March Photo-a-Day Challenge Recap

fms-photo-challenge-march-2013

I’m really trying to finish a photo challenge. I, admittedly did better than last month, but still not fantastic. I managed to snap a total of 16 photos, a little over half of them. I’m starting to wonder if it’s the topics that aren’t inspiring me rather than me just being lazy.

As usual, these are just a few of my favorite pictures. If you’re interested in seeing the whole set {all 16 of them} check out my Flickr set.

Day 3 - Key #fmsphotoaday

I absolutely adore my Coach key ring I keep my car key on. I wish I had bought more than one so that I could replace this one now that it’s starting to lose it’s rhinestones. I keep my work keys on the Vera Bradley fob so that I can find them easily in my work bag.

Day 12. In the distance #fmsphotoaday

Who would have thought I’d ever love a picture with my neighbors’ barn in it. It looks much more appealing in this picture than in real life.

Day 18. {New} shoes #fmsphotoaday

I bought these boots in November. After being on back order, I finally got them in March. I absolutely adore them, I just wish I had them sooner.

For the month of April, I’m taking a break from FatMumSlim’s photo challenges and switching over to Carla’s second Filofax photo challenge. I loved the first so I’m excited to participate in this one.

Welcome to April everyone!

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My {Filofax} Week 13


Paper Lovestory's My Week

Happy Monday readers! I absolutely love these My Week posts. They are starting to take on a mind of their own and serve as a weekly review for me which is incredibly helpful. Lined paper means we are at the end of another month. How time flies! Also, Happy April Fool’s Day! I wish I had a bit of a prank here, but I’m not one for April Fool’s Day pranks mainly because I’m usually the one falling for them.

Here’s my week:

week-13

A quick confession, my mind has been a bit frazzled lately. I wish that my week were more interesting, but I honestly haven’t used my Filofax much. That of course is probably why I was losing my mind though. In any event, I’m scrapping the usual bulleted synopsis format for this week because I can’t seem to boil down my week that way for this past week.

My life has been in a bit of limbo lately. On one hand, I feel like I’m in a really cool situation where I literally get to start my life over the right way and pick out who I really want to be in it, but all of that is utterly overwhelming too. I have so many cool ideas, and I really need to start using my planner to get everything straight rather than just building up in my head, but stupidly, when I get overwhelmed, I tend to avoid my planner.

This week was a meeting week. I had a meeting to discuss a solution to a problem we’ve been having with some forms provided by another department on Tuesday. Sadly the one person we really needed at the meeting didn’t show up. On the bright side, I got to have a nice walk across campus, and we did explain the situation to at least some people that found it informative. My meeting on Wednesday had been rescheduled about 3 times before it actually turned into a phone call. That phone call sparked the sharing of some research I’d accumulated to hopefully revamp our department’s website into a useful support hub for our campus which I’m pretty excited to have actually helped with even though it wasn’t. Thursday I had a meeting with another student supervisor in our department to discuss how they are recruiting and training students. It was incredibly helpful. I used to be one of the students I now manage so in some ways it helps me relate and be a voice for them, but I’m also fairly new to this whole supervising thing, so I’m always welcome to insightful information on how to manage them as well.

My graduate work is going so-so. I managed to get all the reading and housekeeping tasks done, but the big project we are working on is a 4-week project. I know I shouldn’t procrastinate. I should be doing a little at a time, but a 4 week project is a procrastinator’s nightmare.

