Black Friday 2015 Haul!

I went a little crazy on Black Friday this year... ^_^'' 

I definitely came away with quite a haul and I thought I would share it with you all! Most of what I bought was online and won't be in my possession for a few weeks as I bought a lot from smaller planner shops and one large item from an Australian-based company (can you guess which?), so a video wasn't super realistic for a haul as I wouldn't have a ton to show off. Hopefully you can get an idea of what I got through the links and photos I provided below!

Clothes & Accessories

This category definitely wasn't one that I was focused on for myself, but the majority of these items (everything from L.L. Bean!) were gifts from my parents for Christmas (we did an early Christmas this year when my sister was in town for Thanksgiving), all of which I'm very excited about! I'm feeling prepared for the winter with my cozy flannels and fuzzy slippers! :)

Hobbs Creek Flannel in Mallard (I couldn't find a photo online of the correct color, so it is shown above!)
$10.00 from Bass Pro Shops

Scotch Plaid Flannel in Gray Douglas
$44.95 from L.L. Bean

Wicked Good Camp Moccasins in Charcoal
$69.00 from L.L. Bean

Camelbak Mini M.U.L.E. Hydration Pack in Lilac/Purple Cactus Flower (needed a new one for marathon training!)
$50.00 from L.L. Bean

As well as several more items from Bass Pro Shops that I will be giving as gifts so I cannot show them here, but found some really great deals on!

Planner Goodies

Now this is where I went a little nuts. I've definitely been building up my planner goody supply over the last few months and it feels like I've grown is by a very significant percentage with these purchases! It's pretty hard not to go crazy when things that are usually $2-$3 are on sale by nearly half off! ^_^'' The photos shown below are all from the shops themselves (aside from my quick snap of my Hobby Lobby purchases!) so make sure you click on the links provided to get a better look of each item!

Hello Papercat

Hello Papercat is one of my favorite planner goody shops online, so when her Black Friday Sale was announced I went a little crazy. Her sale started at 6PM PST on Wednesday, so needless to say I was anxiously waiting its start at 9PM EST in my childhood room in New Hampshire the night before Thanksgiving!

Hello Papercat's Black Friday Sale: 50% off orders $50 or higher OR 20% off with no minimum spending. (Of course I went with the 50% off option!)

Cats in Christmas Clothes A5 Dashboard - $3.00 (originally $6.00)

Christmas Sweater A5 Dashboard - $3.00 (originally $6.00)

Fairy Tale A5 Dashboard - $3.00 (originally $6.00)

Fawn Pattern A5 Dashboard - $3.00 (originally $6.00)

"This is Me Now" A5 Dashboard - $3.00 (originally $6.00) - I already had the Tina and Louise dashboards from this shop, so of course I had to complete the set with Gene!

"Ugh... As If!" Personal Dashboard -$1.50 (originally $2.00)

Donut Stop Get It Get It Personal Dashboard - $1.50 (originally $2.00)

Zombie Magnetic Bookmark - $1.00 (originally $2.00)

Pink Sprinkles Donut Magnetic Bookmark - $1.00 (originally $2.00)

Santa Magnetic Bookmark - $1.00 (originally $2.00)

Banananana Magnetic Bookmark - $1.00 (originally $2.00)

Pink Bow Kawaii Mug Magnetic Bookmark - $1.00 (originally $2.00)

Frapuccino Magnetic Bookmark - $1.00 (originally $2.00)

Credit Card Magnetic Bookmark - $1.00 (originally $2.00)

Bonus Gift Items with Purchase: Bambi & Aristocat Magnetic Bookmarks

Karolina's Krafts

Karolina's Krafts is a pretty well-known shop in the planner community and rightfully so - her products are stunning and there is a relatively big selection! Unfortunately her products are also on the more expensive end of planner goodies so ordering from her isn't something I can do regularly. However, with her Black Friday sale, I saw it as a perfect opportunity to purchase some planner stickers from her! If you order from here, make sure you are super patient - with the high influx of orders she receives, it can take 3-6 weeks for you to receive your order!

