{Filofax Friday} Confessions of a Planner-holic

May 10, 2013August 25, 20162 Comments

I’ve jinxed myself. I’ve tried really hard to not admit it, but it’s true. In March, I wrote How I Got Out of Planner Fail, and almost immediately I started struggling with using my Filofax. I really regretted writing the post after that. {I should really be reading that post though because I am totally not sticking with it like I said to.} I switched up the weekly pages from the Week per Page with Notes to the cotton cream Week on Two Pages layout which worked better, but I don’t think it solved the underlying problem which is that I haven’t been using my daily pages.

I think I haven’t been using them for a few reasons. I almost always have Google Calendar open to the weekly view at work. I’ve grown to like seeing the days events displayed chronologically rather than as a list so that I can see the breaks and such. Now I know I can do this on my daily pages as they are, but then I’m forcing my to-dos into one column which just doesn’t work because of my writing. I could schedule to-dos into the time slots, but I’d feel too restricted. I could give up writing the tasks over and over again into my planner and just keep them in Things like I’ve been doing for the past month, but April was utter chaos for me, so that’s not happening.

In an effort to really stick to my 1 Planner for 2013 rule, I finally got washi tape to try and keep my motivated to use my Filofax. I spent nearly $100 dollars between two or three shops on Etsy (with/free shipping). Will it make my Filofax prettier? You bet. Will it actually work to keep me using the Filofax? I have no idea. In any event, my weekly posts will be more colorful at least.

Something interesting is in store for next month though, and I’m impatiently waiting to share it, but that’s for a later post. 🙂

April 2013 Favorites

May 9, 2013August 25, 2016Leave a comment

Hi guys! I’m back with April’s Favorites post. As usual, it’s an eclectic mix of things that I really enjoyed over the month.

{Disclaimer: I purchased all of these products on my own and was not paid or asked to review any of these items.}

Image from Sephora.com

# 1 on my list, Clinique Acne Solutions Clear Skin System, $54

I’ve tried A LOT of products that claim to give clear skin – Proactive, Murad, the many drugstore varieties, and prescription creams and face washes that were like $90 a bottle. None of them really did the trick 100%. The prescription creams and washes my dermatologist provided were the best though (and they should be considering their price) so I continued using them with my Clarisonic and just dealt with the dryness they caused every so often. I picked this stuff up on a whim from Sephora and I’m sold. I only bought the small travel size bottles to start, but I’m definitely getting the full-size ones. I stopped using all my prescription products and have been using this with my Clarisonic twice a day. For spot treatments right now, I’m using Kate Somerville’s EradiKate. I’m not entirely sold on this product, but it works. I’m going to try the other Clinique products rather than repurchasing it though.

Image from Amazon.com

#2, Winix WAC5500 True HEPA Air Cleaner, $199

I’d be lying if I said this thing didn’t help tremendously with my allergies. I’ve never EVER been one to suffer from seasonal allergies, but this year absolutely killed me. I didn’t have the sneezing or runny nose or anything, but every morning, I’d wake up looking like I’d been punched in the eyes. For a couple weeks I couldn’t wear my contacts and had to resort to glasses. {Sidenote: walking in contacts is a lot different than walking in glasses, and I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that.} When I bought this thing, I was terrified. It has this feature that regulates the air flow based on your air quality. Sounds cool, but it was really worrying for me. Keep in mind we have 2 dogs and 3 cats. I just sanded my room, so on top of it’s normal overly-dustiness, it was covered in a layer of white powder. Oh and I have a terrible habit of vacuuming once a month or less. I had this fear that when I turned it on, it’d say my air was like ridiculously toxic. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case, but it works well enough that I don’t get the usual “Are you painting your nails?” comments nearly as often, and I’m not sneezing because of dust every day. Money well spent in my opinion.

