♡ MY WEEK: 13-19 October 2014

Happy Sunday everybody! Here is what my week looked like. Unfortunately Kalen's aunt had to have surgery but she's making a great recovery so far. Everything went well and hopefully she'll be up & good to go in no time. I've been keeping him and his family company & may have gotten a head start on some super-secret-except-not-very-secret-because-you-can-see-it-in-the-first-picture-if-you-really-tried stuff *wink* Hopefully it goes all according to plan because I've been working very hard on it :-)

As you might be able to tell in the aforementioned picture, I have a lot of sticky notes on my ruler. I used to do this before but kinda stopped for a while. But now it's back in all its colourful glory! Whenever there's something important for me to do, I put it there & the feeling of peeling/ripping it off when I do it is just so satisfying.

Oh, and that "Spending ban"? Not going so well. I cracked. Remember how I said I bought some of the Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy nail polish? Well, 2 became 4... + a post-it cube. I just couldn't resist. First I got the purple shade, Up The Ante. It's such a gorgeous colour & I don't have anything like it so that was justified, as well as the special Top Coat for it. Oh, and about that Top Coat, the brush is super cool! It has sort of like 2 mini brushes in 1. I'm not entirely sure what that's good for or how that helps but hey, it applies smoothly & makes my nail polish look all shiny so that's really all that matters, right?

And when I went to Big W yesterday (big mistake, very big mistake) I ended up getting 2 more. The lighter pink shade is called Cardshark & the darker pink is called Lady Luck. I'm not sure I like them too much so I am very much regretting it... :-( On the bright side, I love my new Post-It Cube! How cute is it? :D I just put it on my desk & it adds so much colour & cuteness.

And here was my #fflovephotoaday picture from last week. I've been very naughty about it & haven't posted many pictures but something is better than nothing...isn't it? ^^"

Anyways, that's it for today!
I hope you're having a great weekend & I'll see you all very soon :D

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

♡ PLANNER ADDICTS TAG

I was so excited to be tagged by @my_planner to do her tag - The Planner Addicts Tag. You can check out her video on YouTube as well for the full tag. I didn't answer a few questions so here is a longer, more elaborate version of my answers.

1. What planner are you currently using?

I am currently using the Personal Size Warm Orange Metropol Filofax

2. What planner(s) have given you planner peace?

Emily Ley's Simplified Planner has (finally!) given me planner peace. Hopefully I won't be investing in any more because I sure don't need it :P

3. Filofax, Midori or Erin Condren?

Filofax. Although I considered trying the Erin Condren

4. Pocket, Personal, A5, or binder?

Personal. I've only ever tried Personal but would like to try out the A5

5. Where do you get inspired the most? YouTube, Instagram or Pinterest?

Instagram & Pinterest - I'm constantly scrolling through endless pictures

6. What's your go to pen?

The Marvy Uchida Le Pens & the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto Pen

7. What are your favorite inserts?

As you all know, I make my own inserts so I guess I'm obligated to say my own :D But I do love the Kate Spade & the Filofax Cotton Cream inserts

8. Stickers, post-it's, or page flags?

Post-it’s all the way!

9. Keep it simple or deck it out?

Keep it simple

10. How many sections do you have in your planner?

6 - Personal, Notes, To Do, Addresses, Monthly, Weekly

11. Do you use a planner for school?

Yes. Honestly, I would not survive without it

12. Rings, spiral bound, discbound or other? Why?

Spiral Bound - I love the way they look & feel!

13. Do you use a dashboard? How?

Sometimes by sticking post-it notes with grocery or to do lists on them

And now, I tag YOU! Feel free to join in, send me your answers or link me to your blog!

Love Always,

Anna Banana ♡

EMILY LEY: Simplified Planner Review

Will you look at that beauty?! In case you missed the #fflovephotoaday post on my Instagram today, my bestie got me this amazing, amazing planner that I have been lusting after for months! Honestly, we are not helping each other's planner addictions (I got her some Kate Spade stationery & a Royal Blue Calipso - it's soooo pretty! I'm so jelly). It's our birthday soon (Halloween :D) so we thought we'd spoil ourselves/each other. We tried to wait until then but we were just so excited when we both got them in the mail.

