Well Planned Life

I case you haven't yet seen it, this week's post, a write-up about the New York City Meet-Up, is over at Philofaxy . I will be taking a posting break for a bit.  Rest assured, I'll be back in a few weeks. Enjoy!

Source I recently just finished The All You Can Dream Buffet by Barbara O’Neal .   In short, it’s about four women bloggers who become friends through their online community, meet, and share life-changing experiences with each other.   For obvious reasons, I was drawn to this book. Lavender, owner and operator of Lavender Honey Farms in Oregon, invites three women to visit her farm.   Ruby, pregnant and suddenly left by her long-time boyfriend, travels to the farm to heal her broken heart.   Ginny, stuck in a bad marriage for several years, buys an Airstream on a whim, and heads cross-country, just her and her dog, leaving her home state of Kansas for the first time in her life.   And Val, with her daughter, makes an unplanned stop at the farm after losing her husband and two other daughters in a plane crash.   “The Foodie Four,” as they are known to their online community, are getting together to celebrate Lavender’s eighty-fifth birthday.   Or, that is what Lavender le

It’s been three months since I set up my Starbucks binder .   A lot has changed since then, so a proper update is necessary. Since my initial post back in February, a member of the Filofax for Philofaxy Fans Facebook group had posted a question as to whether or not people collected Starbucks gift cards and/or kept them in a Filofax binder (or stated that she was starting such a binder—I forget the details, now).   Several people were interested in this idea, and this triggered a new Facebook group: Starbucks Gift Cards, Trading Cards .   There are many websites and/or groups out there for trading Starbucks gift cards, but this was spin-off of the Philofaxy community , so it was one I was willing to join. [Both Facebook groups linked above are closed groups, and you need to request to join.] Now that I’m a member of a Starbucks cards trading group, I have acquired many new cards, cards that I wouldn’t otherwise have been able to get.   As per the group’s rules, in order to

Those of us who use planners do so because we like to stay organized and/or keep track of our lives.   In order to use our planners to their maximum potential, we often need to sit down with the planner and map out where we need to be and what needs to be done.   Regardless of whether or not we’re organized by nature, we need to make the time to organize and plan.   Being organized and staying on top of everything that goes on in our lives takes a lot of effort. I add items to my planner as they come up.   For instance, I add tasks and appointments to the corresponding days as they arise.   This way, I don’t have to remember what I need to add to my planner when I sit down with it hours later.   However, there are those times when I do sit down with my planner and sort through all of the information I have in there.   I do this as a way to reorganize what’s in there so that nothing is missed.   I also transfer information—from my online calendar (shared with my husband) to my plan