#3, L’Oreal Total Repair 5 Hair Care Line

Image from lorealparisusa.com

You know how awesome your hair feels after you get it washed at the salon, that’s how this makes my hair feel. I’m hesitant to try new shampoos because my hair is incredibly fine and it’s also oily by the end of the day. Because it’s so oily, I have to wash it every day which wrecks the ends of my hair. In addition to that, I’m cursed {or blessed depending on how you look at it} with hair that does absolutely nothing but fall straight. No matter how I style my hair, it’s just going to be straight at the end of the day. No curls, waves or any sort of body for me. This line somehow works miracles for my hair. It’s soft and shiny without being oily or weighing my hair down, and finding a line that does it all and doesn’t cost a fortune is a great find in my book. I bought the deep repair mask and the dry oil spray you see in the picture as well. I use the mask once a week and occasionally to touch up my ends if they are looking dry. The dry oil works miracles at making my hair easier to brush when I’m blow drying it in the morning. One last additional side note is that since using this, I’ve stopped using hairspray. One less step for me, and one less way to pollute the environment.

#4, Kindle Paperwhite, $139

Image from Amazon.com

Yep this guy’s not going anywhere. I still recommend this to anyone who is considering one. One thing I’ve noticed though is I rarely turn the brightness higher than the lowest setting. It’s enough light to read at night, and during the day, you can see the screen fine too, so why waste the battery. I can’t imagine ever needing to read it at anything brighter.

Well that’s it for April. Have you tried any of these products? Did you have any products you loved last month? Let me know in the comments below.

May 2013 Goals

May 8, 2013February 21, 2016Leave a comment

MayGoals

April was pretty hectic for me so I’m going to make May’s focus on getting my life back on track.

I want to start using my planner more. To be totally honest, I didn’t really use my Filofax in April. It was probably pretty apparent to any of you who read my {My Week} posts or look for me in Philofaxy’s Web Finds. I have some big changes coming up which I’ll discuss in some later posts.
Along those same lines, I’m continuing my time management improvements. Instead of reading 9 books a month, I need to start paying attention to and whittling down this media overload that I have right now. Total count as of the first week of May is 61 articles in Pocket, 114 videos to “Watch Later” on Youtube, 4 books to finish, and of course the usual Netflix, Blockbuster, and DVR queues to work through. (I am going to cancel Blockbuster though so that will be a few less movies to watch.)
Eating healthier. It’s no secret that I’ve become an avid Tone It Up follower. My mom has been saying she wants to lose weight, but Tone It Up workouts are totally out of the question for her since she’s recovering from shoulder surgery and has bad knees. The next logical solution, eat better.I had considered buying the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan but that price tag is pretty steep. (If anyone’s tried it, I’d love to hear your thoughts!) The next best solution was actually free. Our library has a free subscription to the online version of Clean Eating magazine. What do they put in there? Meal plans and shopping lists. Our fridge is now stocked with tons of fresh fruits and veggies rather than microwaveable burritos, and I after only a few days, I already feel better, hopefully she will get more on board too.
Working out more. I’ve noticed a pretty significant correlation to how I feel and working out. No workout = no energy for me, and that’s just not okay. In keeping with the Bikini Series, I’m going to try it as closely as possible. My motivation is having a rocking bod to show off on vacation next month.
The room. I absolutely need to get my room painted this month. No excuses. My room is in shambles right now. There’s a step-ladder in the middle of the room, paint buckets on the floor, rinsed out paint trays in my shower, and a gigantic cat tower sitting in the middle of my room that I have to climb around every day. Oh, and my cats love bopping me in the head as I walk past them too…
The blog. Last but not least, I have neglected this blog tremendously. My stats have reflected it, and I just feel like I’ve let not only readers down, but myself as well. I promise to get back on track and remember why on earth I love this blog so much.

What about you? Do you have any goals or big projects coming up this month?

April 2013 Goal Recap

May 7, 2013February 21, 2016Leave a comment

april-goals

April was basically hell for me thanks to the pollen, but I made it through thanks to some Allegra, an air purifier, and sadly staying cooped up inside. April’s focus was Work so how did I do?

