Friday Favorites- Back to School Edition

Welcome to Friday Favorites! We made it through the first week of school, WOOHOO! Is there anything better than the first week? Everyone is buzzing with energy and excitement. There are new outfits, organized supplies, and a world of possibilities are placed before us. Also, the school supplies...ohhh the school supplies. I could stand in the school section of Target for hours and this year, the Dollar Spot was on point.

This week my Friday Faves are all about school supplies I can't live without.

Le Pen in Blue 

Ok folks, don't get distracted by the multiple colors of Le Pens available. They are fine, even pretty nice I guess. But NOTHING compares to the blue. My sweet friend Carole H. told me about these pens last year. I do consider myself a pen connoisseur, but I had never heard of these. Knowing my picky nature about pens, Carole decided to bring me one because she knew I would be hooked if I just tried it. I am in love! The blue is so bright, it writes so smoothly, it is the perfect pen! 

Stabilo Pens

 Stabilo 68 

Stabilo 68 (pictured below) is sort of like a marker, a really awesome marker. The colors bleed through paper a little more than the Stabilo 88, but it still works great on thicker paper. I use them in my Plum Paper Planner all the time. 

 Stabilo 88 

Stabilo 88 (pictured below) is a fine point pen/marker that is great for writing in planners or agendas. They are almost always on sale on Amazon and you can find them on Zulily or even Groupon at times. 

I really wish I worked for Stabilo. I don't know how many people I have convinced to buy these pens.

May Books

 

Give me all the May Books. You can do anything your heart desires with these little notebooks. There is an option that will work for almost anyone. They have monthly and weekly agendas, daily planners, prayer journals, pregnancy journals, and newborn notes. I generally purchase the standard lined notebook in the classic size. Here are two I used in the past year...

I use them all year long to keep running lists, take notes, and keep myself organized. The size I buy are small enough to fit in your purse or car. My friend Alison gave me one for my birthday 2 years ago and now I have been through at least 5 of them. Here is a pic of a May Book I was using this summer. Notice the Stabilo 68 markers make this page really pretty.

Bonus: They were created by a fellow Plano Senior High alumni.
Warning: Visit this website when you have some time to play with the designs. I could spend hours creating new books. They make great gifts too.

Gel Highlighters

What will they think of next? Our principal ordered one for each teacher for our back to school inservice. I have now purchased my own set with all the colors. Trust me, you need these in your life.

Halo Top Ice Cream

 I know, you're thinking, "What? This is not a school supply!" But really, it is because I am sure I wouldn't have gotten through the first week of school without it. Each pint contains 240-280 calories. Yes, I said PINT! So, you could eat the entire pint and still have less calories than a TV dinner (That was my rationale on Wednesday night anyway). Also, each serving has 6 grams of protein. If you ate the entire pint you would have consumed 24 grams of protein. WIN! And yes, there are currently 4 pints of ice cream in my freezer. You can get your favorite flavor at Whole Foods or Kroger. If you try it, let me know what you think!

I hope all my fellow educators had a great first week of school. Get some much needed R&R this weekend. I know you're excited to really dive in next week.

Plum Paper Planners

My name is Tracy, and I am a paperholic. I am obsessed with planners and everything that goes in them. I definitely use my digital resources too, but I just really love to get a new planner and make it mine. I have tried various planners in the past and finally landed on one that was perfect for me. Well, actually, 2 that are perfect for me. I use the Plum Paper Large Teacher planner to keep myself organized at school and the Erin Condren Life Planner to organize my social life.

First, let's get into my teacher/counselor planner. This planner is by Plum Paper and I happened upon them while cruising through Etsy one day. This planner is simple, clean, and easy to use. Of course, I spent over an hour trying to decide which cover I wanted (even though my planner will be open most of the time and I will probably look at the cover 5 times total). I finally decided on this one:

I am a little picky about the inside of my planner. My first criteria is the the planner MUST have a vertical layout. I have never used a horizontal layout and I just know I would be lost if I ever tried to switch.

Each day is broken down into 7 subjects. I use mine hourly because as a counselor I don't teach subjects and my schedule changes each week. Here is a view of a page before I have totally marked it up.. Note the nice, clean lines and handy checklist boxes and places for important reminders. You can have them personalize the subject lines or just fill them in however you want like I did.

There are also tons of options in the back to keep you organized. You'll notice that I put Washi Tape across the subject lines. I just wanted to spice it up a little, so each month has it's own Washi Color. I love to use stickers to remind me of important events and meetings. I picked these up at Michael's last week. They are technically for the Happy Planner, but they work great in my Plum Paper Planner. Shout out to my 4th grade friend Abby for helping me spend MORE money on planner supplies ;). Also, did you know that Michael's gives a teacher discount?!?! #buymorestuff #itslikeitsfree

I keep all my stickers in the handy back pocket of my planner. Here is a picture of the pocket and some other stickers I just love! 

This year, I am trying something new. I got some Avery 8167 labels and made teacher labels to put in my planner. These serve as my reminder of the day and time I visit each classroom. It gives a cleaner look to my planner and saves me from writing all of the information down.  

I mentioned that I found 2 planners that were perfect for me. I also have an Erin Condren Life Planner. I know people say you should only have one planner, but my Plum Paper is more like my teacher lesson plan book than a personal planner. It would be weird to have my friends birthdays and social events in my school calendar. More on EC later. I didn't realize this post would be so long. I guess I should have known that a person who can spend 3 hours straight looking at planners online could write more than just a  few sentences.

Comment or message me if you have any questions about Plum Paper.