All Stars Guest Post: Paperlovestory - My Filofax Story

Hello, Sweethearts! Another round of All Stars Guest Posts is here and guess what? It's from Angela! :) Which means our eyes will rest again at the sight of her beauties - don't you just love her?! :)


I started university back in 2009 and I was always quite an organised individual. I’d used bound planners from Hong Kong in the past and I loved how cute they were. But one thing I disliked was how I had to change it every year and thus, would have to transfer all my important information once a year. Not only was this time consuming, it also irked me as I don’t like wasting time like this!The obvious solution was to get a Filofax and I did. My first one was a personal Raspberry Finsbury and although I loved the colour of it, I just didn’t like the style. It was at this time, that I discovered the Finchley range and coincidentally, found a personal Vintage Rose Finchley on eBay. I sniped and consequently won it. And I fell in love (and not for the first time, it will appear later on).

Having used the Finchley for six months after procuring it, I fell in love with the whole range. The leather was soft and the colours available in this style were appealing to me. And so I purchased the Teal and Jade, both in the personal size.

Next, came the €9 sale at Filofax Germany and who could resist a deal like that? I acquired another two binders and before I knew it, my collection swelled in size. It took me until May 2012 to find ‘the one’ - the plum Osterley. The personal was my first one in that size and I loved the colour and the leather.

However, I found the rings too big. I lugged around information that wasn’t necessary and it hurt my shoulder, a lot! And as if the Filofax Gods had heard my concerns, a Slimline Deco arrived on eBay and of course, it ended up in my hands. A Deco? For that price? Not just a Deco; a Slimline Amethyst Deco! If I had to choose a Deco colour, I would have gone for the Amethyst anyway so I was chuffed to say the least.

Honestly, I love it. The ring size is small but that is fine - the portability wins hands down. But this isn’t the end of the story! My Finchleys had to be returned to Filofax as the leather wore down so quickly! Too quickly considering I had only had them for just over two years and so, I received a Compact plum Osterley as a replacement.

So, is this where the story ends? Of course not! But it is where it ends for the time being. I don’t know where my story will lead. I have three organisers to play with now. The personal Osterley will, inevitably, turn into my ‘Me’ binder but what will become of my Compact Osterley? The Deco Slimline works as my diary and I would like to keep it that way due to its portability... This leaves two possibilities; the Compact Osterley will either become an orphan or it will see a lot of use - but doing what?
Only time will tell.

All Stars Guest Post: Lime Tree - Filofax Swap 4!

This is such a treat, people: a guest post from the JUICY LIME TREE for all of us to read! :)
I'm so fascinated by her intense character, amazing Filofax photo shoots and artwork - if you need a daily pick-me-up and a reminder for your Inner Goddess, just pay a visit to her blog! Oh, but you already know that! :)


Yessss!!!!!!! here we go!!!!

I am moving on with my Filofax Swap Saga, showing of a gorgeous Filofax AND guest posting for a blogger that totally "gets" this Filofax gorgeousness! What a treat!!!! Thank you so much Vanjilla for having me here showing it all! :D

Soooo, what came after Chamomile?

And what am I talking about, you ask.

I am talking about my quest to find the perfect Filofax fit for me.

Oh, and I said perfect! sure thing that won't happen, HA!
Which is good, thou, I can keep going with my Filofax Swap posts indefinitely, hehehe

So, here is the swap list in case you need to catch up:

• Filofax Swap (The original!)
• Filofax Swap 2 - The attempt
• Filofax Swap 3 - The "Chamomile" attempt!

So, now, let's get back to the question: What came after Chamomile?

can you guess? can you guess?

Take a peak! hehe

yessss!!!! The love of my life, BAROQUE!

Now, seriously, I am totally in love with pink, yellow, orange and the like.

Did you notice what happen there? ME with a BLACK Filofax?
That is something I had never envisioned. Only a Baroque to make me take the leap!

And I liked it :D

We had a lot of fun!

Yeah.... had, I said. :-/
That was just ONE major reason that made move out of it. And it is not even the Baroque's fault! (it is never the Baroque's fault obviously!*)

But we will get to it :)


Let's check out the good times we had:

Totally filled with good times!

I literally transfered the juices of Chamomile into the Baroque.
I still don't like those vertical slots, in case you are wondering. So I kept the pocket card slots in there for easy access.
On the left hand side I just stuffed in some informational cards, business cards and a decorative card.

I have a set of month per view and a week per view. The month per view is very straight forward - the standard one from Filofax so I am not going thru that one.

The week per view is my problem.

Since the beginning of the year I am trying to figure out what kind of combination works for me.

