Thoughtful Thursday - Using our Words to Make Others Smile

I can't quite determine where the inspiration for Thoughtful Thursday came from.... 

Perhaps it's the month of November and I'm feeling more grateful than before. 

Maybe it's the amount of negative information I browse anytime I hop online. 

It's possible I just wanted to help others feel good because Kid President says its the way to a happy life!

Whatever the reason, I can tell you that Thoughtful Thursday is a huge hit in our classroom and my kids were so excited to participate again. I had students delivering cards at 8:05 this morning (approximately 10 minutes after they arrived in class!)

What is Thoughtful Thursday? It's simple. Grab a blank card from the box and write a letter expressing gratitude, thankfulness, and kindness to a friend, teacher, family member, or anyone who may benefit from kind words. 

Looking for a little pick me up today? I encourage you to extend a note of kindness to someone else. I imagine it will not only brighten your day but theirs as well. Do it... I dare ya!

P.S. If you haven't seen the latest Kid President video. I highly recommend! He reminds us that we are PEOPLE, people and we should treat each other accordingly. 

Global Read Aloud - 1st Timers

For a few years, I've wanted to jump into the Global Read Aloud that is always flooding my Twitter feed.  Each time I've remembered to participate... it's been too late or well... You know, things happen! 

This summer I signed up to receive Global Read Aloud updates through email so I wouldn't miss a thing. Over the summer, I purchased two of the options for my grade level and decided on The B.F.G.! 

Through Twitter, I was able to connect with several (too many in fact) educators and their 5th graders. After exchanging emails and schedules, we officially connected with 5th graders in Alabama. That's a pretty exciting deal for us in Missouri!

First thing on the Global Read Aloud agenda was..... Mystery Skype. Through mystery Skype, we were able to find our reading buddies in Alabama one afternoon. From there we have had several collaborative opportunities. We've answered #slowchat questions through Padlet together and we've even played Kahoot! while Skyping again. 

One of our more exciting mornings was when we saved Sophie's dreams in a Breakout EDU activity!

I'm sure I have only skimmed the surface on the possibilities of The Global Read Aloud, however I'm so happy our class has gotten to participate. It's pretty cool knowing that so many other readers are enjoying the same book we are! 

I'm looking forward to participating next year as well. 

When Life Hands You Tomatoes....

My dad brought us an incredible amount of tomatoes. 

Let me rephrase that, my dad brought us a ton of big 'ol tomatoes. I was bound and determined to move beyond my classic B.L.T. (heard of it?) and tackle these tomatoes head on in the most delicious ways. 

Big 'Ol Maters

Our tomato journey started on Sunday evening and as of Friday morning, we only have two tomatoes remaining. I call that a success! 

For most of the recipes, I snagged them from my fav-o-rite website, Skinnytaste. Gina (we are definitely on a first name basis at this point) always has the tastiest recipes. 

Here's what we've been eating all week!

On Sunday, we had Pesto-Parmesan Tomatoes to compliment our grilled steak. 

Pesto-Parmesan Baked Tomatoes via Skinnytaste

Over the weekend, my sister-in-law made a delicious batch of Pico de Gallo and I was hooked. One of our tomatoes this week was donated to the Pico de-cause and we have been snacking on Pico all week!

Pico de Gallo via Food Network, The Pioneer Woman

This dish was quite possibly my favorite! We have started incorporating more fish into our meal routine (BREAKING NEWS: I'm a salmon fan now!). On Monday, we had tilapia with a tomato and caper sauce. 

Broiled Tilapia with Tomato Caper Sauce via Skinnytaste

 We don't always have soup in the summer but when we do.... it's full of tomatoes! ;) On Tuesday, we had Tomato Bisque. My husband added some red pepper flakes and Italian seasoning to give it a little more zing! 

Tomato Bisque via Skinnytaste

It's summer time, so lunch looks a little different for me these days. Yesterday, I enjoyed a lump crab salad and avocado. 

Avocado and Lump Crab Salad via Skinnytaste

It's truly been a delicious week. (There was one recipe that was a big 'ol flop, but I'll save that for another day!)

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Just when I thought I had run out of ideas for my tomato stash, a friend sent me this link from The Gracious Wife with 88 recipes for fresh tomatoes. Now... I need a few more tomatoes!