Our boyfriends don't understand us and even make fun of us at times, but at least we have each other. And our gorgeous planners. Honestly, there will be no planner shortage going on for years now. Oh well. I'm more than satisfied with this Simplified Planner at the moment & as I haven't gotten 2015 inserts for my Filofax yet, I may become a one planner gal come 2015. I know, shock horror. But I thought I'd formally 'introduce' my new baby & give a brief review of my first impressions and whatnot. Beware...it's a long post. A really, really long post. Don't say I didn't warn you.

This is the 2015 Simplified Planner by Emily Ley (amazing, amazing woman btw) in the original Happy Stripe design. It is quite big. Like, really big. It's even bigger than the large Lilly Pulitzer Agenda and here is a comparison with my Personal Sized Orange Metropol Filofax.

But I actually love that it's big & it feels so nice to hold. The gold strap keeps it all together & seriously, it's just so pretty to look at. To be completely honest, I've been more a fan of spiral-bound planners than the ring-bound. I love the way they fold over & just the feel of them... Am I making any sense? And just look at those gold corners. Looooove.

I will mention this though - I'm not sure if it's because the package got a little damaged on its way here, but the spiral bound was a little out of place, making it hard for me to turn the cover & pages easily (without tearing it). I did try to push the spiral binding back into place and it has gotten a bit better but I don't think it's just mine. I've read a few reviews about it being a little stiff and whatnot. But seriously, cute design trumps a minor issue like that for me.

The cover is hard but I found the dark bits like the navy box in the middle are prone to getting scratch marks. It's not actually the deep nail marks & imprints but the light scuff marks. You can kinda see it in the first image at the very top. So I guess it's a good thing we decided on this one instead of the Navy dotted one.

We were constantly on the website, trying to decide which of the 3 gorgeous designs to get. The pink key design was cute as well but I finally decided on this one & I have no regrets. But seriously, Emily should come up with a way for us to have the best of all 3 worlds (p.s. we still keep stalking the website & drooling over the images but now, of course, I'm completely FOR the Happy Stripes :D).

There was a brief moment when Mon was also persuaded into getting this planner but she said she wanted the Calipso to use as a wallet instead. Since the shipping for this was quite pricey, on top of the planner, which was pretty pricey itself ($58 USD), I thought I'd add in a bunch of Kate Spade goodies as well because I was just so grateful! And I'm glad she loves all of it ♡

And can I just give a huge shoutout to Emily here? I mean, right down to the details, everything is just so adorable and so her. Look at the design of the order slip & the little card with the picture of her and her family. There's probably one in a million chance that she's actually reading this, but if she is, congratulations on your amazing success & twins! Not to mention the adorable Brady.

Another great thing about this planner is the pocket on the inside. It's made of cardboard that seems sturdy enough to last me through the year, holding my little bits & bobs. There's also this simple yet elegant & adorable cover page for your name and any other information you want to put. There are also a few pages inside about Emily's story & how the planner came to be, as well as tips & advice on how to use the planner efficiently.

And would you just look at those tabs?! They're a little thinner than I expected. If you own or have seen the Lilly Pulitzer Agendas, the tabs on this one don't seem as 'sturdy' as those - although since they're both basically made of paper, they're not too strong to begin with. But they are covered in plastic so they'll most likely get me through the year. I'm not really one to abuse my planners so it's really no big deal. And now that I've brought up the Lilly Pulitzer Agendas, I thought I'd just say that I prefer this 1 year planner to the 17 month agenda that they have. I found that I was constantly on a mission to find what day we were on because there were just so many pages before it.

