Lilly Pulitzer Coronado Crab Pocket Agenda Review

Look what I got in the mail a few days ago! Isn't she a beauty? It's my Lilly Pulitzer Pocket Agenda in the Coronado Crab design. Now, I know what you're thinking - "You were perfectly happy with your Warm Orange Metropol, why another agenda?" And I completely agree with you. But what can I say? I'm addicted to planners.

Hi. I'm Anna & I'm a planner-holic.

So, before I begin, I want to warn you that this will be a very, very long post with lots of photos as I wanted to be as detailed as possible in my first official planner review :-) I try to keep things short & sweet but I find that I tend to ramble on (as I am right now). Besides, I really just wanted to talk to someone about how adorable these planners are and rather than bore my friends who don't appreciate the art of planners, I thought I'd share my excitement with you!

I just wanted to add that this is just a review of the actual agenda itself (I wasn’t paid or sent this to review, this is all just my personal overview & impression of it). I will make a post later on how I am actually using it so stay tuned for that! :-)

I say we start talking planners now :D

FRONT COVER:

First off, is the cover. There were many other cute designs and I really wanted the “Tusk In The Sun” one with elephants on it but they were all sold out :( The “Tiger Lilly” one was my second preference but that was only available to me on eBay and it was a bit more expensive. I didn’t want my boyfriend to spend too much on it, especially since I already have a planner, and so I decided on this one, the “Coronado Crab” and got it off the Glitzy Glam website (Side note: the shipping was pretty cheap but took a few weeks to get to me. But overall, they’re great, I recommend them :D) And honestly, I don’t regret it at all! It really grows on you and really, you can’t really go wrong with Lilly Pulitzer, am I right? :P

The cover is quite hard & so it would be very durable - which is great since it is a 17-month agenda that goes from August 2013 all the way to December 2014. I know right, amazing! And I did get the pocket size but they also have the large & jumbo sizes as well. I did think about getting the large size because that’s the most common one but I didn’t want anything too big & bulky and I really did just want to experiment with spiral bound planners so I got the pocket. I had seen quite a few reviews about it, saying that it was too small but it’s absolutely perfect! I love how it fits nicely in my hand and I actually love the thickness of it (about 2.5 cm or 1”) - is it weird that I find the thickness...“cute”? I don’t know, but it is. And it’s all kept together by a pink elastic strap so that’s nice :)

POCKET:

Now, when you first open it up, you get this little double-sided pocket. 

STICKERS & TABS:

The next page is probably what everyone looks forward to most - the stickers! They are so adorable and I’m torn between using them, but not - because they’re just so precious!

Following that is this page. It basically summarizes Lilly’s story and how her business came to be. It really is a lovely story to read and I think a very nice addition to the agenda. Especially for someone like me who has never really heard about Lilly Pulitzer until now (and am hooked!)

As you can see, the agenda has side tabs. They are labelled & I think what’s new about these ones compared to last year’s is that they have a plastic laminate sort of thing over them to make them a bit more durable. I thought that was great but I’m not gonna lie - the bottom of my Dec 13 has already started to fold a little :(

Here is how the tabs are labelled and what is in each section.

2014-2015: You also get a 2-year monthly overview of 2014 and 2015 so I haven’t used them yet but it’s nice to have

MONTHS: Okay, so here’s the good part. You get a section tabbed “Months” and in it are all the months from August 2013 - December 2014 on two pages. That’s great, right? But that’s not all, folks! Later on, when you actually get to the tabbed monthly sections (Aug, Sep, Oct...) you actually get another month-on-2 pages! You read right, this cute little pocket agenda has not only one, but two month-on-2 calendars!

DATES TO CELEBRATE: Now after that you get the “Dates to Celebrate” section which has all the months & blank lines for you to fill in special dates for yourself

HOLIDAYS & HOROSCOPES: You won’t really have to put in public holidays in the previous section (unless you’re outside the US) because on the next page is the “Reasons for a Party 2014” section where there is a list of American holidays. It’s real cute but I guess it’s not so great in that it won’t be relevant to the non-American buyers. Beside that is a page called “Party Planner’s Notes” and again that’s left blank for you to fill in for yourself.

Can I just add that I love the way all these sections are called. I mean, how much cuter does “Reasons for a Party” sound than “Public Holidays”, etc. Another feature about Lilly Pulitzer that I adore - she makes everything so darn cute! ♥

And to back up what I just said even more, is the “Lilly in the Stars” which is cute-Lilly-code for Horoscopes.

NOTES: Then you get about 8 pages of lined paper in the “Notes” section for you to jot down anything you might need to. The paper quality is quite good. It’s thick (definitely thicker than the Filofax paper) so I think it will take a lot more pens better

Now, we get into the really good stuff - the monthly & weekly pages! :D Each month is tabbed & labelled “AUG 13, SEP 13, OCT 13, ... , DEC 14” so it makes it easy to turn to a specific month. On top of that, each month has a cute spread & quote. I love how some of the images relate to each month. For example, February has hearts for Valentine’s day, April has carrots for Easter & July has fireworks for Independence Day, etc. Here are just a few of my favourites - mind you, it was very hard to choose! :-)

December 2013 Spread

January 2014 Spread

February 2014 Monthly View

July 2014 Spread

July 2014 Monthly View

Once you flip that page, there is the second monthly calendar! Then there is the week-on-2 pages for that month. As you can see, it is lined but I guess what most people won’t like about it is that the Saturday & Sunday is together and so very small. But as for me, I really don’t mind it too much. For a pocket agenda, the space is not that small & actually quite perfect for me. You can also probably see that there are some designs & drawings - continuing on from the cover theme of the month - throughout the weekly pages. They’re cute but sometimes I find that they get in the way when I’m writing something.

So, in a nutshell...

PROS

• Cute Cute Cute! Lovely designs throughout & the stickers - need I say more?
• 2 Monthly calendars: allows you to separate personal & university/college events (or however you want)
• Paper quality: after having all my pens bleed through the thin Filofax paper, this is really amazing
• Spiral Bound: this may be a con for some but I love being able to fold it back, if you know what I mean... Unlike my Filofax which I have to keep open whenever I use it

CONS

• Spiral Bound: this is both a pro & a con for me because you can't customise it as much like in a Filofax
• No "Today" ruler/marker: it is quite hard to flip to Today straightaway. I guess you could add a sticky tab or something but I didn't want something sticking out of the edges so I just used a clip
• Elastic: I have heard that the elastic stretches over time. Of course it hasn't happened to me yet & I'm hoping it won't but we'll see. Otherwise, it's quite nice in keeping my planner together
• America holidays: of course this won't apply to the American buyers & I know it was intended to sell in the US but for those in my case, it won't be as relevant. Although, they can be handy information to just know :-)

Wow, I am very, very aware that this was an extreeeeeeeemly long post & really, I applaud you if you are still around reading this :D

But that is basically what you get with a Lilly Pulitzer Pocket Agenda and I just wanted to share this with you just in case you were also thinking of getting one (which I would definitely recommend for those not wanting to invest in a Filofax & maybe want to give spiral bound planners a go)

I think that this would come in quite handy for school students (both high school & college/university) in particular but don’t let that stop you! It really is just so cute that anyone of any age would fall in love with them ♥

So, I truly, truly thank you if you stayed around long enough to read this & I hope this helped those considering getting one or wanting to know more about it

Love Always,

Anna Banana ♥