Flowbox - January unboxing and my last

As you know I have been having the Flowbox for a couple of months now, this one being the third actually. I first started getting the Flowbox as I wanted to try new and different products that were vegetarian and eco and the Flowbox does just that. This however will be my last Flowbox for I am not sure how long, if at all. My primary objective with getting the Flowbox was for new things as we are very limited where we live with only a very small health food shop in our town. One of the things I would have liked to have seen with the Flowbox is details on how much each item costs and where you can buy it from online which unfortunately they don't tell you on their crib sheet so I couldn't buy the items even if I wanted to without some research!

Don't get me wrong I have really enjoyed receiving the Flowbox and it has had some lovely items inside, all full size. It is just that well, it is £22 a month and I already go food shopping etc and buy what we need so this is on top of that and as you don't know what you will be getting it is a duplication in some items. Of course it is nice to try new things but we don't always NEED those things if you see what I mean.

We are trying to have a 'good' year and save some money as we want to save for a BIG holiday in the next year or two and also we want to buy some furniture for the house. When we were looking at where savings could be made and on what, well unfortunately the Flowbox was one of those things as over the year we could save £264 and when you look at it like that, that's a lot of money for something we don't really need.

So there we go. I am not saying that I will never get another box, just for now it is a luxury that we don't really need. I have enjoyed you Flowbox so maybe I will see you again in the future!

Goal Setting - Filofax Friday - Week 1

It's Friday already, doesn't it come round quickly or is that just me? Anyway as it is Friday that means that it is Filofax Friday! As you know I have decided to only talk about Filofax related things both on my YouTube channel and this blog on a Friday as I know some of my followers don't dig the whole Filofax or planning thing and that is totally cool and I could talk about it alot too so I though lets just do that on Fridays!

So the first "proper" week of the series this week is looking at goal setting and looking at the types of goals you can set, those being, daily, weekly, monthly, quaterly, yearly and bigger picture. This video took me an age to film and then edit as I wanted to say so much but then though that I wasn't articulating it as well as I should be. It is a subject that I am passionate about but I found it really hard to express it in this video. I hope you enjoy it and it helps in anyway to inspire or motivate you. I do it for the love and to help others so I hope it is just that.

I hope you can find the time to invest in yourself as I know you will reap the rewards afterwards. Just spending a little bit of time to set your course can really help. Trust me! Equally I hope you find the time to do your home work but I understand if you are too busy. I have designed this series to be more like a class with interactive parts too so that you get more benefit from it rather than just listening to me talk.

Homework
Remember it is not compulosry, no one will know if you have done it or not. I am just setting prompts / tasks for you to help and motivate you in this series. Pick and choose each week whether you would like to do the homework or not it is entirely up to you! If you ever need to ask or clarify anything with me please do get in touch through any of the social media platforms. Sometimes it takes a while but I do reply to each and every message that is left for me.

1. Think about what types of goals that would like to set for yourself / start working with. Why? How will they help you? If you are a journaler - journal about it. Or why not jot down in your filofax a few inspirational reasons why you want to do this. Writing it down helps to seal it in and give it weight!

2. How will you keep track of your goals and when? Make a promise to invest in some time for yourself to get everything straight and in order. It will be worth it in the end. Diarise some time to go back over and review your goals.

3. Now set yourself some SMART goals. Make a minimum of five as a start. Mix and match from daily, weekly etc or just pick one sort. Your choice. remember they are your goals so they need to be relevant to you and your current situation. You can set more goals if and when your situation changes.

4. Live your life. Go away and live your life and complete your goals. If you have time and want to, why not journal about your accomplishements and how you felt when they were done or not done etc. Knowing how you felt about them will help you for the future and maybe motivate you. Make some time for reflection and evaluation and maybe journal about your goals and achievements.

Download
This week's download contains the diary / to do list pages as show in the video along with some I created with kitty doodles on them for personal size users. The goal setting grid is also in the download as both personal size and A5. You will need software that can 'unzip' the folder to release the files as both pdf and jpeg.  To download the files  week 1 please click here. Please note that the inserts that I am offering as freebies as part of this series are different to the ones that I sell, so if you have already purchased a set of my inserts these are in addition for you. If you haven't purchased any of my inserts and would like to or just have a nose at them you can view them in my Etsy shop here. Please note: These inserts are entirely free and a gift from me and only the inserts provided are free, I say this because I know some people might prefer one of the other designs that I offer but it is only the ones in the freebie set on offer at this time.

Next Week
Next week will be all about Time Management and focusing on being in control of your time as well as scheduling in tasks in priority order and avoiding procrastination!

