Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I hope many of you are enjoying the day off with your family or doing something fun.

When I taught I used to always love to read about MLK and do activities.  I love the Little Biographies series. They are short and sweet and really get key points across about important people. For my older students I liked to read bits and pieces of the Who Was series. My 2nd-5th graders really enjoyed these series and bonus they are AR if your school does this.

Today, I wanted to take a minute and focus on my word for the year and also talk about how I plan to be PRESENT and intentional with my time this year!!

I love the Erin Condren vertical planner because it helps me to schedule my year out. It is important to me in January to find a day and try to plan the majority of my year out. We all know we are going to go to the dentist, OBGYN, get hair cuts etc. So plan this out so it doesn't sneak up on you. I do put a lot of things on my phone calendar but I am very much a TO DO List person and like to cross things off. I find I remember things better if they are actually pen to paper written down.

I do not have children yet, however, I think it is important to write out on the calendar school wide holidays and events. I am part of a school committee and I write all these dates out on my calendar.

SCHOOL
- special holidays with school (winter/fall/thanksgiving break (if week long)
- school events for me it is the committee I am on

BIRTHDAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
I find it is important to write these dates out and I even love to know friends anniversaries because then if I really get ahead of the game I can send a card or quick text the day of.
- Yours
-Parents/Grandparents
-Friends

I find if I see in on the calendar then I will know a week or so in advance to grab a gift or card to mail out. I always seem to have several Starbucks and Target giftcards laying around and these are great for a last minute quick gift. Who doesn't love STARBUCKS and OMG Target?!?!


HOLIDAYS
For some reason they seem to always creep up on us. Who really remembers when President's Day is or the actual day Labor Day falls on?  I just know they are in February and September. If I plan them out then I know there is no school and it may be a good idea to plan a long weekend away.

DATE NIGHTS
My husband and I love to typically do date nights on Saturday evenings. I plan though if I plan in advance I can make a reservation or even see if we want to do a double date night with another couple. We love going to Salado, Lampass and even Waco and Austin sometimes for date nights. I find if we are going to Waco or Austin we need to plan this out in advance. In a separate post, later this month I plan to highlight some of our favorite date night places.

YOU TIME
-Dental appointments (twice a year)
- OBGYN
- Mani/Pedi
-Haircuts (typically my hair dresser schedules a few at a time)
-Workouts

TIME WITH FRIENDS
- small group (I do a small group study weekly with friends)
- double date nights
-girls/guys nights

PARTIES
-birthday
-annual parties (I do a cookie exchange, Halloween and Super Bowl party)
-baby/bridal

EXTRAS
-pest control
-yard
-maid

I want to be more present this year and find if I schedule things out I can make time for everyone and everything.

What are your best planning methods? Phone? Planner?