitting very happily on a word count of 18,356. I'll do a more involved update soon, but for now let's just say I'm well on track and pleased with how I recovered from a few lazy days of little to no writing.

One thing that I've always found really helpful when I'm writing, or just pursuing general creative projects, is reading about writing. Not so much the super technical stuff, I don't think knowing the ins and outs of the use of an oxford comma is especially inspiring, but books in which writers talk about their craft and their experience. I've been rereading my three favourites recently, and thought I would share them.

NANOWRIMO 2018 // GETTING STARTED + FREE GRAPHICS

If you've ever wandered into the bookish or creative parts of social media, anywhere near November for the last decade or so, you'll have come across NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month is an annual internet project, and a source of joy, stress, excitement and more stress for thousands of people all over the world. The aim is to write a fifty thousand word novel in the thirty days of November, averaging out to 1665 words per day.

I've tried this a few times, but things always get in my way. I've usually been at University, where assessed essays are written around the same time, or grappling with a very demanding job and barely having time to do more than eat and sleep in my spare moments. This year, however, things are different. My academic career is done for the moment, and my work will be part time for the beginning of the month, so there is no better time to take advantage of this, and finally complete a NaNo project once and for all!

RECENT READING 002

I didn't read much non-academic material during my MA, but I did get round to a few good books and thought I would share them with you.

Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig - I picked this up on the recommendation of my good friend Kieran, who absolutely loved it, and I wasn't sure what to expect. Matt Haig is an author with a very eclectic bibliography, who writes candidly about his experiences with mental health, and Notes on a Nervous Planet is a series of vignettes in which he muses about the state of the culture we live in, and its effect on our mental health as individuals and as communities.

FIVE PLANS FOR AUTUMN - WINTER

Well, the sunglasses have finally gone back in their case, we're digging out the thicker duvets and cosy blankets, and the colder weather is here at last! I think on the blogosphere (especially the more insidey, bookish corner) we fetishise Autumn something awful. We get excited about crisp walks and hot chocolate and jumpers and forget about the constant rain and dark mornings and the various bouts of flu we'll all have to deal with.

That said I still love Autumn, and this year especially, the colder weather signals a big change in my life. I've come back down from York to be with my family, friends and boyfriend again, and I'm done with my dissertation and looking at where to go next. I've neglected a lot of things during my masters and I'm looking forward to rediscovering myself and what I love. 

A MASTERS IN LITERATURE | THOUGHTS NEARING THE FINISH

I am steadily coming to the end of my year as a Masters student. My dissertation is due in five weeks and honestly once this is over with, I'm not sure what I'm going to use my brain for. I've spent the best part of a year thinking about very little else and too busy filling my spare time with doggo walking, note taking and boyfriend seeing to think much about where to go afterwards.

For a long time I was sure that I wanted to do a PhD. My plan was pretty solidly to find a funded PhD (Oxford or UCL, y'know - somewhere I could feel smug about) and start my career as an academic. But things have changed. While I LOVE academia, and will always cherish my time as a postgraduate, the reality is that I just don't think that it's the future for me. The world of academia is largely very traditional, rigid, and somewhat humourless, and getting an essay back with glowing praise and a first grade isn't quite enough to take away the snitty comment in the feedback about how the little joke that I made halfway through was 'detrimental to an otherwise professional and impressive piece of work'.

CRUELTY FREE BEAUTY FAVOURITES #4

Summertime usually sees me running out for new beauty products, because there's something about the opportunity to flash a bit of bare ankle that just screams 'give your money to superdrug!' So of course I have a new stash of cruelty free products that I've been using over the past few weeks and wanted to share some of my favourite finds. 

TIPS FOR EVERYDAY MENTAL WELLBEING

Everybody has mental health. I realise that this should be completely obvious, but it's quite strange that, in our culture, we tend to reserve discussion about mental health for those struggling with mental illness. But the thing is, we all have mental health, and we all can be vulnerable to having that health compromised in some way. We don't wait until an individual has flu to tell them how to prevent it, we make clear the steps that help somebody stay well and avoid illness so that they can stay physically strong and healthy, rather than just applying cures after the fact. So why don't we do the same thing with mental health? (Cynical opinion: A healthy body is more useful to capitalist labour needs than a healthy mind but who knows? ) 

Mental health week was some time ago now, but I wanted to wait a little before posting this, because mental wellbeing should be part of our everyday conversations, not segregated to a single week. With that in mind I wanted to share a few tips to take care of everyday mental health, whether you're someone who is currently living with a mental illness, or someone who wants to take steps to cultivate good mental health, and have some resources for wobblier moments. 

