Quo Vadis Septanote Then And Now

I found my Quo Vadis Septanote from 1998-1999 while cleaning out my garage this weekend! What a blast from the past!

This planner is from a particularly interesting time of my life, which is actually very similar in some ways to my life right now. Then I was, and now I am, going through a major transition: finishing up things where I am and getting ready to move to a foreign country.

During the school year 1998-1999 I was working as a lab tech in a chemistry lab at the university where my husband was getting his undergrad degree (as an "older student" in his 20's). As my husband was finishing up his degree, I was applying to grad schools and we were applying to join the Peace Corps. (As things turned out, we went into the Peace Corps in the summer of 1999 and both went to grad school after that).

This week in my Septanote, November 30-December 6 1998, is fairly typical of what I was doing at the time. (You can click the photos to enlarge.)You can see chemistry lab tasks (like "make 6% acrylamide" on Wednesday), things I was doing for my grad school applications (like sending my transcripts and GRE scores to schools I applied to), things I had to do for the class I was taking on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and other general life stuff (like yoga class, the only time in my life I've ever done a yoga class). It was a pretty busy time for me.

Here is a photo of the Anno-Planner, which is one of my favorite features of Quo Vadis planners--it shows the entire year across a two-page spread with the months as columns. In this planner I used the Anno-Planner to keep track of my paychecks and bills due. I got paid twice a month, and each check was enough to cover either my rent or my bills. So I noted on paydays which one that check was primarily going toward (which you can see as "bills" or "rent" on the pages). For each bill, as soon as I received it I wrote its amount on the date it was due.

You can see that my rent was due on the 10th of each month, and was $435 per month. I got paid every two weeks, which meant I always got paid on different dates. My phone bills were always due around the middle of the month, utilities at the beginning of the month, and my credit card bill was due around the end of the month. Since my pay dates changed all the time, I had to be strategic about saving enough from one paycheck to another to cover all my bills all month. This anno-planner was perfect for allowing me to budget every month.


You have no idea how excited I am about this: I have a 2009-2010 Septanote, generously sent to me by Karen at Exaclair, that I will be reviewing soon here on Plannerisms. I stopped using my 1998-1999 Septanote May 1 of that year, the last day of my job. As a result, I have blank pages in that planner. So I can compare this year's Septanote to my old Septanote!

Side-by-side, you can see the format updates Quo Vadis has made since then. (Click to enlarge.)

Here is something really interesting: the days in 1999 are the same as they are this year. So for example, in the photo below you can see the week of June 28-July 4 has the same days of the week this year as they did in 1999:
The fonts are different, the old ink color was brown and now it's gray. The months in the top right corner have a different layout, because in the old planner there is a box for Week's Dominant that is not in this year's planner.

Most notably, the layout of the list boxes is different. Back in 1999, emailing was not nearly as common as it is today, so there was no box labeled Email. Also, See and Do each had their own box, which are now combined into the See-Do box in this year's version. Now the Write box has been done away with completely. This space, along with Cash Due and To Pay have all been combined into the Pay-Receive box.

What an amazing opportunity to see not only how my own life has changed in 11 years, but also to see how the Septanote has changed and evolved over that time!

Backlog of Reviews

I have a pile of fantastic products to review! Here is what you can look forward to in the coming weeks here on Plannerisms:

Dodo Acad-Pads in various sizes and forms, including the new-this-year Personal size Filofax-compatible diary insert!

More Daycraft notebooks: the Cantoon notebook, D-sign notebook, Laptop notebook and Morse Code sketchbook.

A comparison between the Quo Vadis Septanote and Trinote planners. These have a very similar format, but there are some key differences between these planners that I want to point out, to help anyone who is trying to decide which of these planners best fits their needs.

Ecosystem weekly planners and lined journal.

The new 2011 Moleskine Extra Small daily and weekly planners.

Parker Planners pocket-sized undated daily planner.

And just for fun, even though Lady Dandelion already reviewed it on her blog, I want to review the cool Leuchtturm notebook I won from her! I've never used this brand before so it will be fun to check it out.

In addition to these, over on Philofaxy I'll review the Filofax Travel Journal, and the Receipt Envelopes.

As excited as I am about all of these products, I have to force myself not to crank through the reviews all at once. I want to give each product the time and attention it deserves.

