#might buy a planner idk

[stellaralignment]

Quash hopelessness

Frantic hack better than not

Learn from your mistakes

[ooliviakate]

the audacity of my body and mind actually feeling better when I exercised before work 🙄

[ithinkabouttzu]

Hi idk if you’re taking requests 😭😭😭 but if you are, may I request soobin celebrating readers bday? Something fluffy or suggestive idc😓

Soobin Celebrating your birthday

Okay i think he’d go all out for this one

He’s like a mom planning for their kids birthday

Like binnie would be the type to give you a whole surprise party

and I just know he would go ALLLL out on it

Like he’s calling all your friends to make sure they can come, getting a super cute cake for you, setting up all the balloons, decorations, everything. Bro is actually an amazing planner

And when you get there he would just give you the biggest bug and kiss

He would have a huge smile on his face the whole time, he’s so happy to spend time with you for your birthday and he loves seeing you being happy

He thinks you should be celebrating everyday tbh

He’d remind you your whole birthday how special you are to him and how he was so glad you were born

I think he’d also like make a sweet little dinner reservation for you guys maybe like the weekend of your birthday , he’d take you out to the NICEST restaurant ever

And after he might take you to get your fav dessert and a cute walk around the city

I also think he’d be soooo good at gift giving

Like if there was something you had wanted for a while he would definitely buy it for you

Along with a million other giftsss

Like he just HAS to spoil his bae and if that means his bank account is screaming then so be it

oh and we have to talk about the night of your birthday and how much he would love you 😏

You would walk into the room and he would have a bunch of rose petals on the floor and mini candles everywhere

you’d see him in the bathroom in the sexiest outfit EVERRRR

“ I hope you had a good day princess/prince, let me make it even better love”

Let’s just say you guys ended your birthday off in the best way possible

Thank you for your request love!!! I hope you enjoy and I hope you had a great bday!! <3 💖

[archivesweats]

I’ve been into making my own planners this year. I buy journals for my journaling/writing, but I wanted something low profile to just log my days (stay aware of time passing/what I’m doing on the daily) and put my little notes and to-do lists. A couple weeks ago I finished a 4month planner I had made, and started with a different layout. Ultimately I scrapped it because It was a bit clunky and didn’t fit in my system nicely. It also didn’t have room for my miscellaneous lists and notes.

After playing around with some layout ideas, I came to the conclusion that I could use pocket notebooks as monthly or bimonthly planners, but for some godforsaken reason I decided it would be better if I made them myself instead of buying them. It’s a lot of work so I might end up buying them in the future, but I am a bit picky about my grids.

So these are 48 pages of ~5mm grids, with slightly darker lines to create top and left side margins for my monthly layouts.

First layout is just a monthly event overview. I haven’t done a heading/decorated yet bear with me lol

Second is monthly habit tracking (pictures pre-backfilling)

A page to track plant care (my info is very limited so far this month bc my last log book didn’t have enough space for it) // I put in a page to track what music I’m listening to, but it might become just a general media page idk.

Days aren’t pre-written, so my to do lists and grocery lists etc. just come up when they are relevant

[trissaysmoi]

October 14th, Monday

Moi!

Finally, I'm trying to bring my daily journal back. :D

It's my weekly duty in the office today. But I went later because I came home late from a coverage last night. I left the house in worry because I haven't gotten any more information about the protest that we'll be covering on tuesday. Thankfully, I was able to contact the concerned sector when I got in the office.

As a staff, I'll be accompanying the 2 interns that will be covering the protest. I oriented them thru chat just so things will turn out smoothly. Wish us luck!

I also received my allowance today and told the admin that I'll be leaving for the province next week for my vacation. I edited a video and the next thing I knew, we're done for the day.

I went out earlier than usual, so I stopped by Papemelroti and ended up getting their wall calendar for 2025. I first thought that it's too early but Idk when I'll be coming back there so might as well buy it lol.

I also went to NBS to check out their 2025 planners. I found a good one but I'm not sure yet if I'm going to get it because I prefer a planner with few extra pages for notes, like the one I've been using this year. Let's see if I can find better ones elsewhere.

