Earlier this week I pondered over on Twitter why I couldn’t find a daily planner to meet my needs for a structured look at the day.

If you don’t already know, I’m a big proponent of the bullet journal method. You could say that I’m always nerding out about the bullet journal.

I started using one in late 2016 to test it out, and by 2017 I was using it daily.

And I continue to use one daily to this day. However, there’s just no easy way to draw in a week-at-a-glance schedule that has timings for as long as I need it.

So of course, I bemoaned my situation on Twitter. A few folks made suggestions like the Stalogy (which I already use as my B6 size bullet journal), and the various Hobonichi options.

But I couldn’t think of ways to use the Hobonichi, outside of the timed weeks, that weren’t duplicates of what I already do in my bullet journal.

So I did some YouTubing and brainstorming, and I think I’ve figured out a way to make use of it. As such, I’m now nerding out over it.

My bullet journal will remain my “main carry” as planner folks would say.

It’s my to-do list with access to a not-time-blocked weekly overview and month.

And it houses all the minutiae that I need to dump out of my brain on a daily basis so that I can continue to work as unhindered as possible.

But my new Hobonichi Cousin Avec set (two half-year A5 size planners) is going to help fill in some things that I’ve wanted to do but couldn’t figure out in my bullet journal.

For instance, the monthly at-a-glance page that a lot of folks use as an index?

That will now be replacing the four pages of sales trackers I currently use every month in my bullet journal for my content creation.

The weeklies will be my bread-and-butter section. They’ll be my timeblocked days, as well as house some extra information like holidays and birthdays.

The daily pages will now become a sort of scrapbook meets journal meets art. I guess that’s called creative journaling?

I do journal in my bullet journal right now, but I don’t necessarily have the space within to paste in cute clothes tags I may get on an outfit, or a card from a friend.

These items and more will go in the daily pages of the Hobonichi Cousin.

And I’m actually really excited to just doodle and collage on the blank pages I have available to me.

Are you a stationery or journal fan? Is there anything in that category (stickers, sticky notes, pens, notebooks, etc.) that you’re currently nerding out about? I’d love to hear it!

I’ve never really been someone that has a sweet tooth.

I don’t really crave candy or sweets on a regular basis. I mean, I have a bunch of candy bars just sitting in the fridge waiting to be eaten.

It’s just not something we had in the house often as a kid, and it’s a habit I have continued as an adult.

Until recently. Lately, Twix have just been hitting the spot. I’ve never quite been a fan of them before.

But there’s something about them now that’s just… divine.

I’m going to chalk it up to finally watching the newest season of the Great British Bake Off.

If you know, you know.

Nerding Out Over Romance Books

I’ve mentioned before that my favorite genre of books is paranormal romance.

There’s just something about a werewolf or a vampire or a shifter falling in love with a witch or a human or a… well, you get the idea.

But lately, I’ve found myself getting more into contemporary romance as well (and I’m trying out historical romance again).

The last time I really read a romance novel outside of paranormal (before starting this contemporary kick in the last year) was probably back in the sixth grade.

My mom let me read one of her romance books because I liked the cover.

It was long and I found it absolutely boring. So it swore me off all other kinds of romance except the fantastical creatures kind.

But this past year I dabbled into contemporary romance with Olivia Dade’s Spoiler Alert since it was nerdy and featured a fat woman as the main character.

And I was not disappointed. But I thought it may have been an outlier of enjoyment. Until I picked up Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur.

It was a group read pick for a reading challenge I was participating in. But I was more open to giving it a try since it was a sapphic relationship.

I enjoyed it immensely. And it started opening my eyes to a world of romance books that weren’t actually like the romance book I’d read back in the sixth grade.

This year, I have a lot of romance books I want to read. And I think it’s because it’s a great way to escape the current environment of the world.

So I’m looking forward to nerding out over more romance novels and hopefully starting to share a review here or there for the ones I enjoyed.

Nerding Out Over a Spring Reading Challenge

Creating & Co. has just released their newest reading challenge for Spring!

One of my favorite things to do when I find a new reading challenge is to plan out the books I would like to read based on the prompts.

I love reading challenges because they give me ideas for which books to pick next out of my collection that I haven’t yet read.

Every so often they also let me pick off of my (even larger) “want to read but do not own” list of books.

I thought since I had fun nerding out over planning out my list yesterday that I’d share it today!

