urban:eve

creative living | everyday solutions

Budapest Indie Guide: art shops, things to see, all the coffee & cake

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Budapest Indie Guide: bring your phrasebook!

Whenever someone hears that I used to live in Budapest, the thing they immediately tell me is how the beer is so cheap and it’s a great city for stag/hen do’s. It sure is, but having lived there for 12 years as an introverted non-drinker artsy girl, I can tell you there’s another side of this wonderful city you might not know if you’re just there for the parties and beer :)

There are some lovely gems in the capital of Hungary, and if you’re into independent shops, art, and lesser known venues, you might want to check these out next time you’re there! They definitely have a Brightonian vibe, it’s no wonder I feel so home now in ‘London by the sea‘.

Here is my Budapest indie guide!

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Printable calendar for March

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Spring is in the air — get ready for March with this pretty printable calendar! It has plenty of space for notes and to do’s as well. Print it in A4 and hang it on your wall (washi tape is awesome for temporary things), or print it in A5 and add it to your L-size filofax or planner! :) Happy planning!

3×20 mini challenges to brighten your day, whatever your mood

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Make your day better by doing something different or fun! It doesn’t have to be a thing, you don’t even need an excuse to do it. A random Tuesday is reason enough. ‘Just because‘ makes it perfectly justified! Here are 60 challenges to remind you that change can start small. All it takes is one step.

Step one: How do you feel today? Click on the text and find your challenge!
Step two: Pick one challenge at random. Don’t overthink it! You know which will be the best one? The one you actually do.
Step three: Do it! :)

Good! | Meh. | Shitty.

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Printable Christmas Planner for 2017 [freebie]

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As you prepare for this Christmas,
setting your goals and planning ahead will help you
avoid chaos while feeling more grounded and in control

The end of December is a chaotic time, no matter where you are. Gifts, decorations, chores, food, events, travel, visitors – even if you are able to delegate some of your tasks, this time of year is a daunting exercise in planning and logistics. And it’s so easy to get lost in all the chaos and miss out on the most important thing – you, getting some well-earned rest and relaxation.

With this in mind, I designed my annual Christmas planner to help you achieve clarity and minimise holiday chaos – and this year, based on reader feedback for past editions, the planner is bigger and better than ever!

To use the Christmas planner, just print out the pages you need, fill them out, and just glance at your notes to know where you are in the many processes going on at once this time of year. There are separate worksheets from errands to decorations to gifts and self-care, and even intentions and reflections.

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Print & Frame! Posters for your home

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These A4 posters are perfect for your entrance hall — if you’re feeling fancy, frame them, or just print and tape (with washi) to your door! :) The house rules would look nice in a kitchen or a living room as well.

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Waiting for Spring

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A few of my favourites recently — paper calendar from Flow (the best magazine ever!) with illustrations, lovely quotes and ideas for every day of the year ❤️ British Rose body butter (The Body Shop) for a lovely rose scent and plump skin ❤️ Roses All The Way soap (Lush) for more rose scent, because reasons :D ❤️ Unapologetic Lipstick (Revlon) for all the days I’m not bothered to do any make-up apart from lips ❤️ Thick & Fast mascara (Soap and Glory) from my sis ❤️ Essentials magazine for ideas ❤️ and flowers from IKEA (not real, but still pretty)

Printable motivational planner [freebie]

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Download the planner!

Say goodbye to 2015 and greet 2016 with a plan! In recent years, it has been a tradition at our house to spend the last day of the year with reflecting on the past 12 months, discussing our happiest and hardest moments, appreciating the challenges that shaped us, finding things to be grateful for, and making plans and setting intentions for the new year. We like to write things down, because if you have to phrase your feelings and goals, it’s always more concrete than when the feelings just float about in your head. It also makes a good keepsake, and it helps to see how far we’ve become.

