August Journal

Highs

August was overall a pretty damn lovely month. It was my birthday so I took a few days off to head up the beach and my family ended up joining us up there. We got super lucky when shell hunting on the beach, I would say the most shell-luck I’ve had since the 90s at a beach called Shelleys’s so that is saying something. On my birthday we were sitting eating fish and chips on the beach at sunset & dolphins came in! Which I have never seen in the 27 years I have been going there so that was pretty damn magical. Two clothing items I had been eyeing off went on special but I will touch on that later. I got to work with Penfolds and try an expensive red wine, such a treat. Went to the movies to see Once Upon A Time In Hollywood and really enjoyed all 2 and half hours of it. Hit a financial goal of mine early*. Transferred a chunk of money into my super. Also started a couple new personal projects that don’t make me any money!

Lows (but not really)

Hardly any lows this month but Michael ordered bubble tea and forgot to ask for pearls - that was a low. I wonder if anyone actually buys bubble tea without the pearls? The main reason we get bubble tea is for the surprise of a pearl when it hits your tongue. *So a high was hitting a financial goal I had early. But I felt weird about it. I was pretty close and on track to hit it at the end of the year however I hit it early because of the amazing actions of other people in my life. So I am having trouble being proud of myself or celebrating hitting that goal because the last step wasn’t the result of my hard work. Probably silly but I feel a little guilty about it.

I am 27, I don’t have my shit together

I turned 27 this month and for some reason it has thrown me a little. I think it is because in my mind I am 22 and doing well for my age? But then I realise I am 27.. and then I open facebook and suddenly feel the urge to get married, have a bun (that isn’t sourdough) in the oven and have a house that I am renovating. I don’t know but it hit me all of a sudden. Am I behind? What am I doing? What have I been doing?! *insert anxiety attack here* I can talk myself back down from that ledge but it still creeps up more than I enjoy at the moment. It is a time where I really have to stay strong with my own values and try not let the noise cloud me. I could also delete 90% of the people on my Facebook.

Saving to spend - A month on..

Last month I touched on that I was going to stop buying things weekly out of my spending money, pool left over money and at the end of each month treat myself to the things I wanted to buy. So I did that, pooled around the $800 mark and a couple of things happened. Firstly, I saved a bunch of money because I waited and 2 pricier items went on sale (or had discount codes). Secondly, I was a lot more considered about the items I was buying because I had to wait to purchase them and really look at what % of the $800 it would eat up. Lastly, buying it all over a couple of days meant it felt like Christmas when it all arrived. Delayed gratification is sometimes the best. I will be doing the same in the next week or so with the money I saved to spend in August. PS. This is outside of my savings, I am not spending my savings.

New Personal Projects

This month was a little more chill on the client front which was amazing as I was able to focus on creating for the sake of creating. First came the Cut Out Catalogue. If you follow me on Instagram you would have noticed I shared some cut out collages of beauty products earlier this month. I have been playing with cut out collages for a while now starting with the fruits a couple of years ago and now I have a full on obsession doing it to beauty products. I think I have around 30 on file now so keep an eye out on my feed for more soon.

I also started a new instagram account for another obsession of mine - bees on flowers. It isn’t for anything more than sharing my photos and videos of bees on flowers and it is bringing me so much joy. It is called Self Pollination (@selfpollination) because Bees on Flowers was already taken.

With Love, Jasmine x