The Day My Erin Condren Planner Arrived

I have been waiting for you for a long time, little one. Before you arrived, I dreamt of all the wonderful experiences we would have together. I pictured dressing you up in shades of petal pink and lavender. Happy little goosebumps prickled up my arms when I thought of taking you with me to the park, to the store, or wherever life would lead us. And then finally, you were here, swooping in on a blistery morning to brighten my day! Oh, how I will cherish you. And I shall name you.....Stella.

 This is a box. Inside this box is some wrapping paper.

 Inside this wrapping paper is........

Stella! Welcome to the family, my love.

This is an Erin Condren Life Planner. Isn't she gorgeous?! You'll see that my name is scrawled on the cover there. This is just one of the many things that make this planner so much fun and so unique. I chose this cover because it spoke to me and said, "see how 'whimsydaisical' I am?" There are so many different designs and color variations that you can choose from to customize your life planner. Want to know why you should get one of these, and why they are worth every penny that Dame (I'm pretty sure she has never been knighted, but she should be) Erin Condren charges? Let's dive in, then!

Throughout the planner there are quotes, beautiful color schemes, and luscious graphics that make it exciting to gaze upon every time you open it. I won't spoil all of them because it's half the fun of getting to know your planner :)

What do I use it for?

Planning things. The End.

Just kidding; that would be the understatement of the year. This planner is not just for planning things. Its for dreaming things, scrap booking things, listing things, stickering things, sparkling things, and more!

There is a monthly calendar view at the beginning of every month's section (which each have their own nifty little tab). This is the place where I put all of our appointments so I can see them at a glance. I like to add stickers that show what the appointment is for because everyone knows that pictures are easier to read :)

 Then there is a weekly spread that fully utilizes the page space. Many planners don't even tack on a little notes section let alone give you multiple spaces in the sidebars for them, so the "Goals & Notes" section along with the lines at the bottom are a boon.

You'll also notice that the page is split up into various blocks. This is the best part of the whole planner in my opinion. There are so many different ways that you can block out your goals and to dos. You don't even have to follow the rules and write stuff that happens in morning, day, and night. You can instead put some cute washi tape over the headings and write in the names of each person in your household so they each have a section, or mark the boxes as home, work, and personal. The options are endless! The squares also make the planner very easy to decorate since you can make your own pictures and things that fit right in the 1.5" x 1.9" box. I'll show you how to do all that in another post :)

Why this planner and not something less expensive?

This is the same question I asked myself before forking out the $50. Do I REALLY need a planner that costs that much? I will be the first one to admit that my frugal little heart cringed when I saw that price tag. After I learned about the planner, I even tried a couple other planners that were much less expensive to try and prove that I could make my life work without said $50 planner. I used the less expensive ones for a couple of weeks before deciding that it just wasn't the same. What Erin Condren offers in her planners that other planners don't is loads of flavor. Each month has a different color scheme and every page is exploding with different fonts, pictures, colors, oh my! Yes, you could make your own planner and add your own spices, but sometimes you just want someone else to cook it up for you. Here is an example of how you can make that "flavor" work to your advantage......I need to stop being metaphorical, it's making me hungry.....

 

I would suggest watching some YouTube videos and looking at Pinterest (I've pinned all of my favorite planner goodies here) to make sure that this planner is the right fit for you. I certainly did. There are many planners out there and we all have different needs. The point is, I truly believe you get what you pay for with this planner. It packs a lot of punch and I think you will agree once it's arrived on your doorstep. I think it's important to note I love this planner so much that I named her......just sayin'.

This was just an overview and sneak peak into my little slice of planner heaven. Come back later and I will show you how I decorate it, customize it, add things to it, and basically just Nikki-fy it as much as possible!

And one other thing; if you're enticed, just head on over to Erin Condren's website and check out these bad boys for yourself. While you're there, help yourself to $10 off your first purchase, courtesy of being my friend :) Just click this link and once you've signed up for an account you will receive your $10 off coupon in your email.  

https://www.erincondren.com/referral/invite/nicoleschwab0531

T.G.I.F

Ever since I got a "9-5 job," I've noticed myself saying T.G.I.F constantly. I worked retail all through high school and college, so having weekends off was a foreign concept. I always thought I would love having a "real grown-up" job when I finished school. I imagined myself with the perfect life - perfect job, perfect house, yada yada yada. Needless to say, being a grown-up isn't all it's cracked up to be. I work Monday through Friday and view these days as the prison I have to endure until I reach the next weekend. I find myself feeling a little lackluster these days. There's less swing in my step, and less inspiration. A mix of waking up early and staring at a computer screen for 8 hours a day have combined to make me quite the unmotivated Nikki. 

For these reasons, I have decided to challenge myself to getting my groove back! Starting with finding the beauty all around me and igniting my creativity and lust for life once more. I made green juice today in my beautiful Breville juicer, and thanked Mother Nature every step of the way. I'm hoping to motivate myself to pay attention to my mind, body, and well being just a little bit more.

