Review: The Daily Paper Dotted Notebook

It has officially been an entire year since I purchased and started using this notebook as a bullet journal. I am still using it and enjoying it immensely, so it’s about time for a review, I think. The product I purchased was The Daily Paper’s A5 dotted notebook with numbered pages because, honestly, way too lazy to number all the pages by hand.

At the time of purchase, it was only $9.54 + tax, which, for what you’re getting, I feel is an absolute steal. As a bullet journaling novice, I wasn’t about to spend $40 on a dotted notebook, and this one turned out to be perfect for me. I’m slightly devastated that it no longer seems to be in stock and their website is currently down for updates because I can’t recommend this notebook enough.

I apologise in advance for the inconsistent lighting in these photos. I’m bad at photo editing, especially in Mac Preview. That said, I did try to get the colour of the notebook to as true-to-life as I could.

There are 183 total numbered pages, along with multiple other helpful pages that a BuJo may need. If you are an avid bullet journalist and enjoy creating your own spreads for everything then it probably won’t be the right fit for you. I’m a very basic beginner who had very little idea what I was doing, so the default spreads helped a lot.

The 120 gsm paper has been great for me, it’s decently thick and bleeding through pages is hardly a problem unless I’m really going for it with my highlighters. I switched to Mildliner Brushes a few months ago and they’ve been brilliant on this paper with minimal bleeding.

The vegan leather cover is delightful. It’s soft and durable, and while I have made sure to take good care of my notebook in the first place, there are barely any signs of wear on the cover, and it still feels as smooth and soft as the day I got it.

I’m also impressed with the elastic band and pen enclosure. It’s a thick elastic band that has not lost any of its elasticity over the past year (though to be fair, I am not a heavy BuJo user). The pen enclosure is large so I’ve been able to squish a couple of pens in there at a time, but you’ll definitely only want to hold pens with clips to keep them in place. A singular pencil will undoubtedly fall out.

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Fitness: Chloe Ting’s 2021 Get Fit Challenge – Week 1

Image screenshot: Chloe Ting 2021 Get Fit Challenge

This post contains my workout summary for week 1 of the Chloe Ting 2021 Get Fit Challenge.

It’s here! The challenge has launched. I watched the new 6 Pack Abs workout this morning and I must say it looks both exciting and enjoyable. I fully admit, perhaps I’ve gone a bit bonkers but it genuinely looks like a hoot. I don’t think I’ll be able to use weights for it because my core is weak, but I’m loving the look of the new exercises. The non-weighted alternatives already look challenging enough. I’m looking forward to improving my strength and getting back into exercising with this program.

As before, I don’t really want to take before/after photos for this program because 1) I shouldn’t expect a gigantic change over one program, especially not one that’s focused on strength training because muscle is not that easy to build, come on and 2) my room is in a constant state of dishevelled chaos and I genuinely don’t have the energy to keep shifting clutter around to get some good photos without the messy background.

In 3 weeks’ time we expect to be fully moved in to our new place, so to say life will be a little hectic is putting it, uh, very lightly. I’m already in a state of perpetual exhaustion from all the trips we’ve made to and fro with the packing and moving and painting and initial furnishing, which I’m already feeling somewhat overwhelmed by. There will likely be more days where I simply do not have the time to complete the workout but I’ll do my best.

I’ll be updating this post daily for week one’s workout schedule, so do check back on my progress if you’re interested and are following along too!

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I Tried Going No-Poo for 18 Days

As the title suggests: I tried to do no-poo for 18 days. That’s no shampooing my hair at all, and if possible not washing for as long as my hair will permit, starting 1st June.

Yep, perhaps I have gone crazy, or perhaps I’ve been newly inspired? Or perhaps I’m just next level lazy. But now that lockdown is easing and I have had my COVID vaccine, what better way to celebrate re-engaging in social life but to… not wash my hair for almost 3 weeks. Lol. (To clarify, I am still showering during this period, just not shampooing my hair. Hygiene is important.)

