*Healthy* Productive Week As An Artist 🎀 work-life balance, client work, running my shop, Portland

The next couple of days are going to be quite busy because on Thursday, we're flying to Oregon. So that means I have a lot to get done. Wait, what time is it? Hey Google, what time is it? 9.06am I'm trying out a new matcha today. I usually get like the Emma Chamberlain one and that one was pretty good. I don't think I put enough matcha. Oh, there's matcha all over me now. Oh, yeah, that's definitely resetting my nervous system. Got about 23 minutes before the meeting. Morning pages. Hi! That was such a nice stretch. As the days are going by, I just feel my body getting increasingly stiffer and stiffer the more I'm just sitting at my computer working all day long. On today's agenda, I'm gonna work on some client work for Notability. I am designing a new set of stickers for them. I haven't actually taken on client work in a long time. It's kind of nice to change up the routine with work and do work for other people once in a while instead of just for myself because there's more structure in a way. I'm not gonna lie, that yoga stretch made me kind of sleepy though. I kind of feel a little sleepy. I think someone's scared of the gardener. Are you scared of the gardener? It's okay. Okay, we can hide. Hey you, you opened up so much for me, shouldn't you? You're like a whole different cat. Earl just rubbed you guys. Okay, we're gonna work for 25 minutes. Yay! First step, I'm gonna take a photo. Comfort to ink. I'm gonna take a little break and pack some orders. I don't have enough energy for the rest of today to start designing new products, so I've swapped it out for some easier tasks that I know I can do without much energy and I've just decided to put more of my time into the client work because I just like doing it more than... I just prefer doing that more today, so that will be great. And also, I have plenty of time. We aren't rushing things. I have time tomorrow if I just do all the small things today. So, whoa, when did we get so many secret shop orders? Thank you, that is so nice. Now that spring is here, I feel like this is the perfect opportunity to take in all of this new growth as a way to inspire you to pursue your passion projects. Whether you want to pursue something artistic and creative or you want to start your own online business, Squarespace will be able to provide all of these different features that will get you started. And did I mention that it's actually very simple and easy and whenever I start something that seems intimidating, I always try to find the easiest way for me to just get going. You could start a completely personalized website with their new guided design system called Squarespace Blueprint. You can choose from very professionally curated layouts and style your own unique online presence from the ground up to match your brand or your business. And with their optimized SEO tools, you can show up more often to more people and grow the way you want. If you would like to try out Squarespace, head to squarespace.com for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use my code APPLECHEEKS for 10% off your first purchase of a website or a domain. Also, I recently got in my stickers for April and they turned out so cute. The print is upstairs, but the print is pretty much also the Longboy Doggo. They're transparent stickers, so it's going to be really fun. But this guy, super cute. Anyways, okay. If you ever wonder what it sounds like in my head when I'm packing orders like this, I'm literally just reading the first word of every product. So I was trying to grab these stickers and in my head I was thinking, girl, shrimp, bunny fairy. And I just do that for every single order. Rock, pear, anxiety, moth, mushroom. Marshmallow, flower, red. Finishing work before the sun even starts going down, that in itself is so much motivation to wake up the next day and continue working. And you're telling me I can enjoy the nice bright rooms and read a book and just like relax? I love spring. I love spring so much. Thank you, spring. It's been a while since I read. I got in a really bad social media addiction loop for the past few months, so I was not touching my Kindle at all. I've had the creative act in my wish list for the longest time and I got it. Because for some reason the e-book was on sale and I had a bunch of credits. So this book has been everywhere, like everyone's been reading it. And now I can be a part of the club. I love that this book starts off with this. Nothing in this book is known to be true. It's a reflection on what I've noticed, not facts so much as thoughts. Some ideas may resonate, others may not. If you may awaken an inner knowing you forgot you had. Use what's helpful, let go of the rest. Each of these moments is an invitation to further inquiry, looking deeper, zooming out or in. Opening possibilities for a new way of being. A whole bag of cookies later, I'm done. This is what we ended up with, my 20 rough sketches of designs. My favorite part of client work is this phase, like the black and white drawings. It's not even like the final drawings, but this is just so satisfying. Kind of looks like a sleeve of tattoos, except not really. I'm just gonna email this over and try to get it approved and then I can work on it more when I get back from my trip. Okay, I'm gonna screen cap it and send them the screen cap so that they know it was made in their own app. Maybe he's trying to court you. I'm just gonna keep cutting wood. I don't know what's going on. I'm gonna be so honest, we're on a struggle bus today. I made myself some coffee. I've been pretty good at not drinking coffee, but we're gonna need it today. My boyfriend got me this little penguin mug when he went to South Africa. Look at him, so cute. I always get a little antsy right before any trip. It doesn't really matter like how long or how short the trip is. I always get like that anxiety right before. Feeling like I'm not sure if I'm able to finish all the things I want to finish before that trip, which is kind of annoying because honestly, it doesn't have to get done. I don't have to finish all these things, but for some reason, I like to jam pack my schedule so full right before a trip so that I can just let loose and just not think about work at all while I'm traveling. I usually have my everyday written out on my Notion calendar, but on those days where I'm like really, really anxious, I always find that it helps to like write it out by hand. I'm sure some of you can relate, but it just makes the goals and like the to-do list feel more tangible versus like something that's just I typed out at the beginning of the week. I also wanted to try out the stickers I designed. They're not done yet. They're still in like sketch format, but I kind of like the little motivational bunnies everywhere. It makes me... I don't know, when I look at them, I feel kind of good. I used one of the templates I found on Notability. They have a bunch of like really cool weekly planners and like habit trackers and cute stickers that you can use. If you would like, you can get more than 50% off your first year. Also, I'm so excited to have a new set of stickers on there. I really like the first set of stickers I designed for them, but it also feels like a lifetime ago because I was probably like two plus years ago and it's cool to see like how my style has kind of evolved since then. Good morning. It's 10 34. I think we have to head out at around a little bit after 12. I still also have to mail some orders, so let's finish packing up so I can get other things done and out of the way. Are you excited? I'm excited. Oh.