My 2018 Planner Crew!


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Happy 2018!!! A new year always means new goals and new planners! I am a huge nerd when it comes to planners and I love trying out all kinds of goal setting sheets and planner formats to figure out what system is best for helping me kick butt at achieving my goals 😃 

The past two years, I have been a hardcore Day Designer fan. The daily sheets have allowed me to plan each hour of my day so I can clearly see what needs to be accomplished! Around fall of this year, however, I found that having the day sheets every single day was actually a little overwhelming. There’s a part of me that always wants to fill the space in planners and when each day sheet includes 10+ spots for to-do items, the crazy person in me felt like I needed to fill every single spot - even if I didn’t have the time for it! Although I still love the Day Designer’s daily sheets for those jam packed days where I can’t keep track of anything, I knew that I needed something different for this upcoming year. So, instead, I went for a mix-and-match approach to my planner instead of being tied down to one option! 

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Dated Weekly Planner (Marshall's)

Even though I tend to prefer planners that have daily pages, when I have long-term deadlines, I find that a weekly or even monthly page is the best approach for me. Although I might not use my dated weekly planner on a daily basis, it’s easiest for me to see long-term deadlines on a weekly page rather than a daily page. 

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Cultivate What Matters: Powersheets

This is my second year using the Cultivate What Matters Powersheets and I could not recommend them more highly. If you’re someone who loves to journal/plan and you want to work on breaking down goals so that they are actually achievable, then the Powersheets are for you! My favorite part about the Powersheets are all of the little reminders tucked away in its pages on being imperfect and not comparing to others. On top of being an amazing set of goal worksheets and a thoughtful journal, I feel like my Powersheets are also my biggest cheerleader with all of the sweet motivational bits tucked throughout the pages! 

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Undated Day Designer A5 Inserts + Filofax

As much as I love the idea of bullet journaling, I have to admit, I’m too lazy to commit to it! I love being artsy and creative with my pages but I just don’t have the motivation to set up and decorate each page of a bullet journal! I received this beautiful Filofax as a gift and purchased a set of undated Day Designer sheets to fill it - Although I’ll be moving away from the Day Designer planner this year, I won’t be moving away from Day Designer entirely! I still love their daily sheets and will be using them on those days where I’m so busy I don’t know which way is up! 

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Simple Notebook (TJ Maxx)

As I’ve gotten older and have more commitments in different areas of my life, I’ve found that one planner is often too limiting - especially when I have a random list of house chores sitting on my kitchen counter or a list of groceries sitting in my bedroom! I’ve started collecting all of my random to-do lists in this notebook and have found it so helpful to have all that chaos in one place! Although it’s definitely still chaotic in the notebook, at least now all of the chaos is in the same notebook!  

 

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Looking back on what I’ve written, I realize that having five different planners/notebooks to keep track of my to-do list might seem a little excessive. For me, however, being tie down to one planner actually gives me more stress than being able to switch between different options depending on what is best fit for that specific day! What planners are you using for the 2018 year? I’d love to know!

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BeautyFix: December 2017


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BeautyFix is a monthly skincare, makeup, and haircare subscription box created by DermStore. A monthly subscription is $24.95 per box and a one-time box purchase is $34.95. Most items in the box are either full or deluxe sample size products. On to the December box!  

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Eminence Organic Skin Care: Bamboo Firming Fluid | Full-Size: $58

I’ve been using this fluid before bed the last few days and have really enjoyed the formula and its feel on the skin - however, this is again one of those occasions where the sample is so small that I really can’t tell if the product is actually working for me! 

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Erno Laszlo: White Marble Double Cleanse Travel Set | Full-Size: $28

Although this travel set is adorable, the first thing I always think when I see sets like this is how impractical they are for actual flight-based travel! I prefer to travel with only carry-on bags and that means that any liquids have to be separated into a different bags, pretty much making this little set moot. I love the idea of double cleansing and think this is a very effective set for in the home - I just won’t be using it as a travel set. 

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Lancer Skincare: Volume Enhancing Lip Serum | Full-Size: $42

As someone who has pretty large lips, a volume enhancing lip product isn’t something I’ve ever thought to try! I was both excited and nervous to try this product since I’ve heard that plumping lip products can sting! I didn’t notice this one stinging much at all, but at the same time, I also didn’t notice any difference in the lip plumping department either. :P  

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First Aid Beauty: Facial Radiance Pads | Full-Size: $28

BeautyFix is probably the reason I’ve become a little bit obsessed with First Aid Beauty! I’ve just found their products to be so effective, yet not too harsh on the skin. These gentle exfoliating pads are just another example of this! They aren’t irritating and are full of natural ingredients which is doing a world of good for my skin. If you’re looking for gentle skincare products, First Aid Beauty is 100% the way to go. 

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Juliette Has a Gun: Not a perfume Eau de Parfum | Full-Size: $100 (1.7 oz)

My least favorite thing to receive in subscription boxes is always perfumes!! It’s always frustrating to me that perfumes are included in these boxes so often. Despite this, I can’t deny that I actually love the scent of this perfume :P 90% of the time I receive a perfume sample it ends up being too strong for my taste but I was pleasantly surprised by this one! It’s light, not too strong, and good for people who want a subtle scent. 

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Trufora: Triple Action Exfoliator | Full-Size: $45

My favorite high-end skincare products tend to all be exfoliators and this one is no different! A lot of times in skincare products, you can’t always tell the difference between a drugstore and a high-end formula but with exfoliators you can almost always tell the difference. This exfoliator has a high concentration of very small beads that leave your skin so smooth! I’ve enjoyed this so much I might even splurge on the full-size product!

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Bioderma: Hydrabio Serum & Cream | Full-Size: $25 each

The BeautyFix box tends to send a lot of Bioderma products and honestly, I can’t complain! So far, I’ve really enjoyed Bioderma’s products. This serum and cream both feel so smoothing on the skin and despite being moisturizing products, do not leave skin greasy at all - which is more than I can say for most moisturizers out there. Again, this is a product I might be purchasing in a full-size soon!

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Lilah B: Divine Duo Lip & Cheek | Full-Size: $46

This lip and cheek duo included three beautiful colors: a pink, red, and a nude-y coral. I enjoyed all of the shades and have really enjoyed their creamy formula but I find that the pigmentation on these is a little too strong to serve as a cheek product. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, however, since I’m thoroughly enjoying using them on my lips! They act as nice lip stains that you can easily build to a fuller color. 

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At first, I wasn't super impressed with this month's BeautyFix but after using the products for a couple of weeks, I've grown to love a lot of the products from this month! If you are someone who doesn't want to splurge on high-end products without trying them first (me!), then BeautyFIx is the perfect box! Although it's a little more pricey than other beauty boxes like Birchbox and Ipsy, it's worth its price tag for the higher quality products you receive. Have you ever tried BeautyFix? I'd love to hear your thoughts!   

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November in Photos


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The blog has taken a bit of a backseat lately, but what I realized I missed the most is sharing these monthly photo posts! I used to journal a ton (especially in my angsty tween/teen years - yikes!) but have found less and less time to do so as the years progress. I think these posts, are in essence, a little photographic journal of the things I experience each month and I love that one picture is always enough to jog an entire string of memories! I hope you had a wonderful November - and here’s to all of the festive happenings to come in December! 

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