If you’d like to try this out, I have a great printable freebie for you! :) This customisable planner will help you reflect on 2015 and setting goals for 2016 — with pages and pages of prompts, fill-out sentences and questions that lead you to your answers, goal lists, inspiration, resolutons, ideas, and, on the practical side, blank (dateless) pages for your agenda. These pages include: year at a glance, month on 2 pages, week on 2 pages (with space for most important tasks, meal plan and water tracker!), daily planner for busy days (with meal plan, to do’s and shopping list), a list for birthdays, cleaning lists, and an important page for screenings and checkups.

The pages are not numbered, so feel free to print only the pages you need. The planner is a size A4/A5, and can fit into a size L filofax (ring binder).

Printable Christmas Planner [freebie]

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christmasplanner2015

Celebrate the holidays the way you truly want to! This printable Christmas Planner is 35 pages long with tons of prompts, lists, tables, space for drawing, ideas, plans and feelings, and it’s not only useful, it’s also pretty: I added cute watercolour illustrations all over the pages. You can either print it in standard A4 size, or use your printers 2-pages-in-1 setting, that will make it A5. The A5 is great as well because you can fit the planner inside a Large or A5-sized ringed planner / filofax / what have you. :)

Click here for the 2017 Christmas Planner!

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“So much to do! Time for a nap” How I finally learned to beat procrastination

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Beat procrastination

I once saw a mug with Queen of Procrasti Nation (sic!) written on it, pretty crown included, of course. By the time I decided on buying, the store ran out of it. Now that’s irony, Alanis!

Avoiding duty is way too familiar. Did you notice that the smarter you are, the smarter excuses you can create? And you’re too smart for your own good, since you so easily convince yourself to not do things. Yeah, starting a Netflix marathon before starting work on your project the day before the very important deadline is a genius idea. So is looking at your to do list, adding ‘take a nap’ and immediately ticking it off. (I hope I’m not the only one adding stuff I’ve already done to my to do list just to scratch the hell out of them!)

It’s all good, right until the deadline kicks in and you panic and scramble and mess up. Sometimes it feels like an extreme sport. Yay, the adrenaline rush of being late and missing out on stuff! Almost there… almost there…! Sure, sometimes you make it just in time so you can pat yourself on the back for being so resourceful. Almost feels like success. Still, the decision to avoid the laundry list of things to do will inevitably ruin all the Netflix marathons and naps and reading sessions, since the nagging little voice is always there in the back of your head: Hey, you should be doing other things!

It took me long enough to realise overwhelm was the main reason I routinely avoided my to do lists. (If I even had one! Writing the tasks down is half the solution, by the way.) There is just soooo much to do. Work stuff. Home stuff (sub-stuff of home stuff: cleaning, cooking, decluttering). Other People stuff (friends, family, spouse). And, yeah, Me stuff. Where do I begin? Everything should be done, of course, but where do I start? Oh screw it, I’m not dealing with any of this.

And then I didn’t and it piled up and I was buried under all the lovely little items.

The funny thing was that as soon as I started doing something, the ball got rolling and I managed to continue ticking things off my list. So then, to trick my mind, I started little tactics to get me started, because, I figured, that’s my entry point to Getting Things Done land — and my way out from overwhelm.

1. Start at the beginning

Don’t measure tasks based on which is more urgent than the other if that spirals you down into analysis paralysis. Start with the first one on the list. Or the last one. Can’t decide where the ‘beginning’ is? Pick one task at random. Or close your eyes and point somewhere on your piece of paper. Do a raffle. Or something. Just don’t waste too much time on drawing pretty little stars on your paperslips and scavenging your granddad’s old top hat from the attic to draw all of them from. Please. Don’t.

2. Just start… somewhere

Sometimes there is no way you can start at the beginning. I think this is especially true with creative stuff. Back when I started writing my book, I decided that the proper way to begin is at Chapter 1, paragraph 1, and continue from there onwards. Naturally. Except I had ideas for Chapter 8 before I had anything written down for Chapter 2, and I had loads of pages with stuff I didn’t even know which chapters they were for yet!

