New Planner = I heart Filofax

Ahhh...it's already July 23rd, and I'm just starting to feel like I'm getting somewhat on top of things. Summer always seems to appear with a blank slate and somehow fill faster than I can pick up a pen to start writing on my calendar. So far this summer I've been out of town for 3 weeks, in class for 1, and home for 3, and of course those 3 measly weeks were crazy full and busy with running here, there, and everywhere. With the end of July looming I'm definitely feeling some urgency to manage my time well, even though there is no feasible way I'll be able to finish cleaning out our house (and selling everything we no longer use), complete 3 bins of sewing projects, organize 4 months of photos, learn how to use Photoshop, start creating photo books, and create and plan the pile of school work I brought home to tackle this summer, all while spending tons of quality time with my boys and the many friends I want to see. Yikes! Does anyone else have the same problem?! So here is one of the few things I've actually managed to check off my project list...my planner!!! For the last few years I've tried a few options for trying to efficiently and accurately manage our family's crazy schedule. I tried Erin Condren twice, but as beautiful as her life planners are, they simply were not functional for me. Why? The vertical arrangement of the day-by-day section drove me crazy, and I need my planner to house all those random things that I need inconsistently and all the time. Oh, and they are HUGE. I also tried syncing various calendar apps on my phone with my hubby but found that won't work if neither of you are diligent about adding events (or you never remember to check it or look at it regularly). Lastly, I wanted the option to be able to add whatever I needed and eliminate past calendars or lists...so total customization.

Here is what I settled on, and I am SO in love with it. After several weeks of debating (with myself), blog hopping, and searching for the perfect option, I decided to spring for a Filofax (click here for the link). What is a Filofax, you might be wondering? Well, it's a super nice little leather binder that you can fill however you want. Sweet!!! Admittedly, I let it sit empty for a few weeks while I convinced myself that I didn't need to design my own pages (deep breath), but once I decided to just purchase Miss Tiina's printable calendar. Click here for her planner website, and here for her Etsy shop. Was that worth the $10ish investment? Oh wow, absolutely!!! And when I pulled up her Etsy shop I just discovered it's 50% off right now if you'd like to grab it!!!

So after a date with our printer and another with my paper cutter, the last decision was how to organize and insert all the pages. I didn't use the included Table of Contents and decided to create a system that fit me better, so I cut down some super cute file folders from Target and lumped everything into 8 sections: To Do Lists (weekly notes go here too, along with most other random lists of things I keep track of), Calendars, Meals (includes meal planning, grocery lists, and a few recipe cards), Money (budget tracking, bills, and receipts), Celebrating (birthday and anniversary lists along with a record of all the gifts I already have stashed), Mary Kay, Contacts (including sleeves for business cards), and Notes.

How do I love it after a week? OMG IT'S FABULOUS!!! I've already transferred birthdays and anniversaries, taken stock of gifts we have ready to give, added the list of the clothes I have stashed for Josiah in bigger sizes, clipped my coupons and receipts for shopping runs to the divider for shopping lists...WOW, has that been great!!! The last pieces to utilize thoroughly will be meal planning and budgeting sections. Yep, I'm going to be a little over the top and inventory what food we currently have in our freezer and pantry so I can be more intentional with meal planning and prep, but oh I can't wait to have everything I need to keep our family running (more) smoothly at my fingertips!!! I am so never going back to a prebound planner...

Sew Much to Get Ready!

So we're headed to the lake, and can you guess what my boys are planning to do???

Me? Not so much a fisherwoman. Jim's "rendition" of my trips out on the boat go like this..."Yeah, I'll go out for awhile and read while you fish." (30-60 minutes later, or just as he's settling in) "Ok, I'm ready to go back." Drives him crazy!!! I do like to be out on the water, but I don't like baking to a crisp or trying to read and relax in a super cramped boat seat while constantly having to move around to stay comfortable. Maybe someday we'll get a pontoon so we have the best of all worlds. 

I am, however, planning to sew, read, work on photos, sew, maybe nap, sew, read, work on photos some more, SEW... Thanks to Pinterest and the lovely Connie and Roxanne at Modern Textiles (MT on Facebook or their website) I have a pile of gorgeous fabric and a list of sewing projects as long as my arm. If you sew and you haven't visited their shop, seriously, you need to go. Now. They have impeccable taste, everything in their shop from the fabric choices to the displays to the decor is set up to inspire, their product lines are nothing but quality, and they take the time to get to know their customers while they ever so patiently help you find the perfect print (or 7). I am slowly becoming less lost in the world of sewing, though I am still belligerently sticking to things that only require sewing straight lines, for now.

