January Bullet Journal - Frozen January

The first monthly spread of this year is called – Frozen January. It is more rainy than frozen or snowy here in the Netherlands, but no one can stop me from wishful thinking. I decided to include some snowflakes and make the monthly spread blue and white to channel that frozen winter kingdom and also match my new Instagram theme.

Before we get to the January monthly spread, let’s have a quick look at the year pages. I haven’t done anything similar for 2018, but in 2019 I have decided to include a Bucket List and Monthly Questions.
Don’t get me wrong, I had a bucket list for 2018 I just kept it in my mind instead of writing it down. I didn’t think of the possibility to include it in my bullet journal. I found this idea on Pinterest and it was love at first sight. I knew I had to do this because it was cute and adorable. I also saw a journal that provides question a day for aspiring writers, but I felt that is too much for me, monthly questions seemed more doable. I started with ‘What is your vision for this year?’ and included several questions about my favourite things like food, music and closed with “One thing you have to let go of.” As a promise and inspiration for the next year.

Frozen January front page includes the snowflakes. Simple, minimalistic and cold. I have noticed that a lot of journalists decided to go with this theme for January so I feel like I joined some BuJo secret society. Next double page contains agenda or January calendar if you wish, which I decided to do in a different way compared to 2018. From a simple linear one, I went for the little boxes. I like the look of it but I already see it will not be practical for me as I struggle to write longer notes in the tiny squares.

Books I read in January and blog Ideas can’t miss in my monthly spread. I loved doing these in 2018 and I plan to continue. I am planning to use a different type of boxes and fonts in the upcoming months but I am currently looking for some inspiration. The photos I included on this page are from Pinterest and are as frozen as possible. Despite the fact that my Instagram is not about the number of followers but more about talking to them and I do not enjoy doing the followers track I do love to go back and see how my Instagram grew in the past, how many followers I gained in which month. And because I don’t usually pay attention to this it was a big surprise when I flipped through my 2018 BuJo. It is very interesting from the statistics point of view and the only reason why I decided to keep the record.

Mood tracker is my most favourite part of the bullet journal. I got inspiration from Pinterest and I am in love with it. You all know that I loved the circle tracker in 2018 but I think that for this year I have a new favourite thing. It doesn’t look that amazing right now, but I plan to show it off when it is completed so tune in for the photo or video on my Instagram if you want to see this simple, yet pretty picture. The frozen kingdom needs a ruler and the ruler needs a castle I hope that the photos on the left page give you the snow queen vibes.

The last section of my bullet journal includes reflection box. I do this each month. I don’t like to keep a diary, but a brief summary of what this month was like is a great way to count my blessings or think about improvements for the next month. The reading tracker can’t be missing! This one is really simple. Coloured square for the days when I sat down with an opened book and white for those without a book. Some more frozen pictures and ideas what to do in my free time to keep me occupied when it is too cold to go outside… I haven’t done any colouring in a long time.

I hope this article gave you some inspiration for your bullet journal. You can always talk to me about journaling and if you want to see more find me on Instagram. I do monthly videos and flip through of my bullet journal. I love talking to people and I would love to hear from you.

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BR: Throne of Glass Series by Sarah J Maas 4/5

!SPOILERS! - warning, this book review contains spoilers, if you do not wish to know what happens in the Throne of Glass Series, do not continue reading this article.

It was March 2018 when I picked up a book called Throne of Glass without knowing anything about it. The first book of the young adult series about a sassy assassin called Celeana Sardothien written by amazing Sarah J Maas was a great read. I wrote a review and moved on…. But Celeana was not done with me. In those lazy Sunday moments; or when stuck on the train without my earphones I was wondering; what happened to Celeana next?
I decided to find out and so the great adventure has begun. It was almost a year ago when I set off on this magnificent journey and I am glad that I can say it is now finished. I am a slow reader and I read some other books in between but that changed in August 2018. Since then until January 2019 I basically lived in the fantasy world of Erilea.

I decided not to review each book separately but make a big review at the end when everything is finished. So here we are…. Let me say that everything you read in this article is my personal opinion and it is ok to disagree with me. I am talking about all of the series, the seven books and therefore rather than my usual review structure, I will focus on what I loved, didn’t like and hated in the series.

Things I loved:

• Celeana had a male job (because being an assassin is not a typical female profession) but despite that, she kept her feminine side. She liked pretty dresses and jewellery, she wanted to look pretty and enjoyed a bit of gossip. I like these two colliding sides of her. Making her a perfect example of what feminists fight around the world for – there is no definition of what a female or male means, no box that people should fit in (pun intended). I also enjoyed her sassiness and banter. I lived for her snappy responses and surprising ironical comments. This was why I loved the first book from the series the most. I think Aelin was different but we get to that later. 
• Strong female characters are basically why I love Sarah J Maas. Not only Celeana but minor female characters prove to have so much power in very little space they get in the series. Starting with Nehemia, Kaltain Rompier and Asterin Blackbeak finished with Borte and Sorcha. They are all underrated and deserve a book for themselves.
• The effect I call a Snow Globe was magnificent! It is also in a lot of other books and series and It's basically my favourite thing. What I mean is; the story starts in a small contained space; a city, country or castle and then more you read the more the world opens to you. You discover that there is so much behind the castle walls, behind the Shire border. I absolutely love how from silly competition to entertain a court the plot grows into the fight between good and evil and domination over the world... a masterpiece.  
• Development of characters was amazing. Dorian grew from fancy pretty little flirt into the strong powerful leader, Elide stopped being scared and insecure and saved everybody at the end. I loved how the characters progressed and learned… all of them even Manon became more human (not that I liked that)  Celeana/Aelin was the only exception. At first, it seemed that when she became Aelin she was a completely different character. She never learned, kept lying to others and always preferred to do things solo. Over and over again she repeated the same mistakes. It didn't feel right and by the Empire of Storms I was getting annoyed with her and more importantly, I was annoyed how other characters didn't mind.
• Crown of Midnight, Heir of Fire and Queen of Shadows were my favourite books from the whole series.
• I loved how the Tower of Dawn and Empire of Storms happened at the same time and how intertwined and connected they were.
• Most amazing moment: Manon’s first flight on the wyvern and how she met and claimed Abraxos.
• Most horrible moment: The scene of lesser witch coven giving birth to Erawan’s monsters in the dungeon of Morath – I still have nightmares about this.

