Fall Fashion and College Week!!!

Hey, y'all. I hope you are all off to a great start back to school! I know the reality of late nights and early mornings came way too fast! Nothing a little Starbucks can't fix.  Tonight is the first slow night I have had in probably two months and it's all kinds of wonderful. I got to enjoy some time as a wife and mommy which is always the best!

Since I had some requests for a fashion post, I thought tonight would be a great night! I have some great Fall Finds for around $30 and under. I put together 4 outfits using the various pieces!

I do want to explain that the filter on the 2nd outfit looks quite funny. The shirt under the vest is actually a denim chambray shirt and not nearly what it looks like in the picture!

The first piece I want to chat about is the white top in the first and third pic. Y'all...this shirt is heaven. Untucked, it covers everything I want to cover up as a Mom of 2 kiddos...haha. It's long enough to wear with leggings and would be cozy with a long cardigan, leggings, and boots! I tucked it in for a more professional look in the third picture and I can't begin to tell you how soft the material is. You can find it HERE. I will say when I bought it, it was less than $30 when Nordstrom had their big sale but it's only around $42 now and so worth it!

The second item is this super fun, statement necklace which I wore in every pic. I bought it online at Nordstrom for ......get this...$12.98 and FREE shipping. This is a great piece to add a little style to a plain tee and jeans or to glam it up. You can find it HERE!

I wore these cozy, taupe booties in 3 of the 4 pics and they are so versatile. You can wear them with jeans or a dress. I spent less than $30 on these babies and look forward to wearing them this Fall. You can find them HERE.

Last, a Fall must have is a green vest whether a moto vest (like mine) or a military vest...they look great with everything. You can wear it over a dress with some boots or over a chambray shirt with fun, colored jeans. I think I am actually going to order this one because I love the style!! You can find it HERE! The one I am wearing in the pic is no longer available.

I hope to start posting more fashion posts that are budget friendly! I love fashion but my hubby and I are both educators so I try to stick to sales!!!

Now, on to college week. Many of you may be gearing up to pump your student about college! Since I am not directly planning college week this year, I don't have too many ideas to share but if you click below, it will take you to my past posts on college week!

College Week Post One

College Week Post Two

I would love for you to comment about your favorite thing you do during college week!! Have a great week and don't forget to take time for YOU!!!

Finding My Way

If you met me in person you would probably never guess that I was a middle school counselor. Maybe a Kindergarten teacher or elementary counselor but not middle school. My voice, my personality, and everything about me screams I love arts and craft, the smell of crayons and glue sticks, and saying things are "special!" Haha...funny but true. But can I say that I SO love middle school!!! I do miss elementary at times but I am enjoying middle school way more than I thought! I mean talking to these kiddos is amazing because it's on a whole new level and having conversations about their academic future is just so stinkin' cool!!! So I would have to say that I am finding my way. I have so very much to learn this year and I am going with it and just hittin' the ground running the best I can all while taking notes for next year of how I can make things better!

In the first 3 weeks of school we have already celebrated College Week and we had a blast! Here's a couple of things I planned for college week!!!

1. The Ever So Classic Door Decorating Contest
 Last year at my elementary school, my principal let me give the winner of the door decorating contest an opportunity to order items for their classroom. My new principal was awesome enough to do the same! Here are some pictures of some of the doors! The teachers did a great job and got creative!! I love how they let the kids do it and be involved. The winning class will get a donut party!!!

Awards

2. Guess that Grad Display
I thought it would be fun to get teachers to send in college pics and display them for the students to try to guess who they are. The staff seemed to enjoy this too!

3. College Signing
I also made poster sized sheets with college names for students to sign their intent during lunches and passing periods. They signed what school they hoped to attend in the future!

4. College Trivia Announcements
This was probably my favorite activity. Each day on announcements I would feature a "secret college." I would say what the mascot was, how far in terms of driving it was from our campus, what city it was in, and about 3 to 4 fun, interesting facts. The students could then come between classes or after school to drop off their guess and I drew a name and if it had the correct guess, they won a college themed goodie bag with pencils, stickers, etc. I was surprised by how many kids participated and I loved seeing them excited about trying to guess. I even had some students stop by to ask me about the colleges I featured!!

Of course we also sent out activities for teachers to do in the classrooms and had themed days to dress up. Examples are:
*College shirts
*College colors
*High school shirts to the high school we feed into
*I tried to tie in being college and career ready: dress as the profession you want to be

One of our cute little teachers sportin' her scrubs!

It was fun and there are things I will use again and do different next year but overall it was a lot of fun. If the students were even somewhat engaged or thinking about their future....that is what matters to me!!!

I also wanted to show you a super easy bulletin board that was inspired by Danielle's over at School Counselor Blog. Her version is much fancier than mine because I was super short on time but I loved the idea of it and hopefully next year I can make one more like hers!

I saw Danielle's idea and just tweaked it to fit my 10 minutes that I had to create on my computer!

I also am excited because I am working on a teachers pay teachers unit that will have printable games, bulletin board displays/starters and much more that is all Fall themed. I am hoping to have it up by next week and of course I will also post plenty of freebies!!!

We have been busy packing up our house so I feel like I have been missing. I have loved reading up on fellow counselor blogs and getting new ideas!!! It is such a blessing being part of such a neat, supportive community of counseling bloggers!! I think it has truly saved me the past two years with job changes and adapting....and also reader comments....so THANK YOU!!!

I had a great weekend celebrating our son's 6th birthday!! I can't believe how big he is! My hubby and I could not be prouder of the little guy he has become!

I hope you all have a great week full of new learning experiences! Please remember YOU make a difference on your campus!!!!