And since a good chunk of our vacation is forecasted rain, I'm planning to spend much of the time my handsome hubby and adorable son are fishing turning these (7)...

...into a larger version of this...

...and these (4) combinations...

...into a few of these adorable elephants!!! (click here for the link to the tutorial)

I was going to make these two ultra and unbelievably soft fabrics into a baby blanket...

...but couldn't wait to put them together for a dear friend today...

...and created very possibly my most favorite baby blanket ever!!!

Almost every one of these projects will be made exclusively from fabric from Roxanne and Connie. I typically don't let my MT fabrics "play" with the other fabrics I had purchased previously elsewhere, but I had a few in my stash that were just too perfect for the elephants to not use. LOL

Have I done this before?

If I looked on my Facebook wall about this time last year, and probably the year before, I'm pretty sure I'd find pictures of my new / newly or organized / reorganized desk. Seriously?! Have I not learned that I need to take care of things right away as the only way to maintain an organized office? So often I hear, "You're so organized!" If only that were always true. Confession: I hate paperwork. I hate filing. I hate grading papers. I hate all that clean up stuff at the end. I have an ottoman full of paper that needs to be filed, shredded, or simply thrown. And I get totally overwhelmed when I've let something pile up. So...this is the year to finally "learn my lesson." I still have few odds and ends to go through, but after I go through the last two bins I'm eliminating any unused containers so I can't do it again. Can someone please check up on me at the end of July. :) (or remind me next year at this time that the reason I have a mess is because the last month of school is c.r.a.z.y.)

Here's my "new office." What do I love? My jar full of washi tape, my plethora of pens and other writing utensils, and my reshuffled shelf of projects that is no longer a mess (since twice during the school year I had the not-so-brilliant idea...yes, twice...to move cookbooks and then unfinished photo albums here). Talk about visually overstimulating. This is much better. I also love the cabinet that matches my desk, and holds almost all of my Mary Kay inventory perfectly. SO much easier to get at, and since it's out of the closet we can store all our office supplies IN the closet. What a thought, huh? And all the bins in my Expedit shelf? They're full of beautiful fabric, batting, scraps...everything I need for a brain break when I just can't take any more office work. Sigh...It's amazing how much calmer I feel when my space is settled and everything has a home. 

Now, even though I still have filing to do and a planner to create, I'm going to take a break from organizing for some "me time." I haven't just stopped to do whatever I want yet this summer. It's.About.Time. Look at these gorgeous fabrics so beautifully folded...they are going to become a quilt for our bed and 5 throw pillows. I can hardly wait!!!

DIY Camera Strap Tutorial 1.0

How ironic that after staying up super late on New Years Eve (Jim and Josiah didn't make it) to finish a camera strap cover that I should decide to make 2014 the year that I tackle our thousands of untouched photos. It's about time! I have unfinished photo projects dating back to college, and YES that includes an unfinished wedding album. (Whoops!) I'm also aspiring to create a photo book at the end of 2014 with one photo from each day, inspired by The Creative Mama's post, to keep myself focused on photography...taking better pictures on a more regular basis (this habit has seriously decreased as Josiah grows older), editing and learning to use Photoshop, finishing photobooks, & finding a system to organize and archive all those priceless images. And now I can be all the more comfortable and stylish!!!

On to the tutorial...I had pinned this tutorial awhile back from Doodles & Stitches, but I wanted more of a finished look and a pocket to hold my lens cap like some I had seen on Etsy. So I created my own plan merging the two. This is my first sewing tutorial, so no promises on eloquence or clarity of directions. :) Here's my plan, a few pix, and the changes I would make were I to do it again:

Cut the following pieces:

•  2 pieces of fabric for the main strap cover based on the size of your strap. My desired strap dimensions were 28" long x 2" wide, so I cut 30" x 3".
• 1 piece of Pellon Wonder-Under for padding and body (29" x 3" to make hemming each end easier)
• 1 piece of fabric for the lens cover pocket (3" x 4.5")

Here are the layers for the strap...cute fabric is a must have!

Iron Wonder-Under to fabric intended for the back side of the strap. (I also used it in the pocket, but it turned out to be too bulky, so I wouldn't recommend that.)

Iron fabric for pocket in half (right sides facing) the hamburger way (yep, comments like that only come from a teacher).