The arrival of my Kindle of course didn’t help with my procrastination. I guess there are worse things I could have done than read, but I wish I hadn’t used it as an excuse to put off everything I should have done, making me feel worse. I actually upped my 2013 reading goal because I finished three books this week and am now incredibly ahead of schedule:

  • Pretty Neat: The Buttoned-Up Way to Get Organized and Let Go of Perfection by Alicia Rockmore and Sarah Welch –  I didn’t care for this book. Pretty Neat was actually a misnomer because it really was more about how “organized” people tend to find ways to cut corners rather than having everything nicely organized.
  • Twilight by Stephenie Meyer – I really wish I hadn’t seen the Twilight movies before reading this. I had heard the books were better than the movies and I wanted to give the books a chance. I just felt like my distaste for the cast of the movies really spoiled this book. I won’t be reading the others.
  • Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – I really enjoyed this book. It kept me on my toes. Like a lot of people, I have to say I HATED the ending. When I finished it, I sat there for a minute thinking, “That’s it? Really?!” After thinking about it though, I really do think it was a fitting ending. The more I read the book, the more I realized how absurdly messed up both of them were, so the ending was only fitting. My Kindle has now been borrowed by my mom while she reads it before I return the copy to the library.

One thing I did do that has somewhat lessened my stress level was putting together some sort of routine for my life. I added yet another calendar to my Google Calendar called Routine. I’ve tried this before, and it drove me crazy, but this time I’ve accepted it not as a formal schedule with deadlines, but sort of an ideal guideline to keep me on track and get things done. In that routine, I’ve blocked out some time each night to workout and do daily chore-type things. I’ve also blocked out about 4 hours on the weekends for this blog. I’m hoping that I can knock out my weekly posts during that time rather than haphazardly writing them during the week. One of these days I’ll do a “day in the life” post to show you what my boring days are like.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my week. Until next week…

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{Sunday Social} Week #7

Sunday Social

It’s Sunday, and I’m excited as usual because I love Sundays. Making a routine of Sunday has really made it a lot more enjoyable now that my mindset has changed from “the last day of the weekend before another long week of work” to “the first day to start my week of right.” So here’s this week’s questions:

1. Favorite type of work out to do?  – If any of you have been following my blog for any length of time, you’ll know I’m a big fan of Katrina and Karena from Tone It Up. I’ve never been one to really work out per se. I’d do a few pushups or squats here or there, but nothing that would really do anything. I bought their workout DVD a couple of months ago, and since then I’ve never looked back. I actually feel guilty when I don’t work out every day. It’s really triggered a total lifestyle change for me.

2. Favorite guilty pleasure candy or sweet? –  Okay, so I may be in the minority here, but I’m not a big fan of sweets. I’d rather have a piece of fruit or some veggies any day over a piece of cake which I’m sure my parents enjoyed when I was little. I do enjoy a Java Chip Frappuccino or a White Mocha from Starbucks every once in a while though. {Ok, maybe more than every once in a while considering I have a Gold Card…}

3. What is one thing you continuously forget to do?  Totally honest confession here – brushing my teeth at night. I know that’s terrible, and I’m trying to make it a habit this year. I just  always seem to be going 200% all day until it’s time for bed, and that extra 2 minutes with my tooth brush seems like such a chore. My dentist would probably hate me if they knew, but they always say I’m doing a fantastic job with my teeth.

4. Posts its or phone reminders? – This one’s a hard one. If you read my blog, you know my Filofax runs my life, but I also use my technology for everything, so I don’t particularly like one or the other any better. Phone reminders if it needs to be done at a specific time. I’d also pick digital reminders on my phone, iPad, or computer for anything I’m going to need access to for a while or over and over again just because they hold up better than post it notes. Anything else that doesn’t repeat and doesn’t need to be done at a certain time gets put on post its.

5. Favorite picture currently on your phone that always makes you smile.

I snapped this on my iPad a few days ago. I was trying to read in my living room. Zoey, one of my dogs, had to cuddle in my lap. Chase, one of my cats, being obsessed with my iPad insisted he needed to be right there as well. I tried getting a picture of all three of us together, and this is the best I could get without Chase taking up the whole picture.

me-zoey-chase-2013

You can join in with this week’s Sunday Social by linking up on Neely’s blog, A Complete Waste of Makeup.

