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The Ultimate Blog Planner

July 11, 2016 | 22 Comments

I have an unhealthy obsession with office supplies and items to keep me organized. Matching pens, stickers, notepads (and everything else) always find a way in to my physical or virtual cart. I know I am not alone in this, right? Obsession aside, I have found that the best way to keep my blog organized is to use a planner. A few years ago, Anne introduced me to Plum Paper Designs and I’ve been using their planners ever since. It can be customized, which makes it the Ultimate Blog Planner in my world!

I should start by saying that because these are made to order, you can use it as a blog planner, family planner, or even a teacher planner. The options are endless! There are pages and pages of designs to choose from. I chose this one because it brings my two loves together – purple and polka dots.

The first thing you’ll need to do is decide which month you want to start in. That’s the best part – you don’t need to wait until January to begin using this planner! Next, you’ll need to choose what tabs you want. You can choose up to seven. You can see what I’ve chosen above – these work best for me, but you might want something different!

One of my favorite parts of Plum Paper Designs is that you can add a Blog Section, which will be towards the back of your planner. It includes some great planning and tracking pages:

1 – Giveaways & Reviews. You can use this for sponsored posts or giveaways you host or are a part of.

2 – Income and Expenses. It’s always a great idea to keep track of what you earn and spend your blog money on.

3 – Post Ideas. I keep an ongoing list of these in my phone, but every once and awhile write them here too so everything is all together.

4 – Advertising & Sponsors. If you have a sponsorship program, this is a great place to keep track of your sponsors!

And this next section is probably my favorite because I can watch the growth, month to month and week to week:

I love having everything blog related in one spot. Do you use a planner? If so, which one? I highly recommend Plum Paper Designs if you are looking for a personalized, ultimate blog planner!

*For the record, this is not a sponsored post. I just really love their product!

July Goals

July 6, 2016 | 20 Comments

Hi, is this thing on? June sort of got away from me, didn’t it? I could say it was because I was away from home for over two weeks – and that did have a lot to do with it, but so did summer. Having the girls home each and every day took my focus from everything but them. And (most days), I preferred it that way! Either way, I still had some time to tackle my monthly goals.

Before we get in to my July goals, let’s take a look back at June:

-Read Two Books. I read one. But, I started two and abandoned both of those. I’ll write more about that in a Recent Readings post.

-Set up a Summer Schedule. Not going to lie, this one didn’t really happen. We had a long stretch of not being home, and then some family came to visit – so a schedule hasn’t been set. Now the girls are diving in to some summer camps, so I guess that’s better than nothing right?

-Enjoy Iowa. DONE and so happy about it! I saw family, friends, ate all the good food that I can’t get in Texas, and picked myself up some good Iowa gear.

-Recap our Napa Trip. Not done. I’ve organized the pictures and picked out which I’d like to share, but haven’t written much. Look for this on my July goals!

For July, a lot of my goals are blog and personal related:

Read Two Books. Ongoing!

Blog. No more breaks for me. I’ve missed this space and all of you, and quite frankly I just need to get back to it!

Stick to the Budget. I’ve set a spending budget for myself and plan to stick to it. There is one exception – I have a girls trip coming up so that is not included! Would an in depth post about how I budget be interesting, or should I skip it?

Craft. Craft anything. I rarely make time for this, but when I do I find it so relaxing. And I always love having handmade things around!

Work Out. Friends – brace yourselves. I joined a gym. My goal is to go three times a week, and so far it’s going well!

What are your goals for the month?

Currently, in June

June 22, 2016 | 16 Comments

Well, June sure has flown by, am I right? I feel like we were just having the last day of Kindergarten and making plans for the summer. And here we are with one month almost over. I’m actually not complaining about this, because Texas gets “summer weather” in March and it will last until at least October. These days we are hitting 100 at least, and I am not used to that! Now that I’ve discussed the weather patterns here, let’s touch base with a Currently post, June edition, shall we?

