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What’s a girl to do when she wants to blog but hasn’t done anything interesting in days? A favorite things post! I really could have gone on and on because I have so much stuff I love right now, but I narrowed it down to five so I don’t sound crazy. Err, crazier.

1.This magnetic monthly calendar pad. This is my second year using one and I just love it. It’s the perfect size to track my work hours and make  notes about who’s out of the office so I can glance at it real quick when calls come in. But it would also be great as a fridge calendar to track appointments or meals or meds or whatever else you need to track. The pages are made out of a really sturdy card stock which is super nice. I highly recommend.

2. My new Exquis 40oz stainless steal water bottle. I raved a little bit about my other water bottle in my vacation post, but this one trumps that one big time. I ran into Marshall’s a few weeks ago because I was it was right there and it felt like the right thing to do, and I wasn’t in the store for more than 30 seconds when I found it. It practically jumped into my arms. You guys, this water bottle is massive and I love it. I fill it up before bed and I have ice cold water all night and all the next morning. I wouldn’t want to take it on a walk with me, but let’s be real, I’m probably not walking far enough outside to warrant a water bottle anyway.

3. This gold cell phone stand. My brother got it for me for Christmas and it is awesome. They have tablet stands too, but I’ve been using my tablet on the cell phone stand just fine. I can tap away and make notes and it doesn’t slide around on my desk, which is super helpful. But probably more importantly, I have a nice place to prop my phone or tablet up so I can watch Youtube videos while doing other stuff on the computer.

4. Washi tape. Just all the washi tape. I finally got around to decorating some of my planner pages (I’m so bad at it though) and now I’m even more obsessed with the stuff. My new goal in life is to just have an entire drawer overflowing with washi tape. Some people want to run marathons or start successful businesses or travel the world. I want tape. I don’t see the problem.

5. I’m not sure how I ever lived without a Pedi Perfect for so long. It’s so easy to use and it gets my feet so freaking smooth. And let me tell you, that’s no small job. I’ve got some serious snaggle-foot going on most of the time. Totally worth the money. Now maybe when I go for pedicures they’ll stop recoiling in horror when I take my shoes off.

And of course, I can’t forget to mention my most favorite thing of all:

Want to keep up with all my cake-fueled ramblings? You can subscribe to my newsletter or find me at one of these places:

Want to keep up with all my cake-fueled ramblings? You can subscribe to my newsletter or find me at one of these places:

This post contains affiliate links. When you shop through my affiliate links it doesn’t cost you anything, but I might make a small commission. I use this money to fund the blog and my cake addiction. 

In high school and college paper planners were my life. It’s how I kept everything organized. There was no Gmail or Google Calendar. My cell phone flipped opened. I’m old. After college though, things changed. Maybe it’s because I had less to keep track of, but the planner didn’t seem so important anymore. Then so much stuff went digital.

Fast forward a few years though, throw a kid and a dog and cats into the mix and I was really starting to miss those planners for keeping track of important stuff and appointment. I tried going all digital with Google Calendar (which I do love for keeping track of some things) but it wasn’t quite enough. I needed something I could physically flip through. I came to this realization at around 10pm one night last year, and decided I needed a planner like yesterday. So, impulse control lost that round, and I found myself checking out the planner section at Walmart that same night. Given it was the middle of the year, the selection was slim, but I found one I liked and took it home. I mean, I paid for it first. I’m not a thief.

I don’t get super elaborate with my planner like some people. Not that I’m not totally impressed by some of these planner layouts they cook up (seriously, look up planner decoration on YouTube, it’s crazy), but it’s just not for me. I like to keep it simple with a few essentials.

Paper Planner – This one from Blue Sky is what I use and I am really happy with it. I wanted something that was very basic, but had lots of room to write if I wanted to make notes about the day. And at only $10, it’s a bargain compared to some other planners out there. I’ve also noticed some fun planners at Dollar Tree the last few times I’ve gone in that were super tempting.

Fun Pens – I’m so in love with my Sharpie pens. They write smoothly and don’t smudge. I haven’t had them bleed through paper, but if your planner paper is thin you might get some shadowing with these.

Binder Clips – I use small binder clips to keep my place in the calendar so I can close it up and open it right back to the current week. It’s a small thing, but it’s so nice to not have to flip through the whole planner to find the right week.

Stickers – Full disclosure: I don’t have any awesome planner stickers like this yet. But I have been eyeing them and I think I’m going to need some for next year’s planner. It would be cool to make my planner a little more festive.

Highlighters – I like to go through and highlight important dates or appointments. My planner has certain holidays already penciled in, so I like to highlight those too to make them standout more.

