My new Filofax Malden A5 in Ochre

I already tweeted about this a while ago, but this is what I bought myself as a farewell-present on one of my last days in Vienna:

A Filofax Malden A5 in the color ochre. It was an impulse buy. I saw it, hesitated for a while and then simply decided to get it. I had an Amazona in my hands before and it was just too stiff for me. The sales lady told me that the new model, Osterley (of which I thought it would be my dream Filo) will be just as stiff. So I decided to stay with the one I was looking at for quite a while: the Malden.

So far, I L-L-L-LOVE it! I already moved in. The setup is pretty much the same as in my Domino (with my new hand-made dividers). But if you’re interested I can of course post some pictures of what everything looks like in my Malden.

The New Setup of my Filofax Domino A5

As promised, I’ll show you what my Filofax Domino looks like now. In some of my previous blog posts, you can see how I set it up at the beginning and what I changed after six weeks using it (and another blog post with the pictures of my six weeks Filofax recap). I again made some adjustments and switched my diary inserts. But first, I want to show you my new hand-made divider tabs (please excuse the poor quality. I only had my 10 year old compact digicam at hand and the lighting was not right as well):

My new sections include:

• Year: for my yearly planner pages
• Diary: for my week on two pages Filofax format
• Uni: for anything uni-related
• subtab Uni notes
• GTD: for my to do lists
• Travel: for maps, public transport info etc.
• subtab Miami
• subtab International Information: for holidays, measurements, time zones, area codes etc.
• Lists: for shopping lists and any other lists
• subtab Lists: yes, this sounds repetitive, but the subtab includes my 101 things to do in 1001 days list and any other pre-written lists
• Contacts: for adresses
• Notes: for, well, notes…
• subtab Blog: for blog-related notes
• Misc: for anything that didn’t fit in elsewhere

I also changed my diary format. I switched to the Filofax Week on Two Pages format. I just transferred my appointments and birthdays and everything today, so I can’t really tell yet if it works for me. But at first glance: I really like the MUCH bigger writing space (compared to my Dodo Acad Pad) and I also like that the writing space for the weekends is not smaller than for working days. Because you may not believe it, but: I have pretty busy weekends and I just NEED the space.

I also like that there’s a separate notes section on the top of every left page. I don’t know what I’ll use that for just yet, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy.

How to make your own Filofax divider tabs

As I tweeted yesterday, I made new divider tabs for my Domino and adapted my setup a little bit. I’m still planning on buying a real leather Filo in the near future (an Osterley probably), but I’ll just move out of my Domino and into my new Filo with my current setup then.

But first things first: my new hand-made divider tabs (inspired by Thomas’ great blog post):

You’ll need:

• paper of your choice (I took 160 gram paper with mostly flower motives)
• scissors
• a ruler
• a paper knife
• a pencil
• a calculator (if you’re not good at mental arithmetic)
• and transparent adhesive foil

I just drew out an A5 size on the colored paper. Then I decided how many tabs I wanted (I did nine) and divided the length of the A5 paper so every tab would be the same size (mine were 3.3 cm long and 1 cm wide). I drew this part on the paper as well and cut the whole shape out with the paper knife. I did this nine times. And then I did five top tabs. They work just the same except that the tabs are on the top – obviously. I did not bother about the sides of the tabs being cut all in the same angle. I just cut them in whatever angle I thought looks good.

That’s what the finished product looks like (those dirty toes on the pic belong to my 3-year-old nephew, by the way ):

I have to say I was pretty proud of myself at this point. Then I named the tabs. I wrote the titles down with pencil first so I could make sure that the writing is the same size. Then I re-wrote the titles with my Pilot FriXion Pens.

The next step is to cut the transparent adhesive foil into small pieces (mine were 6 x 4 cm). I used those to put them over the tabs so the part would not bend or crack as easily. I’m not sure if I’m describing this the right way (as you know my first language is German, not English), but you should be able to see what I did on this picture:

The point was to make them look just like the “real” Filofax tabs. I cut the edges of the foil with my paper knife again and that was it.

