Tuesday, July 18, 2017

My Travels in May: South Carolina

Hi Everyone
In May I traveled to South Carolina to see my goddaughter, Cassidy.  We both love photography and we took off for a day to take pictures.  We decided to go to the Riverbanks Zoo and Botanical Gardens.  Here are a few pictures of flowers in the gardens. I have tons so I'll be sharing them will you in a couple of posts.









That's it for now. I hope you enjoyed them.
I'll be off on new travels soon so look out for another finding art post!

If you love these pictures, please check out Cassidy's blog and see hers.


Thanks so much for stopping by!




Friday, July 7, 2017

PLANNERS, Do you use one?

Hi Everyone!
Planners are so popular right now. For years I used planners then one day I switched to a hard covered notebook and just wrote down what I needed to do plus notes, art ideas, etc.
 
Then one day I felt completely overwhelmed with lists, planners, calendars, notes, etc. I loved that everything was in one spot but I wasn't getting anything done. I stopped cold turkey. If I really needed to remember an appointment/event, I just wrote it on the family calendar on the fridge.
 
With cell phones I tried using the calendar or an app but I never kept up with it. I'm not one to have my cell phone in my hand at all times. I have better things to do.
 
This year I started using a Hobonichi Techo Planner (1 page/day). It reminds me of a Bullet Journal. I love the idea of a Bullet Journal but it wasn't the right one for me until I found this one (Amazon). They are not cheap but for me worth the money because its the perfect one for me.
 

 
As you can tell it's not very big and I can throw it in my bag. You can buy planner covers for it but it will just add to the size.
 
The planner starts a yearly calendar for 2017 and 2018
 
 
A yearly index which I use for birthdays. My goal was to make a card for everyone's birthday. That happened once! I use a green tab to bookmark these pages.
 
 
A monthly calendar - I add my vacations and dates for design team posts. It also has free space on the left for any notes. Bookmark is Orange for calendar pages.
 
 
Before each month is a lined page for adding monthly goals, events, or notes.  I add two goals to complete by the end of the month.
 
 
Daily Pages - Pink Bookmark. The bookmarks are post-it notes so I can move them.  As for overwhelming lists, I only write down three items. The first item is always the gym. I realized that I don't have to write down a huge list. I do have a routine for things at home and I don't feel I need to write those down.  Once realizing that my lists aren't that big.
 
 
Also, I'm not consistent with daily art challenges. I start, get bored or just forget to do it. I want to do them but I never finish. So I challenged myself to write about my day even if it's only one line. So far, except for a few vacation days, I've been keeping with the challenge.
 
 
Each day there are quotes at the bottom of the pages.
 
 
A few dotted pages. I use these for light bulb moments when I think of an art idea and I have to write it down.
 
 

International Size Charts and Conversion Tables.
 




Japanese Plants and Animals by Season and A Guide to Japanese Tea.
 



After these pages are International Country Codes, National Holidays.  All these extra pages are interesting but I would love more dotted pages.
 
I did learn a few things about myself:
I like to write things down and I find I like to write in cursive.
Lists stress me out especially if they are long.
When I'm very overwhelmed I stop getting things done.
I don't have to put everything I have to do in my life on a list.
I still need a planner and it doesn't have to be pretty.
There are no rules.
 
Let me know what planners you use or why you don't use one. I would love to know.
 
Thanks so much for stopping by!