And of course, there is the basic year at a glance calendar, which again is simple yet nice to look at. I love that she offers so many free printables on her site & I've printed a lot off for myself such as the Blog planning & Recipe ones. I'm sure she'll eventually upload the 2015 ones as well so subscribe to her blog to stay updated (I certainly did :D) She also included a Bucket List & 2015 Holidays page in this planner which will come in handy - although there are a few American holidays... I actually love knowing them so I don't at all :-)

And the planner begins! The good thing about the Lilly Pulitzer agenda was that they had a page full of stickers & I would have loved for this one to have the flag stickers in them but you can purchase them separately from the site. Again, no biggie because I have more than enough stickers & washi tape to use and decorate my planner.

So here is what the typical week day would look like. I probably should have mentioned that this is the daily planner. The weekly one is also available and is understandably thinner than this. However, that one is only available in the navy polka dot one. Anyways, as you can see, each day has an inspirational quote at the top, the day split into hours from 7am-7pm, a to do list, a little notes section & a section for dinner as well. I'm not entirely show how useful the dinner section will be for me since I don't cook for kids or my family and basically just eat whatever's in my fridge (lately it's been granola & yogurt with a side of Pringles) so I might use it as an extra notes section. I'm thinking of maybe using it as a Blog section to brainstorm topic ideas, note things to photograph, posts published & scheduled, etc.

One thing I noticed was getting quite a bit of negative feedback (because I just spend my nights scrolling through the site over & over again... Yes I'm a sad individual) was that the weekend shares a page. That means Saturday & Sunday is not divided into hours but just am, lunch & pm. I actually don't mind it too much at the moment, but I'll keep you updated on that once I actually start using my planner. I think once I start uni again, this may also become a teeny bit of a problem for me, but we'll see.

The Sunday section is actually a little different in that there is a checklist in the 'Weekly Prep' section, which replaced the 'Notes' section. You may not be able to see it properly in the image but there are: Plan meals for the week, Tidy up for a clean slate on Monday, Write tasks + appointments for the week & Fill you 'tank'. Enjoy what matters most. I actually don't mind this as I would probably find these quite useful but that's something thing to keep in mind if you're thinking of getting this planner.

Another thing I absolutely love, love, love about this planner is that the monthly calendar comes before the daily every month. The Lilly Pulitzer agenda had that too but it also had an additional section of just months, which I thought was handy at first, but became a little too much to handle. Also, although you can customise & print your Filofax inserts to be like this as well, it doesn't work as 'smoothly' since Filofax usually makes & sells the weekly/daily & monthly inserts separately.

I also love that it has the previous and next month printed at the top just for reference & that the holidays are all written in the cute flag style on the actual dates. And I know this is just a tiny thing, but I love the little coloured pineapple that matches the tab colours. That one little coloured detail just completely changes the entire page while keeping it on the down low. As you may remember my new favourite word, it's a 'muted' cute & elegant combination. And of course, there's a little quote at the top as well.

Again with the small details, but the font used throughout the planner is so nice to look at. It's not the (forgive me, Times New Roman lovers) boring, old Times New Roman style or any other boring font like that, but it's just so...cute! I mean, Times New Roman has its benefits, especially when writing formal letters and such, but this is a planner! Something you'll use every single day for a whole year (probably every year for the rest of my life). Might as well get one that's nice to look at, right?

Finally we've come to the back of the planner. It's just the same Happy Stripes design with the signature Emily Ley label. I read about the story behind the Pineapple & have just come to admire the brand and Emily herself even more. As always, the navy & gold combination is perfect, adding a touch of elegance to a happy, colourful planner. That combined with the gold corners, the slightly 'glittery' gold strap & the spiral bound makes this planner perfection down to a T.

Based on just looking through this planner & not having used it, I'd recommend this planner to the busy, busy bees, especially those chasing after kids on a daily basis. But it will also most definitely be suited to students & business people and anyone in general really. However, it's not as 'portable' as smaller planners or Filofaxes as it is quite large so it might be better used as a 'home based' planner. Also, as I briefly mention earlier, it isn't cheap. $58 for a planner but trust me when I say it's a sturdy one that will get you through the year. I am willing to commit myself to this planner for an entire year without buying any more (although we'll see how long that actually lasts :P) I'll also try to do an updated post on how I like it in the new year to let you know more.