I then punched them with my A5 hole punch from OPTO and just put them in my Filo. Done

Workout Equipment for Motivation

Today I want to show you what workout equipment I bought over the course of the past few weeks for motivation and to reward myself for losing 28 pounds and working out five days a week. I have to admit I’m really proud of myself and it gets easier every day. It’s incredible how much working out can change one’s life. And since I want to keep on going for … well… ever … I make sure I have small (and sometimes bigger) rewards for me, that are not food and that motivate me to keep losing those pounds.

First, I got myself the first pair of running shoes ever. Believe it or not, I’ve never owned running shoes before, although I had to run once a week for 7 km while I was in high school. Those are the Saucony Pro Grid Lady. I know the colors are not that great, but I didn’t have a lot of choice since I wanted a shoe to run on asphalt as well as on trails. I need good shock absorption since I’m overweight and I need a neutral shoe (no pronation support or whatever this is called in English), because I’m wearing foot orthotics. This made my choice fairly easy because there was only a handful of shoes that fit my criteria. After trying all of them, running around in the store, only one was a good fit, which was this one:

These shoes are very comfy (I got them one and a half size up because you’re supposed to get running shoes at least one size bigger than your actual shoe size because your toes need enough space while running). They have really good shock absorption and I used them on asphalt so far. I didn’t have the chance to do trail running since I got them, so I don’t know how good they work on trails.

And I’m even more excited about a belated birthday present I got from my godmother and favorite aunt ever (she’s also a fitness trainer – yes, I have a great family!). She got me the Polar FT 40F, a heart rate monitor that not only measures your pulse, but also the calories you burned while working out. It measures your fitness (by measuring your maximum oxygen intake – although it’s only an approximation of course) and tells you what’s your fat burning zone and what’s your fitness zone. I haven’t tried all possible features yet, but I already love it. I always know how long my workout lasted, how many kcal I burned and if I stayed in the fat burning zone. Also: I can use it for swimming and it looks cute.

The belt is in the size M-XXL which is on the smallest setting REALLY small (it fits my brother’s girlfriend who wears U.S. size 2 to 4). I don’t think it would fit really big men or at least it wouldn’t be very comfy for them. For me, I absolutely love the Polar FT40 and it fits perfectly. It beeps as soon as I go over a certain heart rate. It measures my heart rate perfectly (I did a test counting my own pulse and as far as I could tell it’s exact), it’s waterproof and has all the features I need.

I talked to my aunt (the fitness trainer) about it and she said it’s good for beginners like me to train at a very low heart rate to burn fat as efficiently as possible. I’ll have to get used to that first, because when I do Zumba and especially when I run, my heart rate goes way over what it should be (which is below 145, or even better below 125). I try to adapt my workout to not let my heart rate go way up. But I have to say it’s difficult. Yet I’m already satisfied with the fact that I now work out almost every day (at least five days a week) for 45 minutes.

Wanna know what I’m going to reward myself with for my next goals?

The FIRM Cardio Weigh Set

The Complete Book of Running for Women

Armband for my iPhone for running

SparkPeople Smart Portion Prep Kit

SparkPeople Meal on the Go Combo Kit

Do you reward yourself for reaching a goal? If so, how? Do you buy yourself stuff? Do you reward yourself with food? With time? (i.e. time with friends, time in a spa, time for yourself)

Wine tasting for dummies pt. 2: How to taste wine like a pro in 10 easy steps

So guys, I finally wrote down the wine tasting tips I got at my very first (well, actually second) wine tasting two weeks ago. I composed 10 easy steps for wine tasting for you. These are for absolute beginners like I am. I knew absolutely NOTHING about wine two weeks ago. I hope this blog post helps those among you who were just as insecure about wine (and wine tasting – especially when there are experts around) like I was. I now feel a lot more confident and I know what kind of wines I like and I can choose wine to go with my meals. I know how to hold a glass and how not to embarrass myself when I’m around people who know a lot more about these things.In case you missed my “11 things you should know about wine” blog post – here it is (it’s about combining wines and meals, about serving temperature and about how long wines stay “good” – among other things).

