A realistic week in my life | home update, work–life balance & knitting club

Good morning! Today is Monday. I thought I would take you along for a week in my life trying to balance work and personal life and hobbies and just take you along for a week with me. We came back last night quite late from a weekend away and we came back to quite a dirty flat, like dirty and messy. We didn't really have time to clean the flat before we left on Friday and I cannot start my week in a messy flat. I work from home and if my surrounding is not clean and tidy then my brain is not gonna be organized. Like I need many things to be organized around me for me to feel organized. So I didn't go to the gym this morning so I would have time to do some tidying and cleaning. I wiped all the surfaces this morning and tidied so now I'm just gonna clean the kitchen and do some vacuuming before I can start work. But before anything I'm gonna plan my week. It's something I usually do on the Friday night, kind of plan my whole next week but I didn't have time to do it as we left for the weekend. So this morning I'm just gonna plan my whole week, my like all my work things, my appointments, my date with friends or whatever. Just to have a bit of a clear image of what my week is gonna look like. I used to plan my like days and weeks on like paper planners. I'm kind of liking, to be honest, as much as I like writing things down on paper. I also quite like planning the whole week on Notion. So anyway, happy Monday! Let's start this week on the right foot in a clean space, feeling organized. Let's start with some planning then I'll go and do some so much better about that and I feel like I can start the week right and start my work day. I've got my laptop with me and I'm gonna try and lock in for the rest of the morning, try and get as much as I can done before lunch. And the most satisfying thing now is that I can tick cleaning the house on my little daily to-do list. So yeah, I'm just gonna be here working away so I will catch you a bit later. I just finished work and I'm getting ready because I'm about to meet a friend for a drink and I'm going a bit early because I want to stop in a yarn shop because I want to buy some needles and also because I have this little project of making slippers for my family for Christmas. Here a photo of the slippers I'm gonna make. How cute are they? The thing is I need to make I think seven of them and I have seven weeks to make them so that's gonna be really really tight. I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do it but I'm gonna try to and before ordering the wool online I want to go to that little yarn shop just to see if they have it because I always rather support local little shops than buy online. I'm gonna go and see if they have it. I'm gonna get the needles in any case because I don't have that size of needles and then I will meet my friend and it's gonna be quite nice. I think I'm only gonna have probably like a tea or herbal tea or something. I don't want to have alcohol every time I go for a drink especially because it's Monday night. I want to go and work out tomorrow morning and wake up and feel good. I feel like sometimes I really get in the habit of just having a glass of wine or a beer every time I go for a drink outside especially in the evening. I kind of want to break out of that habit because even if it's just one glass I don't think my body loves it you know and it's not like I'm going out a whole lot but actually I have quite a few social interactions this week so yeah I don't want to... Anyway I don't know why I'm justifying myself but I think I'm just gonna have a little tea. Anyway let's get ready and hopefully I can find that yarn. Good morning, happy Tuesday. I woke up this morning, kind of had planned to go for a run. Today is a public holiday so the gym is closed and so Finn and I kind of planned to go for a run like as soon as we woke up but we didn't and I'm gonna be honest it's so hard to find discipline at the moment. I think I'm probably not the only one feeling this way. I feel like the fact that it's so cold when we wake up and like my bed is so warm and cozy it's just really hard to find motivation to go outside especially for a run. I actually really want to go back to running, I feel like I have really stopped. I haven't run in like honestly probably two months. I actually miss it. I really liked running, like it really was a hobby of mine but I feel like I hurt myself so easily that I kind of like stopped at some point. I was just tired of feeling pain every time I was running which I mean is fair. I really want to try and go back to it maybe more slowly like not try and like run fast or anything just try and run for the fun of it. The weather is not helping, I find it really hard to run when it's cold. So anyway we kind of had a bit of a slow morning, didn't go outside not even for a walk. I know it's bad. I think I'm away again this weekend, I was away last weekend and I think from next week I will be back. I won't have any time away for a while until Christmas probably and I think I'm probably gonna try and like lock in, go back to the gym like at least three times a week and maybe try and do like one run on top of that. I'm good with my walks, like I'm actually getting my 10k steps pretty much every day which is good so like I am moving. I think it's also good to work out a bit harder sometimes but yeah as I was saying today is a public holiday. As I'm a freelancer I'm gonna do some work anyway because when you're freelance public holiday don't really apply. So I have some work to do this morning and then I'm actually meeting a friend for coffee after lunch so that's gonna be nice. I actually have quite a social week this week which is unlike me but I'm actually seeing people every single day and I'm going away this weekend so I know I'm gonna be really overwhelmed next week and probably gonna have to like not see anyone for a few days before I start socializing again but I'm not complaining, I'm really happy to see my friend. Also yesterday I didn't find the needles I was looking for so I might try and go today to another shop to find it, we'll see. I've installed my little office and I have my little blanket. I bought this blanket a couple of weeks ago because ours was looking quite old and not really warm and it's so nice, it's huge and it's so warm and so soft I'm obsessed. So it's literally my second skin at the moment and I'm also wearing this jumper which I'm actually so happy to be able to wear again because it's one of my favorite. My