101 Progress Check - 16th October 2013

Hi everyone :o)

Sorry for another lengthy pause between posts (maybe I should just aim to update monthly instead of weekly, so I don't have to feel so bad) - I've been away for two out of the last three weekends. Needless to say that progress is still slow.

I should have even done a post on my first weekend away as I was away with the Philofaxy gang and we were very privileged (don't laugh oh ye who are not of the Filofax persuasion) to be invited to the Filofax headquarters down at Burgess Hill where we had a fab time talking with the heads of various departments there, seeing potential new patterns for next year, fondling some of the older Filofaxes, and generally having fun. We all came away with a bag of Filofax goodies (and yesterday my friend also took delivery of a nappa Flex from them on my behalf - so looking forward to receiving that).

On the Saturday most of us headed to Vapiano (highly recommended - very relaxed atmosphere and lovely food cooked right in front of you), where we got to play with each other's Filofaxes, shortly followed by the obligatory shopping trip to Paperchase :o)  

Being up in London I got to see my brother, sister-in-law and their cool kids as well which was great - we lost touch for a while (nothing bad happened, we're both just utterly useless), so it's been nice to catch up again over the last six months or so.

Anyway, back to the topic of this post... although my 101 has been moving slowly recently I have two more tasks to cross off.

While we had a weekend free with no children around I went with my husband (I love saying that) to see Rasta Thomas's ballet of Romeo & Juliet - it was amazing, the music was cool, the moves were slick, and the bodies were hot... oops, did I just say that out loud?!!!

Before I went away last weekend I sorted through my stationery and packaged up seven RAKs - so that's another task that I've been meaning to do for ages that I can cross off my list - I'm sure if I hadn't put it on the 101 list it would still be waiting at the end of the year (and not necessarily just this year). This means that I can now leave the FiloRAK group. As much as I love the idea of the group, I just keep seeing lovely things, which send me off trawling the Internet, and the next thing I know it's three hours later and I've spent the whole evening looking at pretty stationery or crafty stuff.

I am seriously considering adding a three month Facebook ban to my 101 list (although I will still be allowed to check for private messages as this is how my family and friends contact me. Over the last couple of weeks my Facebook usage has been much less than previously, and it feels so nice not to feel that I must check into all the groups every day - in fact, I have left some already to remove the pressure (which is only from me, no-one else - just my own freakish OCD fault). There will be no checking groups or reading the news feed allowed, even though this does mean that I may miss out on actual news (not just the trash photos, hoaxes, game requests and adverts). Maybe I should also add a task to keep in touch with people and start writing letters and picking up the phone...

I finally got round to searching Amazon to get my three remaining banned books to read, so have downloaded Black Beauty and Fanny Hill (OMG, I wish I'd read the reviews before putting that on my list - I think it's just going to be rude!!!) onto my Kindle. Unfortunately Catcher in the Rye doesn't seem to be available on Kindle, so for now I've downloaded Uncle Tom's Cabin instead as this was banned in the Southern United States due to it's anti-slavery content. The Catcher in the Rye will definitely be read at some point though as I think my next reading challenge (either after the 101 list or alongside it) will be either the BBC top 200 or the Telegraph 100 - I'm sure there will be overlaps, and I'm also sure that I will have already read some of them, but I am looking forward to my next list of books :-)

That's me done for now, have a great week,

LJx

Tivoli and Rymans - Two Places I Love

OK - maybe love is a bit excessive, but I love going to them both :-)

This is just a quick post (mainly photos) to show my hauls from Tivoli (shopping centre about 20 minutes from home) and Rymans who I visited while I was at the Philofaxy meet up in London.

Goodies from Tivoli...

Plastic card holders and A6 document holders, all bought
in the hope that I could do something with them for my
Filofaxes (super cheap from Migros supermarket)

Personal sized card inserts and quadrille paper all
reduced from a shop that sells a bit of everything,
and these were discounted so very cheap

A5 quadrille paper from the same shop, more discounts

New stapler and uniball pens in various colours (not so cheap)

Stickers!!! Multicoloured dots and hole re-inforcers

 Next we come to the stuff from the stationery department in Manor, I go in here almost every Saturday...