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What are your favorite tomato-based recipes? Share with me! 

Silobrating with the Best!

Like every other HGTV-loving American, I love Fixer Upper.  Truth be told, my husband and I started thinking differently about house hunting when we started watching Chip and JoJo. While we knew our skill set was a bit different than the Gaines dynamic duo... it made us approach houses differently and through a different set of lenses. Now, our house is not a "fixer-upper", however I like to think of parts of house being a blast from the past. The 90's are still alive and well in many areas of our sweet little home. 

This brings us to Waco, TX....My best friend just happens to live in Dallas, Texas. In the fall, we were planning a little visit at the end of October and it just so happened that the Silobration would be happening in Waco the same weekend we would be visiting The Lone Star State in October! 

This, my friends, was a no brainer. We packed up the car and made the trek down to Waco. We arrived incredibly early (we couldn't help ourselves), so we had a bite to eat at Twisted Root Burger Co.  We made sure to leave room for the food trucks later, of course. 

We're the four best friends anyone could ever have........ 

 We browsed the Magnolia Market with hundreds of other gawking fans and snagged a few keepsakes to take home. I couldn't leave without a t-shirt (I am my father's daughter!), candle, and one of Jimmy Don's metal signs. 

We listened to Johnnyswim sing, Chip and Joanna share their story (it's possible I may have cried...), and snacked on pizza from food trucks. 

It was an amazing trip and even better because it was spent with people I love the most!

Next on the list? I'm bound and determined to stay in that cute little B&B or I'll settle for Joanna flying to Missouri and being my best friend. 

Tying the Knot: Love is Sweet

Mike Cassimatis Photography

Mike Cassimatis Photography

At the end of our reception, guests were invited to take home a jar of honey. Now, this was not just your ordinary jar of honey. No... No... No! This was honey made in California, Missouri by my husband's parents. Let me repeat that for you: These little jars of Moniteau Honey came straight from California, Missouri and my in-laws house. 

It really doesn't get much sweeter than that. :)

Mike Cassimatis Photography

Filling these jars was a breeze thanks to my father-in-law's genius idea to use ketchup bottles filled with honey for easy filling. Plus, we had a cute flower girl/assistant helping to tighten the lids and fill boxes. :)

Behind the Scenes

Mike Cassimatis Photography

My friend Maggie  (you may remember her from this post, too!) was kind enough to make labels for the honey jars saying, Love is Sweet. Thanks For Making our Day Complete and thanking guests for being part of our special day. I called on my good friend Abby to decorate our chalkboards. Check out Abby's blog and learn how to fake calligraphy like the pro's!

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A year ago this month we became husband and wife! Read more about our favorite day in June here.

What I'm Reading Wednesday

Was it the great Sir Mix-a-Lot that once said, "I like big books and I cannot lie"? I think those are the lyrics, right?

When I walked out of school last Wednesday, I brought home a huge crate of goodies from my classroom. I had to pack an additional bag just to carry all of the books I brought home to read over the summer.  

First on the list this summer was, "Absolutely Almost" by Lisa Graff. This is an incredibly sweet story about a little boy named Albie finding his path through a very confusing school year. While reading, you'll laugh with Albie and be heartbroken as well. I found myself having similar emotions as to when I read "Wonder" for the first time. I was Team Auggie and Team Albie all the way!

I look forward to sharing this book with my students and having conversations about the way we treat others and what it really means to be, "cool".  

My "Why?" on Blogging

My blogging journey began while I was studying abroad. A blog was the perfect way to share my experiences in London with family members back in Missouri. Since then, my blog has experienced a bit of growth and evolved with my life as I've grown up. Believe or it not... my life has changed a bit since the summer of 2008. :)

I'm always encouraging others to blog and jump in on the blogging community because there are so many benefits to being part of this inter-web network.  In almost every conversation I have with a friend about blogging, I (almost) always get the response, "No one will want to read what I have to say!" or "I don't have anything to blog about!".  My response is..... you're looking at it all wrong! 

Simon Sinek says, "People don't buy what you do. They buy why you do it." 

