2017 EDC: Bullet Journal, Roterfaden, Hobonichi, Traveler’s Notebook…

 

Happy 2017!

This post took longer than I planned but I wanted to start the first post of the new year with how my stationery “everyday carry” items evolved since when I started this blog last year.

1. Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A4

Last year, I had a post about custom A4 Roterfaden. The brown cover with grey suede inside material ended up going to my husband, and I decided to stick with an original size A4 (which wasn’t as big as I thought it was once I got used to it) with a black leather cover and “magnolia” felt inside. Main reason for the switch was weight. With A6 or A5, it probably wouldn’t add much, but the A4 size was significantly heavier for me when it has suede material inside compared to the one with wool felt.

2. Bullet Journal

My bullet journal is still going strong. I am thoroughly enjoying its flexibility and comprehensive coverage of all my needs. I upgraded the notebook to Stalogy 365 Notebook. It’s not exactly tomoe river paper but almost as thin. Supposedly it has 365 pages but its thickness is not even 15mm! You can see the notebook in the picture above — the black B6-size notebook just under Hobonichi Techo. I didn’t want to keep changing the journal too often, since I keep a lot of valuable notes that should be useful for a long time.

Very simple monthly view.

Daily notes and tasks. This is what I love the most about bullet journaling — flexibility. There is no confinement of the space; you write as much or as little as you need to according to each day’s needs. And I love how i can just jot down notes (even lengthy notes) without having to pull out a separate notebook.

3. Hobonichi Techo

Ok, not too proud of this but I had made an impulse purchase of Hobonichi Techo late last year. I was really looking forward to the new year and was ready to put it to a good use. And then…

Bullet journal happened!  >_<

Now that I no longer needed a daily planner, I had to come up with an alternate purpose for it in order to make peace with blowing those precious 33 bucks. So here is the re-purposed Hobonichi:

Is it a sketch book? Is it an art journal? Who cares what it’s called. Basically, I made a commitment to draw something on it each day. (I picked my best ones for the photo shoot here… Many are just simple line sketches. ^^) And because there is nothing more than humans that I enjoy drawing, they’re filled with various faces and poses. Keeping up with this during the week on work days has been challenging. I mean, I practically live at the hospital and come home only to sleep. What makes it work is the realization that I “slack” diligently throughout the work day. Of course no one can work and study non-stop. Of course my days are scattered with “informal” break sessions of browsing the net, reading news, or sometimes staring into empty space… So, if an idea hits, or I come across an interesting photo in the news article, I make a quick sketch. It can be as quick as two minutes.

On weekends or whenever I am off work (as I am this week, woo-hoo!!), I do spend more time on this and love it. For example, the couple of pages shown above are my ink wash practice/experimentation. I had recently developed an (expensive) hobby of fountain pens which then led to inks… I never cared for watercolor paintings, but for some reason, I find ink washes unbelievably beautiful. Thank goodness for ink samples. Otherwise, there would be nothing left of my paycheck. So there they are, my interesting subject of the day, trying out whatever shades of ink that strike my fancy.

4. Traveler’s Notebook

When I first started the blog, I believe I mentioned how I purchased ZLYC leather covers from Amazon rather than going for the original and expensive Midori Traveler’s Notebook. They’re still very useful — the passport size is still doing a great job as my wallet. I decided to splurge on Midori Traveler’s Notebook because I wanted one in black leather and Goulet Pens had a great package deal. I don’t regret my decision; it is truly wonderful. Compared to the cheaper ZLYC brand, the finishing touch really makes a difference. The way the cover folds is different. Finish of the leather is different. If you’re only interested in the functionality, ZLYC is absolutely fine. If you care about the fine details of product design, then be prepared to pay for the superiority. The most obvious difference can be seen on the edge of the leather:

If you can see in the picture above, the edge of the brown leather below (ZLYC) remains as a rough cut piece. The black leather (Traveler’s Notebook) on top, on the other hand, has smoothed, finished edges.

