Halloween Lia Sophia Party: Better Late Than Never!

Life is busy!  I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of a little get-together I hosted a few weeks ago.  My sister just became a lia sophia advisor so I thought it would be the perfect time to host a party.  This was the first time I've ever had a party like this!  It was a lot of fun.  The party took place a week before Halloween so I decided to make it an Autumn/Halloween party too.

I don't usually use many Halloween decorations, but I found some easy, inexpensive Martha Stewart decorations at Michaels.  This guy was just relaxing in one of the drawers.

 I love using branches from our Burning Bush to decorate in the fall.  A few pumpkins and some creepy spiders crawling up the wall completed the look.

I kept the food simple.  I had a few little cans of soda with some vanilla vodka and some wine.  I served some of my favorite party foods.  Chips and salsa, my special pickle mix, and some homemade pretzels from a local bakery with honey mustard and spicy mustard for dipping.

I also served some hard cider and cheddar fondue, but I forgot to get a picture of it.  Ugh!

My sister did a great job with her presentation.  We played several games and three people walked away with prizes.  It was a successful party, and I think everyone had a good time.

Room Tour: My Classroom

We're about three weeks into the new school year, and I thought I'd share some pictures of my classroom.  I can't really take credit for any of these ideas.  I borrowed them all from Pinterest.  What did we do before Pinterest?

You can see my staff rug that I got a few years ago through a grant.  I added some hanging lanterns that were used at my wedding to the reading nook.

We go over to the reading nook when we read a story that goes with a particular lesson or when the kids rotate in stations.  The palm tree was a prop in the musical last year.

If you look in the top corner of the picture you can see the disco ball I used for a musical performance last year and decided to hang it.  The kids really like the disco ball.  The bright posters are the solfeggio syllables.  I've brightened up my chalkboard with chalk markers.

This is my Super Singer board.  All of my chorus members get their name in a star on this board.  Each chorus rehearsal I choose two or three students who were super singers.  They get a certificate and a small prize like a sticker or a music note eraser.

I didn't really use these boards as chalkboards so I decided to cover them and use them as bulletin boards.  I keep a birthday calendar from Plank Road Publishing that the students can check to see if they have the same birthday as a famous composer.  The leaves on the tree have vocabulary words we will be using this year.  I'll be adding more words and branches throughout the year.

I refer to my maps all the time.  We sing a lot of songs from other countries and different parts of our country.  It's so handy to have the maps here that I can point to and show the students the places we are learning about.

This is where I keep some of my musical instruments and my beat buddies.  We use beat buddies in kindergarten and first grade to keep the beat.

These are my instrument guidelines.  Students know that when they get their instruments they must sit in "resting position" until we are ready to play.

Finally, these are my classroom expectations and the guitar I use in class.  I use a Baby Taylor that I can keep at the school and tuck safely away at the end of the day.

I hope you enjoyed your tour around my classroom.  I've already made a few tweaks to my set up that I'll share with you later.  The year has started off really well and the kids love all of the changes I've made.

House Tour: Gravel Patio

The gravel patio was one of the first projects I took on this summer.  We had a corner of our yard that was a little scary.  There were piles of leaves, weeds, and a lot ugly bugs!  I've been working on cleaning up the area since we've been married, but this year I finally had a vision for what the space could be.  After doing some research on Pinterest, or course, I decided to turn it into a gravel patio where we could have a fire pit.

I added some potted plants for color.

I love plants with interesting foliage.  Coleus is one of my favorites for adding to summer pots.  I also have some impatiens, caladium, and asparagus fern.  Caladium has a tuber.  I'm going to try to dig it up and save it over the winter.  I'll try to overwinter my asparagus fern too.  

Here I have a different variety of calladium with an ornamental perennial grass.  I'll stick him in the ground over the winter.  I have a spider plant with a fuchsia.

I just love the bright pink, bell-like flowers of the fuchsia.  I wish it were a perennial.  Larissa tells me I can save it over the winter.

These adirondack chairs are a great place to enjoy the fire!

I created this chandelier out of a hanging plant basket and some beads.  I spray painted them a pretty turquoise color.  The inspiration came from this website. I left it a little more open so I can add a tap light to the chandelier when it gets dark outside.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour!  Let me know what you think in the comments!

Linking up with: DIY By Design

House Tour: Porch

Hello!  I hope you are having a fabulous week.  We had some rough weather at the beginning of the week, but today is absolutely gorgeous.  Today I'm going to begin to share our outdoor space with you.  I've decided to break it up into a few posts and the first is the porch.  It's not really a porch.  It's a breezeway that we've taken full advantage of.

I picked up this faux wicker loveseat at JC Penney last year.  It was seriously discounted.  I think it was a leftover from the previous year, and it's just the right size for this small space.  The garden stools came from Ross, as did the rug.  The rug is not an outdoor rug.  The area is covered so the rug is fine, but I think I'll go for an outdoor rug next time.

We store our grill in the breezeway, and roll it out when we cook.  The wire chairs came from my favorite local antique shop and I spray painted them mint green.  The side table came from another vintage shop.

The rattan hanging light also came from The Antique Marketplace in Lemoyne.

Potted plants are a great accessory to any outdoor space.  I love coleus.  I have two varieties here, as well as some impatients, oxalis, and a fern.

This wind chime is the newest addition to the porch.  I love that it hangs right outside the kitchen.  I can open a window to let some fresh air in and listen to the sound of it as it blows in the breeze.

What do you think?  Do you have a shady outdoor space you can enjoy?

Linking up: Suburbs Mama, The Tablescaper, Flamingo Toes, Nifty Thrifty Things, DIY by Design

Field Trip: Lititz

A few weeks ago a friend and I had the chance to visit the charming little Central Pennsylvania town of Lititz.  The town offers a variety of unique shops and restaurants that make it the perfect place to take the day and explore.

We got there around lunch time.  We decided to have lunch at Tomato Pie Cafe.  I had to have the tomato pie.  It was served with a small salad.  It was the perfect way to start our visit.

One of my favorite shops in Lititz is called Olio.  You can taste and shop for a variety of flavored olive oils and balsamic vinegars.

I took home a bottle of scallion olive oil and lemon balsamic vinegar.

Lititz has several consignment and vintage shops that we had fun exploring.

I hope you have the chance to check out downtown Lititz sometime soon.  It's a fun way to spend an afternoon.