Okay, let’s get started.

Step 1: pour the wine

I bet you didn’t see that coming, right? Well, pouring the wine is not that difficult. It’s advised to put the glass(es) on the table and NOT hold them in your hand while you’re pouring the wine. Serve white wine cold directly in the glasses. Red wine can be served a few degrees warmer and you can put them in a decanter or carafe (which is about the same thing) to let it breathe. If you don’t have a carafe, let the wine breathe in the bottle for a while. (With exception of Pinot Noir, which changes its taste within an hour and should therefore be drunk quickly). Pour only a small amount of wine (like three sips or something like that; in any case a lot less than you would put in if you want to drink a glass of wine).

Step 2: swing the glass

You learned how to correctly hold a glass in my previous wine blog post. In general: Hold it at the stem. Red wine glasses can be hold at the cup, but this doesn’t look as elegant. Then swing the glass and let the wine swirl. If you’re going to a wine tasting with important people, business partners, or potential in-laws, be sure to practice this first at home. I’m pretty clumsy and letting the wine swirl is not as easy as it looks. The swirling helps the wine to evaporate more quickly and with the swinging motion, the scent and the evaporation are being kept in the glass, which is important for the next step.

Step 3: smell the wine

This is an important step. Always smell the wine first before drinking it. Believe me, it makes a huge difference. You can stick your nose in quite deep, this is not a faux pas at all, although I found it looks a little funny. But pros do it this way, so why shouldn’t we? Smell the wine. I’m really NOT good at distinguishing different smells. But there are some wines that have a very distinctive smell like honey, like elder, or like something burnt or fumigated (the Barrique wines have this smell because they are kept in barrels that are burnt from the inside – it’s a very distinctive smell and I love it). If you smell something very clear, make a short comment about it. If you don’t smell anything distinctive, then say nothing. If you’re expected to say something but you have no idea what the wine smells like, say something like “fruity” for white and “aromatic” for red wine. You can’t really go wrong with that. And yes, I learnt this at a wine tasting with a pro. He told us that at his wine tastings people smell the funniest things and it doesn’t matter to him personally, because everyone has his own sense of smell. Something might smell completely different to me than it does to you. So there is really no right or wrong here.

Step 4: look at the wine

Now swing the glass again and let the wine swirl. Hold it against a light source and look at its color. I didn’t really get why the color is important (apart from the fact that it can be pretty to look at, especially when you’re tasting deep red wines, or purple ones…). But everybody does it, so we do it too. Then let it swing again and look exactly at the way the wine runs down the walls of the glass to the bottom of the glass. Is the glass still clear or can you see reams or streaks on the walls of the glass and it’s less transparent? This is called “Kirchenfenster” in German, which can be literally translated as church windows. You know this type of stained glass I’m talking about, right? If it looks like this, it’s a sign of many solid dissolved substances in the wine. This can be alcohol, sugar content, or – obviously – fruit.

Step 5: take a small sip

Okay, now you can finally take a small sip of your wine after all the swirling and smelling and looking. But only take a small one. There are several more steps to come and you don’t want you glass to be empty before you have fully tasted the wine, right? Take a small sip and let it swirl around in your mouth for a while. You can do this quite obvious like when you brush your teeth in the morning. Can you already taste the wine? I love it how the wine tastes differently depending on which region of the tongue (or the mouth in general) it hits.

Step 6: breathe in air through your mouth

Careful! This is not an easy step and I was lucky I wore a black t-shirt and I was with dear friends when I did this for the first time, because I accidentally spit out some of the wine on my t-shirt. Not very lady-like, no no no. So be really careful when you do this and practice at home if you can. This step is about breathing in air through your mouth while the small sip of wine is still in your mouth. Pros do this because the wine can fully develop its taste when there is oxygen. So you are trying to put as much oxygen into the wine in your mouth as possible. Don’t worry about strange sounds – they are totally okay and even welcome.

