Year end stretch!

It is December. November was such a crazy blur and December does not seem to be much better.

First off, let's recap the last month. My husband and I had our 15 year anniversary. My daughter had her birthday and we did something fun for Veterans Day for my veteran all in one day. My birthday past and it was good. Thanksgiving was amazing and I'm super proud of the dinner I cooked, especially as it was the first Thanksgiving in our house. I also did finish my writing challenge and I am very proud of myself for doing it. I didn't have as much of a problem fulfilling the prompts as I thought I would have and even though there were a few days in which I was very tired, I did each day. We did get to the Holiday Open House at Mount Hope with my cousin and her family and that was so much fun with the carolers.

This month is going just as crazy. I have been working Sundays for a few hours since last month and I'll likely keep getting roped into that. I just finished my Christmas cards and sent them out yesterday. My daughter had her first chorus concert at an old Quaker Meetinghouse and it was really great being in a building that I had driven by it so many times but had never been inside of it before and to hear my kid as part of the chorus was so wonderful for me. I'm so proud of her.

I need to start wrapping up gifts and such. I still need to finish up stocking stuffers. Cookies must be baked so that I can send off boxes before it gets too late into the holiday season. It is just little more than 2 weeks away until Christmas and I know that I will make it there but not without a lot of stress and worry about making sure everything is on time.

In the insanity that is the my end of year, I have found a jewel that I am obsessed with. I am in love with the Anastiasia the musical and I feel it is very fitting for this time of the year.

Day in the life of Vlogger (not me)

I never thought I'd be a vlog watcher but I am now subscribed to a few channels on Youtube and one of them is a vlogger. I didn't start out like that. I've always used youtube to stream music as I like the videos that go along with the music or I want to look at the lyrics as I'm listening to the song. I use it to watch the occasional funny video that has been recommended to me along with movie trailers, movie scenes and such but that's all I ever thought I'd use Youtube for. Obviously, planning as a hobby is a big thing so I've gotten into really watching a few channels on it from putting stickers into an Erin Condren life planner, bullet journal spreads and pen supply hauls. Following the links I found one of those planners who vlogs and now I'm subscribed into watching her talk about her life. It's kind of a nice thing as an introvert to get to know someone without having to worry about replying. It's interesting to see how different people live their lives and that's it from me so here she is.

A balancing act

So obviously I have been obsessed with my planning and notebook system. It's keeping me organized and I have been doing extremely well with getting almost everything I want done. It's also teaching me a lot about myself. It's really made me pay attention to my own habits, what motivates me and made me really aware of how long it actually takes to get certain tasks done. It's also shown me how much more I can get done if I set my mind to it and how important it is to make time for myself. It's even shown me what type of person I am.

I have learned that I am an extroverted introvert. I was aware of the fact that I have a tendency of hermitting myself for a good period of time especially during times when I'm feeling stressed. I wasn't aware of how long these periods would last or how often I would do so. Through keeping track of how much or how little I socialize I realized that I have no problems going days and even weeks without speaking to someone not in my household or from work. Seeing that trend made me realize that even speaking with the few that I speak to everyday I still need an intense amount of alone time before and after. I relish the daytime when my husband and daughter are at work or at school so that I have the entire day to get what I need done on my own. I'm very happy when get home and I greet them both with hugs and kisses at their arrival, then I head to work and I'm happy with chat cheerfully with anyone I see but then I'm more than happy to get home so what when my husband goes to bed I have time to myself to work on whatever I want or just to relax by myself. 

Reading and writing and are intensely solitary actions for me and I get extremely annoyed when I'm interrupted. Listening to music is also an intensely personal thing for me. I like working in my planner and notebooks in my quiet time and even going through paperwork that needs to be done. Once I get my fill of my alone time, I'm more than ready to socialize, talk and laugh about anything and everything. I'm quite well known to not know when to shut up and I'm usually the one with an interested anecdote to share.

The best thing I've learned so far with using my planner and notebooks is that I'm most happy when things are balanced now that I know what sort of balance I need. 

Gluttonous plans

I'm quite afraid that I've bitten off more than I might able to chew. I've been on a planning kick, obviously, and it's been going wonderfully well but I may have taken on a bit too much planning this time.

