April Cute Things

Hello Everyone! Wow... it's been absolutely ages since I last blogged, and for a second there, I wasn't sure if I was coming back. Not gonna lie, 2023 hasn't started off great for me. Sorry to begin a cutesy themed post like this, but I don't want to sugarcoat things. Mental health struggles are unfortunately common and if me being open about my own struggles helps just one person feel not so alone, or gives them that little push to be open about what they're going through with their loved ones or a therapist or something, then it's worth it. Up until my early 20's, I used to be one of those people who hid what I was going through, but my OG readers will know I'm pretty open about the mental health conditions I have; I've even written a few posts about them in the past as well. Anyhow, this year has brought with it many unforeseen circumstances that have had a big impact on my already messy mind, and my ability to get-up-and-go all but vanished, until literally last week. So, here I am FINALLY with a new post, something short and sweet, as the saying goes (well, I'll try to keep it short but overexplaining is part of my package deal, haha!). I hope you all enjoy reading! 

Back in late December when I was doing what a lot of us do, thinking about our goals for the new year ahead, I came up with a post series idea. I used to share several posts a week at one point, but reality check: going from nothing to that just wasn't happening. I was trying to wrack my brain for ways to still talk about all the things that make my day-t0-day life that little bit brighter, whilst only sharing something once a week. Eventually, I thought why not do a sort of round up post at the end of each month, to share with you all anything cute that I might have bought or watched or whatever. I feel like most of you folks are here for that anyway! I'm not sure if the title will stay the same, but getting back to writing took enough energy without attempting to come up with a catchier name... I mean, does it really need one? We'll see :) 

Since today's post has more of a catching up vibe, I'm going to be sharing all about the cutest additions to my life since Christmas Time. Some might think it's a little late for that now, but the last few months have felt like one giant never-ending month. Somehow simultaneously speeding by and dragging at the same time! Who can relate? Plus, I think all my cutesy acquisitions deserve to be celebrated. I know I'll enjoy talking about them and remembering the joy I felt when I first got them. Fingers crossed it's still a fun read for everyone else! 

Decided to start off with these embroidery pieces. Aren't they gorgeous!? They were made for me by my wonderful blogging bestie, Natalee from ThereMightBeCoffee. Embroidery has been a new hobby of hers for several months now and she's made some lovely pieces, including these which she surprised me with for my birthday last Autumn and for Christmas. I know that I said I was just going to be featuring things from Christmas onwards, but I couldn't not show both pieces off,  because I'm absolutely over the moon with them! Both these characters are special to me, as Lily is my favourite villager from the Nintendo video game series, Animal Crossing, and Hamtaro holds a big place in my heart from my childhood. It was an anime series that I really adored growing up, so much so that I even named a pet hamster of mine after the main character. If you're also a fan of this little cutie, you should check out my previous post all about the Hamtaro Nendoroid :) Which is your favourite of the two pieces Nat very kindly made for me? I feel so loved because I know how much time these pieces take to put together ♥ I cannot wait to get them up on the wall in my bedroom! 

It wouldn't be a Raiin Monkey life update if it didn't include something about plushies! I am addicted to buying them, always have been and don't think I'm gonna be stopping any time soon, with new releases and collections popping up all the time. I have my eye on Jelly Cats now, so watch this space, haha! I've actually added a couple more to my collection this year, but I thought I'd leave something for the next edition of my monthly Cute Things series. Which of the plushies below pulls on your heartstrings the most? 

I have been aware of this lovely little froggy character since the early days of the internet, at least the early days for me which would be the early 2000s. I have always been very fond of frogs, but the obsession hadn't quite taken hold back then. I was all about Sanrio and San-X, especially some of the less talked about characters nowadays, such as Chi Chi Monchan. I would occasionally see this froggo around the kawaii enthusiast communities, but I didn't have a clue who it was until a few years ago. Its name is Pickles, and even though I have a tendency to refer to plushies as 'he', something cool about this frog is that, according to the info I found on wiki, its gender is a secret. I think that's really cool. Back in January, a new store was brought to my attention on Instagram called Disco Waffle. They sell plushies that can be quite tricky to source here in the UK, and as soon as they announced that they were stocking Pickles, I had to have one! I chose yellow, because it's just such an eye-catching and cheerful colour, and I am very happy with how well-made this plush is. 

I said I was going to attempt to keep this post short, but that ships already sailing... I can't help myself. I have to tell ALL THE DETAILS :D 

Another plushie that I got back in January was this fabulous Cinnamoroll from the Build A Bear Workshop. When BAB announced that they would be bringing out a Hello Kitty plush for the iconic character's 40th Anniversary, I was super excited, however, I wasn't a fan of the silver design choices they went for. I still have the original Hello Kitty plush they released when I was a teenager (it was my second ever purchase from them), so I didn't really need another, but the anniversary release had me hoping for a new series, like they seem to be doing a lot over the last several years, with the Pokemon collection for example, that seems to be still going strong! It was the prospect of more Sanrio characters that made me snap up a Cinnamoroll as soon as I spotted an ad on the stores instagram. I don't usually buy white plushies, just because of how quickly dust and stuff shows up on them, but I couldn't say no... he's sooooo cute! I love his little cinnamon bun shaped tail and squishy, floppy ears. They make up for the fact that whoever stuffed him did so so thoroughly that he can't be put into a sitting position, making him tough to display with my other plushies. Oops! Are you hoping for anymore Sanrio BAB's? Kuromi is my fave, so I'm hoping for a plush of her, but I'm also super curious how they would design Pom Pom Purin to make sure he's the chubby cutie we all know and love. 