Step 7: swallow

Finally, right? It took us seven steps until we could swallow our first sip of wine. Swallow your sip slowly and pay attention to how it tastes in your mouth and on your palate. Also wait for the after taste. I always close my eyes when doing this because then I can concentrate on how the wine really tastes. Wait a while before saying anything. Then make a comment about the taste if you can. “Light” and “fruity” are still good for white wines. They can also be sweet. Or dry. A pro would beat me for this, but very dry wines (especially reds) taste like dust to me. Good dust sometimes, but well, still dust. But please don’t say “tastes like dust” at a wine tasting. People don’t like that. Believe me, I tried. If you don’t have a comment, just say nothing or say “good” or “a little to dry/sweet for me” or something like that. And to make this guide complete I also have to mention that you don’t have to swallow the wine. At big wine tastings where you taste 20 or more wines, you usually spit out the wine and don’t swallow it at all. I don’t like this and I’d never do this. I’d rather get drunk tasting many wines than spitting out good ones. But to each his/her own.

Step 8: neutralize the taste in your mouth

I recommend you to try wine with cheese like we did at our wine tasting. It just makes things so much more interesting. You can read about some great wine-cheese-combos in my previous article (linked above). If you want to try your wine with cheese, make sure to always have white bread at hand to neutralize the taste in your mouth. Personally I think whole grain bread works just as well, but at most wine tastings you only get white bread. I don’t know why. Don’t put anything on the bread (no butter, also: no cheese!).

Step 9: say cheeeese!

Have your plate of cheese prepared. They need to be outside the fridge for at least 30 minutes before you eat them, because just like the wines they need to fully develop their flavor and aroma. Then take a small piece of the cheese you’d like to taste with your wine and put it in your mouth. Let it melt (if it’s a cheese that melts) or chew it slowly. Then swallow part of the cheese but not everything.

Step 10: taste your cheese with wine

Now take again a small sip of your wine and wait how the different tastes come together in your mouth. It’s difficult to describe but you just have to try it. This can be a wonderful explosion of taste if you have the right combination. But just with smell there is no right or wrong here. You can experiment with different types of cheese and different wines. Harmony and disharmony – both can taste great.

So, this was it. If you don’t want cheese with your wine, you’re done after step 7 of course. But I found it simply delicious to taste different combinations of wine and cheese. Especially blue mold cheese and sweet (desert) wines were interesting. Try it out for yourself whether you like it or not. Like I said: Everybody’s taste is different.

I hope this was helpful to some of you. Please leave me a comment with your wine tasting experiences.

How I use my Dodo Acad Pad in my A5 Filofax

So, again a Filofax post. I showed it to a friend today. I told him that I had a great “low-tech” item for organizing my life and pulled out my Filofax Domino A5 in ultra violet. And his reaction was: “Wow, an analog iPad!” I think this is a great way to describe my Filo.

Today I want to quickly show you how I came to use my Dodo Acad Pad. (Well, to be perfectly honest the pages I’m currently using are the regular Dodo Pad. The Acad Pad starts in August. I got both because the regular one was dirt cheap and I didn’t want to wait until August to start using my Acad Pad.) This is what an unused page looks like:

You can see the Dodo Pads have the calendar pages only on the right side. The left side is blank (or partially blank) with some quotes, pictures, drawings etc. on it. The illustrations change every week along with the color of the pages. I love the colorful design in particular, although I was a little hesitant about the small writing space on the calendar pages, as I tend to write down everything I have to do on a certain day or in a week. The space seemed a little too restrained for me.

The suggestion on the Dodo Pad website is to use the columns on the right for either different projects or different times of the day. I tried this but I just couldn’t make it work. And before I continue rambling, I’ll just show you a picture of what a used page of my calendar looks like.

