dcscover 008 | Planning
Does anyone else love thinking about planners, journals, to-do lists? Is your “system” all set for 2021? (What are you using?)
Between the pandemic haze and a whirlwind move, I went into the new year not totally sure where I’d be writing everything down. I managed to remember to order a pocket-size Moleskine weekly planner in December, but my journaling setup was more of a question mark.
My 2020 journal was a cute pink-and-green one I got in Seoul the previous fall. From January to February, its pages were crammed with notable events and thoughts of the day. Then the pandemic happened and entries became more sparse. By summer, it had devolved into a “what we ate for lunch and dinner” log, and by fall, pretty much nothing.
Meanwhile, that whole pandemic spring I was reading The Vanity Fair Diaries and got really inspired by Tina Brown’s extremely incisive journal entries about both the minute and momentous happenings in her life. So in April, I got out a normal ruled notebook I had lying around and started trying to write full sentences and multiple paragraphs about what was going on, at a pace of about once a week, usually starting off with “How has it been another week?”
For 2021, I knew I wanted to keep writing in the VF Diaries-inspired journal—and hopefully getting more articulate in it—but I also felt like there was still a gap somewhere. I was looking for something that was mapped to a daily/weekly cadence but allowed more room to...mess around. To scribble and sketch if I wanted to.
Nearing the end of January, after thinking on it for a bit, I belatedly ordered a 2021 Hobonichi Techo Cousin. I already knew I liked its look and feel because a friend kindly gave me a gently-used version to try out a few years ago and I made it a scratchpad for literally everything—work notes, recipe notes, wedding planning notes, measurements, pros/cons lists, everything. With the 2021 version, I’m committed to using the pages chronologically (which should also make notes easier to find). It lies so flat and the thin, smooth paper is so pleasant to write on (it actually bleeds a little but I don’t mind). I look forward to using it everyday.
This month’s finds
A fascinating look at growing yuzu in New Jersey—the passion here is contagious.
I’ve been dabbling in TikTok and encountered an extremely aesthetic and satisfying account dedicated to coffee/tea: @caffeinication—they’re also on Instagram, where post captions come with step-by-step recipes.
Two classic Korean dishes that I’ve always liked but have been intimidated by because of the sheer number of ingredients...but recently tackled with success: galbi-jjim (braised short ribs, this version is spicy) and japchae (stir-fried glass noodles).
I haven’t checked out Duolingo in a while but recently found their French podcast, which is just so well done. The French spoken is perfect for the I-learned-it-in-high-school level (moi) and comes interspersed with narration and additional context in English (so helpful).
A tour inside Phillip Lim’s SoHo loft (decor fantasies I’m taking away: black marble partition, an entire wall of square cubbies for vessels, white smoked oak herringbone floors everywhere).
One more thing
Over the summer, Jason and I bought some red bean paste to make red bean buns, but didn’t get to it until...mid-January. It was a “special activity” for our third annual “Household Summit,” one of our new (and favorite) traditions after getting married. The holiday season is always a frenzy, which means rarely having enough time or the right mental space for thorough reflection and planning. So this tradition involves setting aside one weekend a few weeks into January to go somewhere/do something new and spend some unhurried time talking about big-picture topics like family, finances, career, spiritual life, and plans for the coming year. This time around, the summit took place almost entirely at home obviously, but we tried to make it special with the red bean buns (and a drive-thru order of Taco Bell’s Taco & Burrito Cravings Pack).
Opening scene: Last week’s big snowstorm in three acts ~