Insta August

August is over.

School has started. 

The past few weeks have been CRAAAAZY.

The week leading up to school starting and the first few weeks of the school year are always nuts.

Here is an Insta recap of our busy August.

 Kevin, age 1. AKA: Luke's twin. Crazy how much they look alike!

The main event of our August was Luke's 1st birthday!

Checking thing off our Summer List. 
The Annual End of the Summer Backyard Camping & movie night in the Backyard.

This is something Kevin does with the girls. I sleep in my own bed inside....you know, because Luke is in the house also. Also, I don't like camping. No thanks.

The only part of camping I like is the S'Mores.
Here is my version of S'mores:

Ritz cracker, roasted marshmallow & Reeces Peanut Butter Cup.
It's life changing. You're welcome.

I had a girls night with some friends from school. You go drink wine & paint. So fun.

My older sister was in Boston with a friend for a work event and she texts me this picture.
Her & Brooks from the Bachelorette!!! He was one of the speakers at the conference.

I got to meet & hold this sweet baby boy.
Last December 20th, I had a dream that my friend Jackie was pregnant and having a baby boy named Nate on August 23rd.  Jackie found out she was pregnant on Christmas Eve, with a due date of September 4th. In April she found out it was a boy.
On August 22nd, she had her sweet boy, they named Shane.

 He will always be Nate to me ;)
Isn't he precious?

Kevin and I celebrated 11 years of marriage on August 24.
I surprised him with a quick 24 hours away at one of our favorite spots in Half Moon Bay.


Appetizers & Wine at the Bed & Breakfast:

Love this guy.

 Cocktails at dinner. Lemon drops are my fave.

I had a strawberry, beet & goat cheese salad. Amazing.

For dinner I ordered the dungeness crab stuffed prawns wrapped in bacon. OMG. To die for.

We saw a pod of dolphins from our balcony in the morning. So cool.
You can kind of see them on the left hand side of this picture.

School started this week....more on that later.
First Day of School Fro Yo. It's tradition.

As I mentioned last month, I have been invited to be Hormel Foods Extended Family Preferred Blogger.
“In the spirit of full-disclosure, I’ve partnered with Hormel Foods as part of the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. Throughout the year I’ll be receiving product, coupons, giveaways and promotions. However, no payment was given or expected for posting about the program, and as always, all opinions given here are fully my own."

This month, they sent me some deli meats to try out. One of my favorite things for lunch is turkey sandwiches. I love to mix and match things I put on my sandwiches. This is my current favorite:
Hormel Sun Dried Tomato Turkey, White Cheddar Cheese, Spicy Brown mustard, pepperchinis & tomatoes from my garden on wheat bread. SO GOOD.

I was part of Kim's mug swap for the 2nd year in a row. Jami hooked me up with all this:

We had our wine group again last night. So fun.
Good people, good food, good wine.

So thankful for the 3 days weekend. This first week of school literally kicked my butt.
I am SOOOOO tired. Re-entry into the school year is always brutal.
Speaking of the school year, read {here} to learn how to win a year supply of Bounty & Puff for your child's school!
 Hope you are all having a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Get Pin-Spired #8

Here we go, our 8th Pin-spired link up!

I am excited about this month's link up because we are getting out of summer and heading into Fall.

If you remember my last Pin-spired post, I posted about how my summer outfits were so boring because I mostly live in my swimsuit and I am in lazy bum mode since I am off school for the summer.

Since I am a teacher, I don't have to go to work and we have a pool in our backyard, I pretty much wear a bathing suit for 90% of the summer. The other 10% is shorts, tank tops & the occassional sundress.

Every year, a few weeks before school starts, I go through my closet.

I get rid of and donate clothes I haven't worn in a while and I also go through my closet to figure out what outfits I can put together for the school year.

This year, after I cleaned out my closet & checked out all my clothes, I jumped on Pinterest to get inspired to put together fun outfits for Back to School.

One thing I kept seeing over and over again, was adding a statement necklace to outfits. 

Most of the outfits that caught my eye & that I had pinned,  had a statement necklace.

