30 Day challenge update

My summer is not going exactly as planned. I am struggling with feeling like I'm not taking enough advantage of my time off. I feel like I should be doing something productive all the time, or adequately enjoying my time off, and instead I have been sitting around the house, mostly bored. I don't really know what to do to remedy this. We do have a beach vacation coming up that I am looking forward to. Maybe that will help me feel like I am in more of a summer state of mind instead of just feeling lazy.

Here is my journal page for today, day 16:

The prompt for the 30 Days of Journaling challenge was a scavenger hunt! We were supposed to find everything on the list, but I was only able to find 8/12 items. Here is the list: something red, a dictionary definition, a map, a footnote, a ticket stub, a postmarked stamp, a business card, something with a circle on it, a piece of a security envelope, a name tag, an illustration of a chihuahua, the header of your favorite blog.

I did have fun searching all over the house for the things I did find.

The prompt for 30 Days of Doodles was to pick your favorite shape and fill your page with ONLY that shape. I guess I didn't exactly follow the prompt, because there is writing on my page, but that's what happens when you try to combine two challenges.

And now I'm off to go clean my craft room. Not exactly the kind of productive task I want to be filling my time with, but something that has to be done.

More catching up

Oops. Got a little behind. But I'm all caught up now! Which means a picture-heavy post.

Day 10:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was to illustrate your all time favorite song. I can never pick just one favorite song. This is a line from one of my favorite John Mayer songs, Love Song for No One.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to doodle a picture of a project you want to try. I really want to paint a quote or song lyrics on a huge board, like this. I absolutely love the huge impact it makes.

Day 11:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was what is your heart full of? These days, with wedding plans at the front of my mind, my heart is full of love for my fiance and everything he does for me, and how lucky I am to have found him. Or for him to have found me.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to doodle your favorite quote. I adore this quote, and it's definitely how I feel about my fiance. But I ran out of room for the last line, which is "I've been looking for you."

Day 12:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was to completely fill your page with line design.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to write your to-do list, with drawings around the edges. My only "to-do" for Sunday was to clean the house, and I managed to get it done, so yay!

Day 13:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was to draw a simple family tree. I really like how this turned out.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was a "scribble experiment." Draw lines around your paper randomly, then color in the "holes."

Day 14:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was to write your favorite quote. Except I mixed up the days. So I did day 15 on this day, which was to list some of your needs and wants, which was a little harder than I thought it might be. It can be hard to distinguish between your needs and wants sometimes.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to draw your own zentangle. This is supposed to be relaxing and meditative, but it wasn't for me!

Day 15:

So the 30 Days of Journaling prompt for day 14 (which I did on day 15) was to write your favorite quote. Since I did my favorite the other day for the doodle challenge, I did another favorite quote, from Conan O'Brien. He said this during his last days on NBC. I loved it when I saw him say it on the show, and I still love it. It's so true.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt for day 15 was to doodle your favorite photo. Here is the photo I chose:

This is a recent picture of my sister and I, and I love it. I'm a little surprised I can tell who I drew in the doodle. I'm terrible at drawing people. I think it helps that we were both wearing huge sunglasses, so I didn't have to draw eyes, which is where I always mess up.

Annnnnd there we go. All caught up. Again.

Late addition

Just finished my journal page for today, and I like it.

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was to completely fill your page with something random. "Leave your pen in your desk today and find beauty in everyday things around you." I'm not sure how random my page is, and I couldn't completely leave the pen in my desk, but I did use something besides my pen and colored pencils.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to draw your dream house. Well I cut out my dream house. I did pull out the pen to doodle in some details, including a cat (which we don't have, and probably never will, because my fiance is just not a cat person), and our dog. Love my little house!

I did cook that sloppy joe casserole, and I'm off to enjoy it now. Oh, and more good news came: fiance is off all weekend! Glad today is ending on an upswing!

Roller coaster

Goodness. Today has been a roller coaster day, for sure.

Up: We sold my car! For more than we thought we'd get for it! I'm so relieved; I really thought it would take longer to sell it.

Down: We immediately got into a fender bender. With a concrete pole in the parking lot. My fiance was driving, and he was busy looking for a parking spot, and somehow completely overlooked the concrete pole directly in front of him. We're both fine, but I'm a little (okay a lot) sore. I was busy playing with the game I got in my Sonic kid's meal, so I was caught completely off-guard. The bumper and grill of the truck look horrible, but it's completely fixable, and that's what insurance is for, right? I just can't believe it happened right after we sold the "extra" car.

