For the month of August I did a cacti/succulent theme, and was oddly inspired by my sheets! I got them from Target and they’re covered in really cute cacti. Having a desert theme also seemed perfect because we are having such hot weather in Seattle right now. It definitely feels like a desert here!
You can watch the video version of my plan with me below! It was oddly satisfying watching it come together, and seeing how my monthly spread looked like in a time lapse. I’m a sucker for a good time lapse!
Here’s how the cover photo turned out!
I hadn’t known that bullet journals were not only planners, but actual journals as well – silly, I know. I personally have (or had, now) a planner, a separate journal for my thoughts, and another journal for goals/ideas. Obviously I couldn’t carry around all three, so I’d usually just carry my planner around with me. My phone is full of notes and ideas since I didn’t always have my “ideas” journal with me, so it would result in a lot of lists later that I couldn’t really make sense of.
With my bullet journal, I can have designated pages that are solely for lists and ideas, or anything else I’d like to put in there. I really like the creative freedom you can have with bullet journals, and that you can follow the system loosely and make up your own rules. I’ve found it’s been great to sit down on Sunday afternoon and figure out the week ahead, and see what all I have to do. It’s quickly become a part of my weekly and daily routine to set up the week on Sunday and get ready, and then come back after work and update my journal.
Another part I love about bullet journaling are the different “trackers.” Currently I have a habit tracker and mood tracker, and I think next month I’ll add in an expense tracker, too. Visually checking in with my goals for the month and year has been helping so much in keeping myself accountable, and it’s cool to see them fill in. I love filling in those little boxes, so it keeps me motivated, too! This has also been great in setting realistic goals, and also seeing where I can push a little more to set a higher goal.
So far I’ve been keeping my journal relatively simple, but I’m excited to become more creative in the future. I love drawing and painting, so my bullet journal will be a great place to be able to do that in, since I don’t have a whole lot of time to dedicate to that. I really love how you can get super creative and elaborate with bullet journals or keep it simple if you like!
The future log is really important for your bullet journal, because it allows you to see the year at a glance and write in important events. So far I’ve mainly written down birthday’s and holiday’s, but as time goes on there’s more and more to put in the log. I added little doodles for each month to give it some personality, too!
Put in any yearly logs you want, or anything else you’ll want to come back to a lot
These are some of the supplies I’ve been using
This post contains affiliate links.
My junior year of college has come to a close, and it’s been a crazy year. This was definitely the most difficult year so far – my classes were tough, my schedule was busy, and trying to stay afloat was a struggle. I made it out, though, and I’ve learned a lot. Since it’s over, I wanted to do another “Dear __________ year” because I did that for freshman year and sophomore year.
When I first tried this product it literally looked like I had dumped a bunch of translucent powder on my hair, and I was worried it wouldn’t work itself in at all. After a couple of seconds of massaging my scalp and brushing my hair, the powder started to disappear, along with my oily roots! I was impressed with how quickly it blended in with my hair, and it didn’t make my roots look gray at all.
The smell was also really refreshing, and made my hair smell like I had just washed it, which is a huge plus when your hair is feeling a little limp and blah. It isn’t too fragrant, and I noticed that the smell lasted the whole day, and until the next morning when I washed my hair. I am a huge fan of nice smelling hair products, I don’t know what it is, but if something works well but doesn’t smell the best I’ll try and find something else that both works and smells nice. Call it one of my quirks, but I realize that it’s a bit ridiculous.
As well as being a dry shampoo, this powder also adds a lot of texture and volume to your hair, which is just what you want when it’s the second day and your hair is feeling a bit limp. I honestly will add the powder to my hair even on the same day I wash it if I feel like I need a little bit more texture. This really helps when I curl my hair and want the roots to have some volume since the strands are a bit weighed down from hair spray, and the fact that my hair tends to fall flat the minute I start touching and fixing it. My hair is able to hold its volume a lot better when I add this to the roots, and it’s also great when I want to do a messy hairstyle and need some extra texture!
Overall, I’m super satisfied with this product and have finally found a dry shampoo that works with my hair! I won’t be switching anytime soon, and I can even get away with washing my hair every three days if I don’t feel like washing it one day. I definitely recommend trying this product, especially just the travel size since it isn’t too much of a commitment. It actually lasts for a long time, too, which is great! I’m still on this little bottle and it’s been about two months now.
What’s your favorite dry shampoo?
Thank you so much for reading, and have a great day! 🙂
This is NOT a sponsored post, and all opinions are my own.
I’m sure I’ve made it painfully clear how obsessed I am with Harry Potter, so once I got to London for my study abroad program, I made sure to buy tickets to the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour. I got to go during the last week of my program, so it was a great way to end my time in London! Since I finally have some down time here in Spain, I thought it would be the perfect time to write a post about my time there, share all of the photos I took, and give you some tips on going! Without further ado, here they all are!