You’ll also see these titles pop up in my TBR Stack posts the next few months.

Explanations for why I picked the books will also be in those TBR Stack posts.

• Prompt #1: Published in Mar/Apr/May – A Lady of Rooksgrave Manor by Kathryn Moon.
• Prompt #2: Floral Cover – Deceived by the Gargoyles by Lillian Lark.
• Prompt #3: Clocks/Time Travel – Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes
• Prompt #4: Save the Earth – Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn
• Prompt #5: Yellow Cover – She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan
• Prompt #6: New (to me) Genre – The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn
• Prompt #7: Spring Into Action – Rat Queens: Sass & Sorcery (Vol 1) by Wiebe & Upchurch
• Prompt #8: Siblings – Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
• Prompt #9: Small Town – Teach Me by Olivia Dade
• Prompt #10: Title Starts with T – These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong
• Prompt #11: Secret Club – The Ravens by Kass Morgan & Danielle Paige
• Prompt #12: Group Read – I don’t know what this one is, yet.

So far this month I have finished six books… which is more than most months this year, and I still have a few days left.

Granted, one or two of those books were a DNF read (did not finish), but I’m also trying to be better about giving myself permission to DNF books.

Which may or may not become another post in the future.

I also got myself a new reading chair!

I used to have a papasan chair there (it’s now in the living room), but it’s just not comfortable for long periods of time.

I’ve been eyeing these oversize circle/oval chairs for a while, but they’re like… $1200 USD minimum.

So on a whim, my partner and I went to a local furniture warehouse and found this one for about $450 USD. I had to get it.

I do not regret the purchase at all. I’ve used the chair a lot in just the week I’ve had it, and the fur children love it so very much!

It’s funny to feel like I’m nerding out over a chair, but I totally am. Does this mean I’m an adult, now?

Fanhouse heard all about this first, by the way. Fanhouse is a great way to access behind-the-scenes content, pet spam, and more, while also supporting me. More info can be found in my sidebar!

Nerding Out Over Gaming

This time of year, I always seem to get into a Sims streak. There’s nothing wrong with that, I just find it interesting.

I am hoping that it lasts longer than it usually does, however, because I’m really enjoying the Flower Legacy Challenge that I’m working through on stream.

I’m also currently playing DBD, though I’m still disappointed over various things Behaviour (the company) has done as of late.

But there’s nothing to really scratch the itch of DBD without playing DBD right now.

I’ve eyed Propnight, but I have yet to try it. I really want to try VHS, but have yet to get an invite to the beta.

Nerding Out Over Project Management?

Okay, this one might be a bit out there… but hear me out.

I’ve been trying to create a content workflow with Trello and my bujo this past year for content creation, and it just hasn’t been working out.

Trying to set specific dates for each piece and portion of content is a pain in the butt with Trello, and sometimes I need something a bit easier to change up in the moment than my bujo.

I decided I needed something more project management-focused.

Enter… Asana. And the above YouTube video, which helped me to set up a content calendar specific to my needs.

I’ve only been working in it a week but so far it’s helping me to be a bit more pro-active than reactive with my content.

It also helps me to better see what is and isn’t a reasonable ask of my time based on what else the day holds.

And when I have bad brain days, it makes it much easier to see when I can re-work things to try and stay on the timelines I want to set for myself.

Overall, it’s helping me to feel a bit more balanced. But, like I said, I’ve only been using it about a week.

So we’ll see how well it holds up throughout the year.

Have you been nerding out over anything this month?

I’ve been getting into a lot of reading lately as you may have been able to tell by the TBR lists.

Though, honestly, I think it’s safe to say I’ve more been enjoying the reading challenges I’ve found, and trying to fit in the books I already own to these reading challenges.

But I’ve also purchased a fair number of books, most of which are for the Kindle. I’ve also picked up some audio books on Audible, and browsed the Audible Plus library to pick up some of the freebies I get for my monthly subscription.

Of course, I’m currently working my way through re-reading a book I’ve already read, but… everyone needs a comfort read now and again, right?

Nerding Out Over Stationery

I’ve also been loving stationery and planning and the like, lately. So much so that I picked up a phone arm to start filming some Plan with Me videos again.

I even started up a second YouTube channel so that my planning videos are separate from all of my gaming content.

I’ll be uploading some older content there over the coming weeks as I prep for starting with fresh content in 2022. I’ve also been trying to organize my stationery and stickers so that I can get more use out of them.