Sew 1/4" seam along side opposite of fold. Turn pocket right side out and repress fold & seam for crisp edges.

The pocket will look like this...all set to keep that cover safe!

Back to the two main strips. Hem both ends of each (turn up half inch & iron both ends twice; then topstitch 1/4" from edge).

Pin pocket approximately 1" above one end of the top piece. Sew a quarter inch above the bottom of pocket to topstitch and secure the pocket in one step.

Pin two sides of the straps right sides facing (pocket will be inside) & sew half inch inseam along both long sides of the strap.

(Just beginning to sew along the second side. The seam running across is the bottom of the pocket.)

Turn strap right side out & topstitch (a quarter inch) along each long side. Done and ready to slip over  the strap of your camera!

Finished!

Changes:

Skip the Pellon in the pocket. Start with a longer strip of fabric for the back of the strap since it shrunk when fused. Use a 3/8" seam allowance instead of 1/2" along two long sides to make it easier to turn, slide over the strap, and allow for more lens cap room. 

Note:

Be sure to measure the diameter of your lens cap. If you have a full-size DSLR then the width of this strap will be too narrow. Our lens cap is very small, for now. Hopefully this year we will upgrade our camera, which will mean that I have to make a wider strap! Oh shucks...guess I'll have to go get more fabric from Modern Textiles...maybe by then I'll be better at scribing sewing directions and can write version 2.0. :)

2014 Resolutions

Over the last day or two my brain has been doing what the rest of your brains are probably doing...thinking back on 2013 and ahead to 2014. Did I accomplish what I wanted to? Was it a good year? Well...it was a year...I wouldn't call it a great year, but I wouldn't call it a bad year either. I did go back and reread my resolutions or yearly "goals" posts from 2012 and 2013 (Thank you Molly W. for introducing me to blogging! I love sharing myself and my heart on my blog, & tonight I love that I can look back.), and realized that those two years have many resolutions in common...and many goals that I'll continue...and several that I didn't complete. :)

Here's last year's list:
1 - Be healthier --- exercise and balance those food groups!!!
2 - Make time for things I enjoy --- Blurb books, sewing, blogging, and cooking
3 - Plan monthly times with friends, or weekly if possible
4 - Hang out with my hubby and DO something together
5 - Establish a consistent bedtime and get out of bed time to support all of the above!!!
I think those are actually pretty wise. Hmmm...I think I might actually need to publish and post those in a prominent location to remind myself of their importance in our lives...

The themes that emerge from the last two years are SIMPLIFY and BALANCE. I'm not sure I've completely achieved simplification or finding balance in our lives, but both of those are ideals that I will continue to strive for into 2014 and beyond. I'm going to add on MAINTAIN. Maintain simplifying daily life, simplify the possessions in our home, simplify the process of completing meaningless tasks instead of making a big deal out of nothing...maintain a healthy marriage, consistent parenting, close and regular friendships, healthy habits...maintain working toward a balance between work & personal life, pleasure & business, with family & time alone, being a "housewife" & choosing what I want to do, maintain our budget, maintain our businesses, maintain hobbies and our family photos, maintain posting regularly on our blog...do you see where I'm going with this? That list could keep going and become a novel! After two years of truly working toward regaining control of what should be day-to-day and not trivial turned tumultuous, I want to maintain those efforts while rounding out life with things that often go by the wayside. For example...family photos...I have thousands of them...they keep being saved on my computer and going nowhere...they are a mess...I haven't organized, edited, or compiled them in three and a half years!!! IT'S TIME!!!!!!!!!

Can you guess my #1 goal for 2014? PHOTOGRAPHY, etc.

• Organize the thousands of pictures and folders of pictures on my computer (the pictures imported from my iPhone are a mess...no idea how it sorts, but it seriously has created thousands of folders in two and a half years...utter disaster).
• Learn to effectively/efficiently use Photoshop to organize & edit pictures
• Create photo books (through Blurb?) in the style of Family Yearbooks
• Create a photo-a-day blog & book for 2014 --- luv this idea & LUV that it will put the three bullets above into daily use to keep me going!
• Learn to use all the features of our camera to their full advantage & how to capture better images --- preferably through a photography class first

Yeah!!! I'm so excited to start!!! I already created our photo a day blog and am researching Photoshop Elements vs. Lightroom. Once I get that program loaded I can tackle managing all the photos we currently have with a vengeance. Next step...learning the art of photography!!!

Now...better wrap this up since I'm already violating my getting to bed early plan...shocking!

