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Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor: Thankfulness

A Note on Thankfulness and the Holiday Season

A Note on Thankfulness and the Holiday Season

Well, well, November is here and I have to say, I wasn’t really wasn’t expecting it this soon! This is an important month for me and my family. For one, my wedding anniversary is in November, the 10th to be more specific, and I am slightly ashamed to admit that I was sitting around watching TV with my husband the other day when we got on the topic of upcoming holidays and events and totally forgot that our wedding anniversary was around the corner. It’s not that I forgot the date of the anniversary, but more like I failed to realize that it was not months away as I had been thinking, but just a few short weeks away. For the past few years, my husband and I have gone on vacation to celebrate the day, but this year we were rather late to the game when scheduling our vacation and instead of going away in November, we are going away in December, so that may have something to do with the whole not remembering thing. November also happens to contain a heck of a lot of birthdays. My husbands for one and then a handful of other miscellaneous family members. For a few years, November was also very important to me as I had regularly participated in Nanowrimo, so I still get anxious at the end of October in anticipation for that, even though I skipped Nano last year and may very well do so again this year. Of course, last but certainly not least, November means Thanksgiving and Black Friday, at least it does in the U.S. I love Thanksgiving because I love to cook, and for the past few years I have been happily preparing Thanksgiving dinners for my family. This year, I am even hosting my first Thanksgiving at my apartment for part of my family, so this will be a pretty important holiday for me this year! Then of course, the next day, all bloated and hungover from food, I will partake in a mini shopping spree and then come home to set up my Christmas Tree!

So, this month I have a good many fun and exciting things planned for the blog and for my YouTube channel as well! First of all, I have put together a collection of must have apps to make your holiday shopping much easier, more organized and hopefully, save you some serious cash!  I’m also going to give you all a run down of my favorite Thanksgiving recipes and the menu that I am planning on for my holiday party! If talk of menus and shopping is already giving you anxiety, I’ve got that covered too with a little pep talk about how to manage stress during this highly stressful time of year! Don’t worry, planner folks! I also have some wonderful plans in the works for you and your filofax! I’ve got some ideas for planner personalization and a number of new printables on the way! Excited yet? I know I am!

For now, take a moment to just savor this early November feeling. Maybe take some time to write down a few goals for how you can enjoy this time of year and also manage the daily mess of life in a reasonable balance! Go ahead, just write down three little goals you have for this month. Here, I’ll go first!

Goal 1: To create content of substance and of value to my readers to help them through the end of the year!

Goal 2: To find something good in everyday, no matter how crazy it gets and to reflect on how Thankful I am for my life!

Goal 3: To make reasonably healthy food choices during a time when I normally feel food takes control of me!

See, that wasn’t too bad? Now, if you would like to share your 3 goals in the comments below, feel free! I would love to see what you’re priorities are for this month and it may even inspire and influence some of the content I create for you all! Oh, one more thing I want to mention is that you can still download my free 30 Days of Thankfulness printable to help motivate you to live with more gratefulness in your heart during this special time of year! So make sure to hop on over to my shop and check it out!

Thank you all so much for reading and I wish you all the best of luck this month as you prepare with family and friends for what I hope will be a wonderful holiday season!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

My Productivity Playlist

My Productivity Playlist #3

Whistle While you Work 2.0

Welcome back for another installment of My Productivity Playlist, aka Whistle While You Work 2.0! Since it’s October, I thought it would be super fun and festive if I themed out this playlist to fall favorites and haunting Halloween sounds! I’ve gone ahead and made another Spotify Playlist in order to share these tunes with you, and it seems that you guys like this idea because many of you told me so and began following me on Spotify which I do appreciate. Plus all you followers had the added bonus of actually accessing this playlist before I published this post!

Without further ado, let’s get to the tracks in this playlist!

