New Planner: the Bullet Journal

You probably saw the title and thought, "What? A new planner, but the year is already half over." You are correct. But I also don't believe in waiting to change something that isn't working. Right now one of those things not working for me, is my planner.

The closest I got to a planner that worked was a Franklin planner I had in middle school (grade 6) and got me through college; and it followed me for a while beyond. But, I was at the point where I wasn't busy enough to need daily pages anymore, and those things are expensive. So, I ditched it. Planners I've had since have never seemed to be as successful as my Franklin Planner once was. There was always something that didn't work well enough.

Well, I was scrolling through my twitter feed, and came across someone I thought I may want to follow, so I clicked and checked out some of their older tweets to see what they were about. One of those tweets was a link shared for a blog about a bullet journal. I was intrigued. "What is a bullet journal?" I followed the link (and followed this tweeter). The more I read, the more I thought, this could work for me. Or at least has the highest chance of success. So when I went to the store later for dog food...I picked up a few supplies.

I didn't have a small notebook that was still big enough to work, and I didn't want a regular sized notebook either. Knowing my grocery store also had a variety of inexpensive notebooks - under $1.00 - I decided to splurge and purchase a new notebook. I added some colored pens (can never have too many pens), and colored tape to decorate the cover, all was much to my husband's dismay.

What I think will work for me is the, as you go, functionality, and daily log. My head is seriously jumbled lately, and I think this will help organize the mess. I now have my bullet journal, ready for experimentation. Ready to see how to best set up each month, day, week, and just whatever comes to mind.

Special thanks to Kendra, The Lazy Genius for creating her own bullet journal and providing a how to for the rest of us. (Here's her post for how to create your own bullet journal.) And special thanks to Books and Baubles, @booksbaubles153, for tweeting the link for the rest of us.

Review Midnight Betrayal by Melinda Leigh

Midnight Betrayal by Melinda Leigh I gave a solid 3 stars out of 5. This is the third book in the Midnight series.

Dr. Louisa Hancock is a museum curator who left Maine and her past, for Philadelphia. Her past comes back to haunt her though when the body of an intern, who worked at the museum, turns up beaten and burned. And now another intern has gone missing. Louisa goes looking for the intern, tracing her last known steps. This brings Louisa to a love from her past, Conner Sullivan. He owns and runs the bar her missing intern was last seen in. Not only that, Conner was the last known contact the intern had. Conner becomes the primary suspect which makes Louisa's and Conner's movements difficult as they work to find the missing intern.

The story for me was more of a love story than a mystery, and moved slow for me. This was somewhat of a plus as it made it easier to stop listening when I was interrupted at work with questions.

Another thing, was the misdirect at the beginning. I wasn't engaged in the story yet, and figure I missed something when the reader is walked through the taking of one of the interns. I can't say much about this without spoiling the end; so all I'll say is listen or read carefully. The key to figuring who dunnit is likely hidden here.

I would recommend this book if you are into love and mystery. If I get the chance I would consider reading the other books of the series.

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