Teachers and professors love their students and their jobs, but our returning from winter “break” is rarely easy.  The “vacation” is less of a break and more of an opportunity to “catch up” and plan for the last half of the academic year somehow, along with the holiday preparations and festivities.  I wasn’t looking forward to Week 1. I needed more time. To think. To just be.

Amazingly, I got through the week and ended a lot stronger than I thought I would–ahead of the game for Week 2.

What made returning to work a little brighter?  A wonderful planner package from a friend/colleague, Cy. Just seeing this box stuffed with goodies made me giddy.

I didn’t go through the box carefully right away. I wanted to wait till I could take my time and appreciate the items one by one.  After a much-needed two-hour nap Friday afternoon, I emptied the box and all the goodies.

Interested in a closer look?

Cy had this paper cut for use in her planners. Because I liked it, she shared some (read: a lot) with me.  Some of the paper has now been punched for my 7-ring classic planner and my disc-bound planner.

One can never have enough sticky notes or washi tape for planning.  I don’t know where most of these came from, but I know the washi tape sample and the washi tape (story tape) roll came from PaperPlusCloth. Cy had the “Dream Big” post-its cut for use in planners. The tiny size works for me!

I’m ready for Christmas 2016 with these goodies! The package was originally intended as a Christmas gift, but the winter break was too short and too wet, so we could never find a time to get together.

These “Girlfriends” notecards were designed by Our Own Image, a company that is no longer doing business. I’m a little sad about that. I like their work and mission to create “products to celebrate life and family events.”  I’ll have to give a closer look at the notecard another time.

No planner is complete without planner clips, quick note sheets, and labels for quotes and motivational phrases.  The gold glittery planner clip was made by Cy. The yellow and gold planner clips were made by Bumble Bee Mom Designs.

I love having lots of cute pouches to keep the “little things” together, especially since I do some planning and a lot of postcard and letter writing away from home. It’s nice to have pretty pouches for the supplies I keep with me.

Let’s just say, “love!”

I’ve really been “digging” cute foxes lately, so I really appreciate Cy for including these in the box. They fit perfectly in my planners.

I forgot to include the mini fox clips in the “fox” photo, so I’m showing them to you with a peek at how I used the other fox items.  The bags make great planner pockets.  The planner charm pictured was also made by Cy. She gave me that for my birthday.  🙂

Cy has gotten into making washi tape “dolls” for her planner. I covet every one of them so far. She made a glamorous doll all decked in purple for me last semester (I still have to give her hair), but these are copies of another of her dolls that I l-o-v-e. I will be cutting these out and making bookmarks and embellishments with them. The copies do little justice to these little girls made with pen/marker,  washi tape, and torn natural papers.  They are A-dorable!

Last but far from least, Cy included a collection of Julia Cameron’s three Artist’s Way books in one-volume.  She had to stop me from buying The Artist’s Way several times, assuring me she had a copy in her storage she no longer needed.  I wasn’t expecting a brand new book still wrapped in plastic!  I suspect she never made it to her storage, but I’m looking forward to this journey!

I’m already having fun with every item in the box. I’ve punched the papers, list pads, and notes for my Arc and my DayTimer. You see (above) the foxes are having their own kind of fun.  I have too beautiful journals for my Artist’s Way journey.  I’m looking forward to playing more.

I’ve been a “planner” since the late ’90s, but somehow dropped the [good] habit after Hurricane Katrina.  I picked it back up last year because I was beginning to forget too many important things. Sticky notes and iCal were not working for me, so I’m happy to be reacquainted with organized planning.

I enjoy my planner and taking the time to plan out my weeks, months, and year.  I add stickers and washi tape and other embellishments because it gives me joy to flip through my planner and see all the pretty. I’m a “minimalist” when it comes to decorating my pages; I need as much space as I can to write everything down.

Just FYI (because I know this matters to planner girls)–I’m using my original leather DayTimer given to me [free] as part of a promotion the company was doing in the late 90’s.  The quality is simply way above par.

Thanks, Dr. Cy for the happy package of goodies and for making the first week back a bit brighter!

[Note: Sorry about the quality of the pics. Phone pics in dim lighting don’t always work–especially if you refuse to use the flash].