As always, a super, super long post from me but at least it had lots of pictures of my gorgeous new planner, right? I just can't get over how cute it is & can't wait for 2015 to come! I already thanked Monica over & over again, but I just wanted to give her another shoutout. Mon, I know you're reading this because you're my bestie & I make you, but thank you so, so, so much! You're my sister from another mother, basically a twin because we have the same birthday (& year!). I'll love you forever & ever! (sorry Kal...I love you too!)

And for all my loyal readers, thank you for all your love. I know it seems like I say this all the time, but I'm honestly so grateful to you for everything. And I really do want to give back all you've given me (I may or may not be hard at work on a sneaky little giveaway so stay tuned!) Be sure to let me know if you yourself have a Simplified Planner, intend on getting one or any other planner that you think I'm might be interested in... Not that I need another one... But I do love just looking through images of pretty planners... I know you do it too :P

p.s. I'm also doing the #fflovephotoaday challenge (kinda) so don't forget to follow me on Instagram for more planner photos (aka planner porn :P)

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

♡ My Week In Photos: 29 September - 5 October 2014

Happy Sunday everybody! I hope you all had a great week. I most certainly did :-) Watch out for an exciting little post tomorrow :P Here is what my week looked like in my Filofax. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I'm doing Yay, for Fridays! Filofax Photo-a-day Challenge. I'm not strictly following the rules and doing it everyday but only on those I can/want to. You are probably also supposed to include a planner of sorts but we'll see.

Day 1: This Month
p.s. Keyboard Washi Tape Decoration Tutorial coming this Tuesday! It's a little self-explanatory but why not? :D

Day 3: Blue
Martha Stewart binder, Project Life Cards & Marvy Uchida Le Pens

Day 5: Grateful

Kalen knows exactly where I keep my favourite stationery and likes to leave little surprise notes here & there. I'll always be grateful to him :D

If any of you are doing the Filofax Photo-a-day Challenge, please let me know so I can check out all your awesome pictures!

Love Always,

Anna Banana ♡

TIP TUESDAY: Erasable Lists

Hello everyone! Welcome to another Tip Tuesday! To be honest, I'm not sure how long I can make this a weekly thing so sometimes it might be every 2 weeks or possibly even a Tip Thursday, but hopefully that's okay with you.

Today we're going to be making erasable lists for Filofaxes. And really, it doesn't only have to be for ring-bound planners. I think it you cut the holes out properly, you'd be able to put them in spiral-bound planners & notebooks as well. So, here is what you will need: a laminator, Filofax To-Do list, spare pieces of paper, hole puncher (single punchers are quite convenient), scissors, permanent marker & nail polish remover.

I often find it annoying when I'm laminating something small & have so much scraps left over. So I thought, how about cutting them up to put in my Filofax? With one A4 laminating pouch, I was able to get a personal-sized Filofax to-do sheet, a square blue piece of paper and make a 'flyleaf' in the personal-size and a smaller size.

I always found myself throwing away heaps of post-it notes with grocery lists on them so I thought laminating a to-do sheet would be convenient. Every week I can rub it off and start a new list. And this not only applies to grocery lists but to-do lists, wish lists, etc.

As you'd expect, you write on them with permanent marker as whiteboard markers often transfer onto the opposite page & can get rubbed off easily. I use nail polish remover to get rid of it later on but you can use whatever works for you of course. 

And of course, you can use the leftover laminated pieces to create a transparent flyleaf so that you can write on top of your actual weekly pages & still be able to see through them. Or you can also use them to 'pencil in' dates that aren't completely confirmed & always just erase them afterwards. I love how versatile these transparent sheets so please let me know any other uses for them if you come up with them!

I also cut from the edge to the middle of the holes on the side so that I can snap the laminated pages into place without constantly torturing my Filofax rings (sort of like the Filofax rulers). I love this idea so much! It's so handy to just move into different parts of my Filofax - the front, monthly, weekly, anywhere!

