Something I Love

Hey There,

I hope you've been well. I love the change of seasons but not the allergies that come along with them. I've been sick twice within a week, just from spending time in the awesome weather.  Anywho, that's my reason for lack of #DMIO posts. I figured since I'm behind, that gives me license to choose from the topics I haven't covered. You can tell by the title what I chose but I'm changing it up a bit to include different areas of interest to me. 

Let's start with pens! I was once a hoarder of pens but at some point I realized keeping them in a bin was doing them no justice. I'm a bit more selective now and my collection has improved a lot. I have a few faves, such as the Flair Pens and Staedtlers, but my current go to is the Frixion Erasable pen! At the moment, these are the only pens I use (and don't share). I have never been a fan of my own handwriting so these have been my saving grace in my planners. 

Next in the lineup is my closet office {makeover}; does a makeover qualify? I hope so because I'm loving the process of pulling together my MomCave in a house of boys! I was inspired by the pastel movement but when I found my Kate Spade Gold/Hot-Pink Elyce Brag Book my color pallet developed quickly. My newest addition is a chandelier to replace my current lighting situation. As you can see, my lighting is very poor and inconsistent. If you want to see a few more sneak peeks, browse my planner layout posts or check me out on Instagram. I'm hoping to eventually do a full reveal but, as all things go ,it will take some time to complete. 

I'm including one more item off my list of current loves. As a mom of two young boys, personal enrichment can be vital to my emotional health. I'm fortunate enough to belong to a healthy, vibrant church that encourages community and discipleship. As such, the group of ladies I meet with regularly have started a new study by Priscilla Shirer called Breathe. I have read many books/studies in my time but never has a book transformed the dynamics of my family! I would  fall short of doing it any justice if I tried to explain it to you. Instead, if you feel disconnected, discouraged, or maybe misdirected I want to encourage you to take a look at this book. 

Well, that's it for tonight. This next week is Fall Break and my hubby took the time off too. So I'm either going to have extra time to write or be fighting for some free time to get it done. Either way, both of those is better than being sick in bed! 

2015 Planner Layouts, Week #40

Hey There!

It's time again for a planner layout update. This past week was very slow going with the weather changes and seasonal allergies that follow. On top of that, I got Flu and Pneumonia shots that promptly sent me over the edge. Today is the first day I feel I actually accomplished something other than the necessaries. All this to warn you this appears to be a somewhat bland spread in my planner due to lack of energy and motivation.

You'll see I made very good use of my Happy Planner supplies. I actually prepped this layout before I ordered my planner stamps and was too unmotivated to waste all these nice stickies.

I do feel the need to mention we actually did have something fun to do over the weekend. We headed out to Searcy, Arkansas for the sole purpose of visiting the Staples. That's a crazy reason but we are always up for a road trip for whatever reason. While there, I hit up a Habitat Restore and found a chandelier for my office makeover. I wasn't feeling well so I had to miss out on the Sonic treats, Boo!

Well, that's it for today. I hope to get back into the "Do More In October" challenge as soon as I can. Let me know if you link up too so I can take a look.

Get to Know Me

via Snail Mail Love

Hey There!

I'm so excited to be starting a fun little challenge this month. I love a challenge that falls in line with any of my plans/goals for what I want to be doing. You can find more details on Fab's blog, Snail Mail Love, here and read her first entry here as well as others at the end of her post.

You can tell from the title of this post today's topic is getting to know the blogger. I like this prompt because it allows me the freedom to share more about myself than I would normally feel is suitable for this platform. We all know that most people DO NOT like talking about themselves, myself included, so to make this fun I will be sharing what I hope will be fun, interesting, maybe embarrassing, and who knows what else will come up. Let's get started shall we...

{I have 12 siblings}
Yep, it's true and no we don't all have the same mom. Technically, my dad has eleven children! My mom has had six of those; two without my dad! For those of you who like numbers here are a few for you... '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '67, '70, '73, '75, '76, '78, and two after that I don't know yet. All I can say to this is Rabbits!

{My Love/Hate Relationship}
I love to take pictures but hate HATE being in them. I'm the epitome of 'the camera adds ten pounds', only it's more like 100 lbs! You know, like marshmallow face or something! Did I say HATE yet?!?

{Walt Disney World}
I'm not a mega fan but I did work there! It was my first job and the only one I don't like to admit to. Here's why; when you tell people that you were a character at WDW, many many questions ensue and you pretty much end up talking about yourself. Who wants to prompt that kind of attention!?!

{Most Embarrassing}
I'm excited to share this one because I own it, and it includes yummy donuts! When I worked in retail, I was to open the store one fine Sunday, but not before stopping for some chocolate mini donuts. My all time favorite since as along as I can remember!! I'm not sure how long into the morning this occurred but at some point a customer made an odd to me random comment about "stopping the donut truck". Um, what? Eventually, I got it and if you really need me to tell you the moral of the story let me know.

{I CAN'T kill bugs}
Yeah, this sounds strange, certainly gross, and especially shutter inducing. When I say "can't", I mean physically impossible. It's the noise, the squishing, the potential for goo... all of the above! I go into panic mode if it is down right necessary for me to deal with this situation on my own. I've even called friends at home to come rescue me! This is serious stuff in my book.


OK, I that's enough for now before I do myself some emotional harm. It's not much but I hope it helps you to know me a little more than the formal stuff you usually read about on info pages. Hey, if you want to read more, don't forget to check out Fab's space. You can also follow #DoMoreInOctober on Instagram.