You can see I don’t stick to the five columns at all. I just ignore them. I simply couldn’t make the column design work for me. I have a pretty small handwriting and still it’s way too small to write in an appointment. So I just ignore the grid and write all over the place. I use my color coding system (you can see a picture of it on my Flickr) so I can easily see what I have to do this week.

And I’m now also very happy with the blank left page. I use it for my To Do lists and other notes that are important for a certain date. In combination with the sticky notes (I use them if I have to prepare something a week earlier – so I write everything down and just move the post it to the next page when the week is over) this system works perfect for me.

I’ve been trying to use the stickers I ordered from the Dodo Pad website. But I always forget that I have them, so I’ve just used one until now. So guys, that’s it for now. I have some blog posts coming up about the things I bought today (oh dear, I did some serious damage to my credit card; Caribbean Princess please forgive me for I have sinned…), about the wine tasting (part 2 is the more fun part… I’m so looking forward to this), and some organization tips.

Wine tasting for dummies Pt. 1: 11 things you should know

As you may already know, I was at my very first real wine tasting last weekend. I learned so much and I now feel a lot more confident when it comes to wine and choosing one to go with a certain dish etc. I was a complete newbie, I had absolutely NO IDEA about wines. Seriously. But Kurt, the winemaker who taught us how to taste wine (and whom I fell in love with after the seventh or eigth glass) was just so good at explaining how to tell certain characteristics of wine. So I thought I’d tell you what I learned and maybe it helps you next time you have to choose a wine.

First: We tasted reds, whites and dessert wines (red and white). We also had sparkling wine (champaign), but we didn’t really talk about this one, so I can’t tell you that much about champaign. (While I was studying in Paris I visited a champaign manufacturer and took a tour. I learned so much about how champaign is produced, but unfortunately I seem to have forgotten most of it… Rufus reminded me to tell you that of course champaign is only produced in the Champagne region north of Paris, France. Every “champaign” who is produced in a different region or even different country is not allowed to be called champaign. You can call them “sparkling wines”.)

Also: I don’t know if you have the same grape varieties where you live. So if I mention a type of wine or grape and you have no idea what I’m talking about, maybe this is just an Austrian varietal. We only tasted Austrian wines from Burgenland.

So, let’s go to the 11 things you should know about wine. I wanted to do 10 because it’s a nicer number, but I couldn’t narrow it down. These are just some random things I thought were good to hear before the actual step-by-step guide for the wine tasting (which will be my next blog post).

1. Look at the bottle

The bottle can tell you a lot more than the name and whether it’s a red or a white wine. Generally, wine should come in green bottles, because wine hates two things: heat and sunlight. The dark green glass protects the wine from both, since sunlight can really change the taste of wine even in an unopened bottle. This does not mean that wine in clear bottles is of inferior quality. It’s just not as protective as a dark bottle. Only rosé wines are mostly sold in clear bottles to show off the beautiful color.

2. Alcohol content in volume percentage

The label of the bottle must tell you how much alcohol the wine contains. Light wines contain less than 11 or 12 % alcohol. Stronger ones can have 13 or even 14 %. The alcohol content not only influences how quickly you will get drunk while tasting the wines (believe me, I know what I’m talking about), but also how long you can keept the open bottle amongst other things.

3. Acid content

In Europe (or at least here in Austria), the residual acid content is measured in gram per liter. This just means how much acid is still left in the wine. A high amount of acid means that the wine is dry and strong. We tasted a great Chardonnay with 7 gram acid per liter. Dry wines have about 6 gram acid per liter or more. Semi-drys between 5 and 6 grams of acid.

4. Sugar content

I’m a big lover of sweet wines. The sugar content is also measured in grams per liter. Sweet(er) wines have 10 grams or more. Dessert wines, which can be very sweet, can have 30, 40, 50, or 60 grams per liter. We tasted a dessert wine (“Beerenauslese”) with 122 grams per liter. It was so incredibly sweet, I can’t even describe it. For this wine, the grapes have to be hand-picked because only grapes with a special fungus are used. Kurt explained to us that this fungus is comparable to antibiotics. And it’s not possible to get more sugar into the wine in a natural way. So 122 grams is about the maximum.

