December Journal
The Highs
What a huge month December always is.. not only is it one of the busiest months for the online store but personally as well. A major high this month was the support from my community on my online store. Small businesses often rely on the support in November/December not only to get them through the slower months but it also often means they don’t have to be as stressed when they take a little time off over Christmas (no annual leave pay here!). Christmas is always a high in my books. Christmas for me is always hot, with a bunch of family, too much food, late night board games & Pimms in hand. This year was no exception. As you get older Christmas seems to last longer, this year mine lasted 4 days. I headed up to the Sunshine coast for my Christmas to New Years break and it was pure bliss. Lots of sun, salty hair & varying tan lines. I nailed the Spicy Margarita and Michael, Mum & I had mid-afternoon Margarita sessions. One of my favourite days was NYE. A friend came back from Japan for the holidays so we spent the day with him & his girlfriend at the beach. No exaggeration, 12 hours at various beaches. I walked back to the car after the fireworks with a smile stuck to my face, no word of a lie. Early morning swims to wake up. Realised that I never knew how much I needed shells in my life. Got a Lemon Tree and a Magnolia Tree for Christmas! Wore my new yellow bikini - no regrets. Ate fish and chips on the beach. Made a really good garlic bread with my brother. Had too much fun with a pink magnifying glass that I got with a Drunk Elephant gift set.
New In Review
Lucy Folk Bag. I have been eyeing off the clutches by Bondi based Designer Lucy Folk for the longest time but I knew myself enough to know that I wouldn’t get enough use out of a clutch. However in the latest releases their iconic clutches have come with a handle option which meant it was now a perfect addition for me. For transparency, I am a partner with Shopbop (a stockist of Lucy Folk) which meant I was able to be gifted this bag but it was already on my to-purchase list before this. As much as I love all of their colour ways, I chose the transparent option so that I could wear it with anything therefore getting the most use out of this beauty. It was the only handbag I took away with me and it is guaranteed compliments! In future I would love to also get a longer strap so that I could use it as a cross body bag also. Is it a everyday handbag that you can fit a lot in? No. However I only use small bags because it means I don’t carry around unnecessary items. Shop Here
Glamglow Cleanser. This cleanser was gifted to me mid December from Mecca Cosmetica and it came at the perfect time. I was at the end of my current cleanser and there would be no better time to test it out than over the Christmas / New Year period. Not only because I would be battling my hormonal break outs but also my skin freaks out with heavy sunscreen & zinc use. Boy oh boy though, this impressed me. Since it lightly exfoliates while cleansing, it meant that I was able to give my skin a good clean after a day of heavy lotion use. I would definitely purchase this cleanser once I have used it all up. Shop here.
Op Shop Finds. I didn’t do any online shopping over the break, instead I found myself only purchasing shell & a couple of things from the Op Shop. Honestly I don’t know why anyone would buy new glassware. The Op Shop always has great stuff and I ended up getting a crystal tray & bottle for $3! No regrets there. I also bought a few sea shells, one big boy so that I could listen to the ocean when I am at my studio desk and some to hold my earrings and other small jewellery in. Most homeware stores near the beach will stock shells so keep an eye out.
Yellow Bikini by Fella Swim. Now I definitely didn’t need these, but swimwear is a weakness of mine. I had my heart set on finding the perfect yellow bikini and after many hours searching online, I chose to go with Fella Swim. The thing I love most about Fella swim are their options, in one colour they have 9 different top & bottom styles to choose from which means you will be able to find shapes that suit your body & size. They also make to order for finer adjustments. I went with the casanova top and fell in love with the shape on me. Even though it was a little bit of an unexpected purchase, I don’t regret it one bit. Shop here.
The Lows
I grabbed my curler by the hot rod part just before heading to my family Christmas. It blistered immediately and meant I had to keep an ice pack on my hand all day to stop it feeling like it was on fire. It took a week to heal. I saw a dog get hit by a car. It was the fucking worst. By the end of the year I get super drained with social media. I was done. I got over standing up for myself then being attacked for it, I got over the critics thinking my life/my personality/my choices are something I need opinions on. That leads me to really needing to refocus and draw boundaries for myself this year when it comes to social media.
If they don’t know you personally, don’t take it personally. I always try to be kind and considerate of how what I do & say can be taken by others so I take it very personally if someone either attacks that or takes what I am doing or saying completely differently. I need to realise that often these responses are self serving. They are to assert their own knowledge, opinions, insecurities etc. They are often nothing to do with you personally. Secondly, I am not a Google Search Engine. I want my audience to be self-motivated, intelligent & curious. Everything you need to know can be found. If I haven’t already written about it on the blog or saved it to my Story Highlights I am sure it can be found on google or youtube. Otherwise I will be most likely writing about it soon.
How do I stop working?
First day of holidays this hit me, what do I do when I am not working? Netflix was boring me & I didn’t want to go out because I knew I had some full on days coming up. I first thought I would do some Christmas craft activities but then I knew I would want to document and share it which would turn into work. So what do you do when your fun thing turns into your work thing? (not a bad problem to have)
I had to find something that was creative but something that I wouldn’t turn into work. So I did something I wasn’t good at. Illustration. Faces in particular. They are quick and sassy and best yet, they aren’t something I would sell or really talk about at all. A few days in I caught myself thinking about how I could do one a day and post it and then have a collection of maybe try 50 of them before I get back. I managed to try and turn it into work. I caught myself though and abandoned all of those thoughts. Here are six. Creating for the sake of creating. Nothing more, nothing less.
I am not going to write about goals for January because to be honest it is intimidating
and I am not in the space to do so. Maybe next month.
jasmine x