To be fair, it’s something I have attempted and failed a couple of times in the past, so I don’t have high hopes that it’ll somehow come to fruition this time. In fact, this attempt comes hot off the tail of another failed attempt. I lasted about 4 days before my scalp got so itchy and gross that I had to wash it with water, and a week before I gave up and had to shampoo my hair. Same thing happened at the start of quarantine when I first saw videos about it cropping up on YouTube.

But COVID restrictions are being lifted, I have a much-needed haircut scheduled for 18th June, so figured I may as well try once more as a last hurrah, and will make sure to tip my hairdresser well when the time comes haha.

When I was younger, I only washed my hair every 3-5 days and it was always fine, but at some point in my life it was stigmatised and I was told that I should be washing my hair daily. That never came naturally to me because my hair just… never got that greasy or gross in a day? I did start washing my hair more frequently, and now that I think about it, all it did was make my hair greasier if I didn’t shampoo & condition it every day or two.

Fast forward to these days, there’s a huge No-Poo movement where many, many people claim to have not shampooed their hair for months or years and their hair looks great. All of a sudden I don’t feel bad for not washing my hair as frequently, and if there’s a chance I could wash it even less frequently and have it still be fine, perfect haha.

Naturally, if you’re reading this post, it means that… well, something has happened. Either I gave up, or I succeeded. Either way, there will be photos of potentially very gross-looking hair and scalp so if you’re morbidly curious and not easily disgusted, read on. If you don’t want to read about my full experience and would just like to skip to my key takeaways from this, click here.

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Fitness: Chloe Ting’s 2021 Get Fit Challenge – Pre-Release

Image screenshot: Chloe Ting 2021 Get Fit Challenge

This post will contain my workout summary for the Chloe Ting 2021 Get Fit Challenge pre-release schedule.

Well, well, well, what do we have here? Why, if it isn’t the lazy-as-all-things, hasn’t-worked-out-in-way-too-long Bob. I mean, I have exercised here and there, but it has been way too long since I’ve tried a challenge. I was sooo close to finishing week 2 of the Hourglass Challenge but this is the point where I admit defeat. I failed. Miserably. Which… is kind of disappointing given that the last challenge was only 3 weeks to begin with. What?

Then past two challenges she released were very HIIT-heavy and honestly I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to do them. But, living on the 3rd floor with sensitive downstairs neighbours with passive-aggressive tendencies, plus given how hectic life had been lately, I wasn’t really willing to stress myself out more by fighting that battle. We’re moving soon and I’m really looking forward to having no one bang on the ceiling downstairs when we’re only vacuuming.

The Get Fit Challenge is primarily weights-based, and so far I am digging the music. That intro tune gets me so pumped to exercise! Plus, one of my favourite full body workout videos is included in the lineup so I think it’s a sign for me to give it a go. The pre-release just launched today and is 5 days long, so this post will be dedicated to my attempt at the pre-release schedule.

The actual challenge officially begins on Monday 21st, and I’ll upload a new post for that week’s workout progress if I commit to the challenge.

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Wellness: An R&R Type Of Weekend

On Saturday Jacky and I went for a hike with Jacky’s colleagues, followed by lunch and boba and some grocery shopping, then on Sunday after church we went over to another friend’s house to help with redecorating, followed by boba and takeout as we had our weekly call with Jacky’s parents. Putting it this way sounds like a rather hectic and busy weekend, but in reality it was rejuvenating and restoring for my soul.

Now that we’re both fully vaccinated and many of our friends are also vaccinated, we’re able to more confidently go outside and hang out with friends. Being out in nature and being in the company of others again felt liberating. I’m an introvert and can typically just stay home alone easily, but after very limited human interaction for such a long period of time, even I was reaching my introversion limit. I can’t imagine how my extroverted friends would have felt during this extended quarantine.

The hike we went on was by a large lake and it was beautiful. I also appreciated that it wasn’t too long and the elevation on the route we took was manageable. I loved being outside to breathe in some fresh air; we were able to take our masks off once we were away from the more heavily trafficked entrance, and taking in some beautiful scenery while getting in some fitness steps was something I appreciated so much. It also helped that the weather was perfect.

The hike path was mostly shaded and there was a gentle breeze the accompanied us throughout. We stopped by a sunny vantage point and enjoyed some warmth as we chatted. I have really missed human interaction!

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