We decided to throw a Halloween party. Right after that is my Hubby's and mine's wedding anniversary. It's a bit more special than usual as it will be our 15th wedding anniversary. Of course, we then jump right into my daughter's birthday with Veteran's Day, which something must be done, as my hubby is a veteran. On a more low key note, my birthday is right after that. Adding another thing to my list is that I've decided it would be a good break for my mother-in-law for me to cook Thanksgiving dinner, which then leads us into the maddening chase of the Christmas season, which also happens to be the busiest time for my job. Major event after major event is happening with hardly a moment to take a breath in between them. I don't think I was quite right in my state of mind to think taking on all these things was the best idea but I am committed to these plans now and will be moving forward.

I have my planners and will keep using them to make sure I have as tight a reign on my time as much as possible so that I may utilize to the best of my ability but to also have time scheduled to simply relax. I am indeed doing a whole lot but it won't do anyone any good if I'm so stressed and tired that I can't get what need to be done. Planners gonna plan, but maybe next time, not so much.

Writers gonna write

To recap, I have my actual Recollections planner for household and work, a regular notebook that’s sort of like a bullet journal for personal habit tracking and a traveler’s notebook for when I’m running errands out of the house. It’s all been great for getting my life in somewhat of an order—remembering the past, organizing in the present and planning for the future.

I've even added 2 notebooks. I've started calligraphy so I have a notebook to practice the lettering. It's a bit trendy right now but I've always wanted to learn and while I've finally found a niche of time, I figured it was about time. I've also decided to start journaling again. I need to get back into writing, more than just the biweekly blog posts that I've been doing. Challenges are another trendy thing but I thought it might be interesting to try out. I don't normally do prompts but I've had such a difficult time trying to get my mind into the right place to start writing that I thought maybe having a starting point might give a good boost to jump off of. Since next month is November I thought I might go with a gratitude theme, what with Thanksgiving and all. I know that next month is NaNoWriMo and it would make more sense for me to start off with that but as I mentioned my mind isn't in the right frame to jump into writing a novel.

These are the plans so far. I'm hoping that I'll be able to keep up with my journaling challenge and that it won't take me too long to learn calligraphy but I'll take my time and enjoy the process as that is why I do things.

Let it Be

For once the reason I haven't posted yet is because I have too many topics that I could write about and I just couldn't make up my mind on what I wanted to discuss. There's so much going on in the world right now from Trump's tweets with North Korea, sports over respect controversy, the devastating hurricanes in the Atlantic, healthcare repeal and/or reforms to just the personal everyday aspects of life.

My most prevailing thoughts are my feelings towards politics. While in high school, I had an interest in politics. I suppose it was the naivety of youth in the hopes of being able to make a difference but then life shifted my point of view. I got married to a military man and I realize that there was no way I could have an objective opinion on anything political ever again and that there is the kicker.

Politics has everything to do with the running of people's everyday lives but because it's their lives, people cannot be objective and yet that is when it's most important to be as objective as possible. That is not to say you should completely take out emotions but I believe it's best to leave out personal feelings about such decisions that affect so many different people. After all, not everyone has the same train of thoughts or beliefs over the same subject and it isn't right to impost yours onto others.

Using the example of sports players bending down on one knee during the playing of the national anthem before games, some people believe it's disrespectful for them to do so. You do not need to agree with what those people are doing but they have the rights within the law to take a knee. The whole point of this country is freedom of speech, which means that those people are within their rights to not stand during the national anthem as long as they are following the laws of the country and not causing a disturbance of the peace. You do not have to agree with them. It's as simple as that.

My point is to live and let live.

GSD

I have read Death Comes to Pemberley. I have restarted reading Pioneer Girl. I beat Mass Effect and its sequel Mass Effect 2. I am contemplating whether I should continue right away into the third game or take a break from PC gaming and finish playing Fire Emblem Awakening. I have watched Porco Rosso and finally re-watched Tales from EarthSea with plans to finally watch the rest of what we have for Studio Ghibli. I have also done random sketches while staying on top of the usual house chores.