Perhaps my "whys" will give you the little push you need to jump on in and start a blog:

First.... I look at my blog as as a reflective journal of my teaching practices, journal of our home renovating experiences, and an opportunity to share life experiences.  Sure, it's great when people read my blog and interact with me via comments or conversation, but it's also great having an online journal that has collected many memories over several years. 

Secondly... The connections!! Through blogging, I have had the opportunity to connect with teachers around the country. Kudos to my friend Abby for making this neat graphic illustrating connections made with my blog. I've swapped many emails with teachers in Missouri and other states about teaching ideas and my life is richer because of it. 

Next... The tone, style, and flow of my blog is completely up to me. Perhaps I've written one too many college papers where I've been criticized for not writing "professionally".  (Fact! This has happened!) I like to use my blog as an opportunity to write like I speak to others. I want readers to feel like they're having a conversation with me instead of reading my term paper. 

Most importantly... My blog is an opportunity to lead by example. I choose to use my blog as a source of optimism, positivity, and a breath of fresh air. Of course my life is not always sunshine and roses... we all have our bad days. However, I choose to share what makes me happy in an effort to spread good vibes to others. The internet is filled with so much negativity, trolls, and hate... why not use my voice for a positive purpose?

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I would love to hear you WHY! Why do you choose to blog and share your journey online? 

In the meantime.... you should check out my super talented and creative friends and their blogs:

Abby @ The Occasions Closet 

Mary @ Full and Merry 

Bringing our Writing to Life!

The end of the year in room 52 has looked different for the past five years. May rolls around and I think, "Yep! Trying something new again..." This May was no different. 

This year, my students are filled to the brim with creative juices and I wanted to give them an opportunity to showcase their creative skills to wrap up the year. As you can see from this post about science movies, we are really good at being in front of the camera. 

This year, I challenged students to write an original fictional story and then turn it into an iMovie. The catch? They wouldn't be starring in it... They were to make all props and characters using materials around the school.  I must include that my classroom has been a disaster for three weeks and I'm totally-okay-with-it-sometimes. 

To get our wheels  spinning, students swiped through iMovie Trailers to get an idea for the theme and mood of their story. After they decided on a tone for their story, they had to complete a graphic organizer mapping out the beginning, middle, and end. This part was vital to the project being successful. We tend to have REALLY long "middle" parts of the story and then we, "fall off a cliff" (as a good friend calls it) and don't wrap up our story.  I even encouraged them to include a theme at the end of the story. 

I've kind of been flying by the seat of pants from day one, but I think it's working out! Here's the rundown of how the project went AFTER they completed a graphic organizer:

• Students had to write and edit an original story in their writer's notebooks with partners. 
• Students had to create all props. Students had to make (no more) than two backdrops and characters on popsicle sticks. This is where the project took a mind of its own... We have horses, Lego characters, Pizza Steve, and balloon men floating around the room!
• Partners worked to create an iMovie trailer to show on YouTube to get the public ready for their movie!
• The final piece... create an iMovie sharing your original story. 

Behind the Scenes  -- Creating Props

Behind the Scenes  -- Filming 

Right now, students are tying up lose ends and getting ready to submit movies tomorrow. In the mean time, you can check out our trailers on YouTube! 

Reflecting back on the last few weeks.... I have to admit, I've been on a bit of a roller coaster of decision making. At times, I've panicked and thought, "HOLY COW! We won't ever finish!" Then I'm flying high and thinking, "These kids are amazing."  I realized it was important to set daily goals with my students so they had a focus for each class period. It was also important, for me, to give up a bit of control and let the kids be creative! It was loud, noisy, messy, and kids were all over the place.... but they were creating incredible products! 

You can check out all of the trailers for the movies (coming to a theater NEAR YOU!) right here.

Curb Appeal

When we bought our house last March, we inherited a pretty ridiculous jungle of overgrown plants lava rocks, and weeds. We gave ourselves the summer to you know... get married... and then we started on the front yard in the fall. 

Up until this point, I had never paid any attention to landscaping. I knew the basics...

"Oh, those are pretty flowers!"

and

"Wow, they should cut their grass."

Those two statements could sum up my knowledge on the subject matter of landscaping. 

