In case this is your first week, here's what it's all about. Generally Mondays are considered pretty sucky right? Well, let's change that. Instead of focusing on what sucks about Monday, we'll talk about what made us smile throughout the rest of the week, to start the week on a positive note!
My five little grins from this week include. . .
1. X coming out
2. X coming out
3. X coming out
4. X coming out
5. X coming out
Wait. . . are those supposed to be all different?
2. Well, I enjoyed shopping on Tuesday, the day definitely looked up once we go the the tire changed!
3. On that note, changing/ learning to change a tire was fun. It's definitely something I'll need to know when I'm driving on my own so nice to know now.
4. Going to Kenosha/ Waukegan Friday! It was so nice to see everyone! 5. Seeing the Cougars Saturday!
Monday: I didn't do much, but enjoyed the downtime.
Tuesday: I got up to see a crappy sunrise and wound up changing a tire (with some help) all before 9 am. I got Starbucks and went shopping, though, so that really made up for it.
Wednesday: I spent the day listening to X and trying to con other people into listening to X. I really, really, like the album and am super excited for the concert in September.
Thursday: I wrote out our editorial calendar for August. I wasn't sure if I would get time with everything I'm doing in July, so I figured it would be good to get it out of the now. I can't wait for you guys to see all the changes we're making!
Friday: I went home with my parents (a 3-hour car ride) and went to my great grandmother's birthday party. There were relatives I hadn't seen in forever, and even some I'd never met, so it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I missed Katie by about an hour. We drove all the way back up here that night, so it was quite the day.
Saturday: I went down the river for breakfast then wrote for a while upon returning. The marina had a band performing that night so I sat and watched that which was pretty good.
It was a pretty good week and I am looking forward to leaving for the intensive tomorrow. Not so much the drive, though. Five little grins will still be happening though, so make sure you link up!
I love getting and sending mail. It's so great to get surprises in you mail box and to see that someone had thought of you & spent time writing you a note. However, lately I've had a bunch of problems with mail services throwing out or returning my mail which is frustrating and make me worry about sending stuff to penpals without a tracking number!
For example, last year we got our mail forwarded to a PO Box close to the marina so we didn't have to make the trek across town to get our mail once a week. It was great. . . except for the fact they threw out our magazines as well as my VoxBox, claiming they weren't able to forward those items. (Even though they didn't bother to tell us this when we signed up fro a PO Box and started forwarding our mail)
We thought we would be smart this year, and set up a PO Box here in Green Bay, but instead of having USPS forward it, we would have a friend check our mail, filter out the junk, then mail the rest.
We ordered Cards Against Humanity and had them delivered directly to the post office box. Here are the last three scans.
1. Ready for pick up
2. Sorting complete
3. Undeliverable as addressed returned to sender
The time stamp on these was within a half hour which I found super strange. Not to mention the order- why would they sort it again after it was available for pick-up? When we asked the postal workers why it was returned if it was addressed to our valid PO box they had no clue. They insisted if it was to be marked returned they would have done it and remembered the package. We talked to the manager of the particular location and she just yelled at us for voicing a concern and pretty much told us we were idiots, even though she was the one who couldn't tell us what was going on.
It was super frustrating because it was worth $50, but CAH agreed to send us a replacement for no extra charge and they were extremely helpful throughout the entire process.
Unfortunately, this all happened after I order pointe shoes and had them sent to the PO Box as well. They never showed up at the PO Box, but incredibly, it wasn't the USPS's fault. Somehow they were ordered as FedEx home delivery instead of the FedEx to USPS option. When it got to the Green Bay facility and they saw it was addressed to the PO Box, instead of calling my phone number (which was on the package) they saw in their system that someone with the same name had something delivered to UWGB before and they SENT IT THERE. So we had to call them twice (the first customer service rep hung up on us) and they were able to retrieve the package and we had to pick it up from the warehouse.
SOOO apparently we didn't get off any better this year so that's just great.
In case this is your first week, here's what it's all about. Generally Mondays are considered pretty sucky right? Well, let's change that. Instead of focusing on what sucks about Monday, we'll talk about what made us smile throughout the rest of the week, to start the week on a positive note!