How sweet are the squishmallows!? The standard sized one on the right was bought for me by my sister off my Christmas wishlist. It's supposed to be a beluga whale, one of my favourite sea creatures, and his name is Laslow. I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him, but the name also had a nostalgic appeal to it. I've been trying to think of where I'd heard the name back when I was a kid, and my sister made me remember the Cartoon Network show, Camp Lazlo, so I'm thinking that might be the one! Again, as I'm not generally a fan of white plushies, I am really glad that Squishmallow decided to shake things up and make Laslow a pastel lilac and blue colour, and to give him what I call the uwu mouth, that classic :3 face. It's so cute! The tiny squishmallow was gifted to me by my lovely friend, Sophie, and it was the perfect surprise because I'd been thinking about getting the standard sized Maggie the Stingray squishmallow for a while. If it wasn't due to the fact that my room is slowly being overtaken my plushies, I would have so many more squishmallows by now, but I'm trying to only get the ones I really have a mighty need for, so it's great that I now have a pocket-sized Maggie instead :) No matter how long it's been since I bought my first squishmallow, I am still amazed at how soft they are everytime I touch one! 

I thought I'd include some snippets from my instagram of other cute things I've been buying. There's just something about pez dispensers that makes me never able to walk away whenever I see one of my favourite characters. So, I had to grab this Bulbasaur when my sister spotted it in B&M. And of course because I have no self control, when she mentioned that they had a Pikachu in stock, I got that one, too. Do any of you guys like pez? Have you kept any from your childhood? The rug I got from Kenji when I headed to Manchester City with my best friend in December last year. I'd spotted these fabulous little rugs/mats back in September when I had visited the Trafford Centre store for the first time, and very much regretted not picking one up then. The Arndale store didn't have the Oppy the Frog one I wanted, so I got my second favourite Tiny K character, Dorothy the witchy cat. I was really impressed by how soft these rugs were, and love that they aren't fluffy so will be easy to clean. They were £8 each as far as I remember! 

I have the most fantastic of friends!! All but one of these items was a gift from one of my loved ones :') Thank you for being amazing, guys!! 

So, the only item above that I purchased myself was the stationery blind box with the adorable strawberry pig on the front. During my Christmas Time trip to Manchester, I popped into Miniso to see whether the rumoured Sanrio collection had been stocked yet. Unluckily, it showed up not long after we'd been! Because I was a little gutted, I was determined to find something to buy, but it's a pricey store so I was almost ready to admit defeat, when I spotted these little Miniso X Penple Toys boxes not far from the till (and discounted!). I have no idea what's inside yet, as I've been meaning to unbox it on the Tiktok I made just for sharing my toy collecting and unboxing hobby. I've not posted on there in ages, but hoping to change that very soon. So if that's your cup of tea, please give my account a follow. 

My friend Sophie, along with the tiny ray squishmallow gave me a gift bag filled with all sorts of lovely things when we met up in February (thank you!! ♥). Due to covid and just general life getting in the way, we hadn't seen each other for a ridiculously long time so it was so great to finally get a chance to hang out! We had lunch at a cute little tearoom in my hometown, and then headed to a local park to feed the ducks and have a wander about. It was a really nice day! And thanks for her, I now have my first Cats VS Pickles blind bag!! It's been so tough not to open, but I'm trying to save things for my tiktok. Everyone cross your fingers for me that there's a super cute cat inside! Lovin' the Winnie the Pooh initial mug she got for me, too. I really like the old style illustrations of A.A. Milne's charming characters, vs the cartoony ones :) 

Another of my awesome blogger friends, Kim from ChimmyVille, surprised me at Christmas Time by getting me something off my amazon wishlist. She's been buying me a gift off there for my birthday and Christmas for a few years now, because she's such an incredibly kind person ♥ I really appreciate it! This time, she got me the Jolteon Funko Pop, so I now have all three starter Eeveelutions thanks to her getting me the electric baby :) Really chuffed about that every time I look at my Pokemon shelf! 

How adorable is that Tiny K notebook from Kenji!? When we went to Manchester at the end of 2022, my best friend wanted me to pick something for my birthday and christmas presents, and this was one of the things I chose. Kenji has been my favourite store for a long time, and I am so delighted for them that they have grown so much that they are doing partnerships/collaborations with other companies and also expanding out of the north, with a few stores now popping up in the midlands. Go Kenji! We spotted this notebook in HMV, and I absolutely adore that it features most of the store's original characters, apart from the frog and the orange cat. It's also a really thick notebook and has the cream pages that I prefer. Only time will tell if it ends up being added to my hoard of notebooks that I can't bring myself to use, haha! 