The first order of business was to rip out the existing plants. Once spring rolled around, we started to research more about plants and landscaping. Boy, oh boy. My head kind of exploded. My Pinterest board is a great example of how my brain was bouncing around in the subject of gardening. 

We decided to plant a row of Hostas along the house and use Boxwoods under our front windows. I must point out... This decision came after many conversations with other people. 

When we had the old plants ripped out, we were fortunate to find lava rocks hiding beneath (sigh).  In addition to the lava rocks, Mother Nature and Planet Earth left many rocks for us to find as well. However, we made lemonade out of lemons and used the rocks to help us line a path to our backyard. 

We also felt pretty tough after all that diggin'. 

Our trusty 'ol Menards bucket made several trips to the woods with rocks filled to the brim.  (P.S. I did not carry the rocks, my strong husband took care of the part for me!)

The final piece to our landscaping masterpiece (I can call it that, right?) was mulch.  My husband and I were definitely not agreeing on the right number of bags of mulch. This was our conversation:

"I want to buy ten bags of mulch." - Scott
"WHAT! No way." - Me
"Okay... six." -Scott
"Five." - Me
...... Later at the store, I got distracted looking at plants and we rolled out of Home Depot with eight bags. Very sneaky, Scott. Very sneaky.

However, I should have listened because we need more mulch. :)

Moral of the story: Buy all the mulch. You'll need a ton. Also, admit to your husband when you're very wrong on calculating the amount of mulch needed. 

Before... During... After

Viola! What should I plant next....

Read more about our house projects here. 

Tying the Knot - The Ultimate Lip Sync Battle

It's a bit cliche to say, "time flies when you're having fun...". However - it's so true! Time has been flying, we've been having fun..... and we have almost been married a year! I'm picking up where I left off back in July (gulp) and sharing about Tying the Knot with my super awesome husband. 

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Like every other human on the planet, I'm a BIG fan of Lip Sync Battle on Jimmy Fallon (and the show on Spike)! I was hooked the moment I watched Emma Stone belt out Blues Traveler and All I Do is Win. 

My husband (of almost a YEAR.... I must point out!) and I had the most brilliant idea one night during wedding planning. 

Let's challenge our bridal party to the most epic Lip Sync Battle... of all time. 

So we did! 

We sent out a Dub Smash (a favorite app in the Robertson household) and threw down the gauntlet. 

Our amazing videographers - an incredibly talented husband and wife duo at Cork Creative -  captured the entire battle on film. Truthfully, I've cried every time I have watched this clip. 

Lip Sync Battle from Cork Creative on Vimeo.

Tara and Caleb poured their heart and soul to our wedding film and we are forever grateful for having them be a part of our wedding day. (Are you getting married? You should contact them right now.)

To Seesaw or Not to Seesaw?

This year, we are 1:1 in 5th grade with iPads. One of the apps my students have come to know is Seesaw. We were using Kidblog until it was no longer a free service. This bummed me out for a solid two days. However, I'm moved on and living life just fine without it. 

Read more about all that Seesaw offers here. 

One of the features I really like on the website are the Activity Ideas in the Teacher Resource bank. These gave me an idea of how to get started using Seesaw.  

Here are some Pros and Cons of using Seesaw:

(Please note these are all my opinions based on my experience as a classroom teacher)

The positives:

• All posts require approval. These gave me an opportunity to review all posts before they were viewed by my students. 
• Parents can login and view posts, comment on posts, and see what their kids are blogging about. I had several parents leave comments, like posts, and view content each day.
• Seesaw sends a "This Week in Review". You can see the traffic on your site, parent visits, student logins, etc. 
• Students can upload pictures, record video, draw something, add links from the internet, etc. The feature we used the most was "Note". 
• Students can upload a picture and annotate on top of the picture. This is great for labeling diagrams or working through math problems.

A few Cons:

• In the "Note" section (where we blogged) there are no formatting tools.  They couldn't change the size, make proper headings, officially indent, etc. 
• If they don't finish an activity and they log off.. Poof! It's gone. (This has been our experience..)