2015 Planner Layouts, Week #39

Hey There,

Welcome back to another week of how I decorated my planner. The time is flying by so I'm grateful to be taking the extra time to embellish my planner. It's the best chance I get at crafting some weeks since I'm in the midst of an office makeover and doing preschool with my youngest. Neither of those takes a lot of my time but staying on top of chores and quality family time does.

Let's get into the pics, shall we. Here's my full layout with a peek at my closet office progress so far. My color scheme is developing slowly but so far you can see I have watermelon and some teal going on. Since discovering the Frixion pens they are the only pens I will write with in my planner. This image also includes a shot of my monthly calendar and my current blog planner/prelim spread.

Did you catch that about the 'prelim spread'? That's my current solution to relieve my anxiety about not liking my layout before I decorate at the end of the week. Here's what a planning session looks like for me. I pull out my blog planner, monthly calendar, my brain dump notebook, and also my Preschool planner {not shown}. You can see how I have my Happy Planner propped up for inspiration; it would normally be the week before but I thought of sharing this after I finished this week so that's what you see here.

I use the blog planner to list out all my To Do's with my Frixion pens on the top row. The next row I try to set aside for preschool lesson information, and the last I use for planning out how I want work out my blogging/Instagram schedule. I've found I need to keep lots of flexibility in my schedule because I'm not as disciplined as I would like to be. Once the week is complete, I transfer the information into my Happy Planner and embellish to my hearts content.

I use the note section on the left side as an overview for the week. You can see my daily chores, 'this week', 'preschool', and 'grateful' section headers that I made for this purpose. I went with a plethora of stickers this week to use up some of my supply.

That's it for today. I'm hoping to receive my September Planner Society Kit real soon; I'll share as soon as I do!

2015 Planner Layouts, Week #38

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I updated. I'm a little behind on my personal goal here. This goes to show why it's so important to keep your planner handy, and keep it working for you! Yep, that's a hint into my recent struggle. I got my new Happy Planner and have been terrified to write on the pages! Decorating is one thing, but tarnishing it's beauty with my handwriting is another. Want to see how I filled it in last week?

Yep, everything was written on sticky notes. At first, it was so I could figure out how I wanted to write it all in to look nice and organized. Then, as the week went on, I got a little overwhelmed, freaked out, over my poor handwriting. I couldn't get myself to commit. Geez, it's only a planner, right? What's wrong with me! 

So I decided to just do some decorating in it and maybe fill in a bit here and there about what was done during the week, kinda Memory Planner style. I even made the claim on Instagram that I may convert it, but who am I kidding, I want to make this planner work.for.me! This bound stack of pretty paper doesn't own me, I own it! And, by golly, I'm gonna start acting like it. Anyway, here are some closeups; I really like how it turned out.

I also mentioned on Instagram how bulky this planner is. I really don't feel too good about the exposed rings as well as how much calendar is in there. I may just have to order smaller rings and remove the last six months. Hopefully, that will be a workable solution to the bulk and I can carry it in my bag ring side up to appease my fear of dirtying the pages. 

Who knows, I'm still trying to perfect my planner team so it's still subject to change again by the next time I do an update. So stay tuned to found out!

Section Headers

Hey There,

If you follow me on Instagram you already know I got my Happy Planner in the mail yesterday. She is so much more adorable than I expected; no wonder people are in love with this planner. I couldn't wait to move in so I made my section headers, stuck them on, then forgot to take pics before adding some of my To Do's. No biggie, here is what she looks like waiting to be put to work. I love how this turned out! My favorite is the fabric washi; I'm inclined to hoard it after this.

I mentioned in my previous post I would be sticking with my column headings. I tweaked them a bit and finally got it done and done!

I like this so much that I just made a full sheet printable. They match with the calendar headings so I can use them the whole month and just change up the washi and other elements of my layouts. Win/Win! I would love to offer this as a free printable but I'm pretty sure you would want to customize these headings to suit your needs.

Well, that's it for today. Don't forget to come back next week to see my completed layout.

2015 Planner Layouts, Week #37

Hey There!

Ready for another installment of my weekly planner layout? In my opinion, this one is a hot mess! I've mentioned before how I'm trying to figure out my decorating style so for this layout I decided to make use of the tons of Me & My Big Ideas Stickers I've acquired. Yep, I added lots of stickers before filling in my notes. I made it work but I don't think I'll be doing that process again. Here's a sneak peek I shared on Instagram.

Don't get me wrong, I think this view looks great but wait until you see the finished layout. It feels very incohesive and cluttered. I made a few of my own clear stickers to tide me over while I decide on my permanent solution.  For my task lists, I layered most them over stickies from my Happy Planner set. I also made column headings for my side notes using really cute fonts. 

 This is the first half of my week. I felt like it was pretty creative how I made the stickers and flags work. This made it a bit more color coordinated for my related tasks.

I think these column headings will be what I continue with in my new Happy Planner but on the notes side. I like the idea of a five day work week but everyday life has no off days so I'll be utilizing that in my new Blog Planner I set up using my extra HP Expansion Pack pages. 

I can't wait for my new planner to get here this Wednesday! In addition to dividing out my Blog Planner, I have added a new one to my team for Homeschooling. Looks like an update will be in the works real soon. Thanks for checking me out, hope to see you soon.