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{Filofax Friday} What’s on my Wishlist

Let’s be honest here. I really don’t need any more Filofaxes. I don’t like having things if I don’t have a place to put them, and I really don’t have the room for more. Some people in the Filofax community seem to have a new binder every other week, and it makes me cringe a bit. No offense to you if you are like that. We all have our things we indulge in. Mine just happens to be makeup products and tech gadgets not Filofaxes.

So what’s actually on my wish list?

I mentioned in my Malden post, that I’m on the look out for two in particular:

  • An ochre personal Malden
  • A vintage pink personal Malden

But there are a few others I wouldn’t mind having either:

  • The new aqua personal Malden
  • A personal Holborn in Wine
  • A black or almond personal Amazona
  • An ebony or ivory personal Deco
  • and of course a teal or vintage rose Finchley

Just browsing Pens and Leather and seeing the placeholders for new lines as I was writing this post was pretty exciting. I do hope there’s something in new line that I like. Of course as much as I’d like to have any of the binders above, do I really need them? No. My Osterley is just the way I like it, and I did commit to one planner in 2013 {or at least not buying any new ones}. In a world where money {and space for that matter} was no object, I’d love to have them all, but I have to keep my priorities in line, and another Filofax isn’t one of them right now.

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March 2013 Favorites

Hello everyone! Just like before, this post is going to be all about the products I loved this month, but it’ll be a bit more brief than last month’s.

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

kindle-paperwhite

# 1 on my list, the Kindle Paperwhite.

If you’d asked me a year ago, whether I’d buy a Kindle, I’d have probably said no, so it’s pretty surprising that this is on my favorites list. I like to read, and up until this past month or so, Kindle apps on my iPad, iPhone, and Mac have been working out well. So why the Paperwhite? Warm weather means my lunch breaks and free time will likely be spent outdoors, and my iPad  and laptop don’t like the sun. I bought the Paperwhite without special ads and no 3G, and so far it goes everywhere with me. It’s small enough to take with me wherever I go. It’s light enough so that it doesn’t bother my wrists when holding it for long periods of time. The e-ink took a bit of getting used to. I have to remember it’s not an iPad with Retina display, but overall. I love it. The battery life is fantastic as well. My favorite feature by far though has to be the “Time to Read” feature. I love being able to see how long it will take me to finish reading a book or chapter. I picked up Amazon’s leather case in Fuchsia as well, but the jury’s still out on this one. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a WONDERFUL case. Probably the best quality case I’ve ever owned, but I’m not sure I want the slight added bulk it adds. Then again, I tend to not like using cases anyway so it’s not at all surprising to me.

baby-lips

#2 – Maybelline New York Baby Lips Moisturizing Lip Balm

In one of my very first Birchboxes, I received a LipFusion Balm Lip Conditioning Stick by FusionBeauty. Ever since, it’s been my go-to lip product. I’m not one to remember to put lip products on, so my lips end up pretty chapped during the winter. The LipFusion balm is fantastic, but the price tag of $22 for a clear lip balm isn’t. That leads me to Baby Lips. For less than $3, I can get something pretty similar, with a bit of sheer color too. I picked up the Pink Wink shade which is a really light, sheer, pink shade. Turns out it happens to be a limited edition shade. I plan to go get some other shade though. I really love this product.

#3 – Novaform 14″ Gel Memory Foam Mattress from Costco

I purchased this on a bit of a whim to replace my 12 year old mattress. I actually got this one on sale for $399 which is pretty darn cheap for a mattress. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from this mattress based on the price. I just didn’t want to be rolling into the middle of my sagging mattress anymore. The first few nights on this thing were a bit rough. It seemed too firm. I tossed and turned. It’s not because it was a bad mattress, I just wasn’t used to it. It’s really hard to not fall asleep in it immediately now. Every day I wake up a little more rested, and I’m truly glad I purchased it. The thing that put this mattress on the list was the quickness of how I got rid of the back pain I had from shoveling snow. Silly me decided it would be a great idea for my small self to shovel the driveway, deck, and sidewalks. I followed that up with a 40 minute workout and 10 minute stretch. The next day I felt like I needed a walker to lean on where ever I went. Climbing into bed that night was such an amazing feeling. All the pain I had had all day vanished, and I woke up feeling fantastic. The only downside is that I now have to be mindful of what sheets I buy because most standard sheets aren’t deep enough for it.