Compiling a list of Skillsoft Courses – Nope. It’s still on the to do list.
The semester ends in May, and I’d like to provide our student employees with performance evaluations and maybe raises before they leave, so I need to figure out the budget which I’ve never had to do, iron out the processes I want to use, and schedule to meet with all of them before they get all stressed out with Finals. – I got these done in a record 3 days. Meeting with 12-14 students in 3 days was a daunting task especially when you’ve never done it before. I didn’t have any formal managerial training, and I’ve never had to plan out a budget for a company before in my life. I know I’ve been in my office the longest, and I’ve been worked in every single position in the office so I suppose I am qualified to judge performance, but it still felt very new to me, but at the end of the month, raises were approved and evaluations were given before finals week.
Lastly, our department is trying to focus on an online support knowledge base of sorts to help continue to provide answers to our customers while also being able to focus on improving things for the future. Tidying up this space has been on my radar for a while, and I hope that with the help of my colleagues we can get some Spring cleaning done. – I’m going to say this was both a hit and a miss. Some of the pages got tidied up and revamped because I was asked to, but that wasn’t really the clean up I had intended. I’d love to be able to just sit down with the other people involved and figure out a plan of action, but they don’t seem to be so interested in change.
~~Evaluating my current wardrobe to see what I need to add or replace for warmer weather.~~ – After spending a whopping $476 dollars at Forever21, I’m going to call this a success. I now have a plethora of new tops to pick from and some workout gear as well. I actually hit a limit on Forever21’s site that told me I had too many items in my cart. When a website tells you to stop shopping, I guess you should listen. Now the only things I need are a few new pairs of shoes and pants from American Eagle.
I’d like to tackle painting at least my ceiling in my bedroom. – It’s partially painted… that’s a start.
I’m also going to work on managing my time better. – This was something I struggled with. I spent the majority of my time reading rather than doing what I was supposed to. Blog posts, workouts, and school, all somehow took a backseat.
I’m also working on something I’ve sort of informally dubbed “Project Andrea.” – This is sort of an ongoing thing. I can say it’s taking shape though.
Also, this month’s photo challenge is Filofax themed so I’m excited. – I’ve officially decided I’m done with photo challenges. Oddly enough, that decision made me snap more random photos here and there.

My {Filofax} Week 18

May 6, 2013August 25, 2016Leave a comment

Paper Lovestory's My Week

I have a bit of a confession to make. There’s no photo this week because I didn’t write a thing on my weekly pages.

So what did I do with my week?

It was a week full of catch-up meetings. Apparently my department really like’s that word, because I had 3 “catch-ups” scheduled. Out of those three, one turned into a phone call that was less than 5 minutes and one got cancelled. In addition to that, Wednesday-Friday I met with each of the students that work in our office individually, and got pay raises approved for them. I hate to brag, but I’m kind of excited to say that this is the first time they’ve gotten raises in like 2 years. It feels good to know I could be a part of that.

I finished Pretty by Jillian Lauren. I can’t say I’m a fan of the book. It just wasn’t really my style, and I found it really hard to read. I’m still trying to get through Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits book and Drive by Daniel Pink, but I’m quickly moving through Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider and The Summer I Learned to Fly by Dana Reinhardt. I also spent some time catching up on YouTube videos (one of these days I’ll get caught up.) and watched Silver Linings Playbook. I’m a huge Bradley Cooper fan, but I have to say, Jennifer Lawrence is winning me over. I’m not sure I can continue to lump her into the terrible-acting crew (think Twilight – sorry, that cast ruined the books for me).

I was really freaking out about all the work stuff I had to do this week. Needless to say, my guilty pleasure this week was working out. I went full out, and basically lived in workout clothes outside of work. I even walked during my lunch break (in 5″ heels, but hey, it worked). I picked up some more workout DVDs (some old-school Katrina and Karena stuff.) Protein drinks and healthy foods also found their way into my life, and I’m happy to report a lifestyle change is under way at my house. I may not be able to get everyone on board with working out (Tone It Up doesn’t work for someone with bad knees and shoulders as my mom found out), but I can convince them to eat a bit healthier. I’m not going full out healthy lifestyle, but I can do better than microwaved burritos and candy bars.

