♡ My Week: 22-28 December 2014 + Year in Review

Umm...how is it the last week of 2014 already? Well, not officially but...kinda. I mean, this time next week it'll be 2015! A lot has happened this year, no doubt. I thought I'd do sort of like a reflection of the year that was...

One of the biggest & saddest things that happened this year was the fact that my grandmother passed away. I sill miss her & think about her and can't believe it'll be her one year anniversary in 2 short months.

Another would be the fact that I took some time off uni to focus on getting myself back on track. I had half the year to sort myself out & haven't quite gotten to where I wanted to but I have confirmed my re-enrolment and will be back at school in March.

I would never have been able to get through this year without my friends & family by my side. I know my parents won't be reading this but I just wanna give them a shoutout. They understood my decision to take a break and supported me through it all. My best friend since I could remember, Monica, her boyfriend Jeremy & of course, my one & only, Kalen. I honestly don't know where I'd be without him.

And of course, Teddy. Teddy, Ted Ted, Teddy. As I am typing up this blog post, she is squirming on my lap, trying to lick my face. She hasn't been easy, that's for sure. And I've got the bite marks all over my arms & legs to prove it. But she's been such a cheery addition to the family that has brought the house alive.

How has your year been? Ups & downs are expected I guess but the fact that we can get over it & move on with our lives is what makes us stronger and ready for the new year, right? I hope you've all been well & I can't thank you all enough for your love & support as well. You are what keeps me going, wanting to photograph everything & share with you all. xx.

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

#BLOGMAS: Annie's Favourite Thiiiiiings! (Giveaway time!)

It has been waaaaay too long since my last giveaway & I kept telling myself do a 2K giveaway, which then turned into a 2.5K giveaway, and maybe someday soon, even a 3K giveaway! But I just wanted to show you just how much I appreciated all your love & support all these years. I never would have made so many friends in so many different countries if it weren't for Instagram and now I'm happily blogging as well. So, I gathered a few things to put into a cute little package & send off to one of you!

If you would like to enter this 2.5K/Christmas Giveaway, all you need to do is leave a comment down below telling me what's on top of your Christmas list this year. If you have Instagram & have commented on my last post, leave a comment down below telling me you did so that you get an extra entry into the draw :D (does that make sense?)

And also, a My Week post. I know, it's been a while, but here it finally is. I hope you all had a great week as well & talk to you soon!

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♡

♡ 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 ♡

♡ 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 ♡

♡ 2015 INSERTS & MY WEEK: 15-21 September 2014

As promised! Here are the 2015 inserts! Finally, finally, finally! But I have been hard at work these past few days & here they are!

I asked you whether or not I should change the design up a little but from the feedback I got, you all seemed to want me to keep them exactly the same. So that kinda made my job a little easier. But for 2016, I'm thinking of making an extra set of inserts that look a little different, as well as the same design. And who knows, if I'm feeling a little creative, I might even make some for 2015 as well.

As you may or may not have noticed, I have reverted back to Blogger. It really is just so much more convenient & I sort of made it look like my other one so it's okay, I guess. I'll still be posting on there, probably just for me & whoever else wants to keep reading that, but this is probably the most convenient for all of us. However, for downloading inserts, I will post them on my Wix site as it is most likely easier for downloading. So click here to be directed to that particular post. And please let me know if they don't happen to work so I can find a way to fix it ASAP.

And here is a slightly belated 'My Week' post for the first time in a while. I've been relaxing, getting my life in order and whatnot so it's been quite nice. I'm always so grateful to have my friends, my family and all of you. Even if no one may be reading this, I love sharing my love for organising, planning, beauty & skincare products, and everything in between. So I just wanted to say thank you to anyone who sticks around, reading my long ass posts & leaving me such wonderful comments.

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 ♡

MY WEEK: 12-18 May 2014 & Mother's Day ♡

Hello Hello Hello!

I hope everyone had a great few weeks. Here's a little update on my life (since I was naughty & didn't post in a while)

May 2014 - I'm in love with my keys ♡

The month of May has been pretty uneventful (so far). I have a few Math assignments coming up so I may not be able to post on Instagram or here as much. But then again...I do get distracted quite easily...

It was Mother's Day not long ago so I hope you all had a wonderful day with one of the most important people in your lives. Also, if you yourself are a mother, I hope your family spoiled you because really, you deserve it - everyday of the year. I was a lazy daughter this year. I had a plan to wake up early & make breakfast in bed but alas, it didn't happen.

Yuuuuum. Mother's Day Breakfast!