Honorable Mentions:

  • Philosophy Hope in a Jar Night – I purchased this on a whim. I’ve been using it nearly every night. I’m not entirely sure whether it’s this product or my new day time moisturizer, or this product, but I have noticed that my skin has gotten noticeably clearer over the past month despite not using prescription acne products or my Clarisonic as often. The big plus is that my face isn’t peeling off making me look like a zombie.
  • First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Cream – Another product I purchased on a whim. I have a few prescription acne products that periodically dry my skin out to the point that it burns. Applying any kind of moisturizer ends up being a terribly painful experience. I got this in hopes it would help, and it did to the point I haven’t really had to use it again since.
  • Viactiv Multi-Vitamin Soft Chews in Milk Chocolate – I’m not a vitamin person. I’ve tried different brands because some actually make me nauseous, and in the end, I never end up taking them like I should. These taste great, they don’t make me sick, and I actually look forward to taking one each morning.

As I said, it’s a much shorter list than last month, but I really didn’t have many new favorite products.

If any of you were missing yesterday’s post, I had planned to have post on the cats, but I just didn’t get around to it. This week my head’s been a bit frazzled and my mind has been elsewhere. I hope to have it posted by next Wednesday.

Did you have any favorite products for March? Have you tried any of these products? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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My {Filofax} Week 12


Paper Lovestory's My Week

Another Monday means another Filofax Week post. Today’s off to a not so great start though. I woke up to a lovely snow covered yard, but no notification of any delay or closing of my University which I found a bit perplexing. We don’t typically get a lot of snow in Maryland, so a couple of inches by 6:30AM is usually cause for at least a delay. I got ready, put on my snow boots and made the 1o minute trek through unplowed parking lots and sidewalks to my office, plugged in my laptop at 8:27ish, and what should pop up on my screen but a notification from our emergency system saying that campus would be closing at 8:30. I immediately packed everything back up and walked back. On the bright side, I was able to stop by McDonalds on the way home and pick up breakfast.

{Sidenote: I’ve been considering showing my daily pages instead of my weekly pages because that’s where the bulk of the “action” happens, but to be honest, this week wasn’t all that interesting. In fact my weekly page didn’t have anything at all written on it until last night when I filled it in. My daily pages were totally blank. Why? It was Spring Break and I had nothing that HAD to be done or that I HAD to keep track of.}

Here’s my week:

march-18-24-2013-week

And for a quick recap of what happened {in case you aren’t at all interested in reading about my life}:

  • I didn’t do so hot on the photo challenge {big surprise there} BUT I did devote Saturday and Sunday to playing catch up. I didn’t get ALL of them, but I caught up on most of them.
  • It was Spring Break at my university/work.
  • We did a bit of Spring cleaning in the garage and other areas of the house.
  • I was on a bit of a reading kick.
  • Sticking to my workouts has been amazing.

And for the longer version {for those of you who like to read or are just nosy :)}:

I work at a university so Spring Break is still definitely something I look forward to every year. As an employee, I typically only get off for three days, whereas students get the whole week off. Most employees still take off the other two days. I don’t really mind working them though because the campus is pretty dead. The break was well needed. Even better was that I had a break from my class as well. I found myself really feeling like a stereotypical blogger. I could really get used to the life of waking up, having a cup of coffee, and writing.