Karolina's Krafts Black Friday Sale: 40% Off Entire Shop!

Glasses Stickers - $2.40 (originally $4.00)

Roadtrip Car Stickers - $3.00 (originally $5.00)

Brunette Yoga Girl Stickers - $3.00 (originally $5.00)

Lemon Paper Co.

I found this shop when the owner followed me on Instagram earlier last week and her stickers are so cute! Her selection isn't too large but she had a few sticker designs that I've been meaning to purchase for use in my planner. She ships from Singapore so it does take a bit of time for it to get to you, but I think the adorableness is worth it!

Lemon Paper Co's Black Friday Sale: 30% Off Entire Shop!

Dumbbell Stickers x2 - $1.50 each (originally $2.15 each)

Pastel Coffee Cup Stickers x2 - $1.50 each (originally $2.15 each)

Hello Cupcake Plans

I also found this shop through Instagram (I believe they liked a photo of mine) and I absolutely fell in love with it when I clicked onto Etsy to check them out! The stickers on this site are bright and vibrant and so, so cute. I went a bit crazy in this shop as well, but some of these sticker sets I know I'll use frequently so I bought multiple sheets. I totally recommend checking out this shop if you're into bright colors and kawaii desings! (And I mean, who isn't in this community?!)

Hello Cupcake Plans Black Friday Sale: 40% Off Entire Shop!

Laptop Stickers x2 - $1.20 each (originally $3.00 each)
Cupcake Stickers x2 - $1.20 each (originally $3.00 each)
Crockpot Stickers - $1.20 (originally $3.00)

Coffee Cup Stickers x2 - $1.20 each (originally $3.00 each)

Money Stickers - $1.20 (originally $3.00)

Lisa Lorene Plans

Another shop found via Instagram! She doesn't have the biggest selection if you're not an Erin Condren user (and I found through my shopping that most of the shops on Etsy focus on ECLP which can be a bit frustrating if you do not use the LP), but I managed to find a few sets that I love!

Lisa Lorene Plans Black Friday Sale: 40% Off Entire Shop!

Running Shoe Stickers x2 - $0.90 each (originally $1.50 each)

Zero Fox Given Stickers  x3 -$0.60 each (originally $1.00 each)
Plus one sheet that I will be using in a holiday planner swap for the New England Planner Girls Facebook group! :)

Hobby Lobby

Being a planner girl, it's pretty surprising that I had never been to a Hobby Lobby, and so when my mom offered to bring me to the Hobby Lobby by her on Black Friday, I jumped at the opportunity! There was a huge sale on all things from The Paper Studio, so I went a little crazy with the Washi. I also threw in a couple of glue runners for dashboard making and a whole slew of things for the holiday planner swap the New England Planner Girls Facebook group is doing!

Hobby Lobby's Black Friday Sale: 50% Off The Paper Studio items (and many other items, but The Paper Studio is what I was focused on!)

-5 pack of functional skinny Washi (Pink "important", black & white chevron, pink and white stripes, gold "noted", white and blue "to-do")

-5 pack of solid color skinny Washi (blue, lime green, yellow, orange, red)

-2-pack of Washi (triangles & arrows)

-2-pack of Washi (gold foil pineapples & polka dots)

-Deer Washi

-2 glue-dot runners - needed these to make more dashboards!

Kikki-K

Last but certainly not least is my purchase from Kikki-K! I've been eyeing this planner since it released a few weeks ago, and I've always been in love with Kikki-K's mint-and-gold color scheme planners, so when I clicked on to the website Wednesday night and saw their Black Friday sale, I knew it was time to finally pull the trigger and buy by 2016 planner! Shipping is a bit expensive as these products ship from Australia (roughly $10 to ship to the US) but with the sale, I still paid less for the product and for shipping than I would have paid for the product at full price - SCORE. I am so, so excited for this planner to arrive and to move in! (Of course, I'll be showing this off in a video as soon as it arrives!)