Pretty notebook (it's a shame that the sticker doesn't
come off easily though)

Plain on one side and lined on the other, perfect for
journalling, or just sketching and making notes

Vespa notebooks - I couldn't resist these

Another funky notebook, and some cute paperclips 

A better shot of the paperclips

Inside back cover of notebook

Inside front cover of notebook

And now for the Ryman's goodies that I got in London. Ryman's was just across the road from Vapiano's where we met up for lunch so it meant I had time to go in there before the meet up, and here are the bits I picked up while I was there.

Foam pads & glue dots ready for my scrapbooking attempts

Pack of 3 red Moleskine cahier notebooks, perfect
for slipping in an A5 Filofax

Ryman's own brand notebook - this is quite Moleskine-esque,
the paper feels nice though I haven't tested it out yet, and
the cover feels nice.

 As we popped into Artbox at the end of our London meetup, it would have been wring if I didn't buy anything, so I got these super cute Little Red Riding Hood phone charms, which are unlikely to make it to my phone :o)

 

LJx

101 Progress Check - March 24th 2013

Hi Everyone :-)

Sorry for the lack of an update last weekend - I was away in London for the Philofaxy meet up, and spent the weekend with my brother and his family in Basildon, which was great.

It's been another busy couple of weeks, but I have actually achieved stuff - hurrah!!!

My first stop in Basildon was to Hobbycraft to pick up knitting and embroidery supplies, so I can start on those two challenges. Unfortunately, although they sell embroidery threads, I couldn't find any kits or even the material to go with them, so have given those a miss for now.

Surprisingly I have since managed to knit not one, but two scarves (one was a short fat one for me, and the other was longer and thinner for Marcus). As Marcus is the same as I was when I was younger it is unlikely that he will ever wear it (despite nagging me to make it) as he finds it tickles his neck. Thankfully that means that Christopher can have it instead and I don't need to make another one. I used a thick wool, which required knitting needles that I'm sure were designed for use by elephants (or maybe even as legs for elephants). They are 2cm thick, which is just crazy!!! The good thing is that it takes less stitches though, so I'm not complaining.

My boys have now decided that they want to learn to knit and want me to teach them - that's fun as I don't really know what I'm doing, and definitely don't hold the needles or the wool in a way that's going to be easy... However, Marcus decided to do a trial using the big needles and a length of wool that was left over from his scarf. He only did about five stitches, and got the long tail tangled in amongst them, but he did manage to do them all by himself, so is very pleased.

The boys playroom is now completed, with a couple of extra toy boxes to put all their stuff in - somehow we seems to still have managed to accumulate a box of toys in the front room where they keep bringing more toys downstairs, so now we just need to educate them to take things back upstairs and put them in the toy boxes...

 I'm still doing my Les Mills Combat programme, and although I missed two workouts last weekend I have added them into this week and caught up. I now have 18 days left until I finish - yay!!! Then it will be time to decide what to do next. :o)

I'm still pretty rubbish at taking my camera on days out and actually using it and I had a bit of a breakthrough at the Philofaxy meet up, followed by a total fail in my lack of photo-taking of my brother and his family, despite my nieces and nephew being totally fabulous and gorgeous - I am utterly rubbish. Thankfully it's a family thing - I hadn't seen my brother in nine years, and after moving here in February 2009, I didn't get round to calling him until Christmas 2012. To be fair, he hadn't called me either, so I don't feel bad - we are both rubbish and we know it :o)

Here is the evidence that I did actually take photos while on a day out (admittedly I did only actually remember to get my camera out while we were in the restaurant, and it didn't see the light of day again, but it's a start, no?).

Kate & Susie

Paula, Angela, Imy & Lorena

Sharon & Tracy with Tracy's fantastically organised pocket
Filofax which she keeps everything in.

Ray & Steve, our insert kings :o)

The money shot!!!

If anyone reading this wants somewhere to eat in the centre of London, without it costing a fortune, Vapiano is the place to go. It's easy to find (even I managed to find it really quickly, so had time to do a little shopping before popping back at the right time to meet with everyone) and it was such an exciting moment when I got back to see all the Philofaxy bods stood outside waiting for it to open :-) Vapiano's card system, where you get given a charge card on entry to the restaurant and everything you order gets charged to it as you order so you can pay on the way out, is a perfect system for a group of people eating out. No trying to divide the bill or work out who owes what, which is always a total pain. The food is so good, and it's all cooked to order. I had the pasta carbonara, it was cooked right in front of me, and tasted absolutely amazing.  