And then another up: My fiance found out he got the job transfer he applied for. He'll be working for the same place, but will have a different job/title, with a quicker possibility of moving to first shift (he works second shift now, and has since before I met him). We aren't sure how quickly he'll be able to move to first shift, but if he had stayed in his current position it wouldn't have happened for at least ten years, if not more, so we're excited about this opportunity. On first shift, he'll also work fewer overtime hours and fewer weekends. I get to see my fiance in the daytime! And spend time with him! I'm so happy about this.

And let's hope the day stops there, on that upswing. No more downswings allowed.

Here are my journal entries for the past two days. I've not yet done the entry for today, but it should be a fun one.

Day 7:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was to write a love letter to someone. I, um, chose books. Obviously there are lots of people I could have written a love letter to, but I've had so much time to read so far this summer, and I'm in love with all of the books I've read lately!

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to draw your dream room. One day I will have a library in my home. A whole room dedicated to books, with a comfy couch or chair for reading, and a huge window or two to let the sunshine in. Perfection!

Day 8:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was to write what you would put into a time capsule that won't be opened for 100 years. This was hard!

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to write your name in a cool font. I don't know how "cool" the font I used is, but I was feeling a little uninspired.

And now I'm going to cook supper (sloppy joe casserole), work on today's journal entry, and then finish up a wedding project I've been working on for way too long. And maybe go to bed early tonight, because I am feeling super worn out from today.

Catch-up

I've been slacking on posting my entries for the two challenges, so here is a catch-up post (not to be confused with a ketchup post).

Day 2:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was to create 3-5 goals for yourself for this journal challenge.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to draw your favorite flower. I'm not sure what type of flower this is supposed to be, but it's my favorite flower to draw, if that counts.

Day 3:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was to write at least five things you want to do in June.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to draw three objects near you (in case it's not clear, I drew a remote, a few colored pencils, and a candle).

Day 4:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was what you wish you wore. I am super short and not so skinny. I always wish I could wear the cute maxi dresses that look so comfy for summer, but they would drag the ground by a few feet if I tried to wear them. Also, I'm never comfortable in mini skirts or bikinis, but I adore the way they look on everyone else.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to draw what your power would be if you were a superhero, as well as what your "outfit" would look like. I tried to draw myself flying through the air and I wasn't happy with it, but that would be my power. And, a super simple outfit for me.

Day 5:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt was your summer traditions. This is my first year working in a school system (I'm a Speech Language Pathologist), so this year I am hoping to create some new summer traditions to carry on every year. So far, they're pretty simple.

The 30 days of Doodles prompt was to draw your favorite outfit, or what you wore today. My fiance was actually off work Sunday, so we went out for a boat ride. We took the pup. It was only her second time on the boat. She really enjoys the ride, but is not a fan of the water or swimming. Anyhow, I obviously wore my bathing suit that day.

Day 6:

The 30 Days of Journaling prompt yesterday was to write a love letter to yourself. I don't know if this counts as a love letter; it's more of a reminder. With this first summer off (well, first "paid" summer off), I'm trying to learn the balance between relaxing and being too lazy.

The 30 Days of Doodles prompt was to draw your pet(s). I drew the pup, Peri. I have a hard time getting my doggy doodles to look like her. She's a Jack Russell, but when I draw her she always seems to look like a chihuahua.

So now I am all caught up. I will do today's entries this evening and take pictures and post them hopefully tomorrow. I'm really enjoying both challenges, and I like the look I've sort of stumbled into, with the black pen and a few colored pencils. Looking forward to the rest of the month's prompts!

Summer Journaling

So I'm attempting Janel's 30 day journal challenge again this year. I also found a fun 30 day doodle challenge, so I'm going to attempt to combine the two into one journal. We'll see how that goes.

Here's my cover:

And day one for both challenges:

Janel's journal prompt was an introduction page, and the doodle prompt was a self portrait. This is how I look today. Chubby, hair up and messy, old t-shirt and too-short shorts.

What I didn't include: alternately runny/stuffy nose, tissues, and the giant piece of cake I ate for "supper."

Days 28-30--The End.

This is it! The last three pages.

Day 28. The prompt was what are you most looking forward to? I chose to focus on the near future rather than the distant future. A beach trip next weekend, spending more time with my boyfriend this weekend and in the months to come, and cooler weather. No more 100 degree days!

