Monthly Digest and Wrap Up | February 2024

March 6, 2024August 4, 2025 ClassicBhaer2 Comments

Hello and welcome to a wrap up of the shortest month of the year, but with a bonus day thanks to leap year! I had high hope for this month and honestly, I got a lot done with all the stuff life threw at me this month. I will say, I am happy to announce I read another book this month! I am honestly really thrilled with this because I would rather read a book or two a month consistently than not read at all like I did pretty much all year. I also was able to get some projects off my needles, which I am excited to use now.

Books

This month I ended up only finishing one book, but it was a beautiful read. I ended up finishing Before Your Memory Fades by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, which is the 3rd book in the series. The series is heart breaking, but beautifully written and just one I cannot get enough of. The bonus is, these books are usually around 200 pages or so and fly by. Even within those few pages a world is built easily and you feel like you fall into the pages of of the books. This most recent read from this series was the exact same way. I am hoping to read the next book in the series very soon. I have to be honest, this is probably the only series I have been keeping up with since reading has gone into a full slump over a year ago. That says a lot about this series in my eyes. It is hard to really summarize this series, it is slice of life where you follow the on goings in a café in Japan. It is not just a regular café, but has a magical realism twist where you can travel through time when insider its walls, but there are rules you must follow. The stories of those who work there and those who are patrons are always well developed and intriguing and at times exacting and totally heart breaking.

Finished Projects

I finished my Christmas Eve cast on the Teddy Clutch! (Website | Ravelry) It is a large clutch that is made using yarn like a teddy bear, so it is super soft and cute. I am excited to finally be able to use it out and about. If you plan on using the recommended yarn for the pattern, I will warn you, if you drop a stitch is is nearly impossible to find it. Thankfully in my opinion it is worth it, but if I made it again I might try a different type of yarn of the same weight for a different look. The instructions were well written and easy to follow, which was wonderful! I really feel like this is a great project for adventurous beginners.

The second item I got off my needles was a really quick little scrappy project, which was called the Mini Crop Puff (Ralvery). It is a tiny little sweater and I was testing out the pattern to see if I wanted to make ornaments for next Christmas with my scrap yarn. It was a really cute and I liked the project for sure. I am not sure if I am going to use it though, the main reason being is I think they are a tad bit too big for our tiny baby tree. I might make them for friends and family though and embroider the initial of their last name. Yes, I am already planning projects! I don’t want to be really behind like previous years.

Adventures

Honestly, this month has been one of a roller coaster let me tell you what. There were some really scary things that happened, but I also had some really awesome things happen as well. I don’t want to get into to much detail about everything, but one really great thing I would like to share is I got engaged this month and I am really, really excited. It is going to be weird introducing him as my fiancé now.

Monthly Stats

Knitted Items: 3
Crochet Items: 0
Garment: 0
Accessory: 3
Yarn In: 1,170 grams
Yarn Out: 1,610 grams
Books Read: 1
Fiction: 1
Non-Fiction: 0
Pages Read: 222

Yearly Stats

Knitted Items: 5
Crochet Items: 0
Garment: 1
Accessory: 4
Yarn In: 2,430 grams
Yarn Out: 2,860
Yarn Year Total: -440 grams
Books Read: 3
Fiction: 2
Non-Fiction: 1
Pages Read: 1,135

Thanks for Reading! ClassicBhaer.com

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For the record: everything I’ve written here is entirely my own opinion.These views do not reflect or represent those of my current or past employers.

Hauls & Unhauls

February 2023 | A Random Book Haul

February 20, 2023August 4, 2025 ClassicBhaer1 Comment

Hello and welcome to a post where I am sharing the books I am adding to my owned TBR. I have actually been reading a bit this past few months so of course I wanted to reward myself with some new books to add to my stacks. Most of the books I have been reading have been through my library digitally, but I recently went on a little adventure and came across a really lovely local bookstore and I wanted to support them. So, I ended up getting these lovely book. Also, I am adding a bonus of a preorder at the end of this post.