Post-it Notes – I will pretty much use any excuse to utilize a Post-it, and I use difference sizes on my planner but the small page-marker ones get used the most. If there are things I need to do but haven’t set a definite day and time, I usually put it on the post-it and assign it tentatively to a certain day, then if it doesn’t work out I can just move it to a new day. It works really well.

Do you have a planner? I’d love to hear how you keep it fun and organized.

Want to keep up with all my cake-fueled ramblings? You can subscribe to my newsletter or find me at one of these places:

This post contains affiliate links. When you shop through my affiliate links it doesn’t cost you anything, but I might make a small commission. I use this money to fund the blog and my cake addiction. 

I’m sure this has happened to you before. You get done with a book and you just, you know, can’t believe it’s really finished. You became so immersed in the story. It felt real. And now it’s over. And you have to figure out a way to go on without those characters and that fictitious world where they reside. It’s hard, right? The best books are the ones that won’t let us go, even when we’ve read every last word.

That’s what all these books are to me. The list is a little eclectic (like me!) because I’m equal opportunity book devour-er.

I definitely think they’re worth a read.

11/22/63 – Prepare yourself, this book is long. But it’s worth it. The story follows Jake, an English teacher who is enlisted to go back in time to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It’s frustrating, suspenseful, triumphant, and heartbreaking all rolled into one fascinating novel. I neglected every part of life I could for 3 days so I could finish it.

Bag of Bones – I was totally gripped by this novel. It was scary and suspenseful, which kept me reading. But it was the characters and their twisted fate that still has me loving the book all these years after I first read it. If you ever happen to come across the movie adaptation though, steer clear. It’s awful. I’m still waiting for the day when a Stephen King book translates well into a movie.

The Fault in Our Stars – This is not normally the kind of book I gravitate toward, but I heard it was good so thought I’d take a chance on it. I found the book funny, snarky, and full of hope despite the fact the main character is, you know, kind of dying. I recommend reading with a box of tissues nearby.

Gone Girl – I found this one laying around the house one day. A book unceremoniously discarded by mom after having only read a few pages. Her reason? It was too “wordy.” I love my mom so much. In her defense, she has since read the book, and loved it too. I was captivated by the writing, and the format of going back and forth between the present where we’re searching for a missing woman, and excerpts from her diary that don’t seem to match her husband’s account of their marriage. It was a fun, mysterious read with an ending that was just twisted enough to be totally satisfying.

The Host – So listen, I liked Twilight. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I thought they were fun reads, but I wasn’t obsessed with them. I didn’t feel particularly moved by them. This one though, by the same author, it stuck with me. It was almost addictive. Alien creatures invade earth and take human “hosts.” Except one human isn’t giving in quite that easily, so human and alien are forced to share one body. It sounds weird. It is. But it works. And word is there will be two more books making it a trilogy. Sign me up.

Insomnia – If my memory is right, this is the first Stephen King novel I ever read. While it’s definitely a suspenseful, fascinating read, the characters are what will make you want to keep reading. They are written with so much heart and compassion, you can’t help but start to love them. And their eventual fate is what will keep you from being able to forget the book.

Odd Thomas – This is a series of books that really the entire world just needs to hurry up and read. Odd (yep, that’s his name) can see dead people, but they can’t talk to him. It makes the dynamic interesting, especially when they’re looking for help. He gets himself into some interesting/dangerous/scary predicaments, which will keep you enthralled, but you’ll always be wondering how things are going to end up for Odd and that’ll keep you picking up book after book.

Room – I picked this one up on a whim at a used bookstore that was going out of business. I really didn’t know much about it, aside from the fact they made a movie based on it. The description sounded interesting enough, and I gave it a shot. Oh.My.Gosh. You guys. This book. I won’t go into too much detail, so as not to give too much away, but there is one chapter that was so suspenseful I practically stroked out reading it. I’ve never read so fast in my whole life, because I just had to freaking know what was going to happen.

The Stand – Get ready, it’s another long one. It’s about deadly strain of the flu that is unintentionally released and wipes out about 2/3 of the population, leaving survivors to carry on without loved ones while trying to navigate this new, dangerous post-apocalyptic world. Groups of these survivors start coming together, and soon you discover this is about more than just a plague, it’s a fight between good and evil. Bonus points if you read it while you have a cold like I did.

The Time Traveler’s Wife – Out of all the books I’ve ever read, this one got me in the feels like none of the others. Years later, I swear to you, there are some nights when I’m trying to sleep and my brain is like “Yeah but, don’t you want to ponder the end of The Time Traveler’s Wife again?” And I’m like, might as well brain. Haven’t cried in a few days. If you can only pick one book out of the list, I’d say go with this one.

Do you have any books that left a huge impression on you? I love book recommendations!

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