5. Open bottles

At the wine tasting, I asked Kurt about open bottles and how long one can keep them. Well, needless to say the group laughed at me because obviously you’re supposed to  drink the wine. Yet there may be occasions where you can’t finish a whole bottle or you just need a tiny amount (for cooking or a dessert for example). Therefore it’s important to know how long you can keep open wine bottles.

White wine does not stay good very long. If it’s a wine with little alcohol (which means less than 12 %), you should finish your bottle within three days. If it has more than 12 %, you could keep it 10 days maximum. Red wine can be kept in open bottles a little longer, up to three weeks. The same is true for dessert wines (they have much sugar which conservates the wine). “Beerenauslese” can be kept even longer if it has a large proportion of sugar. (I’m sorry, I couldn’t find a translation for “Beerenauslese” – if you have one, please let me know.)

An exception is Pinot Noir. This wine can go “bad” after only one hour. The grapes are very sensitive and the taste starts to change quickly.

BUT: “Bad” does not mean that you will get sick when you drink it. This just means that the taste and the smell will change and it won’t be the same. Of course you can still drink your white wine after a few days. But don’t expect it to taste exactly the same. Always keep open bottles tightly shut in your freezer.

6. The right temperature

I didn’t know a lot about wine before the tasting, but I knew that white wine should be served cold, while red wine should be served “warm”. A general rule is that whites should be served at 6 to 9 degrees Celsius. Red wines should be kept at room temperature for a while to breathe and adjust their temperature. You should drink them at 14 to 18 degrees Celsius.

7. The right glass

Wine glasses can be tricky. There’s a special glass for almost any type of wine. White wine glasses are generally smaller, red wine glasses are a lot bigger and round like bowls. But it’s totally fine if you only have one or two sets of wine glasses. Who can afford to buy a seperate set of glasses for every wine? At the wine tasting, we used smaller, a little rounded glasses for white and red wine. I’m really sorry I forgot what they were called, but I’ll ask and let you know.

8. How to hold it

I was told that a mistake many Americans make is to hold the glass by the bowl. You are not supposed to do this, except for certain types of red wine. Generally it looks more elegant and professional to hold the glass by the stem. There is even a special “grip” for wine tastings, where you hold the very bottom part of the stem between your thumb and your index finger and place your middle finger under the glass. But in general you can’t go wrong with holding the glass at the stem.

9. Wine and cheese

At the wine tasting I attended, we were not allowed to eat anything else with the wine except for bread and cheese. Other food would disturb your senses. The bread is there to neutralize your sense of taste. And the cheese was there so we wouldn’t starve whilst getting drunk and because it goes great with wine. Generally, cream cheese and all types of Dutch cheese go well with white wine (try cream cheese with lighter wines and a little “spicier” cheese types with heavier whites). Parmesan and spicier types of cheese go great with red wines (start with Parmesan and light reds and go over to spicier cheeses and spicier wines). With dessert wines try blue mold cheese like Gorgonzola. This may sound really weird at first, but it’s actually good. I’ll explain in my next blog post how to correctly taste wine with cheese. ALWAYS start with the lighter version. If you start your tasting with a heavy, dry red and a very spicy cheese, you won’t taste a light white with cream cheese anymore because the spices of the first two have covered your taste buds.

10. Wine and food

Okay, wine and food is a tricky chapter. After all, everybody has his/her own taste. But there are some ground rules you can’t go wrong with. Rich and dry whites go great with seafood, fish, also with Parmesan and everything with a creamy sauce. Oh, how I’m looking forward to drinking my 2010 Chardonnay to my favorite dish: Tagliatelle Salmone with a light cream sauce. Mmmmh.