"IS THIS THE END OF BLOGGING?" | BREAKING OUT OF THIS BAD ATTITUDE

I feel like I can't click onto Bloglovin' anymore without seeing a post titled something like "Is This the End of Blogging?" or "Thinking of Giving Up." and it can be really discouraging to think that people really feel this way.

Don't get me wrong, I get it. This is a very new blog, but I've actually been a blogger since 2009. I have very clear and fond memories of the rise of blogging, and how wonderful and exciting it was to feel really on the curve of something, and have people engaging with your content and enjoying everyone else's work. Since then things have changed. I ducked out for a few years and when I came back in about 2016 it felt like things had stalled. A lot of people that I had absolutely loved had dropped out of the blogging world altogether. I was very discouraged and, although I kept blogging, it felt like the people who would be successful bloggers already were, and there was no way of growing an audience anymore. F L Y N N was my attempt at a fresh start, leaving behind the expectations and blogging just for myself.

MID YEAR RESOLUTIONS

I really don't know how we're halfway through the year. I know that's SUCH a cliche but honestly I still haven't recycled some of my Easter treat boxes, though that might just be me being a slob...  

But I thought I'd take some time to reflect on how my 2018 goals are panning out, and consider what I want to think about and focus on over the next six months. My good friend Holly gave me the idea so shout out to her, and her adorable new blog which you can read and enjoy here. 

CRUELTY FREE BEAUTY FAVES #3 | DAILY ROUTINE

It hasn't been that long since I last posted about cruelty free products, but a very dear friend of mine Kieran (you can read his blog here) sent me a little care package full of LUSH goodies. I mentioned, when he came round to stay a few weeks ago, that I didn't really have a set skincare routine and, as a LUSH employee, he was very keen to help me address this!

Among the super cute, pastel bath bits, and amazing smelling hair care, were three items to make up a little low maintenance daily routine, and, having been sticking to this fairly regularly for about three weeks now, I've really seen the benefits.

SUMMER READING LIST

The module portion of my Masters is over! It's a bittersweet feeling for many reasons, but it does mean that I no longer have academic reading lists longer than my arms to get through each week, so this summer I can finally get back into reading for fun regularly!

I'm putting myself on a strict budget this summer because I don't want to be working too much while I'm writing my dissertation, and that means I'm going to be (mostly) limiting myself to books that I already own but haven't gotten around to reading yet. Fortunately, I have twelve of those with me in York, so this summer I'm determined to get round to all of them!

TIPS FOR TACKLING CREATIVE ANXIETY

One of my very favourite bloggers, the lovely Bee over at VIVATRAMP, did a post quite some time ago about getting rid of creative anxiety, and it's helped me to this day. If you have any sort of creative endeavour at all: writing, painting, blogging... making tiny models of politicians out of plasticine and making them have debates, you'll know that sometimes our creative process becomes stifled with doubts, and our ability to do and make the things we love grinds to a halt. Having dealt with this plenty over the years I thought I'd spread the love as a fellow creative person and share my own tips for tackling fears and worries relating to creativity.

BOOK REVIEW | THE CRUEL PRINCE BY HOLLY BLACK

Of course I want to be like them. They’re beautiful as blades forged in some divine fire. They will live forever.

I am not normally a YA fantasy reader. I really enjoy children's fantasy, but YA just never quite seems to push my buttons but, in the middle of a stressful few weeks of my MA, I just felt like I wanted something fun and low stakes to read. So I just picked up the first YA fantasy book that caught my eye and I'm really glad that I did. 

This novel centres around Jude, a mortal taken with her siblings to be raised in fairyland for reasons I won't spoil. The Fairy Folk aren't the cutesy twinkly flower garden type, this fairyland is full of war, politics, drunken parties and trickery. Think the Artemis Fowl Faeries with an overlay of Game of Thrones. We follow Jude as she navigates growing up mortal, and therefore considered lesser, as she tries to establish herself in a land to which she does not belong.

SPRINGTIME IN ROME

I've been drowning under the weight of academic work recently and, as a result, my blogging has slowed down. Fortunately my essays are all completed now, so I finally have some time to share my adventures in Rome last week.

Alex and I haven't seen too much of each other recently. Not surprising given that we currently live many hours drive/train away and are both busy people, but we decided to celebrate a little milestone together by taking a trip to Rome. Alex organised most of it and came up trumps with a gorgeous little B&B just outside the heart of the city. We were just a walk or short metro ride from almost everything that Rome has to offer, and could spend cosy evenings in peace and quiet.

