Design Love Planner Review

I am so excited to tell you guys about this planner! 

This is the one I chose to be my official planner for 2015.

I went through a bit of a planner roller coaster this year, first I bought the Lilly Pulitzer agenda, then I bought the Kate Spade agenda, and then I finally found my planner sole mate! 

It's crazy how much my taste changes, but I'm so glad I finally found the perfect planner for me!
Let's be honest, picking a planner is a big deal. It's the item you're going to be using every day for an entire year,  you'll take it along with you everywhere, and it will either make or break your organization goals. So because of all of those reasons, it's so important to chose the one that's right for you.

WHAT I LOVE

The layout of the planner // I cannot emphasize the importance of this enough! I absolutely love that this planner has the traditional monthly view, a unique weekly view, and a to-do list section for each day of the year. 
The daily to-do lists // I'm a person who is constantly writing to-do lists. I love the feeling of getting things done and checking things off as I go! So having a to-do list section is life changing!
The ribbon bookmarks // They're adorable and super handy for quickly flipping to pages.
The gold foil details // The perfect planner not only has to be functional, but it also has to look pretty!
The spiral bounding // This makes it so much easier to write in because you can flip the pages easily and fold the planner in half! I hate having to keep a planner flat and hold down the pages while I'm trying to write.
The thick paper // This planner is made with thick quality paper, not the cheap flimsy stuff! It's perfect because pens (specifically marker pens) don't bleed through the pages.
The stripes // I have an obsession with stripes, I think that's pretty clear by now.
The monthly art prints // Each month in the planner has a cute print which you can either leave in or tear out!
The pockets // There's not one but two pockets for sticking all your necessities in! This is huge for me.
The user guide // In the beginning of the planner there's a note from the designer, an introduction, and instructions on how to best utilize the Design Love Co. planner! I found this to be super helpful and a nice added touch.
The monthly goals & budget pages // I have yet to see this in a planner, until now. It's yet another way to stay organized, and plan out your spending each month.

WHAT I DON'T LOVE

The gold foil issues // I've only been using the planner for a month, and the gold foil is already coming off. I'm super bummed about this because I love the gold accents throughout the planner.

The overall size // Although I love that I can stick this planner in my purse, I don't love that there isn't always enough room for writing everything down. I would love for Design Love Co. to offer a bigger size for the 2016 planner.

The limited quantity // It seems like they either didn't make enough of these planners, or had overwhelming success selling them, because they sold out super quickly. You can find the odd one on eBay or another secondary seller but for the most part these babies are hard to find. Design Love Co. did say they'd have more planners available in the coming months, but I'm sure it'll be a very limited quantity.

Overall, I love love love this planner! It caters to my to-do list obsession, helps me stay organized, and looks super cute!

Tell me about your 2015 planner!

These pictures are not mine, they were borrowed from the Design Love Co. 

D.I.Y Photo Wall

I can't get over my new photo wall!! I love waking up, and looking over at so many happy memories filled with people I love! 

Here's how to create your own!

What you'll need:

1. Photo prints // I used about 100 prints to create my photo wall, so depending on the size of the photo wall you want to create, that will depend on how many prints you'll need (and guess what, Walgreens is having a sale on prints right now, whoop whoop!)
2. Scissors 
3. Tape (I recommend duct tape!)
4. Paper poster board(s) // The amount you'll need will depend on how many prints you have and how big you want your photo wall to be. I used 4 poster boards, and I could fit about 25 (4x6) prints on each board. 

Now, before we go any further let's talk about what happened here. So the first time I created the photo wall I spent a 4 solid hours individually taping each picture directly onto the wall. After I had finished, I admired my creation and then went to work. 5 hours later, I return and see this. 90% of the photos had fallen down, I'll be honest, I teared up a bit. All my hard work had fallen down into a crumpled mess of sticky tape and paper. 

Don't make the same mistake I did!! If you want to tape the photos directly to the wall, that's fine! Just first tape one photo to the wall, leave it there for a few hours, and see if it sticks or falls down.

After the heartbreaking first incident, I almost grabbed a trash bag and stuffed the wadded tape and paper mess into the bag. But then I thought of using poster boards! I don't mean to toot my own horn, but this idea is sort of genius.

What I did was, I took a poster board and taped the photos directly onto the board! 

Then I nailed it to the wall. Depending on the weight of the boards you can either tape or hang them onto the wall.

Duh, right? I wish I would of thought of this sooner!

Also, a great bonus of using poster boards is that you can easily move the photo boards around, whereas if they were directly taped to the wall it'd be a lot harder to maneuver them. This way when I go to college in the fall I can easily move the boards to my dorm!

I love how this DIY turned out!

Do you have a space in mind to create your own photo wall?

2015: The Year of Change

This post has been sitting in my drafts folder for a month now, collecting dust. When I first wrote it, I thought I had shared too much. But I figured It's been too long since I shared a deep and honest post about myself, and now's the time to break out of my comfort zone. One of my all-time favorite bloggers, Tj, always has been a very open and honest writer on her blog. I so admire her strength. Her honesty has inspired me to be more open, which is why I'm finally dragging this post out and sharing it with all of you. I have truthfully never been happier for the start of a brand new year. This year, 2015, is the year I've dreamed about since my freshman year of high school. It's the year that seemed so out of reach, seemingly unattainable. When I look back at High School, I feel like it's been a never ending roller coaster. Their have been so many ups and downs along the way. This is the year I'm finally able to get off this roller coaster. The end is in sight, there's a light at the end of this tunnel!  I have always been that girl, who was ready to leave High School and embark on College, and that time is (almost) here!

This is the year I graduate from high school, this is the year I begin my new life at college, this is the year I move away from home, this is the year I move to a new city, this is the year I become an adult, this is the year where I break out of my comfort zone, this is the year I become free.   Every one of those statements absolutely terrify me.  But change is a good thing, it's needed in order to grow as an individual.  Even though it scares me, I know God will be with me every step of the way.   "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;  in all your ways submit to Him and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3: 5-6