[duckiemimi]

ever since the whole exhibition thingy idk what the hell it is I’m new to jjk (caught up though!!) i have no hope gojo is coming back. im kinda sad we’re still fighting sukuna :( i wanted to see gojo help save megumi but i also wanted to see everyone save gojo like i fucking love everyone jumping sukuna but I wish they did it before gojo died BUT IM SELFISH 😭😭😭

i also think shinjuku showdown dragged! i wanted to give the pacing the benefit of the doubt because weekly publications can affect how an arc is read, but i reread it again a couple days ago, back to back without pause, and well...it still dragged. i hope this is something the anime can improve on, and judging by how well season 2 was animated, i'm sure it'll come out better on screen!

OH, what i would've GIVEN to see an alternative version of their plan. there were so many things i disliked in this arc. i thought the way everyone stood idly—casually, even—while gojo fought sukuna was frustrating, considering the dire situation. i understand that jumping in would hinder gojo practicality-wise, and it would be disrespectful because it's also a fight to determine who's the strongest (blah blah), but couldn't they have looked for kenjaku while it happened—kenjaku who was their main concern before? why did they mobilize only after gojo died? if i recall correctly, kusakabe's reasoning behind this as one of the more prominent planners was that they needed to conserve energy and numbers to fight sukuna if gojo loses. but they quickly split up once he did anyway, so the plan just came off as inefficient.

the rest of the cast watching through mei mei's crows and every single person giving unified commentary in different fonts seemed so unnatural, too. i understand readers might need some technical background for the power system, but we established a narrator for a reason! done like this, gojo vs. sukuna seemed like a way to buy time to figure out what happens next in the story, what to write towards the next major plot point gege had in mind.

then there was also the issue of pov switching. i understand what gege was going for here and i'm sure it's the shibuya formula, but because of the lack of detailed planning on his part, it just came off as inconsistent and disjointed. hakari vs. uraume seemed more like an exposition dump if anything. speaking of exposition, instead of clarifying revelation, the constant flashbacks seemed more like retroactive justifications towards under-planned plot points. gege was struggling to put one foot forward every chapter, like he was being chased while running on sticky tar. any way to get to the finish line.

anyway, how this became a rant on shinjuku showdown, i'm not sure HAHA, but i hope that's okay with you. i don't think you're selfish! i think you have a point!

[southofzero]

🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿

crazy how a hefty paycheck has brought out the insane planner within me. yogi bear has a gun to my head but i quickly established workplace dominance (jk) and got the biggest paycheck & position out of anyone in the new hires. i bought 30 bales of hay im surprising my brother with a new bed i'm getting my horses' feet done AND im gonna remodel my kitchen . might buy a new phone too idk i'll see where i'm sitting after all my Purchases. lets fucking goooooo we're looking at nearly 3k this month. i will swing this as long as i can manage . perhaps i can weasel my way into more. idk

🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿🧿

[zerodaryls]

19, 22, 23 (the temptation to ask 12 was sooooo strong ((i mean maybe you made more than one but jeez who does that lol)).)

<3

19. What’re you excited about for next year?

hate that this is the first thing that came to mind but i'm really lookin' forward to getting a tax return so i can put it toward my next Wales trip (though that probably won't be until a couple years later lol)

but like. other than that i don't really have a lot of Concrete things i'm looking forward to next year. 2024 is largely unwritten in my mental Planner. i guess i'm excited about Possibilities. i've put myself out there with a couple business ventures (like, self-employment stuff that i'm hoping will work out for me so i can finally get my own place and have a comfortable schedule and stuff), and i'm hoping to publish my first novel in some way, so i'm curious and a lil anxious but still excited about where things might lead.

22. Favorite place you visited this year?

god that's a tough one because i did a lot of traveling this year lol. like, mostly all within a 2-hour radius of where i live, but i've explored a lot of towns and metro areas. i really like the Tennyson St area of Denver; it's like its own downtown and not half as overwhelming as the big city center.

a little further out was Trinidad, CO, and i really loved the vibe of that little town. the downtown was really charming, with a super cool history museum that had a special section dedicated to a Dr. Stanley Biber, who was known for doing gender-affirming surgeries from 1969 until he retired. he literally did over 3,000 bottom surgeries for trans people, and apparently at one time the town was known as "the sex change capital of the world". i didn't even fucking know that when i stopped off at this town, what a pleasant surprise!! there were several visibly queer/trans people in town (yes i'm going off vibes but like. c'mon. my gaydar is excellent) and stickers in the windows of local businesses proclaiming them to be accepting, affirming, safe spaces. <3

i went into a local artist co-op shop and the guy who ran it was sitting there whittling at his latest wood project, and he talked to me for a while about how he moved there a few years ago and absolutely loved it, how everyone was so warm and friendly, he made me wanna move there lol.

i think when i go places, what really makes a place stand out to me is the interactions i have with people there. i'm an introvert by nature but i really hold those short, sweet connections with strangers dear to my heart.