So stay tuned for in-depth looks at lots of fun new products!

My new A5 Domino Filofax with Dodo Pad diary insert!

Here is my new A5 Domino Filofax that I bought at the Filofax store in London! It is great!! I felt like I was meant to get one because I saw so many A5 Dominos while I was at the London Book Fair, and after Jess's comment on my post about it I knew it was just what I've been looking for. And it is!!

I have two other A5 Filofaxes, both Finsbury, one purple and one green. In the past when I've tried to use one as my planner, I quickly abandoned it because the binder is too big and heavy to carry everywhere. I love them, they are beautiful and now they serve me well at home. But I don't like to carry them around.

The Domino solves the portability issues of the A5 binders. The cover weighs almost nothing, unlike a leather binder which significantly adds to the weight of the book. Also, the Domino cover is narrower side to side than other A5 Filofaxes: by 1 to 1.5 cm, depending on the model. And having an elastic band instead of the snap closure contributes to the slimness of the book too.

The rings are huge, which is great for those of us (guilty) who like to cram as many pages and accessories into the book as possible. Again, because the cover itself is so lightweight, I can put in as many pages as I want and the overall weight of the book is still bearable.

The inside cover has a full-length pocket and several smaller pockets. There is no zip pocket in the Domino, so I added a zip pouch accessory onto the rings to hold those little things that might get lost.

There is a note pad inside the back cover. The bottom of the notepad pocket is slotted too, so you can slide the notepad into the bottom of it--that way if you are a lefty you can use the binder upside down and have the note pad inside the left cover for easy writing, and the pockets on the right. Those folks at Filofax know what they're doing!

Another thing I love about the Domino (that I also love about my personal size Domino which I use as my Scotland guidebook) is that the cover can handle my messy life. I am not a tidy person, and I have problems if my planner is too precious. It needs to be able to handle abuse, rain, sticky table surfaces and my not-always-very-clean hands. I'm not afraid to take my Domino into the kitchen with me for fear of setting it down into a blob of jelly.

Another thing about the A5 Domino: it lays flat, immediately. No flapping, no fighting. It's flat.

The first time I ever saw a Domino I thought I wouldn't like the elastic band. But I do, for lots of reasons. As I noted above, it helps make the book more streamlined. Also, it's very handy for tucking papers on the outside of my book for easy access and reference while I'm out and about.

I'm using my Dodo Pad A5 Filofax-compatible diary insert in my Domino, and I love it! I had recently hit a wall with my planner usage--I had gone too far into overly-structured planners that seemed too impersonal and business-like. I'd gotten to the point where I didn't even want to use my planners anymore (*gasp!*) because they seemed so strict, like they were wagging their finger at me about all the things I should be doing. I wanted some color and something fun. So this was perfect timing for me for the Dodo-Domino combination.

Here you can see the inside cover of my Domino, and the front of the Dodo Pad diary insert. You can also see my Dodo Reminder Stickers tucked into the pocket inside the front cover. I really like the light-colored faux suede interior of the Domino, it looks and feels really nice.

Here is my Dodo Pad diary insert in action! You can click on the photos for a larger view.
I love that the page opposite the weekly schedule has plenty of room for all my lists and notes. In general, I use the daily boxes as: first box, important thing to highlight that day. Next 2 boxes, morning activities. Last 2 boxes, afternoon/ evening. I'm not strict about it though. I write across the boxes, in the margins, at the top and bottoms of the page, on the other page, wherever. There's plenty of room for all my little notes to myself.

Here's a closer look at the weekly page. This particular week has a couple of sticker-worthy events, so you can see how I use my stickers.
Also you can see how I've set up my tabs. I forced myself to use only 6 tabs, because I tend to get too tab-crazy. Directories has emergency info, contact numbers, whatever else I need to quick-reference.

Here is a look behind my Financial tab, with the Filofax calculator I splurged on. I have a calculator that I use in my Personal size Filofaxes but it doesn't fit on the A5 rings. I figured, I use it all the time in my Personal size, I better have one in my A5! I'm glad I got it.

The Dodo Pad diary insert has Annual Planning calendars for this year:

And next year, which is really nice:

I didn't take a picture, but right before my Addresses section I have my maps. Behind the addresses I have two top-opening pouches, the zip pouch I mentioned above, and a business card holder. With all of these I can collect whatever bits I need throughout the day, then when I get home I can put them wherever they belong.