Look how precious these babies are!! It's been well over a year now since these endearing Pucky X Pop Mart figures became my new favourite collectable blind boxes, and if it wasn't for the fact we've been experiencing a cost of living crisis in the UK since then, I'd have so many by now! These adorable little vinyl figures are always so well detailed and brilliant quality. I love that many of them come with tiny accessories, too, and the fact that there's loads of versions available. My most sought after collection is the Animal Tea Party Pucky Babies, which is where the two figures above come from. My sister bought me these for Christmas and I couldn't wait to open them in all the festive excitement. I probably should have included a photo of all the different figures you can find inside these blind boxes, but the ones I wanted most were Ducky Baby and Poker Rabbit Baby (as it looks like the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland!). It must have been the Christmas magic because I only went and got Ducky Baby in my first box!! What a sweetheart he is with his tiny duckling mug!! I'm obsessed with how each of these cuties come with their own mug for the tea party. I was just as happy to get Squirrel Baby because there's not one Pucky Baby in this series that I don't like. A big thank you to my sister for making my Christmas Day so wonderful! 

In the previous photo, I featured another of the Animal Tea Party blind boxes and that's because the other gifts that my best friend got for me were Pucky Babies blind boxes!! Thank you so much, Jess ♥ I was super close to choosing two of the Tea Party ones as there was a deal on 2 in the Kenji Arndale store; I can't remember the price though, but I hope they keep that deal as a permanent thing! However,  I was so intrigued by the packaging of the Pucky Festival Babies! Each figure is dressed in a traditional outfit to represent elements of a festival celebrated in Asia, and they all have a gorgeous design! I'll get around to opening them on my tiktok soon, so keep on the lookout, fellow toy fans! 

Well, that's all I've got for you today, guys! I really hope that this was an interesting read and that I had you all thinking 'AWWW!' at some point thoroughout. Please let me know your thoughts on this new monthly series idea :) I am very glad that talking about some of the cutesy things I've gotten over the last several months with you all has pulled me out of that blogging slump that I was starting to worry would never end. It's good to be back, and I hope I can stick at it! Much better than I can stick at keeping my word count down... I think that one's an impossible hurdle for me though! Wishing you all an excellent month of May (in addition to being a fan of the adorable things in life, I am also a Eurovision Song Contest fan so I'm very much looking forward to that!). 

Thank you for reading! 

♥

What's the cutest thing you've bought lately?

Also, tell me what you're looking forward to next month! 

I've been a lot more active on my social media lately, 

so why not give me a follow over there?: 

| Instagram | Tiktok | Twitter | Tumblr | 

You Are Enough Planner by The Latest Kate

Hello, lovelies! Long time, no see read... (that sounded more funny in my head!). Please ignore my rusty first line, it's been so long since I've written a post intro and I was never particularly good at them in the first place :D If you follow me over on Instagram, you may have seen my gorgeous new planner! I recently shared a photo of it, and promised to blog all about it, so here we go. FYI: I'm obsessed with it already!

LOOK AT THAT COVER! Isn't it the most adorable thing you've ever seen!? That tiny bumblebee now fills me with happiness every single day. Most of my readers are also fellow lovers of the cute things in life, so will likely recognise the artwork style right away, but if not, Kate Allan, aka The Latest Kate, is the artist and you seriously need to give them a follow over on Twitter and Instagram, because their art is the loveliest, with each piece featuring a cute creature along with a signature uplifting quote. With the world seemingly getting more and more crap each day, seeing these types of wholesome messages is even more important for our mental well-being, and so what's better than a planner filled with them? Sometimes venturing online can be overwhelming, for so many reasons, and so being able to see Kate's artwork without logging onto social media has been great! 

I am so impressed with this planner that I just had to share all about it, and give you all my first impressions, plus show off the pages you will find inside :) 

The first thing you will be greeted with when you open up the You Are Enough planner by The Latest Kate (side note: how lovely is that title though?) is a sheet filled with the most wonderful little animal stickers. All of the bee ones include sweet captions and I absolutely love that. I can't possibly choose a favourite, but the rainbow dinosaur and the sleeping bumble on the flower are up there! Which is the best, in your opinion? 

The next page you will find inside the planner is a 2023 overview calendar. I've never required my planners to have sheets like these, as there's not really space to make a note next to the dates and I am a perpetual over writer! However, I'm sure lots of people find them very handy to be able to circle important dates to remember, that they can make a more detailed note of elsewhere in the planner. The back of the planner includes two more pages like this one, one for 2022 and another for 2024. Personally, I would have liked all three of these pages to be grouped together, especially because the 2022 one is at the back and easy to forget about as its located after the main planner pages. Maybe using this page will prompt me to be more organised when it comes to planning things in advance :) 

Something that I find adorable about this planner is that so many of the pages are in pastel colours! As a fan of kawaii culture, something that is very much pastel in aesthetics. I find this so visually appealing. I also feel like it will help my writing to stand out more, than if it was surrounded by darker shades, if that makes sense. I've always had a tough time sticking to writing in planners daily, so little things like this can really make a difference for me. 

After the calendar overview page, you will find monthly calendars, with a box for you to jot down notes for each date. These are the type of calendars that I much prefer as I can jot down people's birthdays, appointments, etc. As the You Are Enough planner runs from September 2022 until December 2023, these are the dates included for the monthly section, with each one being in a different pastel shade. They note important holidays and special days from across the world, such as Diwali and Earth Day, as well as the different moon phases, which is one of my favourite features. I love to take photographs of the full moon :) 

Cute bird alert!! The next section of the planner is where all of the beautiful artwork begins! Of course, the large majority of the planner is made up of weekly pages, with each of the seventy weeks being accompanied by an A5 print of Kate's art, and oh my gosh, they are all such a joy to look at! I am super happy with how spacious the weekly pages are; there's lots of room to write in each box, and I'm very glad to see that Saturday & Sunday have an equal amount of space. I've bought so many planners in the past that have made the weekend into one bigger box, and it's so frustrating! 