Anyways, this new Traveler’s Notebook can be found in my bag everyday as a companion to the Hobonichi Techo. I have a pouch inside which contains a pencil, a few Copic Multiliner pens, and brush pens — my mobile art supply so I can fill those daily pages in Hobonichi Techo no matter where I am. I also keep a notebook insert with tomoe river paper for more random sketches, and a Field Notes pocket notebook to jot down any quotes or personal notes/journals.

 

I hope you enjoyed the overview and the pictures. I love the format of blogs for in-depth discussions but recently realized Instagram to be a more convenient platform for sharing pictures. For more pictures inside my Hobonichi and other random stuff, look for jottermeow!

 

~meow~

 

Roterfaden Wk-12

Roterfaden Wk-12 Leather Cover

In this post, I will tell you about a different Roterfaden product, Wk-12. But first, some background…

When I posted about Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A5 along with various notebooks I was using in it, I really thought I found my perfect system. After a while though, I began to crave more space to write in my planner than Midori’s weekly insert can provide. So I jumped on the Hobonichi bandwagon and bought a “Cousin Spring,” which is the A5 version with April start (so, I didn’t feel as guilty about buying a new planner mid-year.) With it’s daily pages, I had all the space I could want! The yearly, monthly, and weekly views are great for planning. And then I use the daily pages for tasks, reminders, meeting notes, etc. It’s working as a planner and a notebook combined. It’s great!

But, here’s the problem: Carrying it around inside the Roterfaden A5 cover along with my other various crap made it too bulky. The solution? Roterfaden Wk-12 with a slimmer profile.

In wk-12, the leather material is quite different from the regular Roterfaden covers. Instead of the suede-like texture, its leather is shiny, and has wrinkled (?) texture. Probably the picture above tells it much better than I can describe… Also, instead of an elastic to keep the cover closed, wk-12 has two pen loops so that inserting a pen through them keeps it shut (see the picture at the top.)

The inside cover is made of dark gray suede with pocket configurations as you can see in this picture:

Inside pockets

The front cover pockets are perfect for keeping business cards and sticky notes. The back cover has one large pocket which I stuck the back cover of my Hobonichi as well as a thin notebook.

Wk-12 only comes with 2 clips, and so I used a rubber band around one of the clips to accommodate more inserts:

I have been using this set up for a month or so, and I quite like it. I have sheet protectors and business card protectors in the front (which are secured with rubber band around the clip), a Midori insert which I’m using as a personal journal, a Hobonichi cousin for work/school needs (without it, my life would fall apart), and an A5 notebook from Roterfaden for miscellaneous notes. (As an aside, this Roterfaden notebook is great in this setup. But I won’t be purchasing it again, as I find it too flimsy for general use.)

There’s something addictive about Roterfaden products. I love it so much that I ordered an A4 size, so that I can carry full size notebooks and print-outs. I believe it’s a combination of the ingenious clip mechanism — so simple yet so functional! — and the high quality but unpretentious design. Normally, an uncomfortable guilt overcomes me whenever I spend more than $100 on any product (doesn’t matter how well-justified, and doesn’t matter how much I earn), but spending on these Roterfaden products creates less guilt than usual. Could it be the fact that this is not some huge corporation, but a small business run by a few individuals who make products that actually go through their hands makes me feel like my purchase is more meaningful? Who knows…

Anyways, hope you enjoyed this review. More posts coming when I receive the A4 cover!

~meow~

Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter A5

I mentioned in my first post that I switched to Roterfaden after first getting acquainted with the traveler’s notebook. Both share the advantage of carrying multiple inserts/notebooks. While I love both systems, the Roterfaden is the one that would be found in my bag everywhere I go. Not only does it contain Midori weekly insert I used to have on my traveler’s notebook to keep me organized, it also carries my notebooks, allowing me to just grab this one thing and I have everything I need whether I am going to a meeting or to classes.

