Moving to a new domain: dayzeesstudio.com

After a lot of hard work I can proudly present a new logo and website at:

www.dayzeesstudio.com

See you there for shop updates, blog articles about bullet journaling, traveling and lots more!

Board games!

Hello everyone!

I hope you enjoyed wonderful holidays last week! Mark and I spent time with both our families, and some of our friends. Apparently we've been good this year, because Santa gifted us some additions for our board game collection 😊

Look what Santa brought us!

The first one has been on my wish list for quite some time! Ticket to Ride is a very popular game by Days of Wonder, and there are several variations out there. It's easy to learn and fast-paced, making it a great casual game. Your goal is to connect the cities on the mission cards you received, by completing parts of the track with your trains. But don't be too obvious about where you're going, because the other players might try to stop you!

Ticket to Ride original version

The second game is Istanbul by White Goblin Games. I only played it once but I really enjoyed this economic strategy game. Click the link above to read a review on boardgamegeek.

Istanbul has lots of game elements!

There's hustle and bustle at Istanbul's grand bazaar as merchants and their assistants rush through the narrow alleys in their attempt to be more successful than their competitors. Everything must be well organized: wheelbarrows must be filled with goods at the warehouses, then swiftly transported by the assistants to various destinations. Your goal? Be the first merchant to collect a certain number of rubies.

Thirdly we got two expansion packs for Machi Koro, this is a favourite amongst our friends! It's an easy to learn, fast-paced card game. Your goal is to develop your city and be the first to build 4 landmarks. You have to plan strategically and you need some luck rolling the dice. The game has several options to annoy your friends too 😁 Read the review on boardgamegeek by clicking the link above!

What are your favourite board games?

My bullet journal: block system

Hello everyone!

Today I wanted to write about bullet journaling, and show you how and why I use mine. There's a ton of information available on sites like Pinterest and Instagram and if you've seen any of these you'll have noticed all the different styles. Some use it as a very basic to-do list, others create a page full of artwork. Some write colourful calligraphic headers with brush pens, others use printed stickers or pre-made pages. Neither of these are examples of how you SHOULD use your journal. It's about what you choose to do with it.

My bullet journal and my two favourite writing tools.

So what is bullet journaling?

In a nutshell, it's a way to manage your tasks and log whatever matters to you in a paper journal. The system was developed by Ryder Carroll. The journal consists of these pages:

• Index, this is where you'll list your entries so you can find them again
• Future log, these are pages for planning further ahead [e.g. your friend's wedding date in 4 months]
• Monthly log, where you can plan for the month
• Daily log, each new day starts here. A place to list your to-do's, appointments, events and notes, each indicated with a bullet.

The original bullet journal system is very minimalistic, and certainly a great way to start on this journey. For more information, check out the website: bulletjournal.com

My one-year future log is used to plan ahead, and for important dates and appointments. It's also a good way to have some information at a glance, like when I changed my contact lenses or when I had my last eye-exam. Anything further ahead gets written on a post-it note and added to the last page of the calendar.

Why do you draw out every week when you can purchase a calendar? Isn't it all super time consuming? Do I need a specific journal? Aren't all those supplies very expensive?

These are just a few of the questions I see popping up all the time. Let me start by saying that you do not need a specific journal or any supplies to start with. Any book will do, any pen will do. These are all your own choices to make. Both Leuchtturm1917 and Moleskine are popular notebooks in the community and they are often considered expensive. The Leuchtturm1917 dotted is also my personal favourite. Because I'm in Europe I paid around €18 for it. It that expensive? For a notebook, yes probably. The way mine is set up, it'll last me about a year though. It's all about perspective, and what it's worth to you personally. The same applies to the time consuming part. Yes it can be, if you chose to do so. It doesn't have to be pretty and elaborate. But if that's what you want to do, go for it.

What's the point of doing this?

Again, this is a personal choice. Different people have different reasons. Some like having their tasks written in a list to stay productive. Some use it to plan for events, manage their time, track their habits, use it as an artistic outlet, or use it a way to deal with health problems and symptoms.