The only detail I would personally change about the weekly page set up is that the bottom left corner space is taken up by a mini calendar. Again, this may just be because I am not a fan in general of these number calendars, where you can only highlight a key date, but I would have liked to see a blank box, maybe titled as 'notes' so I could jot down extra things, or even just have a blank square to decorate with stickers, washi tape and/or a little doodle or something. What do you guys think? 

I am seriously in love with the artwork in this planner! Here's the design for my birthday week next year; I was so chuffed to find a cat there, especially when it could totally be a Maine Coon or Norwegian Forest Cat (my two favourite breeds)! It's so great that when you have completed using the planner, you could cut out your favourite art pieces and display them on your wall/in a frame. You're essentially getting seventy The Latest Kate art prints for only around £10... it's amazing! I got mine from Book Depository here. The special days and also the moon calendar dates are printed onto the weekly pages, too, which is awesome, as I am always in need of a reminder. I have a tendency to forget things if I don't have some sort of visual reminder. Who's the same? 

I love that there's a variety of different colour schemes and themes included throughout this planner. One page may have a super colourful, bright illustration of a dragon, and the next has a couple of foxes coloured in calm shades of blue and purple. It's so wonderful! Such attention-to-detail has been put into these designs, with some of the themes matching up with the season. There's a pretty bird sitting in a pink blossom tree in the April section, for example. The margins/grids for each weekly page are a different colour, which is a very nice touch. 

At the back of the sixteen month's worth of weekly pages, you'll find two pages allocated for 2024 planning. On each, you're given a few lines for every month of the year. I think this is a great idea, as lines are a lot more spacious than an alternative design, such as grid calendar. After this are the 2022 and 2024 overview calendars I mentioned earlier, and I just think maybe these pages could have been used for something else, like a budgeting/expenditure planner, a page for your details in case you somehow lose your planner, etc. I mean, other people might need these kinds of pages in their planners, so it's all down to preference, and it's only 3 pages out of 176 that I won't use much :) 

The final section of the You Are Enough planner is made up of notes pages. I counted thirteen sides, so there's lots of room! I'll probably use these pages to write up detailed plans for special events, like if I'm going somewhere for a day out, I might make a note of important details such as addresses and local attractions, stuff like that. All of the note pages are blue, which for some people will be preferred as it categorises the section. I think it would have been cool to have these pages in different colours to keep in with the colourful theme of the rest of the planner, but the colours of the pages don't impact the functionality of the planner. It's fantastic regardless of my thoughts about little feature changes. 

Check out the sleeve/pouch on the back page of the planner!! It's so eye-catching being in vibrant yellow and with the most fabulous multi-coloured dinosaur, that matches one of the stickers at the start. They're iconic and I've named them Nijiro. Nijiro will now be the handy guardian of my cute little planner tabs and stickers! I really love how the yellow contrasts with the muted blue tone of the notes pages, Like bam! it's a surprise dino! 

Toadstool dragon!?! HE'S SO PRECIOUS!

All-in-all, I absolutely adore my new planner! I look forward to writing in it each day, and I hope that continues to be the case. As someone who seems to be a chronic starter- none finisher when it comes to projects, it has always been a struggle to keep up with these sorts of things, but I am feeling really confident about the You Are Enough planner. 

Just some final opinions I don't want to miss out of my review... I really like that this planner is spiral-bound, as it can be super frustrating not being able to lay a page flat when writing. I have fibromyalgia and one of the symptoms I struggle with is wrist pain, so I need notebooks and planners that don't make it unnecessarily challenging to write! Also, the paper used to make this planner is such nice quality and thick. I haven't tried out if felt-tip pen or highlighter ink bleeds through to the other side yet, but I feel like it's not going to be a problem. Another detail that is awesome about this planner is that it has been printed using soy ink! There's just so many things that make this newest planner by Kate Allan so brilliant, and I can't recommend it enough. What a great value for your money, too. I'm surprised it's so affordable for the quality :) If you're looking for a new planner, get yourself this one! You won't regret it! 

I hope you all enjoyed reading today's post and checking out this lovely planner by The Latest Kate. Be sure to go check out their artwork, and the other books and planners they've published. As the weekend approaches, I wish you all a marvellous one! Keep a look out my next post early next week, that will be all about what I bought on my recent trip to Manchester where I visited my favourite kawaii store, Kenji. 

Thank you for reading!

♥

Are you a fan of writing in planners? 

I'd love to hear all about your favourite ones!