I need to have a glance of the week but need daily planning as well.
I tried Flavia 2 pages per day and despite of its gorgeousness I could never make it work.
Finally a couple of weeks ago I found a good home for it! :)

So, the week per view.
I certanly deeply dislike the white cheap paper with weekends squeezed in.
A while back, Josh was very nice sending me his week per view in cotton cream. Wonderful! Great paper and equalitarian distribution of space! yes!

I was happily married with that set up for a while.
I spread out my tasks throughout the week with a little check box on the side of each task. Like this:

Pretty straight forward!

It worked well for a good chunk of time.

My problem started when I couldn't do something, say on a Monday, and would re-write for Wednesday and most likely again for Friday. That, I gotta say, made me always feel very bad as I wasn't accomplishing my little deadlines. I always had to "postpone" the deadlines to later in the week. Made me feel bad.

So I decide to play a trick to disguise my mind.
What if Thursday was the final deadline but I could visually do something that implied I should start working on pieces of the task on Monday?

I then started writing my tasks along long lines that would encompass more then one day.
The page on the right was my first attempt:

See how that worked?

For example "post Spring A5" I gave myself from Thursday till Sunday to accomplish. That way I didn't feel so bad if it wasn't done on Friday; I was still on the "time-frame".
I sure got excited with my idea, but besides the fact that is a pain to turn the whole organizer to write vertically like that (and later on the neck, to read it!), I couldn't connect days from the left page to the right page.


The solution? Steve & Ray's inserts of course!
After a lot of struggle of my part and help from the authors I altered their Vertical Week Per View to look like this:

Now I could connect all the days I needed with a big line! Plus the absence of lines would help with my irregular writing. And there it is a week in use:

See that I could assign a huge task to the entire week like "prep for NY trip" at the bottom.

I was very happy with it!
No lines make me feel more comfortable to write AND I didn't feel a total failure because a task was retricted to a day and I didn't finish it that day. Very happy with it!

One thing thou: the darn rings.
I mentioned here how I really dislike those humoungous rings that don't let me write close to the edge of the pages.

My solution this time?

A mock up of the Circa system.

I did little cuts on each whole.
That way I could easily slide the pages away from the rings, write on it and put it back in place.

That worked very well for its original purpose but certainly because the design of the wholes is not made for it, I had to be careful turning pages. If I turned single pages too eagerly, they would just fly away!
I had no problems at all turning chunks of pages together.

Ok, so to almost finalize, pen loop struggle!
Why not right? I am yet to find a Filofax that holds my fat Bic 4 colors.

In this case I can't even hang it by the little "arm" because the pen squeezes my tabs. I ended up just sneaking in the pen between the snap closure and the tabs.
And it actually sits great on the tabs. It doesn't squeeze them much:

The problem is that most of the times I forget the pen is not secure at all, open the organizer and there the pen goes straight to the floor. Hehe

Now, last pic, I promise!

I know there is no need to show my stickers' storage but that is my excuse to show off that pattern gorgeousness again, hehe:

So, I got to say, all that juicy beauty and it would mostly stay closed inside my purse. Occasionally at work I would remember something and would take a quick note and put it back in the purse. 

Not fair to that gorgeousness, isn't it?

To finalize - now seriously! -  here we go, the reason I had to move out of that delicious Filofax...

pen loop? nah! 

humongous rings? .....mmmm.... well, related to it because...

...it was just TOOO HEAVY people, too heavy for me! Too bulky, too much!

(*see, it wasn't really a Baroque's issue per say, it was my struggle with personal size. Baroques are always awesome! hehe)

It certainly was VERY convenient to have all my notes with me all the time, including travel plans but oh boy...... I really couldn't handle the weight.

I love you darling Baroque but you sit prettier OPENED on my desk at home. ♥

So, I moved out.

If you hang around on Twitter and/or  Instagram you may had seen already where I had headed to?!

No?

Here it is a sneak peek of what is coming next:

oh yeah!

Don't miss it! 

The saga continues. Always! :)

--------------------------> Filofax Swap 5 - A Classy Attempt! -------------------->

Coming soon , on a blog pretty close to you!

