The BEST Summer Shoes

This post is sponsored by Shoedazzle, but all opinions are my own.

Honestly, what girl doesn't love shoes? And what girl doesn't love summer shoes. Is it just me or is summer the perfect time to freshen up your shoe wardrobe? Here in Minnesota we can't wear much other than boots in the winter, so when summer comes around I stock up on flip-flops galore and at least one or two pairs of cute sandals. This summer though? I'm on the lookout for a cute pair of wedges. Preferably yellow wedges, but a more neutral tone will do. I've mentioned this before, but I'm the kinda gal who likes a pair of shoes that can go with multiple outfits. I'm not really a statement piece kinda gal. I want bang for my buck!

And speaking of "bang for my buck," I'm always up for a good bargain, too! And at Shoedazzle you can get 25% off your first order just by taking a sweet little quiz that shows you which shoes suit your style most. That's called saving time and money in my opinion!


Wedges|Flats|Slip-ons|Sandals

An entire collection of yellow shoes. A girl can dream right? I really love those flats. And those wedges. Okay... and every single one of them. If you didn't already know, yellow is my favorite color. Now I sound like a first-grader, but seriously it is! I love how bright & cheery it is. Perfect for spring! Which yellow shoes are your favorite?



Sandals #1|Boat shoes|Sparkle shoes|Polka-Dot Wedges|Sandals #2|Wedges

And since I'm a neutral kinda gal, I had to include some of my favorite "neutral" shoes, but I threw in a little pizazz for all you daring ladies as well! Those gold polka dot wedges are my absolute FAVORITE. But sad story? They're sold out. Any of these other shoes are neutral enough to be compatible with any outfit in your wardrobe though. And that's what neutral's all about, isn't it?

Now head on over to Shoedazzle.com and take the quiz to find out which shoes fit YOUR unique style. And don't forget to come back & let me know your favorites! I can't wait to see which ones you pick!



Thank you to Shoedazzle for sponsoring this post. Though compensation was provided, the opinions expressed in this post are 100% my own.

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Awkward + Awesome

I've always been a huge fan of Sydney from The Daybook's "awkward and awesome" posts. She just cracks me up.
This is my lame attempt at a similar post. Complete with awesomely awkward outfit photos of myself. You're welcome.



Outfit photo rule #1: Whatever you do, don't look at the camera.


Awkward:
-I burnt my elbow while curling my hair. MY ELBOW. I don't even know.
-My CPR instructor said she loved looking at me. That I'm just one of those people that's "fun to look at." And then told me not to be creeped out. Too late.
-Spending way too much time getting ready only to find out you can't go anywhere due to the weather. What the H.
-Checking out at the grocery store and the cashier thinks that I'm Alea's babysitter. Actually, that's not awkward, that's extremely annoying. But I guess it'll pay off a couple years from now when I'm dying to feel younger.
-Driving in the car singing along with the song "Beer Money" only to instead sing "you got the kiss that tastes like honey and I gotta a little bit of money." Yeah, Cory corrected that mistake pretty quickly. Lo and behold, I have never known the real lyrics to that song... despite the title.

Awesome:
-Alea went to bed at 6pm Sunday night. It was glorious, minus the tantrum that preceded that early bedtime and her getting up somewhere between 5 and 6 times at 3:30am for water, to go potty, needing to be tucked back in, her puppy stuffed animal "Mago," and for me to sing "Ba-ba black sheep."
-Leinenkugel's summer shandy. Enough said.
-Learning how to use my curling iron like a curling wand and not having to buy a curling wand. Duh people. It's like the same thing!
-CPR classes with a verbal test out. As in, the teacher reads the answers and you fill out your answer sheet. (Don't worry, I still know how to save your life.)
-AT&T commercials. You know the ones with the little kids? Whenever they come on, I pause whatever I'm doing and am immediately sent into a fit of laughter. Am I easily amused? Maybe.
-Seeing myself featured as a favorite blogger here, here, here, here and here. Words can not describe how stinkin' happy that makes me. You mean you guys actually really like me? Well, I like you back!

