They've Arrived...

Oh yes they have :-)

Please excuse photo quality, the flash was being a bit random (or it could just be that I don't actually know how to use the camera properly). 

Ben and the boys arrived back from the UK late on Friday night and it was great to have them back home. Obviously once the boys were in bed the first thing I wanted to do was get my new Filofaxes that Ben had brought back with him - not in his hand luggage as instructed, but in his suitcase. I am so thankful that his suitcase didn't get lost... there could have been trouble ;o) I was told that, as the boys weren't allowed to get their new things out to show me before they went to bed, I wasn't allowed to have my new things until the morning either. What am I, 5? Clearly that idea wasn't going to pass muster and I dived straight into the suitcase.

There were two lovely binders expected, and first up (I was saving the best until last) was the A5 zipped Lyndhurst (my first proper black Filofax) which was my accidental purchase from eBay, as it unfortunately turned out that the person I bought it for needed an A4 (I'm not sure who it was unfortunate for though, as I'm very happy to receive it into my collection). 

A few minor marks because it was second hand, but still in
very good condition

The Lyndhurst came with a few inserts - it had the 1-6 and A-Z dividers in blue and grey, a black today marker, credit card insert and a Filofax notepad.

Lies pretty much flat straightaway :-)

Lovely rings - no issues

Then came my first Franklin Covey binder - the beautiful Ava which I bought from Imy over at Imysworld, if you haven't checked out her blog before you should (is there anyone who hasn't, really?) here is the post which she did about Ava comparing her to the Osterley from Filofax.

The first thing that struck me upon seeing Ava was what a gorgeous shade of blue she is (she really is). The leather has a nice soft feel, but doesn't feel like it wold scratch easily at all like some of the Filofaxes (you know who you are Mr Ochre Malden, but we still love him, he is one of the few that can carry off the scratched look, it just makes him look even more loved)

Check out the colour!!!

Flattability scoring? 10 out of 10. Could this be the elusive Mary Poppins binder of the planner world - (practically perfect in every way)? Only time will tell, but not just yet as I am happy in my Rockin' Planner at the moment, but think I will give Ava a go later in the year as I may have to treat myself to the FC Her Point of View 2 Pages Per Day inserts for Jul 2013 - Jun 2014. 

Super flat :o)

The eagle eyed of you may have spotted the stickers hiding in the ID slot - as well as sending me the fabulous Ava, Imy included a whole stack of other bits and pieces for me, I wasn't expecting all this extra stuff and so went to bed much later than intended as I was too busy checking out all my awesome new stuff :-)

Cute stickers hiding

A few sheets of Paperchase stickers (ones they don't do anymore),
and a sheet of owl index tabs

Loads more cute stickers - now I have stickers for
Oz I may have to plan a holiday there :-)

As well as all these stickers, Imy also included Daytimer hotlist pads (I have seen these on other blogs and always really wanted to get some, and now I have two pads of them, they are great), cute paperclips (I have some similar in plain colours and love them), special Post-It notes (including super sticky arrow ones where the sticky bit runs down the middle, I can't wait to start using these), cute stripy green pens (blue ink), which are very fine and look lovely with many of my fills, and last, but by no means least, three (yes, three!!!) Bic 2 colour pens. Now anyone who knows me, knows how much I love my Bic 4 colour pens (and Bic biros generally), both standard and fashion colours (come on, 8 colours in 2 pens, what's not to love). The Bic 2 colour pen has two of the best colours from the fashion colours (pink and turquoise), and being that bit slimmer fits into so many more of the Filofax pen loops - yay!!!

I think I said everything about these already but "Yay!!!"

I am a very, very happy girl now (OK, at my age "girl" may be pushing it a bit, but I'm sure my mum still thinks of me as her little girl, so I can still use that word).

LJx