I'm honestly quite amazed at how I've stayed on task with almost everything and gotten so much more than I expected done. Using a planner to keep track of work and a personal goals tracker has made all the difference. It's so satisfying to look into my planner every morning, get the job done and be able to cross it off the list everyday. It's an ever better feeling to see that my work is done and that I have time to meet my personal goals and either make progress on them or just straight out finish them up.

It's such a great feeling of accomplishment.

Planning a Plan

When I like something, I usually become obsessed with it. It's an unfortunate/fortunate thing that happens when one is a Scorpio. It's usually a good thing as it actually helps me get things done. Once I start a project, I will baring unfortunate circumstances will finish it.

Of course, I'm obsessed with planning by using planners and notebooks. I adore my Recollections planner as I use it to keep track of work, specifically household related chores, appointments and dated activities. I enjoy using my personal goal tracker notebook as it helps me take better care of myself from making sure I'm drinking water everyday to reminding myself to take time for myself. My next plan is get to get a traveler's notebook. I need an expense tracker that I can carry with me at all times. I can only use it to put in lists of things that need to be done while I am out.

I do have Ipad mini 4, which I still use to carry it with me around everywhere but being able to write things down helps me remember more things that need to be done. Apps also have a way of no longer being available to continuous use, which is highly annoying and utterly inconvenient. Paper and pen does not ever get out of use. Also, I have hope that once my current personal goal tracker book no longer has any pages to use at the end of this year, I may be able to add it as an insert into my traveler's notebook to condense the actual amount of separate books to carry around.

It's all about progress and a living system that I can use and adapt for my ever changing pace of life.

Solar Eclipse!

In case, I haven't made it clear. I'm an astronomy enthusiast, so of course I am so super excited for the solar eclipse. I have been planning for it for the past 5 years. I'm going on a trip so that I can be in the umbra. See you on the other side!

Maybe a happy mail?

I miss the art of letter writing. I miss the anticipation of happy mail. I like social media, obviously as I'm posting my blog, and I use it everyday but I don't feel as if it's always so meaningful. There's just something more to putting pen to paper. Also, you can add so many little thoughtful things with the letter, such as photos and small arts and crafts. I'm not sure how often I might be able to keep up the practice but I'd love to start and do my best to keep going with it. So maybe I'll find someone, still not sure yet. 

Time to plan

I honestly have no concept of time most days, as evidenced by inability to keep this blog updated regularly. I've been doing good lately though and I hope to keep it up and keep working on things that I tend to lay to the side and not always pick back up. I think I've found a working solution  to this problem. Recently I've gotten into planners, which I know sounds weird.

A friend of mine got into bullet journaling, which is a keeping of a schedule, to do list, goal tracker, brain dump, gratitude journal and whatever else you want to keep track of and jot it down using a bullet writing system. It's a living system that you create as you go to figure what you got done already and keep an ongoing list of things that still need to be done. It can very much be a minimalist system taking just seconds but some people really get into it and decorate their journals with art using markers, watercolors and anything they want with different design spreads and such.

I was intrigued with the idea but I wasn't sure if I could keep up with such a practice. I ended up watching youtube videos to see all the different ways that people do things and there is a whole community of people who do this. This video gives you the basics of the system by the person who actually created it. 

This video gives you an idea of just how far some people get into this system and how much you can really do with the bullet journal. I love how you can personalize it and get as creative with it as you want.

I have since tripped into the planner community. Once again, there are people who completely dedicate themselves to creating and decorating their planners and it's a whole industry with companies such as Erin Condren and The Happy Planner. Some of it is too much for me but for me, the system seemed to have a lot of merit in it. I've had planners before but I was never able to keep up with doing it. I decided to give it a shot though cause I needed something more to do than just using my Ipad mini 4. My to-do lists in the reminders app just wasn't cutting it and kept getting longer and longer. 

I went into Michael's craft store and bought a Recollections planner and I love it. In just 2 weeks I've gotten more done in 2 weeks than I have in the past 2 months. I've been slowly getting into it but have limited myself to a sticker pack, 2 different stick note packs and 2 different colored pens. I use my Ipad mini as a type of future log and my planner for more weekly and day to day planner.

Just putting this out there that I didn't know about any of these types of videos until after I had bought my Recollections planner. 