The Rules! (These are really just kind suggestions)
2. Link up your post that includes 5-ish things that made you smile in the past week
3. Comment after you link up
4. Go visit some other blogs and make some friends! Hey guys! I want to apologize for posting so late today. I've been on the boat out on the water for about 10 hours today! We got to port safely without any crazy challenges so I would say it was a success. My five little grins from this week include. . . 1. Getting my pointe shoes. It was quite the adventure to actually get them, more on that later.
2. Doing a Glow Run Saturday! It was soo much fun. I also learned neon yellow is not my color.
3. Finding out the Cards Against Humanity is willing to resend our order since the post office got rid of the last one. 4. Going to the farmers' market again on Saturday. We got a pint of strawberries and they were the smallest strawberries I've ever seen.
5. Getting ready for leaving on the 30th. I'm super excited for the intensive. We're still looking for guest posters. If you're interested check out my post here. We're also celebrating our blogiversary! Enter to pick where we donate $100 below! What has been making you smile lately?
Today marks my 14th day in Green Bay. I'm still loving it here! We got a car last Friday, so we've been able to see more of the town. It is nice not being limited to bikes and the dinghy like last summer.
I actually did a "Glow Run" last night which was pretty cool- it was a 5k with glow sticks. It had the same general atmosphere as the color run, but with a lot fewer people which was nice.
I figured I'd do a Sunday Currently today since I skipped last week.
Today, I am currently. . . .
Writing nothing. I did just finish writing a letter to Katie, though. Hopefully if I find postcards I'll be writing a bunch of those. No luck so far, though, which is strange since it's freaking Titletown.
ReadingHandbook for the Home: 1973 Yearbook of Agriculture. It's extremely interesting to read. For example, people who graduated college were estimated to make $400,000 in their entire lifetime. Oh how times have changed.
Listening the Ed Sheeran album. I love it. So much. I can't wait to see him live in September.
Thinking about how I'll be in Madison in 8 days. I'm super excited but also rather nervous.
Smelling peanut butter. Not a bad thing to smell I guess.
Wishing this weather would last more than a day at a time. It's beautiful today, but I'm sure it won't last. Hoping I can get some posts scheduled. I've been so behind since I've been going and doing so much.
Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of posts lately. It's going to be like that a lot around here for a while. I'll be staying with a host family Monday- Thursday for 4 weeks during July so I won't have a lot of time to post. We will have quite a few guest posters coming in (and you're welcome to guest post too- feel free to contact us) and 5 Little Grins will still be going. Then, in August we will be back full time and there will be some big changes so make sure you stay tuned for those!
I just wanted to drop by with a quick post today to just update you guys on what going on.
I also thought I'd share this Pantene campaign I found with you. I found it very interesting because I have begun to use the word "sorry" all the time, often synonymous with excuse me, or even when I'm trying to get someone's attention. You shouldn't have to apologize for taking up space, though! So don't! Check it out below.
Sometimes you just have those days where you have no time to write any posts. On those days, it would be nice to know that something will just post on it's own. This is why you should take a few days each month and just write a bunch of posts. Then you can schedule them throughout the month and the only thing you have to worry about is promoting them, although there are apps for that too!
Staying on track and getting 5 or more posts done in one sitting can be tough. So, I put together some tips to help you!
1. Have a list of topics.
+ Write down post ideas whenever they come to you so you don't have to come up with post topics & write them at the same time. (Actually write them on paper, preferably something that won't get lost. You will not remember that idea you had at 3 am.)
2. Block out time, but take breaks.
+ Writing for 10 minutes sporadically won't help you very much since you will have lost your train of thought.
+ Try writing for about 50 minutes (or more if you're not at a good stopping point) then take a 10 minute break. Scroll through Twitter, go on a walk, make yourself some tea- whatever you need to do, but limit it to 10 minutes.
3. Keep distractions to a minimum.
+ You don't need to have Pinterest open in another tab. It will not help you.
