{Project Life} Calendar

This is for those of you that asked about this . . . this is a new product from Becky Higgins that goes in line with Project Life.  I found it at Michaels and I believe that this is the only place to find it.  I had been thinking about going back to a paper calendar this year, this is kinda a big deal for those of you that know me and my love all having all things electronic.  But I found that I while having everything at your finger tips on my phone, iPad, computer, it wasn't really in front of me, like open on my desk staring at me, reminding me of upcoming events, things to do . . . yes, I set reminders on all of the electronic devices, but the reminder pops up, you have to dismiss it in order to continue what you are doing and then it disappears and, well, most of the time disappearing out of my memory too!

Anyway, when I walked into Michaels and saw this lovely colorful package of goodness I was soooooo excited.  It fits into a really cute 6 x 8 binder. I wanted it.  But I really am trying to NOT add  things that I will not use to my collection of stuff.  I left Michaels without the calendar.  Mind you there is also a journaling kit and a recipe kit.  Of course I wanted ALL of them!  But I left with none of them, I was proud of myself.  Over the next few days while I was deciding on my word for 2014 and thinking about things I need to do in order to simplify and make my life easier, I decided it was time to give a paper planner another shot.  I went quickly back to Michaels where I was happy to find that both the planner and binder were unmarked, but 40% off, I'd say it was meant to be, lol!

I brought it home and put it all in the binder and didn't write in it right away . . . I guess I wanted to be sure that I thought this was really something that I was going to use this year, I don't need more unused stuff (my husband would call it crap) on my desk.  But I finally gave it and started writing in all of the dates for 2014.  Now, I am really liking having the paper in front of me, I can see the week easily and make lists and have it all visible.  Is it the "perfect" calendar, no, there would be a few things I would change, BUT, it's cute, that counts for a lot in my book, it's colorful, and I love colors, and if Michaels ever gets the 6 x 8 page protectors in I can add a few of those throughout and I think at the end of the year will sort of make itself it's own little mini scrapbook. So that makes it just perfect for me right now!

Bright colorful dividers

Each month is a different color, one week is on one side of the page

There is a part at the top for "things to-do/places to go/people to see"

And each month has a fund 2 page spread of different things each month, DIY projects/Wish List/Skills to Learn/For the Garden/Camping List, etc.  kinda fun!

 This is from a digital kit I purchased from the Sweet Shoppe, this helps put Project Life in front of me on a daily bases, to remind me to take photos and start thinking about how I want that week to look.  This is a very cool downloadable calendar and all of the PL templates are included, so you can add whatever layout you will be using that week to the page before you print.  I have decided to follow Ali's lead and just use Layout A pocket pages this year.  I think this will help me know what I need to do each week, what kind of photos I need and it will keep it simple and help get it DOne!  

I'm hoping that this combination is going to help me be successful  DOing the things things I want to this year, and at the top of that list is to have a complete album at the end of 2014.

**Note: I bought the teal binder and have been using it for the last 2 weeks.  It's heavy, I took out June - December for now.  Yesterday I found a "simple stories" album that feels a little bit lighter and less bulky, so I'm trying that out for now.  I think the album, whatever brand is going to get a bit used looking if you carry it around.  So I figure I can save the nicer one to put a final project in vs wearing it out all year.  

{Weeks 1 & 2} We Made it to Friday!

It was a long week!  Seems the first few weeks of January always are, after a month of celebrations, time off from work and then all of a sudden you are thrown right back in to reality.  And while I was happy to have gotten to the end of the week, it really still wasn't my normal reality. . . ASL 2 class starts on Tuesday night and Singing Hands starts on Thursday night.  So last week I got to be home every single night, that so rarely happens, so this week is really really back to reality!

It was a good week and I practiced putting my word into use, DOing lots of little things that were on my to-do list.  I have gone back to using a paper calendar after many years of being electronic.  I'm hoping this will help me stay focused on the tasks that need DOing week to week, and it helps that it is a Project Life calendar, so it is super cute.  I was completely shocked when I walked into Michaels and found it last week, like seriously surprised, this kinda stuff doesn't usually get by me.  I actually went back through every post in 2013 on Becky's Blog to find where I missed it.  I didn't miss it, whew!  I knew I wouldn't forget seeing that was coming.  Becky didn't actually announce it until after it showed up in the store. I'm getting used to using a pen and writing things down and crossing them off, I really like crossing things off part!

I also came across this cute Project Life planner, since I can't carry around 2 planners (I barely remember to carry around one, and one day I even had to go back into work to get it off my desk) I figured out that I can print out the pages and insert them in to my PL planner.  I think it will work and I can try to keep all my thoughts together week to week for PL.  So we'll see, it's only the 2nd week of the month!  I'm hoping that by making a few little changes can help me have a more productive 2014.

I worked on my One Little Word project today, made some progress and I'm liking how it looks ~ a few more prompts to finish up and January will be complete!

This year I WILL I WILL I WILL keep up with Project Life.  No excuses, just DOing it and getting it done and moving on to the next week.  So I am happy to say that it is the end of Week 2 and I am current!!!!  Hopefully once the rest of life kicks in I can remain caught up!  

{Week 1} 

These are not perfect, but they are DOne, and that is what I am focusing on this year, letting go of perfection for DOne!

and {Week 2}

Feeling good about getting some creative stuff done, makes me happy!