Day 29. I love this one. Write a letter to your past self or future self. I wrote a letter to myself at 19, almost 10 years ago. Here's the letter:

And the last page...

Day 30. What did you do this week that moved you closer toward reaching your goals? Right now, even though I graduated, I am in what is called my Clinical Fellowship. I have to accrue a certain number of hours under supervision (Not direct supervision. I have a supervisor who I am able to ask questions, and we have to have a certain number of actual contact hours, but for the most part I am on my own. She is in her own facilities, and I am in mine.), and each week I am gaining more hours and moving closer to my professional license. Exciting stuff.

This challenge was so much fun. I think it got me out of my comfort zone when it comes to doodling and handwriting and journaling. I am really looking forward to the next challenge.

Finished! Days 24-27

I had time today to finish up the rest of the prompts for the 30 Day Journal Challenge. I'm so glad I finished this challenge, even if I didn't do it one day at a time like it was meant to be done. Hopefully I will be able to keep up with the Journaling for a Cause prompts.

I'm going to break this up into two separate posts so there aren't a ton of pictures all in one post.

Day 24. This is actually prompt 25, but I mixed up this one and the one before it. The prompt was to pick a word or phrase that described your day and fill the page with it, using different fonts. This was the first word I thought of. I wish it was more positive.

Day 25. And this was actually prompt 24. What's your favorite place in the world? Again, went with the cliche here, but I couldn't think of a most favorite physical place. Guess I haven't found it yet.

Day 26. This day we were to write out our favorite recipe. This is definitely a favorite food, baked potato with cheese and ranch dressing. Yum. I could eat these every day and not get tired of them... and I would probably be shaped like a potato.

Day 27. If you could change one thing (about the world, yourself, your situation, your city, your country, etc...), what would it be? Self explanatory.

I'll finish up in the next post.

Days 19-23

Almost all caught up. I hate to feel like I'm rushing through the pages, but I want to be finished before Monday, when the Journaling for a Cause class starts.

Day 19. The prompt was to create a guide to your city or state. I have to be honest, the reason for the long lag between the last pages and this one is because I didn't know what I would put in a guide to my state, much less a guide to my city. I wouldn't recommend this small town for a vacation, is all. So these are a few of the things I like about Georgia, but there are truly some much better states to visit.

Day 20. What's in your bag? I just bought a new purse,this one, in natural. I love it. The contents are less than thrilling.

Day 21. The prompt was to write a favorite quote. I'm constantly bookmarking quotes I find online or writing down quotes I come across, like just about everyone else in the world. This is one I saw on Marta's website. I love it.

Day 22. Your favorite holiday. I don't know, I so wanted to not be a cliche and choose something other than Christmas, but I do love Christmas. I love decorating. I love choosing gifts for the people I love, especially when I find that one perfect thing. And I geek out over deciding my wrapping "theme" every year. Putting up a tree in my boyfriend's house last year right after I'd moved in was pretty awesome.

Day 23. Fill an entire page with one of the elements of art: line, color, shape, space, texture, or form. This is one of my favorites. When I was in an art class in high school, we had to fill an entire page with one continuous line, and for some reason I loved it. It's been a while since I've done it again, but I thought of it immediately when I read this prompt.

And that's it for now. Seven more prompts to go. Hopefully I can get them done this week. My caseload at work is extremely low right now. As in, I got a total of 1.75 hours today. Yeah, what am I even doing there? Not only do I hate my job, but I'm hardly making any money. Blah.

Days 15-18

The latest batch of journal pages I've done. I'm going to try to get a few more done this weekend, since the boyfriend is working all weekend.

Day 15. This prompt was actually supposed to be a list of goals for the month, but because I'm so far behind and it's already a week into July, I decided to make some goals for the remainder of the summer.

Day 16. What are you wearing today? I wish I'd been wearing something more excited for this page, but this is pretty much my work uniform now. Khaki, black, navy, or dark brown pants with a company collared shirt. Since I don't have company shirts yet, I just wear a plain black, navy, or white shirt. Boring.

Day 17. Illustrate a day. This is my idea of a pretty perfect day. I could use a day like this. Like, now. I do have another beach trip coming up soon, so I'm looking forward to that.

