Office Supply Love-Keyboard Notes

A friend sent me these little keyboard notes in an office supply care package. The have a little folding tab at the botton that allows you to sit them upright on a desk or slide into a keyboard as I have above.  I just realized I can only use these at work since they wouldn't work on a laptop keyboard but they are useful none the less.

They are not very big so they are only for the smallest of notes but I found them to be perfect for to-do list items that could only be done when at the computer.

I looked around the internet for these but I can not find them.  The closest I came were some little tree notes but they looked smaller than my little elephants.  I will keep looking, but when I run out I'll just let my friend know. Japan has some really great office supplies and I'm thrilled to have someone there that understands my obsession.  :)

50 Words-Volume

She tried to talk.
He tried to tune her out.
She continued to talk, hoping to get through.
He increased the volume.
She stopped talking, having seen this play out time and time again.
So concerned with only hearing the pleasant things, he missed her quietly say goodbye, with love.

Catching Up-Filofax

These are the pictures of the last three weeks in my Filofax. This past week has been tough so I took a little blogging break. I hate doing that but I can't write when things aren't going well in life. I had something really special planned for this past week, so I'll be shifting some things around and trying my best to get back on track.

I'm happy to say we managed to get our taxes done. That's was not the easiest thing to do this year. Marriage and living in multiple states was a bear to deal with. But it's done. Only a year to go until we do it again. Actually, I need to gather some paperwork to determine if I need to do an amendment this year so maybe my tax woes aren't quite done. Oy!

I'm still getting used to the smaller format of the Filofax compared to the Moleskine that I was using. Although I miss the extra room to write, I'm enjoying have rings again to be able to customize the sections.

Until next week, happy Filofaxing!

Labor of Love-Part 2

This is a continuation of the family album I am doing for my husband from the pictures we took from his mother's house.

It took a bit of time, but I was finally able to rescue all the photos from the albums they were in.  If you have some old family photos that are mounted in those old sticky/magnetic albums, now is a good time to liberate them.  You don't have to intend to scrapbook them as I am, but if you want them to last longer, get them out as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I damaged a few photos getting them out of the albums. Couldn't be avoided. Even white school glue doesn't hold as viciously a the glue in those albums.

I had no idea how many photos I was really dealing with until I got them all out. I may be in for a bigger challenge than I originally thought. 

The hubby and I hit the local Michaels craft store for supplies and he chose this large black album with an embossed, leather-like cover. Very pretty just enough masculine for him. He is a lover of all things black, so the color scheme will be black, white and cream.

It's a large album with 12 x 12 black pages, but since those refills are a little more difficult to find (none in stock in Michael's that day), I purchased two 8 1/2 x 11 white refill pages. I think the alternating size of the pages will accomodate the varying sizes of the pictures perfectly. I want to avoid cutting as much as possible.

Now that all my supplies are gathered, its time to start working on the layout.

50 Words-Advice

I have no advice to give but I have plenty of lessons you should learn.
Everyone is not your friend.
Every lover is not worth keeping around.
Work to live rather than live to work.
God is always in you even when no one sees Him working on you. Always.

Lack of Diversity?-Product Review

Sometimes you should just use a product for what it is intended. I bought these "sticky" flags that are branded for Smash Books. I don't have a Smash Book but I love the look of their products. I have bought some washi tape in their line and when I saw these flags, I just wanted them. 

But I'm trying to use them in my filofax. Let me first say that if something is branded as a sticky note, it should have enough adhesive on it or actually stick. The adhesive section is so small that the flags curls extremely when you remove one. This curling, in combination with the small section of sticky, cause the note not to stick well at all. 

You can see in the photo how the edge is curling. I thought I would use these in my blogging calendar to be able to schedule blog topics but this won't work. I'll have to tape them down when I figure out where they will go and that defeats the purpose of buying sticky notes. 

I think I'll be staying away from the Smash Books branded products if I'm not going to invest in the Smash Book itself or some other "smash" substitute or use it scrapbooking.

