Sunday, August 28, 2016

Stop & Chat: August 26-28

See that squinty eye? Bunny's not amused with my constant picture taking.
We had a lovely surprise roll in on Friday: cooler weather! I woke up Friday morning to a text from M, telling me to open up the house windows. I checked the weather and it was 70F out! It felt ah-may-zing!


Friday I also went on an impromptu outing with K to a couple of nearby military installations to look for some rugs and baby gates she's been needing. Much to our disappointment, these items weren't where they were supposed to be. I did, however, pick up a Pathfinders tabletop gaming set for M. He was super excited about it, so I suppose that makes the trip worth it. :)

Yesterday the wonderful weather continued and M and I enjoyed free reign throughout the pleasantly cool house. I spent some time on the computer working out some kinks with Windows 10 and put together the graphics image for the September Band of Bloggers. Besides that, it was M's birthday! He turned 23. We didn't do anything special besides take a quick trip to the commissary for groceries and play video games. It was a relaxed day, which is exactly what he needed. We even watched Idiocracy for some laughs.

I've been going back and forth on something. I've been making a planner out of graph paper and washi tape for several weeks now. It's fun, and I spent quite a bit of free time watching YouTube videos and reading blog posts about people's planner spreads. I've even joined all of the Facebook groups! As a result I very much desire an Erin Condren Life Planner. I looked into the ECLP in April of last year and decided against buying it... when there was a sale that made it $20 shipped. Now I would have to shell out $60+ and I just can't see myself doing that. On top of that, the Facebook groups are full of sales left and right on planner stickers, and they're just so cute.

The logical part of me says that I don't need any of this. If anything, I should just buy my own sticker paper, design my own stickers, print it out, and cut and use it myself. No problem, right? I can easily convince myself that this is the better option.

Not buying a planner, however? I'm having troubles with that. I've been scouring the internet for recommendations, sales, DIY planners, but I keep going back to ECLP. I hate that, as it means I've fallen into the very successful marketing trap Erin Condren has created around her planners. X, Y, and Z YouTuber/Blogger uses it, why shouldn't I? All of these sticker shops size their stickers to fit these planners, why should I buy anything else? I've never been one to cave to peer pressure, nor am I one to indulge 'silly' whims like this, so why is this so hard?

I think I've come to the conclusion that I'll just buy sticker paper and create stickers for my own planner setup I've got going on. If I still desire more than that, I may buy a planner down the line. Until then I need to stop looking at sticker shops and anything planner related.

Anyway, moving on from my silly ramblings. Today I've not been very productive. Instead of cleaning like I told myself I would do, I've been playing video games in the office. It felt so nice sitting down and not sweating in here that before I knew it all thoughts of cleaning slipped my mind. It's only 12:30, so I have plenty of time left in the day. Whether I'll actually get to cleaning remains to be seen. All I know is I'm enjoying this weather and hope it marks the end of summer here in Korea.

Has it cooled down in your corner of the world?

5 comments:

  1. I meant to ask in the other post when you mentioned it... What is tabletop gaming? My brain goes to old school board games, or card games like my beloved Munchkin.

    A couple years ago *I* almost bought an Eric Condren planner! Me! I resisted though because of the price. I understand the draw though, the lure. Have you looked at others, and it's the EC you keep coming back to? I wish I'd known this because a YouTuber I watch just had a giveaway for an EC planner and a bunch of stickers! Well, I'm of not help to you here since I can't even make a decision on cardmaking. LOL

    It has indeed cooled down here. We've had glorious mid70s for many days now. Fall is definitely near!

    ~Deb

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    1. You're correct - it's board games! In the context of what Michael's doing it's closer to Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying games, but that still qualifies as tabletop right?

      I have looked at others! The Happy planner you've mentioned comes up a lot in my searches! It's that one or Erin Condren whenever I think "Okay, narrow my choices down!" Looking at it again I don't see why I want Erin Condren over this one. It's EXPANDABLE! It has less fluff! Like I said... I fell into the EC marketing hype. LOL!

      Here's hoping the weather stays awesome and cool!

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  2. Sounds like a blissful few days! Stoked your weather is cooling down. I *wish* ours was! But I can feel that it will be happening soon.

    I understand the EC planner lure. I sprang for it last year. And it is super nice but I did not feel like I had to have it this year. And I use planner pretty regularly. I ended up buying one for $35 this year and love it just as much, maybe more than the EC. It has places for budgeting, online marketing, social media goals (for the blog or business), places for monthly goals, Christmas shopping, notes to self, pretty much everything the EC had and more. I even used some leftover EC stickers in it. I will say if you come across the $20 shipped deal again then it would be worth it. I am not sure what planner I will get this year but I find myself looking at the kikki.k planners. The small one of course.

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    1. Happy Planner is the one I hear everyone talking about now. They can be purchased at Hobby Lobby (which doesn't help you, Liz) and also ordered online. Looks like they're cheaper than Eric Condren. Are either of you familiar with Happy Planners?

      http://www.meandmybigideas.com/thehappyplanner/

      ~Deb

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    2. I hope the weather gets down to more bearable temperatures for you soon! <3

      I think a big thing this time around with planning is all of the sticker/decoration stuff I've been obsessing over. I love the challenge of finding a way to plan out my entire life while making the planner aesthetically pleasing.
      ...can you tell I'm going into craft withdrawal? I can't believe I left all of my crafty stuff in the States with my Mom! What was I thinking?!

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