Finally, you can cut your sheets into different shapes. As you can see above, I cut a top tab to use as a weekly page marker, but you can also use them as side tabs, etc.

I hope you found this idea helpful & I'd love to see your pics of them if you decide to try them. I remember a while back, I even made a pocket out of laminated coloured paper. So as always, let me know how it goes!

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

♡ MY WEEK: 1-7 September 2014

Happy Father's Day!

I know you all might be like, whaaaaat? But it is Father's Day today here in Oz so we're heading out to dinner with Kalen's family later on :-)

I thought I might share a few pictures of my Filofax with you. And to make you feel even more special, you'll be the first & only people to see them because I didn't feel like posting them on my Instagram today :P Cheeky, cheeky, right? I don't know, sometimes it feels a little weird just posting pics like that...and not to mention, I was having a bit of a creative blank & am not entirely liking the look of things.

Here is the overall look of my week. You already saw a sneak peek of the first half a few days ago but here's the rest :-)

My Week: 1-7 September 2014

As you can see in the following pictures, I added a Project Life card with a list of things to do on it. I absolutely love the design of them - they add a nice touch of colour & cuteness to it and are so handy.

As always, I used my Marvy Uchida Le Pens that are as cool as ever. They are getting a little 'blunt' but maybe I just press down too hard on them...hehehe. But I absolutely love the colours and hopefully they don't run out anytime soon.

Speaking of stationery, it's not secret that I'm obsessed. I've recently discovered a new company called Rifle Paper Co. & things may have gotten a little out of hand... I ordered a few cute things for my best friend, Monica, who you probably all know by now, and of course, for myself. I got a phone case with the London design & may have gotten one for Kalen as well... I'm not entirely sure why & whether or not he'll even use it...but they were just so cute and it's our dream to go to London one day - maybe even live there! So hopefully, if he uses it, then we'll be like those annoying couples who have matching phone cases :P

Online shopping really makes me hate living in Australia sometimes. They either don't ship here, or it costs a fortune. But since I knew I'd never be going overseas to actually buy these things in store or whatever, I thought it would be worth it. I can't wait until they get here but I'll keep you updated! :-)

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

p.s. Have you noticed a few design changes on my blog? I've been on a bit of a blogging roll these days & playing with a few things. It's still a work in progress but I'm loving it so far. I'd love to hear your thoughts & I'm always open to suggestions ♡

p.p.s. I'm planning a post 'touring' the inside of my Filofax soon so expect that in the near future! And by near future, I mean probably not as near as you think since I'm good at procrastinating ;P

MY WEEK: 11-17 August 2014 & Life Update ♡

Hello, hello, hello! Remember me? I wouldn't blame you if you didn't because I think the world's worst blogger award can go to none other than me!

I have been having a pretty hectic few months...

The biggest change would have to be that I'm taking a break from uni at the moment... It was after much consideration (& stressful tears later) that my parents and I agreed I should take a break from uni. Not only has it been a mentally taxing semester for me, it also took quite a physical toll and I'm recovering with the amazing help & understanding of my parents. Hopefully, I will be able to relax in the next 6 months or so to really get back on track, both mentally & physically and be fit as a fiddle for the new year.

Also, yesterday was my cousin & godmother's wedding! It was such a beautiful event & I actually had the honour of reading a bible passage at the ceremony. I was sooooooo nervous but apparently I did really well! :-)

Here are some pre-wedding ice cream shots. My boyfriend insisted I needed to 'cool down'. Lord knows I love him ♡

Decisions, decisions... Can't I just have them all?!

As you can see, it was pretty hard to decide. But, I settled for the Cookies & Cream with Hazelnut in a cone. And of course, I snuck in a few bites of my boyfriend's Macadamia & Honey with Coffee. Yuuuum. I will admit, Cookies & Cream and Coffee were the real winners.

Cookies & Cream + Hazelnut = HEAVEN!