I also have another smaller journal that do create as I go, almost like a real bullet journal but using my own spread, to keep track of personal goals such as making sure I'm drinking enough water every day, working on my own personal goals and taking time for myself. 

It all seems like a lot and I would agree but it's working cause I've had time to play video games! In fact, I'm so excited to say that I beat the first Mass Effect game and I'm in the middle of playing Mass Effect 2 with plans to play Mass Effect 3 afterwards! Who knows if I'll still be into this 18 months later, when my current planner is finally finished, that maybe I'll buy a name brand planner such The Happy Planner. I love the idea of actually combining my weekly work planner with my daily personal planner into 1 book system. 

In case you can't tell . . .I'm Kassandra and I'm a stationery addict.  lol

Declaration against ignorance

I adore history. I'm a big believer of "Learn your history, man, or you'll be doomed to repeat it!" After all, how can we understand where we are going if we don't know where we have already been? I'm very happy in any type of museum, whether it be science, art or whatever. It is fascinating to me to see objects from a time long ago and makes me wonder how our ancestors were thinking or what they might think of this current time. '

It's likely the reason why I enjoy Independence Day as we celebrate how our country's forefathers fought for right to live the way they wanted to. For most it's a day of BBQ and fireworks but for me, it's remembering the ideals that people wanted so long ago, fought so hard for and how we take them for granted.

American Revolution, History Channel

Declaration of Independence, National Archives

June 21st

Self diagnosis

Whoever says youtube has no uses . . .it's a great way to explain things.

OCPD:

Bipolar:

Write it down!

Just a few days late with this one so that's progress. I figure I'm ahead of the curve anyway as I've kept this up for a handful of years already. I have an actual journal though it's been even longer since I've used it to pour my emotions into. I've started a few entries over the past five years or so but I've yet to finish one. A blog is just much faster but I'm a romantic as I adore pen to paper.

My love for putting ink onto paper shows at my desk. I'm surrounded by paper. I have binders of information ready at a fingertip's notice.  There's a binder for fun ideas and trips, a binder full of medical information ready to reference in the middle of phone calls to doctors' offices, a binder to keep general household information such bills and such and even a binder full of receipts and coupons to keep track of monthly spending. They all help keep my life organized. I have a small binder filled with more important information and a weekly planner for the more everyday lists of things to do.

I do believe I need to start a list of books I have read and books that I would like to read. I most definitely think I need to start a binder or journal of some sort to fill with all the ideas of projects that I would like to do. I have things everywhere and lists scattered all over the place so I think it's about time I put them all together so that I might be able to see right away what I want to do and actually do it. Or maybe I have enough binders.

May is now gone!

I'm terribly late with this post. I believe in the time that I should have put up this 1 post 2 posts should have been put up.

May is my second busiest month of the year. My husband's birthday is in May. Our roommate has his birthday in this month also. Then there's Memorial Day with its long weekend and I just noticed that in my husband's birthday month there is a military affiliation day, which also happens in my own birthday month. Of course, there's also the fact that it's the last full month of school before it's summer break so school tries to jam pack all their activities in a short time period.

This year, my husband decided to throw a BBQ birthday bash for himself. He decided to make a theme party of Fallout. We had a Nuka Cola Quantum, which was just blue Hawaiian Punch. My husband even arranged a scavenger hunt with bottle caps and a prize of a Fallout Pop figure and a book on surviving a nuclear fallout.  We even had the puppy go along with the theme! It was fun and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Now, it's time to gear up for summer and I am ready for some warm weather!

I'm a geeky girl!

So the last several posts I have done have all been about how I have so little to do and so much time . . .strike that, reverse that, thank you for your time. I've also gone at least 2 weeks before remembering to post something. Lucky for me, that it's only 2 days late and even better that I have something, what I hope to be, more interesting, or at the very least to be more amusing, to converse about.

