Once in a while life seems to just kind of go "haha! you think you have plans? no ya don'tl!"
This past weekend was one of those. The country has opened up things again and life is slowly returning to normal, so dang straight we were surprised when we got something we had nearly forgotten existed....a common cold. I knooow! this past year and a half everything has been so focused on covid we almost forgot those still happen and can also put a halt to plans.
So needless to say we stayed home and weren't able to hit the road with Bluebird as planned.
I took the time to burrow in and enjoy fall making plans for the weeks ahead to maximize all that harvest goodness. For once I was actually not the one sick so that meant coziness planning was on!
Decorating for the fall is something we do pretty early, and this year was no exception. This meant tidying up the yard prepping for winter and doing a deep clean of the house knowing for me personally it's better to do it and do it properly so all that is needed is light maintenance. Do I still have stuff that needs doing ..yeah I do but the big stuff is done and now I can focus on the things that need dealing with day to day which in itself is a looooot.
So let the planning begin!
Finding a planner to love
I have been in and out of so many different planners these past few years.
I do love the Happy Planners I've had but the downside is they don't sell them in Sweden so I've had to order them online and shipping has been a bit on the steep side from the US. Though I love the open disc system and being able to take pages out and put in new inserts I have been moving more and more towards the A5 format for the ease of the size.
When at work I often have to bring my laptop with me back and forth and I didn't want something that would be too heavy and bulky, but I also want something that isn't too small because let's face it, I want space to decorate because that's my jam and it makes me feel more inspired and on top of things.
This year I was back to the customizable A5 planner from Personlig Almanacka and they keep impressing with their ever growing range. I love the fact that you can completely customize the front and back with your own pictures as well as decide on so much of the content and layout of your weekly spreads.
That being said the decorating part to me is 80% of the fun.
Decorating my planners has always been a way for me to visually look at a week ahead and go "ohhhh this looks fun" and start me off on a positive vibe.
Every time we go to the US I go nuts at Michaels. There are two major reasons for this nr 1. It's Michaels duh! and nr 2. They have all the stuff from Me and My Big Ideas and I looooove MAMBI stickers.
So coming home we usually have a plethora of sticker books and washi tape.
To my crazy crazy joy though I have realized amazon.se has the MAMBI sticker books as well and they are not to shabby with the pricing of shipping etc!
So a few weeks back I had ordered 3 and I have to say these were some of my favorites to date.
The Dream Seeker one is gorgeous as well as Free Spirit
and Color Story which has several super cute seasonal themes.
How much you want to decorate is totally up to you obviously but I thought I'd share some of this months spreads with you to sort of get an idea of what it can look like in the A5 planner.
I really enjoy this extra wide washi tape because a lot of times I might color it in and doodle on it sort of like a coloring book.
Adding a color theme and check lists to my weeks tends to help me know what is happening when mainly because it gives me that visual aid the same way I use it for my own kids and students.
Now that the planning is in full swing, it's time to get that cozy on and figure out what my fall bucket list is and we have officially declared this 10 days of Potter. Granted I am watching murder mysteries and some scary stuff when the kids are in bed but we realized that they hadn't seen past the 4th movie because they were so young and we thought it got to scary for them. And also they didn't remember things since they had been so little when first introduced to the Harry Potter Universe.
So in the spirit of education and family time we are cozying up with one HP movie a night Pumpkin Spice candle lit snuggly blankets and all.
Have to say finding a pumpkin spice candle has been a challenge because Sweden doesn't really get how awesome pumpkin spice is yet!!
The one we are enjoying at the moment and totally love is the
Cozy Glow candle from amazon
But I do think we might just try out making our own as well because I mean crafting stuff is so much fun especially this time of year.
Keeping that chill cozy feeling I do something as well that yes it might seem a little cheesy but I am obsessed lol.
When I work, clean, cook or whatever lately I have loved putting on ambient chillax stuff on youtube that doesn't really need me paying attention to content but that ups the vibe I want. This week I actually put together a cozy playlist of things I like so if you do feel like you want a cozy fireplace or a autumnal café with jazz music check out the link
So that my dears is this week. Plans are under way and fingers are crossed for the coming weekends van life adventure heading towards the Swedish National Park Tiveden which looks so cool.
Hope you all have an amazing week and don't forget to stop and appreciate the things that make you smile.
xoxo
Jessie