I got a fun coral bubble-y statement necklace last year and I realized that I could use that exact same necklace to reproduce several different looks.

So, here are 5 outfits that I have Pinned & then recreated all using my favorite Coral Statement necklace that I got at Local Boutique almost a year ago.

Outfit #1 - White Crop Pants, Navy/White Striped Shirt, Navy Cardigan & Coral Statement Necklace.
Original Pin:

My recreation (My cardi & tank look black in this photo, but they are navy)

Navy Cardigan {here} // Tank Top {here} // White Crop Pants {here} // Sandals {here}

Pin #2  - Purple/Black/Coral

My recreation....I wore a purple-y maxi skirt (because I don't have that color pants)

Loved this color combo, with the pop of coral. It was fun!

Maxi Skirt {here} // Black Tank {here} // Sandals {here}

Outfit #3  - Black Dress, Denim Jacket, Statement Necklace
Original Pin:
 

My re-creation:

And.....I decided to be even more bold & wear my cheetah flats! Who am I?!? ;)

Dress {here} // Denim Jacket {here} // Cheetah Flats {here}

Outfit #4 - Mint Green pants, Navy shirt, Nude Heels, Statement Necklace

Original Pin:

My re-creation (my top looks black, but it is navy}

Pants {here} // Navy Shirt {here} // Nude Heels {here}
 
Outfit #5 - Crop Jeans, Stripe Shirt, Blazer, Statement Necklace
Original Pin:
 
 My re-creation:

Blazer {here} // Striped Tank {here} // Jeans {here} // Heels {here}

My little assistant wanted a photo with me :)

 Kate's dress is from {here}

 This was one of my favorite months of Pin-Spired.
I really loved creating outfits for my coral necklace.
I didn't buy any clothes this month...all the clothes I already had in my closet!

If you are new to my blog, thanks for stopping by! 

Feel free to follow along! You can find me on Bloglovin or Facebook.
Also, check out my $100 BRU giveaway going on here.

If you have outfits to link up, feel free to grab a button to add to your post.

Can't see what you link up!

<a border="0"href="http://www.thelarsonlingo.blogspot.com/search/label/pin-spired" target="_blank"><img src="http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n191/mlarson17/pinspiredmel_zpsdf4a5059.png"/></a>

The linky will be open until September 6th.

Your link will show up on my blog, Sheaffer's blog & Shay's blog.

My favorite part about linky parties is checking out other people who have linked up! 

Go find some new blogs & leave them a comment letting them know you stopped by...and get Pin-Spired by the outfits other people linked up! 

Back 2 School with Kohls + A Winner!

Like I mentioned in this giveaway post, I am working with Kohl's on their #KohlsBack2School promotion.

Disclaimer: I received a Kohl’s gift card for myself and one to give away in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own. No other compensation was received.

Kohl's sent me a fun gift box with a gift card, a pizza cutter (we have Pizza Friday every week, perfect!) a coffee mug, a candle & a garlic chopper! Thank you Kohls! Your gifts were perfect!

Before I announce the winner of the $50 Kohl's Giftcard, I thought I would show you some of what I got with at Kohl's with the giftcard they sent me.

Let's start with the girls!

I got Kate these converse. Kohls was one of the only places that had purple converse. Kate has been asking for years! So glad we finally found some!

 This skirt:

This skirt:

 

And, This top:

 Here are some things I got for Claire:

This skirt:

 

This outfit:

What I love about all the skirts I got the girls is that they are "scooters" which means they have built in shorts underneath. My girls wear skirts/scooters almost everyday! The jumping bean ones hold up so well. 

 I also got 4 pairs of  these leggings in different colors that the girls can share (they wear the same size leggings) and my girls refuse to wear jeans in the winter, so we just add leggings to their skirts/dresses.

Here is what I got for myself:

I am really into pencil skirts right now, so I got this skirt in both the light gray & charcoal gray:

This LC shirt:

This LC Tank:

  Thanks, Kohls for having me be a part of #KohlsBack2School Campaign!