I'm sure my tabs usage will evolve over time, which is why I use the colored tape flags from the Filofax Sticky Notes accessory to label my tabs. That way I can move them around whenever I need to.

When I was at the Filofax store the only color choices for the A5 Domino were black, brown or red. I wanted a cheery color so I went for the red, which I don't normally use. Now on the website they have the A5 Dominos in faux snakeskin, and they look really cool! While I was at the store I saw Domino folios in pink and purple, and personal size binders in a cobalt blue that I like too, so I'm hoping they'll come out with these colors in the A5. If they come out with a purple one you can bet I'll get it!!

Home again!

I made it back home! Hooray! I managed to catch a flight very early yesterday morning. I had a wonderful time in London, but it's good to be back home.

I have so much to tell you! My trip was very planner-intensive, and I have lots of new products to review. I have posted the full list, along with other topics I'll be telling you about, on Philofaxy. I'll be reviewing my new Filofax (more on that below), the Filofax Travel Journal and Receipts Envelopes (generously given to me by Brigitte at the Filofax shop during our discussion--that will be a whole post of its own!), several new awesome products from Dodo Pad, and the new-this-year Extra Small Moleskine daily and weekly planners. I'll post the Filofax-related things over on Philofaxy and everything else here on Plannerisms, so stay tuned to both!

I bought a new A5 Domino Filofax while I was there and have put my A5 Filofax-compatible Dodo Pad diary into it. This is now my full-time planner, which I will tell you more about soon in a post on Philofaxy. I will update What I'm Currently Using soon to give some details of how I'm using this as my planner and how it fits in with other planners I'm using.

So check back soon on both Plannerisms and Philofaxy for new products, new reviews and lots of news!

London Book Fair

I'm still stuck here in London due to the ash cloud, but am having a great time! Yesterday I spent all day at the London Book Fair, and it was an absolute blast. (Okay, maybe that makes me a geek calling a book fair an "absolute blast"). Rebecca Jay, Managing Director of Dodo Pad, was very kind and gave me a ticket into the fair. I got to hang out with her at the Dodo Pad display and talk to people about Dodo Pads!

It was lots of fun to hear people's Dodo Pad stories. One woman said her family has a "Dodo Pad dynasty" where every year at Christmas the tradition is for the women to give their daughters Dodo Pads. Her grandmother, mother, aunts, cousins, they all give a Dodo Pad to each of their daughters. What a great story! Other people had never seen a Dodo Pad before so I got to show them the diaries and organizers for the first time. Watching someone discover the Dodo is a fun experience--their eyes light up when they see the colorful art and quirky humor.

One of the first things Rebecca did was to show me her red A5 Domino Filofax, in which she uses the A5 Dodo Pad diary inserts! Wow!! I own a personal size Domino but had never seen the A5 before. It has huge rings so it can hold loads of pages, but the footprint of the book seems smaller than other A5's because there's no strap, and the cover seems narrower. And because the cover weighs next to nothing, it's so much lighter than my leather A5 binder. I was intrigued...

During the course of the day I saw lots of people carrying around their planners in their hand, which was a rare opportunity for me to see planners in action! I saw lots and lots of Filofaxes--mostly Personal size, but to my surprise many A5 Dominos! There it is again!! Taunting me! I saw one guy carrying his A5 Domino with a bunch of papers stuck under the elastic on the outside of the book for easy reference. Now I'm really itching for one!! I may have to make a trip back to the Filofax store before I leave London...

I also saw lots of Moleskine planners and notebooks. Which gave me an idea--I looked at the index and sure enough Moleskine was there! So I made a beeline over to their display and was thrilled to see their new 2011 planners on display! Silvia Salvadori was there from Milan to represent Moleskine, and she was very nice. When I explained that I blog about planners she was very happy to talk to me about their new products and answered my questions. I am very happy to report that she confirmed: All the 2011 Moleskine planners do have the month calendars with the days as squares large enough to write in! No more months as columns with a line per day. She asked if that is a good thing and I said absolutely yes, and that many Plannerisms readers have asked for this monthly format so a lot of people will be very happy. I'm sure there will be some who prefer the columns and lines, but in general I think people will be very happy with the new monthly format.