Finally...
Thank you for watching / reading folks and enjoy your planning. I hope you like this blog format with the sections above, this is what I am going to do every week from now on so you know there is a section for homework and for the download etc.

Remember your planner will only work for you and help keep you organised and on track if you use it.

New Book - Circle in the Sand - Lia Fairchild

Title: Circle in the Sand

Author: Lia Fairchild

Release Date:  January 7, 2014 

Four life-long friends bound by two decades of laughter, love, promises, and secrets. Once inseparable, the four grow into independent adults pursuing very different paths.

Sage, raised by career-driven parents, follows a carefully laid out future of success that leaves her wondering what she’s missed out on.

Emily, the college drop-out, now has three children that have become her whole life. She's slowly lost herself, subconsciously seeking dangerous ways to cope. Can she find herself in time?

Jax always lived on the edge, skating through life with no apparent ambition, yet remained the energy and emotional cement of the group. She longs for her friends to accept her without trying to fix her.

Ned, Emily’s twin brother, yearns to stand up and be counted. But his old loyalties and new feelings for one of the girls has him pulled in different directions.

Will the ties that held them together as kids be strong enough for them as adults? These four friends will discover the true meaning of friendship and unveil truths about themselves they never knew existed.

ADD TO GOODREADS

I’ve been creating stories my whole life, but only for me, in my own head. Then one day I sat down and started to write a book. I completed my first novel, In Search of Lucy, in February of 2011. Seven months later, AmazonEncore contacted me about representing my book. It’s currently in the top 10 for Kindle Drama.

My second full-length novel, Vigil Annie, was released on Amazon in December of 2012! One reviewer called this thriller “suspenseful, well-crafted, and fast paced.”

I recently completed my first romantic comedy, The Tech Guy, now available on Amazon.

My other works include a mystery series (A Hint of Murder) and a short, sweet romance (Special Delivery).

I was born and raised in Southern California and hold a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a multiple subject teaching credential. I’m a wife and mother of two teenagers.

Look for updates on me and my books at the links below.

WEBSITE

FACEBOOK

TWITTER

GOODREADS

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How to Draw a Bunny - Part One.

If you follow me across my social media platforms and have seen my art journals and other art work you will know that bunnies for me are a reoccurring theme. Those bunnies be popping up all over the place they really do.

For a while now I have thought about sharing with you how I draw my little bunny characters and then a lovely subscriber asked me if I would share. Of course I am always happy to share so here is the very first part in a little series on How to Draw a Bunny (in my style). In this first video we will look at imagery of bunnies so we really get a feel for what they look like and to inspire us. Bunnies like humans come in all shapes and sizes so we get to look at different types of bunnies and then start to draw different face shapes.

I hope you enjoy this series and have as much fun drawing bunnies as I always do.

Part two will be published in one weeks time (Tuesday 14th January 2013) so you have a week to practise what you learnt in this video before we move on to the next one. Enjoy x

Book Review Monday - Immortal Beloved Series by Cate Tiernan

Now that Vlogmas is over I can get back to my usual posting schedule with book reviews being on a Monday. So to start the year of with a bang I have for you the Immortal Beloved Series by Cate Tiernan which consists of three books.

1. Immortal Beloved
2. Darkness Falls
3. Eternally Yours

I do like my vampire books but I found this to be a refreshing change, still keeping on the immortality line but without the vampire bit obviously. I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable series. It had a couple of downsides, that being that the second and third books kept on wanting to recap on things that had gone before but I didn't let that stop me enjoying the series as a whole.

It wasn't that dark as I thought it was going to be and as the titles suggested it could be, it was quite modern in the way it was written almost like a memoire. A big thumbs up from me but you can watch / listen to the entire review in the below video with, I might add, no spoilers!!

let me know if you have read the books and what you thought too!

Introducing Filofax Friday

Happy New Year Friends.

I hope you had a lovely lovely Christmas and New Year Celebrations. Can you believe we are in a New Year already. Wow. 2014.

If like me you want to really get organised and make your diary or day planner work for you then you might be interested in following my new series over on my Mrs Brimbles YouTube channel (and here on the blog). Every Friday (for as long as I can keep thinking of content) I will be doing a filofax Friday video which will be a mixture of tutorials and "training" / imparting my knowledge from my corporate days in HR on getting organised and making it work for you, setting goals, time management etc. In fact it will be like a little mini online class as I will also include prompts for you to go away and do things with. Well that is the plan anyway. Yes pun intended.

So I hope you will embark on this journey with me. Who knows how it will evolve as time goes on but I am sure it will be a lot of fun. Please do watch the video as at there end there is also a little giveaway for you.

My Art Story

I came across the "My Art Story Tag" by SoCraftastic and I thought it would be fun to do and also you guys get to find out more about me....