Nerding out and collecting stickers and washi tape is fine, but why collect them and take up space if I’m not going to use them?

And it’s not like I don’t keep all of my past journals… so I’m not losing out on anything if I use them. I’m building more joy into my life to use them more often! And if I use them, I get to buy collect more.

The Honey B Shop

Shan and the Honey B Team create hand-drawn stickers that are a perfect mix of alternative culture and cute! Pretty much everything she creates (including her washi tape!) is something I adore and have to get my hands on!

Creating & Co

Paige focuses on lots of book stickers—whether they be reading challenges, or themed around books… and I love that about her shop! I also adore her kits, and nine times out of ten, I pick up her newest releases. Every so often a kit doesn’t catch me, but the majority of the time they do!

Fox & Cactus

Emma is located in Australia, so I don’t purchase from Fox & Cactus as often as I might like to, but when I do it’s a hefty order picking up favorites and as many newer releases as possible! I need to make it worth that tracked shipping all the way over to the USA!

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels

This is post 18/31 for Blaugust You can find out more and sign up over at Belghast’s post!

Right now, Dead by Daylight is just really my go-to game on weekdays. It’s great for end-of-night gaming so I can intersperse chores and content creation tasks in between matches in a variety of ways. I mainly either do a match then walk away to handle a chore, or do things while I’m sitting in queues. It depends on the time of night, and if there are any events going on. Until they implement MMR, anyway. Queues seemed to be fairly quick during the MMR test they did a few months ago.

FFXIV

I’m really enjoying the story! I’m having fun working my way through all the dungeons and getting closer to Heavensward. And I’m also still completely blow away by the Corpse Groom (Tam-Tara Hard) questline… Like, to the point of needing to blog about it because I’m still mind blown. So expect that soon, I suppose!

Reading Challenges

Right now I’m digging working through reading challenges. I’m participating in a few that are yearly, and a few that are seasonal. Two upcoming ones I’m participating in are both by Creating & Co. First is an unofficial Peter Pan Retelling challenge. There are no prompts for this one—just to read four retellings during the week of August 16-22. For that one, I’m going to read:

• Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowrey
• Darling by K. Ancrum
• Peter Darling by Austin Chant
• Blood in the Water by M.A. Kersh

There’s also the Written in the Stars Readathon for September that I’m planning on participating in (see video above), but I probably won’t talk about that challenge until September rolls around.

Content Bujo

I’m trying to get better about my content creation schedule every week, since I want to make content (both my adult content and this content) something I do long term rather than my day job to better care for my mental and physical health. But to start working towards that goal, I needed a way to facilitate that without it getting lost in my personal day-to-day bullet journal. Therefore… I bought a half year B6 Stalogy and made a content bujo! It’s also an excuse for me to use up the many weekly sticker kits I have so that I can buy more.

If you want to see more of the content bujo, you can sign up to my Fanhouse for weekly posts about it. You can even get the first month free with the code: TWITCH

Another month, another list of nerdy things I’ve been into! It’s interesting to me how the things I’m interested in change up. This will be a neat series to look back on come December!

Custom Doll Videos

I always seem to stumble onto interesting things on YouTube. I’m not sure how, but I do. This month, I stumbled upon the custom doll community. I’ve only really started watching videos from two folks (both the woman in the video, and the person she did the collab with), but look forward to checking out more folks as I work my way through these two collections. Much like planner videos, there’s something calming about them, and the artistic talent of the creators is also not to be ignored. They’re just good, wholesome, fun videos to watch.

Library Books Galore

This month I’ve taken off on reading. I’ve finished seven books in August alone, which is more books combined than I’ve read in the past seven years. I’ve mentioned a bit before how reading was something that waned out of my life for quite a while. I knew in January that I wanted to start reading again. I set myself a goal to read 10 new-to-me books (or comic volumes, which I count as books), and I think I’ve surpassed that at this point.

What I didn’t know is that I’d get back into the public library as much as I have. Typically, I’d buy myself books and grow my book collection, but after doing some KonMari at the end of 2019 and start of 2020, I noticed that I only kept the books that truly made me happy. And most of them were not books that I purchased just to read because I could afford not to use the library.

I think I’ve realized that it’s not about the cost of being able to use the library or not. For me, it’s more about the shared experience with folks. Being able to borrow well-worn books from others reading them is just as joyful as owning a copy myself, if not more so. Does that mean that I’ve stopped purchasing books? No. I’ve just become more mindful of what I pick up.