Tips:
-Buy your tickets ASAP! As soon as you know the tentative date in which you will be going, buy your tickets – I had to buy mine a month in advance, and even that I was pushing it.
-If you get there really early like I did, kill some time in the gift shop and make a plan of what you want to buy in case you’re in a time crunch afterwards! My friend and I did this, and we’re really glad we did because we only had about 20 minutes after the tour to buy souvenirs in the shop because they were closing.
-Take your time during the tour, and pay attention to small details! There are a lot of cool tidbits of information everywhere.
-Don’t be afraid to look like a dorky tourist – take all of the pictures! I’m so glad I brought my camera and took cheesy pictures of myself in front of platform 9 and 3/4 because I will treasure it forever!
-Keep aside some money for souvenirs, there are some good ones! But at the same time, don’t waste your money on things you could buy cheaper on Amazon.
-Make sure to sit down at the little cafeteria about midway through! It’ll be really nice to rest your feet, and you can have some Butter Beer while you relax! They also had Butter Beer ice cream when I went, and it was so amazing.
-The souvenir Butter Beer cup is only about a pound extra, so if you want a cheaper keepsake from the studios, go for that!
I’m so glad I got to go to the tour, and it was the best way to end my London study abroad. I’m also really glad I’m getting this post up right around the time that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child came out! Everything is kept in great condition, the staff is really great, and you really do feel like you’re in the movies. If you find yourself in London, I highly recommend going, especially if you’re a Harry Potter fan!
Finals are finally over, and we have arrived at the end of the year once again. I have found that college is going by way faster than I ever thought – or wanted – it to. Like last year, I wanted to reflect back on the year with a letter to it, so here goes!
Dear Sophomore Year,
I learned so much from you. I thought Freshman Year taught me a lot, and it did, but you put me through so much more. Because of you, I found best friends who will probably be in my life forever, and I learned that it’s okay to rely on them when I feel incredibly overwhelmed. I met most of these people Freshman Year, but you solidified those relationships and showed me which ones were worth cultivating.
I grew so much this past school year. Through papers, tests, and projects, I not only learned a lot about the subjects I’m interested in, but myself as well, by seeing how I dealt with all of the challenges I faced. I was a lot more comfortable my second year at college, but you made sure I was still put in situations outside of my comfort zone. This ensured that I grew even more, and through these challenges I became more confident.
You showed me just what being confident in myself can do, Sophomore Year. My newfound confidence in myself allowed me to go out of my comfort zone and do a lot of things that I wouldn’t, had I still been afraid of what people thought of me. I joined a new club and got a leadership position in a different one for next year. I’m looking forward to that, but I won’t forget that you, Sophomore Year, were the start of it all. This was the year that I really started to come out of my shell, and I know I still have a long way to go.
This year was full of many triumphs and failures, but overall was a great one. I was accepted into my major, declared my double major, and was also accepted to two different study abroad programs. It was also a very difficult year with classes, but I was able to work hard and get everything done with (most of) my sanity still intact.
I went through a lot in my personal life this year, besides all of the academic stress, but I made it through with the help of my best friends. Joycie and Rachel have been my rocks through you, Sophomore Year, and I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without them. They experienced many late night, frantic texts when I couldn’t handle all of the stress, and I’ll always be grateful to them for being there no matter what.
I learned so much about myself, and I know that this year was one where I matured a lot. I finally feel (mostly) like an adult, with two decades under my belt, and I’m figuring out how to rely on myself to find solutions to real-world problems. It’s a scary realization that I’m no longer a kid and have to figure things out on my own, but I know I can always call my parents if I absolutely need to. A scary part of growing up is realizing you have to do a lot on your own, but Sophomore Year, you showed me that I really can do it.
Love,
Stnkrbug
Okay, can we just talk about the packaging?! The whole collection has the prettiest boxes and bottles. They ombre coloring with the gold lettering is so gorgeous and gives off the impression of high quality right from the start.
The bottle itself is also so pretty. The applicator is a little off-set wand, so I just apply it directly to my under-eye area and blend it in with my damp beauty blender. This product goes on very easily, and blends out so well. It also doesn’t crease at all throughout the whole day, and lasts for 12 hours! It doesn’t advertise that, but mine has been lasting for the whole day while I wear it. I set it with my Elf translucent powder and it does not budge.
Only one layer is needed to cover my dark circles, which is really impressive! My dark circles are very dark no matter how long I sleep, which is very frustrating. I can never seem to get rid of them naturally, so my only option is to cover the suckers up. This product does that flawlessly, though, so I’m very happy with it!
The only “bad” thing I found about this product was the smell. When I first opened the bottle, it smelled kind of chemical-y, or like nail polish. I was initially worried about putting it on my face, but I didn’t have any problems with it whatsoever, and I have now gotten used to the smell.
Have you tried anything from this new collection yet?
Thank you so much for reading, and have a wonderful day! 🙂