I know there’s been a gap of a few years since my last post here. Since then COVID is somewhat a thing of the past and we moved from Galway and are now happily based in Sligo.
I’m hoping to reignite this blog as a space I can document some sketches, keep track of my travels and adventures locally, as well as note what I’ve read or watched each month. A space outside of the socials. I may incorporate it into my art site vourneen.com but I’m not sure yet.
December 2024 was pretty hectic to say the least. I managed to squeeze in a visit to 5 cities in a month as well as hosting visitors here in Sligo.
I brought my sketchbook with me and managed to get some quick sketches in and I also did a few pages in my travel accordian style sketchbook too.
So what did I get up to this month?
Travel
This is a roundup for 2024 as I didn’t get one for December. This year has been busy, but in a good way!
I started December in London meeting up with family and going to a Motown show. Then I travelled to Kilkenny for more family visits and an early Christmas before heading back to Sligo and driving to Dublin, then flying to Amsterdam, then borrowing a friends car to drive to Germany for more Christmas celebrations and then driving back to Amsterdam, followed by a day trip by train to Brussels to meet up with an old school friend before celebrating New Years Eve in Amsterdam. That was a whirlwind few weeks.
Friends & Family
All my travel this month was to meet up in person with family. I didn’t get to catchup with many friends this month as I was so busy. However, we did manage to have a friend stay from Amsterdam for a week which was fun.
Art & Creativity
Again I didn’t do as much as I had hoped as it was a pretty hectic month. Next year I should really remember to plan less for December. However, I got to go to a lifedrawing class in the Model which is always great and I did some sketchbook work too.
Exhibitions I visited/ Cultural stuff
- South-midlands patchwork christmas exhibition in Kilkenny library
- British Museum
- Soul Supper – Motown
- The Welcome Collection
- Tiny Toast gig in The Model, Sligo
- Pop-up record fair in Furey’s pub – Tara B & Various DJ’s
- The Drawing Box Inside Out exhibition Leitrim Sculpture Centre
Learning, reading & watching
What I’ve been learning
Havn’t taken any courses or classes this month – simply no time!
What I’ve been reading
Kindle tells me I read 34 books last year. This seems quite high. I didn’t think I read that much.
I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction books these days.
- Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
- Deep work by Cal Newport
What I’ve been watching/ listening
I have to admit I was watching The Crown on Netflix for some light braindead entertainment
Work
Not much to report here, kept busy with clients and then slow as I took the last week of work.
Food
Ate way too much over December with all the Christmas celebrations
Health
Didn’t have any time to focus on this. Went on a few long walks but basically had way too much food & drink with all the Christmas celebrations and way too little movement.
Goals & Plans for December
A review of goals I set
✔️(no goals set for December)
Goals for January 2025 :
⭐ Do some form of exercise everyday
⭐ Rest and recover from a busy December
⭐ Go to a lifedrawing class
⭐ Meetup with parents & friends before I leave if have time
⭐ Plan the trip for Thailand!
⭐ Read more books