23. If you could send a message to yourself back on the first day of the year, what would it be?

god, i don't even remember what state i was in at the beginning of the year, so idk what would have benefited me most. i do wish i'd set aside a little more money to do the discovery flight thing this year. i'm gonna have to postpone it til next year, hopefully i can make it a birthday gift to myself toward the beginning of the year, lol, but i think if i could message myself in january 2023 i'd be like 'put like 200 bucks aside so you can fly a plane this year'

also 'do NOT buy that 80 dollar vibrator. it fucking sucks. the 20 dollar one is literally better. never buy expensive toys because they are never as good as you'd think they'd be'. 😅

[thecoloroute]

Back To School Shopping List for A College Freshman Art Student

Hi guys I went to RISD a few years back but I do remember looking up this question. if you're not going to college just yet but are interested in art, it could be super useful to get comfortable using the tools/mediums below. even though i know most teachers give a materials list the first day, i needed to be prepared way ahead of time because of my anxiety. in my case, i was told id get a list in person, but walking in with an empty bag just felt wrong to me lol??? i ended up bringing a couple things, but missed a few vital essentials so here's a list of everything that i can think of. read to the end for my wagon epiphany that i think all art students should adopt (if they havent already)

-a notebook or planner (lined). some professors will hit you with extremely important info right away and wont always tell you to write down what they're saying but 90% of the time its important stuff you dont wanna miss

-a sketchbook. this can help if they throw a quick exercise at you and you have to write/draw something quickly. i blanked and didnt bring a sketchbook from home (because i was told id need to get certain types according to the teacher's specifications) but looking back idk why i didnt?? first days are hectic. actually the first week lol. anyways there were single sheets offered but honestly having your own right off the bat helps for organizational purposes, saves time, and IF YOU'RE LIKE ME, prevents the need to get up in front of everyone

-writing utensils. I'd recommend a nice pen and a set of drawing pencils (doesn't have to be anything crazy cause your teacher will most likely request that you buy more advanced/specific tools later on)

-headphones. every teacher is different, but usually art students will be given little tasks to work on during their first day in class at college. I was not clever enough to remember to pack my headphones, and the silence in a room full of focused art students can be especially unnerving when you're nervous. Hearing a student's questionable music taste can be equally unnerving, so make sure to pack those.

-snacks/drinks. this is kind of a branch off of the last one, cause again it can get sooooo quiet in these classrooms/studios. Pack snacks to prevent belly grumbles. I have heard it happen to many people in my classes and i am a victim as well. stay ready

-sunglasses. seems trivial but super important because you'll probably be walking around outside a lot your first day. this is the typical college commute, up down and around the streets.

-MONEY. I AM GOING TO PUT THIS IN ALL CAPS BECAUSE THIS WAS BY FAR MY BIGGEST MISTAKE LOL. UNFORTUNATELY, STAY STRAPPED WITH CASH OR CARD BCUZ! SOME OF THOSE ART SCHOOL PROFESSORS ARE A LIL BOUJEE AND WILL SEND U RIGHT TO THE CAMPUS ART STORE DAY ONE. It was very overwhelming for me, and some might think its common sense but idk my entire school career you always get some time after school to buy that stuff. they really sent us shopping ten minutes into class so be aware or look broke like i did.

Other than that, all the stuff you'll have to potentially purchase that day will be specified by the teacher. If you're worried about getting the wrong thing, don't be. The students get to go together and the teacher gives very specific details about the products to buy, which the campus store workers are well aware of. Off the top of my head, i remember being sent to get materials for a few different classes throughout the day. I'll list them here without the brand specifics (1. cause i dont know and 2. cause it may not match what your teacher will want anyway) just to give you a general idea.

-large ruler, metal, 1 yard (3 ft)

-clear plastic t-shaped ruler for drawing

-sketchbooks, drawing pads (of all sizes)

-a large portfolio (looks like a gigantic black totebag for big art papers)

-sewing kit

-string

-muslin fabric

-ink pens

-drawing pencils, different sizes

-drawing charcoal

-white paper drawing blender, a good eraser

-a toolbox for the drawing materials

-gouache paint

-brushes, pallets

-oil paint crayons

-a tool box

-ink pens like harry potter

That's pretty much it. If you'd like to grab some of these things before hand it should be fine, but for the most part id stick to waiting just to be safe.