This was a fab day out, meeting people who I've only chatted with on Skype or online before, visiting the Filofax store, Mulberry (you can read Imy's account of their shocking service here), and Artbox before finally heading off for the station. The Mulberry service would have been bad enough if it had just been that the sales guy clearly didn't know the products, but to come back with an iPad to show us that what we were looking for didn't exist, whilst having it on the page for the exact item Imy was looking for makes me wonder whether he had actually had any training at all, or if he'd had a very heavy night out on the Friday...  Tracy and I spent most of our time between Mulberry and Artbox spotting all the pubs and saying that we really should stop for a swift one. At one point we had got left behind a bit (we spotted some lovely owl dresses) and said that if we came across a pub before we caught up with everyone else that we would pop in. And then we spotted it just across the roundabout, looking totally inviting it - another pub!!! Yes, it was meant to be :o) And then we spotted the Philofaxy group stood outside waiting for us to catch up... foiled!!!

But as we were both going in a similar direction on the Tube, once we left Covent Garden, we dived onto the Tube back to Oxford Circus, took the first turning as we emerged from the station and found a pub, with tables and chairs outside - just what we both needed. A perfect end to a perfect day :-)

Have a great week,

LJx

101 Progress Check - 10th March 2013

Hi Guys,

Very quick one today and possibly no post next Sunday as I may be away at the Philofaxy meet up in London :-)

Les Mills Combat is still going strong I am one workout down at the moment as I was feeling a bit rough towards the end of this week, but I'll be catching up on that one in a few minutes.

I have started to draw up plans for what I want to include in my event planner that I have yet to set up.

I'm still using the Plannerisms planner to help with getting my household chores done (not managing to get it done every day, but it's written down, so at least it's a start, right?).

That is all for this week.

Have fun,

LJx

A Cheerful End to a Stressful Day

Phew!!! The worst part of monthend is pretty much over (it is manic at work), and although I had planned on leaving work on time yesterday, due to a few issues that arose I ended up getting home almost two hours late, which meant that the boys got to bed before I got home. To be fair, this isn't always a bad thing :o)

My oldest boy, Christopher, had been waiting patiently and checking the post box each day as he was waiting for his black Finsbury to arrive from the king of Philofaxy himself, Steve. So my first question was to ask Ben if Christopher's parcel had arrived, and it had. Ben was under strict instructions that I wasn't to look at it until the morning, bless him. However, the initial response had me a bit confused "Yes, there's a parcel for you as well...", who could be sending me a parcel?

Then I saw the name on the parcel "Micheline", how on earth could I have forgotten that the rather pink looking Winchester was on it's way to me? I have to say, for an old girl, she is looking mighty fine. Way more refined that some of these flibberty-gibbets who try to flaunt themselves at every available opportunity (yes Temperley's I'm talking about you).

In the pictures that I had seen of her she looked like she (yes, she is definitely a she) may be quite hard, and she is quite sturdy, but still feels very supple and strokeable, like any female should. She even felt kind of warm, hence I ended up cuddling her for quite a while - she is just such a love, and straight away feels like an old friend.

Anyway, I beginning to weird myself out now, so time for some pics )obviously none of the actual unwrapping, because I couldn't wait :o)

Lovely card which was on the front of the beautifully
wrapped box - complete with washi tape 

Lady Winchester

Still looking slim, despite the years :o)

Inside (with post-its and stickers). The dividers are a coated card
and are therefore seem really durable. What's hiding behind
that flap? 

Pockets!!! No credit card pockets (who needed
loads of those?)

Warner Bros to do lists - fabulous, so many different ones!!!

WO2P diary inserts with perforated corners to remove so it's
easy to find where you are... love this feature

Inside back - another flap, love the way these protect both the
rings and the outer leather so there is no chance of bulges

My first filo with a gusseted pocket I think

I think you will agree, I have just got myself a bit of a legend - she may be my first Filofax to receive a proper name.

