december already!!!
I had journal drafts that I had typed up but never published (oops), so maybe a quick recap here:
ART MARKETS
- Participated in Nightmarket.fun - AANHPI night market style event. It was my 2nd time participating and I have some art friends that are on the staff there which is why I joined. It was my first outdoor type of market (not a huge fan but it was a fun experience).
- I got accepted to vend at Ikkicon for the first time! I apply every year and get rejected, lol. Seems like the jury is getting some fresh faces this time. The venue is only about a 10 min drive from my place, so very ideal.
DRAWING
Not much drawing these days. Anything I draw is posted on bluesky.
I can feel my urge to draw start to ramp up though since it’s December (for some reason I have historically always enjoyed doodling a lot during this time of the year!!)
I also have been meeting up with some local Austin artists (they are all about 10 years younger than me LOL) for a casual monthly doodle session. They are more the shoujo/yumeship style of fandom enjoyers which is sooooo fascinating to me. It’s so interesting to see how people show their love for their favorite characters.
SOCIALS
Lately I have been (what I call) “online in a offline way”. I’m consuming content but avoiding the doomscroll/toxic side.
Free Time Spent:
- playing video games (honkai star rail is still fixation)
- watching/listening to youtube (lately into watching Smosh content - I’m liking their current era and also cozy vlogs)
- READING!! ao3, orig fic, manga/webtoons
My main socials are bluesky and ig, but I’m still very strict with who I follow back and how I post (mostly just me freely posting, not really trying to get engagement).
CROSS STITCH
I started my new project a couple months back. Apparently I am 35 hours into the project haha. There is a lot of color changes.
I’m using my own pattern and also a gridded easy count aida cloth and it is STILL slow going. Which is nice. Right now I am working on a “sky” area so any mistakes aren’t too noticeable.
FOOD/COOKING
Holiday times approach!! So many decadent foods.
For Black Friday I treated myself to a Staub 4qt dutch oven. Something on my wishlist and I liked the discount so I got it! I got the citron (yellow) one — hoping to match the Le Cruset honey pot my sis gifted me for xmas last year.
I made a soup (Zuppa Toscana). I followed a recipe but next time I need to half the ingredients even more. Cooking for 1 is tricky. The good thing is that we got a chilly week this week so a hearty soup is soooo comforting.
I got some new cute plates from H-Mart. I saw an ig poster who makes elaborate set meal plates (looks so intentional and yummy!!) and now looking at these plates from toiro kitchen. So inspiring! I love feeding myself as self-love/self-care. I also really like cafemaddy who specializes in sharing recipes that are great for solo dining.
Most of this will be inspiration for when I’m back on a normal schedule after holidays.
HOME/LIVING
Momo and Poppy are good! Living kitty cat lives. I was out of town for a few days for the holiday and they knocked my crochet bouquet over lol!
I have a 2 week winter break at the end of this month so hopefully I can tidy and clean. Ideally I just need to clean out so many things that I don’t need anymore…
JOURNALING
I know I already mentioned previously but next year I will use the MD 2026! I am very behind on the current journal.
I caved again and got a Hobonichi Weeks for 2026. Too easily swayed by other journalers lol. I do hope to commit to a portable journaling for next year too.
Anyways, that’s all!