I've been using this system since earlier this year. For me it has made a huge difference in my every day life. I'm not ashamed to admit that I have suffered from severe depression several times in my life since adolescence. It's not a weakness, it's an illness, but one that's incredibly misunderstood. Those who've dealt with it or have seen it up close will know what a struggle it is to even do the simplest of things like getting out of bed, getting dressed and brushing your teeth. Although I'm doing okay now, some days can be tough. I know it's something that'll always be a part of my life and I'll always have to be careful not to let myself slide downwards when things are not going well. If you look around the bullet journal community, you'll notice that there are a lot of people suffering from depression, anxiety and/or other mental illnesses using this system, and finding it a helpful tool to cope.

My book starts with these calendar pages, which I use to list birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, vacations and exam dates, followed by a one-year future log.

My bullet journal set-up: the block system

A big part of bullet journaling is experimenting with different set-ups and find something that works for you. I love the flexibility of the bullet journal, but I was missing a little bit of structure. I felt like important pages where getting lost in between weeklies and daylies and it was difficult to have a good overview. That's why I started a block-system. A block is a 12-week set-up, starting with my important pages and followed by weeklies and dailies. Why 12 weeks? For me it is much easier to see the big picture this way, a month is just too short to get a good overview. I also like this time span for setting goals; the deadline isn't too close nor too far in the future. Plus I don't have to recreate my trackers every single month. It takes me about 20-30 minutes to create a 12-week set-up. My Leuchtturm1917 will last for four of these blocks.

Here's the block's dashboard page. It features:

• mini calendar for birthdays, anniversaries ad important appointments
• index to list the main pages for the block, as well as the weeklies and daylies
• goals, what I want to accomplish during these twelve weeks
• room to reflect and write down ideas for the next block

Block dashboard page

My main pages for each block consist of these pages:

• Fitness page, for tracking weight and to add the Fitbit summary I receive each week
• Habits page
• Health & medicine, used to track headaches, sickness and use of medication
• Exercise
• Cleaning

Then my weekly and daily pages are grouped together in 4-week periods. So at the start of a 4-week block, I leave room for four weekly spreads. I don't fill them out all at once, just the current week. Then these are followed by daylies. At the end of these four weeks, I repeat the cycle. I group these together for a better overview and to make it easier to find previous pages.

Examples of page set-ups

Habits page, the bottom of the page will be used for the next 6 weeks

This is my habit tracker. I use it to track some self-care habits like taking vitamins, using a facial scrub and drinking enough water. But also for the days I've worn my contact lenses, days I worked on my studies or shop, when I got headaches, and when I got enough sleep and reached my step goal for the day. It's a good reminder to take care of yourself, see what can be improved, and see correlations.

The set-up is basically the same for my cleaning pages. Instead of a column with habits, I have listed the room of the house, and to the left I write the action [like vacuuming] sideways. I make rows like these for each action and the corresponding rooms/areas.

Health and medicine page

My health and medicine pages are used to track headaches and sickness. I'll mark the date in de calendar with the corresponding colour. The calendar is also used to track periods. The second column is for listing which medicine I used and why. On the opposite page I've left room for information concerning doctor's visits, eye exams, prescriptions and things like that.

Weekly page

The calendar section of my weekly page is the one thing that hasn't changed since I started bullet journaling. I don't have a lot of appointments or day-specific tasks, so I don't need a lot of space for that. I'm using the column next to it to experiment with a time tracker. I'm still not sure if it's something that works for me, and how I want it to look. So there's only way to figure it out: try!

On the opposite page the first column is for my to-do list and study deadlines. The bottom section is where I write down anything health related like step-count, fruit, vitamins, melatonin, grams of protein. Some of this information is transferred to my habit tracker at the end of the week.
You'll notice the second column on this page is empty. That's because I fill this out as needed and therefor the lay-out changes every week. Examples of what I write here: order deadlines for my shop, notes, orders I'm waiting for, exercise stats, postcrossing, sports team results etc.

Daily page

My dailies are where all the action happens. I write down what I want to get done that day, I use them for taking notes, tracking my water intake. On busy days I use a top 3 system to prioritize what needs to get done first. The lay-out is very simple, and I make them on the day itself.