Local Bookstore Haul

Love at Six Thousand Degrees by Maki Kashimada, Haydn Trowell (Translator)

I have to say, the cover of this book really pulled me in. The cover is a really lovely dark red berry color, with an illustrated girl on the cover in the same color dress. Oddly, you don’t see her face at all as the title is on top of it located on a doodled cloud. Then I ended up picking up the book and looking at the description. It follows a house wife (name is unknown at this time) who has visions and leaves her life behind. It sounded interested and spontaneous. Bonus, the book is under 150 pages. When I got home I added the book to my goodreads and I ended up noticing that this books ratings are not the highest and had only one written review, but I am still intrigued.

The Icepick Surgeon by Sam Kean

When I walked into the store I really wanted to get a nonfiction read or a horror book. Sadly, their horror was VERY limited. Only about 20 books and I will be honest I read them all. So, I ended up picking up the above talked about book and then walking over to the nonfiction and this title grabbed me right away. In recent years I have realized I really enjoy learning about the history of medicine. I have read and loved The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris. While The Icepick Surgeon is medical related, it explore the lengths people will go in to try to prove something. Some of the things in this book are medical, but it seems to focus on science in general.

Pre-Order

Don’t Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones

Now, I wont go too much into this book due to the fact it is the second book in a series. The first book followed Jade Daniels a high school student who LOVES horror. She watches and consumes it to not focus on her not so great home life. But, this knowledge ends up coming in handy since she is about to be in a horror story herself. She deals with quite a lot and can be difficult to read for some. I will say, reading this I can see that Stephen Graham Jones loves horror himself with constant nods to other works. I highly suggest checking it out because I have not been this excited for a horror series in a long time.

Thanks for Reading! ClassicBhaer.com

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For the record: everything I’ve written here is entirely my own opinion.These views do not reflect or represent those of my current or past employers.

Bullet Journal & Planning

February 2023 Bullet Journal

January 29, 2023August 4, 2025 ClassicBhaer1 Comment

Hello and welcome to a little peak of my bullet journal. Last month I did not share my bullet journal because I decided to try something new and if I am being honest, I loved how it worked out. I was in a way worried about sharing because I am not using my bullet journal in a typical mannor, but blending two things together. I decided to make my bullet journal a hybrid with a commonplace book as well as a brain dump. A while ago I did an experiment with the idea of a commonplace book, Let’s Talk | Using a Commonplace Book. I really liked the idea of having a single notebook to just put whatever I wanted, but at the time I made it a separate notebook. This time around I wanted to simplify my life a bit and consolidate things a little by breaking things down by month and adding my random notes, quotes, and information. Along side or in-between that would be my habit trackers, weekly plans, and whatever else I feel like adding to my bullet journal at the time.

Materials

B5 Time for Tea Dot Grid Notebook
Tombow Calligraphy Pen
Libretto Mechanical Pencil – Silver Barrel
Sharpie S-Gel
Plant Based Bride Patreon printouts
Tombow Dual Brush Pens in the colors 401 and 743

Spreads

This month I decided to add a spread to see an overview of my monthly posts as well as a kanban board to better help me keep track of where I am in regards to writing, taking pictures, and scheduling items. On the left I just drew a calendar for the month of February and left it blank so I can write in my posts later on. On the right page I broke it down into four sections; ideas, written, photos, and scheduled. I also placed a few tabs where I can write the title of the post so I can move it across the page as the post is in different sections. I have used this type of tracker in the past and it really worked wonders for me staying on top of things.

The next two spreads are my monthly goals, current WIPs, and my weekly knitting goals. In regards to my monthly goals on the left-hand page I decided to try something new. I really love the look of little calendars as habit trackers and I wanted to give it a go. I decided to have a total of 5 trackers; reading, making, 10,000, no spend, and BUJO. I lined them all up on one side of the page and then next to those I added my goals and current WIPs.