Mild and fruity white wines go great with beef and veal. But beware of intensive, “strong” sauces. Fruity, fresh and dry wines (like Muskateller/Muscatel for example – I hope I got the right translation) go great with anything veggie or with vegetarian pestos (like Pesto Genovese for example – on top of noodles or together with a mozzarella tomato salad – one of my all time favorites).

Semi-dry, fruity reds go great with pizza and pasta. A strong, “musky” red works fabulously with venison.

If you’re having a dish with a lot of acid (like salads, fish with citrus sauces or anything like that), make sure the wine has a lot of acid (6 gram per liter or more) too. Otherwise, your dish would just cover up the taste of the wine and you wouldn’t be able to smell it anymore.

Extremely sweet dessert wines go great with – surprise! – desserts.

11. White, red, rosé – what’s the difference?

You know grapes, right? So white grapes are… uhm… green. And red grapes are some kind of purple-y color (or a deep blue, or burgundy). But if you cut a red grape in half you will see that inside its… again: light green. Wine is made from pressing the grapes. If you just press white and red grapes, the juice will be the same color: a very light yellowy-green, almost transparent. Because wine doesn’t get its color from the juice, but from the grape skins. So because the juice of white/green grapes is kept with the grape skins, the wine gets its yellowy-greenish color.

But how is rosé wine produced? Well, rosé wine is made of red grapes. But the grape skins are not kept with the juice very long. Just a few hours (this takes approx. 12 hours, if I recall correctly) until the wine has its rosey color. Then the skins are filtered, so the wine stays this beautiful rosé color.

Okay, these were the eleven things I wanted to mention before I publish part 2 of this mini-series, the step-by-step wine tasting guide. I mentioned several times that I’m by no means an expert, so everybody who knows more about wine than I do and who spots a mistake or disagrees with what I wrote here is more than welcome to leave a comment or correct me. I’m so much looking forward to your comments and to writing part 2 of “Wine tasting for Dummies”.

Yay! I won a Filofax Botanic Pocket.

As I already mentioned a few days ago, I am the proud winner of a Filofax Botanic Pocket in pink from the I Love Pens giveaway. It arrived on Friday and I just took a few quick photos to show you what it looks like. The Filofax is a gift for my mom. I’m using a Domino A5, since I need a lot of space to write in my appointments, to do’s and other stuff. My mum has been wanting a Filofax for a long time, but she always said she doesn’t know what to write in and the Personal sizes were too big for her. After I was notified that I’m the winner of this Pocked sized Filofax, I thought this would be the perfect gift for her. She’s also a big flower lover and she likes pink – just perfect.

Et voila, here it is:

It’s a bright pink colored cloth with a flower print on it. I love the cute button and you can open it with one hand if you need to.

The inside is cream colored and very soft. I’m a little afraid it might get dirty quicky if you carry it in your handbag a lot, but my mum said she’ll use it at home, so I hope this won’t be an issue.

It came with the standard week on two pages (W2P) diary insert and cream colored divider tabs. Apart from that, there was international information (clothing sizes, international holidays, EU members, a world map + time zones etc. – the standard package pretty much).

But I particularily liked the temperature conversion chart. My Filofax Domino A5 does not have one. [Edit: Okay, I take everything back. I just found my conversion chart. It was on a back page and I didn't notice it before. Since I'll be moving to Florida in August, I think this will come in very handy.]

My mom didn’t dare to write anything in it yet. She said it looked so neat and new and she didn’t want to “ruin” it. I’ve heard this before from several Filofax users. Personally I love setting up my Filo, writing everything in, taking notes and start using it. I don’t feel like this “ruins” it, it just makes it better in my opinion. What’s your take on this? Do you like to keep your Filofax (or any type of calendar) fresh and new as long as possible, or are you like me and can’t wait to write in it and use it?

