Friday thing : calendar(s)
More about my obsession with time.
I may have mentioned once or twice how much I enjoy calendars. I like to buy a new one far in advance of needing it as the filling-in gives me the good kind of chills. I was ecstatic when the July-June trend started as I, even before becoming an actual teacher and now post-career, have always believed in the new year starting when school does. Planning is my jam, as the young folks [from 1983] say.
I can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t have a calendar (or two) hanging in my room. I liked looking ahead to people’s birthdays, holidays, spring & summer breaks; as a tween & teen, I felt so mature adding babysitting jobs, band performances, and dances. When babysitting for my favorite family, I would flip through the mom’s datebook left out on the kitchen counter and dream of becoming as cool & worldly as she was. Mrs. R dressed with impossibly cool, casual style - very Banana Republic before they were in regular malls and had a factory outlet - and she smelled expensive yet approachable; her planner was pencil-filled with lunch dates at the Officers’ Club, important-sounding committee meetings, and of course the nights out when I would come over to watch her three adorable children. Her handwriting was unpretentious, effortlessly outlining what I imagined to be her full and fulfilling life. This represented ideal calendar use (read: Adult Life) to me.1
This might come as a huge surprise to anyone who hasn’t read more of my writing than the title of this post, but the look & feel of a calendar/planner is hugely important to me. To the point that I have either returned or given away new ones that just weren’t giving me the right vibes. [Related: choosing the images for my 2023 recap posts, part 1 and part 2, took at least half an hour.2]
Calendars/planners that make their way into my life must first of all use a font that is obviously readable yet interesting, contextual, and meaningful. Interesting in that it makes me tilt my head and/or raise my eyebrows, though this feature will be dismissed if it means a significant increase in cost. In other words, Times New Roman or other basic typeset is perfectly fine for the wall calendar that I need my husband to regularly read, remember, and follow; its context + is keeping us on the same page [literally] and happily married. Conversely, the planner I keep in my purse and look at daily needs an attractive font that conveys sophisticated maturity but in a cute [though not twee] way. A subtle serif or tilt here & there, mixing all lower case in some places with proper grammar elsewhere. Cursive or other elaborate lettering is welcomed only with month headings. Variety of fonts is - some Virgos might gasp here - a plus as long as they are either complementary in a funky way or obviously purposefully contrasting (Virgos relax now). Think Steampunk style or Vitamin String Quartet playing classic rock, or mixing polka dots & stripes of the same color family.
Other considerations:
Paper weight - must not allow ink to bleed onto the next calendar month or in the case of a planner, through to the backside of pages
Color and/or pattern - sets the tone for my feelings about the month/weeks/days: Basic black serious lines for the one my husband better look at; luxe pastels + metallic details so I can feel like a classy, put-together grown-up; sweet candy-colored tropical for muted grey office (though I might be disenchanted with this after summer…). This is a real thing.
Size - seems obvious but as much as I love the look of a small datebook, I will not properly use it because it doesn’t stay in my face, even with bright yellow lemons3 all over it. And I have dedicated areas with specific dimensions where calendars must go - bulletin board in kitchen area, felt board in office; I had to sadly return a sugar paper purchase because it was too big and I had no other place for it [shockingly]. Size also applies to the date blocks of course, must be large enough to put all the necessary info and sometimes cute reminder stickers.4
Miscellaneous details - I like spiralbound for my planner because if I have to fight to keep it open I will never use it. I want at least one of my calendars to show the moon phases, and wish none of them would list Indigenous Peoples’ Day by its former name but that’s still an unfortunately difficult ask. I also prefer a Monday start for the weeks but this is also apparently unusual.
Despite all of this lunacy, I gladly accept free calendars and will find ways to incorporate them into my life because the main point is that I like to see Time captured, conceptually, on a page. My mom gave me a page-a-day of different birds; I keep it on a table at the top of our stairs and joyfully pull off the previous day each morning and smile at the new bird featured. When insurance companies or charities send promotional calendars, I hang them with a magnet on the garage door. I use images from old calendars in cards and collages; sometimes I get distracted looking at what I had written on those days in past years.
I think there are worse things than wanting to keep track of time coming & going.
I do not dispute that I was [am] pretty nerdy and almost constantly in my head.
I’d like to say total but I also like to be honest. It was a chore.
Started strong when I got this one in the summer of 2018 but it soon disappeared into the depths of my tote, alas.
Speaking of spending far too much time searching for trivial things…
I definitely have an obsession with calendars. And have been since at least elementary school... I usually have at least 3 or 4 up around the house. I make a personalized calendar for Lis every year using pics of our friends and family and it always takes me forever to make. I like to have the right amount of pictures, right size space for daily notes/to dos, decorative options, and the fonts as well. I create my own bullet journal for work- and am particular about page size, paper quality, and spiral bound. My work week starts Tuesday (well- I tend to work 7 days a week if needed), so it is nice to be able to create my own calendar/journal that fits my schedule. As always- love to read anything and everything you write :)
Right there with you on spiral bound, Monday starts, school-year calendar, and no bleed-throughs! Alas, I caved and began primarily using my iCalendar (or whatever Mac calls it now) a number of years ago, but still print out a month at a time so I can see and write on it (and I've kept all my planners/calendars for at least the past 25 years, because HISTORY). My printed out calendar is hideous and not enjoyable at all. I just last week got myself a planner (Monday start, July-June) that fits in my purse and is making me so happy.