Mal Paper Daily Goal Setter Planner*

Hello lovelies! If you've been a regular reader of my blog for a while now, you will know how much I adore anything notebook and planner-related, whether that's list pads, weekly planner sheets, or more diary/agenda style planners. I write so many to do lists; ones for my daily schedule, ones for my weekly goals and much more. I was certainly in need of a more organised way of keeping track of my daily objectives that didn't leave me with a mass of random papers or 10+ new phone notes by the end of the week. I had actually been researching different types of planners, to find one that suited me when I received an email from Mål Paper very kindly offering to send me one of their Daily Goal Setter Planners*. I was delighted because this was such perfect timing, and I couldn't wait to see what this planner was like. I've had my Mål Paper planner for a couple of weeks now so it's time to tell you all what I think! I hope you all enjoy reading :) 

I wanted to start off by telling you all more about Mal Paper & their debut product. Firstly, I absolutely love the name of this company! Mål is the Swedish world for goals, and as my friends will know I really love languages, especially from the Nordic countries, so I can't say that this didn't make me instantly more interested in the planner, haha! Mal Paper's mission is to create stationery products that help people complete their goals, by promoting the habit of positive thinking and focusing on your most important tasks, without getting too overwhelmed when it comes to achieving  the milestones that allow you to work towards your long-term, mid-term and short-term goals. They are inspired by the Scandinavian 'clean and clutter-free way of living', and this definitely comes across in the daily goal setter planner.

'At Mal Paper, our aim is to help with your daily productivity, positivity and motivation. We create the tools you need to get your dreams down on paper and make your goals a reality'. 

The daily goal setter planner is available in three varieties, all with a hardback cover: pink, grey or black. Which one would you choose? I opted for black because it's one of my favourite colours, plus I feel like everything just looks more professional in black, don't you think? The planner is undated and has six months worth of planning space over 244 pages. The paper inside is ivory in colour, which I prefer so much more to white paper; again, I personally feel like this just makes the planner look a lot more high-quality and professional. Throughout the planner, you will find sections for monthly, weekly and daily planning, as well as advice on how to become a more efficient planner and how to have more success when setting goals and completing them. 

Oh, and there is also a document folder/pocket at the back of the planner to keep any loose notes in. I think this will be super handy for storing any important receipts, letters, tickets, etc. So, let's take a look inside the planner... 

I really like how this planner includes a contents page because right away, you just know that it is going to be very organised and structured, which is a reflection of how I want my schedule to be! As you can see from the list of sections found within, the first seventeen pages are going to be dedicated to advice on how to use the planner more effectively. The daily goal setter planner is very detailed but in an easy to use way. The advice pages are very useful in explaining ways to help yourself get started when it comes to setting realistic and achievement goals, and providing tips on how you can start having a more positive outlook on completing your day-to-day tasks. After these pages, you will find the goal setter pages, featuring sections for recording your long-term goals, medium-term goals, and short-term goals. Then on to the monthly, weekly and daily pages, which make up the rest of the planner, other than a notes section at the back. I'm a big fan of how well set out and orderly this planner is! 

The advice sections start with the cheat sheet, and begin by explaining how you can make the most of your day, in terms of achieving more and working through your to-do-lists by following a morning and evening routine when using the daily goal setter planner. Each of the daily pages start with a section to list three things that you are grateful for and one to make a positive affirmation for the day, that you are encouraged to say aloud to yourself several times to help start of your morning on a brighter note that will hopefully carry through the rest of the day.  

Next, you write down the tasks that you want to accomplish that day, and grade them using the ABCDE method (attributed to Eat That Frog!, a book by Brian Tracy). This method involves marking the tasks you need to get done using a specific letter that indicates how important it is or whether it can wait until another day. You are advised to complete all of your A tasks, before moving on to the next letter as it is shown that you are more likely to accomplish more if you get the more important tasks completed first. It goes on to mention that if you complete some of your less important tasks first, it can often leave you feeling overwhelmed and pressured because your most important tasks are still not done yet, and personally I can totally recognise this problem in myself. It might seem easier at the time to complete the smaller tasks first but then I often run out of energy, made worse by the fact that I also struggle with chronic illnesses, and then I beat myself up about not having done the tasks that I wanted to complete the most! 

The evening routine involves checking off the tasks you have managed to get done, and reflecting on any that you haven't, thinking about why that may be and ways that you can have a better chance of doing it the next time you try. However, the most important thing that Mal Paper emphasises is that you reflect on the positive moments... 'Making a daily habit of reflecting on the great things that happened will build confidence in yourself to make things happen'. There is a section at the bottom of each daily page for you to record the greatest things that happened, as well as an option to rate your day.

I know that I've just been explaining the daily routines to you all, but I want to show you the planner sections in order, so above is an example of what the goal setter pages look like. As I mentioned before, there are pages for long (years), medium (six months to a year) and short-term (within a month) goals, each section being spread across two pages with space to set 14 goals in each.  Mal Paper advises you to include the four W's when recording your goals: what, when, why & who, as well as how, because this allows you to work out exactly what is required to ensure your goals are accomplished! 

The cheat sheet for the goal setter part of the planner tells you to use something called the S.M.A.R.T method when setting your goals, which I think is another super useful tool. It can be challenging to set goals without worrying that you will not be able to complete them, but the format and suggestions in the daily goal setter planner make it a lot less daunting, as goals seem much more achievable. I have so far listed one goal into each of the sections: learning to drive in my long-term goals, writing my novel in my medium-term goals and in my short-term goals, to organise my bedroom/belongings in order to prepare to start decorating. I really like how the goal section is set out, as it helps me to break down my goals into achievable and for lack of a better word, more bite-size tasks. This makes them seem less overwhelming. I am feeling more confident that they are realistic goals that I can actually achieve thanks to this planner :) 

The latter parts of the planner are the monthly, weekly and daily reviews. The above photo shows the monthly review, which is set out very similar to the Filofax planner I own, with a calendar grid and an area for general notes. I am very glad the planner includes one of these as I like having a calendar to record appointments and important dates, such as pay days and when bills are due. The squares are a decent size for recording things so that's great. However, I would have liked the grey square for filling in the numbers to have been a little larger as it was a squeeze for me to keep my writing within the box. I also wish that the word 'day' along the top of the calendar wouldn't have been printed in the middle of the box because I have to write over the top of it to fill in the days of the week and that it looks a little messy as a result. I feel like they should have been kept blank, but that's all down to personal opinion and doesn't effect my use of the planner. 