Many smooches and hugs to you all,

LT

****

PS: Thanks Vanjilla again for hosting my Baroque post! I really had fun writing it :)

Dear Lime Tree, I hope this is just the beginning of your guest posting here! :)  And I'm fully inspired by your ideas again, my Sister in Baroque! :)

Pretty Little Things #10

Monday morning, here I come! :)

Filofaxes I Don't Understand

Hmmm. This is going to be quite a risky post, I guess, but I'm feeling daring today. :)

Every once in a while a certain hype about a certain Filofax model develops. To most of them I fall victim, I admit - the formula of falling in love definitely works its magic on me! But there are certain models of Filofaxes that most people seem to adore, while I just - well, don't get them. And, mind you, I even own some of them! :)

So, these are some of the very popular Filofaxes for which I wonder why they got so much buzz about (all the photos are official ones from online stores):

1. Kendal

2. Finchley in Imperial Purple

3. Malden in Crimson

4. Regency

5. Chameleon in Raspberry

6. Ostrich

7. Siena

8. Classic

So, please, don't loose your patience with me; try to convince me otherwise instead! ;)

Multipens - How Did I Ever Manage Without Them?!

I wasn't much of a colour-coder before, mostly probably due to my to-do system that is still functioning well for me; therefore the common Bic Two Colour Fashion pen did the trick for me.

But then Doris sent me this lovely, lovely thing, and I'm hooked and now there are multipens everywhere!!

I wanted to share with you my favourite three of them.

My NUMBER THREE is a Twin Tip from MAPED.  

I love the four colours (I chose the girly ones, but you can get it in the classic blue-black-green-red combo as well), it writes really nicely and then there's also the fact that it is chunky enough to stay in the rings of my Filofax when on the go.

And when I came across this even girlier limited edition a couple of weeks ago...

Well, of course I had to make a stash!

My NUBER TWO goes to Clip On Slim 3Colour ZEBRA.

  

If you like ball points... well, from my experience, a Zebra will just never fail you. And this one is for those of you who like slim, nicely shaped pens that just melt in your hands, and the beautiful pastel colours are just another bonus.

But my NUMBER ONE is...

A 6 Colour Multipen by MUJI. This is the one that Doris gave me and I haven't been around without it ever since; I love its array of colours and design - like a sparkly rainbow space shuttle! Along with its emotional value it literally brightens my day.

Doris, thank you so so so much once again!!!

As it is chunky (and I love chunky pens!) I just stick it behind the closed clasp of my Filofax and it stays there obediently.

So, given the Muji, Zebra and my usual pen - I get to have 10 colours in my binder!

How many colours do you have inside yours?

Pretty Little Things #9

These apples come from a tree that is decades older than me. And for the whole summer, when still high up on the branches of the tree, they were watching my home and my loved ones.
I wish each of them could share those sights with me now and make me feel less alone in this cloudy City.

Top Tabs à la Angela

I'm not into using stickers in my filofax very much; it probably has something to do with the fact that I've used Morning Glory organizers and stationery for years while still in school and I feel so grown up now! :)

But a certain post of Angela from Paperlovestory - you all know her ! :)  - left me craving to have a glimpse of such cuties back in my planner. So ahead I went and copied her (among other things, but not today about those) with these:

I wanted to use them both as my sticky notes and as my top tabs and while they were cute stickies, they didn't work out for me as the tabs I visualised. The reason was they didn't stick on paper too well, they kept falling off and they covered too much of the page they were on - both is proved here:

No go, right? So when I abandoned the idea, a few days later the inspiration returned in the form of a transparent bookmark I use.

So this is what I did: I cut off the poor kitten's head, stuck it on a transparent flyleaf with double sided tape and cut it out with a bit longer transparent body so I could stick it onto the page using the clear double sided tape again. Better! :) 

And this is how my top tabs peek out of my filofax; much less scary than an ordinary tab saying "Finance", isn't it? :)

All Stars Guest Post: Helen from Fennel Books

Hello, without much further talking - the first Philofaxy All Stars Team Guest Post is here!!! :)
Thank you, Helen, for sharing your secrets of how to feel good day in day out, you definitely made me think about my hmmmm... routines! :)


I’m a creature of habit...

... the problem with that is that my habits are not exclusively good ones! Like many people I want to lead a healthy lifestyle which supports my long term health and wellbeing. The problem with that is that work, fun, blogging and other of life’s activities can get in the way and it is really easy to neglect yourself.

I am a great believer in lots of little things can make a big difference. About a year ago I was on an extremely tough and fast schedule project. Everyone was working flat out and then some on topI was snacking instead of eating properly, not exercising or relaxing. I became exhausted. One weekend, when I became so tired and grumpy I couldn’t even be bothered to read, normally an activity I would do at any opportunity, I decided something had to change. I made a list of health and wellbeing activities and decided to pick one each week to work on rather than one huge change. Over a period of a few months I worked out what really works for me to help keep me on an even keel. So, in no particular order, here are my top five wellbeing habits...