Doodle memories

Here's my fun page :-) I create a little memory sketch for each day of the month, just to illustrate something I did, or bought, or something that happened.

That concludes my post about bullet journaling! I hope the information given here is helpful for you, even if it's just one element or one lay-out. In the end, you really have to try it for yourself to see if it works for you or not, and which elements you want to keep, change or ditch all together.

If you have any questions, just let me know!

Studio Update: new pencil cases!

Hi there! Today I'm going to start the new week with this studio update! I have added new pencil cases to my Etsy store. They are all fully lined and finished with YKK zippers.

New shop inventory!

Here's a closer look at each one. The link underneath the photo will take you to that item in the shop!

1920's newspaper pencil case, shop here!

Doggy DJ pencil case, shop here!

Air mail pencil case, shop here!

Cats in love, item sold, please contact me if you'd like something similar!

Have a great Monday!
~Desirée

Road trip in the USA

Hi all!

It's been a bit quiet here and in my shop! That's because we just got home from an amazing road trip crossing through 7 of the US states. We spent 5500 km [3417 miles] in the car in 18 days, surrounded by gorgeous views everywhere. The first half of our trip we traveled from Denver to Phoenix, stopping at several National Parks. The second half we drove north from San Francisco to Seattle, where we visited a very dear friend of mine.

Pages in my travel journal

Of course I took way too many pictures to share here! But here are a few highlights!

The narrow-gauge railroad trip from Durango to Silverton

We started our journey in Denver. Unfortunately we had very little time to explore the city. We went to Hammond's candy factory which offers a free tour and a huge candy store :-) I loved Denver's downtown area. It looked clean and inviting and there was a free shuttle service. Wish we had more time here to sample some craft beers and explore, but that's on the list for next time :-) We had to move on to the south of Colorado: Durango. Famous for it's narrow gauge railroad, it was an absolutely stunning 3,5 hour trip up to Silverton!

Clockwise: Monument Valley, Capitol Reef NP, Grand Canyon NP, Petrified Forest [Painted Desert]

Bryce Canyon National Park

We visited several National Parks on this trip: Monument Valley, The Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon. I've been to Bryce Canyon before, and this one is my absolute favourite. It's an almost alien like landscape, especially when you look at the surrounding area. There was a thunderstorm in the distance, but fortunately the weather was fine during our hikes. We did a rim trail starting at Bryce point and then the Navajo Loop trail which takes you down into the canyon... and back up! It started to rain heavily just as we got back into the shuttle bus after the second hike, which was great timing. Bryce Canyon is a relatively small park with few parking spaces at the view areas so I highly recommend taking the free shuttle bus if you plan to visit.

A little taste of Route 66

In Holbrook Arizona we shortly stopped at the Wigwam Motel. I really loved this place, the decoration, the cars, the fifties vibe :-) From here we went to Petrified Forest. It's a very nice park and you could easily spend a full day here. There are lots of viewpoints and trails to hike. I had never seen petrified wood before, so fascinating! There are numerous pieces of it in the park, ranging from little pieces to huge chunks.

We also made the trip to Tombstone, the town famous for it's wild west shoot-out at the O.K. Corral. It is very touristic but you can still paint a good picture of how it was back in the day. There are lots of things to see and do here, old buildings, mine tours, shoot-outs, saloons etc.

San Francisco! Clockwise: view from Alcatraz, the Blue Angels over Alcatraz, Fishermans Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge

We flew from Phoenix to San Francisco early in the morning and arrived to find a gorgeous day in San Francisco. Our first stop was the Golden Gate Bridge, and later in the day we went to Alcatraz. I went to Alcatraz about 10 years ago and did the same audio tour back then. But it's still fascinating! I love the look and feel of this place, there's so much history here. As a bonus, there's a gorgeous view of the city from Alcatraz island :-)

A more unusual stop in San Francisco was Musee Mecanique at the Fishermans Wharf. If you love old coin operated arcade machines, this is the place for you! I could easily spend several hours and a truckload of quarters there! As I reluctantly left the museum, the Blue Angels were performing their show over Alcatraz :-)

Mount St. Helens, what a beauty!