30 Days of Thankful

Every November on Facebook I see any number of my friends begin to list what they're thankful each day. Some years I love reading them, but to be honest some years it drives me crazy. (No offense to anyone!) Maybe those years I wasn't feeling particularly thankful, or maybe my Facebook feed went crazy overrun with all those extra posts. So how ironic is it that this year I am feeling so overwhelmingly thankful for so many things that I'm compelled to write daily? Well? I'm going to start my list via blog so that only those who want to read can check in and read when you want, and I'll update the same post so that it doesn't make a blog post mess. Yep! That's my plan!

November 1 - I'm not thankful that Josiah got the flu, but I am thankful that he did it on the day after Halloween. In case you're wondering...that's every teacher's least favorite day of the school year. :)

November 2 - I'm thankful for Josiah and for his sweet heart. I love waking every morning to his smile, hugs, snuggles, and energy. I am so thankful for his active mind and eagerness to learn. How can my baby be almost 5 years old, though...I am not thankful for how quickly time flies by...I'm not ready to have a kindergartener next fall...yikes!!!

November 3 - I am thankful that I now work 3 minutes from home and can much more easily prep for a sub. I'm especially thankful that when I arrived tonight there were no other staff members present to witness my inexplicable appearance and pjs.

November 4 - Thank God Josiah likes his new daycare! After 4 years with our Katie it was so hard for both mom and J to change to a center. Today he complained that Jim picked him up too early, and he only got to do 2 centers. Also thankful that they are only 2 minutes away instead of 20-25, they feed him breakfast, he comes home singing songs, and that Jim can much more easily get him so I'm not 99.9% responsible for all transportation...just 98% now...

November 5 - Josiah had dental surgery today to crown his molars, which unfortunately inherited my poor enamel. I am SO thankful that no teeth had to be extracted and that we didn't need to go the spacer route. Especially thankful that there were no complications with anesthesia since that is what I had myself all freaked out over.

November 6 - After 2 rounds of flu, surgery, and 3 days off of work in a row, I'm so glad to be back to "normal!" (normal = at school)

November 7 - I'm thankful to be hungry! I'm also so proud to be part of the Mary Kay family as I sit here watching Project Runway. Wow! What a fabulous company and product!!! (And yep, I actually watched a TV show tonight...that is thanks to Mary Kay too since I can't remember the last time I watched something other than Friends reruns or HGTV)

November 8 - Thankful for a night to hog Josiah while Jim whines about his cold. Love every minute with my little boy...running errands and chatting away the whole time, snuggling on the couch for a movie, & staying up late on a Friday!

November 9 - SO THANKFUL THAT MY IN-LAWS WERE ABLE TO COME VISIT TODAY!!! We see them so infrequently, here even less. Today was a joy as Josiah roped them into doing puzzles, golfing, reading books...oh, and we enjoyed a fabulous meal a Doolittles together. Why don't we eat there more often???

November 10 - Thankful for an entire day at home to do house-stuff & find such a fabulous list of gift ideas for Josiah (both birthday & Christmas in the same month...yikes!)...can't wait to shop, wrap, & watch him tear them open! Favorite part of today = setting up our Christmas tree...with Josiah, of course. :)

November 11 - I am thankful for a day to do whatever I want to do! After 4 years of teacher-only daycare this option to utilize daycare on my days off is HEAVEN! I usually keep him home, at least part of the day, but today after bringing him mid-morning I got my haircut, went for lunch, ran errands, started Christmas shopping...oops...working on report cards and spending the day at school were also on the list...next time!!! (maybe)

November 12 - I am thankful that my in-laws brought me an office chair. I am sitting AT my desk with padding under my bum without a backache. Yes!!! It's the simple things...

Ready to Ride!

Took part of the afternoon off to do some online perusing with Josiah for ideas for his birthday party. Last year I fully intended to do a party after the holidays, but without an actual birthday and the presence of an awful winter (the plan was to do a sledding party) it just didn't happen. So this year I'm going to be a much better mom and start planning a month early. Can you guess what our theme is going to be? Yep...bikes! Josiah and I ran down to Unglued on Broadway so we could check out the new fabrics that Modern Textiles just stocked...what perfect timing!!! So excited to use these for decor and favors!!!

While we were there I just couldn't leave these two...the print on the left I've used before and LOVE, and the one on the right is just absolutely gorgeous. I see some beautiful baby gifts for some of my beautiful friends in the near future!