This morning I was very privileged, when Christopher came downstairs and showed me his new filofax. He is very impressed with his personal sized Finsbury. He was also very impressed by Steve's Philofaxy business cards, and he shared them, he said that Marcus and I could both have some and he shared them out amongst the three of us, giving three to me, four to Marcus and keeping four for himself (including one that was larger than the rest with smaller writing on it which he'd noticed straight away). I am so proud of my boy that he shared them all - he can be such a sweetie. Before I left for work I was on a bit of a mission to dig him out some inserts, and found a complete set of 2013 WO2P inserts and full divider sets for him to put in. As I handed them to him he said "All of those?" as if he thought I would just give him a few pages to go in, and then went off to the dining table with Marcus to help him open his Filofax properly so he wouldn't damage the rings (there was no way Christopher was going to put those inserts down to allow him to have both hands free). Tonight both boys have gone to bed, Filofaxes in hand, and put them on the table between their two beds - so cute :o)

Sweet Filofax dreams everyone,

LJx

101 Progress Check - March 3rd 2013

Hello :-)

What's the progress report this week?

Well, I have been mainly concentrating on my fitness challenge to complete the Les Mills Body Combat programme. I am now on Day 21, and it's going well - so well in fact that I noticed this morning that my butt has risen and no longer hangs quite so low (sorry for that visual that's now been planted in your head - quick, look away!!!).

I have now booked us into a covered wagon in May at Europa Park for two nights, so our family weekend away is definitely all set to happen.

Yesterday I spent a large part of the morning sorting out the boys bedroom properly so that I can get started on setting up a play room for them. This is what their room looks like now (unfortunately I don't have any before pictures).

Clothes storage

Skylanders posters in pride of place

A tidy room with no toys in... how long will that last?

Today I actually made lunch (cooking stuff and everything), I'm surprised Ben didn't have a heart-attack... I made tuna fishcakes, and as it is the first time I have actually made them, despite having them very regularly when I was younger, I can now say that I have now learnt three out of the six new recipes in my challenge - result!!! They actually tasted good too, even though we had too much tuna for the amount of potato we had :o)

The one task that I can mark off as completed this month is my donation to charity. I thought it was going to be hard to decide which charity to give to, but actually, just as I was starting to think about who to donate to there was an update on Philofaxy about a charity called Chimwemwe who you can read more about Chimwemwe and the great work that they do here. When people sell their Filofaxes via the Adspot page of Philofaxy, they make a donation to Chimwemwe, which is their chosen charity.

I didn't want to donate to one of the big charities that everybody knows for a couple of reasons. I wanted to be able to give some money that would be enough to make a difference to them, and I also didn't want to give it to a charity that spends a huge amount each year on advertising (in particular those ones that send you a nice leaflet in the post, complete with form to fill in, pen and envelope to send it all back in) - I can see why they do what they do, but I just find it such an offensive waste of donations that are supposed to be going to a good cause.

As I wasn't donating to one of the big charities, am a huge Philofaxy fan, and admire Amanda who blogs about stationery etc here for her huge involvement in Chimwemwe, it made total sense for this to be the charity that I donated to.

That's me for this week. Have a great week.

LJx

A Perfect Find...?

This is a totally unexpected post, I have been asked for Filofax advice from a friends boyfriend via Facebook. 


Here is the message that appeared on my wall a couple of days ago... 

"xxx mentioned getting a filofax and I said luckily I know someone who loves them :) he would like your advice as he wants one to carry all his dissertation stuff in, preferably waterproof and with a zip"

My plan was to find out more about what he wants (size etc) and then to ask for more advice from the Filofax for Philofaxy Fans group on Facebook, or in the Free For All Friday regular post on Philofaxy. Especially as there are many people in the groups who use their filos for planning university work and therefore could give much better advice than me. 

"I basically just want something (if it isn't zipped then it's not an issue) that stores my journals, notes, diary and a few pens for uni. Sometimes better than a bag, just needs to be able to fit A4 paper in etc, easy to carry around, if it isn't leather no worries." 

Still not sure if he really wants an A4 or if A5 would be OK, but I can make a start to check for advice... But first - just a little look on eBay... and what was the first item on the when I did a search for Filofax A5? Only an A5 Lyndhurst zipped, with 1 hr 16 mins left on it, at only £23.50 bid so far... obviously it was a sign, so I bid for it there and then, and won it for £25.00 - bargain!!!

