I've got a plan/ner

I've been a bit delayed in posting given a hectic schedule over the past two weeks! But my plan to buy nothing new is still going strong. I've had a few instances of "oh crap, I really want that new (fill in the blank)", but I've so far been able to deter myself by remembering that my sister doubted my ability to do this, and overcoming someones doubt is a pretty good motivator! Thanks Dor!

Normally at the end of the year I take a quick trip to Dollar Tree, a pretty spectacular dollar store in Oregon, and pick up a planner for the coming year. But this year it just didn't happen and come January 1st, I was without planner and had limited myself to buying nothing new. After a few days I asking around if anyone had gotten a free planner in the mail, and getting no where, I noticed the 2010 calendar that my alma mater sent......could it work as a day planner? Yes! I don't anticipate needing more than a blank square with a date attached to write in this year (last year my days were broken into half hour increments) so a calendar should work fine.

The only thing strange about using a wall calendar as a day planner is the fact that it looks a bit odd. And this brings up an interesting point - why do we limit the functionality of items because we perceive them to be useful in only one way? Am I the only person that gets incredibly excited when an item has multiple uses? Has anyone else noticed that most items produced for common usage today (not including common electronic devices) tend to have a single specified use? I guess this is supposed to make our lives easier. Except I think it just makes a ton of clutter and plastic crap heading to landfills. Recently while perusing some camping supplies, I noticed the worlds smallest salt and pepper shakers for sale, made of plastic and touted to be water proof and spill proof. Um, ok. I thought of about a million things that could be used in place of S+P shakers while on a camping trip.....any plastic bags, old film canisters, contact lens cases, small plastic spice jars, plastic extract bottles, etc. Come on people! Put on your creative hats!

Ok, back to the calendar turned planner....

Every year I make a collage cover for my planner out of images from magazines and phrases that should inspire me to work toward the goals of my coming year. This was the perfect way to disguise my wall calender as a planner. I started by making a cover for my calendar out of a brown paper grocery bag (high school book cover style).

Next, I took the cover off the calendar, opened it up to expose the front and back cover and arranged an assortment of magazine images, photos from past trips, and labels on the paper. When I got things how I wanted them, I used Mod Podge to glue the collage items into place. To keep things a big water resistant, and to guard from the inevitable planner abuse that will occur over the next year, after the Mod Podge dried, I covered the collage with clear packing tape.

Here's what I came up with (the cover is the side with the prayer flags and polar bear) :

I've got prayer flags to keep me thinking of the greater good, a photo of a sunset from a great camping trip to SinkyOne State Park in CA, a mini map of Ireland to remind me to get there this year, an Ethiopian beer label from a great dinner with a great friend, Frida to keep the art in my life, record albums for music, a cedar waxwing-a bird that looms large in my life, and a few other little things to inspire my day-to-day life.

You don't really notice the fact that this is a wall calendar until it gets opened up. And I actually find it quite amusing to open, especially because some of my former professors, and current professional colleagues are profiled on the pages. I've gotten to say howdy to Shaik, the director of International Programs, and look at an awesome study abroad photo each day this January!