What's awkward & awesome about your week?


linking up with the pleated poppy + passion for fashion

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Ten Tips to Being a Successful Student

I've been a student almost non-stop with only a one year break since I started kindergarten. True story. I took a break when I was 7 months pregnant with Alea and then went back to school when she was 8 months old. It's been a long road coming and I still have one semester left, but I've learned a lot along the way. Today I'm sharing my tips & tricks to success with MOOC's over at MOOC Adviser. But with topics such as time management, staying motivated these tips could honestly be applied to any course though or life in general.

And if you're curious to know what an MOOC is, MOOC stands for "massive open online course." They're free online classes taught by an actual college professor. The only difference between an actual college class and an MOOC is that you don't receive university credit for an MOOC like you would with a college class, but it's the perfect way to test the waters and see how you'd do with an online class. They're certainly not for everyone. Did you know that they have MOOC's for blogging though? I just did some digging and here's a few that I found:

1. 10 Video Tips on Brand Visibility That Attracts Clients
2. Blogging for Business
3. It's Time to Blog

Cool, huh?

But before you get too into reading up on those awesome courses, don't forget to read my 10 Tips to Thrive in School in an Online World.

For more information about MOOCs, please visit StudentAdvisor.com. I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.


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Kids Activity: A Lesson in Color-Mixing

Now that I'm out of school for the summer, it's time for Alea to start doing a little summer school. Cory and I talked and decided that we won't be putting Alea in preschool in the fall and we'll be waiting until next fall when she's 4 years old. We really feel as though she doesn't need two years of preschool (heck, I didn't even go to preschool at all), but in the mean time it would be great to not only supplement what she already knows while teaching her a little bit more.

We have a fun preschool workbook that I've been wanting to really sit down and use constructively with her, but I don't want this summer to be all about worksheets. I want to teach her that learning can actually be fun. So our very first summer-school lesson was most definitely fun! A hands on color-mixing activity that really taught her something. By the end of our "lesson" when I asked her "what color do blue and red make?" She could answer almost immediately with "purple!"

It's all about figuring out what works best for your child too. It may be trial and error, but in the end you're working on discovering what their learning style is. I know I don't learn best from someone just verbally telling me information or just reading information from a book. I'm a very hands-on learner and by the looks of it from this little color mixing activity, I think that Alea's going to be that way as well!



It's pretty simple. There's really not a lot to this "craft" if you can even call it that. A couple dollops of finger paint (we like Crayola Finger Paint) in the coordinating colors and let your little one have at it. The mixing and exploring of the colors and the finger paints is the best part for them. But don't forget to wipe off their hands in between colors as so to not taint the experiment!

Remember:

Red + Yellow = Orange

Blue + Red = Purple

Yellow + Blue = Green











Alea was convinced that mixing all of the colors together would make a rainbow. Boy was she disappointed when she mixed them all and it made the ugliest shade of brown we've ever seen!

Not only is it an educational activity, but it's a fun and messy one. It's an activity where you as a parent need to let go a little and embrace the mess! Just make sure you attempt this on a nice warm day so you can be outside and don't forget a package of wipes on your way out there. And remember, little ones are sponges. Teach them all that you can!

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Our Summer Bucket List

As a lot of you know, this is officially my last summer off. My last summer having the summer off as a student. Yep, next summer I'll be all grown up and a working woman as a nurse. We can only hope, right! Being it's my last summer as a stay-at-home-mom, I want it to be a summer that Alea and I will never forget. I want to teach her to enjoy the outdoors, start doing a little bit of "school" with her every morning, build a routine for us, but most of all I want to have fun! Alea and I sat down and talked about fun things she wanted to do this summer and here's the list that her and I came up with together.



1. Library story time: Our library has story time every Wednesday morning. I think this will be the perfect opportunity for us to build a little structured "school" time into our morning and it'll be an important lesson in listening and sitting still for Miss Alea. We did this last summer and she did a little better than I thought she'd do, so I'm sure she'll love it even more this year. And in addition to story time I think we'll have to get ourselves a library card, too!

2. Park-hopping: There's a couple of parks in our town that we have yet to visit and that's just a crime! We have 3 parks within walking distance from our house, which is such a blessing, but sometimes you just have to mix it up. My neighbor actually came up with the idea of "park-hopping" and I think it's fabulous! We'll pick a day and go to each park in our town. I think that'll make for a good nap time, too!