Outlander

There’s not much to say about this other than I’m loving this show, but I’m trying to savor it. I’m also trying not to get too far ahead of the books. I currently have the first book (Outlander) in my TBR pile I’ve borrowed from the library, but I’ve halted on the show because they mentioned a Dragonfly in Amber, which is the title of the second book. So it’s just sitting there, waiting for me to watch it, and that’s okay.

And Obviously…

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chestnut (@chestnutplays)

Planner stickers. August has been the month when a majority of non-alternative sticker shops have started coming out with “Halloween” stickers. I’ve been very interested in picking these up for day-to-day use rather than just for use during October. I’ve also found some more alternative sticker stores during this time, which has been awesome because that means I have more options during the year. As someone who doesn’t particularly care for the winter holidays, I know I’m not going to bend over backwards for a bunch of kits that’ll come out the next few months. So I’m more than happy to spend some money stocking up on the stickers that make me happy.

Much like last month, I’m behind on my monthly wrap up, but I feel like I’m getting into the swing of content creation more a bit this week… which I hope continues! There’s not too much I’m currently nerding over this month, so let’s get to it.

Warrior Nun

Manthing and I ended up turning this on one date night, and then we both finished it separately because we couldn’t wait to finish it. I loved the pacing and the characters… though I still feel a bit odd about a male character just not showing up anymore after the halfway point when they were a big part in the first half (it felt like an odd pacing thing, though it’s true to character and situation). The ending felt a bit predictable to me (though I may an outlier, as many reviews call it a twist and a cliffhanger), but I’m very much looking forward to how season 2 (if it happens) will progress.

Fringe

Another date night, Manthing and I were flipping through shows trying to find something to watch when we discovered IMDb TV. We briefly browsed through it and found Fringe. I expressed interest, having never made it past partway through season four, and he mentioned never watching it, so we popped it on. IMDb TV has ads, but they weren’t long and bothersome, so we decided to watch the first two episodes of the first season. I forgot how much I enjoyed Fringe. We’re still trying to figure out if it’s something we’ll watch together, or I’ll zoom ahead on, but I’m looking forward to re-watching it and finishing, finally!

Stationary

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pumpkin Paper Co (@pumpkinpaperco)

My love of stickers and planners and stationary in general has continued without decline. I’ve even recently picked up some Travelers Notebooks (B6 size) to try out the system, in a modified way of course. I should receive all of them sometime in September, so I’m looking forward to all the exciting covers I’ll have available! I’ll end up writing a more detailed post at some point detailing my thoughts on the Travelers Notebook system, and why I think moving to it will work out well for me. But for now, I’m just enjoying that I have pretty things coming in the mail!

I’ve been having a lot of fun in FFXIV, which is surprising in a way based on how meh I’ve felt about the game until picking it up again. I can’t believe I’ve already hit 45! I expect that I’ll be through the majority of the base game MSQ by the time the new patch implements changes to it. Though I can’t find details on if Patch 2.1-2.55 MSQ will be affected by the newest patch. I’ve especially been enjoying the eye candy that is Cid. His voice could be deeper… but he’s still fun to look at.

No Cam Streams

I decided to try dabbling with a no-cam stream on my last stream. I’ve been having a rough time balancing my day job workload and my spoons. Day job has been draining them faster than usual as of late, and it’s made doing anything else day-to-day beyond difficult. To try and combat this, I decided to try streaming without cam because I truly wanted to stream… I just didn’t have the spoons to add that extra oomph that a cam requires.

I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Though I do still want to use my cam, I will probably do no-cam streams more often as day job continues to be draining. There’s only one solution to the draining, and it’s not one I can realistically pursue at this point in time (though I am trying hard to work my way to the point where I can).

Still Planner Obsessed

I’m still enjoying my planner stickers and the act of using them. They have been keeping me on track better than I expected, even weeks after the fact. Or months at this point, I suppose. I’m still catching up on my YouTube planner videos, however. Catching up as in, following the schedule I’d laid out for myself that didn’t take lack of spoons into account. But I’m slowly working my way into a better schedule. I’ll get to a place where I can put out content as I like eventually.

New Rig, Get

For those that don’t follow on Twitter, I finally replaced my ten year old computer with a new rig! I originally purchased my old rig in December 2010/January 2011 at Micro Center for approximately $500 USD. It was one of their store builds, and served me well for quite a long time. The newest components in the PC were a gaming card that I upgraded in November 2015, and the hard drives which got replaced last year.