Day 18. The prompt for this day was to create a playlist. I've been planning my imaginary wedding a lot (what? I have a lot of friends getting married, it's hard not to get caught up in it all!), so I've had love songs on my mind, potential songs to be played at the imaginary reception. And the majority of these are country songs. I go through phases of what kind of music I'm listening to at the time, and I've been in a country phase for a while. It happens. However, "When You Say Nothing at All" has been a favorite for a long, long time. "Don't" is the song that reminded me of the boyfriend when we first started seeing each other. It's my ringtone for him on my phone. And "Give Me That Girl" makes me think of us now.

Now I'm off to watch a couple of movies I got from the Red Box. If I don't fall asleep ten minutes into it. Having a job is exhausting.

Days 11-14

Attempting to get caught up.

Day 11. The prompt this day was to list your favorites in each of the four categories: TV shows, music, food, and splurges.

Day 12. The prompt for Day 12 was to illustrate a few trends that you gravitate toward. I had a hard time thinking of many, but I love the whole faux woodgrain look, owls and birds, and the HUGE banner trend.

Day 13. This prompt was all about your insecurities. This is one I definitely didn't have trouble filling in, unfortunately. Somewhere on the page, we were supposed to include the word "but," to lead into the next day's prompt, which was...

Day 14. List some of the reasons you are such an amazing person.

I still have quite a few pages to go before I'm caught up, but I'm pretty happy with these. I'm still loving this challenge so much, and I hope that it gets me into the habit of doodling/journaling more often. Most days, I've been somewhat surprised at what comes out, both words-wise and illustration-wise.

Exhaustion

It's so hard to get used to working full time after being unemployed for so long. My last two semesters graduate school, I did an internship at a school and an externship at a hospital. The school internship definitely felt like a full time job, but the hospital placement came at a time when the rehab unit at that particular hospital was pretty slow, so some days I was only there a few hours.

The externship ended at the end of April, then graduation was May 7, and then even though I had a job lined up I had to sit around and wait for my license to come in before I could work. So I spent a lot of time doing nothing very productive. And now I have jumped back into the land of the employed, and it is wearing. me. out.

This is my excuse for having fallen WAY behind on the 30 day journal challenge. And I'm not sure when I will catch back up, but I do intend to finish it. I just don't want to throw something on a piece of paper and not be happy with it because it was done when I should have been in bed.

Meanwhile, here are some things that are making me happy at a time when I'm too tired to be very happy:

1. My new body wash smells like gummy bears. Allegedly, it is Suave Sweet Pea and Violet. But it smells like sugar to me. The other day it reminded me of gummy bears and then tonight it smelled like cotton candy. Yum.

2. I pass by two huge fields of sunflowers every day on my way to work. Last September, a very good friend passed away very unexpectedly. She loved sunflowers. A few weeks after her funeral, I bought myself a sunflower charm to wear on a necklace, and I haven't taken it off since I put it on, the day before what would have been her 27th birthday. Since I was 8 or 9 years old, I've been riding/driving past these particular fields, and I can't remember them ever being filled with sunflowers until this year. It makes me smile.

3. My boyfriend is awesome. He has been so supportive since I started working. He works at night, so I was a little afraid of what it would be like, not being able to see him much. I should be asleep by the time he gets home but I usually can't make that happen; I'm just so excited to see him and talk to him at the end of the day. But I'm afraid the lack of sleep is catching up with me and I won't be able to stay up and wait for him much anymore. Luckily, we still have the weekends.

4. My first paycheck. I get paid for the first time July 10. Because of my start date, this will only be a half paycheck, but because this is my first "grown-up" job (meaning, the first time I'm making more than $8 an hour), it will still be the biggest paycheck I've ever gotten. This is what I went to school for. I mean, not to make money; I went to school to do what I love and to help people. But it's nice to finally see the payoff after a year of "working for free" in my internship and externship.

Finally, here are a few pictures from the weekend beach trip. We had fun, but I was so wishing we could have stayed longer!

Walking on the beach Saturday afternoon.

A view of the pier.

My cutie boyfriend in the ocean.

My view from the sand.

Yep, I could have used another week of that.

Off!

via

My boyfriend is blessedly off this weekend, for once, and he surprised me by asking if I want to go to the beach for a couple of days. His parents are going for a week, but neither of us can get off work for that long, so we're just going this afternoon and coming back Sunday evening.

I'm excited to have a weekend away with him. I knew once I started working I wouldn't see him as much, but I didn't realize how much I was going to miss seeing and talking to him.

P.S. I'm getting behind on the 30 day journal challenge; I'll have to catch up Monday after work.