The parts that are unique to the Mal Paper planner are the 'most important tasks of the month' and 'review/rate your month' sections under the calendar. These sections are brilliant as they help you to focus on prioritising certain tasks on your to-do-list, and I think it will be nice to be able to look back on the month with positivity. Even if you didn't manage to complete everything you wanted to, your top five most important tasks will likely have been accomplished using the guidance given within the planner. 

I really like that the daily goal setter planner is undated, because you can start using it whenever you want, and if you happen to be having a very stressful time where you don't feel like using your planner because you don't need anymore added pressure, you can put it away and go back to it when you're ready. 

As you can see, the weekly review is broken down into the 'five most important tasks of the week', 'tasks of secondary importance' and 'additional tasks'. I very much like this method of breaking down your to-do-lists and spreading them out into categories based on their importance, because it makes them more manageable. Once you have filled in the weekly review, it will be easier to allocate each task to various days throughout the week and write them onto your daily review pages, maybe adding one of your top five important task to each day so that they are more achievable. 

Mal Paper encourages you to refer back to your goals when setting your weekly tasks, so that you can include things that are stepping stones to help you to eventually complete your goals, which I think its a great habit to incorporate into your routine that will really help you to achieve your goals. I am definitely someone who needs all the help I can get with this, as I feel a lot of pressure to complete goals once I set them but don't really know where to start when it comes to making them actually happen, if they are not small, short-term goals. I'm hoping that the daily goal setter planner will give me the motivation and push I need! 

I absolutely love the partition pages spread throughout the daily review section of the planner. It definitely needed them to break up six months worth of pages! I am a big fan of the simplistic black page with white lettering, and who doesn't love a motivational quote!? It provides that little something to remind you to keep working to achieve your goals as you proceed through the planner :) There's a title page at the start of the daily review section that I think is fantastic because it reminds me of the dividers I had in my Pukka notebooks and ring binders at school. I just like when things are organised into clear-cut sections, and to be honest, I think it would have been great if each of the sections had one of these title pages. 

I can now finally show you the sections of the daily review pages that I mentioned when discussing the morning and evening routines earlier in my post. Each page begins with an area to list 'three things to be grateful for'. I do really like this feature as it reminds me of gratitude planners, however I feel like I would want to fill in this section at the end of the day when reflecting on the little things in life that make me happy during each new day VS in the morning, but I understand the idea is to start off your day thinking more positively so I've been giving it a go nonetheless :) 

Afterwards, you jot down a daily affirmation, which is a lovely concept :) I wrote on my page for August 1st 'today, I am going to kick anxiety's ass!' and repeating that multiple times to myself, as Mal Paper advises, did make me feel more content and less worried about all of the things I had to get done that day. 

You can then move onto 'today's tasks/notes', which is where you record your to-do-list. I like that there are circles to tick/check off your tasks as you complete them. I am used to having to draw my own tiny boxes on whatever list pad or notepaper I am normally using, haha! There's a column for grading each of your tasks using the ABCDE method notes in the cheat sheets, and there are three shaded lines for you to write the top three most important tasks of that particular day.  Another thing that I really like about the daily section of this planner is the amount of space that you are given; there are enough lines for 18 tasks, which is more than enough for one day in my opinion! 

Here is a look at the other part of the daily pages, the area relating to the suggested evening routine, where you can reflect on the best parts of your day and also give it a rating from 1-10. I think the 'great things that happened today' section is an excellent idea! I feel like this kind of makes the planner double as a diary in a way, giving you the ability to look back and remember lovely things that occurred on a given day :)

So other than the couple of notes pages and the document pocket at the back, that's everything that you will find inside the daily goal setter planner. As a whole, the layout is very organised and well-structured, and that is something that I really love about it. I usually opt for planners that allow for more creative freedom when it comes to structure, but I do struggle with organising my tasks so I want to try something different. As I am someone that feels more content with familiar routines, I am very curious to see if this more ordered way of planning will be the right one for me! What do you think of the methods and structure in this planner? Does it sound like something that would be helpful for you? 

I wanted to finish up my review by sharing some photos of how I have filled in my new planner. Although I am someone who finds simplicity aesthetically-pleasing so I love the way this planner looks, I am also someone who needs to add a little more character and colour into my planners to make it more inviting and to motivate myself to keep at it! So here's how I incorporated some of my personality into the pages... 