My Wishes for Seesaw (is anybody reading this?):

• Give students an opportunity to upload a photo and type text with it. Similar to Kidblog or another blogging platform.
• Add formatting features in the Note section so we can take our publishing up a notch. 
• Save drafts! Please let us save. Sometimes we have to take breaks with projects on our iPads and don't always finish in one setting. 
• Let us save! Sometimes we want to keep the work we publish on Seesaw. It would be GREAT to be able to save those things to our camera roll for future portfolios. 

To wrap it up, I'm a big fan of everything that Seesaw offers. I think you should jump on board and give it a whirl.

P.S. Some of "My Wishes" may actually be a reality on the app... and I may have not figured them out yet. :)

#AprilBlogaDay

Whew - It's been a while sweet blog. I'm in a bit of a bloggy funk and can't quite find the direction I want to go with my sharing.  I'm a bit of an over-sharer in my personal life, so it's a bit surprising that I can't figure out my why for sharing here. At home, my husband is reading the book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity. While he's been reading, we've chatted about different things in the book and one of the topics is mind-mapping. 

Humph. 

I use mind-mapping all of the time in my classroom, but it never occurred to me to apply this logic to my own life outside of school (What? Life outside of school!? Just kidding...) 

The other night, I began to mind-map my summer plans and my blog ideas. Before long, I had a laundry list of things I wanted to share in all aspects of my life. 

So - I'm back! 

Our morning procedure is a bit rushed due to specials beginning at 8:15 and kids arriving at 7:50ish. We have a small window of time to unpack, write down daily assignments, and get prepared for the day. As the year is winding down, I noticed the kids are quite savvy with their morning procedure and had quite a bit of free time in the morning. While, of course, I encouraged morning reading.... that was not always the popular activity in the morning. I get it... they wanted to chat, catch up with friends in the 15 hours or so that they hadn't been together.

Enter... #AprilBlogaDay!

Using the online journal, Seesaw my students wrote one blog entry per day in the month of April. I asked for student suggestions on topics (or hashtags) and I created an anchor chart to display. It was one brilliant student idea to make Fridays a "catch up" day. 

As a class, we created a few ground rules. These ground rules really set the pace for our blogging experience. Since Fridays were "Catch up & Comment" days, we even had great discussions on leaving positive, specific feedback to our peers. It was amazing to see how students were helping one another edit and proofread their post. Plus... they are really good at finding the perfect emoji for every.single.occasion. 

While I gave my students the opportunity to submit ideas for the blog, I, of course, had to add in a few of my own. After a morning of blogging about #chicken (I heard about all kinds of chicken.. baked, fried, grandma's, KFC, using it for fish food....) I asked the students to blog about reading. A student piped up, "this was your idea wasn't it, Mrs. Robertson?" :)

Something I really enjoyed about my student's blog posts was what they chose to share. I learned so much more about my students through their blog posts. Some blogged about school, family, siblings, weekend activities. While they were blogging, I was able to "talk" to each one of my students because I could comment and ask them questions after they published. 

Today, I created a Padlet for kids to submit ideas for our "#EndofSchoolBlogaDay". I'm excited to see what they come up with!

Check out my blog post on the pros and cons of using Seesaw in the classroom. 

Thinking Caps ON! STEM Challenges in Science

What happens when you give students a random assortment of materials (rice, popsicle sticks, straws, tea bags, glue, jelly beans, and toothpicks... to name a few) and challenge them to create something? Magic! Magic happens! This year, I've really embraced STEM challenges in my science classroom and I strongly believe you should do the same.  I can't take credit for these incredibly creative challenges. SmartChick Teaching has been my source of inspiration! I highly encourage you to check out her TpT store here. 

Here's a recap of the there projects we've competed in 2016:

While studying animal adaptations, students were challenged to create a bird's beak. Their beak could be designed to pick up rice, beans, lentils, or seeds. As you can see below, some groups wanted to "be the bird" and truly experience this STEM challenge!

 

My students are currently in the midst of their American Revolution unit. I wanted to join in on the fun in science... so we created structures to keep tea bags dry when dumped in the Boston Harbor. Originally the task was to create a "crate", however... I was flexible with different designs that were presented. I couldn't crush the creativity happening in the room! 

We even had a live stream of the Boston Harbor playing through our Apple TV.  We decided it wasn't the best idea to stand in a semi-circle around the table for the rest of the day, so we played a live feed and continued about our business. 