Also a side note: I was a commuter so i could run home and grab my materials collected over my entire life but not every student is this lucky and some of their homes are thousands of miles away. if ur a traveling bird like them, it could be very VERY useful to pack some cool materials and tools like idk holographic paper or a jar of crystals because CAMPUS ART STORES ARE VERY EXPENSIVE!!!!

Also....... i know it sounds a little ridiculous but there were many many times i wished i had bought a wagon to transport things around campus. imagine me with a like 4ft portfolio bag the size of my body, a pencil toolbox, another toolbox for actual tools, my backpack, any projects i may have brought, a coffee if i am holding one??? and god forbid its a rainy day and i needed my umbrella lol.. it looks & feels difficult anyway trying to lug all the stuff art school requires.. so thats just some food for thought. Imagine a cute pink wagon?!??

anyways thats a wrap, have a lovely school year artists!

[windandwater]

new york is at it again!

delivery guy yesterday who I have NO memory of: “I haven’t seen you in a while!” me: “well I just got home so you got lucky!” idk it was just really sweet

bodega guy: how are you doing? me: okay...almost done mailing everything bg: oh for christmas? I haven’t done anything, you wanna know why? me: ...why... bg: because I’m Muslim! me: HA! I was gonna ask if you celebrate! bg: NOPE

bit later in the conversation: “this lady was saying she doesn’t know how she’s going to explain that she can’t afford to buy anything this year, I told her, just become Muslim!”

he’s right

have never had such a pleasant time running errands as this week, guy in the grocery store whole ass read my mind as to what I was looking for (clementines), convo in the new pharmacy ended with the guy ordering the meds I need next month in advance and them giving me their freaking “we’re a new business here’s a planner” gift.

another bodega guy conversation, once again griping about how expensive everything is, I was buying eggs? I didn’t say anything about the price but he mentioned they’re expensive and I had just come from the grocery store where the cheapest ones were eight dollars (!!!!). he was like yeah we used to pay 20 dollars for a case and now they’re 116 dollars a case. a hundred and sixteen dollars. for medium eggs, not even large eggs. they’re not that expensive in Jersey but they come across the bridge and the price shoots up. we just stood there shaking our heads at each other like what the fuck can you do.

a friend of mine started work at a new and extremely nice restaurant and her gift to me this year was a meal there and they kept just. bringing me out comped food and drinks. I am extremely full. but also part of the way through these two children ran right past the host (it was her first day) and straight to where we were sitting talking and tried to ask us for donations for something. ???? my friend was like excuse me where are your parents while they babbled about not wanting to get in trouble and were ushered out and I died laughing.

also they brought out my smoked fish in a wooden chest. why isn’t all food brought to the table in a wooden chest. every restaurant ever: take. notes.

got to the train and there’s just. a guy on the tracks. am I getting home tonight??? who knows!! Eric Adams likes to think an occupying army of cops will fix all this city’s problems, but they were apparently staring into the void doing nothing while an MTA employee tried to get LITERALLY ANYONE’S attention to get the dude some help! hahahaha! I hate it here!

they got the guy off the tracks and everything’s fine

on the way home my next door neighbor texted (the one who I met because they kept getting my mail, not the one who I met because she needed to break into her apartment--look this city is wild) asking if I had a covid test because they might be exposed so before I could sit down and deal with the massive amount of food I just ate I had to go ahead and run that over.

I fucking love it here.

[blakistan]

Things I have decided about my still WIP Destiny OC: -She is Awoken, and was a Corsair in her former life. She had enough functional equipment that her Ghost could determine her old name, which she uses -Name ideas are Liari and Lamne, but I’m bad at names -She died in the battle against Oryx’s Dreadnaught, with her corpse being ejected into a further-out orbit by the second blast (The one that almost killed the Young Wolf

-On that note, she is not the Young Wolf (I prefer the more down-to-earth, less god-slaying side of Destiny)

-Her ghost (Name ideas include Flotsam and Comet) was on a jumpship with a few Guardians and a bunch of other Ghosts going planet-to-planet in search of New Lights. She got ejected through a hull breach during a Fallen attack, and wasn’t recovered