Goals

Read 20 days
Make for 28 days
10,000 steps 14 days
No spend 20 days
Complete 2 projects
Complete 1 book

Current WIPs

Oslo Hat (BF)
Hazel Neck
Underwing Mitts
Big Cozy Cardi

While all of that is on the left page, I decided to put my weekly knitting goals right next to this so everything I would need to reference goal wise is all in one place. I ended up doodling 4 trackers that look like binder or notebook paper. On each one I labeled it with one project that I wanted to work on throughout the month, not necessarily finish it. Then each line on the page was labeled a week by their numbered days, I ended up having a little of January and March in there, but I figured a little overlap is good than cutting anything off.

Lastly, I am going to attempt to use some weekly spreads in here again. I am keeping it simple with each week having its own page. Then from there each day is labeled with the number of the day and a letter for the day of the week. Each day is then further divided into two sections labeled as, events and to do. I wanted to make sure I had a space to add a to do list, because I love a good to do list, so I broke things down this way.

Thanks for Reading! ClassicBhaer.com

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For the record: everything I’ve written here is entirely my own opinion.These views do not reflect or represent those of my current or past employers.

Bullet Journal & Planning

February 2022 Bullet Journal Spread

February 6, 2022August 4, 2025 ClassicBhaer3 Comments

Hello and welcome to my bullet journal! In 2022 I really wanted to jump back into bullet journaling because I realized one thing when not really utilizing it. I FORGET EVERYTHING! I do have a regular planner I run around with, but it is hard to add checklists for long tern goals and similar things. So, I have thankfully been using it in January pretty consistently and if you couldn’t tell, I have actually been blogging! Anyway, I am here to show you what I have going for February.

Items Used

Spreads

First off I really like to have a monthly dash to clearly define where one month starts and ends. I tend to just have the name of the month and an image. This month is obviously February and I added a wintery picture that shows pine branches and two silver hearts in the snow. I really liked how wintery this picture looked and how it tied in love without being over the time for Valentines Day. On the second page I just have the monthly calendar doodled. I highlighted the days I am planning on posting on my blog so they stand out a bit and they don’t pass me by. I decided to use a gray color to go with the cold wintery theme.

This next pair of spreads start with my habit tracker, I ended up adding it last month because I wanted to really see how often I do the tasks I want to do. Most of these are fun/hobby based such as reading, fiber arts, and cross stitch. The other two are no spend and closing the rings on my watch. I really liked the idea of just layout out the number of the day and just highlighting when I meet it. When I had these in the past and needed to color things in I never did it, but a quick highlight really works for me. On the second page I have a blank page with monthly notes. Here I write down when I finish a book or haul one, a memorable event happens, or really just anything I feel like I might want to remember that happens throughout the month. It is really helpful when I do my Monthly Digest posts.

Weekly schedule and Korean study objectives

These next two sets of spreads are new to me this month. On the one side I ended up adding a weekly schedule for myself to follow. I actually made two schedules to try and then use which one works best for me. I really like having daily goals and objectives, it is just how my brain works. If I don’t I end up being unproductive or I try to be productive and get overwhelmed because I have no idea what I should be doing or what needs to be done. On the second page here I have a Korean Study page. I looked up how to write that in Hangeul, hopefully it is right, I figured I would find out for sure the more I study. Anyway, I really want to get back into language learning, I had to put it by the wayside because life got in the way like it does from time to time. I am focusing on learning Hangeul using Becoming a Hangeul Master by Talk to Me in Korean. So, I broke down the book into lessons that are a good size for me and created a study plan. I know it will most likely take more than this month, but I really wanted to get it in the BUJO!

The last spready for the month are a bit bland, but needed by me. Sadly, the first one I can’t share so I added a recent knitting swatch to cover the title. The second page is a spread I have used in the past called a Kanban board. It is a way to help with projects by tracking where in the “production” line they are. I really wanted to use this again when it came to blog writing so I made a board with the four categories: ideas, write, photo, schedule. I am going to use tabs to write the titles and move them as I progress through my writing process.

Thanks for Reading! ClassicBhaer.com

Links to my other socials!

For the record: everything I’ve written here is entirely my own opinion.These views do not reflect or represent those of my current or past employers.