I still need to put together a true list of what’s in my rig, but… I’m enjoying it so much! It’s a miracle to me to not have programs crash. To be able to publish content in under an hour. To not have the fan running constantly as fast as it can. I’m not sure how my computer held out as long as it did, but I’m grateful that it kept chugging. Now, however, I get to enjoy a pretty RGB computer with four hard drives!

While July has officially started, I’ve been afk from much of social media and blogging just due to, well… *gestures at the world* and it’s effect on my mental (and physical) health. So I just wanted to do a quick recap of things I nerded out over the past two months to not only just talk about some fun things, but also get my blogging fingers working again after some time off to take care of myself.

Monster Prom

I spent quite a bit of time during May talking about my time playing in Monster Prom. I even dabbled in it some during June. But I kind of left it by the wayside for some unknown reason. I think because I got into a, “nothing is bringing me joy because STRESS” mode for so long. I’m thinking of picking it up again this weekend (since I shouldn’t have to work, and I’m feeling less ill) just to get in some laughs and try to work my way through the achievements. I adore this game, and I’m very much looking forward to nerding out over it even more!

Clone Wars

I finished out season 6 of Clone Wars these past two months, but I have yet to pick up season seven. Partly due to the “ohgodstress” mindset, partly due to the fact that I know season 7 is the last season and I don’t want it to end, and partly because I got caught up in a binge of something else…

Stargate

(Fan trailer may contain spoilers) Oh man, I’ve about finished the Stargate chronology and I am both sad and excited. I made it through all of Stargate SG-1 (including the two movies), and am on the final season of Stargate Atlantis, which just leaves me with Stargate Universe afterwards. I’m not sure what series to pick up next for binging after I finish Stargate. I’m open to suggestions of similar shows, though! Maybe Babylon 5. Or Farscape! I never finished Farscape, and it’d be cool to keep with two of the SG-1 season 10 characters.

Animal Crossing

After finally managing to get a Switch, I dove head first into Animal Crossing. I’m still figuring out how things work, and slowly working my way through upgrading my house and getting neighbors, but I’m having so much fun, and have appreciated hanging out with one of my best friends, and getting some help and hangout time with Jae, which I appreciated so very much. I hope to be able to play some more with others as I continue to get into Animal Crossing. I very much love the fishing, bug hunting, and just picking up sea shells (and giving everything I can to the museum!).

Planner Stickers

It may come as no surprise (after mentioning this was becoming a thing back in May) that I have become utterly obsessed with planner stickers. I think it brings me back to a time when I was allowed to like stickers as a kid. Liking them as an adult is kind of a thing people look at you weirdly for, so finding this world of stickers that also help to keep me functioning has been a blessing, to be honest. It’s a creative outlet that I’ve much needed. I still get to collect and play with stickers, but it also gives me a visual of what I need/want to do so that I stay focused on tasks and feel much less stressed out about it.

I use my planner quite functionally, and pair it with my bullet journal so that the two together are a schedule and plan of what I need/want to accomplish each day. The month or so I’ve been doing this, has been quite helpful in helping to calm my mind. Especially after changing up my bullet journal style (for the second time this year) to allow myself more freedom to write and be creative and journal and put down stickers that I’m also using for the week in my planner.

FFXIV

I called it when I wrote about bouncing off of ESO. While I am still paying for a subscription, I haven’t really logged in (though I might want to do so for daily rewards this month…). I very much want to play it, but I don’t feel like I have the time or patience to do so right now. Instead, I have found myself diving into FFXIV once again. This time, I think it’s sticking more than it has before because I’ve been gaming some with the polycule.

Manthing and I either level some classes together (ARC/NIN), or we sit in Discord and play our own things. It also helps just being around the polycule as a whole even if I don’t get to play much with them. I’m still trying to figure my way around the FC, as I’m very much feeling an outsider right now, but I’m still enjoying my time playing mostly solo. I’ve been leveling my White Mage, and have been enjoying my time quite a bit.

I forgot how much I’ve loved healing. I haven’t healed in a very long time due to the fact that ex was always the healer, and I was always the tank. It feels comfortable, and has a more rhythmic flow to me than DPS does. Though, to be honest, I am very much looking forward to leveling Dancer, eventually!