Reading: I’m still reading The Plain Truth. I love all of Jodi Piccoult’s books. I’ve also been loving these blog posts:

“Trying to Do Good” by Love the Here and Now

“How to Grow Your Blog without Spending a Penny” by Christine Everyday

“The Hope I Have is Bigger” by Ember Grey

Watching: My DVR is so full from being gone for over a week, so I’m playing catch-up. But that will all be put on hold tonight when Big Brother starts!

Listening: to the girls eating breakfast. They are surprisingly not fighting right now, so I’m enjoying the moment.

Thinking: about my birthday next week. And that I wish I could spend it with my besties in Chicago. All of our birthdays fall within three months, and I’ve missed them all this year along with two new babies.

Wishing: See above. Moving away is hard!

Hoping: that the girls realize how special their sister bond is. Although, speaking from experience, I know it will be awhile until it sets in.

Loving: that I was able to spend so much time in my favorite place (besides with my friends in Chicago) – Iowa. I saw my family and my best friend from high school.

Wanting: Not much, actually. Just to find peace with being in Texas.

Needing: I actually need clothes for this weekend. I am going on a work trip with my husband to Laguna Beach! Have you seen any great casual dresses lately that I need to have? I’m making a trip to Anthropologie later so hopefully I find some great things.

Eating/Drinking: Nothing at the moment. I just had some strawberries and need to drink a lot of water!

For the Blog: I’m working on my Napa post before I forget all of the details! It should be up next week.

What are you currently up to?

*Edited to note that my girls started arguing promptly as I hit “publish”.

Cleaning Schedule for Busy People

May 23, 2016 | 16 Comments

When we moved to Texas and I became a stay at home mom, I had these elaborate daydreams of having extra time during the day, every day. Gone was my life of working outside of the home and catching up with friends on the weekend, and most importantly, my cleaning lady. I wrongfully thought that I would have time to clean each and every day. But I soon found myself busy, really busy. Besides being a taxi for my six and almost-three year old, I signed up for many volunteer opportunities and activities to keep me busy in the hopes of making new friends. I quickly realized that binge cleaning on a Saturday was not my idea of fun, so I needed to come up with an easy to manage cleaning schedule. I am a big fan of lists, especially to-do lists, so I consult this cleaning schedule every week so that I can cross off when I’ve finished each item.

Feel free to use this as a template and make a schedule that works for you!

A few things to note:

-There are, of course, daily things that are done: wipe down counters, load/unload dishwasher, general pick up and make the beds.

-Flex Projects are constantly changing. These are items that need to be done, but not every week.

-This schedule was made around my children’s schedules. I clean the floors on Tuesday because they are at school, therefore they stay cleaner for more than two minutes! Also, if I need to “clean out” the toy room, I also do that when the girls aren’t here, therefore avoiding any “I love that toy!” moments (even when they haven’t played with said toy in four months).

-I added a “make-up day” for those weeks that I just couldn’t get to that day’s schedule. I’ve only had to use it once, and this past weekend I had two rest days!

I’ve followed this schedule for the past two weeks and am happy to report that I didn’t spend more than an hour cleaning any day, except for laundry – but it’s easier to get other things done while waiting for that to be done!

What do you think? I love reading and seeing how others do this. Do you use a cleaning schedule or just go for it all at once?

A Reintroduction

May 11, 2016 | 29 Comments

Absence makes the heart grow fonder. Right? It certainly did for me. I’ve been reading posts I missed, catching up on social media, and throwing myself back in to blogging. One thing that was consistent for me as I was absent was that I missed blogging and connecting with all of you. I also have noticed a few new faces around here.

Hi New Followers! I’m glad you are here!

Some of my favorite bloggers and I thought it would be fun to reintroduce ourselves and each other in a fun Q+A post!

First, a few random facts about me:

Where was the last place you traveled to?

Two weeks ago I went to St. Louis – my sister has lived there for the last fifteen years but just moved to North Carolina, so we all went to say goodbye to St. Louis! We ate at our favorite restaurants, went shopping and caught a Cardinals game.

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are three materialistic things you’d want with you?

A camera with unlimited memory, chapstick and a Kindle preloaded with hundreds of books. (too much?)