As we moved on north, we stopped at Sacremento Zoo which was a nice small park with a few big cats. A good place to spend a couple of hours. We spent the night in Grants Pass Oregon. The next day we  continued our trip to Portland. Unfortunately it rained like crazy here, so we spend two days at different malls and museums.

From here we started the journey to our final destination, Seattle. But on the way there we took a detour to see Mount St. Helens. We were very lucky to be there on a sunny and clear day! The volcano is absolutely beautiful and the visitor centers are very informative. I learned a lot about the history of the volcano and the story of the 1980 eruption and aftermath.

Seattle! Clockwise: view from Space Needle, Space Needle, Pike Place Market, EMP museum

As you can see we had beautiful weather in Seattle too! It was my second visit here, and also my second trip to the Space Needle. I know a lot of people say that there are better places for great views and I agree that admission is too expensive for what you get, since you only spend about 30 to 60 minutes up there. But it's such an iconic building and one of those "musts" when you are in Seattle. Now this time I went up there again because my boyfriend had not been here before. Now it's definitely crossed off our list for next time ;-)

We also went to EMP which is my absolute favourite museum of all time. The main part of the museum is all about music. The history of the electric guitar, Jimi Hendrix, and you can try different instruments and make music with friends. The Nirvana exhibit takes me back to my teenage years. I was 13 when Kurt Cobain died and only started to listen to their music shortly after his death. Their cd's are the soundtrack of my years as a teenager and they still are one of my top favourite bands.
Also very cool are the horror and sci-fi exhibits, with lots of movie props, costumes, artwork and information.

We were so lucky to spend time with my friend and her family, it was wonderful to see her again! She took us to Redhook brewery in Woodinville which I also highly recommend! I loved the spacious warm pub, they served some great food. We did the tour of the brewery which was very informative and included lots of sampling :-) The Blackhook Porter was a definite favourite :-)

All good things come to an end and we headed back home to Netherlands with a fat travel journal, heavy suitcases and lots of memories :-)

Postcrossing

Hello everyone!

Today I'm writing a bit about Postcrossing! In a nutshell, you receive a random address, send a postcard, and you'll receive a postcard in return from someone who got your address.

My first batch of outgoing postcards!

Postcrossing has been around for over 10 years, but I only found out about last July. During my teens and early twenties I had several pen pals and always loved to receive mail and share stories from around the world. But people grow up, things happen, things change, and it's easy to lose contact when life gets busy or turbulent. However I'm still in touch with one of them, she became an amazing friend over the last 18 years!

Postcrossing pages in my bullet journal.

So what's the appeal of Postcrossing? For me there are a couple of things:

• Surprise! You don't know when you'll receive a postcard and where it is from. Neither can you select where the postcards you are sending will be headed.
• Connect with the world. It's great to receive a snippet of someone's life from a different place. And you feel like a globetrotter just looking at all these amazing cards from all over the planet :-)
• It's affordable. When you start out, you can have up to 5 travelling postcards at a time. This number increases as you send more. However, it's totally up to you how many cards you send out each month.
• No commitment. When cards are received, you write a thank you note when registering the card. The deal is closed and everyone moves on. For those wanting a more personal experience, there are meetings and forums for pen pals and personal swaps.

Outgoing batch in August.

In August I sent out 5 cards of places in the Netherlands. Eindhoven, s-Hertogenbosch and Maastricht are large cities. Maastricht is close to where I live, a lovely place with a lot of historic buildings. It is a popular tourist destination.

Incoming postcards in August!

And here are the cards I received last month! You might see some themes going on here ;-) In your profile you can list some of your preferences. A couple of mine are cats, retro, and maps. People are not obligated to follow your list, but it is nice to see the extra little effort they put in into picking something you'll like! The cards in this picture came from Indonesia, Germany [3], Switzerland, USA and Czech Republic. I can't wait to see what'll arrive in my mailbox this month!

Happy postcrossing!

Bella Italia travel make-up pouch

Don't you just love a travel case or make-up pouch that reminds you of summer vacation? This one has images of Italy with a retro feel! It's made with a beautiful thick screen-printed fabric and available at my Etsy shop!

Shop for this item here!

Images of beautiful Italy on this zippered pouch