Daily Planner – 2014 Edition

Last year, I wrote about the new planner I had found and how excited I was for it. A year later, I loved it even more after using it all year and knew I’d be using the same one for the next year!

Jen, the master mind behind The Polka Dot Posie Printables, has once again created a functional, yet cute and stylish planner! You can check out my post I did last year here. Last year I printed the full size planner and this year i decided I wanted to try the smaller pages planner.

The smaller planner pages have the same fun colors and designs, just on smaller pages! {photo credit: https://www.etsy.com/shop/PolkaDotPosiePrint}

 

Since my post last year focused on the normal size pages, you can see that post if you want to purchase the regular size pages. Here, I’m going to focus on the smaller pages.

Once you have purchased your pages, Jen has a complete step by step guide on how to print your pages here: http://www.thepolkadotposie.com/p/planner-pages.html Even after printing last year, I needed a refresher, especially since it was a little different printing the smaller pages.

Once I knew I wanted the smaller pages, I knew I needed to get a new notebook to keep my pages in. I headed off to Staples since I knew they carried the Martha Stewart notebooks that I could fit these pages in. This year, I decide to try the Staples Arc brand notebook. I got the one I did because it had interchangeable covers! They also had this for the large size notebook! {photo credit: http://www.staples.com}

Here is a better shot at the various covers:

 

I also picked up some packages of Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery Discbound Notebook Dividers. (photo credit: http://www.staples.com)

I also picked up some fun blue Arc System Notebook Expansion Discs. They had several colors to choose from and I liked that they had bright colors! (photo credit: http://www.staples.com) I got the 1” expansion discs and they work perfectly!

This year I didn’t even check into printing this elsewhere like i did last year. Last year I was outraged at the price it would’ve cost to have it printed somewhere else. I was really intimidated last year but was so surprised at how easy it really was to print it. So this year I just got some heaver paper (24lb) and got my ink and I had this printed so quickly. I used about half a cartridge of ink to print it. After printing, I did have to cut the pages which you don’t have to do with the large pages. This wasn’t a big deal. Zach brought home the paper cutter from his school for me to use and I had this done in less than 10 minutes.

Once everything was printed and cut, it was time to punch the holes! In order to punch the holes in my paper, I bought a punch last year. I didn’t take a picture again this year, but this is what it looks like. You can purchase here: http://www.levenger.com/Circa-Notebooks-326/Circa-Punches-328/Circa-1-2-3-Portable-Punch-8704.aspx

I LOVE how cute this is all put together! I also have a big turquoise monogram coming to slap on this baby!

Here are some shots of the inside of the planner and these are the things I love about this particular planner!

Personalized Cover Page When you purchase your planner, it comes with a standard cover page and you can write in your own name. For a (small!) additional fee, you can get one like I have above, or pick from various designs. You can also pick customize with certain colors if you wanted it to match your planner! You can find those here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/164388768/custom-planner-cover-page-printable-pdf?ref=shop_home_active_18

2014-15 Overview

Monthly Calendar for every month

A section each month for notes, goals, to-dos, and home stuff   

Weekly view with gorgeous colors throughout! LOVE!

Notes pages!!!! (print as many as you want!)   

If you visit Jen’s blog, The Polka Dot Posie, you will find that she has additional printables for FREE! Her current blog post even has FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL PRINTABLES!!!! These are CUTE, y’all!!!! I’ve got mine printed and am heading to Hobby Lobby today to frames. This mama isn’t waiting until the day before school this year. She also has other printables that are FREE that you can include in your planner. I’m talking special dates, holidays, weekly and monthly menus and so much more! She also has these free printable lists that I LOVE! It’s so nice to be able to jot down a book I want to read, or a recipe to try and have it all in one spot where I KNOW I will be able to find it!! She literally thinks of EVERYTHING! Go look around her blog and you will be amazed at what you find!

Ad here are some other things which I think are awesome:

• Pages pop in and out SO easily! I can add stuff or take it out, or rearrange it VERY easily! LOVE this.
• I can use this notebook and system year after year. Even the tabs are re-usable. They wipe clean so I can use them for different things if I want.
• It’s cute, bright, personalized and I just love it.
• I can add absolutely anything I want just by punching the holes in it! Last year I took things I got from Zach’s school or the kids’ school that I need to keep with me, punched holes in them, and stuck them in my planner.
• There are all kinds of accessories available for this system!