-Liari/Lamne got rezzed when Flotsam/Comet happened to drift by her corpse, sometime between the start of the SIVA crisis and the Red War

-Flotsam/Comet definitely rezzed her primarily because it was either that or drift in space forever, but insists that she definitely totally found “the one”

-After several months spent mostly dead, practicing with the Light during the brief times between revival and suffocation, she eventually got her first chance to go anywhere that isn’t space

-I’m hazy on exact sequence of events as well as where specifically she ended up, but her orbital drop strategy was to to Deadfall Tether herself to a Warsat as it zipped by, then stow Flotsam/Comet inside so she’d actually survive re-entry when the Warsat deorbited

-She eventually ends up being one of the early adopters of Stasis, utilizing a unique combination of Stasis and Void Light in the field

-Personality-wise, she’s generally a patient and pragmatic planner, and refuses to buy into any sort of higher-purpose greater-good dogma. She’ll save who she can when she can, with risk always being a sticking point. Outside of the field, she’s a surprisingly meek and introverted person, often forgetting that she’s in a conversation partway through them. Definitely an over-apologizer, except when she’s got her heels dug in on something

-Flotsam/Comet is more brash and fairly sarcastic, with not much of a filter. Whenever she’s right about something she’s a bit insufferable, and when she turns out wrong about something she tends to change the subject about it. She and Liari/Lamne butt heads often in the field, especially when stakes are high. Flotsam/Comet always favors taking risks for the chance of better outcomes, Liari/Lamne favors waiting and observing until the right opportunity comes up.

-As an example, Liari/Lamne’s plan to get out of orbit was the aforementioned “Lasso a Warsat and drop with it” Method, which would of course require her to practice long enough to manifest a Super. Flotsam/Comet, who had spent quite a bit more time conscious while floating in space and was understandably eager to not be floating in space, suggested using spike grenades as thrust for a not-so-controlled descent and hoping for the best

Past that, I’m not 100% sure how her story goes. On the one hand I like the idea of her at least getting in contact with the Vanguard before Forsaken because obvious reasons (She’s a Hunter btw, forgot to mention that), but on the other hand I like the idea of her having little to no Vanguard contact until the events of Beyond Light, with her first constructive interactions with other Lightbearers being Eris and the Drifter on Europa. Either way she’ll definitely be rather cynical towards the Vanguard, possibly working with them but never actually officially becoming a Guardian. I Might try to write up a fireteam for her as well, possibly the Guardians of other Ghosts from the flight that Flotsam/Comet got jettisoned from, but idk. Definitely gonna draw her at some point, and nail down her loadout and abilities. The interplay between Void Light and Stasis is gonna be fun to explore.

[miyako-huni]

I need to buy myself a planner, so ill probably have to take a bus to a Kinokuniya to get. Cute one.....but I've been feeling extra socially anxious....so I might vlog or live stream so I dint feel so alone, but idk who would keep me company

At Least putting in an outfit is always a help to motivate me

[tiptapricot]

First of all, nail polish, yes please 🙌 also h/c's on their vacation vibes??? 🧳

Ok ok

Steven thinks nail polish is fun in concept and has painted his nails a few times, but always starts picking at it the second it starts to flake or come up from the edges, so it never lasts long and it always makes him frustrated and a little sad that it didn’t in the end.

Marc doesn’t rlly get it but I think he’d rlly like running the pads of his fingers over the surface of smooth gel nails over n over. Idk how comfortable he’d be wearing it? It might take some convincing and adjusting, plus he doesn’t think it’s very practical to have during a fight.

Jake thinks nail polish is fun and epic and sexy but doesn’t get to wear it a lot since it’s not an easy change to make and get rid of in his brief times fronting. When Steven’s painted his nails he’s taken full advantage though, adding his own little flourishes and trying to keep them in good condition and letting the other two chalk it up to just forgetting they altered things. Since my brain is also too on ab Jake, I think nail polish is somth he enjoys from a queer and gender presentation perspective, as well as that of reclaiming and expressing his personhood in the limited sphere he has to do that. When the body’s nails are painted, he carries his fingers more delicately and with more care, like hidden treasure and power under his gloves.

