I managed to keep succulents we planted during the holidays (and one air plant) alive. Had a few close calls, but they haven’t died and that’s all I can ask for! These were initially in terrariums, but they weren’t getting the water and drainage they needed to survive, so I repotted them. Hopefully it’s not too late!

I’m also halfway through this book, “Eating Animals,” that I received from my sis for Christmas. It’s been a difficult and informational read. Difficult, not because it’s a bad book, but because the more I read it the more I realize how twisted the food industry has become. I am a meat eater, so I’m not attempting to turn people vegetarian/vegan (though I’ve cut off beef for about half a year now) but this book has definitely made me more conscious of what I put into my mouth. Growing up in a Chinese household food is such a huge part of my culture it seems almost impossible to give up meat without feeling like I’m giving up tradition that’s been instilled in me since I was born. However, also being an American and knowing that these are not the same food conditions my parents grew up with does shift my perspective. I personally suggest reading Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Polan if you haven’t dived into reading about the food industry before and want to get started, however, the two books are on opposite playing fields.

I guess this wasn’t so much a “recap” of the entire month as I hoped. My mind has been all over the place since this weekend with what’s happening around the world (hell, it’s been all over the place for the past couple months). I’m sure I’m not the only one. I can’t seem to articulate my thoughts into writing. Even so, I wanted to make a point to create an end of the month post regardless, so hopefully this counts. I’ve attempted to write something for the past week and failed to do so (along with writing a post once a week as part of my 52 week challenges), but I’m moving on! There is next month, and I’m grateful for that.

Not in any particular order, here’s my top 5 books I read within the last year or two that has made me better at evaluating my actions (why I do something, why I react a certain way, and so forth) and how I can continually work to be better for myself and in turn for my family and friends. Each book touches on something different – our job, our personality, our choices, the world we live in, and our daily lives.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking

By: Susan Cain

This book I actually bought for my sister and later borrowed, now I wish I have my own copy. Being a textbook introvert myself this book spoke to me, sang to me, if you will. I always thought there was something wrong with me being shy at a young age and even after graduating college I still felt being quiet was something I needed to grow out of or that I needed to change. Lo and behold this book happened, it opened me up to finally embracing who I was. I became more aware of how and (more importantly) why I felt a certain way and what I needed to do to be better. Even if you yourself are not an introvert, what about your girl/boyfriend, family member, or friend? This book helps a great deal in how to approach and understand introverts in your life and/or work space.

 Stumbling on Happiness

By: Daniel Gilbert

As the title states, this book is focused on our obsession for achieving “happiness” and what that really means. It’s sectioned into six parts with a total of 11 chapters. This book goes in depth on each idea, but does it in a fun way paired with relatable graphs/charts/drawings that have made me chuckle a number of times. Another thing I found fun to read were the real life experiments they conducted. I did find I read this a bit slower than The Power of Habit (below), and not to suggest it was less interesting or boring, it just took me more time to take in all the information in each chapter. I also started to go back and add post-it notes to passages I enjoyed. It’s one of those books you can come back to to refresh your thinking without feeling like you need to re-read the entire book again.

Read More…

I jumped on the bullet journaling bandwagon last month and surprisingly I liked it! I have quite a few weekly/monthly notepads and notebooks (probably too many) and I always seem to fall off in less than a month. However, bullet journaling worked well for me for December and I really enjoyed how flexible (and fun) it was to create and update. I didn’t feel obligated to fill in pages or guilty that I wasted a pretty spread since it’s all written in my chicken scratch anyway.

Okay, this post wasn’t meant to be about bullet journaling, but it led me to this! I decided to create this fun calendar as a free printable for anyone who might find it helpful to keep them organized (whether or not you bullet journal). Seemed like a good idea with the new year and I’m hoping to create them for the rest of the year if people use them, so let me know or tag me if you use it!

Download PDF: [download id=”66″]

The Details

The design is letter size (8.5 x 11″), so you can print this out on plain printer paper or you can size it down to fit inside your notebook/journal! Pictured above I scaled mine down to 60% (you can do this in your print settings) to fit inside my bullet journal or you can also easily hang it up at its full size with washi tape. Tada!

Download PDF: [download id=”66″]