grandma made it years and years ago for my dad. It's really warm, it's probably like 100% wool so I'm really happy I can wear it, this is the good side of the cold weather. I'm ready to go and meet my friend, I've put my hair up because I find it very overwhelming to have my hair down in winter if I'm wearing a scarf and stuff. This is the outfit for today, very simple. And back home I had such a good timing, met with my friend, I even found the needles I needed for my next project. I didn't find the wool though so I just ordered it online and hopefully it's not gonna take too long to arrive so I can start on it. I'm really not sure I'm gonna be able to do seven pairs of slippers by Christmas but I'm gonna try and do as much as I can. Finn is actually keen to learn how to knit just to make sure we have it on time. I am getting cozy, Finn is making some dinner. I have lit the candles, put a cute little mood, I'm about to watch some youtube and do a bit of knitting. I'm still working on the bag I was working on last time, that's kind of the plan for the evening and then probably gonna try and have an early night so we can go to the gym tomorrow and hopefully have enough motivation but I think we will. So yeah, I will see you tomorrow morning probably. Happy Wednesday! I haven't really picked up my camera this morning because I've been to the gym and then worked all morning and I'm not done, we just had lunch. I'm really happy I went to the gym this morning, I'm very happy with myself. My alarm went off and I knew if I didn't get up in the next five minutes I would find excuses so I just got up and went to the gym and I'm really proud of myself for it. It felt really nice moving my body a little bit and it's crazy how energized I feel on the days I'm going to the gym and on the days I'm not. I just, I feel like most of the time my mood is better, I don't know, I just feel more energized, the vibes are better. Also I removed my nails last night, I found a little tutorial online to like how to remove it without damaging your nails and it worked pretty well. I think I damaged them a little bit but it's not too bad because I'm gonna get my nails done tomorrow and you know I thought if I can save 15 years on the removal of the nails then I might as well. I did it myself, now the big challenge is to not break them before tomorrow but anyway I'm about to do something I'm very excited about because I bought these dish racks, I have two of them from Ikea. I'm gonna use them as book holders. My thinking is to put them somewhere on the wall, I don't know where yet but probably this wall and then just stack books on it. I've seen people do it, it looks really good. I am just a bit scared because it means I need to make holes in my wall because I don't think that the double-faced tape will be strong enough to hold books. So I got these little nails, I don't know if you can see and like yeah I hope it'll be fine our landlord is fine with it and I think we can recover them quite easily when we leave anyway but it's still a bit stressful. I just called my dad because obviously who else to call when you need advice about making holes in a wall and he said I should put four nails on each corner. I've got Finn here to help me with it. I'm actually kind of excited because I've been thinking that this wall just looks very empty for a long time. I've been wanting to do something with it like put art on it or something but I feel like putting books is just so nice I'm so happy with the result. I just hope now that the nails can hold. I actually just put two for each rack and hopefully that'll be enough and then we took advantage of being in the midst of it to also put this up which is a little art piece that we bought when we were in Malaysia earlier this year and I love this combo it's so nice like this little corner has so much more life now I really really like it I just hope really really hope that it stays. I think our neighbors probably hate us right now because we've been putting ten no six nails in the wall and this flat like and this building is like you can hear everything everyone so yeah hopefully they don't hate us too much but I am obsessed it's so nice I'm so so happy we've done this I'm about to head out I just had a little snack tonight is the knitting club I have been going every time since it started and to be fair that's only the third time but I'm highly enjoying it it's so much fun and I feel like it's fitting my love for knitting even more because it's quite nice to meet people who are also into it and you can chat about the different projects and stuff and I'm just meeting really nice people there so I am facing this corner and I'm I love it I don't know why we didn't do it earlier honestly but it's I don't know having something on this wall it's just changing everything I think it's so nice I'm going with my project my bag project project which as you see is really not much bigger than last time and I like especially because I had to undo half of it almost because I did something wrong oh I also wanted to show you I wanted to show you my jumper it's the first time I'm wearing it and it's a jumper my mom made how cool is that it's this really nice like chocolate color and it's the perfect jumper it's literally the most perfect jumper she knitted it and she started a while ago and I saw her last weekend so she gave it to me but I am so obsessed with it it's 100 wool so it's so warm and I feel like it's the perfect shape like the sleeves are the perfect length and even here like it's perfect length it's a bit oversized but not too long I love it I'm wearing it with some big trousers and also it goes so well with my little scarf that I've made like the mix of the red with the brown it's just so nice and I've also put this little stone necklace because I thought it looked good with it and this tiger eye ring too which I think looks good with it I shall go because I don't want to be too late so let's go and do some knitting good morning happy thursday I'm getting ready to go to the gym and try and get a little workout in it's 11 30 so it's actually quite late to go to the gym I was kind of lazy to go as soon as I woke up kind of wanted to have some food in my stomach and then wanted to digest it before going to the gym so that's why it's so late I went to bed a bit late yesterday so I felt a bit too tired to go and work out as soon as I woke up so I just decided to start my day I started my work and I don't know I'm feeling a bit cabin fever so I feel like I shall go and move my body a little bit I'm super lazy and yeah