Secret Shame Sunday

I have a confession to make. I like watching My Little Pony. There, I said it. I actually really love pretty much any animated series, but these little gals are extra cute and loveable. I usually watch this show on Netflix in the morning when I'm getting ready for the day.

I'm hoping that this will become a regular feature on the blog every Sunday. I would like to share with you guys my deepest, darkest secrets. I will post something every Sunday that would embarrass most people, but I'm going to celebrate it by sharing it with you!

Anime & Manga, Don't Knock It 'Til Ya Try It

There was a time when I could never get into manga. I would browse through titles like Fruits Basket and Chobits thinking that these titles were all the medium had to offer. Silly girls and oversexed mechanical women weren't something I wanted to read about. Then a friend of mine showed me the light. Just like American comics, there are good and bad Japanese comics. There are those with little substance, and those with characters that pull at your heartstrings. Fullmetal Alchemist was my first glimpse at what "good" manga meant. Edward and Alphonse are the perfect mix of flawed and miserable, yet optimistic and determined. The plot is heartbreaking and tense, leaving no doubt that a book with pictures can also produce some mighty fine writing. I devoured the manga and moved on to the anime, also my first introduction to this interesting (and often weird) type of show. The anime doesn't follow the books, but stands on its own two legs with different types of antagonists and mayhem. I've delved some more into different series, but this will always be my favorite. Whether it really is the best, or I'm just riding the euphoria of my very first (think FF VII) is up for debate. Regardless, I couldn't pass up the idea to paint my favorite characters rocking some chibi. I wore these nails around and put a plug in for FA with every coworker that crossed my path. I'm hoping for an FA revolution here, guys. Cross your Ed and Al adorned fingers that others find their way to this series too!

The perfect primary red color I used as the base for Ed and Al is called "Poinsettia" by China Glaze. My amazing friend nerdpolish gave it to me to try, and I couldn't love her more for it; I know this will be a well-used polish. Check out her blog if you can't get enough "nerd on nail" action. I just made that up, it's not a real thing. But check out her blog anyway!

The silver polish beneath Winry and Col. Mustang is Rimmel London Lasting Finish Pro in "Pure Silver."

Winter is Coming!

I can't wait until the 2nd season of Game of Thrones airs this weekend! I still remember how I felt when the last episode of the 1st season ended with (SPOILERS!) dragons climbing all over Daenerys. "HolyCrapThat'sFreakingAwesome!" was pretty much what my reaction amounted to. The problem is that I'm not quite prepared for the series to start up again, since I'm only half way through reading the 2nd book. With school and work, I just can't keep up with these thousand page bricks of brilliance. So instead of trying to finish the book like a smart little girl, I decided to spend time on painting my nails with Game of Thrones sigils.

Hopefully I did a good enough job that you all can tell what's going on, but if not I'll point out that the wolf of the Stark house, the lion of the Lannister house, the 3-headed dragon of the Targaryn house, and the stag antlers of the Baratheon house are all represented in tiny detail. I'm so excited with how they turned out, and I can't wait to show them off to other people who stinking love this show! Enjoy!

Rugrats

These nails were my second attempt at nail art about a month ago. I painted them right after the Lorax nails, when I was still extremely ambitious enough to even paint with my non-dominant hand. The sky and bushes on my right hand took about an hour in and of themselves because it was so difficult to steady the paint brush in my left hand. Now I just paint my left hand that will be photographed and leave the other one in solid colors; shh, don't tell! I split this nail design up over 2 days since I was up until 2 am on a school night just trying to finish Chuckie's teeth! People sometimes ask me how I can stand spending hours on one nail creation when they are just going to be destroyed in a few days. The thing is, I don't care how long it takes to do them when I end up with something that I am so proud of. I will have the pictures as a reminder of the work I did, and the lasting feeling of joy at having painted something that makes me and others happy!

So anyways, let's cut the sappy speak and get down to the nitty-gritty! I used China Glaze "Sweet Hook" nail polish from the Electropop collection as the base for these nails (which you can still snag at Sally's if you're quick!) This was such a perfect color for the Rugrats sky that it inspired me to do the Rugrats design as soon as I bought it. This design was done back in the day, when my sad and short nails made people cringe. So, here's the truth: these are indeed fake nails. Now that my nails are healthy and strong after taking the time to protect and care for them, I threw out my fake nails rather than ruining my own with glue. Every other post I've made have been pictures of my own decorated nails except for the Lorax nails.

Take a Ride in the Mystery Machine

These are some nails that I did a couple weeks ago, and just never got around to posting. I tend to drift towards nostalgic references when I think about new nail art ideas, and Scooby-Doo has always been my very favorite animated show. I would watch reruns of the original on Cartoon Network every day. I think Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island was underappreciated. Most of all, I just loved the colors on the groovy mystery van! The green and blue polishes I used together really make me smile. I used O.P.I. "Green-Wich Village" for the green and Americana acrylic paint to paint the blue waves and orange flowers. I got a lot of compliments on these because people thought the colors were great for spring, so give them a try and prepare to have people reminisce with you!