Amidst all that, I forgot to do my school work AGAIN. In my defense the ones I forgot were due Friday NOT Sunday like usual, but I did get some of it submitted. Lesson to be learned here… use a planner!

Since I had no picture of my weekly pages, here’s some photos from last week.

Walking to work, I decided to snap a picture of the pond and the other buildings on campus.

I had the pleasure of driving behind this guy for nearly 10 minutes which was lovely….

During one of my lunch breaks, I happened to find this little guy.

Saturday could be summed up by this set up right here.

The animals all joined me as well. Remi played. The cats wandered in and out, but Zoey chilled right under the table.

My {Filofax} Week 17

April 29, 2013August 25, 2016Leave a comment

Paper Lovestory's My Week

I’m a wee bit late on this post today, but here it is nonetheless.

Here’s my week:

Last week was pretty bare. I went full-blown OCD and put my weekly pages over top of a lined sheet of paper to make sure everything was lined up. That’s really as far as it went with my Filofax though.

I caught up on Youtube videos and Pocket articles. The total stands at 19 articles in Pocket and 150 videos on YouTube. I actually hit the 200 video limit a week or so ago, so I’ve been watching them little by little, the shortest to longest, to get the number down quickly.

I’ve officially decided the Photo-A-Day challenges are not for me. I can’t do it. I always forget, and it ends up being 20 photos on one day instead.

The Tone It Up Bikini Series kicked off on Tuesday and I’ve been somewhat trying to eat healthier and stay on track with my workouts. A treadmill is in the near future though so I can start running.

Over the weekend was where the real fun started and I got the house all to myself for the first time in years! I was honestly shocked at how large the house seemed which was a big unexpected. I’ve lived here for 13 years and I’ve never had that feeling before. I’m excited to finally have my bed to myself again for a bit though.

One of my favorite parts of the week isn’t even on here. I may be a few months late since I had planned February to be my month to focus on friendships and relationships, but I’m thrilled to say that I was able to reconnect with someone I figured was gone for good. A unexpected text turned into plans for a quick bite to eat but that turned into almost 6 hours just talking and catching up. It was pretty great, and I feel incredibly lucky to have another chance.

And last but not least, the pink is going away. Little by little, I’m working on getting parts of my room painted. It’s a bit sad, but I cannot wait until I can show off the finished product. (But first I need to get on that blog post for the before pictures…)

Anyway, on to another week… hopefully equally as good as the last.

{Filofax Friday} The Beginning of an End

April 26, 2013August 25, 2016Leave a comment

If any of you are regular readers of this blog, you likely stumbled here from something Filofax related (either a blog or searching.) It makes sense. Up until now, a lot of what I had been writing about was centered around my gorgeous Osterley in wine. (A grey one may or may not be in my future…) In any event, all good things must come to an end, and as shocking as it sounds, I’ve run out of Filofax things to post to be able to keep {Filofax Fridays} a weekly feature. I want to provide content that’s worth reading, and while I’m sure I could find things to write about, I want to write about things because I want to, not out of obligation. Frankly, my life just doesn’t revolve around Filofaxes {at least not entirely} enough to be able to post weekly.

Starting this week {or last week rather since I missed it last week…}, {Filofax Friday} will no longer be a weekly post. I will try to post bi-weekly, but I can’t make any guarantees. On the week’s that aren’t Filofax-related, you may find a review or something I try to post monthly like how badly I fail at daily photo challenges, monthly goals, etc. in it’s place. My hope is that by moving these monthly posts out of my usual Wednesday slot, I can get some updates as to what’s really going on in my life like this room remodel I’ve been talking so much about but haven’t gotten around to actually posting about.

I hope I don’t lose you guys as readers in making this change, but I feel as if as this blog evolves, this just feels right.

According to Andrea

Finding ways to help technology make life easier, not more complicated.