it's 11 30 I have a nail appointment at 2 30 2 15 so it won't be a big workout but I'm thinking it's still gonna be nice to move a bit I think I'm gonna do a lower body workout as I did like upper body earlier this week trying to find the courage to actually do it and then after that I will have a good shower and wash my hair because it is quite dirty and also I didn't catch you up on last night but it was really nice as per usual I think I'm just gonna go back as much as I can to this little knitting club it was just really fun hanging out with like-minded girlies and talk about knitting and other things as well obviously had a lot of fun it was really nice I think I came back around like I was home around 11 and I probably didn't go to bed until like 12 that's late for me I feel like if I have less than eight hours of sleep then I'm tired the day after which is the case today but that's okay I don't need to I'm probably not gonna do like cardio stuff my work recovery is not really high so I think I'm just gonna do some squats and stuff like that like lower body stuff I just don't really like starting my work day without having been out yet like every time it makes me feel a bit like a bit cabin fever like I feel I don't feel fully awake until I have been outside so anyway this is me yapping and procrastinating going to the gym and it's already late enough so let's do it okay I turned my morning around I went to the gym I had a full shower my hair is finally clean had some lunch Finn made some lunch I just got ready because I'm going to go and get my nails done like twice in a row that's crazy that's very unlike me but I don't know I just love getting my nails done so much I don't know what I'm gonna do though I'm gonna do some like gel I'm not gonna get like fake long ones like I had before I think I'm just gonna get the gel I think that's how you call it to make it stronger and look a bit like bigger and I'm hesitating between like a nude color or a sort of red kind of like my jumper but I feel like because they're kind of short I think color will be nicer and maybe when they're longer I can go back to like something a bit more nude I don't know we'll see I guess I'll probably decide on the spot because I can't really decide I'm not gonna do any nail art or anything I think just some plain color I'm wearing this very cute little jumper which I thrifted a couple of weeks ago and this was like I don't I think it was like three euros and I think it's cute it's giving grandma vibes but if you didn't get it yet my vibe is grandma vibes I've been a grandma my whole life I think today I'm actually a grandma I'm just gonna be like yeah I know how to do it okay let's go I've been back home for a little bit I've been working away at my usual spot just made myself a little nettle tea I also wanted to show you my nails which are very classic I went for like a a dark red as I was saying earlier it's gel so it's like really strong I can't wait for them to like grow and keep doing gel hopefully if I have the budget I'll keep doing gel and then they will look like the brown ones I had before but it will be my own I think it's cute I like it very classic I went to that new nail salon I went to last time which is my fave they're so thorough they do such a good job and it's not that expensive compared to other salons and they gave me the best compliment which was that they asked if they could take a photo of my nails once it was done for their social media which for me when I go and get my nails done and they ask me if they can take photos of my hands I'm like there there we go she also said that it was because I had nice rings so yeah I take the compliment and that kind of made my day if I'm being honest I feel like little compliments are not to be underestimated because they usually go a long way and then after that I had to run a couple of errands I had to buy some shampoo and stuff and I found this really cute little pouch which was on sale I feel like they resell at the moment for some reason but I think it's really sweet I don't know what I'm gonna put in it yet but I feel like it's probably gonna stay in my bag and put some cards or something in it I don't know but I thought it was super cute so yeah I'm probably gonna keep working gonna lock in for the rest of the day and actually there was this app that I wanted to tell you about which I have been using for a good week I think and it's been a game changer lately I've really been trying to reduce my screen time I'm not too good at this especially working from home like I so often get distracted with my phone and would like go on instagram or tiktok like quite easily almost as a reflex honestly which is quite scary and I saw a creator who was saying that she's using an app called opal opal I'm using the free version it's so good it's an app blocker and I have tried a lot of those but this one and obviously that's sponsored I have tried quite a lot of apps to help with productivity and this one is so far the one that's worked the best for me so I recommend if you're like me and get distracted easily or like if you're doing a task that's not really interesting and you just find yourself reaching for your phone really easily then you should definitely try it out it's free so we love that also as I'm talking to you I am facing our new our new little bookshelf situation and oh my god I love it so much this corner has like I don't know putting stuff on the wall has really made such a big difference it's actually insane the only downside to putting this on the walls is that I kind of wanted to use this bare wall as a projector screen because I really want to get a video projector still don't know which one to get again if you I think I've asked this before and no one replied but never know if you know any good video projector that's not too expensive then please put it in the comments but now that we have this it means that if we do get a video projector I'm gonna have to remove the little bookshelf and the painting which I guess it's not such a big deal but that's the only downside anyway I am yapping about things you guys probably don't even care about and I'm probably gonna wrap up this look here actually because I feel like it's probably quite long but I hope you enjoyed spending the week with me definitely enjoyed this format of vlogging like a little bit every day and taking you with me like throughout the whole week so let me know if you liked it I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day and as per usual I will see you next Sunday for a new vlog bye