101 things to do in 1001 days

This is today’s assignment for the SITS Girls 31 Days to Build a Better Blog Challenge. I knew that the second day’s task would be to compile a list and I already had an idea of what I was going to publish. Although it does NOT fit the SITS31DBBB categories (it’s more than 15 items long, it’s not ordered in a logical way, it’s not a series), but when I posted a picture in my “How I use my Filofax”-post and on Flickr, many of you wanted to know more about the list. It’s my

101 things to do in 1001 days

I started this list yesterday, June 1, 2011. As I already mentioned, I’m moving across the Atlantic in a few weeks and practically starting a new life in Florida, continuing my doctoral studies. I think a list like this could make this experience more fun and more exciting. I’m generally a person who likes to try new things. But having them in a list (you know how I love lists) just makes it official and will help me to stick with it. It’s going to be a long way (that’s what I was trying to symbolize with the picture at the top, which was taken in Ronda, Spain).

1. donate blood
2. write a letter to myself to open in 10 years
3. sleep under the stars
4. get a tattoo
5. leave an inspirational note inside a book for someone to find
6. kiss in the rain
7. don’t complain for a week
8. watch sunrise and sunset in the same day
9. fall in love
10. watch 26 movies I’ve never seen starting with each letter of the alphabet (in progress)
11. answer the “50 questions that will free your mind”
12. get a job
13. go camping
14. go to a concert
15. tie a note to a balloon and let it go
16. get a massage
17. make a new friend
18. go on a road trip
19. complete a 365 day photo challenge
20. buy a lottery ticket
21. see 10 classic movies (in progress)
22. read 100 books (in progress)
23. do some volunteer work
24. write a book
25. attend a midnight movie premiere
26. go skinny dipping
27. make a birthday cake
28. go to the zoo
29. send a message in a bottle
30. spend a rainy day watching films in my PJs
31. host a dinner party
32. not log into Facebook for a week
33. see a drive-in movie
34. buy a car
35. clean out my closet
36. carve my name on a tree
37. go to Las Vegas
38. go vegetarian for a month
39. bake cupcakes
40. spend a day at the beach
41. have dinner by candlelight
42. learn a poem by heart
43. go to 5 different museums
44. write a short story
45. sing karaoke at a bar
46. go barefoot for a day
47. make ice cream from scratch
48. visit the Grand Canyon
49. get a facial
50. go fishing
51. attend a film festival
52. ride a horse
53. join a book club
54. plant a tree
55. put away 25.- for every goal completed
56. wear fake eyelashes
57. try Absinthe
58. complete a crossword puzzle
59. see an opera performance
60. swim in the ocean at night
61. make a list of 50 places I’d like to visit in my lifetime
62. go bowling
63. read an entire book in one day
64. go to a fancy dress party
65. buy a pair of designer shoes
66. visit the place in a theater where the movie is projected
67. keep a “my day in 6 words journal” for 6 month
68. don’t watch TV for a week
69. go to Lollapalooza
70. go vegan for a week
71. take a self-portrait every week
72. drink 5 new cocktails
73. see a play on Broadway
74. get my fortune told
75. buy a vintage dress
76. go on a spa weekend
77. go to a casino
78. go to see a basketball game
79. complete 7 goals in one week
80. see Indian Summer
81. trace my family tree
82. have a slumber party
83. attend Mardi Gras
84. volunteer for Habitat for Humanity
85. see a movie alone
86. stay awake for 24 hours
87. go to Disneyland
88. get a bikini wax
89. make Sangria
90. make bread from scratch
91. fire a gun
92. give flowers to someone
93. say yes to everything for a day
94. don’t lie for a day
95. buy a designer handbag
96. hug a tree
97. get a picture with Santa
98. visit a lighthouse
99. make a cheesecake
100. swim with dolphins
101. send Christmas cards

So, that’s my “101 in 1001″ list. I got the inspiration from this website. Do you have lists like that? Do you have “bucket lists”? If so, please let me know or link the list in the comments section. I’d love to read them.

I’m a Winner!

I just won the Botanic Filofax Pocket at the I Love Pens giveaway. It will be a gift for my mum. I’ll post a picture of it once it arrives.