::I'm wicked in love with my new planner - Ink + Volt::

1.  I have had different little places reach out to me before about doing sponsored products or post.  I ain't getting my door beat down by Disney or anything, but little places.  This is not something that I am interested in.  I don't do this.  If I express an opinion on here it has no bias but my own crazy bias.  

2.  I have started a new job.  I am now the Region Perinatal Substance Use Coordinator.  It is an awesome job and I feel honored to do it.  I LOVE it!  I will give more details about it at some point, but it means a much more complicated schedule that needs to be carefully tracked and maintained.  I need a planner that can be as versatile as my life.  

History - skip if you don' care
I have gone through a 100 different phases of planners.  As a highschool kid I had the school issued planner that did the job I needed.  In early college I has a thick old zip up Franklin Covey planner that could have stopped a bullet.   Back in the day, I had one of the first available Palm Pilots.  That little beauty was high tech awesomeness at the time and I thought I would never have a paper planner again.  That progressed into a color Palm Pilot, that still had no access to the internet.  Why would you ever need access to the internet on your digital planner?  Then I started doing my planner digitally on iCalander and printing off copies of it.  Once I had an iPhone I had the baby copies of my schedule and the active copy on my phone.  This was for when I was working on a nursing unit where I was not allowed to have my phone with me.  I get INTENSE anxiety if I am without my planner, so I toted around two copies of my schedule.  This worked all through grad school.  Sometime about six months ago I started to feel really intense anxiety about my schedule.  By that point I was out of school and working as a Nurse Practitioner.  No longer did I have restrictions that made it so I couldn't have my phone with my schedule on it.  But having, just my phone schedule was not doing enough to soothe my anxiety.  I needed a paper planner.  I got one from the store and set it up.  It was very calming.  I have always taken great comfort in the act of filling in a new planner.   It is one of my favorite things to do.  The part of my soul that chews straws to pieces and has to organize my pens by color LOVES transferring data into a new planner.   I'm not saying it's right, but it is some OCD that hasn't ever gotten severe enough to interfere with my life.  I think of it as a friend that keeps me focused, not a cross to bear.  

I've been challenging myself to doodle.  It makes me happy, so I am adding little drawings around my journal.  

I fell back in love with having a paper calendar again.  The basics of my schedule are still on my phone, but the details are in my planner.   My work schedule/meetings all gets done through Outlook schedule, so there is a copy of that on my phone at all times as well.  But the joy of having a planner with thick paper pages that is appealing to touch can not be replicated in my phone.   It's a texture thing and I love it.   

My sister inlaw got a new planner right around the turn of the year and she knew that I would like it.  She recommend it to me and I couldn't get one quickly enough.  I had actually already bought a paper planner for the year, but poor little guy had to get pushed aside for my fancy new friend.   My new BFF adorable little best buddy planner comes from Ink and Volt.   Link here for the website.  It is essential that my planner have thick paper.  I need to write in various color pens and it can not bleed through.  This planner deliveries.  

This planner challenges you to a weekly reflection or mental exercise.  I have seen other planners do this, but they usually have a religious affiliation.  This planner works for all religions or lack there of.  At first I thought the week reflection would be a burdeon to stay up on, but I have enjoyed it.  I also use part of the exercise page to remind myself of something I liked about the last week.  

Each month has monthly goals and a monthly challenge that you are going to work on every day.  You pick anything you want for these.  Or nothing, skip it if you want.   No one is going to grade your planner.   Do it or don't.  Doesn't matter if it doesn't sing to you.  Goal setting sings my heart song.  I LOVE GOAL SETTING.  It makes me happy.  So, every week I do it.  And every week I love it.  There is a section about "reflect and celebrate" that I use to write one memory of something I want to remember front the last week.  They final part of this page is a Review section about goals you have previously set.  This keeps me accountable to look back and think about what my goals where and what may have changed about that.   

There is a month in review page at the start of each month.   I struggle to keep the full month view updated.  I write the big stuff on them, but I have so much going on that a month in review never feels detailed enough.  

Then my favorite pages, my happy place.  My joy and happiness.  The week on two pages.  It's so pretty.  The planner divides it into three sections, morning, noon and night.  I tried that for one week but it felt like chaos.  I changed those sections into work, kids, other.  I'm trying to not get locked in to certain color pens having certain jobs, but my crazy slips on that some times and I find myself writing work in reds/pinks, kids in blues, other in anything else.  Orange for workouts and green for food.  SERIOUSLY, I'm trying not to get too locked in to that.  My OCD is a slipper slope and I know I could end up being a person that flips light switches on and off in even numbers, I try to challenge myself to not slip too far.   

I knew my little planner was going to get trashed, so I decided to sew her a coat.  I used a thick green wool flannel with a bird liner.   I added an elastic band to keep the planner closed while it is swimming around my bag.   My planner goes everywhere I go.   It is a reflection of me at any meeting I get it out for.   I wanted to cover to be neat and tidy, but I wanted it to be something I made.   Ink and Volt have an AWESOME cover, but it was expensive and I just couldn't pull the trigger.  I'm excited to make more coats for her as the seasons change.     

She comes with two place mark ribbons.  I use them for the current full month and the current week. 

My planner cost $45.  That is by far the most expensive planner I have owned in many years, but I think it was well worth it.  This thing is well made and thoughtfully made.   She's dear to me and I will have another one next year.