So instead, I used the, "I wanted you to sleep in" excuse and we headed out to one of our favourite Cafe Restaurant called 'Caffe Cherry Beans'. It was quite funny because my mum actually ended up getting the cheapest thing while my dad had the King of breakfasts. As you can see, I indulged in some pancakes. They were so nice & fluffy and my mum had half of it so it's all good, right? ;-)

Afterwards, we drove to the cemetery to visit my grandmother (mum's side) in my fancy new car. Although she didn't show it, I'm sure it would have been especially hard for my mum since it was the first Mother's Day without my grandmother and it had really only been 3 months so the loss is still quite fresh. But as always, she's a trooper & it only made me love and admire her even more. I don't know about you guys, but things like that really make me appreciate all the people in my life & I just hate to imagine what it would be like without them.

Speaking of, my boyfriend spent the day with his family & both our families all met up later at night for dinner. Note to self, make reservations on Mother's Day or eat in. Nearly every single restaurant was packed so we settled for the one place that didn't have people lining out the door...and it was terrible. Turns out, there weren't many people there in the first place for a reason. But, we made the best of a bad situation and had a blast. Our families are so close & again, it just made me love every single one of them more and more. His parents and I get along so well and his little brother is basically like my little brother as well.

So, all in all, thinking back on it, I had a pretty great Mother's Day, despite some bad restaurant experiences. Really, spending the day with friends & family is the best way to spend Mother's day, and honestly, any other day. Am I getting too sentimental here? Oh well, I hope you all had a wonderful day as well ♡

12-18 May 2014

Fast-forwarding to now-ish, here is what last week looked like in my Filofax. I thought I'd change things up a bit and so now, here is a tilted picture! :-) And I know my Instagram & blog is mainly Filofax-related, but I really wanted it to be more a reflection of my life & other interests so here is a picture I posted a few days ago of my lipstick collection. It's not the biggest collection out there, but for me, it's quite a lot, not to mention expensive. And don't even get me started on nail polish (Essie, you have my heart).

Lipstick Love ♡
Revlon, Estée Lauder, Rimmel, Napoleon & Maybelline

Please let me know what you think about my blog &/or Instagram branching out to things other than just Filofax. I love taking pics of make up, food and stuff like that as well & would love to share them with you if you'd like. I'm not too keen on creating another account because, oh! Big news! I reached 1900 followers on Instagram! It's just so unreal. Can you believe it? Because I certainly can't! 100 more to the big 2000. Seriously, you guys are the best. I'm thinking of doing another giveaway so...spread the word! :D Anyways, I just got a little sidetracked, but yeah, be sure to let me know!

As always, thank you for your love & continued support

Anna Banana

♡♡♡

p.s. Sorry for the super long post!

♡ 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 ♡

LIFE UPDATE & My Week(s): 24 February - 9 March 2014

[In Arnold Schwarzenegger voice ] I'm back!

I apologise again for being terrible with posting. And just so you know, this will be a very, very long post so don't say I never warned you! :-)

For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you may have heard that my Grandmother passed away a few weeks ago. It was the first time a family member had passed away (one where I was old enough to remember) and it was a really hard time for me. Luckily, she had 7 daughters, which meant a very big family & support group. It was all thanks to my family & friends, including all of you lovelies, that I was able to get through it, so I wanted to thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart ♡

The one person who was really there for me, is my boyfriend, K. He was just so wonderful - always there for me, lending a shoulder to cry on, a hand to hold, an ear to listen and a heart to love and care for not only me, but my family as well. He was truly lovely to my grandmother and she absolutely adored him. So, to my K, thank you & I love you so much.



A belated Valentine's day gift also arrived in time to cheer us both up. He was so upset it didn't come on time, but it came and now we're all happy. My first official Kate Spade item! Yay! As you may know, I have an obsession with the colour blue, and he was sweet enough to get me this gorgeous wallet (he always made fun of my Mickey Mouse one! :P)






For those of you wondering, it is the Cobble Hill Lacey in Grace Blue. It has a soft pebbled cowhide leather and has so many pockets, it's amazing! The inside is also gorgeous with a gold pinstripe lining. Love.

So thank you, again, to my one & only.