Now that I’m heading the recruitment in our office, you’ll have likely noticed the big orange sticky flag up on my week page. My university has a campus-wide job website that’s available for members of the community to post both on campus and off campus jobs. I decided to start my office’s recruitment for the upcoming Fall semester early so our online listing went live on Thursday. I’ve already gotten 8 or 9 resumes and the listing will be up until mid-June so this looks quite promising so far.

Little by little, we’ve been getting rid of stuff in our house. I’m not normally one to keep things around. I operate on the philosophy that if I want or need something bad enough, I will find a home for it. Otherwise, it doesn’t need to stay in the house. Other people in my family don’t always operate on that principle, and over the years, the clutter just piles up. I’m happy to say over the past few months though, the local dump/recycling facility has been getting some pretty sizable donations from our household, and for the first time in the 12 years we’ve lived here, we actually have room for both the cars in the main garage and the tractor in the other building. {We live on a couple of acres, so yes we have a tractor. I’m aware that it’s not a normal thing for most people to have, but it’s a necessity here.}

One thing I’ve learned since graduating from college is that I actually really do enjoy reading. I hated reading in school. In fact, it was the #1 thing I procrastinated on,  but when you aren’t required to read things, reading can actually be enjoyable. One of my goals for 2013 is to read 20 books. At the time I figured that was doable but still challenging. At this rate, I think I may need to reevaluate my goal though. Last week I finished books #8 and #9 which puts me 5 books ahead of schedule according to Goodreads. To reward myself I ordered a Kindle Paperwhite. I already have an iPad which I love, but with warmer weather coming, I know I’ll be spending more time outside, and iPads and sun don’t get along so well. I’ll post a review about it once I get to use it. It should be here tomorrow, and I can’t wait. {If any of you are keeping track of my budget focus for March, I actually did save up for this…}

My last big revelation… my workouts are working! I know that’s a silly thing to realize, but since I’m not working out to lose weight, I can’t progress in terms of pounds lost. I don’t have any real quantitative way of tracking my progress, so it’s kind of just me figuring it has to be beneficial in some way up until now. I’m actually starting to see more definition in my arms and legs though so that’s pretty cool because I’ve never actually worked out enough to see any noticeable differences.

Anyway that was my week. I’m going to get back to enjoying my snow day. Until next week…

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{Sunday Social} Week #6

Sunday Social

Another week has come and gone. As much as I dislike Sundays because it means the weekends over, I happen to love them too because Sundays are my days to reboot and get prepared for the up coming week.

Sidenote: I love random acts of kindness, and I just had to share this because it made my day. I happened to be in line at a Walmart yesterday picking up a few things. The couple in front of me told me I could go in front of them. That in itself would have been a nice enough gesture because even that never happens at my Walmart, but the story continues. A few minutes later they switched to another shorter checkout lane. As they were finishing up, they noticed I was still waiting in line, so they called me over to their lane, but as I walked over, someone with more stuff than the girl in the previous line beat me to it. The couple then said to the guy who was in front of me, “Sir, she’s with us. Can she go in front of you?” The guy happened to say yes. I didn’t know these people at all, but it was such a nice gesture, so thank you mystery Walmart couple.

This Weeks Questions:

1. What is your favorite thing about Spring? – The weather is absolutely perfect. I also love spring colors and all the cute clothes.
2. Favorite kind of flowers to grow or receive? –  I love lilies. I’m not exactly sure why, and I don’t have a particular favorite kind. Just any kind of lilies.
3. What is your favorite nail polish color? – I’ve never actually thought about having a favorite color. I kind of just pick based on what mood I’m in or what new colors I’ve gotten in the mail. Recently I’ve been using more mauve-y shades. It’s girly but not too girly that it’s unprofessional. As somewhat of a manager now, I think my days of neon pink nails are coming to an end.

Abu
4. What is your favorite out door activity? – If it’s not playing with my dogs out in the yard, it’s bringing the dogs AND cats outside and sitting on the deck with something to drink and something to read. I have an iPad but that’s not so great in sun, so I’m considering getting a Kindle at some point.
5. Do you have any fun Spring plans? Details :) – Work work, and more work. Oh, and the massive bedroom remodel I’ve been planning. I’m going to start making some posts about it soon.