I purchased this beauty from Baum-kuchen, a beautiful online store that sells cute stationeries, personally-curated leather goods, and miscellaneous decorative items. It seems that Baum kuchen is one of the few US sellers that carry Roterfaden products at this point. The original Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter store in Germany offers a wide variety of personalization options and color/design combinations but production and shipping take a few weeks. I am not very patient in general, and the pre-made designs found in Baum-kuchen suit my needs just fine. I’ve purchased two Roterfaden covers — one regular, and the thinner Wk-12 model (the bottom one in the first picture), which I will post in more detail in the future. I will be discussing the regular, light brown A5 cover in this post:

The outside cover is made of suede leather and a tough, slightly-elastic fabric for the spine. Inside, there are pockets of varying sizes made of gray wool felt. It adds considerable thickness to the whole cover, but I came to like the stability it provides while still retaining some flexibility to mold its shape as needed.

I have a total of four notebooks inside — a weekly insert, two thin A5 notebooks, and one thicker A5 notebook. I played around with a few different set-ups and I believe I now have what works best:

#1: Midori Weekly insert

I simply removed this insert from the traveler’s notebook that I was using before and stuck it in here. As a planner, I prefer a horizontal weekly layout rather than vertical (Outlook calendar shows my exact hourly schedule vertically each day. My analog planner needs are slightly different…) I also love having the right side page blank so that I can jot down any notes during that week.

On the left side which is divided into seven days (Saturdays and Sundays get equal amount of space as any other day, yay!), I write important tasks and reminders for each day.

I’ve asked myself at some point, do I really need a paper planner when I have the Outlook to keep track of every hour of my day? Not that I am particularly a fan of Microsoft Outlook but it comes with the job. I tried using the task list functionality but just couldn’t stand it. Therefore, I need a paper planner and love it!

I am also re-using the Midori traveler’s notebook zipper pouch where I keep a few sticky notepads:

#2: Roterfaden dot-grid booklet

After the weekly insert and zipper pouch is a Roterfaden’s own insert — I chose dot-grid but they make variety of notebooks including ruled, grid, blank, sketchbook, etc. I like the design and the feel of the paper (fountain pen-friendly if you’re wondering). I don’t think I’ll be purchasing it again though. I have other favorites that are cheaper.

I use this little booklet for just jotting down random notes. I find it too small in capacity (20 sheets) to keep any long-term notes and so, prefer to use it for temporary purposes. The picture below shows Roterfaden insert on top of Muji notebooks. Both are advertised as A5 size but Roterfaden is a few milimeters smaller in dimension as you can see below:

#3: Muji grid notebook

My third item inside my Roterfaden cover is a Muji grid notebook which I got from Amazon — 5-pack 30-sheet notebooks. Very economical and paper quality is as good as Roterfaden and Leuchtturm in my novice opinion. For my note-taking habits, I find the size and the number of sheets just fine for a single class. My plan is to switch this out each semester. I can always add more if I need to keep notebooks for more than one class at a time.

A minor complaint I have for this notebook is that its cover is made of a very stiff paper. I like my notebook covers soft and pliable — I like the Roterfaden inserts in this regard. The stiff Muji cover means that I have to keep my left hand to press it down while I write on it. But again, it’s a very minor complaint and it’s so much more economical. I forget the exact price but the 5-pack Muji notebook (30-sheet) was still cheaper than the 3-pack Roterfaden notebooks (20-sheet).

As a side note, I used to carry manila folders to classes for printed reading materials and loose papers. No longer! The metal clips of the Roterfaden system let me to just stick them between my notebooks as you can see below, and they won’t fall out:

#4: Leuchtturm1917 grid notebook (soft cover)

I have a Moleskine soft cover notebook that I have been carrying around for several years where I kept all my notes relevant to my job as an oncology nurse. Whether I was reading up on something in our medical library or attend a conference or studying for my certification exam, it was all in a single notebook. I was very impressed how sturdy the “soft cover” turned out to be.

After I decided I like A5 size much better, I replaced Moleskine with Leuchtturm1917 out of curiosity. I’ve read that Moleskine papers are terrible for fountain pens but I wouldn’t know — I was not using fountain pens back then.