And I was on a bit of a Kate Spade roll when I went to Kinokuniya & picked up this beauty. It's the 'Kate Spade Things We Love' Coffee Table book celebrating their 20th Anniversary so congrats to them and yay for me :-)

♠ Kate Spade Things We Love

Now, finally onto some Filofax talk. I started my third year of uni this week so while I still have some sort of free time, I thought I'd catch up on some posts. Here are my 'My Week' pics from the past two weeks. Again, I'm back in my Filofax but keeping decorations & things that distract me from study to a minimum so I hope you still like them nice & simple :-)

24 February - 2 March 2014

3-9 March 2014

So, I hope you enjoyed reading my post & that I didn't bore you too much on the (unnecessary) details but I guess the reason I love blogging so much is that I get to vent & share with you things I sometimes don't even tell my closest friends...unless of course they're reading this right now :P (Hi guys!)

As always, feel free to leave any comments or questions down below. Thank you for all your continued love & support. I know we haven't met in person or anything, but you are all such a huge part of my life that I feel like I know you! ♡♡♡

Love Always,

Anna Banana ♡

❄ My Week: 23-29 November 2013 ❄

Howdy everybody! I hope you all had a great festive season with your families and got lots & lots of presents :-)

I had a great time with my friends & family and can't wait to welcome in the new year with them in just a couple of days

Wow, I guess this is the last 'My Week' post for the year. I might not update as much next year since my posts are all pretty much looking the same now & I really want to focus on my studies. I'll try and post on Instagram as much as I can but I can't make any promises :(

23-29 December 2013

As always, I truly appreciate your love & support. Wishing you a safe & Happy New Year

Love Always,

Anna Banana ☃

❄ My Week: 16-22 November 2013 ❄

3 DAYS TILL CHRISTMAS!!! Man how time flies!

Here was what my week looked like. Again, the same old, same old  Lilly Pulitzer pages with no decorations. Maybe I'm getting lazy but I really do prefer the simplicity of the pages.

16-22 December 2013

Wishing y'all a Merry, Merry Christmas and a safe & wonderful new year with your friends and family

Love Always,

Anna Banana ☃

❄ My Week: 9-15 December 2013 ❄

Gosh O' Golly, there's only 2 weeks left until 2014! I hope everyone is having a holly jolly time. I definitely am getting into the Christmas spirit, despite the fact that my wallet seems to be shrinking quite rapidly :P

Here is my week. Again, no decorations because the pages & colours make it pretty enough for me. Plus, I found that my Filofax was more of a distraction rather than an organisational tool because I was always thinking of ways to decorate it and stuff. But now, I don't have to worry about that at all and so I find it much more effective. Does anyone else have/had the same problem?

9-15 December 2013

Wishing you & your families all the best this Christmas season!

Love Always,

Anna Banana ☃

My Week: 2-8 December 2013

It's already a week into December & I am definitely pumped for this Christmas season :-)

Check out my white desk Christmas Tree! :D

I'm trying out a new handwriting style as well as a colour-coding system. Here is the general system:

Pink & Blue: Personal
Black: Shopping
Red: Due dates
Purple: Bible study
Green: Work
Navy: Mail
Orange: Personal study

The pens I used were just the 0.5 Coleto pens. I've got two 4-colour barrels so I've got 8 colours in just two pens :D

It's still new so I didn't completely stick to it but I'll keep trying & hopefully it works out eventually. But here is what my week looked like. I know I barely decorated at all but I didn't feel the need to - my new Lilly Pulitzer inserts were so cute!

2-8 December 2013

I hope you're all having a great, festive time as well!

Thanks for reading!

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 ♥

My Week: 11-17 November 2013

I hope y'all had a great week!

Mine was full of "study" & a great deal of procrastination which means I am no where near ready for my exam tomorrow :(

Here's what my week looked like and yes, I agree - it looks way too cluttered & boring for my liking. Hopefully once I'm done with exams, I can spend more time on it and make it more pretty

11-17 November 2013

Have a great day!

Love Always,
Anna Banana ♥

My Week: 4-10 November 2013

Hello Hello!

I hope you all had a fantastic week. Mine was supposed to be full of study, study, study but...that didn't exactly happen. Hopefully, next week will be a bit more productive (which it probably won't be)

Here's what my week looked like:

4-10 November 2013

I'm not exactly sure why or how but it turned out very yellow/orangey with somewhat of a lion theme going on... Completely unintended but I think that looks quite cute :-)

Things I Used

Yellow: post-it notes

Green: washi tape from Etsy

Orange (polka dots): masking sticker set [ver. basic]

Blue: Martha Stewart Dots

Stickers: Etsy, Filofax

Lion Sticky Note: Galison Stickies

And as always, LePens are da BOMB :P

Short & (hopefully) sweet post today. Sorry I haven't been posting much on both my blog & on Instagram, I've been swamped these days. I can't wait for exams to be over!

Have a great day!

Love Always,

Anna Banana ♥