For the monthly review, I decided to create a key to make it easier to organise my calendar. I have colour-coded my pay days, my blogging schedule and one of my other hobbies, toy photography. I have symbols for recording when I receive mail or when I spend money (to help me keep track of my expenditure). I like to keep a note of special events/holidays that are happening each month so I have written those in. Lastly, I have added stickers throughout because I need to bring cuteness into every part of life apparently :D 

Overall, I am lovin' the daily goal setter planner and I'm looking forward to seeing how it helps me accomplish my to-do-lists and achieve my goals. I forgot to mention some features that I really like about the planner so I'll note them here. The cover is made of faux leather and has a somewhat padded feel to it, and this makes it more durable and easier to wipe clean if anything accidently spills onto it and such, which I think is fabulous. The simple gold lettering on the cover is so pretty! Also, the planner comes with two ribbon page-markers so you can easily find your monthly review and whichever daily review page you are currently writing on, so those are very handy. Oh, and at the bottom of the goal setter pages, there are some motivational quotes, and I think this is a wonderful detail to include :) I think £20.95 for this planner is a great price. It may look simple, but it is actually much more intricate and detailed inside and all of the advice sections will be very helpful to lots of people. Finally, I just want to say thankyou to Mal Paper for sending me one of their gorgeous planners ♥ And I hope you all enjoyed my review! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

What do you think of the Daily Goal Setter Planner?

Do you have a favourite feature?

(*) All posts/content marked with an asterisk signify that the item(s) featured have been gifted or sent to me for the purpose of review. I have kindly been sent the product featured in this post in exchange for a review. See my full disclaimer here.

Kenji & Flying Tiger Haul

Hi everyone! Happy Monday! I hope you're all having an awesome start to the week :) Today, I have been trying to endure this sweltering weather! And catch up on my favourite shows, so its been one of those 'lazy' days. I thought I better try to do at least one productive thing today, and finally share a post that so many of you guys requested. If you follow me over on Instagram, you might have seen my posts about my day out on Thursday last week, when I went on a shopping spree in Preston city with my best friend. I was super looking forward to visiting some stores that unfortunately my local town centre doesn't have, and as a consequence I got a little overexcited and spent more than I probably should have. Oops! Although to be honest, I was very much in need of a dose of retail therapy, and I picked up some lovely things. The stores that I was most enthusiastic about going to were Flying Tiger/Tiger and the most adorable store called Kenji, and after seeing me share video snippets on my story, lots of my wonderful friends said that they would love for me to do a haul post, so here we are! Enjoy! 

I absolutely adore both of the stores who's products I am featuring in today's post, mostly because they sell unique and quirky items, that can be more difficult to find unless you shop online. When it comes to the kinds of cutesy stuff that I like, I usually have to purchase them via the internet so it's a lovely change to be able to get them in store, and enjoy the experience of browsing the shelves and filling up a basket. Plus my best friend gets a good laugh out of watching my reactions apparently XD I tend to get very giddy and 'squeeee' a lot when I am surrounded by pretty stationery and adorable products! 

Flying Tiger or just Tiger as it used to be called, is a Danish company that reminds me of Ikea, selling a range of products, from stationery and kitchen and bathroom ware, to children's toys and games, and all kinds of really useful items. Something that very much appeals to me about the store is how many novelty-style products it sells... for example, the first time I visited, I bought a tin case with a handle that was shaped like a tomato with a cute face on XD Yeah, those sorts of things are right up my street! 

Kenji on the other hand is a newer and less-well known company, with only four shops in the North of England, including Preston, Manchester, Warrington & Bury. It is another store that sells a multitude of items, such as kitchen products, accessories, giftware, plushies and my favourite, stationery! And all of them are Japanese inspired. I am just in love with this store, and I really hope that they become more popular and can expand throughout the UK. 

I'll show you all what I picked up at Tiger first! 

How flippin' cute are these two notebooks that I bought!? 

There goes my temporary notebook ban out of the window... I knew it wouldn't last long :D I have so many notebooks that I haven't even written in yet, and I told myself I had to stop buying new ones, but I cannot resist. I just love them so much! I am always writing, but with the amount of notebooks I have, it still seems impossible to use them all. Although, I do have several that I have some sort of attachment to and cannot bring myself to write in them. My fellow notebook hoarders, please tell me I'm not alone in this :') 

My attention was instantly grabbed by the hamster notebook, which is actually an exercise book style of notepad. There were several designs and it was pretty difficult for me not to just buy them all but I was trying so hard not to come home with too many notebooks...what is too many though ;) I chose the yellow one because I am a big fan of the colour, it's so happy and bright, and I love the pink and yellow combo. The main reason I was drawn to this notebook is because seeing it hit me with a wave of nostalgia. If you've ever seen the anime series Hamtaro, then you'll remember the scene on either the first or second episode (but don't quote me on that) when the main human character of the show is shopping for notebooks with hamsters on. Well, seeing this hamster exercise book made that scene immediately pop into my mind, and I had to have it.

I bought the small notebook with beetles on the cover because a) the nature geek in me loves insects, and b) because I'm a sucker for anything colourful. There was actually an entire range of products in store, found across all the different sections, with these beetles on, but I fought the urge to buy more and just stuck to the notebook. Those fabulous rainbow pens were from the LGBT+ Pride section. It was fantastic to see a pride section, selling flags and colourful dinnerware for hosting pride parties. I wanted to pick up something and chose these pens (one for me and one for my friend), because just look at those pom-poms and vibrant colours!!

Just look at that bunny bead set! Yes, I'm 26 years old and yes, I had no second thoughts about putting this bead set straight into my basket :D When I said that I was a fan of novelty-shaped things, I meant it. The fact that the beads came in a rabbit-shaped container is what made me have a mighty need; getting all of those lovely, bright beads is just an added bonus. I'm looking forward to sitting in the garden in the sunshine making bracelets, and I love that I can re-use the container for storing little bits and bobs after. 