+ Put your phone on silent. It's great that someone tagged you in an Instagram photo, but you can check it out later.
Other than that, I would suggest focusing on your goal. You're going to be whipping posts out in no time.
In case this is your first week, here's what it's all about. Generally Mondays are considered pretty sucky right? Well, let's change that. Instead of focusing on what sucks about Monday, we'll talk about what made us smile throughout the rest of the week, to start the week on a positive note!
The Rules! (These are really just kind suggestions)
2. Link up your post that includes 5-ish things that made you smile in the past week
3. Comment after you link up
4. Go visit some other blogs and make some friends! Hey guys! I want to apologize for posting so late today. I've been on the boat out on the water for about 10 hours today! We got to port safely without any crazy challenges so I would say it was a success. My five little grins from this week include. . . 1. Exploring Green Bay by both dinghy & bike throughout the week.
2. Ordering the actual set of Card Against Humanity! The paper ones are okay, but they wind up stuck together a lot, and we ordered a bunch of expansion packs. 3. Going to a super cute farmers' market Saturday! I even bought macaroons which were literally amazing. 4. Taking both the tortoise and the parrot for a walk Saturday and this morning.
5. Getting to talk to the girl I will be staying with in Madison for the dance intensive! We're still looking for guest posters. If you're interested check out my post here. We're also still celebrating our blogiversary! Enter to pick where we donate $100 below! What has been making you smile lately?
Today is our seventh day in Green Bay. It's been a crazy, but incredible week.
Monday: We were on the boat underway for 10 hours, with one short stop for fuel. When we got here, we pretty much ordered pizza and retired. Unfortunately it was pretty bad pizza so that wasn't a great first impression, but we're going to just pretend it didn't happen.
Tuesday: We took the dinghy down the river and had lunch at this place called Regata. It was absolutely incredible. The food was so good yet we ordered WAY too much and couldn't finish. The ride back up the river was pretty rough, but we got back fine, after stopping at a few places to explore the town. We decided to bike to see a little bit more of the town when we got back.
Wednesday: We biked the the Post Office bright and early and set up a PO box. It won't be too bad of a bike ride to go check it. We also signed up for a 5k and ordered CAH.
Thursday: We biked to a bakery which wasn't too bad of a ride & their stuff was well worth it. Later that night we played Cards Against Humanity at the Marina bar with the bar tenders which was fun.
Friday: Friends drove up our car so we no longer have to bike everywhere.
Saturday: We went to the Green Bay Farmers' market which was super cute and SO HUGE. It was crazy how many booths there were! I got macaroons which were really good and are already gone. That afternoon we took the dinghy down the river all the way to the first lock which was a fun ride!
Every time I use "we" I'm referring to my family and I.
All in all, I'm definitely loving Green Bay and am definitely looking forward to spending the summer here!
In other news, you should definitely enter our giveaway. The winner gets to choose where we donate $100!
Since Raewyn and I both have blogiversaries in June, we decided to have a giveaway for you guys! The winner of the giveaway gets to decide where we donate $100!
Raewyn and Cassi & Katie both have blogiversaries coming up! What better way to celebrate than with $100 to charity? Who ever wins the giveaway picks where it all goes!
First, meet your hosts!
Raewyn blogs over at Be a Warrior Queen and is celebrating her fifth blogiversary!
Recently, Kendra Thornton contacted us asking us to put together a style board for her trip to New York. Here's what she said:
"In only a few short weeks, I will be traveling to New York with a group of friends. While we are in New York, we will be staying at The Standard High Line Hotel. Our adventure includes plenty of wining and dining as well as other fun activities. When I go out to eat with my friends, I want to have an outfit that will be comfortable yet stylish at the same time. As I am a mother of three, I want this outfit to still have that sense of modesty. I am coming to you for fashion advice so that I can have a wonderful night on the town.