When was the last time you tried something new, and what was it?

Last weekend, I ate a “red hot”, which is apparently common in Texas? It was sort of like a spicy hot dog/brat. (Just ok, but don’t tell any Texans that!)

If you knew you could not fail, what is the one thing you would do tomorrow?

I would open my own store. Think “Etsy in a store” – it would have gifts, household items, basically everything cute that everyone wants to have.

What is your earliest memory?

I remember being about three and having picnics at the park. There was one of those dome-shaped jungle gyms, and my sister and I would climb on top while my Dad tried to grab us. Hours of fun!

If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be?

100% it would be pizza. #pizzaforlife

Do you like your first name and why? If not, what would you change it to?

I do! I like that it’s a common name with an uncommon way of spelling it. Although that was torture when I was younger and couldn’t buy anything with my name on it!

If you could give yourself one gift, what would it be?

The gift of more patience. Oh, how I wish that was a real thing! I think my girls would appreciate that as well.

Would you rather be the person asking the questions in a conversation or the person answering them?

It really depends. Sometimes I love talking about myself (who doesn’t?) and other times, I am so fascinated by the person I’m with that I want to know as much as possible about them.

If you had to live in a place where only one season existed year-round, what would that season be?

Before moving to Texas, I would tell you summer. But, summer here is worse than anything I can imagine, so I’d go with Spring. Spring here feels like my normal Summer, if that makes sense!

If money was no object, what would you do all day?

I’d do what I’m doing now – volunteering, being a stay at home mom, and blogging.

And now, I want to introduce you to some of my friends in the blogging world. Be sure to click on their links to learn more about each of these fabulous ladies!

CASSIE: Sage

Would you rather be the person asking the questions in a conversation or the person answering them? I’m a complete introvert and have been told that I don’t talk about myself very often, so I guess that implies I would rather be the person asking the questions in a conversation.

ANNE: Love the Here and Now

If you could give yourself one gift, what would it be? Without fail, it would be self-confidence. I constantly second guess decisions and choices and don’t attempt new things because of a fear of failing or judgement. Truth be told, I could fail and be judged and I would be ok. Self-confidence would give me the edge I need not to care about those things and would enable to me to live free of doubt, fear, and feelings of inadequacy.

REBECCA: Adventures of Bug and Boo

Where was the last place you traveled to? San Francisco! In February I took a long weekend to visit my BFF from middle school, and meet her new baby. It was my first time on the west coast and I fell in love! San Francisco is so different from NYC and London (both cities I lived in for a while) but it’s an awesome city in its own right. And the FOOD….I will definitely be back!

AMANDA: Knock on Wood Blog

If you could eat only one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? I would totally be cool with eating pizza for the rest of my life. You can switch up the toppings and essentially have something different each day. Plus you still get all of the food groups!

EMELIA: Dream Big and Buy the Shoes

If you knew you could not fail, what is the one thing you would do tomorrow? I’ve always had the dream to be a wedding planner, but I would love to work with all types of events. I have a love of details and creating beautiful memories, so I would give it all to be an Event Planner and have the opportunity to make special moments for other people.

EMILY: Ember Grey

If you were stranded on a deserted island, what are three materialistic things you’d want with you? A notebook, pen, and Sun-In. (Obviously.)

CHRISTINE: Christine Everyday

If you knew you could not fail, what is the one thing you would do tomorrow? I would go skydiving! That’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and if I knew for sure that I wouldn’t crash-land, I’d totally sign up.

KELLY: Southern Komfort Blog

If you could give yourself one gift, what would it be? I would have to say the gift to be able to travel (no worries about money, who would take of the pups, boring adult things). I would love to travel all around the nation and the world, just meeting people and doing life with them.

LINDSAY: Bourbon Lipstick & Stilettos

If you knew you could not fail, what is the one thing you would do tomorrow? I would do web development/design. It is a dream of mine, but I’m struggling to find time to study and perfect it!

I hope you enjoyed meeting some of my friends and learning a bit more about me. Please introduce yourselves below – tell me something random about yourself!