project life update...

i have been evaluating all areas of my life lately...the next area i wanted to address was my memory keeping...  i have been a scrapbooker since my oldest son, who is now 14 was born,  i have gone through many stages and styles over the years...  the one that i found worked the best for me was the Project Life system by Becky Higgins...  it is very easy to get my hand on supplies...  they are sold in my local Michael,s and AC Moore...  i also can do a little at a time...  I don't have to create one whole big 12x12 spread...  i can just add my 4x6 photo and journal on a 3x4 card and then i am done for that photo...  i have been working in a project life format since 2010...  this year is the first year that i have not worked on m y project life photo...  as life tends to do, it got in the way... i have been having bad fibro flare ups and really have lost any desire to be creative...  so, i have done nothing!!!

a few weeks ago, i came across a post on instagram about heidi swapp...  she has been one of the biggest inspirations to me since i started scrapbooking...  i loved looking at her spreads because we have children around the same age and i just love her style...  the post was regarding the passisng of her 2nd child cory...  this really hit a nerve because i have seen this boy grow up over the years in her pages...  since his passing, she has been talking about the importance of capturing your memories and that she is so happy to have them during this difficult time... (i know that difficult does not begin to describe what the swapp family is going through)...  i have decided that it is time to get off my butt and start capturing memories again...  the photos do not need to be perfect...  i don't need to pose my children...  i want to capture how they are and what they are doing now...  i have started taking photos of the everyday things that are going on around my home...

now, all i need to do is start printing out the photos and putting them into my album...  one of my biggest obstacles in the past, was myself...  it wasn't that i didn't have the time, i didn't think i was creative enough to create a beautiful, magazine worthy spread...  i had lost sight of the most important thing...  preserving my memories of my family...  i am trying to keep this in mind as i delve back into my project life album...  as i go along i will post my spreads here and talk about my project life journey... until next time...

leslie :-)

Planner Update / Etsy Sticker Haul

how fast things change!!!

at the beginning of 2015, i was torn between 3 planners... i have stopped using one of them and now i am currently torn between the remaining two...  they are both erin condren life planners... one is the horizontal layout and the other is the vertical layout...

                                                                          vertical & horizontal life planners


i never thought i would be a spiral bound girl, but to my surprise, i am really liking the spiral binding...  i have also been throwing it into my bag and taking it with me...  that is something i never thought i would do, considering that it is larger than my other planners...  it is large to take in and out of my bag if i need to check my schedule, but that really doesn't happen that often...  when erin condren released the new 2015-2016 planners on june 9, i was all set not to order a new one...  then i saw her new horizontal layout...  i knew right then i was in trouble...  i always thought that i was more of a horizontal planner and that this would be a perfect fit for me, so i ordered 2 (one for me and one for my daughter)...  we ordered the ready-to-ship planners and within a week they had arrived at our home...  my daughter switched over and has not looked back...  she loves it...  it will be a perfect fit for her once school starts up again in septemeber...

                                                                      my daughter's horizontal life planner


i, on the other hand, have not been able to decide which i like better...  this is so shocking to me...  i thought that i would switch over to the horizontal and that would be that...  that is not how it has been working out for me...  i was going to give myself the month of july to figure out which i liked better...  i have been using them both...  it is double the writing and planning, but i want to see which planner is working better for me and which one i enjoy using...  i have been noticing pro's and con's for each of the planners...  now that august is here, i still can not decide which i want to continue using...

                                                                              2015-16 vertical life planner

                                                              2015-16 horizontal life planner


i will be continuing to use both for at least the first week of august...  i will be doing a review of both layouts with the pro's and con's of both of them...  first up will be the vertical...  stay tuned...


fondly,
leslie :-) 

life update... what I have been up to

well, it has been another long while since i have posted here... i always start out with good intentions, but then life gets in the way...  i have decided that posting here is something that is important to me and that i would like to do on a regular basis... i need to make this a priority for myself...  i have been doing a lot of soul searching since the beginning of 2015... i have been on one crazy planner journey since January... but i will go into that in more detail in another post... stay tuned for that one...

the spring is the busiest time for my little family...  we are in full swing lacrosse and soccer mode...  my boys are on multiple lacrosse teams and my daughter is on a travel soccer team...  but lately i have seemed to find a really nice rhythm...  i seem to be very happy and have more time to spend on myself... it has been a long time since that has happened... fourteen years to be exact...  

i also suffer from fibromyalgia...  my neurologist has put me on medication and it is working like a dream...  i haven't had many flair ups in the last 6 months...  also, as a bonus side effect, the medication helps with migraines and i have only had one in the past six months...  that is incredible... i feel like a new person...

since i have been feeling good, i decided now was the time to start on my weight loss journey...  i kept about 10lbs of baby weight with each of my 3 kids and since being diagnosed with fibro, i put on another 10lbs due to not exercising...  i joined weight watchers in March and i am down a total of 8.6lbs to date...  i have to keep reminding myself that rome wasn't built in a day and that i will get there...  

these are some of the topics that i will be sharing here on my blog...  it will be mostly planner related still with some life updates thrown in...  all in all things have been pretty good so far in 2015 and  i look forward to posting here on a more regular basis...  it is nice to be back...

fondly,

leslie

introducing my 2015 planners...

one of my favorite things about a new year is a new planner...  it is almost like the first day of school when i was a kid...  i have always been a stationary lover... some things never change...  lately i have been having a hard time trying to decide what planner i am going to use...  i am in love with 3 planners right now...  what is a girl todo?  

                            my 2015 planners

the first planner that i will be using is my erin condren life planner...  i have been using this planner since august...  it is a good fit for all of the activities that my family has...   

                               erin condren life planner

next is my full-size midori traveler's notebook...  i have my 2015 diyfish day-on-one-page inserts in here...  

                                                midori traveler's notebook

last but not least is the newest addition to my planner family...  i'd like to introduce my field notes sized chic sparrow traveler's notebook or aka my jendori.  i am really loving the smaller size and the yellow paper house inserts that i have purchased for this planner...

                                                                 chic sparrow

i will be writing a detailed post for each  planner shown above...i will also be filming a setup video for each planner that i will be posting to youtube...  so be on the lookout for these up coming posts and videos...  until the next time...

fondly,

leslie :-)

Wow! It has been a while!! Welcome 2015

I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year!!  where is the time going??  2015! ALREADY!!  I also can not believe that I haven't posted on here is 6 months!!  that is crazy!!  I knew it had been a while, but I didn't think it was THAT long...  as I was sitting down to write out my usual new year's resolutions (this year I am calling them GOALS),  I really thought about what was important to me and what I wanted to make a priority this year...  planning has always been a major part in my life...  I have had a planner since I was in elementary school...  I just love to write lists down of any kind...  I have tried to use technology to replace my paper planners, but it just never worked for me... I NEED to write it down...  I have discovered an amazing group of people who share this same love for paper planning... I have truly found it to be a gift...  I love finding inspiration from all of these amazing people I have stumbled across on Instagram and YouTube...  I want to make this a bigger part of my life...  with that being said, one of my goals for 2015 is to blog on a regular basis and post some videos on YouTube more often...  I really enjoy it...  I will be sharing what planning system that I will be using in 2015 in the VERY near future...  look for a post and video soon!!  enjoy your celebrations!!!

fondly,
leslie :-)