I'm not your typical female. I don't just fall for a pretty face. I'll admire the artwork but I'll withhold judgement on whether more is warranted or not. Traits that are much more important to me, and in no particular order, are kindness, empathy, intelligence, curiosity, a good sense of humor, loyalty. I'm more likely to find the person sitting in the corner alone and try to engage them into conversation than to immediately sit in the center of a room to demand attention of the person who already has so much of it. With that being stated, it shouldn't come to a surprise that I don't develop crushes on the typical celebrities that most people admire after. My first celebrity crush was Brendan Frazer and for the longest time I have held a candle in my heart for Johnny Rzeznik. I will always hold a tender for them.

My current main crush is Thorin Oakenshield, specifically Richard Armitage as Thorin but my crush is not necessarily on Richard Armitage but his portrayal of Thorin. The character of Thorin Oakenshield is strength. He is a leader, specifically king, to his people and puts their well-being above his own desires, which in turn means he has honor and loyalty. He's not perfect and that actually makes me fall for his character more. He has pride but will admit when he is wrong. He broods but that means he feels things deeper than he lets on. He is stubborn but will do what is necessary.

On a physical level, he is a man. Thorin Oakenshield is a warrior, a blacksmith. He is fur and leather with strong arms, hands and body. This is how Thorin looks in my head. Pardon me, while I swoon for a second. 

What seals the deal for me, is that with Richard Armitage as Thorin, that voice sends shivers down my spine in the best of ways and when his eyes look at you, you feel like you would melt in the best of ways. 

I think I may go watch the Hobbit now!  lol

Geek On!

So I'm a geek. I feel I've been very clear on that point and I don't have just one geekdom, but in fact, I have several. I read, I adore certain tv series and I play video games so there's quite a lot that I can spout about. Recently, I went to the Great Philly Comic Con and it was glorious! I was an adoring fan as I took in all the merchandise around me and a gawking idiot to the celebrities that came to share their work there. I got my picture with Jewel Staite and Alan Tudyk. I got my picture with David Ankrum. I have no words on how much this mean to me. That is all. I can't wait til next year!

http://www.philadelphiacomiccon.com/

A Vow is a Choice

I admit outright that I am a possessive being. I do believe that it's just simply in the nature of being people, no matter how altruistic a person is. I believe that's what makes choice such a big deal for me. I demand my right to choose. I pick who is around me, I choose how my money is spent, I make the choice of what I do with my time, I go where I want to do and I won't allow anyone else to make those decisions for me, unless I give my permission for someone else to do so. 

It's for these same reasons why I believe that once you make a strong decision, you shouldn't be so easily swayed. That's not to say a person isn't allowed to change their mind but that a change should come with a good reason. You made that decision for a reason after all. It's also for these reasons that you live with the consequences of these choices. Assuming that you've been given the information of your choice, you're aware of what happens with it. 

I never really thought of myself as a traditional person but I think it's for these ways of thinking that I feel wedding vows are a bit sacred. It's that choice to promise to be with that person and only that person for the rest of your lives, made in front of people and whatever gods you believe in. It's not something to be done on a whim. These days, it's a whole production with a whole year or more to plan and make into a spectacle so it's not as if there isn't a whole lot of time to make sure of what's happening. The sad fact though is that there is divorce and cheating and a whole matter of marriage statistics, which honestly baffles me but that's another topic for another time. 

I have a husband, who I love, and I take my wedding vows seriously. I made a promise to be with him and no one else but him and he made that same promise to me, which I expect him to take seriously. I made that very clear from the start. If he ever comes to the realization that he no longer wants to be with him, then he need only to tell me that. Of course, I would be hurt and though I might be angry at the situation, I wouldn't be angry at him as long as he was honest with me. If he wanted to be with another person, then he simply needs to tell me. He needs to end things with me before he starts something with the other person and if he started something with the other person before he ended things with me, that would make me angry, that would make me vindictive. I would really prefer to not make a difficult situation even worse with insane amounts drama, if I really had to go through such events. 

Spring forward

Today was the vernal equinox. In laymen's terms, it's the day where the length of day is equal to the length of night, which is also the astronomical marking of the first day of spring.

