Organising my life with Smythson Bond Street

Yep, it's been a long time since my last blog post! Life basically came along and took over. Having recently bought my first house (!!) with the bf, it's been a rather hectic couple of months. Amidst all the unpacking, painting, carpet refitting, designing a new kitchen, and generally running around like headless chickens, I realised I needed to be much better organised. And what better way to do that than jotting down daily plans between waiting for layers of paint to dry?

Over the next few days/weeks/months, I plan to gradually sort everything and, as I expect to have a lot more spare time on my hands for the foreseeable future, I'm back to blogging!

With that in mind, I set out to look for my first ever actual organiser (Android apps don't count). It needed to be of eye candy material (encourages me to use it daily), sturdy quality, and perhaps most importantly, it must be of a motivational colour (PINK, of course).

I would have gone for a Filofax Original in Fluoro Pink, if its intense fluorescent pinkness (think pink highlighter shade) didn't make my eyes bleed. Much as I adore pink in most shades, I didn't think I could stomach looking at something that bright on a daily basis.  

After much disappointment, an unexpected email lead me to SMYTHSON! 

A British manufacturer of predominantly luxury stationery, as well as leather goods, Smythson was established in 1887, so they've been in the industry for quite some time. I received one of their newsletters and decided to check it out on the off chance that they might have something. While browsing, this little beauty caught my eye...

It was delivered in a blue box, tied with ribbon - ideal for gifting (or in this case, gift to myself!)

I was also sent a handy storage bag.

Inside the box there's a care card and blank gift card.

And underneath... The pink Smythson Bond Street Organiser!

Dimensions - W14cm x H19cm

Made of gorgeous fine grained calf skin, the quality of this organiser speaks for itself; its leather feels supple yet strong, and the stitchings are perfect as expected. I like how there are two buttons on the strap - one for when the organiser isn't so full, and another for when it's filled to the moon.

The inside of the organiser is a lighter pink. Even though I'm not a gold person, I love the light pink/gold rings combination! On the left hand side, there are three pocket flaps (for loose paper etc) and a gold coloured SMYTHSON pencil.

On the right hand side, there's a pen loop with another pocket flap (just visible underneath the inserts).

Included inserts are - a blue diary divider, address & numbers divider, A-Z transparent dividers, few address inserts and some lined notepaper.

While the gold gilt edged inserts are pretty, they are just too impractical for me to keep. My experience with gilt edging is that with regular use, the colour inevitably fades/rubs off, which makes it look uneven. I have no use for the A-Z dividers or address inserts either, so I'll be removing everything and getting different inserts instead.

Once I've used it for a while, I'll do an update. But in the meantime, the finishing touches to my kitchen design await. How exciting >_<

Rilakkuma 2010 pocket schedule book/organizer

Some days I really don't mind being woken up early by the postie, and this is one of those days as I was brought one of the most adorable things I've ever seen!

San-X Rilakkuma usually comes on a yellow background, but I was happy to find a pink Rilakkuma schedule book with cute strawberries (one of my fave fruits) on the front; this was a custom purchase from an Etsy seller.


The schedule book says 2010, but starts in November 2009 and ends March 2011. It has a double page monthly calendar, followed by a page per week, and from what I've seen so far it has no repeating Rilakkuma pictures which keeps it interesting.

It's so small and handy compared to my current pink one (from Victoria's Secret) which is bulky, heavy (it does have ample writing space though) and empty most of the time since I just don't have that much stuff to write. I almost don't want to use start using this though, because it looks way too cute!

The Rilakkuma pictures are themed - I think this is a really nice touch. For example, January 2010 has him wearing scarves, there's a snowman and yarn; presumably because it's cold. Then there are Halloween and other festive themes too.


There are a few pages for notes at the back, cash book for expenditures etc, address pages, even a BMI chart and subway maps - I guess these are always useful!