My First Bullet Journal

Hey there! Hope you had a fab weekend. For this weeks post I thought i’d talk about my first bullet journal. My daughter Jade bought me this gorgeous teal notebook & 20 fineliner pens for Christmas as i’ve always wanted to give bullet journaling a try. I have watched many YouTube videos & pinned many posts on Pinterest but have never considered myself as arty enough to have one of my own.

For my first attempt I thought that a 2019 goals would be a good place to start. Although I found it very calming & enjoyable, I also found it very difficult to get it perfect. As a bit of a perfectionist this drove me a bit mad as I had to keep going back over things hence why so many of the words ended up chunky. I know that it will take time & practice & mistakes will happen but I will continue to practice & hopefully improve. In the meantime I think I may invest in the book below, “How to bullet plan” to help me get started. Do you have a bullet jounal? I would love to have a look! Let me know in the comments below & I’ll be back next Monday with a new blog post. 

Cheerio xxx

Doing more of what makes me happy!

Hello everyone! Welcome back to the blog. What an amazing start to 2019 it has been. If you follow me on Instagram(Donna Dyble) you will have seen my 2019 goals which included doing more things that make me happy. Well i’ve certainly been giving it a good go so far!

I started the New Year by travelling 106 miles north to visit my son Leo & his boyfriend Dean in Newcastle for 5 days. It was lovely to see them both between their work shifts & Amelia, Dean & I even managed a day out at Beamish Open Air Museum while Leo was sleeping off his nightshift(bless). Beamish is a place I highly recommend to anyone & once you’ve paid to get in once you can use your ticket again for a full year after. Check out the website for more info but expect a dedicated post on Beamish as I just love the place.

Once back home I was determined to keep up with my promise to myself of getting out of the house more so I took myself off for a solo day to the pretty little village of Warter in East Yorkshire where I cooed over gorgeous chocolate box cottages & an ancient church with stunning stained glass windows.

The very same day I also stopped in at the Madyahmaka Meditation Centre In Pocklington which is within Kilnwick Percy Hall. I picked up some lovely gemstones in the gift shop & had an hours reflection in the world peace cafe whilst sipping hot roibos tea. It was a truly peaceful & relaxing afternoon there & is a place i love & return to often.

Finally, my daughter Jade asked me to go for an impromptu day out to the historic city of York on Sunday which for us both is only a 40 minute drive away. Since Jade moved to Leeds I have seriously missed our girly time so I jumped at the chance. We had a blast acting like tourists & taking pics at the Minster(see cover photo) & going for afternoon tea at the famous Battys Tea Room. York is great for window shopping with its quaint cobbled alleyways & curiosity shops. Our favourite area of York is The Shambles which has buildings dating back to the 14th Century. It’s definitely another must visit place.


So, now you know what i’ve been up to so far this year. Do you have any places you can recommend to me for a little day out that you love to go to. Let me know by leaving a comment below. Thanks for reading & just remember, “If you want light to come into your life, you need to stand where it is shining”.  Lots of love. Donna xxx

THE HAPPINESS TOOL KIT - Whats inside the box

Hello & welcome back! Hows your New Year going? In yesterdays post I started to tell you about my “Happiness Tool Kit” & todays post is sharing whats inside the box. These are the tools I will be using throughout 2019 to keep me on track for a happier, healthier & more positive year. 

I am a bit of a notebook tart but the two that I have chosen from my collection to use for 2019 are these lovelies. The grey one was a gift from my friend & has a beautiful hand written message inside. It allows me to make small notes of reflection each day & then highlight the best thing that happened each week too. The pink notebook started out life as a gratitude journal & I will continue to use it for this. I will show you inside these notebooks in a future post. 

I discovered In The Moment magazine in October & have enjoyed the calming & positive nature of the magazine. I received a 13 month subscription as a Christmas gift & am looking forward to each & every issue. Soul & Spirit magazine is a brand new discovery for me & I bought it for the pack of affirmation cards that came with it. Its such an interesting magazine & I can see that I will repurchase this from time to time throughout 2019 as my interest in this area grows. 

Finally In my Happiness Tool Kit is a free calender I received with a copy of In The Moment magazine. It comes with 12 beautiful illustrations & positive quotes. I will hang this by my bedside so that I can be inspired from the moment I wake up. In 2019 I want to get out of the habit of going on social media just before bed so I will instead try to spend 20 minutes colouring in this colour yourself calm adult colouring book which was another freebie from the Soul & Spirit magazine.

So there you have it. The contents of my little box of happiness tools. The contents of this box may grow throughout 2019 in which case I will share my finds with you. I will be writing about other ways in which I intend to stay happy, healthy & calm in future blog posts so why not follow my blog & come back to read more. I love to chat too & would love to know what you do to help you stay happy. Leave me a comment & let me know. Just remember, “HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE WE MAKE”. Lots of love & positive vibes. Donna xxx