You can join in with this week’s Sunday Social by linking up on Neely’s blog, A Complete Waste of Makeup.

 

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{Update} Finally Focused

I’m pretty excited because I had a bit of an epiphany recently in terms of this blog. I’ve wanted to start a blog for a while now. I’ve mentioned before that I’ve got the starting a blog part down packed. Keeping up with it is another story. I’ve lost count of how many blogs I created only to write one or two posts that would never be published.

As a goal for 2013, I hit this ground running with this blog, and I’m happy to say that I’ve managed to stick with it for 3 months so far. During that time, I’ve written over 30 posts that I actually did publish! In those three months, and I’ve watched the stats increase day by day. I’ve realized blogging is a lot harder than I had imagined, but it’s also a much more rewarding experience than I had ever imagined which is likely why I’ve stuck with it for as long as I have. BUT… I’ve started struggling a bit in terms of what to write about.

As a new blogger, I’m learning things as I go, but I’ve also been reading a few books along the way. I just recently finished Blogging for Dummies by Susannah Gardener which was a bit dated {it came out in 2008}, and offered only a few bits of useful information that I didn’t already know or consider. {It was a book for dummies after all and I wouldn’t say I’m a dummy.} I’m currently reading Blog, Inc.: Blogging for Passion, Profit, and to Create Community by  Joy Deangdeelert Cho and Meg Mateo Ilasco., and I’m enjoying this book a bit more. The interviews are fantastic, and I feel like I’m getting a lot more out of this book than the other.

One thing that has repeatedly come up over and over again is “finding your niche.” I wanted this blog to be about my life, so  I never felt like there was just one thing I wanted to write about. {My life is actually a lot more than just Filofaxes which isn’t very apparent on this blog right now.}

But what did I actually want to write about?

When I started this blog, I had this dream that I’d become one of those super-creative/cute bloggers that have fantastic posts about home renovations, recipes, and fun outings in my life with amazing photos. {Think Pink Pistachio, iHeart Organizing, or The House of Smiths.} Things just weren’t turning out that way, and I was becoming discouraged. So I started thinking about why they weren’t working.

That’s when I had the epiphany. Those bloggers live vastly different lives than I do. I’m not a housewife with young kids and lots of time to make picture perfect posts about my home renovations and arts and crafts, and  I certainly don’t have plans to become a mom any time soon, nor do I plan on quitting my job. That dream, at least in this point in my life, is utterly unrealistic.

So what is realistic?

Well I’m a 22-year-old woman who’s managed in four short years to work her way up from a student making minimum wage at an on-campus job to managing those students. I’ve graduated from college in 4 years {which apparently isn’t the norm anymore}, and I’ve even started pursuing a Masters degree. Never in a million years would I have seen myself where I am now four years ago. I’m trying to find my way in a world where I often don’t feel like I fit in or understood or ready for for that matter.  I think there’s something valuable and worth blogging about in how I’m finding my place in the world whether it be my struggle with finding a style that conveys that I’m not just another student at my university but an employee or how I manage my time and stay sane in this sometimes hectic life I call mine {with a bit of fun stuff thrown in there too of course}.

So I’ve finally found my focus for this blog. Don’t worry Filofax fans, my Filofax posts aren’t going away. My planner, after all, is what makes this blog possible. I am excited to finally have some sort of realistic direction for this blog. I feel like it finally has a purpose that can not only help me, but maybe help some other young women in this world who may be trying to make everything work.

Oh and a quick extra update… I have a new Twitter account for this blog should you want to follow it that way. You can follow me @littlelifeblog.

If any one has any suggestions or feedback on ideas or content, I’m always willing to hear them. Shoot me an email at littlelifeblog@gmail.com.