  1. Ghost Riders in the Sky by Johnny Cash
  2. Monster Mash by Bobby “Boris” Pickett (you can go ahead and cross that off your 31 Things to Do in October List now!)
  3. Northern Sky by Nick Drake
  4. Thriller by Michael Jackson
  5. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach
  6. The Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber
  7. I Put A Spell on You by Nina Simone
  8. Witchcraft by Frank Sinatra
  9. Montagues and Capulets by Sergei Prokofiev
  10. Sweet Transvestite by The Rocky Horror Picture Show 

Told you it was festive! I hope you guys enjoy this playlist and of course I want to know what you’re listening to right now! So, leave me a comment or go ahead and send me a tweet and tell me what music you have been loving this month to get into the Halloween spirit or just to help get you through the day!

xoxo

Alexis-Signature

DIY Filofax

DIY Filofax Folder Divider!

DIY Planner Folder Tutorial

Immediately after I received my newest planner, the Kikki K Lilac and Gold 2015 Time Planner, I went through something of a Filofax revival! All of a sudden I was super obsessed with my planner again, I scoured the internet for new inserts and goodies and started watching way to many planner set up videos for new inspiration. At some point, I watched a video where a woman showed her setup and briefly commented on a DIY folder she had assembled for her planner. I remember thinking it was one of the cleverest things I had seen in a planner in some time, and made a mental note to attempt to DIY one for myself, not knowing exactly how she had gone about making hers. A few weeks later, I found a little note in my planner that referred to this file folder DIY, and feeling crafty, I decided to see what I could come up with!

DIY Target File Folder Filofax Insert

Many of you have seen exactly what the result of my labor was, and have commented on your interest in seeing a DIY on the topic. So, I went ahead and filmed a video where I walk you through how I made mine. As this wasn’t my original idea, I really wanted to find the source of my inspiration and link you all to the original video I had seen that had inspired this creativity, but for the life of me, I can’t find the video! I searched through my YouTube history, spent days searching videos trying to find the originator of this idea, but alas, I could not find it and thus do not know who I should credit for this idea, but thank you, whoever you are! I love this little folder I have made for myself and I think you guys will love this DIY because it’s really almost too simple!

DIY Target File Folder Filofax Insert

I considered whether or not I should write out the directions to this tutorial, but I know I will probably get a bunch of questions on the process because I feel like crafty tutorials like this need to be seen, not read. So, below is the video where I walk you through the process. Here is a list of supplies I used and suggest for this project:

  • A Target $1 Spot File Folder
  • A cutting mat
  • A metal ruler
  • An exacto knife
  • A permanent glue roller
  • Clear tape
  • Scissors
  • A single hole punch

I hope you all have enjoyed this video and this DIY! I think this little folder is great for storing a variety of different planner supplies like extra paper, sticky notes, page flags, stickers and more! It can also act as a divider as well or even a dashboard if you keep yours in the front of your planner like I do! If you have a planner that lacks lots of pockets or if you just need a more unique storage idea, definitely take the time to try this out and share it with your planner friends as well!

Looking for some more great Filofax inserts? Check out my 31 Things to Do in October Printable or visit my shop for more of my unique inserts and trackers!

xoxo,

Alexis-Signature

lifestyle

The 10 Halloween Movies I Will be Watching This Month + Glitter Pumpkins!

DIY Black & White Glitter Pumpkins

We are nearly half way through my favorite month of the year and although I am sad to see the time passing so quickly, I will say that I am very happy about how much I have managed to pack into this month thus far! This may be my most eventful October to date and I may have to credit my 31 Things to Do In October Printable for that! You seriously need to check it out and download it before the month is over- it has really helped me stick to the Halloween/Fall spirit! In 14 days I have actually managed to check off 14 items from that list, including take a hayride, visit a pumpkin patch, and complete a corn maze- three fun activities that I crossed off this past Sunday during my visit to a local farm. You may have noticed the Instagram picture of an adorable little pumpkin just waiting to be picked… yep, I brought him home with me along with a few of his friends. In fact, for the first time in a number of years, I not only purchased real pumpkins (I normally prefer the fake, non decomposing types) but I also had a blast decorating them! Yea, you see these pics? These aren’t designer pumpkins I pulled from Pinterest, no, they are my pumpkins! I decorated them all by myself, and I honestly couldn’t be prouder! Of course, for those who know me and my aesthetic, it should be no surprise that I went with a glittery black and white scheme with a punch of turquoise thrown in the mix. I’m especially pleased with my black and white rugby stripe pumpkin that I painted by hand after a few failed attempts at creating straight lines with tape. He’s quirky and a little messy… just like me.