There's lots of meaning to this day for a bunch of different days as it usually coincides with different religious affiliations and such. For me, I've never had much of a definition for this day and I'm not really sure why that is. I've always been obsessed with astronomy and astrology and anything having to do with the stars and such so there is that aspect that draws my attention to this day but that's it. This is a day of rebirth in a lot of wiccan/pagan rituals, which I've always felt a connection to, and it's a big celebration in Hindu cultures and of course, it's basically Easter in Christianity, but none of those have a deep connection to me. It's odd because I do feel something for the autumnal equinox but perhaps that's only because my birthday is not far off from that day. I'm not sure why that is but I may have to start thinking about it.

In the mean time . . .

Forward, march!

Sadly enough, I'm terribly late with this post. This isn't the best trend to be continuing for this year and I'm trying my best to turn things around, which is now my goal for this year.

The quote goes, "To the world, you might be one person but to one person you might be the world." Now, I'm not meaning to take this literally in that I mean to make myself so super important to a single person. I'm meaning to focus on my own interactions on a day to day basis, trying to make the most positive outcomes for myself and those around me. I want to better myself and others around me through more direct acts. I will continue to do what is right instead of what is easy.

First off, I'm going to work on myself. I can't help others if I can't take care of myself. I've started counting my calories again. I need to eat healthier and counting calories helps me with that. It forces me to drink more water and snack on junk food less but not totally deprive myself of the foods I enjoy. I've already lost about 5 lbs. Next, I need to exercise more. Luckily, I have a fairly active job and that gives me strength training on day to day basis. I need to add a daily stretch routine, which I'm hoping to start soon, maybe even today. I also want to add a little more cardio to my daily routine such as a walk or something. I will work up to it, going one step at a time. I want these habits to last.

I will continue on my ever lasting list of things to do around the house and try not to let things fall to the way side due to sheer laziness. I can't work in a messy environment and I have to remember that maintenance is a lot easier in the general run of things. I've been doing a good job of picking up the general work schedule again this past week and now I just have to keep it up.

Most important on my self, I need to remember to give myself time to relax, time to have fun and time to rest. It's my worst point. I'm always last on my own list. I have to remember that it's important to recharge my own batteries so that I have the energy and right frame of mind to keep going forward.

Second of all, I'm going to work on personal relationships. I need to be less judgmental and less likely to jump to conclusions. No matter how right I feel that I am, I need to approach situations with a cool head. I have to remember that ignorance can only be beaten by teaching a person to think for themselves and that arguing usually only causes a person to dig their own heels further into the issue. Each person has their own unique situation and I need to remember that I need to share in their experiences sometimes.

I was recently in a situation in which a person said something that came across as ignorant and completely hypocritical. I tried to confront this person in a less public fashion but this person instead decided to avoid confrontation without any explanation. The situation was a reminder that not everyone is as ready to deal with issues as I am and I have to remember that I have no control over that and to move on.

I am my world and there are others in their worlds. My goal is to let those worlds meet and be better off for it.

2017 so far . . .

I'm not happy with current events. Every time I even glance at something on the internet, it's just terrible news. When I believe that the ignorance and bigotry people are daring to show can't reach a new level, they like to prove me wrong. It's more than a month into this year and the trend hasn't slowed down yet. I'm honestly terrified for the future of our nation.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this little bit out. I'll hopefully have something less doom and gloom to share about.

Carrie On

December was disheartening for me this year and January is no longer a good month for me. I'm doing my best to rally my spirit for the beginning of this 2017 but so far my efforts aren't doing too well. Hopefully, I'll be on the mend soon enough with a little more time. 

To start with things, I've been dealing with this for a while now and to be honest, it still makes me sad. Carrie Fisher was called back to another galaxy on Dec. 27, 2016. For me, on that day, that was the day that music died. 

She represented so many things to me. Of course, she was Princess Leia. She wasn't just a girl waiting around to be rescued. She was intelligent, ambitious, stubborn and fought for what she felt was right. She was one of the youngest members of the Imperial Senate and one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance, fighting to free the galaxy from the evil empire. She was captured but refused to give in and even when she lost everything, she didn't lose hope. She kept on going and kept fighting. She showed me that girls are tough, that we can do the rescuing ourselves and that we girls rule the galaxy. In real life, Carrie Fisher was a writer. She was on Broadway. She was a mental health advocate. She embodied so much of how I grew up and now she's gone but she won't ever be forgotten. 

Rest in Peace, Carrie Fisher. You will be missed.