Steven loves vacations in theory, but always ends up doing basically just the same stuff he’d do in his downtime at home, only in a different place. He’ll travel somewhere only to stay in his hotel room and read and watch TV, only going out for a short stroll or dinner somewhere before going back. He doesn’t mind short shopping outings and will pick up a few cute knick knacks, but it never holds his attention for long and he honestly gets bored pretty easily if the shops aren’t related to an interest of his. He sticks around for Layla or the others though. He likes airy comfortable clothing leaning towards blues and greys and nothing too highly patterned, and he hates flip flops bc he doesn’t like getting sand or dirt on his feet or stubbing his toes.

Marc is ironically the best at vacationing in the traditional sense. He never quite fully loses his paranoia or tenseness, but he’s always up for going around to new places and sightseeing and… just sleeping HBDBDB He enjoys looking at local tourist traps and seeing how bad they are, and he’s easily fascinated by stuff that’s not even meant to b fascinating. Would be up for just going somewhere and walking around and just looking at stuff without doing activities or buying anything, that’s interesting to him. If he’s excited about a place independently, he will absolutely become the overdone planner type who tries to fit in like 30 different activities in the span of two days because “We have to see this thing we have to.” Doesn’t have much of a vacation fashion and just kind of wears whatever the others put on that morning, or what Layla suggests. If left to his own devices just grabs the same shirt and pants he’s been wearing for three days and calls it good.

Jake is a dad/uncle on vacation. He never quite knows what the actual plans are but just rolls with it, and will side stop in random shops or attractions out of nowhere just because. Always picks up gifts that seem really dumb but are thoughtful when he explains them. Usually more interested in driving through an area than walking, and likes to eat at the local family stores more than the eateries the place is known for if you search it up on Google. Similarly, always hunts for the most hole in the wall, weird, niche stores because “These are the places where the real gold is, not that fake shit.” Likes sunbathing and swimming, or if it’s a cooler place, hiking, beach combing, chill local attractions, all that. Usually derails preplanned activities either because he’s not in the loop or just doesn’t care and would rather do something else. Would go full bright tourist-y look with shorts and a flowery shirt even if it’s someplace like Paris, both because he thinks it’s funny, and because it makes him stick out. Will joke to Steven and Marc that this is his payback for not being noticed for most of their life (even though they’ll also shoot back that that was his doing also).

Send me a fun goofy MK ask!

[ofhouseadama]

Thoughts don't come to completion in my brain very well, but maybe when Lorraine first finds out she's pregnant? How happy but also scared she is (cause you know she's gotta be) and then her telling ed and how happy and scared he is as well? 😅😅

Like I said idk how to form complete thoughts about a lot of things 😅😅

In hindsight, she knew the moment she conceived. Laying there in the darkness, she felt the moment a piece of Ed joined with a piece of her. It wasn’t even that she didn’t recognize it for what it was, but that she couldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t believe it. In the eight years they have been married, her cycle had never been so much as a day late, arriving like clockwork every twenty-eight days. Textbook, really.

When it didn’t come, she held her breath. After eight years, she’s become a master at refusing to get her hopes up. She remembers the ambivalence she felt, the morning she realized she had gotten her monthly courses after their honeymoon and she was back at her parents’ house and Ed, back on a ship in the Pacific. She’d been relieved then.

In the years that followed, after buying a four bedroom home they’d hoped to fill up with babies, relief had turned to confusion, then to frustration, then to grief. And it became tolerable, with time and prayer and faith, but oh how she yearned, and yearned, and yearned.

And learned to fill up the space that she wanted to fill with her and Ed’s children with ghosts.

Lorraine Warren finds herself bouncing her leg on the linoleum floor of the doctor’s office on her lunch break, two weeks after the first missed period of her life. And she knows, some heady mixture of mother’s intuition and all her other gifts from God. She knows with a painful kind of clarity that she carries a life inside her. She wonders if Ed’s noticed that she never drew her little red dots on the calendar, hasn’t complained about cramps and bloating, hasn’t brought home a box of Motrin and menstrual products. He rarely misses anything about her, but it’s just been Christmas and they’ve just had a case, a real one. The kind that drives him to distraction.

She pees in a cup and the nurse, in her starch white uniform and impeccably clean shoes, tells her that the results will take at least three days and possibly up to a week to come back, that it will depend on how busy the lab is. The nurse smiles conspiratorially, like she’s gotten a tidbit of insider trade knowledge, and tells her that she thinks she’ll know by New Year’s Eve whether or not she’s going to be a mother.

Lorraine vomits in a bush on her way back to her car.