DIY Black & White Glitter Pumpkins

These pumpkins were really fun to paint and decorate and not too difficult either. All I did was primed the pumpkins with a white spray paint primer (thank goodness I used spray paint because it made the process so much smoother and gave me a fresh base for my pumpkins) and let them dry. Then I painted two of them black by hand with some acrylic paint, and one turquoise. I knew I wanted to use silver glitter and plastic rhinestones to bling them up, so I got those over at the craft store! For the glitter topped pumpkins, all I did was spread Elmer’s School Glue in sort of a drippy pattern on the tops of the pumpkins and then covered the glue in glitter before it dried. As you can tell, some of the glue dripped down a bit more obviously in certain areas, but it all adds to the charm! Then for the rhinestone pumpkins I just applied some super glue to the backs of the rhinestones and arranged them in place. I like how one of the rhinestoned pumpkins looks like it’s wearing a jeweled collar and the other looks like polka dots. Of course my special turquoise pumpkin got the best of both worlds with the glitter and the rhinestones and I love her excessive bling. She is my official Strange & Charmed pumpkin, so she sits front and center!

DIY Black & White Glitter Pumpkins

Anywho, enough about painting pumpkins! On to the real topic of this post, my favorite non-Halloween, Halloween movies! Okay, so what do I mean by non-Halloween? Well, I mean movies that aren’t your typical blood, guts and gore horror movie! These aren’t necessarily all kid friendly movies, and some definitely fit into the horror genre, but they aren’t your typical slasher/monster/ghoul movies either!

  1. Practical Magic

  2. The Brothers Grimm

  3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

  4. Sleepy Hallow

  5. The Craft

  6. Edward Scissorhands

  7. The Nightmare Before Christmas

  8. The Rocky Horror Picture Show

  9. The Wolfman

  10. Labyrinth

DIY Black & White Glitter Pumpkins

So, I hope you enjoyed this little update to my month and got some good ideas for some movies to watch as we near Halloween! If you’re looking for some actual Halloween type movies, I found this list of the best Halloween films currently on Netflix. If you’re looking for a more traditional scare, I’m sure you could fill more than a few movie nights with some of those! Let me know in the comments which movies you are excited to watch for Halloween and if you do some pumpkin decorating I would love for you to tag me in an Instagram picture so I can see your October spirit as well!

xoxo

Alexis-Signature

Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor: It’s October!

Letter From the Editor October

Hello Friends!

October is here and I am super duper excited! I know I mentioned this in my impromptu post yesterday, but October is one of my favorite months of the year, mainly because it’s the first official month of fall, and fall is my favorite time of year! October is filled with so many wonderful things, and this month I am hoping to share some of those things with you! You may be wondering, what the heck I am doing writing a letter from the editor to you, anyway. Well, the thing is, I am shaking things up a bit on the blog, as I tend to do from time to time, and I decided that at the start of each new month I would write a personal letter to you, my friends and readers, outlining my plans and the type of content you can expect! I know in the past you could never really tell what you were going to get from me each week here on the blog, and although I’m not going to reveal all my secrets, I thought giving you a sneak peek into the sorts of content you can expect would be a nice way for you and I to connect!

