It’s Planner Season….

And that means that I’m already in the market for next year’s planner.

Ever since I’ve entered the corporate world, I’ve listed all my activities and schedules in a planner because I can’t afford to miss a deadline. Time management is the key to surviving. All the more, I need to be better at it because I’m also in school.

I use a planner for work, school and sometimes blog activities and I’ve learned a thing or two about balancing all my activities.

It’s sort of become my standard procedure to look at planners that work for me at the end of the year and to scout and save up for the ones that I want to buy. It’s sort of my year-round companion so it’s worth the purchase. For this year, I went with the Best Things Are Yet To Come Mini Happy Planner. Because I also used it for brain dump and as a budget planner (occasionally a travel planner), I also write my thoughts on filler paper that I ordered online from Saffy Tenten. Because it became bulky, I also got the rose gold expander discs and that served me well throughout the year.

And as 2019 comes closer, I’m slowly going through my Mini Happy Planner and I’m also finishing its pages. Later on, it will sit on my shelf and join the other planners that have kept me company in the years prior.

It also means that I’m hunting for next year’s planner as early as now.

I’ve narrowed down the choices to two: the DYL Planner which I think will be helpful for school, and the MAMBI Classic which will be useful for work and other commitments, especially travel plans and budget. Other planners made it to the shortlist, but I’ll discuss the details later on.

Photo from Design Your Life Planner 2019

DYL Planner for School (Php 650)

I thought that I might give the DYL Planner a chance for next year. I was drawn into it because of the fun design, and because it has travel planner pages. Not only that, there are a bunch of helpful sections there as well, like finances and goals. As an added bonus, there’s a bunch of new accessories to match it with too. 

Accessories to match it with:

sticker book (Php 450)

coffee dessert clear stamps (Php 725)

gold foil leaves wide washi (Php 190)

vaporwave sticker flakes (Php 120) 

Classic MAMBI Planner for Work

I’ve used the Mini Happy Planner and I thought of giving the Classic size a try because of the bigger writing spaces and because I write a lot. I have this habit of dumping all my thoughts all at once in a given day, and because with what I do, details matter all the time.

I’m torn between the Mermaidesque and New Adventure in Classic size because I tend to gravitate towards mermaid designs and of course, anything that is travel inspired will definitely get my attention and keep me fantasizing for the next destination to visit.

Photo from Michaels Stores 

Mermaidesque

The Mermaidesque design is all about foiled details on a lovely color scheme of blue, purple and pink. I’m not sure though it the vertical layout will work for me as I’m used to the horizontal layout. So I went and searched some more in Michaels and found the pretty design in blues and violets. 

Photo from Michaels Stores

New Adventure

This design is for those bitten by the travel bug and I’ve thought of settling on this design to make use of all the travel-inspired stickers that I’ve received this year, while planning for the next escape. I thought of filling it up with filler paper for all those diary entries and then some project pages as well. The tricky part is checking and comparing rates and how to get the best deals from sellers here. 

Accessories to match it with:

Puncher (Php 920)

Sticker books (Php 850)

Happy Notes Fill Paper (Php 320)

Dot Grid Fill Paper (Php 320) 

Photo from Sheila Mae Ruiz on Facebook 

Starbucks 2019 Japan Planner

The 2019 Starbucks Japan version also caught my eye, because you know me, if anything has anything to do with mermaid, I’m down. I see that it can be a good school planner, besides school for me is all about preparing outputs and reports for class discussions and complying with requirements, so I don’t need that much extra pages for a school planner. However, I wouldn’t want to spend for drinks and collect stickers just to claim a planner because there’s no Starbucks branch in Zamboanga City and I’m lactose intolerant (LOL #sorrynotsorry) hahaha. Also, I know that there are people who hoard planners and price them insanely high as New Year comes closer. So I won’t be caught in the rush though.

So there, yeah. I’m going to save for my choice planners and then make the plunge before the year ends and so that I can set it up before officially welcoming 2019.

How about you? What are your planner picks for 2019? 

The Little Mermaid Last Song Syndrome, Why Doesn't Disney Make Catchy Songs Like These Anymore?

"Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun"

"The sea weed is always greener, in somebody else's lake, you dream about going up there but that is a big mistake"

I watched the Little Mermaid again last night with the kids, for the hundredth time since its release in 1989. And I woke up singing the tunes to Kiss The Girl while getting ready for work this morning, from the shower, to breakfast, to the ride to town. Yeah, why doesn't Disney make catchy songs like those anymore? "Go on and kiss the girl, whoow whow... Shalalala my oh, my, (forgot what goes here) nanananah nah why oh why, go on and kiss the girl"

It's embarrassing for me to admit that while I was having dinner at my godfather's house when I was only seven in Cagayan de Oro, I grabbed the fork and combed my hair with it. My Mom had her eyes wide open, and Papa was explaining that I was imitating what I saw at the movie. I was holding the dinglehopper in my left hand and lowered it next to my plate. Where's Sebastian? Oh yeah, one summer we went to the beach in Opol, and found a tiny white crab. I insisted on bringing him home because he was Sebastian. We housed him in a silver mixing bowl, to my mother's dismay and I put in sand and water for him. He disappeared the next day. He must have sneaked out to the river nearby and left a little princess wondering what happened to him. Either that or Papa just hid the fact that he died. I would never know what happened to my white Sebastian.

That time it was still in betamax. Later on, my parents acquired a VHS player, but didn't have a rewinder yet, so it was my uncle whose arms were beat from rewinding with a ballpen or pencil, a heavy VHS, my own copy of The Little Mermaid.

Never mind my parents, adults had to go to work, and I had my VHS of Little Mermaid to attend to. At least five times a day. Before and after nap time in the morning, afternoon, and before bedtime.

And yesterday, it was Little Mermaid again with the kids, for summer. "Under the sea, lalalala. Under the sea, darling it's better, down here it's greener, take it from me, eeeee..."

Who in the world doesn't love The Little Mermaid? Ursula is a better villain compared to Morgana, the sea witch who appears in the second part of the story. Ariel already has a daughter in it.

I didn't enjoy the second part when it came out as much as I did in my kindergarten years. I've honestly developed a sense of critiquing to what I see on television since those dinglehopper days.