Silvia also very generously gave me two free samples of the Extra Small Moleskine planners: the Daily with the dark pink cover (which I adore) and the Weekly with the dark blue cover (which is very handsome). These planners are tiny, almost exactly the same size as a smartphone. Of course the daily is thicker, but still very small. It's almost exactly the dimensions of a pack of tissues. You could easily carry your extra small Mole planner along with your phone. When I get home I will do a full review of these with photos!

Silvia also showed me the new products in their Office line: the A4 folios, folders, binders and paper. They are very professional-looking, and have the clean Moleskine look and the elastic strap for portability. She also showed me the new Moleskine sticky notes set and index cards set, which look really nice.

Silvia was very happy to talk to me and said Moleskine loves bloggers because they really appreciate the feedback and love to know what their customers need and want from their products. I really respect a company that listens to their customers and works so hard to meet their needs. Bravo Moleskine!

In all it was a great day at the London Book Fair. If you get the chance to go, be sure to check out Dodo Pad at booth C510 and Moleskine at J605!

Stranded in London

So, have you heard there's a giant Icelandic volcanic ash cloud over the UK? And that it's grounded all the flights? Well, my flight back home today is one of the thousands of flights cancelled. And, nobody knows when flights will resume because the volcano is still erupting. And then when flights DO resume, there will be a huge backlog of people who need to travel. So...

Weekend in London! Woo hoo! :D

I got to visit the Filofax store yesterday, but only for a few minutes. I got to see some of the new Filofaxes out now: the Heart and Songbird ones are very pretty, I especially like the Songbird. I held the Chameleon and expected the leather would be firm like a Finsbury, but it is like BUTTAH. Nice and soft. I also saw the new Letts notebooks, which are really nice and would be excellent for travel. Not only do they have an elastic strap, they also have international information like dialing codes etc. which make them especially useful.

I somehow managed to hold myself back from buying any Filofaxes, but I did take the opportunity to stock up on a bunch of refills, stickers, business card holder inserts, etc. I also bought the pink week on 2 pages diary insert, and popped it into my Deco. So pretty!! I'll post pics when I get home!

I want to give my Rickshaw Bagworks Moleskine Folio an A+ in Travel. It is perfect for traveling. Here are 2 great examples:

On the plane: the zip pocket holds my passport, the clear back pocket holds my flight itinerary, my Moleskine is my planner where I have written my hotel reservation information. When they hand out the immigration cards to fill out, instead of digging through my bag for all the info, it's all there in my Folio: Passport number? In the pocket. Incoming flight number? Back pocket. Address in UK? Written in my Mole planner. Golden.

Example #2: I've been carrying my Mole folio in my bag with me as I go out and about. (My Filofax stays in my hotel room--locked securely in the safe!--unless I need the tons of info inside it. Yesterday I did need all the info in my Filo so I carried it in my bag that day. Most of the time my Filofax is Mission Control back in my room.).

Anyway, Mole folio in my bag. In the clear back pocket I have put my Filofax London map, folded so that the area I'm in is visible through the clear pocket. So if I get lost while I'm out and about, I just open my book and have a look. It looks like I'm just checking my agenda, and I don't look like a lost tourist with my map out. Blending: priceless.

Also in the zip pocket I keep extra currency, receipts to save for reimbursement later, my return train ticket for whenever I eventually head back to the airport, etc.

Rickshaw: well done with the folio. I know Mark travels a ton, and he has really nailed it with this travel-friendly folio. Ultra-convenient, and super-cool looking too.

For now I'm off to the British Museum! Rosetta Stone, here I come! :D

Offline while traveling

I'm headed to London, where I'll be mostly offline. I'll pop in every now and then when I can. :)

After much deliberation I decided to bring my Deco Filofax with me, because it contains so much information I need, and all my maps. But at the last minute, I've decided to ALSO bring my self-made Moleskine planner, because I didn't want to have to re-copy everything from my Filo planner pages into my Mole when I get back. My Mole planner lives in my Rickshaw Bagworks Moleskine folio, which has a zip pocket for my passport and clear pocket in the back for papers. Yes I'm carrying a lot, but I just couldn't choose one!

I'm planning to visit the Filofax Mother Ship (aka the Conduit Street shop) sometime while I'm there. I will have a full report for you when I get back! :D