CRUELTY FREE BEAUTY FAVES #2

Since I last talked about cruelty free beauty back in August I've had an increase in subscribers (hi and thank you!) so just to reiterate: I committed to buying only cruelty free brands towards the end of 2016, and throughout 2017 slowly switched up everything in my makeup and beauty kit to cruelty free (meaning that neither the company, nor the parent company uses animal testing, nor do either have a third party perform this task for them) and honestly I don't regret it for a second.

I very occasionally get a little twinge of envy when somebody mentions a new NARS palette, or when the beautiful collections from Too Faced are released (those heart shaped highlighters. Oof.) But ultimately it's all just paste and powder that I smear on my face to feel cute, and bunnies look better without chemical burns so I get over it pretty quickly. I did a round up in the summer of some cruelty free beauty products I had been loving, which you can read here, and I've since built up a collection of a few more that I want to share.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY // READING RECOMMENDATIONS

The 8th of March is International Women's Day! A day when we appreciate the generally undervalued half of the human race, and everything they do for the world, both on the micro scale, within the home and the family, right up to the macro, kicking-ass in government and taking bold leaps in the scientific, artistic and political spheres.

  Women have provided some of my most formative reading over the years, and so I'm offering a few recommendations of books written by women, about women, that I have not only loved, but that have fundamentally changed the way I think about gender and female-ness. Enjoy!

SCEPTICAL MAGICK // CRYSTALS

   Crystals are something I've put off talking about for quite some time, mainly because when you engage with the topic of crystals, you tend to be shuffled into one of two camps. Camp one is the lady who accosts you in the New Age shops, draped in shawls and trying to convince you that this lump of orange calcite will somehow cleanse your kidneys. The second camp thinks that crystals are pretty rocks, and that's the end of it, and any claim of crystals having a bearing on your wellbeing is complete crock of shit.

  I sit in a weird little camp in the middle, and very aware that both of these sides can respond strongly to anyone who seems to not align with their particular view of things, but I do also think exploring a middle ground is a useful exercise, and so here we go.

A MASTERS IN LITERATURE | THE VIEW FROM HALF WAY THROUGH

  Since September I've been enrolled in the University of York, undertaking an MA in Romantic Literature (the time period, not the genre) and given that I'm nudging half way through, and almost at the end of the taught portion, I thought I might do a quick overview of how I'm finding it and what it's involved so far, for anyone who might be considering a masters in literature, or just curious about postgraduate education. 

TIPS FOR A HEALTHY BEDTIME ROUTINE

Many people should be getting more sleep, and I am certainly in that camp. I suffer from a condition I'm calling brain-fires-up-the-second-the-lights-go-out-itus. I think a lot of people do. It's almost impossible to stop my mind from wandering when I'm lying down to sleep, and specifically wandering into places that make me anxious or stressed. I get to enjoy my mind scaling such terrain as 'worrying about the academic paper I turned in a week ago and am still waiting for the marks for' and 'what will I do with my life in the interim between my MA and a PhD?' and 'What if my family, boyfriend and all my friends secretly hate me and throw big parties together where they do nothing but talk about how glad they are that I'm not there?'

It's not fun but it's definitely not unusual, I think most of us struggle with it from time to time. I've recently begun to implement a routine in order to help me sleep better, which then means that I wake up rested and happy and enjoy my days more.

2018 GOALS | BOOKS, WELLBEING AND WITCHY THINGS

H A P P Y   N E W   Y E A R ! 

   I think a lot people are feeling a bit mentally burnt out from last year. I know that while I had a great year personally in 2017, there's this constant undercurrent of all of the horrible things that have been happening in the world. The leader of the free world is a raving man-child, my own country is becoming increasingly divided on whether someone's ethnicity is a factor in whether they count as a human being, and the planet is dying just a little bit more. 

  But personally 2017 really turned into my year. I left a job I enjoyed with lovely people, but that wasn't fulfilling me, for a postgraduate degree that has reawakened my ambition and drive. I went from being very single and very disenchanted with relationships to coming up to the one year mark with a wonderful person. I moved out of a horrible little flat in a town I had no real affinity for, and am now in a lovely apartment (with a functioning bathroom hooray!) in the gorgeous city of York.

  I've become more independent, more politically aware and far more the person I wanted to be at the beginning of this year. It's not been without it's challenges, and of course the ever looming shadow of the collapse of moral society isn't fun, but with 2017 out of the way I'm going to indulge in a little optimistic goal setting.