Something cool about Tiger is that it has a snacks section and there's some really interesting things available that I need to try some time, but as soon as I spotted a pack of six stroopwafels for just £2, I couldn't say no. If you've never tried these scrumptious Dutch caramel wafers before, you really need to! 

I've been after some food shaped erasers for a while now, to use for my toy photography hobby. For anyone who's new to my blog, I am a collector of vinyl figures and toys, and alongside that I do toy photography. I have a dedicated Instagram if you'd like to check it out here. I want to start creating my own set-up's with props, and I thought that novelty erasers could be incorporated into this, e.g. for a picnic scene. I love that this little set from Tiger came in a container too, so I won't loose them. I used to own quite a few of these cute erasers as a teenager but I lost them all! So the plastic tub will definitely come in handy. 

Aren't these just the best highlighters that you've ever seen? I know that they are for me! Something that's amazing about Tiger is how cheap their products are! This pack of highlighters was the most pricey individual item that I bought, and they were only £3! I have always been curious about pastel-coloured highlighters, whether the shades would be very visible and such, so I thought why not finally find out! If I didn't like them, then I could still keep these little ice lolly shaped ones for summery photography props or whatever. I am a lover of pastel colours and I like mini highlighters that are easy to fit into a pencil case, but I'd never seen anything like these before so I had to get them. Which is your favourite colour? I love the blue one, as when used it looks more like a mint shade :)

Apologies for bombarding you all with photos of stickers, but I wanted to show what each sheet looked like close up VS trying to squash all six into one shot. Who else loves stickers? They are another stationery item that I have managed to build up quite a collection of over the last ten years or so, but I do actually use them, mostly for when I'm writing letters or cards to my penpals and loved ones. Tiger have a marvellous deal, 2 for £1 which I am over the moon with, considering how many stickers you get, the quality of them and the fact that you can see how much thought has gone into their design. 

I hardly ever see stickers of sea creatures so that's the main reason I chose those, and also because they are so colourful and cheerful! I picked up the dogs for my friend, the cat sheets because cats are amazing, and the reptile one because reptiles are my favourite group of animals! Which is your favourite sticker sheet of the bunch? 

So that's everything that I purchased from Tiger (other than two things that I bought for my niece). I've just realised that I didn't tell you how much some of the items cost, so I'll list those before showing you my Kenji haul :). The Pride pens were £1 each, the erasers were £2, the hamster exercise book was £2 as well as the beetle one, too. Oh, and the bead set was £2. 

I only did a small haul at Kenji, compared to Tiger because I had spent quite a lot of my budget at this point and still had to get lunch, as well as go back to pick up some pretty desk drawers that I'd spotted earlier in the day at TG Hughes for £14.99. Again, the notebooks stole my otaku heart, and thank goodness that I had a budget as there were so many amazing ones to choose from! It was tough to choose and I swapped things in and out of my basket several times as I walked around the store, haha! 

I picked up this mini notebook with an alpaca/llama on the cover solely because alpacas have been one of my favourite animals since I was about 14, and they look especially cute in designs that are inspired by Japanese and Korean animation. Seriously, Japan makes the most fabulous alpaca products, and I have accumulated a fair few alpaca plushies by the Japanese brand, Amuse :D This notebook was £2. 

The other two notebooks that I couldn't leave the store without  were £2.50 each, and oh my gosh, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the designs/prints on their covers. The price is such a bargain in my opinion because the quality is fantastic and the covers are so incredibly sweet, and are printed on the front and back of the notebook. Also, I didn't realise until I took the notebooks out of the plastic film they were sealed in before taking these photos, that the texture of the cover is lovely. I don't know what it is about inanimate objects given cute faces, but I can't help but adore them! There was another version of these notebooks available too that I so wanted to get, a lilac one with another sky/galaxy theme on. I have a feeling that the notebooks I bought from Kenji might end up being added to the stash of ones that I cannot bring myself to use in case I spoil them. That's how delighted I am with them! 

The final items from my Kenji haul are a set of floral tealights and a tiny porcelain duck. Haha, I know that the latter is very random, but let me explain! When I was a child, I used to collect small ornaments, and I would buy them each time I visited the market in my hometown. Even though I don't collect them anymore (I still kept my childhood collection, of course!), I just think its a part of me now to be drawn to little ornaments and sometimes I can't resist buying them. I obviously needed this little puddle duck in my life and I will name him and he will be the best duckie friend ever :3 

Lastly, I picked up this pack of four flower shaped tealights candles simply because I really liked the yellow one that looks like a sunflower and at only a £1 per set, it was an offer I couldn't pass up on. I really like how each tealight has a completely different design and colour, and not only are they functional, but they also make great props. It's all about the props when you're a blogger XD Another thing that I think is superb about this product is how simply yet nicely it is packaged... I'm lovin' the flower tie. They would make great gifts :) 

Well, we've reached the end of my haul. I hope that you all enjoyed reading, even if I did get a little rambley in parts :D I cannot recommend these stores enough, they have something to suit everyone's taste. Be sure to check out the Kenji and Flying Tiger websites for more information. I'd love to know if you guys have visited either of these stores, and what you bought so please let me know in the comments! 

Thankyou for reading! 

♥ 

What is your favourite item that I mentioned in my post? 

Have you bought anything nice lately? Tell me all about it :)