3. Cloud dough: I'm sure you've seen recipes on Pinterest for cloud dough before, right? I've been dying to make this stuff for Alea. She would have a total ball. It's just something that's always been on my mental list of activities for Alea, but I definitely want to try it soon.

4. Frozen Yogurt trip: We have a cute frozen yogurt place about 15min away from our house that we've never been to. Yep, you heard that right. We're probably the only blogger family who hasn't been to a serve yourself style frozen yogurt bar. Oops!

5. Children's museum: The Minnesota Children's Museum would be so fun for Alea. I remember many fun times there with my cousins growing up and we even went there for field trips. So many great memories for me and I'm hoping she'll make those memories there as well.

6. Paint with fruit: My good friend Jacy shared a fun twist on painting recently-- painting with fruit! Not only is it edible, but it looks like so much fun. Messy, but that's what bath tubs are for, right?

7. Smores + Hot dogs: We have a fire pit in our backyard that we don't use enough. We've already had one fire this year, but that's certainly better than previous years! I know Alea would have a ball roasting marshmallows and hot dogs for dinner one night!

8. Smoothies: This is self-explanatory. Smoothies and summer just go hand in hand, don't they? Alea and I made them almost every afternoon last summer and even made smoothie popsicles. Our popsicle or smoothie on the front steps after nap time was one of my favorite rituals of last summer, hands down.

9. Trip to the zoo: We never made it to the zoo last summer, so it's pretty high up on my bucket list for this summer. We've just gotta. Especially now that Alea's older. She had fun when we took her when she was only one or so, I can't even imagine how much fun she'll have now! Now we just have to decide between Como Zoo and The Minnesota Zoo! Oh heck, why not do both!

10. Chalk paint: We did chalk paint for the first time last summer -- check out my chalk paint recipe -- and Alea loved it. It's a fun alternative to just boring old sticks of chalk. It gets messy, but that's half the fun!

11. Hiking trail: In essence, we just need to get to know our town a little more. Now that Alea's more mobile, I'd love to go on a little nature hike with her and teach her about the different plants. She's always been inquisitive about everything around her and I know she'd love to learn. Our town has a couple trails I've been wanting to hit up as well, so this would be the perfect activity for us!

12. Scavenger hunt: Along with the hiking, it would be fun to have a scavenger hunt as well. Alea might be a bit young for it yet, but she'd do great with a little help.

13. Blow bubbles: We blow bubbles every time we go outside... literally. But what about colored bubbles? What about making our own bubbles? There's so many fun twists on the classic, I can't wait to try them all! This bubble painting activity sounds especially fun and pretty, too!

14. Jump through sprinklers: We had a sprinkler system when I was growing up and I remember chasing the sprinklers around as they changed from one end of the yard to the other. We don't have a sprinkler system at our house, but the one on the end of the hose will definitely do. There's just something about the freedom and happiness that comes through jumping through sprinklers, isn't there?

15. Beach day: We had some funny and interesting trips to the beach last summer (remember when I caught a mini horse?), but we're going to be on the look-out for a great beach to spend some warm afternoons at this summer. And we'll definitely be making a trip to my aunt & uncles to swim in their lake as well! My girl is such a fish in the water!

16. Homemade play-doh: Tell me I'm not the only one who's obsessed with homemade versions of things we can just buy at the store? I remember vividly staying at my great-grandma's when I was younger. It was rainy outside so we couldn't go down to the lake and swim. She combined some random ingredients from the kitchen and made play-doh! I was just amazed. I'm thinking of trying this play-doh recipe with Alea.

17. Learn to ride a bike: With training wheels that is. I think Alea's definitely ready, she's just going to have to learn to pedal and steer! We have a bike and we're ready to go! I can't promise I won't cry though-- big girl status!

18. Have a picnic: for lunch everyday. If only the weather would cooperate everyday, right? It's just easier to clean up after lunch if it's outside. We have a designated "outdoor blanket" and we just shake it out, fold it up and stick it on the shelf in the garage. We love our picnics!

19. Ice cream for dinner: This is usually reserved for celebrating special events, like the end of finals, but how fun is it to just hop in the car and go get ice cream for dinner? Dessert for dinner, I mean what kid wouldn't love that?

(And now I'm totally ticked this list ended at such an awkward number. 19? Who makes a list of 19 things?)


What sorts of plans do you have for your summer? Anything that we just have to add to our list?


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