Things I hated:

• The jumps between the chapters were very annoying and discouraging especially in the Kingdom of Ash. Like soap opera, something was about to happen and then the chapter suddenly ended and the next one started somewhere else; talking about the different group of characters. This was usually when I put the book down and didn’t pick it up for the next three days at least.
• Repetition of the same words: bobbing throat, callused hands, emerald eyes etc. I didn’t mind if the repetition was intended like “I will not be afraid” because it had a meaning. But Sarah seemed to use the same word expressions over and over again… it made me roll my eyes.
• Everybody was beautiful. I am sorry was Manon more beautiful than Aelin or the other way around; how about Fenrys, Dorian and Rowan? All of them extremely gorgeous… I am confused as everybody is described as the most beautiful person in the world. That is not how it works… not even in fantasy books. Someone has to be just normal to make the "most beautiful person" stand out.
• How Sarah J Maas made up things as she went… so many plot holes and mistakes. What was true in the first book was not true in the third one. One chapter shifters were naked after the transformation, next they had clothes on... or maybe went naked half of the book, because there was no mention of them dressing? Or an army suddenly appears from out of the blue and SJM is like... Oh yeah, didn’t I tell you Aelin sent a letter earlier? No, no Sarah that is not how you persuade an army to come to your aid…

Things I didn’t like but are still ok because this is Young Adult and I loved reading it anyway:

• All of this happened in approximately a year. You do not raise an army, destroy and rebuild a kingdom in such a short time. It took six months only for Frodo to get to Mordor.  
• Aelin constantly lied to everybody (probably for the moment of a surprise but still) it made her look selfish and as a horrible person. I am sure there are other ways how to surprise the readers without turning your character into a liar.  
• No one important died or everybody died in six lines. There wasn’t a middle ground. Lorcan should have died. Period. It was a great part, amazing tension! Elide riding across that field I forgot to breathe, I had goosebumps, but then it all got destroyed when he lived... I was disappointed. The death of the thirteen was sloppy, unemotional and very weak. It didn't make me cry or even tear up and they were basically my favourite characters. I believe this could have been written better, this was the point when I felt like she gave up on the book. (FYI: Nehemia's and Kaltain's death though, brilliant.)
• No diversity or LGTB+ people, apart from a slight mention of the half-Fae couple in the Mistward. (Thank God for Nehemia and Nesrin, but that is simply not enough if you have as many characters as Throne of Glass).
• How everybody ended up in the relationship and lived happily ever after. Yes, this is a young adult series and we all want to believe in happy endings, but this was just too perfect. I think Manon should have stayed single, she doesn’t need any human or man. Same with Lyssandra. If Aeidon did to me what he did to her I would never ever speak to him again. EVER! Or I would turn into a dragon and bite his head off and be done with it.
• Some decisions made by characters made no sense to me – Gavriel’s death… idiotic decision. For such a skilled warrior he should have known better. He basically committed suicide.  Royals voted to destroy the keys knowing Aelin would die in the process and when she done it and miraculously survived they were angry at her… Excuse me, but I am not here for this BS.
• I didn’t like any of the males. I am not so hot for Rowan or Dorian. My favourite was Chaol but I still don’t fancy him. 
• The Kingdom of Ash was almost 1k pages long and from the second half, it felt like Sarah just gave up. Like she wanted to get this done and over with. Instead of building up the tension before main events, she just threw everything at the reader as a surprise. It works in few moments but I personally missed that expectation of what will happen. The important parts like council where royal children shouted at Aelin after the keys were destroyed were skipped but parts about character's love life were too long for my liking. I like romance in these books, but in the Kingdom of Ash it felt like so much was happening, armies and soldiers were fighting and dying, all of the peoples of the world were at war. This was when history was made but Sarah spent too much time on Elide's blushing cheeks.
• I missed a wedding. Any wedding... so many couples got married and there wasn't ONE wedding. How could you do this to us, Sarah?!

Thank you for reading all the way to the end. Below are some playlists for you to enjoy that I found during my Erilea journey and kept me sane during this emotional rollercoaster.

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Happy New Year 2019!

New Year is upon us! How was 2018? What are the plans and goals for 2019? What was the last night of the old year like? What happened in 2018 is in the past, the New Year is a new book, an empty bullet journal and you can modify it to your liking.

So for the 2019…

I would like to wish you all the best for the New Year. All of the love and happiness, but also health and success in whatever you get your hands on. I hope you will find the balance between work/school and private life. I hope you will meet amazing people. I hope you will watch great movies, listen to good music and drink delicious coffee.

I hope you will remember that life is about small things. It is about sunsets we watch sitting in the garden during the long summer evenings. It is the favourite flavour of ice cream that makes us happy. In 2019 enjoy all of these little things while making the big ones happen! Fall in love. Travel and discover new places. Write a book. Start learning the language. Take on the challenges that you are afraid of. Whatever you do in 2019 do not forget to dream… and dream big.

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