So, what do I have planned for you this month? Well, to start, food… lot’s and lot’s of food! Specifically, I have a couple of recipe posts to share with you guys starting on Monday with a very special seasonal experiment in baking that I have been very excited to share with you! If you follow my YouTube channel as well, you may have seen that last month I started a series called The Lazy Girl’s Cookbook, where I feature recipes for seasonal meals that are super easy and delicious! Well, that series is going to continue on this month as well with a few more of my favorite fall recipes! Moving on from food to fashion, I have a fun scarf tutorial planned just in time to keep you warm in the crisp fall air! Of course, since it is October, and I am obsessed with Halloween, you can expect a Halloween themed Geek Speak feature this month, as well as a seasonal installment of My Productivity Playlist! Rounding out the month, I am also planning a few new reoccurring features around planners and productivity inspiration!

I hope you’re all as excited about my upcoming month of content as I am! I also wanted to take this opportunity to say a sincere thank you to everyone who showed their enthusiastic support for my new shop yesterday and downloaded the 31 Things to Do in October printable! I am so glad that so many of you were as excited about it as I was, and I hope that throughout the month you will keep me up to date as you check those seasonal items off your list! Feel free to tag me in photo’s on Twitter and Instagram so I can follow along with the fun!

Thanks again everyone and I hope you enjoy the great things I have in store for you this month!

xoxo

Alexis-Signature

Solutions

Say “NO” to Frivolous Spending!

Desk Alice and Olivia Starbucks Mug Kate Spade Garance Dore Notepad Rifle Paper Co

If you remember, last September I challenged myself not to make any frivolous purchases for the whole month! It was actually a pretty successful endeavor for me, and to help keep my readers inspired to save their hard-earned dollars along with me, I spent the month writing about various money-saving techniques, tips and tricks! Well, fast forward a year and here I am this September doing an awfully bad job at saving money. So, I thought to give myself a little reminder of all the ways I should be saving my money instead of wasting it, I would do a quick little flashback of some of my favorite posts from that series! If you remember these posts, hopefully this will be a nice refresher for you to get your butt in gear and into money-saving mode, and if you missed it last year, hopefully this will give you a little inspiration to poke around these posts and learn some money-saving hacks!

Starbucks-at-home

One of my first posts from the Commercial Detox series last year was one of my most popular! It was my first installment of my Starbucks @ Home DIY coffee recipes, a delicious Salted Caramel Mocha! So, if you have a Starbucks addiction that is costing you too much, you may want to give this recipe a try!

Très Chic Lovely No 7 Forever 21

Although I am not normally a big clothing shopper, especially now that I work from home, I have been addicted to the boutique clothing site Jane.com for the past few months and just can’t say no to some of their amazing deals. Sales or no sales, however, I really need to reel it in when it comes to my spending on clothing because I know I already have too many items in my wardrobe! So, I think I will have to plan a day this month to clean out my closet using the tips from my Rediscover Your Wardrobe post! If you are a clothing hoarder, you may want to start with this one!

Finding-Free-Books

Entertainment is another area that I often find myself spending too much money on! With one-click purchases enabled on my iTunes and Amazon accounts, it often seems too easy for me to buy a book or rent a movie on my devices! So, if you are an entertainment junkie and over spender, you may want to check out Finding Free Books and From Cable to Netflix! Oh and if you already have a Netflix subscription, don’t forget to check out my list of YouTube Series’ Worth Watching!

Free-Printable-PPP

Last but certainly not least, I know I have a bunch of readers who are #plannernerds just like me! Did you know I created some custom project planning pages and made them available for download FREE on my blog? Yep, here is the link in case you missed it the first time around! You could even use these project planning pages to help you track a personal financial goal, smart eh? And if you are stuck with the basics of budgeting, don’t worry, I have that covered too! Happy Planning and Money Saving!

I hope this little blast from the past helped to inspire you to say NO to your frivolous spending habits! I know from time to time I need a reminder too! Oh, and of course, there were many more posts in my Commercial Detox series, so if you want to read them all, go ahead and click here! Tell me what you think of the series and let me know if you need any other more specific money-saving advice by sending me a tweet!