So was it the perfect find? That remains to be seen, but if it's not what he wants then I will be more than happy to have it sent to myself instead, and I am quite happy to look at other options for him (with advice from the group).

LJx

(Not sure what's happened to my standard text settings, hopefully they will return to normal for my next post...)

101 List Progress Check - 20th January 2013

Another week with little action - partly due to lack of motivation, and partly due to the smallest boy having full on flu, shivering under the duvet and complaining that he was cold, whilst being ridiculously hot, poor little chap. He still has quite a nasty cough, but is back to his normal, cheeky self, so he's fine :-)

So, what have I achieved this week... erm...

...well, I haven't achieved as such, but have moved a goalpost... it can happen at work, so surely you can do it in your personal life, no?

My three month fabulously frugal no shopping challenge came to a premature end at twelve weeks, which is good enough for me. I had a tough day yesterday (no reason, just my head feeling like it needed a bit of a treat) and had already been considering ending my challenge a week early, and then those wonderful Philofaxy fan enablers worked their magic. By the end of the evening I had bought not one, but two new Filofaxes, and bid on another on eBay, but I was happy and smiling lots - success!!! :o)

Today I have ordered a few more bits and will shortly be ordering a new printer as our one is totally dead, and I need to be able to print at home.

I realised today that technically I have copied all my CDs to iTunes, so can cross another one off the list. No, this isn't because I have finally done the ones that were in the car, but because I have realised that none of the ones in the car are actually mine. Yay!!! Obviously, when they finally make it into the house I will copy them across to, but the actual challenge is done.

Next week I will be in the UK most of the week, so there will be no progress check list, and very little progress, although I will be one step closer to watching 10 musical films, as I *will*, one way or another, be going to see Les Mis at the cinema. I can't wait, and don't worry, I will make sure that I have a huge box of tissues so I don't drown myself...

Before my next progress post I will also be reviewing the outstanding challenges/tasks on my list to see what I mean to achieve through doing each one. I have been prompted to do this by my feelings this week regarding the no shopping challenge. It was something others had done, I had read about and thought "Oh, that's a good idea" - but why? Do I overspend? No. Do I have no understanding of where my money goes? No. Is there something specific I want to save for? No. Do I buy lots of unnecessary rubbish? OK, so this one is a matter of opinion, and yes, I admit that I may have quite a lot of stationery/filofaxes..., but it's really only been the last couple of years that I have been spending on these.

Prior to this I was Miss Anti-Shopping and would go into town with the express intention of buying new clothes, nail varnish, lipstick, shoes, but by the time I left town I had bought nothing, felt a total failure, and decided that I didn't need any of it anyway :-)  I typically hate shopping, but buying these things (or even just looking at them in the shops for hours) has made me actually enjoy shopping, and I am even able to manage to buy clothes too - see, it's my therapy - ha ha ha!!! ;-)

Have a great week :-)

LJx

101 List Progress Check - 11th November 2012

Wow - I am pleased with myself this week.

My most exciting achievement that I new about last week but couldn’t write about on here was being featured as the Reader Under the Spotlight on Philofaxy on November 5th, yes, that was me!!!  I am now famous - yay!!!

I am now on day 11 of my Frugal is Fabulous No Shopping challenge and it’s not been easy so far. Firstly, too many people blogged about lovely notebooks during the first week - stop it, you’re not helping!!! I really am going to have to start a wishlist ready for investigating when the three months is over... 

Ben and I stayed at the amazing Kempinski Mirador hotel at Mont Pelerin for four nights to have some time for ourselves and it was fabulous, and all booked through lastminute.com so a vast saving on the standard room rates. The view from our balcony was outstanding and the sun was shining and it was about 9 degrees outside, but felt much warmer - hence the lying on the sunlounger in shorts and vest - so relaxing. We browsed round the shops in Vevey where there was a fair bit of temptation and I did well. But on the Thursday we hopped on the train to Geneva to meet up with Antonella (lovely relation - too complicated to explain...) and she took us round Geneva - oh my word, I almost postponed my No Shopping challenge until next year. The shops there are amazing, and we sniffed out stumbled upon the most wonderful stationery selections and specialist shops!!!

