let's talk PLANNERS

i have always loved me a good planner.
my life is not that hectic, but my brain is.
between diabetes and the various doctors' appointments, photography, and stuff goin' on with family and friends in various cities, my brain can't keep up. {ya girl can't even get through the day without a to-do list}

i also looooove the feel of actual pen and paper. i am not one of those to keep track of things in my phone. if i can see it all there on the pages, i feel can lie to myself and pretend like my brain is organized.

i am a tad picky, and these are my requirements:

• it can't be tiny. it has to have plenty of space for me to write on each day because i have fat handwriting. it doesn't have to be notebook-sized, but it does have to have plenty of room to write on each day.
• i like a nice page of the full month, followed by weekly breakdowns.
• i do love me a little tab action as well
• i prefer spiral over the three-ring binder-syle, so i never do the refillable kind {i always manage to rip pages out of those, and i hate having to write with that big hump of three clips in the middle}

i do like the look of the personalized erin condren ones. i like them a lot actually, but i just can't swing $50 on a planner. {erin, y'all wanna send me one to review? it's highly likely that i'll have wonderful things to say!}

soooo, in the meantime ...

i am leaning toward my trusty blue sky one that i always buy from target. i am not dead set on it, but it's the best i've found for the price range, and it's conveniently located at target where i can go check it out and walk out with it in my hands.

 it is annoying, however, that every target seems to have a different print. i am not much on pink/girly, which seems to be what they always have. i guess i will just have to check a couple of targets to see what i come up with.

i also love to incorporate stickers, sticky notes, tabs, and fun, colorful pens/skinny markers. i believe that life is more fun when you decorate it.

so tell me, what is your favorite planner? what do you love/not love about it? was it worth the cost/having to order it online/wait for it?

are you a neurotic planner, or just seriously scatterbrained {ME!!!} and therefore, need to write every. single. thing. down?

holla.

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Update:
I decided to go with Lilly. I know, I know. I am so not a priss, butttt, I am sort of in love with the pockets, and stickers and details. I got the Large agenda, marked down to $16 from $26, in Shorely Blue Leggy. 

Check out Lifeguard Press for plenty of info. Also a video below! Looks like Lifeguard Press can get it shipped out more quickly, but the Lilly site has free shipping, FYI.  

 

I am still curious about the Erin Condren ... maybe next year I will ask Santa to bring me one.

Thanks for all of y'all's help!!!!

DIY jewelry display

I was flipping through Southern Living's recent special edition, "100 Makeover Ideas" (couldn't find a link) and came across a bulletin board covered in fabric to hang large pieces of jewelry. Theirs was framed (in what looked like crown molding that had been cut to fit). I decided I'd attempt to make it, 'cause Lord knows I have three jewelry boxes and I am about to die to find a way to separate big, bulky pieces from smaller, daintier ones. 

Then, I remembered I had this window frame! Holla!

 Here is the finished product:

What I used:

* roll of corkboard (make sure it's not the super thin kind)

* 3 pk. of foam boards (I put these behind the cork because the cork alone wasn't thick enough and it would've caused the thumbtacks to poke all the way through to the wall)

* fabric (I had an old linen-like shower curtain leftover that I'd started to cut up to use on something else)

* staple gun and staples (make sure the staples are big/long enough to go through the cork, foam, fabric, and into your frame, if you make yours that way)

* D-hooks and picture hanging wire // materials for preferred method of hanging your frame

* thumbtacks or some sort of pushpin (I just used clear thumbtacks because I didn't want too much going on with color, etc)

Basically, my "layers" were"

1 - frame

2 - fabric

3 - corkboard

4 - foam (just one sheet is thick enough - out of the 3 in the pack, I only needed two, side-by-side, and I had to cut one of them down so its edges weren't visible)

Hope this explains it. Loving mine so far. 

One step closer to organization!