First off I have to say I have no idea where summer went, I feel like I blinked and missed it! Things were very quiet here on the blog for a couple of reasons, the first is I was freewheeling. The six week summer holiday is the one time of year where I don't have to stick to a strict schedule and I can just coast along. There are no assemblies, presentations, concerts, performances, games, or workshops I need to attend, I don't need to set an alarm for the mornings and on the whole everything is more relaxed and unstructured. Because I have a lot less going on I don't need to rely on my planner as much as I do during the rest of the year, this leads us to my second reason.... dirty planning. Dirty planning This is a term I heard in one of the planner groups on Facebook and it tickled me. Dirty planning means no decoration, no fuss, just scribbling things down and not a scrap of washi tape in sight! The only reminders I needed in my planner over the summer were for paying bills, birthdays and my husband's work schedule. I knew I wouldn't have to check these multiple times a day so it didn't seem worth the effort to decorate my pages. Instead I popped everything into my Dodo Pad inserts, they already have their own doodles and quotes on them which is more fun than blank pages and I didn't feel the need to liven them up. It was kind of nice to take a break from washi, stamps and stickers for a while and it has made me enjoy playing with them even more now I am back to using them again. Here are a few things I did over the summer: * I received this gorgeous letter from Lucy of Quill London earlier in the year, I thought the envelope was so pretty I didn't want to throw it away so I turned it into a pocket to keep bits and pieces in my planner. Envelope into planner pocket * I have been in my Van der Spek organiser for over 12 months now, I still love it and I have no intention of moving out of it any time soon! Planner peace * The Color Run Birmingham (the happiest 5k on the planet), what an amazing day! I can't wait to go again next year! Clouds of colour It's a messy business * I went on holiday, I adore being by the sea and spent as much time as I could on the beach. I took my travellers notebook with me and had some fun filling it with memories and stories. I will be showing you some of my pages from it next Friday so keep an eye out for that post. Ilfracombe beach Ilfracombe harbour My Van der Spek travellers notebook I think that's everything and we are all caught up now, I have a few My Weeks to share with you so I will be working on those next. Thanks for stopping by and I hope you had a great summer too!