Kohl’s has great styles, great prices, and great quality. I love that you can get anything there...clothes, shoes, home items, luggage & more!
If you are getting ready to go back to school shopping for the kids, make sure to check out Kohl’s!

And if you are as big of a fan as I am, you can follow Kohl’s on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. They are a huge company, but they do interact so let Kohl’s know what you love about them!

 

Congrats to Britni, the winner of the $50 Kohl's Giftcard!

 Leave a comment with  your email so I can get you your gift card.

 Kohls is so awesome that they wanted to give you a discount code!

Use this code at Kohls.com for 10% off your purchase:

BTSMOMTEN 

This code CAN be combined with other department specific codes, but not other site-wide codes! 

Hooray for Back to School Shopping!

 (And, if you shop at Kohl's now until September 2nd, you will get $10 in Kohls Cash for every $50 you spend!)

Are your kids Back to School yet?

This is our fist week back and it is kicking my booty!

I.AM.SO.TIRED.

It's been a great week! 

********************* 

  

The September Pin-Spired Linky is actually going to go up tomorrow (since the 1st falls over Labor Day Weekend, we thought we would post it Friday instead!) 

Link up your Pinterest Inspired Outfits with me, Sheaffer & Shay

Hope you will join us!

Twas the Night Before the 1st Day of School

Twas the Night Before the 1st Day of School and all through the house,

not a creature was stirring (expect for me).

But, I'm too anxious, nervous, excited and tired to rhyme or write a poem.

 I'm a Math Teacher. I don't write poetry.

Sorry ;)

In less than 8 hours we have a our 1st day of School.

And, I can't sleep.

I have the 1st Day of School Jitters/Excitement.

10 years into this teaching gig and they don't go away.

 In fact, I was that kid that never slept the night before the First Day of School because I was just too excited.  That is because I think it’s some kind of holiday!  Like Christmas, you have all new things to play with; new supplies to work with, new folders and binders to organize, new books to read, new shoes, new clothes, new teachers, new classmates, new stuff to learn!  Yes, I was that student (and now I am that teacher) It is one of the reasons I became a teacher; I LOVE SCHOOL.

And, I am on both sides of the spectrum this year.

I have 1st day jitters for myself and also have them for my girls.

Will my students like me? Will they respond to my classroom management?

Will my girls listen to their teachers? Will they make new friends?

So much excitement & anticipation.

The girls have picked out their "1st Day of School Outfits"

They are hanging in their rooms (just like I used to do as a kid)

 Who am I kidding? I still do this with my clothes.

 My outfit is picked out & hanging up as well.

Lunches are packed.

 Coffee is made & on automatic timer for the morning.

My alarm is set.

My back up alarm is set.

My back up back up alarm is set.

(Totally paranoid. I have had way too many showing up for school nightmares)

 We met the girls' teachers this afternoon and I could not be more thrilled with them.

They are both awesome. I am feeling great about this school year for them.

My classroom is ready-ish. 

Can you ever really be ready for 135 7th graders? Ha!

 I have spent almost everyday the past 10 days at school either setting up my room or going to meetings.

I have a fun new First Day of School Activity that I am looking forward to doing with my classes.

I've never done a 1st Day activity like this, hoping it goes well!

I have some really fun ideas planned for my classes this year.

 My brain is on A-D-D overload. 

I can't stop thinking about things to do with my classes. My brain won't turn off.

It is going to be a big year of change at my school.

We are switching to a modified block schedule.

We created an Advisory period for every student & teacher.

We are implementing the new Common Core Standards, so almost everything we have done in years past is getting re-vamped. 

I don't do so well with change, but I am actually really, really excited about some of these changes.

Especially the change in my schedule. I dropped a class and I am teaching 1 less class than I have in years past.

I am excited to be done earlier in the day and be around more for my kids.

I will be able to pick up both girls from school each day...something I haven't ever been able to do.

It's going to be a good year.

I enter my 10th year of teaching tomorrow.

(Didn't I just graduate college? Where does time go?) 

To all my teacher friends....Good Luck!

To all my friends dropping off their kids at school....Your kids will be taken care of!

2013-2014 School Year....Bring it On!