As much as I love that bullet journaling requires the bare minimum of materials (a notebook and pen is enough!), I'm someone who likes to have a few more things to make my 'bujo' that bit more neat and reflective of my personality. My bujo arsenal now looks as follows... Paper My first bujo was a Papier one, my 2021 one was a Leuchtturm and this year, I've opted for an Ottergami one (blog post in due course!). I like notebooks with paper decent enough for fountain pen and some wetter inks and these all offer me this feature. I also like a decent number of pages in my bujo and again ..read more

In December 2020, I decided to start running regularly. Having been a keen sportswomen prior to that (regular netball, the odd game of squash, basketball, etc), I had a good basic level of fitness but for some reason, could never get into running and actually loathed it a bit! However, lockdown changed things. Team sports were not allowed, meet ups were not allowed and most recreational grounds/gyms/fitness centres were closed. This meant I had to find my own way of exercise. I started out doing home workouts from Youtube but then decided that going out for a run might be the way forward. Fast ..read more

The majority of my work days, I carry this Sweaty Betty quilted backpack. It's pretty functional and quite well built and considering that it's on the pricier end for a backpack, I would hope so! I also really like the two pockets at the side. On rainy days, one side is useful for an umbrella and the other side usually has a folded up tote bag.  Contents (top left, clockwise): work ID and pass, a pair of socks (as I wear theatre clogs at work with scrubs on the days where I'm in theatre), pencil case (usually a fountain pen, a gel pen and a biro are its core contents), a one litre flas ..read more

Collections are a core part of most bullet journals I've seen online and mine is no exception. Today, I'm going to talk through a few of mine, how they are used and why they are useful to me.   Mood Tracker Pretty self-explanatory! We've had a tough two years or so and a mood tracker has been good for me to reflect on what can affect my mood positively and negatively. This is so I can keep doing the stuff that makes me happy and minimise the stuff that makes me unhappy. It's also good to see if my bad and good days all come at the same time or if they are just here and there.  As ..read more

As a huge lover of Christmas and festive tidings, every Christmas, I take great pleasure in ensuring a Christmas-appropriate ink is in situ in one of my fountain pens. Last year, it was De Atramentis Santa (which confusingly smells of chocolate) and this year, I've opted for a personal favourite within the collection: J. Herbin Emerald of Chivor. My full review of it from 2018 can be seen here.  I also make a note of who needs a Christmas card as my worst nightmare is leaving someone out by accident. This allows me to spend one afternoon, sat in my lounge with the heating on and a li ..read more

The one thing about bullet journals that I struggle with is putting in important dates for the year after. Because I'm not buying a planner every October in preparation for the next calendar year, I knew a set-up within the current year's bullet journal was essential.  So this is how I plan my year ahead.  Each six months' get a double page spread of their own. This is to ensure there's plenty of space for important dates and also any other things I wanted to make a note of.  To-dos for those specific months are noted, as are important dates where renewals may be coming up or ..read more

Midori are a brand synonymous with quality stationery products. I was looking for a notebook with about 300 pages which can lay flat and be bashed around day-to-day. This one fit the bill. One of my friends used the thinner one at work earlier this year and I was impressed with how well the paper took fountain pen ink! It was then that I knew this thicker version at 365 pages would need to be added to my notebook collection. The only issue is when it'll get used given my current extensive stash!  I also bought the plastic cover for it to try and protect it a bit more. At work, things hav ..read more

Between August 2019 - August 2020, I managed to use all 300 pages of a Katie Leamon lay flat notebook. You can see my initial post about it here and how it ended up here. Later on in this post, you'll see it even more battered than before.  Since then, I've added another three to my collection and they all complement each other nicely in design.  Ultimately, I think they are destined to be work notebooks due to the sheer number of blank pages which lend themselves nicely to drawings, random scribbles and just anything else I fancy jotting down.  What I particularly like i ..read more

Some bullet journals that are shared online are so artistic, I can only envy their owners. Given time is a major constraint for me (along with artistic skills), my bullet journal remains as minimalistic as possible. This post is to show examples of this...!  Minimalistic doesn't have to mean boring though I do seem to have a style. I've noticed that I need to make the separation of each day obvious so I do this by making the date larger in size compared to the day next to it.  The other thing I like to do is have solid black boxes so that I can use a white gel pen to make it pop ..read more

The last two hospitals I've worked at have had electronic systems for documenting and prescribing. As someone who loves pen and paper, this has been particularly tough on the soul! My way to combat this is to use a notebook for work-related things. This can range from audit work to jobs generated from clinics and conditions to read up on/things to revise.  My two current notebooks of choice are one I received as a gift from my year out of training (it has a leather cover so makes me feel very posh!) and a Leuchtturm 1917. The Leuchtturm is great because of the elastic and means I can put ..read more