Planner update | Review of Day Designer

Before I get started on today's post- don't forget that today is the LAST day to enter the BIG giveaway celebrating my brand launch!! If you haven't had a chance yet to enter just click HERE! 

A few months ago I did a review of the new planner I had decided to purchase. I ended up going with the Plum Paper planner and I really had high hopes for this planner being one that would really help me stay on point. Unfortunately, it only took a couple of months for me to realize that it just wasn't going to work. Sad face! 

Although the planner had lots of great features including option to choose month of start, personalized cover and addition of sections for notes or blog planning etc...the day to day just didn't cut it for me. I feel like I really work best with To Do lists and I'm not sure why I didn't realize that was really what I was looking for out of a planner. A way to categorize everything that I had to do for that day. I ordered the Plum Paper planner with a weekly format that included sections for Personal, Blog, Dinner etc...but I was left with no room to write down all of the specific things that I needed to get done for that day. 

I decided to cut my losses and go back to the drawing board. I knew there were a couple of planners out there on the market that were "to do list" based, so a month or so ago, I carefully reviewed each of them and made my choice. 

I landed on the Day Designer from Whitney English. 

I've been using this planner for a little over a month and already I can tell a huge difference. Even though there may not be as many features or customizations available with the current Day Designer, the general simplicity and flow of the planner is already working better for me. 

The black and white stripe is attractive and professional and the book is a good size and the coils are very sturdy. I like the reinforced gold edges as well. 

There are different editions of the planner that start at different months throughout the year. I believe there is a January, May and August start month so you just have to order the planner at the right time. Luckily I decided to order right when the May edition was being released so the timing worked out perfectly. 

The planner is very simple and includes a month layout for each month and then every day has its own page with a to do list and also a schedule starting at 5am and ending at 9pm and its broken out in hour increments. 

At the bottom of each page is a small Notes section as well as a Daily Gratitude Section. At the top of the page there is a Top 3 to do list as well as breakout sections for Due, Dollars, Dinner and Don't forget. There is also a small inspirational quote included on each day. 

Saturdays and Sundays are on one page together and have shortened to do lists and schedulers all listed on one page. 

I purchased a few stickers from Faye Creates on etsy to add to the planner. I got some camera stickers that I can use to highlight shoot dates, some stars and tags to highlight meetings etc...and some calendar stickers to include on the top portion of the month overview so I can see last month and the next month at a glance. 

The Nitty Gritty- My thoughts so far

I really didn't think that I would like or need an hour by hour schedule in my planner but I'm actually getting a lot of use out of it. It helps me to see what the day looks like at a quick glance. 

I LOVE the to do list and all the room on every single day to have so many items. I also love that there are checkboxes because what listmaker doesn't just looooooove crossing things off of a list? I also do what classic list makers do often and sometimes write things on my list after I have already done them JUST to cross it off! 

I've also discovered that since my introduction to Trello, I am finding that program PLUS the paper planner has been a great system! I just might go into a deeper dive in a future blog post about how I use Trello together with my Day Designer to really keep myself organized and in charge of the never ending to do list. 

According to all of the buzz on the Day Designer Instagram, they have joined in partnership with BlueSky Planners to come out with some new editions in the next few months that will be perfect additions to this already stellar line of planner products. I would say that if you like making to do lists and find yourself adding countless to do lists to your planner already, a Day Designer might be a really good choice for you! 

I will likely update in a few months after our move and our first few months in our new city. Hopefully I can stay on track and keep things organized! Wish me luck! =) 

What do you use to keep organized? 

Kelly Moore Kelly Boy Bag // Review

I am no stranger to Kelly Moore camera bags. I'm on number three!! My addictions to camera bags should surprise no one (especially Paul!) given my same addiction to handbags. The quest for the perfect bag will likely go on forever. 

My first KM bag was the 2Sues bag in purple. I loved this bag and used it religiously for about a year. There were many things I loved about it, but in the end it was a better purse than a camera bag. I found myself using it every day but really NEVER using it on shoots. 

My second KM bag was the Jude bag. This bag was purchased to hold ALL my gear at one time for use at events or weddings. My reviews of both bags are listed below. 

I decided that I needed a bag that was easier to get my gear out of while shooting. I did a lot of research, looked for reviews online and settled happily on the KM Kelly Boy bag. While this bag is still gorgeous, its not as feminine as a lot of other Kelly Moore bags. However, at this point I am really looking more for functionality than fashion and I really feel like I made a good choice. 

The bag has a shoulder strap, a cross body strap, five pockets on the front of the bag, one large pocket on the back of the bag and two smaller pockets on each side of the bag for smaller items. 

I use the pockets on the side mostly to keep my phone and lip gloss. I do find that often times the straps/buckles/keys get in the way of the side pockets so they aren't quite as easily accessible as I had imagined. 

The front pockets are very handy. I keep business cards, lotion, other keys, batteries, SD cards, cleaning cloths etc...I don't keep anything in the large zippered pocket on the front yet, but I'm sure something will end up in it eventually! 

On the inside of the bag there is a very large padded basket that you can remove if you like and/or you can change around the dividers to make certain sections bigger. Very flexible and customizable. Most of the time I'm just carrying my wallet, pen purse, and my bag of random goodies and a checkbook. They all fit very nicely in here and are separated so things don't "fall to the bottom" or get lost. 

When I go on a shoot the bag will nicely fit a body and three lenses plus my wallet. I also substituted in two flashes so you could see how that would fit as well. On most sessions I don't bring this many lenses, usually only two so this works out really well in case I feel I need to take more. 

This bag is also designed to hold a laptop. I put my 13 inch MacBook air in the laptop space and it was snug as a bug in a rug. Usually I put my planner (or what is my substitute planner for now anyway) in that spot. I would probably only need the space for my laptop when I travel. 

I've had this bag now for about a month and I am really liking it. With my other two bags I would keep both straps attached to the bag at all times, but with this bag I am finding I don't need to do that. The shoulder strap stays on my arm really well (most purses don't) so I was finding I was really never using the cross body strap just in day to day life. When shooting however, I put the cross body strap on to have my arms free. 

Overall another big two thumbs up for Kelly Moore and her stylish and functional line of bags! 

I was not compensated in any way for this post, all thoughts are my own and I paid my own hard earned cash for all of my bags. However, I would absolutely not be opposed to KM sending me as many bags to review as she would like! =)