Today I have written out and addressed all my Christmas cards apart from a special one that has to be done via Moonpig and most presents have also been bought or ordered - I’m on a roll. Hopefully by this time next week I’ll be done - if the other half has any idea at all about what he’d like for Christmas... what can you get for a guy whose hobbies are band and working out when he already has more guitars and fitness equipment that you can shake a stick at??? 

I have also been using my Dodo book of Christmas for my Christmas planning. I have all the Christmas day food list, and nibbles list, Christmas cards lists, presents list, and have even bought a couple of new tree decorations (the intention is that the boys will get a new decoration to put on the tree each year) and have got the advent calendar, chocolates for the tree and the Pannetone - I am rather impressed :o)

Have a great week,

LJx

2013 Setup Options - Diary Layout

Now this is where the fun really starts... what diary layout(s) do I need/want for next year...? Lots of brainstorming and not a photo in sight :o(

One thing that I know I will always need is my year planner - I don't care what size it is... personal is just fine regardless of what size binder I choose (unless I decide to be ridiculously brave and go for mini or pocket, but I really can't see that happening).

In theory the month on two pages should also be there (preferably tabbed) so I can see my overview for the month really easily, however... if I'm honest with myself I never look at it, and rarely write anything on it apart from every now and then when I have an hour of trying to get myself more organised. Maybe if I used the tabbed one though it would kind of jump out at me Should I put one in again this year and try to make myself use it properly, or just save the space for other things that I am more likely to use?

This year I have been using week on two pages Swedish style, which has been working OK, but I tend not to write my to do's on it any more as otherwise I just spend too much time moving tasks around. I usually have to do sheets interleaved between. So... do I really need a week on two pages, or is that just taking up more room than it needs to? Would I be better off with a week on one page instead, or a week on one page with notes maybe...? Or even two diary sections - one for work and one for personal, but they would need to contain to do's as well otherwise I would basically have two diary sections with very little written in them...

I already have the Dodopad 2012-2013 A5 and am using it to monitor things (water consumption, exercise,  fruit & veg consumption, weather, over/under hours worked) - unfortunately I am rubbish at this sort of thing and constantly forget to write anything at all in it at the weekends. The other problem I have is that monitoring these things doesn't actually push me to actually change anything - eg. I need to drink more fluids and most days I manage 3-4 glasses of water, and that is it. Maybe I should just have a sheet in smaller filo or even just a small general notebook, that I can easily write this type of thing in and then transfer it to my main filo at the end of the day.

Is the sensible thing to do to look at what I currently have available and take it from there, or make the decisions first, buy/make/print from Philofaxy (where there are a huge selection to suit all your needs) new inserts and hope for the best? I guess I should take a look at what I have anyway, as I know I have quite a few diary inserts (many of them 2012).

2013 inserts that I already have:

                A5              -      WO2P standard white       
                                          WO2P vertical standard white        
                Personal      -      WO2P standard white      
                                          WO2P vertical creamy (Sweden?)   
                                          Year planner (somewhere - I remember buying it)

2012  inserts - could I use these for 2013 if I just changed the numbers alongside the days, or would that bug me way too much?

                A5              -      WO2P Sweden
                                   -     WO2P vertical standard white        
                Personal      -      WO2P lined standard white      
                                          WO2P Sweden
                                          WO1P standard white
                                          MO2P white tabbed
                                          Year planner   

I also have some 2011 year planners and MO2P tabbed inserts.
                                           
So I've just rambled away to myself and am not sure I've got any closer to my decision. Thankfully we have a bit of time before 2013 rolls around. Maybe I should change my current setup as a taster to see if I can find what will work for me next year...

LJx

Could I Be The Luckiest Girl In the World...?

It is totally official - not only do I love Philofaxy, but I love Philofaxy Adspot. On Monday I will be taking delivery of my A5 Purple Malden and my Personal Crimson Finchley, but today I have decided that I need to have a look at pocket filos...

And guess what I found? Only that the wonderful Lady Tammlyn is selling her Pocket Ochre Malden!!! And guess who is the lucky person who is going to be receiving that little beauty??? Woohoo!!!

How good is that going to look next to it's bigger brothers?

LJx