SMILE :-)

I was lucky enough to receive an award this week! The SMILE award comes from one of my favorite bloggers, Eco-Prep. You should check out her blog! It is great to have someone who provides an environmental twist on the preppy lifestyle. I can't believe I inspired her to make her own blog.


The qualifying conditions are as follows:

Recipient MUST
1. Display cheerful attitude (I try really hard to be full of cheer. I have found that wearing bright colors helps).
2. Love one another ('tis love that makes the world go round!)
3. Make mistakes (Ohhh boy, if you only knew. I could be a professional in mistake making).
4. Learn from others (My best learning tool is other folks).
5. Be a positive contributor to the blog world (I would like to think that my blog makes a positive contribution to blogland. If even one person does one thing in a more eco-friendly fashion, then I've done my job).
6. Love life (I love it every single day!)
7. Love kids (Children see the world in a way that we could all stand to see it. Kids are great!)

And now, the official RULES:
1. You must link back to the creator.
2. You must post the rules.
3. You must choose 5 deserving people to receive the award next.
4. Your recipients must fit the characteristics listed above.
5. You must post the character aspects of the recipients.
6. You must create a post to share your win.
7. You must thank the giver.

There are so many blogs that inspire me on a daily basis and I am trying to give the award to ones that have not received it yet. I would like to send the SMILE award on to the following bloggers:

1. E at Prep-E Girl. Her blog always has a great combination of shopping tips and great stories from her life. Congratulations to her on her recent marriage! She is also one of my #1 commenters- thank you!
2. Sue at Preppy Sue. I live for her recipie Wednesdays and her great pictures of getaways.
3. Megan at Megan in Maine. I love Maine and living vicariously through her Maine lifestyle. She always has the latest scoop on LL Bean and I won my first giveaway through her blog
4. Cancer Sucks Even with Lilly Pulitzer on your Side. She is a blogger who remains so positive about some difficult times in her life and wears her Lilly to doctor's appointments. The music on her blog is just AWESOME!
5. Preppy Pink Crocodile. She was one of the first ones to welcome me to the community. I like her crafty ideas and can sympathize with living in an unpreppy town.

SMILE and pass it on :) !!!

Ribbon belt collection

I was organizing my belts this weekend and decided to take pictures. I love all my belts and use them all in different ways. Enjoy viewing them!

By the way, my date went very well! The gardens were lovely at this time of year and we went out for a fantastic dinner here. The countryside in Northern Delaware is so beautiful!

Date #2

I was officially asked out on date #2 and given the options of Longwood Gardens or Philadelphia. I am going to go here because I heard it is very pretty with the fall foliage. Hopefully it will be fun! I promise this is not going to become a dating blog and I will have more cute, preppy things for you next week!

Parents' Day is coming...

We have Parents' Day looming on the horizon. I am frantic trying to get everyone caught up and make sure parents have no surprises! We are also making everything look really nice. It will be fun. On Friday night, the parents are having an Oktoberfest themed basket raffle (great schmoozing opportunity) AND I do not have to chaperone the homecoming dance- yeah!

Pajama Day!

We had pajama day for school today and I wore my light pink LL Bean pajama pants with seashells embroidered on them. The kids were a little sleepy today in their pajamas all day, but it sure was interesting.

On the dating front, I got an e-mail from the boy today that said: "I did purchase a bunch of good wine that I need some help drinking now. Sadly, I don't have friends who enjoy good wine in the area and it's not fun to drink a really nice bottle by yourself (much more fun to share, especially over a good dinner)." So, is a dinner in store for this weekend?

Quick Pumpkin Idea...

I put dried cranberries into the Trader Joe pumpkin bread mix and it was AWESOME! Now, if it would only get cold enough for me to carve my pumpkins...

Mini-meltdown

Last week I had a mini-meltdown. I was just overwhelmed with life and school. However, after a nice long weekend (I had to work only part of it), I am ready to handle everything! We only have a four day week, then Parent's Weekend- hooray!

I resisted the urge for retail therapy this weekend by not going to all the great Columbus Day sales at the outlets and stayed home. So, I have no shopping posts. I will have one after the Lilly Pulitzer sale-- that is one day of shopping I cannot resist!

My "disease"

I made it back to CT after proctoring the SATs and unexpectedly ran into a good friend from graduate school at a football game. The foliage is so beautiful and it was the perfect fall day. It was exciting to find out that my childhood next door neighbor just proposed to his college girlfriend and is getting married in June. Of course, this started the peppering of questions--serious boyfriend? Why are you not married? Oh, a twenty-six year old singleton with a look of sadness on their face as if I was sick... One family friend did mention a guy that was about my age that she wanted to try to set me up with... In case people are wondering about the waiting game, he has e-mailed to say that he does not want to call after 9 because he thinks it is impolite and he wants to see me again...I am not sure what to make of this.

Win some, Lose some

Our school certainly "won" today with almost the entire faculty and student body wearing pink and jeans with a $5 donation to celebrate Lee Breast Cancer Awareness Day.  To continue with the theme, I am going to CT this weekend and walking in a five mile walk for one of my mom's friends who is a 3! time survivor of breast cancer.

We lost our field hockey game because so many girls were out sick or had other commitments.  I was sad about the loss, but there is always next week!  

Late lights!

The girls normally go to bed at 10:30, but one convinced me to let her have "late lights" until 11:30, so I am just putting her to bed. I am tired after doing work and watching the debate for a discussion with my government class tomorrow.

Yeah! I finally figured it out!

I finally figured out how to shrink my header to fit perfectly into my blog. I apologize for all the awkwardness it was before! Now, it might be time for a redesign at some point... but, I have field hockey now.

All I need is a night out!

Ahh... I am going out with some colleagues tonight for a low key night out at a local pub! I have been working so hard and it will be so nice to get out. I have the first two periods of the day free tomorrow, so things are working out nicely.

The guy I went on a date with called me on Sunday when I was unavailable. I called him back on Sunday night and left a message. He has not called me since. Is this bad? I was hoping he would follow through with a date he had suggested for this weekend. So, once again, I play the waiting game!

Random thoughts on the school day...

The difference a door stop makes...
I thought people were ignoring me this year, but this week I put a door stop in my classroom door and I am getting visitors in droves--kids and teachers--it is really fun!

Am I an adult yet?
I have recieved 5 group e-mails today reminding us to update our homework on the website. I updated my page on Sunday for the week- can we stop with the groups e-mails, please? Does this happen in other lines of work, too?

Back to grades and comments...

Every 10 years this happens...

...according to LPP Dad; however, ten years ago I was not heavily invested in mutual funds and a retirement plan. I can't believe the impact just a couple of weeks has made to my accounts. Maybe I should buy some more shares... can I deal with no new clothes for fall/ winter and buy some stocks?

Wait, I didn't quit...

I have loads of things to update everyone on, but I have been over my head in the "first month of school." My classes are good, the field hockey team is having a decent season, my dorm is finally starting to learn some of the rules, I bought new skis, and I even went on a date last Sunday (AND he called me again on Wednesday and the following Sunday). We will get together next weekend. Stay tuned...