1.      Exercise. I know, it can be a bit dull, but it’s important. We all know it keeps blood pressure down and general vitality up. I am not one for slogging away at it in the gym, it just isn’t for me, although I know a lot of folks really enjoy it. I do a mixture of exercise, depending on how I am feeling on the day, but each week I make sure I do two cardio sessions and two weights sessions. I do two further sessions of whatever takes my fancy. Sometimes it is yoga or pilates, or a nice swim.  With all my sessions I do a minimum of 20 minutes, as if I am not in the mood or am very tired that seems a manageable amount. Having said that, once I get going I tend to do 45 – 60 minutes. Making time for this is really important. Generally it means a little less time pointlessly surfing the net!

2.      Food. Again, perhaps obvious, but so important.  If you don’t put good quality food in your body, you will feel terrible. I don’t snack at all now. I read a great book called Eat Stop Eat, which is about fasting. Snacking is essentially a way for food companies to get us to eat more, and we really don’t need to do it. I have a big breakfast and lunch to get me through the working day, and then a smaller dinner, as I don’t tend to be so hungry in the evenings. This works for me, a different spread of energy intake may be better for others depending on what their day looks like. The result of having proper meals and not snacking? I lost 3 stone in weight... bonus!

3.      Walking. I love a good walk. It is good for my body and good for my mind. I wrote a blog piece for the All Stars over at Filo-Obsessed about walking and how to get started.  Walking is low impact, so no worries about damaged joints, it is easy, cheap and best of all it slows you down so you get to appreciate what is around you. It really helps my stress levels stay under control. I walk every day. Without fail. 

4.      Reading. I am a big reader, as you can see from my blog, but last year I was in such poor shape I didn’t even have the enthusiasm to do my favourite hobby. I read for an hour each night. It helps me wind down (after my walk!) and no screen time before bed helps me sleep better. Making room for hobbies is really important, even if it is only a few minutes per day.

5.      Water. Again, perhaps obvious, but if you haven’t tried substituting caffeine and sugary drinks with water, you won’t know the benefits. Your body and particularly your brain need water to function properly. The recommended level is 2 litres per day. That is a lot to start off with! I ramped up over the course of a week, replacing other drinks with water.  You might find you are a more regular visitor to the “smallest room” for a few days, but the benefits of being able to think more clearly, weight management and glowing skin have to be worth it! Often when we think we are hungry we are actually thirsty, so this will help you with item 2, if you want to snack, have a drink first. You might find that your hunger disappears.

So, these are my top five daily health habits. Why not sit down and think of a couple of small changes you could make over the next few weeks? If you change one thing per month which is positive, over year you will make a big impact on your health. You don’t have to make enormous changes, they are too hard to handle with everything else going on around you, but small changes are very manageable, and have a bigger benefit than you might think.

Many thanks to Vanja for hosting my post!

I'm Glad It's Autumn

I expected this month to be demanding, but in the end it turned out to be a challenge beyond my expectations.

Therefore I deeply thank you, my readers, for staying faithful and for the warm and caring emails I received asking about my absence. I cannot tell you how much this means to me.

I managed to follow the blogs I love quite regularly as they were my daily dose of your company and optimism, but couldn't produce a single post of my own. Therefore I apologize to those readers that I maybe neglected by overlooking and not responding in the comments...

I think I'm fit enough to restart now, and because it's been a month, let's start with something simple! :)

WHY AM I GLAD IT'S AUTUMN?

1. Because it means thick body lotion in the first cold mornings.

2. Because it calls for us to return to our homes and make them cosy.  

Whenever I need a boost for my housework, this tea does the trick. Not a coincidence, since it's a blend for the Earth component according to the Chinese philosophy, and the rich scent of roses is just incredible!

3. Because it's time for demure colours.

 4. Because the change of weather means new wardrobe...

 5. ... and finally more no-kidding-heavy-duty handbags!  

6. Because staying at home more means more cooking - and cute kitchen accessories.

7. It is time to put things in order - Doris, thank you so much for the idea! :)

8. In autumn good old vintage pieces of jewelery get their come-back.

9. And long afternoons indoors mean more reading.

10. And most of all - organizing yourself becomes imperative again. 

Yay - you Filofax lovers know what I'm talking about! :)

11. And a new bonus for the season? :)

Some great guest posts  from my favourite bloggers in the coming weeks!!! Gosh, this is such a treat! :) 

So, because I know you like LimeTree, Helen, Angela (to name just the first few!) - stay tuned!

Mmm, I'm so glad I'm back... 

...and am hoping for your company - let's make one awesome autumn! :)