By the time the end of the day rolled around, all of the tea bags were still dry... we had to sink them. It was very exciting! 

Our latest project was building geodesic domes out of jelly beans and toothpicks. Students had to build the strongest structure. To find the winner, we put chapter books on top of the structure. The current champion held 13 chapter books! It was incredible.

During this project, I felt like I was the host of a cooking show. Bouncing around from group to group, channeling my inner Giada De Laurentiis, asking each group to tell me about their project and asking, "why did you decide to use a jelly bean that way?" 

At the conclusion of each project, we've debriefed and had great conversations about what went well, what didn't work out so well, and what we learned about engineering. After every project, each class has commented how powerful it was to work as a group because everyone offered great ideas and contributed to the genius of the project. 

Arkansas? CHECK!

Before I was a homeowner, I had the great pleasure of renting a duplex from an amazing couple. They are both living the dream of retirement, but you would never know because their day planner is quite full! 

Among the countless hobbies they enjoy as a couple, they also have traveled the entire country together. Throughout their marriage, they have visited (almost) ALL 50 states together. I find this feat rather remarkable and I challenged my husband to do the same with me. 

Don't get me wrong... I could go for another week in the Dominican Republic, but I'm ready and willing to check out good 'ol U.S. of A's beauty as well. 

For Valentine's Day, we checked off one of our neighboring states and officially visited The Natural State. 

May not seem like most to some.... but boy-oh-boy, I enjoyed every minute with my Valentine and two best friends!

More to come on our Eureka Springs trip in a future post. 

Happy Thursday!

Hear Us Out! Subscribe to our YouTube Channel!

Do you ever have grand ideas for a project and then step back from your incredibly elaborate ideas and think to yourself, "how in the heck am I going to pull this off?" 

OR! 

Have you ever continued with the incredibly elaborate project idea.... and then when you're in the thick of it you think, "Oh crud. How are we are going to pull this off?"

Luckily, this was one of those times were I took the advice of my co-collaboraters and we took the project down just a smidgen and it's been in-cred-ible. 

Instead of attempting to manage a full fledged newsroom, we decided to have our classes create original "Opinion Talk Shows".  Our writing focus for this quarter is opinion writing, so what better way to share our opinions than to write it AND share it on YouTube?

To kick off the project, we decided as a class to name our show, "Robertson Rivals". Each week, one small group gets the opportunity to take one of their published opinion pieces and transform it into a script for a talk show. 

Behind the Scenes

Small groups collaborate through Google Slides to write their script and decide on specific "parts" for the talk show. 

Our inspiration for opinion topics come from Scholastic News Magazines. Our more popular debates have been...

Should participation count as a grade?

Does everyone deserve a trophy?

Should students have homework over breaks?

Should schools make up snow days on Saturdays?

We invite YOU and your students to subscribe to our YouTube channel and weigh in on these topics. My students love watching the "views" number spike and hearing feedback from other kids (some even in our building) about their talk show!

A Little Cheesy

The past few years I've enjoyed standing in the treats aisle at the grocery store trying to think of puns for my student's valentines. My husband is the king of punny thoughts so I highly enjoy naming off candies and treats and asking him to come up with something.  A yearly activity I plan to continue for-ev-er. 

Gosh... Married life is the best. 

 Last year I thanked my students for making me "Snicker" everyday...

In the past, I've made things "O-Fish-AL" about my appreciation for my students. 

This year, I'm just plain cheesy. :)

Happy Valentine's Day (week) to my fellow teacher friends! 

KAHOOT!

Looking to try something new in the month of February? My suggestion: Kahoot!

We just can't get enough of Kahoot around these parts! 

Before Christmas, I took the plunge and created a study guide for our solar system assessment on Kahoot's game-based response system.  Since then, my students have been begging and begging to play again! I knew the end of our animal classification unit was around the corner, so I created another study session for this week. 

Engagement was through the roof! My students love the instant feedback and competition. I love the excitement over the content, how easy it is to create, and the feedback I receive from the teacher's perspective. 

So far, I've only utilized the "Quiz" portion of Kahoot.  I haven't used the "Discussion" or "Survey" features yet. 