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{Filofax Friday} The Maldens

Happy Friday everyone! I know I’m not the only one who has a bit of a love affair with the Malden line from Filofax. My first “nice” Filofax was a personal sized Malden in grey. I can tell why everyone loves these binders. They are fantastic. In fact, I loved my personal sized one so much I went ordered myself a pocket sized one in grey too. When neither of them “worked” for me I bought an A5 Malden in grey. I’d have to say the personal Malden and A5 Malden were probably two of the planners I’ve used the longest. The personal Malden was a GREAT wallet. The A5’s zip pocket made it super convenient to carry around extra pens which was a plus considering A5’s are already large. {Note to anyone considering an A5, at first it’s size won’t seem too bad. It has so much space, but eventually the size will probably get to you.}

Filofax Collection

The Itty Bitty Filofax Collection {minus the personal Malden}

So why am I in my Osterley if I love the Malden line so much?

Well… my personal Malden ended up with slight ring issues, but they were just bad enough to make me not want to use it. {Go figure! I find one I like, and it breaks in less than a year.} I had given away my other personal-sized binder, so a faulty Malden meant no more personal-sized binder. I emailed Pens and Leather who said I should contact Filofax because they were aware of recent ring issues. I emailed Filofax and got a return number, and then I started having second thoughts. “Was it really that bad?” “Could I live with the misaligned rings?” “What if I didn’t like the one I got as a replacement?” “This one and I have a history…” Eventually I settled on the fact that it bothered me to the point I wasn’t using it anyway so it’d be better to get one I could use.

In the meantime, I really wanted a personal binder, and being that it was Christmas time, I bought myself an Osterley. I like it so much that I haven’t wanted to move out, but I who knew, maybe that would change with a functioning Malden…

I took my time in returning my original Malden for fears the replacement would be worse. My replacement eventually arrived but it could hardly be considered a Malden in my opinion. It didn’t lie flat, and the leather was so bumpy. It was the exact opposite of everything I loved about the Malden line. Now I realize that all leather is slightly different, and I tried to accept it, but this was entirely different. I felt like I had gotten Finchley leather on a Malden. {Disclaimer: I’ve never touched a Finchley, but from pictures I imagine it’s got a bit more texture to it than the smooth Maldens.}

On top of the leather issues it had bad rings! I returned my binder with bad rings to be sent another binder with bad rings! All the rings lined up fine, so I didn’t initially notice. The real issue was that the rings themselves were not spaced properly, so the today rulers didn’t freely turn causing all the paper to get caught too. Being a person who flips open to pages using rulers, this was a big deal. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t all rulers. Only the black ones stuck. Certain colors were fine which leads me to believe that the hole spacing on the rulers may be slightly different depending on the color. {I have a few of each of the translucent, black, and brown ones, and a clear one.} Only the black ones stuck. I don’t use black rulers, anymore, but for $70 some dollars, I wanted to have an option to should I want to in the future.

I ended up contacting Filofax again. I just couldn’t get myself to like this one. I kept putting it back in the box trying to forget it. Their first suggestion was to not use black today rulers with it {duh…}, but the today ruler issue wasn’t the whole problem. This binder had the most un-grey-Malden-like leather ever, and it really bothered me. After explaining it was nothing like the Maldens I have which is kind of the reason I liked them, I got a new return number, and back in the box the replacement Malden went.

Eventually, I the replacement came. This is probably the floppiest Malden I’ve ever owned, but I do love it. The rings are nice. It’s incredibly smooth. It’s as perfect as a Malden can get, but I just still can’t bring myself to move back from the Osterley. I think it’s the two elasticized pen loops.

But the Malden saga isn’t over. I know the personal size works for me. I have a set up that works for me. Now I’m on the lookout for vintage pink and ochre Maldens in personal size. They’re hard to come by in the US, but I will get them both eventually. It’s just with all the ring problems {3 so far out of the 7 or so I’ve bought over the past 3 years – nearly half…} I’m just worried of spending more money only to get faulty binders.

