Avocados doing planks? Yep. A crunching carrot too, and I’m not talking about when you bite into the orange delight. This veggie is exercising in full gear, with his little purple sweat bands on his head and ankles. If you recall from a prior post about school supplies, you’ll remember how much I adore items of this nature, especially notebooks and pens. These books were part of my 2020 Back to School stash. Don’t be jelly.
Sadly we who love paper are part of a dwindling crew, a minority of sorts. I still love handwriting as opposed to typing, and the scratching of a perfectly sharpened pencil or a fine point Pilot G-2 on a crisp piece of paper is enough to get me smiling.
So you can imagine my surprise when I willingly, or rather initially it was begrudgingly, agreed to swap out my paper and pen for an electronic alternative. Let me fill you in.
Last Sunday, I was chatting away with my friends, telling them how excited I was that I got Baby Yoda wrapping paper for my Christmas gifts. And I truly mean MY gifts. All gifts to me will be wrapped in Baby Yoda paper and I am so excited.
That’s when my friend, Karen, showed us her app, Santas Bag, and exclaimed how this thing rocked her world and changed her life…well, at least all things pertaining to Christmas organization. Just a little bit of background, Karen is the furthest thing from the Karens we see in memes, as are all the Karens, Karins, and Karyns in my life. Love them to pieces.
I have christened this Karen with the alternative name, Mary Poppins. Anything you might possibly need Karen can pull out of her bag, and you can carry on with your day. Did you just cut your finger? No problem. Karen has ointment and a bandaid in her bag! Our other friend, Robyn, calls her MacGyver, as she has the tools or know how to solve any dilemma. That should give you an idea of how cool and put together she is.
Anyway, Karen starts talking about this app, Santas Bag, and how it keeps track of all your gift recipients, your budget, and what you’ve bought. You can note gift ideas, and it even has links to other merchants that will give you ideas if you are stumped. If you so choose, you can attach a specific link to a recipient for when the buying is right. And, when you lock your phone, prying little eyes don’t have access to your notes and information. It sounded amazing.
However, there I was, stubborn as all hell with my, “Oh but I do all that tracking and planning already, I just prefer to do it on paper. I’m totally a pen and paper kind of girl.” Karen said she was the same way, and while she still enjoys her handwritten notes for other endeavors, this was a game changer. After a bit, my defenses came down and I downloaded the app. Hmmm, maybe Karlie really does get that stubborn streak from me? Nah.
Long story short, this thing actually IS a game changer. You have to check it out! I am obsessed and keep opening it just to see how neat and orderly everything is. Best part is the little countdown to Christmas that shows how many days, hours, minutes and seconds until the big event. Sometimes I open the app just to see the seconds dwindle away. It’s like a little burst of exploding endorphins.
So while this week’s post brings me back to my roots of external organization, I can’t deny that I had some inside stuff going on too. I had to be willing to let go of my norm, push through my stubborn streak, and open myself to trying something new and different. Flexibility and receptivity are wonderful things. And according to Luke, so is not being a “boomer!” or in my terms, old fart.
So shout out to Karen, as she is spot on. I can still be an old-school-kind-of-girl and enjoy an app here and there. Even if I go to the dark side, there will always be a place for my pen and paper. Oh, and exercising vegetables too.
Chaos to Calm 