Also, I've been quite interested in juicing lately & finally put my Myer giftcards to good use and invested in a Breville Juicer. I've used it everyday since I bought it & have been playing around with different combinations. Some good, some really good, some bad...and some really bad... But it's so much fun, nonetheless! It's hard to say what my favourite is so far but let me know if you want some juicing recipes in the future. I didn't want to just dedicate this blog solely to Filofax & stationery but make it more of a lifestyle kind of blog so...there you have it :-)

Breville Juice Fountain Compact BJE200

And can I just say, I'm loooooving this juicer. My boyfriend & I were up early this morning to make my parents some juice before they left for work and they were completely surprised, saying they didn't hear it at all from upstairs. So brownie points for being quite quiet (hehe). Also, the cleaning! There are only about 6 parts to it - which I'm not sure is a lot or not - but it's so easy! But then again, that is my personal opinion and my friends & family would agree with me on that. We all just loved juicing & wanted to juice more but the hassle of cleaning up afterwards was just such a turn-off. But not anymore! It's so much fun & quite affordable.

At Myer, it was $129 but I got it on sale for about $110 and with my $75 gift cards, I only paid around $35 dollars for it! Woo hoo! And it's even cheaper at Bing Lee where it's $92 or something like that. So I'd definitely recommend it because it's so worth it. And when you think about paying $5+ for juice at Boost or Top Juice, I'd say it's amazing. The shape & design of the actual juicer is also just so sleek & cute and perfect on the kitchen counter without taking up too much space.

Can we also just take a minute to admire my new fruit bowl from IKEA? The colour is sort of a muted neon-y green and the wooden base thing is actually a lid. I used it as a base here but you can actually use it separately sort of as a wooden tray. It's just gorgeous.

Soooo....after that long long update, how about a My Week post? It's been a while... I feel like I'm losing my decorative edge (if I even had one...). But then again, not much has been going on too much in my life. Let me know what you think :-)

11-17 August 2014

If you're still here, reading this insanely long post...you're my hero. Thanks for all your love & support, especially on Instagram and I'll try to post more now that I have time to relax and such.

Also, about the 2015 inserts. I've been a little stumped as to the design of them. Should I keep them the same as the 2014 ones? Or should I change them up a bit? Maybe make them day per page? I'd love for you to leave me some ideas down below so I can get to making & uploading them ASAP.

As always, lots of love.
Anna Banana ♡

♡ Best Week EVER?! ♡

Hello everybody! Yes, I'm still alive! :-)

I hope you all had a wonderful few weeks. I certainly did!

My Week: 28 April - 4 May

As you can see, on Tuesdsay, I got a...wait for it...NEW CAR!!! I am completely in love with it. I paid for most of it and my parents chipped in for the rest as a super early & super amazing 21st birthday present. I think it's safe to say that they basically covered my birthday & Christmas gifts for the next 5 years! :-)

Hyundai i30 Premium - Creamy White ♡

For those of you wondering, I got a Hyundai i30 Premium in Creamy White. It's absolutely gorgeous & I'm so so so in love with it. The even better thing? The morning after I got it, my parents surprised me by putting a big bow around it & tying balloons to it. It was the best surprise EVER! I couldn't believe it & I swear I had tears in my eyes.

Am I crazy that I even love the key?
What can I say...I'm in love! ♡

Anyway, I hope y'all have been well & I guess I'll talk to you soon! :-)

May the Fourth be with you.

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

*** Disclaimer: I'm not trying to brag. I'm just so grateful of all my family and friends do for me ***

MY WEEK OVERLOAD!

Sorry I have neglected my blog for a while but I have been pretty good with posting on Instagram, right? No? I don't know :-)

Here are a few 'My Week' posts from the past few weeks or so

17-23 March 2014

24-30 March 2014 

31 March - 6 April 2014

7-13 April 2014

I hope you all had a great few weeks!

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

My Week: 25 November - 1 December 2013

Hello hello!
I'm back with my "My Week" photo! :D

I can't believe it - it's already the first day of the last month of the year!

25 November - 1 December 2013

I hope everyone has had a lovely year and also have a safe & wonderful Christmas :-)

Talk to y'all soon!

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♥