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Meet the Dogs

Today is the last day of my Spring Break, and in true blogger fashion, I’ve been enjoying the morning cuddled up on the sofa with a cup of coffee and my iPad. I had planned to have today’s post be the first in a series about my room renovations, but truthfully, my room is still covered in a layer of dust from patching holes, and I’ve yet to tackle the mess. In it’s place is another post, this time introducing two of the craziest members of my household.

For as long as I can remember, my family always had animals. My parents took in a stray cat, Kitty, before I was born, and six months after I was born, they adopted a Chocolate Lab/German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) mix, Tucker, who became my “brother” as I’m an only child. I had a lot of memories with those two growing up. At one point I held a wedding ceremony where I “married” Tucker wearing a toy ring and veil, and poor Kitty tolerated all of my antics every day including playing dress up. Tucker made it to 14 years old; Kitty, the cat who my parents were advised to put down before I was born, made it to 23!

Over the years, I had many other pets. Fish, hermit crabs, cats, and of course lots of dogs. One even made it on to the local news as my university’s mascot complete with her own basketball jersey! Tucker, didn’t know it, but he paved the way for a long line of GSPs in the family. My dad fell in love with the breed. He claimed it was the best because they were bred to hunt all day and were still great family pets. They also had cool traits like super short hair, big lungs for running, and webbed toes for swimming. Of course, they also came with a TON of energy.

{We currently have two dogs AND three cats, but in an effort to not support the idea that I”m some crazy cat lady, I’m going to start with the dogs this time.}

Dexter

Dexter meeting kittens for the first time.

Dexter was the first of our GSPs. One lovely day as my dad was reading the local newspaper he ran across the local animal shelter’s Pet of the Week – a 2-year old purebred GSP. Later that day, my mom and I ventured to the shelter to see him. After 2 seconds of hearing his non-stop barking, we walked away and found another dog that was a little less quiet, Skeeter. We brought my dad back later to look at Skeeter, but he fell in love with Dexter as he passed. $16 dollars later, we had Dexter going home with us. Imagine our surprise when he didn’t make a sound at home for weeks. He was a fantastic dog, a little goofy, but fantastic, but at 7 years old, he went into organ failure, and we had no choice but to put him down. Shortly after he was gone, we decided we needed another dog in the house.

RemiPup

@ 8 weeks old

Meet Remington, the quirky, energetic one of the bunch. He came to us all the way from Ohio, and I’m sad to say that at 8 weeks old, this dog had spent more time on a plane than I have in 22 years. He was flown to us in a roundabout way from Chicago to Dallas to Baltimore in what seemed like the longest flight ever. I’m sure he was pretty terrified as well. Now he’s a bit larger at around 70lbs, but he still thinks he’s a puppy and loves to sit in laps. If he had his choice, he’d spend all day chasing tennis balls outside. He’s a bit obsessed.

German Shorthaired Pointer

Remington @ 3 years old

About a year after we got Remington, we found a listing for another GSP on Craigslist in North Carolina. Her name was Zoey and she was a year older than Remington. At the time, Remington was becoming a bit too much for our elderly rescued Chesapeake Bay Retriever, so we figured a playmate more his own age would be better. She’s a little clumsy. Tripping up the stairs and walking into walks are specialities of hers, but she’s the most lovable dog ever. Just like Remington, she also doesn’t understand that she’s 80+lbs. She also needs to be in your lap at all times.

Zoey

Zoey

From the day we brought Zoey home, the two of them have become best buds and go everywhere together. They make my life crazy, and they wake me up barking at deer and whatever else wanders onto our property, but at the end of it all, I love them dearly.

ZoeyRemiYoung

When we first brought Zoey home.

ZoeyRemiSnow

Playing in the Snow

Next week, be ready to meet the other 3 critters in the house. I’m off to enjoy the last few hours of Spring Break before I have to return to work.

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