One of the places we will be getting a delicious meal at when we stay at The Standard is The Standard Grill. It consists of a front café as well as a bar where we can get specialty cocktails and other drinks. Bright decorations adorn the restaurant as there is white oak on the walls and tile on the floor. A dish that I am looking forward to trying is the fresh oysters. I love seafood, and this is a way to get a small plate of food so that I can try several different things instead of being bombarded with a large amount of only one thing. There is a main dining area that has comfortable seating and decorations of red leather and vaulted ceilings. The floor is paved in copper pennies, something that I look forward to seeing. Fresh ingredients are used in the dishes.
When I go to New York, I know that I will see a style like none other. There are several shopping centers, historical buildings and restaurants that I want to see. One site that I used to plan my trip was Gogobot. This helped with my itinerary during the trip as well as finding the perfect hotel in New York. With the right outfit, I know that I will have a dazzling time with my friends."
We're always up for a challenge so we designed an outfit we thought would be great for Kendra. It includes a halter dress- extremely stylish and comfortable, but still modest. We thought a large gold bangle would accent the black and white nicely and continued that theme with a black and gold clutch. We don't know about Kendra, but whenever I'm out, we like not having to worry about hair in our face. We thought this messy french twist put a modern spin on a timeless look. To cap off the outfit, we choose these super cute booties, they're totally affordable and won't hurt her feet if she winds up walking a lot or standing at the bar.
We hope Kendra likes the outfit we picked out for her- we're totally jealous of her New York trip! (You can totally take us with if you want!) Would you wear this for dinner with friends in New York?
Another monthly goals post! I didn't do too bad in May, but definitely could have done better!
In May I wanted to. . .
1. Finish the school year strong. Yup! Got >90% in all classes 2. Read more. Nope! Didn't have time to read anything besides school material 3. Remember all my recital dances. Yup! I remembered everything, but I did mess up due to nerves. Oh well! 4. Keep up with blogging even through recital week & help Katie get set up to blog without being dependent on me to post it. Not quite! I didn't post much through recital week and I am still working on getting Katie set up to post independently- she doesn't know her gmail e-mail!
In June I want to. . . Dance Goals + Stretch at least twice a week. + Work on turns and such on my own regularly. Health Goals + Walk/Jog 3x weekly. + Get back into doing abdominal workouts daily! + Drink 8 cups of water a day & eliminate soda completely! + Cut down on unhealthy snacks majorly and work toward eliminating them by substituting for something healthier. Mental Health Goals + Lay off Tumblr. and YouTube. + Read at least two books this month. + Try to journal or at least write something daily. + Get at least six hours of sleep. Blog Goals + Keep up with our editorial calendar & start planning (and scheduling) July since I'll be gone. + Hit 600 Bloglovin' followers! You can contribute by following us here. + Hand out business cards more! + Get more Five Little Grins participants. What are your goals for this month? -Cassi
In case this is your first week, here's what it's all about. Generally Mondays are considered pretty sucky right? Well, let's change that. Instead of focusing on what sucks about Monday, we'll talk about what made us smile throughout the rest of the week, to start the week on a positive note!
The Rules! (These are really just kind suggestions)
2. Link up your post that includes 5-ish things that made you smile in the past week
3. Comment after you link up
4. Go visit some other blogs and make some friends! Hey guys! I want to apologize for posting so late today. I've been on the boat out on the water for about 10 hours today! We got to port safely without any crazy challenges so I would say it was a success. My five little grins from this week include. . . 1. Getting Katie Wednesday night and most of Thursday. She had the day off so hung out up by me! Was nice to spend a while with her before we had to leave for the summer.
2. Seeing the Fault in Our Stars on Friday with Katie. I was pretty pleased with the film adaption and felt everything that was left out was fine and helped to move the plot along. I of course haven't read it for 2 years, though. I'm far more excited for the film adaption of Paper Towns though. Especially with Nat Wolf playing Quentin 3. Ending the school year with at least 90% in all my classes. It was a rough week of finals, but I'm super glad that I'm finished.
4. Seeing everyone on Saturday for our going away party! We normally see them all summer long so it was definitely sad to have to say good bye.
5. Getting to port safely without any major trouble. I'm definitely not a fan of boat trips longer than 2 hours, but I made it. We're still looking for guest posters. If you're interested check out my post here. What has been making you smile lately?