Kikk-K's Black Friday Sale: 20% Off entire online store!

Large Perforated Leather Personal Planner in Mint - $67.96 (originally $84.95)

I'm pretty close to being done with my holiday shopping after this little haul (I picked up several things for Brett and for friends through my shopping as well - it wasn't purely selfish! :P) but I do have a few more things I'm eyeing for Cyber Monday tomorrow (mostly a laminator and printer ink to make more planner dashboards!). I don't know what it is this year - the deal bug has bitten me hard!

Did you buy anything this Black Friday?

Organize My Life | What's In My Planner Supply Box?

Throughout my time of being part of the online planner community, I've come to realize that every planner person has one of these:

...or at least some variation of one. This is what I like to call my planner supply box - the place where I store all the goodies and accessories that I've picked up to really deck out my planner, journals, and notebooks. If you've learned anything from any of my planner flip-throughs, you know that I'm not a huge planner decorator. I use my planners for functionality and with my busy lifestyle it's always on the go with me, leaving little time to sit down and decorate with stickers and washi (and honestly, I prefer the extra white space to scribble on my pages anyhow). BUT, from time to time I do like to get creative with additional inserts in my planner, or perhaps even my journals! 

Having a one-stop shop for all things that I could potentially utilize to really give my planner some pop has been wonderful, and since I love seeing what other planner people keep in their arsenal, I thought it'd be fun to show off my own! To start, here's what's in the box itself:

Washi: I think washi tape is so much fun and I love the idea of making pages pretty with all of it, but the act of actually decorating with washi makes me nervous because I'm terrible at it. I do have a small collection (all of my rolls are shown above) that I like to play around with when decorating other pages of my planner or to decorate in other notebooks, though. Maybe one day I'll get better!

Stamps: I think stamping is so much fun! The thing I love most about stamps is how they can have imperfections and still look absolutely stunning on a page. AND you can write over stamping very easily without it ruining the look. I would love to grow my stamp collection in the future.

Scrapbook paper: These are only a few of the scrapbook paper packs I have - the other ones were too big to fit in the box. I love utilizing scrapbook paper to create new dividers and tabs for my Filofax to really give it some personality.

Notepad: This came in a planner swap I did in the spring. I haven't really used it for anything as of yet.

Paperclips: Just a few here and there. I have a much larger supply at work - even dog shaped paperclips! I show off one in my coordinating video below. :)

Elastic string & hole punching tool: These were used when I made my traveler's notebook in the spring. (I still need to do a DIY for that project and show you how to make one - it's super easy!)

Sticker folder: I got this accordion folder from Target and it's AWESOME to keep all my stickers organized. I have so many stickers that I've amassed over the years of craft projects and scrapbooking in addition to my planner hobby, so having one compact space for all of them has been wonderful.

Packing Tape: I use this mainly for when I'm making custom dividers. I'll put packing tape on the tabs so when they get flipped back and forth the wear on the paper will be much less.

Notebook: This came in a planner swap. I think it might turn into a bullet journal once my current bullet journal is filled up.

Filofax A5 Dividers: These are the dividers that came with my Saffiano, but they were a little too bland for me to just keep in my planner. I keep them to use as templates for any future dividers or inserts I might make, 

Personal inserts folder: I could never fit all of my inserts into my Personal Filofax, so I keep the unused inserts in this accordion folder. They fit perfectly and the folder itself protects the pages very well.

Filofax Personal Cover Story: When I moved out of my Cover Story, I was also in the middle of moving out of my apartment. The Personal size fits wonderfully into the box, though now I feel like I should display it on a shelf - it's just so cute! I think once my planner collection starts to grow, I'll put my planners on display.