---

New Year's Eve is a Sunday, in 1961, and Lorraine’s last day of work before the holiday is that Friday, when the nurse from the doctor’s office calls her desk. It is almost, exactly to the hour, four days since her appointment.

Somewhere between, “Congratulations, Mrs. Warren,” and “we’ll need to schedule you for a follow-up appointment in the next four to six weeks,” her vision blurs, and her legs drop out from under her. Clumsily, she manages to catch herself on the edge of her desk, lowering herself gently down onto her chair.

“Yes, yes, I can make the week of January 29th work,” she says, furiously wiping away tears as she flips through her planner, frantically reaching for a pencil. “Yes. One in the afternoon is fine. Thank you.”

Slowly, she hangs up the phone.

Lorraine makes it another twenty minutes at her desk, thumbing through the Diocese of Bridgeport finances, mindlessly sorting purchase orders and invoices. Before slowly, then all at once, it hits her. Pressing the back of her hand against her mouth, she swallows down a sob.

They’re going to be parents.

---

They had just given up. Because of course they had.

But God had other plans.

---

She drives home in a daze, glad that it’s the middle of the afternoon. She’s not sure how she would have made it from Bridgeport to Monroe if she had waited until five o’clock. It feels as though she’s experiencing the world from underwater, from the inside of an upturned snowglobe.

You’re expecting, Mrs. Warren. The test came back positive.

How is she going to tell Ed? She never thought this far. Not since they were newlyweds and she was dreaming of the little clothes she had sewn for her trousseau. She had plans back then, of cooking him dinner and sitting him down over candlelight and a nice meal, and telling him with a silver rattle tucked into tissue paper in a box, or with a silver spoon, a baby’s hair brush. Now she has half a mind to just drive straight for where she knows he’s teaching art classes at the VA, march inside, and drag him into his office like a madwoman and tell him straightaway.

Damn ceremony, they’ve waited long enough.

Pulling into the driveway, she turns off the engine and sits there for a long moment, fighting back tears. She’s going to walk into their home, and she’s going to know which room they’re going to clear out to turn into a nursery.

She’s known which room they were going to turn into a nursery since the first time they walked into the house with the realtor.

After a moment, the tears win.

---

In the end, it goes like this:

Lorraine makes lasagna, because it’s hard to screw up and she’s having trouble concentrating on anything for more than a few minutes at a time. She knows how to make sauce, cook noodles, and assemble layers. Ed likes lasagna. Ed does not like lasagna so much that he will be immediately suspicious when he comes home to find her making lasagna. She’s usually home before him anyway on Thursdays, the only day of the week he has a four o’clock class.

Ed comes home a little before six, his forearms speckled with paint.

He talks enough for the both of them, and if he notices anything’s off about her, he’s kind enough to wait until after dinner to bring it up. Kissing her cheek sweetly, he loops his arms around her waist and pulls her close.

“I missed you today.”

Then he’s pulling away again, taking down plates and cups from the cabinet and pulling out silverware to lay the table.

Then, despite all the ways she’s been practicing all afternoon, Lorraine turns from the stove to look at him folding napkins at the kitchen table and feels such a warm burst of affection in her chest that she can’t not say it.

“I’m pregnant,” she blurts out, holding onto the counter for support. “The doctor’s office confirmed it today. I’m -- I’m pregnant. Like really, really pregnant. And I’m a little terrified, because it doesn’t feel real, but it apparently is real.”

The red napkin he’s been folding into a triangle falls from his fingertips, face freezing with shock.

“Wait--”

“We’re having a baby,” she says, realizing that she’s rambling, but unable to stop herself.

His brow furrows, confused. “Lorraine? Are you telling me--”

Biting her lip, she nods. “Yes.”

“Really?”

Crossing the room to her, she can see comprehension dawning on his features. This isn’t a dream. They’re both awake. It’s not a joke. Lorraine wonders if she should have driven by the doctor’s office to get a physical copy of the test results. Ed’s always liked being able to see things on paper.

“Really,” she says, as a smile splits his face and he reaches her, sweeping her up into his arms and lifting her off her feet, spinning her. “We’re gonna have a baby.”

She’s so happy, she’s lightheaded.

And she wants to kiss him, so she does, framing his dear face with her hands.

“I love you,” he murmurs against her lips.

---

With a look of reverence on his face that drives her back to tears, Ed drops to his knees right there in the kitchen, pushing up the hem of her blouse.

