I have been quiet but not idle.

Good question!

A lot of things actually! And I am so happy to share it with everyone.

Firstly, I went back to school. I am trying to gain some more schooling and gain some more knowledge. Cause why not? I have always loved school. What is scary about going back to school and learning a few more things. I really do believe that people never stop learning. And I am lucky enough to be in a country that supports education and learning so here I am taking complete advantage of it.

Secondly, I think the back-end of the business is going well. That is everyone’s roles is being done: I get the front end (I set up the shop, think of the designs, do a lot editing on the website, the online store, and the stickers, etc.,), my sister does the ads for the shop, and my brother does all the drawings. (Side note: this is his art Instagram so go ahead and give it a follow.)

Thirdly, I do have a wild goal in life that I do publish a book. One day. I really don’t know what that book will be about and how it will turn out but that is the goal. SO, in terms of working on it, all I am doing is procuring a lot of notebooks and just writing the most random ideas on it; if not notebooks, I do have tons of Word files open. Some of them have chapters on it and some just have the most random paragraphs on the file. At this point, I am not even sure how and where I should publish (traditional or non-traditional like self-publishing or just making my own page on this blog ~ we will see where the wind takes these stories).

Fourth, I have been reading. Since having a full-time job and going to school and working on the shop, reading is put on the backburner. I really don’t have that much time to read (especially, that the books I happen to choose to read aren’t the shortest books either). Though I do find absolute joy in purchasing books, I rarely do have time to actually crack the spine open and read them. Honestly, I do feel bad for the books that have been chilling on my shelf gathering up dust lacking the attention that they deserve and need. I so do hope that I will annotate books and put those fancy book taggers and make the pages thick to make me look smarter. I want to dive head in to those pages and just read to the best of my abilities.

Fifth, since I do read, I journal. When I read books, I annotate, but I don’t exactly write on the book directly. I have sticky note at the ready to “mark the book” and then a notebook beside me to jot down all my ideas. I don’t have exact rules for those journals. Even though I want them to look esthetically pleasing, I do allow them to be as free flowing as they can be. Maybe this will help out the shop to see how I use the stickers. But I do journal and do a lot of those things that cutesy bookstagrammers do but on a more lower and quieter scale. Maybe one day, I will get to post them.

Sixth, I guess this is the last that I have been working on but not the least (actually this list isn’t based on importance nor priority), is be the best teacher that I can be given all the things that are being thrown at me at the school. Wearing these many hats has its plus side and down sides. One thing I am surely working on is avoiding burnout. That’s all.

So, I really haven’t been idle. I am just juggling a lot of things that keep me from being online.