Didn’t matter. I wrote when I was in the mood for writing, wherever that decided to fit in the end. When I had no creative juice for actual writing, I edited. Do whichever part feels right! Not in the zone for product development? Answer e-mails. Pay your bills. Write a shopping list. Pair socks. Whatever. Just start working on that great pile of to-dos and make it smaller. Bit by bit. [Read more…]

The Staycationer’s Goodie Bag – gift a friend with summer in a box!

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summerinabox

Is there someone in your life who’s in desperate need of a vacation? If you’re not in the position to gift that special person a plane ticket to a remote island — not yet, anyway! ;) –, you can still pack them a goodie bag with awesome, summery gifts that will make them smile. Are you that special, vacation-deprived someone? Surprise yourself with something nice. #treatyoself

12+1 ideas on what to include in a staycationer’s goodie bag

  1. one (or two!) sheets of gold, metallic temporary tattoos — everyone’s crazy about them, and I say go with the flow, they’re fun and perfect for summer. Even if you are well over your teenage years and cannot get a proper tan — like me! :) They’re everywhere, but if you’re in for a bargain, you can get them from eBay.
  2. something that smells really nice, like this coconut shower cream from The Body Shop. This smell screams summer for me, probably from all the coconut-scented sunblock my mother lathered me with as a kid. :)
  3. something to read! I really love Coastliners from Joanne Harris (and I’m not calling it a ‘beach read’, since she so rightfully pointed out how degrading this term is to female writers). You could also buy some nice glossies or a puzzle/crosswords magazine. Yay for sudoku in the sun!
  4. a few packets or a whole box of good quality tea! Serve piping hot or chilled with sprigs of mint and some honey — yum. English Tea Shop makes amazing blends and I just love the packaging. My favourites for warm weather are Super Berries and Green Tea Tropical.
  5. bath salts! Even if the sea is far, far away, one can enjoy the salty water with the help of these. Again, pretty packaging helps and decorates your bathroom. :) The one on the picture is from Bomb Cosmetics.
  6. a blank journal — for thoughts, gratitude list, daily diary, drawings… If your friend likes stationery, this is a great gift. And suprise, this one is from IKEA!
  7. a scented candle — I’m a candle-girl all year around. From March until October, it’s the go to ‘ooh, we’re outside, candle-lit dinners, summer, yay!’ accessory, and from November until February it’s the ultimate Christmas cuddling staple. I never need an excuse to light one! :) Though I do switch the scents up. Orange-cinnamon for Winter, and flowery-seaside scents for Summer. Yankee Candle products have pretty containers as well.
  8. decorative seashells — just to put them on shelves or glue them on boxes. You can buy them in craft stores if there’s no seashore to collect them from. :)
  9. cute cupcake liners — I use these around the house for small stuff, like cotton balls or paperclips. Buy them here. :)
  10. a fun pair of sunglasses! — just check if they’re UV safe and you’re good to go. These cuties are from ASOS.
  11. a home-made book of coupons with rewards like ‘have an ice cream with me’ or ‘let’s watch the sunset together’. If you have special events planned, include the invitation for a movie night or to go and see a play together.
  12. a mixtape — if you’re not fan of CDs anymore (my first mixtape was an actual cassette, still have it!), you could do a YouTube playlist with really cheesy summer anthems. Ours was Lady from Mojo. :D

+1. If you’re going to give the care package in person, you can also include perishables: a bottle of elderflower cordial for a special lemonade, chocolate, biscuits, etc. :)

Get the most out of your summer, wherever you’re staying

Make sure summer doesn’t pass you by and leave you burned out by September with my simple summer planning strategy, the Summer Top 10 List. The list is perfect for balancing work and rest and also a great tool to keep your staycation plans in front of you so you actually make them a reality this year.

Click here to get your printable Summer Top 10 List

 

Now it’s your turn!

What else would you put in a summer gift box? Let me know in the comments!

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