Green Smoothie Love

These smoothies have really become a big part of my life. I didn't have time to make them the past two months because of my work schedule so I was over the moon to get back to it.  This particular batch contains spinach, cucumber, pineapple, apple and banana.

If you are a smoothie lover, green or not, here are two things I have learned from my concoctions.

1. If you want something fresh and frothy, cucumber is your friend.  Cucumber has the ability to take a sweet drink and make it almost ice cream like. It's amazing.

2. If you want something creamy, banana is the ingredient you need to add. When I first started making green smoothies, I hesitated adding banana to spinach. I don't know why considering I was loving the spinach/pineapple combination. When I finally did it, I was blown away.

As I learn tips, I will share them here.  In the meantime, if you have any tips, please comment below.

More Office Supply Love

I just had to take a moment to talk about these Avery Note Tabs. I bought these two+ years ago and have moved them through 3 planners and they still stick well.  I haven't had problems out of any of them. That is quite impressive in my book. Even though we treat these little tabs as quite disposable, its nice to know they will last through several years and several projects if you need them to.

Finally Finishing - Thank You

Now that my temporary work assignment has finished and I'm back to working a normal 40 hour workweek, I'm picking up a few things that should have been done some time ago. Right now,  I'm working on my thank you cards from the wedding. Finally!

I also want to finish out my wedding talk by doing a blog recap of the festivities. I learned a lot of gathered a lot of ideas by following blogs and vlogs related to wedding stuff. I want to make sure I leave some info in that pool of knowledge.

So, I will be hosting what I am calling wedding week here on the blog. We will start on the dreaded tax day, April 15, and end with a very fabulous Giveaway.  Yes, I'm trying the giveaway thing again. I'm collaborating with one of my favorite small businesses to bring something really special to the table.  Stay tuned!

50 Words-We Could Be Happy

I was recently introduced to the concept of mini sagas. These 50 word stories, thoughts, rants have become addictive to me so I thought I'd share them from time to time.

I'm plagued by the memories of who we used to be.
We used to be friends.
We used to be lovers.
We used to be happy with each other.
Is it possible to be what we once were?
We could be happy.
We could be all God intended us be.

Fat Filofax

I never thought I would use a planner this small but it's the perfect form factor for my needs right now.

This little leather beauty (Filofax Holborn) has become my planner and wallet and I find myself wishing I had done this year's ago. But moving down to a planner this size was a journey for me. When my planner obsession started, the Franklin Covey classic size was hardly enough. I wrote down everything and carted everything around with me. When I stated traveling, my classic planner become a heavy albatross. It had to go.

I went through several planners before finding the moleskine weekly format and getting it to work for me. By then, my travel lifestyle had mandated that I pare down.

Now, I still carry too much as you can tell from my little fat friend. It's completely stuffed but everything fits and there doesn't seem to be any strain on the rings. I still need to cut a couple of things down or out but for now, it totally works.

This is how I have it laid out.

-ID, insurance and debit cards, check book, coupons in front cover
-Fly sheet Cover and info pages
-clear envelopes for gift cards and other things
-Information section
-Projects section
-Section for writing ideas
-Emergency information section
-Week on one page with notes calendar for main calendar
-Week on two pages calendar for tracking blog posts and writing projects
-Book section to record recommendations and write reviews
-I have a subsection for a friend's baby gifts that I need to get started on. She's not pregnant yet but I'm praying for it.
-I have a section for designing the perfect planner. This is a dream project that I've been thinking about for years.
-Financial - I have all my health savings and debt related cards here with a copy of my monthly budget. It includes a check register and savings tracker. I also have a separate section that outlines my debts so I can have a visual reminded of my payoff goals
-Stamp log for recording instances of using my professional stamp.

I'm still playing around with the sections and the layout but I am loving it so far.

Organized Chaos-Week13

Sorry I missed posting my planner shot last week. It was quite busy as I was finishing out my six month temporary assignment. I am hoping to be settled and rested for quite some time before hitting the road again but I think that might be asking for too much. I am still using separate calendars for life and blog/writing, but I didn't think to snap a shot of the blogging calendar.  I don't think its as interesting as this one anyway.