Who Doesn't Love Fun Mail?

To add a little more fun to my summer, I participated in the Back to School Blogger Exchange from Covered in Glitter and Glue and Adventures of Ms. Smith! I love, love, love fun things like this, so this was a delight and a half!

For this, I was paired with Britney at Tailor-Made Teaching. I was so excited to see my package sitting next to my mailbox at school!

Here's a quick, not-so-artistic snapshot of my goodies! 

Of course, I kept the duct tape, cute Thank You stamp, chevron washi tape and Scentos marker at school! I can't wait to pretty-up some clothespins with the chevron washi tape! The nail polish (although I may or may not have painted my nails at school once) and the lotion made the trek home with me! Yay!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Britney for my super cute collection of goodies! 

And, a thank you to the two lovely hosts for all of their hard work with this!  I hope we do it again next summer! 

Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

Are you sitting down? Well…I have some news.

This girl right here was just nominated for a Liebster Award! Yes, you read that correctly. My simple little blog operation just "won" its first award! Yay! I'm both honored and excited.



The Liebster Award is for blogs with less than 200 followers. The purpose is to show appreciation for newer blogs and to gain new readers. I am grateful for the nomination from Courtney at Mrs. McBride's Kinder Cakes.

So…in order to accept the nomination (which I do!), the nominee must complete a few quick tasks:

1. Link to the person who nominated you.
2. Answer questions from your nominator.
3. Give eleven facts about yourself.
4. Nominate five blogs with less than 200 followers.
5. Pose questions to your nominees.

Okay, let's get started!


1. Link to my nominator:

I did this above, but I'll do it again! That's how grateful I am! My nomination came from Courtney at Mrs. McBride's Kinder Cakes.


2. Questions from my nominator:

• How long have you been teaching? 

Next week, I'll begin my second year of teaching first grade. Prior to that, I was an instructional assistant in my school's computer lab for two years.

• Where did you go to college?

I graduated from Purdue University in 2010 with my Bachelors in elementary education. Go Boilers! In 2012, I completed my Masters Degree in curriculum development and educational technology from Ball State University.

• Name one accessory that you cannot live without.

I cannot live without my cell phone. I know, I know…how pathetic. But, I feel lost without it. In fact, I've caught myself looking for my phone to text or call someone to tell them that I don't have my phone. Yes, it's a problem. Oh, well. 

• How many minutes does it take you to get to school in the morning?

I live exactly one mile from my school. Literally…one mile. Unfortunately, the mile consists of a left turn onto a busy street, one stoplight and two roundabouts. So, it takes me about five minutes to get to school. I'll take it, I suppose. 

• If you were not a teacher, what is one profession that you could see yourself loving?

I would absolutely love to be a sports journalist. I'm obsessed with baseball and football, and every time I read a great sports story or see a reporter on the sidelines, I get insanely jealous! 

• What is one thing you have to have to get you through tough days? 

My teammates joke that, when they see me with a regular Coke (rather than Coke Zero), they know I've had a rough day!

• What is your guilty pleasure? 

I always chuckle at this question. I enjoy a lot of things that others may consider guilty pleasures. But, uh…I'm not guilty about any of them! I love, love, love The Real Housewives of New Jersey and Atlanta. I was also quite partial to soap operas (my stories) and am still mourning the loss of the original All My Children and One Life to Live. Oh, and I may or may not be a bit addicted to Candy Crush…don't tell anyone.

• What is your favorite hobby or pastime? 

I am always in the middle of a book. I love reading, and I bounce from book to book when I'm not suffering from a book hangover. You know, when you can't start another book because you're so in love and still wrapped up in another? 

• Name one movie that you've watched more than five times.

There are so many movies that I've watched more than five times! My favorites are Say Anything, Zoolander, A League of Their Own, Vegas Vacation and Forrest Gump.

• What is your greatest blessing? 

My family, by far, is my greatest blessing. I have the world's best parents, and my sister's okay, too. I am lucky enough to have a wonderful extended family, as well. I'm one lucky, lucky girl! 

3. Give eleven facts about yourself. 

• I am a huge Atlanta Braves fan. If I could, I'd have season tickets and go to EVERY game. EVERY.SINGLE.ONE.
• I teach in the same school district where I attended elementary school, middle school and high school. 
• If given the chance, I could probably eat my body weight in chips and salsa. 
• I'd rather have a Coke than an alcoholic drink of any kind.
• I laugh at anything and everything.
• I am a huge *NSYNC fan. Seriously.
• I believe that everything in life can be related back to an episode of Friends or Seinfeld.
• I am a proud font snob. Life is too short for Comic Sans.
• I am also a condiment whore. This is a phrase I coined several years ago because of my tendencies to use more than two different types of condiments during a meal. I also fit into the category of "I put ketchup on my ketchup."
• I don't go anywhere without hand sanitizer.
• I am container-obsessed. As my dad puts it, I have containers for my containers. It's to the point that, during The Container Store's last Teacher Appreciation Sale, two teachers from my school left a voicemail letting me know about the sale. 

4. My nominations are:

• Whitney from The Crazy Schoolteacher  — She's my very best friend and the reason I finally started my blogging adventure! 

• Heidi from Secondgradealicious — She should win every award, just for her blog header alone! Her blog and her ideas are always super cute! 

• Nicole from All Things Apple in 2nd — I met Nicole at the Indiana Blogger Meet-Up, and of course I want to give a huge shout-out to my fellow Indiana friends! 

• Ciara from I Plead the Fifth — I came across this brand new blog, and she already has some really cute ideas! 

• Meg from Kicking it in First — Meg is also brand new, and she loves first grade, just like I do! 

5. My questions for my nominees:

• What is your favorite part of your classroom?
• What are your favorite school supplies? 
• If you found $3 in your pocket, what would you do with it? 
• What is your favorite season? 
• How long have you been blogging?
• Who is your favorite clip art artist? 
• What time do you wake up on school mornings? What time do you get to school? 
• What are three things that are ALWAYS in your teacher bag? 
• What's the best teacher gift you've ever received? 
• What is your biggest pet peeve?

Yay! Have fun! Don't forget to answer the questions, give eleven facts and then nominate five other blogging friends!