SmashBook folders: I picked these up at Michaels a couple of years ago, thinking I was going to get into the SmashBook craze (I didn't). I haven't found a use for them as of yet, but I hang onto them because they're such an interesting craft supply that I have a feeling I'll want to use it in something someday.

Post-it notes and page flags: My favorite planning supply is definitely Post-its. Its awesome to have a way to keep something in your planner with the option to move it if needed. I have quite a collection at my desk at work, but sometimes I'll rotate them out from the supply I have in the box.

My pencil cases are where I keep the supplies that I use every day in my planner. They come around with me everywhere my planner goes. The smaller case you see above fits nicely right in the bigger case, but each case holds different items.

The bigger case holds general supplies that I might need now and again and I like to have on hand at all times, but don't necessarily get used every day. I'll keep white out tape, highlighters, a couple of pens, Sharpies, and a bullet journal that I use as a brain dump. Sometimes I might throw in a stack of Post-its, and I also usually keep a month-at-a-glance pocket calendar in here that I use solely for tracking work events if I need to take it out of the office.

The smaller case is where I keep all the pens/pencils I use every single day. My favorite pens are the Pilot G2 pens and I use them everyday in my Filofax. Because I color code, I have LOTS of different color options. I also keep a ballpoint pen and a handful of mechanical pencils that are used for my month-at-a-glance work calendar.

My planning style is pretty straight forward and to the point, so I may not have as glamorous of a planner supply box as someone else might have, but I really like the collection I've amassed so far! If you have a planner supply box/bag/shelf/etc. please share it with me! I'd love to see what you use.

Make sure you check out my coordinating blog post below to see more of my planner supply arsenal, as well as what supplies I keep in my planner itself!
 

I CAN SEE THE FINISH LINE, Y'ALL

...I really wasn't kidding when I told you this end-of-year nonsense was going to be insane. It's been almost a month since I've stopped in to just give you guys an update of all that's been going on. I feel like I'm just starting to catch a little bit of a break, buuuuuut today is also the start of Springfest at BSU (though our event today was postponed due to weather) so it'll be another week of craziness on tap for me.

What have I been up to lately? More like, what haven't I been up to lately. Much like my previous life update, I'm going to try and put everything into list form to help organize my thoughts a bit.

A quick selfie before opening the doors of Spree Day!

1. Every major event ever! Last week was Spree Day at Clark and Greek Week at BSU. This week is Springfest at BSU. Next week is Impact Awards at BSU. The week after that is the Last Hurrah (yet another full day of programming) at BSU. Basically, April is the month of major events in Student Affairs land meaning long hours and late nights, but these events are awesome and are basically my favorite thing to plan and see. (I always say it's a good thing that I love what I do because I spend a LOT of time doing it!) I swear when the semester is over I'm going to have zero idea what to do with myself.

2. DROWNING IN HOMEWORK. Actually it's not all that bad, but my capstone project has been taking up the bulk of my attention as of late. For my capstone, I'm creating an online portfolio of all of my experiences over the past two years as a grad student. I need to make sure it looks supah professional, because on May 6th I will be presenting it to a committee of three faculty members and then defending it well enough so I can graduate. NO PRESSURE. So needless to say, I will be pouring over that until I officially pass it in and can't make any more edits to it on April 29th. Yikes city. Maybe when it's done I'll share it with you all! :)

3. Getting back into the swing of running. I set a goal for myself to workout at least 2-3 times a week during the months of April and May now that the weather is nicer, and so far it's going well! The sun is up earlier and stays out later which makes finding time to run SO much easier, and I'm on my way to getting back to my old running self that I left behind in the fall. I have a half marathon target for mid-June and a goal for my third marathon in early October, so hopefully that works out!

