Chapter One: Happy New Year!

what does 2026 hold?

Hi friends! I hope you had a cozy and fun holiday season. This year on Christmas Day, we flew to Sacramento to be with our family in California and I’m so glad we did! While we were there we unfortunately got the flu and one by one have been going down and then recovering, back in tulsa the past few days.

This year I’m going to use substack as my social channel of choice! A weekly dump of all my inspiration for my creative endeavors, what’s inspiring me, my Pinterest deep dives, maybe even some essays on a look inside my brain with things like homeschool (and why for the second year in a row I almost enrolled my kids in private school, a case study of overwhelm and learning how to pace yourself at the end of the year) and I’ll be posting some of my favorite recipes.

For today’s post, a current obsession of mine: my Filofax planner!

I have vivid memories in the 90s and early 2000s walking into Steven Covey in the mall with my mom and mimi as they got new pages and stationary for their planners. Choosing designs and colors and dividers.

I’ve never been one to really utilize an apple calendar or google calendar. It doesn’t work for me. I know that’s seemingly impossible, but there’s something about writing things down and seeing it on the page that sticks in my brain more than anything else. I looked at a few options for physical planners and the thing I love about all of them is how you can use them for journaling, notes, to-do’s, planners and some, even wallets.

My top choices were Paper Republic, Louise Carmen, and Filofax. I went with Filofax because I love the binder rings and all the capabilities and planner pages on their website. I still want a Louise Carmen at some point for more of a journal because the customization you can add to the aesthetic is soo cute!

All the inspo I’ve found for my planner is such a fun vibe. Honestly carrying mine around inspires me to be more organized in general. I’m the type of person that really thrives when my environment around me inspires me. Some people i’ve found even use theirs semi as a scrapbook! A new page to start each month and it’s adorable.

all the above images found via Pinterest

If you don’t want to jump and make the investment to one of the companies I listen above, Etsy has some adorable ones for super cheap and some cute inserts for notes and planning as well!

On our trip to cali I found some cute things at a thrift shop, like a tie clip, to add to mine but I can’t wait to find some other fun little quirky pieces to add as time goes on like fun pens, cute Polaroids, fun clips and keychains.

What do you think? Are you a planner type person or are you sticking with google cal? Tell me your thoughts and which journal is your favorite!