“Hi,” he says, pressing his lips to her stomach. “Hi baby.”

Wiping the tears from Ed’s face, Lorraine thinks she might never stop laughing, might never stop crying.

---

In the end, they eat their lasagna on the kitchen floor, right out of the pan. She’s half in his lap, and there’s not a candle in sight.

It’s perfect.

[skunkes]

ohh what are some etsy shops where you've bought stickers? i want cute new stickers for my laptop and planner but idk where to buy :,-)

wagh anon i wish id kept the listings with some big stickers that wldve been perfect for laptop! Tho i think one of these shops has some like that? Im gonna list more planner suited ones. Also the stickers I currently buy are more like for those kp/op toploader things people decorate but i jst stick em in my diary cause why not

Some etsy shops where ive gotten stickers in the past few months (might add links later, cant atm):

HazelCatkins (not a sticker focused store, but found some cute finds here, like the animal foods ones! Looking for more shops like this bc they usually have rlly fun stickers vs sticker focused shops)

SmallBlissKawaii (stationary focus, can find a few hidden gems here)

OranjoShop (this is where i bought the alphabet stickers and some others for my vent journal decoration! And also sent freebies! A lot of these srores did actually 🥰)

StarPOPShopCA (deco/polco sticker focused)

SoraStickerStore (currently on break due to cov/id but also cute korean sticker focused. based in china so takes a bit to arrive)

AmaMaLingieanda (more cute stickers in the same style as mentioned above)

LilEggStudio (sells korean brands stickers bt also has some original ones! ^_^)

Finally the website oori chingoo has a lot of cute ones, i buy manta box and okiki brand ^_^

[studylustre]

hi carol!! i’m moving to london from halfway across the globe for uni (to study psych!!) soon and i’m excited but also kind of scared… any tips for living in london / going to uni / studying psych? p.s. ive been following your blog for so long and it’s been such a motivation for me!! 💖

hihi!! that's such exciting news EEEE congratulations!! tbh, i don't have too many tips for living in london since i only moved semi-recently and most of my london life so far has been carried out indoors due to the pandemic sdfjglksdjfg. in terms of going to uni and studying psych though, there's a few tips i can give u! i also have a bunch of advice masterposts tagged under /uni so do check that out as well ^^

advice 📖

do noooot buy textbooks that the uni tells u are essential bc they really are not 💀 they're so expensive and u hardly, if ever, use them. if u must, borrow them from the uni library or buy them second hand from older students - do NOT buy them new bc it's a huge rip off

extra reading. for first year, extra reading isn't super necessary but it will be for second and third year. for that, google scholar is a dream!! it's worth reading into abstracts and taking notes here and there for relevant content. you don't need to go into too much detail, but knowing the main highlights of different studies and papers can a great way of adding extra *oomph* to ur answers and bumping up ur grade!!

flashcards are the mvp. this depends on ur learning style i think, but flashcards were a lifesaver for me especially when memorising the main findings and principles of different case studies/theories!!

use an organisational system. if u haven't got one already, using some sort of organisational system is a must for uni to keep on top of deadlines and assignments and social events. i personally just used a bullet journal but things like planners, google calendar, trello, notion etc are suuuuper useful for keeping track of everything bc u will inevitably forget something!!

think about internships. if u can, it's a good idea to apply for internships in ur second or third year to add to ur cv. it's not the most fun thing to think about (god knows this caused me much grief and stress) but it's important and u will be glad u did it when ur applying for jobs later down the line

be careful with ur finances. idk about u but the first time i got my student loan, i was !!!!! personified bc it was the most money i'd ever had in my bank account at once. bc of that, it's easy to get caught up in lots of takeaways and online shopping BUT BE CAREFUL bc money can go out the window f a s t. be conscious of ur spending bc going deep into ur overdraft can be a tricky hole to get out of

plan for second year accommodation asap. second year can roll around fast and if ur living outside of home, it's a good idea to roughly figure out who u want to be living with asap (this is by christmas, if ur incapable of relaxing like me sdjlgkjsdfg). the sooner the better bc u need time to finalise ur housemates and decide + put down a deposit on a house for second and maybe third year, and that can take time!!

join societies!! it's a great way of meeting new people and making friends, even if ur super chronically shy like me

don't do things that go against ur principles, but do try to do things out of ur comfort zone. that's how u grow and u might be surprised how much fun u have