Anyways, now I have this A5 Leuchtturm1917 grid notebook as the fourth insert in my Roterfaden to serve the same function as the large Moleskine in the past. Unlike the other thin inserts, this is much thicker (>120 pages) and I mean to keep this same notebook for a long time. Therefore, the notes that go in here will be stuff that I’ll be referring to over and over again.

I am really loving this notebook for two reasons: page numbers and the content page in the beginning:

So far, I have written things like chemotherapy drugs, bone remodeling process, coagulation pathways… I find myself having to look these up more than once or twice, and keeping a semi-permanent notebook with an organized content list will be very useful.

 

Finally, the picture below shows you the back pocket with iPad mini:

It gets pretty heavy and thick with the tablet inside but I don’t carry the iPad all the time. When I do, however, the convenience of having everything I need at once is a huge advantage in my opinion.

So, this is how I use this Roterfaden Taschenbegleiter! (A great companion indeed!)

Feel free to ask me any questions regarding this product since I am sure there are things I’ve overlooked, and thank you for visiting!

~meow~

 

 

 

Habits, Preferences, and Priorities…

A blog about notes and notebooks! Yay!

Let me introduce myself:

I am a thirty-something year-old nurse in California who also happens to be a student. I’ve always loved notebooks and journals but it became quite an obsession recently. The precipitating factor? — Planners. Specifically, Erin Condren.

Yes, I jumped on the Erin Condren bandwagon and within a few months, managed to accumulate those bright, colorful planners and notebooks, which by now sit in my bookshelf half unused… I honestly don’t know what caused me to fall so hard for the style. It’s probably the novelty of the idea that you could “decorate” your planners. I had fun for a while (I even started buying stickers and tapes, wow…) until the “playfulness” of Erin Condren designs became too much to bear.

I then switched to Plum Paper planners which were lovely. I had been using the Moleskine Weekly Notebook to keep track of my work schedule and projects. The larger, prettier (but in a subdued way) Plum Paper was to keep track of everything personal. This worked for a while until I realized: 1. Carrying two planners didn’t make sense. 2. My bland personal life did not warrant all the space provided by the 7″x9″ size planners.

And then last year, I unexpectedly became a student again — a graduate program run by the Biomedical Sciences department of the hospital where I’ve been employed for the past few years. With my boss’ blessings, thus began my new life of perpetual running — running from classes to meetings, meetings to classes. This new life required a compact system of organization and planning, a simple planner where I could keep track of both work and school. (forget the personal, which I no longer had.)

Enter Traveler’s Notebook! With its slim design and the brilliant system of multiple inserts, it fit my needs perfectly. The beauty of leather cover was an added bonus. I should mention, my choice was not the extremely popular Midori Traveler’s Notebook, but a much cheaper look-alike by a company called ZLYC from Amazon. I had a monthly insert, weekly insert which had a similar layout as my favorite Moleskine weekly notebook, and a grid notebook insert to keep track of work projects, and a fourth insert for school notes and projects.

If you are a pen/paper enthusiast, you probably know traveler’s notebooks have a huge following, with countless Instagram photos and blogs and reviews. I am not exactly sure how it happened but somehow reading about how people used their traveler’s notebook led me to yet another product, Roterfaden Teschenbegleiter.

Roterfaden was a huge price jump for my comfort level, but here are the reasons I decided to splurge:

• Leather is beautiful. I became addicted to the smell and feel of it since I started using the traveler’s notebook.
• Roterfaden holds regular A5 size notebooks. In it, I still use the same weekly insert I previously had, but also put in several A5 notebooks for my classes.
• Pockets, pockets, pockets! One of the big pockets holds my iPad mini which I extensively use for reading pdf documents.

My notebook preferences have changed drastically — I won’t go into details since I’ve spent too many words describing my planner changes… But simply put, I’ve grown to love these compact, thin, and extremely portable A5 size books for my notes. This was unthinkable even only last year when my go-to notebook used to be an Extra Large Soft Moleskine notebook (pictured in the beginning.) Nowadays I am even finding myself constantly jotting things down in those tiny Field Notes.

I suppose more on notebooks will have to wait for the next time. This became way longer than I planned for my first post. Well, thank you for visiting and let’s see how this goes!