4. OBSESSING OVER TRAVELER'S NOTEBOOKS. You guys know that I'm planner obsessed. I don't know what it was, but a few weeks ago I decided I just needed to do more research on traveler's notebooks. So I watched a few set-up videos on YouTube. And then I watched some more. And then I watched a couple DIY videos. And then I thought "I could totally make one of those". And then I totally made one. I'm in love. Every time I use it it gets more and more character and I'm hooked. I'll for sure be writing a blog post and making a video walking you through my set-up when things settle down a bit (and I'll likely do a DIY video and post as well), but until then here's a picture of my notebook in all its glory!

*heart eyes Emoji*

5. Job searching on the ~daily~. It's an every day routine at this point for me. Click onto the job boards, save the descriptions I like, write up a cover letter and send it on its merry way. Then obsessively check my Gmail for any updates and get sad when business hours are over. Brittany and I have been calling the last few weeks "Rejection Season" as we've been receiving more "no"s than "yes"s at this point. Kinda scary, but part of the process. In the meantime, I was invited to come back to work with BSU's Orientation program during the end of May and through June, so at least that's something tiding me over while I continue the search! (Plus I had such a wonderful time last year that I am pretty pumped to be joining the team again this year!)

6. Cheering on runners in the Boston Marathon! Cassie and I ventured down to the starting line for the marathon today. It's not far from Dean at all and I had never been to the starting line before, and since my friend Louie was running this year I thought it would be the best year to check it out! We made a sign for Louie (which quickly got destroyed by the rain) and got a really awesome spot at the starting line, right on the barricade. Unfortunately we didn't see Louie go by (there was 7,500 runners in each wave, so no surprise there) but we had a blast cheering everyone on despite the cold, rainy weather!

The sign before the rain destroyed it.

We're in the home stretch, people. Only 2 internship days, 5 class days, 5 assignments, 21 days of the semester, and 23 total days 'til graduation! I am so close to the finish line it is unreal, and I can NOT wait until I can finally check this accomplishment off my list. Again, apologies for the lack of updates between now and graduation, but I'll do my best to keep up with everything. I still have a few vacation posts to share with you all, so stay tuned! :)

Hope you're all having a wonderful April, and I'll write very soon! <3

'Twas the Night before Orientation...

How is it already 9:30 pm the night before the first session of New Student & Family Orientation? HOW?!

It seems like Orientation Leader training consumed more of my life that I had originally anticipated. Every time I sat down to write a post, I was distracted by Orientation business of one form or another. As a result, I have several posts written all the way out, with just a few additions still needed, sitting in blog purgatory. (I'll probably add the finishing touches to those this evening and schedule them out throughout this week!) But because training consumed so much of my life, a couple of weeks have gone by in a blink and now we are on the edge of 3 crazy, exhausting, exciting, and fun weeks of welcoming new students and families to BSU! It really felt like this day was ages away, but now it's here.

During training, the whole staff decorates each other clipboards to use throughout each session. You get one person to make a clipboard for, and it's a secret the whole time. Tonight was clipboard reveal! I didn't take a picture of the one I made (though the student I made it for said he loved it!), but this is the one another student made for me!

 I absolutely love it! Thanks, Tyler! :)

We are starting session one with a staff meeting bright and early tomorrow morning at 6:00 am (O_O) and I will be powering through (somehow) until about 10:30 pm, followed by a 9-5 second day of the program. Rise and repeat 6 times and you have Orientation. It sounds like a lot (and it is), but it's actually a lot of fun and I'm definitely looking forward to kicking the program off tomorrow!

Please forgive me if this space goes even quieter than it has been, but I have a feeling that I'll have exciting stories from my personal life to share throughout this busy time so I'll be sure to drop in to write a post or two over the next few weeks!

The Definition of Fall

I was on duty Saturday night, so Brett & I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was trapped on campus and did some pumpkin carving! It was the perfect night to park on the couch and do a fun (and messy) fall activity because the Bruins AND the Red Sox were on TV that night. (Oh whattup 5-0 shut out & World Series bid respectively?!) Nothing more fall than carving pumpkins, cooking pumpkin seeds, and watching some playoff baseball right? Hit the jump for some more pictures! :)