Do you have any great quizzes to share? I love to share! Share with me and I'll share with you!

Just the Two of Us

Since there are only two of us capable of playing board and card games (sorry Chip and Bruce.. you're not helpful here) around the house, I made it my personal mission to find games for two people. Let me tell you... This is not an easy feat!

Just the two of us.

Now I'm here to spread my wisdom to fellow couples in the same boat. 

Full disclosure, I'm still a little bitter about an intense game of Skip-Bo from Wednesday night that did not end in my favor... However, I'll march forward and rework my strategy while I'm home on a snow day. 

Here are a couple of my favorite games to play with your main-squeeze when it's just the two of you. (Technically... you could play these with anyone, but you get my point)

Ticket to Ride

Once upon a time, I play this cross country train adventure game with two of my friends before Scott moved to the lake. Since then, I've been eye-balling it at Target waiting to take the leap because it was so fun. We invested in the game over Christmas break and have been travelin' across the U.S.A. ever since!

Now, I'm wishing (after seeing the way cheaper price on Amazon...) I would have utilized my Prime account to make the purchase. Ah! You live and learn. 

A game full of strategy and sneaky decision making can really bring out the competitive side in your opponent. I speak from experience. 

Just remember... it's only a game. It's only a game...

Skip-BO

Confession: I'm addicted to Skip-Bo. It's kind of like Uno on steroids. The best part? You can play with two people. Sometimes it may take a couple of hours (good 'ol fashioned quality time if you ask me!), but we like to queue up our favorite show on Netflix and play 'til the hogs come home. 

Those are my faves! I'm always looking to add our collection for date night. What 2-player game suggestions do you have? Share with me!

"Embrace the Butter" -A Wise Friend

Right after Christmas my husband and I set off on a little adventure to Savannah, Georgia and it was ah-maze-ing. I loved every part of the city and I cannot wait to visit again and bring all of my friends!

Here are my tips to traveling in one of the most charming cities in the United States.

Tip #1: Read the book. 

Before jetting off for the holidays, one of my friends told me I needed to read the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" before going to Savannah. I'm so glad I followed her advice! 

Tip #2: Grab your camera, fanny pack, and trolly sticker and be a tourist. 

There's no shame in being a tourist, asking for directions, or wearing that big 'ol camera around your neck (these are all my exclusive opinions).  I often look the part of a tourist in my home town. I can't help it. I love to explore. 

We learned more about the city of Savannah on our trolley ride around town than by walking or reading anything online. The best part is you can hop and on and off the trolley throughout the day. 

Please note the trolley stickers and camera strap!

Tip #3: Explore River Street

Hobble along the cobble stone roads and grab a bear claw to snack on or pop in Vic's on the River for an amazingly delicious crawfish beignet. We opted out of a river cruise, but if that tickles your fancy.. I say go for it! 

Tip #4: Eat. Eat it all. 

This is by far the most important tip. The food was amazing. We had tapas as Jazz'd, soup and sandwiches at Six Pence Pub, and pimento cheese hush puppies at Churchill's to name a few. Oh, did I mention our amazing breakfast at Collins Quarter? Even the chai tea was heavenly. Savannah can do-no-wrong in the meals department. 

Tip #5: Bike Tybee Island

My husband and I love to bike around cities. We love to stroll around and take in the sites together. Tybee was the perfect island to bike around. It was about a 25 minute car ride from Savannah and the perfect way to spend a morning. We had breakfast at Sunrise Cafe, biked around the town, visited the lighthouse, and had lunch at A-J's Dockside. Perfection!

Tip #6: Soak Up the History

Wave at the girl. Visit the historic homes. Take a look at the art museum. Read the plaques. Hop from square to square. Sit where Forrest Gump sat and talked about his mama and Jenny. Do it all!

Mercer House 

Last but not least... If it claims to be famous, I'd go ahead and test it out.

Tip #7: Is it famous? You should probably test it out yourself. 

Exhibit A: Do I regret trying these famous cookies of Savannah? Nope. Sure don't. I would like some more, please.

Located in City Market... You should go there too!

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I've barely scratched the surface on visiting Savannah, but now you have one more city to add to your U.S.A. bucket list! 

Where shall we travel next, blog-friends?