About

Hi, my name is Alexis, but I’m known as @MissTrenchcoat all across the internet! I’m an online entrepreneur who helps ambitious women plan for a balanced life and business. I design productivity tools, classes and courses based on the latest productivity science and research to help you get all your big thoughts, plans, dreams and ideas out of your head and onto paper so you can get down to business creating your dream life!

I have been obsessed with the topic of productivity since I was young because I am naturally a very lazy person (if you can believe it!) and for me, productivity & planning were tools I could use to get ahead with less time or effort. If you knew me growing up, I would have seemed like a textbook over-achiever and I’m still considered by those who know me to be a high-performer, meaning my capacity to execute on work and solve problems is very high. When people want to know my secret, I tell them- it’s no secret! I am a devotee to my planner and the study of productivity and I’ve made it my life’s work to take everything I’ve learned and share it with you, my loyal friends and followers! I know not everyone has the time (or interest) in making productivity a full time study, but I have seen how understanding certain tools, strategies and skills can transform a life forever!

So, you might be wondering, how does someone go from being a lazy over-achiever to entrepreneur? Well, since you asked…

Growing up, I was lucky enough to have family members who worked in tech, so I grew up around computers even at a time when most families still didn’t own one. I love computers and the internet so I started dabbling with online platforms, building websites, and then blogging hit the scene! I started my first real blog in 2008 after graduating from college and then started a YouTube Channel to go along with it in 2009 (I told you, I’m OG internet here)! As time passed, I honed my crafts of writing and video creation in my spare time while I worked a traditional corporate 9 to 5, growing an audience online and loving the creative freedom of the work. Eventually, as I made more and more connections within my community and saw how my content was positively affecting the women who read my blog and watched my videos, I started to see how my blogging and youtube side hustle could turn into a legitimate business, and others around me did as well. Friends, family, and co-workers often told me they saw me working from home running my own business, an idea that wasn’t completely foreign to me. Ever since I read The 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris sometime back in 2010, I understood that an online business was a legitimate career path that would give me ultimate time and location freedom, and you can imagine that the lazy over-achiever in me really loved the sound of that!

So, in 2014 I left my secure career at a Fortune 50 to run my own online business full time and replaced my income in 6 months. Since then it has been my mission to help other women take back control of their time and manifest the life they want to live. For many of the women I serve in my community, productivity, entrepreneurship and online business play a significant role in giving them time and location freedom to pursue more important and meaningful aspects of their lives like motherhood, family, travel, spirituality, and community service. I think we have all seen first hand how women can often be so hard working and self-sacrificing taking care of others that they put their own wants and needs last. This is a trend that I desperately want to end because expectation and societal pressures are literally causing women to work themselves into death and disease. I know there is a better way for women to do it all and lead the fulfilling lives they desire by prioritizing themselves and managing their time, energy and expectations!

That is my mission, my passion, my research and my business. Over the past years working for myself online, I have created a profitable passive income business that gives me the time, financial and location freedom to do this important work and get the message out to women across the globe! So that is why I am so glad that you are here on this journey with me, and I sincerely hope you stay in touch with me to learn everything I have to share and help me spread this important message to other women that they too can manifest their dream life with a little clarity, planning and self-discipline!

So, if this sounds like you, Welcome! I’m glad you found Strange & Charmed! You can follow me via Twitter & Instagram @MissTrenchcoat or follow S&C on Bloglovin if you prefer! You can also Subscribe to the blog by entering your email into the widget on the sidebar!

Thanks so much for stopping by & make sure to share what you are reading on S&C with your social networks. Use the hashtag #StrangeandCharmed so we can see all your tweets, instagrams and messages!

xoxo,

P.S.: If you want to get your hands on my latest Tools, Strategies and Skills, head on over to TheCharmedShop.com and check out my collection of printable planners, productivity and business master classes, books, and courses! No matter where you are on your productivity journey or what your goals, there is something wonderful waiting for you on the shop!