If you are looking for a new planner, I cannot encourage you enough to try this planner. Working with Jen is a pleasure and she provides amazing customer service. She not only has life planners, but a direct sales planner, teacher planners, student planners and on and on and on! Check her out! You will NOT be disappointed! Jen truly has a passion to provide high quality printable products and I absolutely believe you will not find someone better to work with than her!

Thanks again, Jen, for a wonderful product! You help me stay much more organized!!!

{I was provided the printable file in exchange for this blog review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.}

2014 Florida Vacation – Recap #3

I’m going to wrap up our vacation recap and then I’ll share a post with some photos we took on the beach. Reed never fails to make us laugh, and was in rare form at the beach, sporting Ava’s beach hat and crawling into the giant mesh bag my mom had to carry things back and forth!  

One day I was laying on a beach towel and both kids said they wanted to come and lay down with me. These are such sweet kiddos.        

We had a fun filled last day at the beach. We pretty much stayed at the beach the whole day!!! We didn’t go up to the condo for lunch – instead I went up and made our lunch and brought it to the beach. It was so fun and the kids enjoyed it so much. They both even took naps on the beach!  

Our nice guy who drilled the umbrella holes let the kids drill holes in the sand the last day! Reed was shy about it and didn’t want to and Ava jumped up and said “I want to do it!” 

Reed got over his shyness and drilled a couple holes!  

The kids really had fun eating their lunch on the beach!!

 

We actually had to wake Reed up from his nap – he was sound asleep!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the entire week!

 

 

As much as the kids loved the beach, they LOVED the pool. We would be at the beach and they would ask all day long if we could go to the pool. We ended our last day with some pool fun!  

We had such a fun week. I’m so grateful we got to take the kids and spend a week away at the beach. It was a much needed vacation and I hope that they will hold these memories with them forever!!!

2014 Florida Vacation – Recap #2

 

So the cabana boy who put out beach chairs and umbrellas for people to rent had a very long drill to drill deep in the sand so the umbrellas wouldn’t fly away. He drilled holes for us each day since we had our own umbrellas. My dad told him one day how much Reed loved drills and he asked Reed if he wanted to drill a hole. Reed was SUPER shy and hesitant at first but was so happy he got to do it!

Tuesday was a rainy day. We just didn’t have much luck out on the beach during the day, but later that afternoon/evening, the rain was gone and we spent a few hours on the beach. It was SO nice down there and the kids LOVED that we didn’t have to apply sunscreen. Reed didn’t want to take any time to take a pictures so he pulled his pouty face out!

Then we tried to trick him by telling him he couldn’t do the best smile. Of course Ava had to give it a shot too!

Oh, finally! There’s a good one!!   

Reed thought it was funny to be buried in the sand!

And to pretend to be asleep in the chair!

Even though they love the beach, all kids love the pool!!   I think that’s enough for today! I’ll be back soon with more!!

2014 Florida Vacation – Recap #1

Wow. Long time, no blog. I love this blog space for many reasons – I love the memory book it is for our family, and I love sharing our life. However, I’m struggling where I’m going to be going with it for several reasons. The main reason is time – I just don’t seem to have much time to devote to it anymore. I’m also debating a change to taking it private. I don’t have a huge traffic flow but with some social media concerns, I’m just not sure where this little ole blog will end up.

We have been BUSY the past month, mainly at work, working like crazy to get ready to be gone for a week of vacation. We just spent a week in Florida and it was glorious. It was so nice to be lazy and not worry about anything. I took time away from everything and it was so nice.

We didn’t do anything special there – we just sat on the beach and relaxed! Zach did play a couple rounds of golf, but we were just beach bums!

Things were a little crazy Monday – a man staying in our condo got bit by a shark! He was out about 75 yards bait fishing and got bit on the foot! Eeek! He was okay and not seriously harmed but we were a little on guard the rest of the week!

On the way there, Reed was SO excited to ride through the tunnel in Mobile! So adorable, that kid.

Ava cracked me up that first morning. We were waiting to get into our condo and she enjoyed the hotel breakfast with a cup of hot chocolate.

My first view of paradise for the week!

The kids were EXCITED to play on the beach. They absolutely loved it.  

We went to have frozen yogurt one night and they loved getting to pick out all the stuff to put in their cups.

Just some more random memories!