Today's favorites post brings you to TWO of my favorite things. These are usually my fall/winter favorites, but I was chilly this morning and it sounded super yummy. You can order Oh My Chai from any Tastefully Simple consultant. If you don't have one, you can use mine, Chrissy Love. She lives in Virginia, but it will ship directly to you. Anyway, this chai is one of the two that I will only drink. Yes, I'm picky when it comes to chai. I mix mine with milk, to make my tasty, yet high-calorie hot beverage of choice. The website also suggests you use cold milk & ice to make a summer treat, but I haven't ventured there... yet. The pretty little container holding my chai is another favorite of mine. I love me a handmade ceramic mug. The one pictured is from Rising Sun Earthworks, however you can find handmade mugs at your local farmers market or at several stores on Etsy.

And it's for an adorable bag from Tried & True Designs. Seriously. Adorable.

Today she is giving away two more fabulous items! The first is a $30 gift certificate to Doodle Bugs Paper... a store with adorable stationary items! She hasn't yet revealed her second giveaway of the day. And it's not to late to enter the other drawings from earlier this week either!

Can you believe that Cheesecake actually has its own day??? I did not know this until Sweet Shoppe Design posted today's FOBTY challenge... in honor of National Cheesecake Day post about your favorite cheesecake. *sigh* I love cheesecake. We are great friends.

My most favorite kind of cheesecake is The Cheesecake Factory's Pumpkin Cheesecake. Oh my deliciousness. It's to die for. My friend Sarah and I try to make our annual Christmas shopping trip to Schaumburg, IL in the fall. And we ALWAYS have a meal at the Cheesecake Factory. And I ALWAYS get the pumpkin cheesecake. It's a seasonal thing, you see, and we time it just right. YUM. I cannot WAIT until October!!

Speaking of Cheesecake, if you live near one, in honor of National Cheesecake Day, all of their slices are half off! If you go, eat a piece for me!

I feel so high tech. Now I can blog from where ever I am. Aren't you all so lucky? Funny thing is... I'm sitting at the computer while I type this on my phone.

So today is a busy day of sorts. It is essentially my last day to work in my classroom. Between trainings and vacation and teacher days there aren't a lot of hours left before school starts. Thankfully I don't have too much more to do as far as set up goes.

Luke has been wonderful! He didn't want to leave even six hours into it! And thank goodness for grants that allow schools to have a summer lunch program for kids... And its for freeeeeeeeee! (If you can name the movie that's from you get a bonus point. Ha!)

I want just one more month of summer vacation. School starts two weeks from Friday. Just SIXTEEN DAYS away! With an extra month, I would be able to make the beach trip with Sarah & Brady that we never got around to making. I'd take Luke to the splash pad a few times yet. And, most importantly, I wouldn't have to say that I have a kindergartner!! I would also have that extra month to get my cleaning schedule straight and in routine. I'm really scared I'm going to go back to work and the house will be neglected again. Just one more month. It's not insane to start in September, is it?

Well, in less than four hours I got it tackled. :) And I even pulled out the bleach and bleached out the grout on the countertops! Go me! Now it's time to eat lunch and we'll head to my classroom. My plans there are to unpack the boxes & set that stuff up, set up the furniture, and grab a book to start reading for the beginning of the school year. :) Yay for productivity!

ETA: I did want to come back and mention that I know that our dining room is completely unmatching. lol Mom is coming on Friday and we're going to paint it an olive green color. Then, I have to decide if we want to go with colors like the table runner or colors like the area rug. Hmmmmm.... yes. This is the room that needs the most help.

You would think we haven't cleaned in weeks. When, in reality, the house was spic & span on Thursday. Just four days ago. And it stayed clean through Sunday. Just two days ago. How so? Luke was at grandma's house Thursday night through Saturday afternoon. Joel worked and then had class on Friday and had class all day Saturday. Then, I struggle, once again, to stay on top of it. But really. Why should I be the one who needs to stay on top of it? As I look around I see clothes & shoes & dishes & empty cans & water bottles all belonging to Joel. I see pillows and blankets all over the floor, which are a sign that Luke was here. I will take the blame for the computer desk. That's my doing.

The laundry- as of Sunday evening I just had one more load to do. Then, Joel decided to clean up the bedroom. No WONDER he can't find any clothes to wear, even though I just finished the laundry!

So... today is Tackle It Tuesday. I will have this house decluttered by the day's end. Not clean. I'll save that for tomorrow. But uncluttered. Plus, I plan to go into my classroom and work. Should make for a busy day!

Here are my before pictures. I will be back later to post the after pictures. And maybe, just to humor myself, I'll post pics tomorrow to show the damage caused by just two males, in just one evening. hee hee.

I love giveaways. I've never won anything, but it's fun to think I might. And so much of the stuff is SO adorable! Fabulous K is going to giveaway two items each day this week on her blog. Check it out! It starts today!

The Sears Tower (I refused to call it Willis Tower)& the new glass balcony
The Field Museum
Lincoln Park Zoo- It's for FREEEEEEEEEE!
Adler Planetarium
Chicago Children's Museum
MOSI again. hee hee.
The Swedish-American Museum Center
Navy Pier
Rain Forest Cafe
Legoland Discovery Center
and I've got my list ready to shop!

And I want to figure out where that cool mirror rock things in the picture is. I've seen so many cool pics with this thing!

I'm sure there are more... can we do this in four days? I'm getting excited!

Please don't consider me heartless, but Luke went to spend a couple of nights with Grandma & Grandpa. And I am LOVING it right now! My mornings are pretty quiet anyway, but in about 45 minutes Luke would normally rise from the dead... and he is the grouchiest living dead you ever did see. And guess what? I don't have to deal with that today! Or tomorrow! I can run errands without anyone complaining the whole way. I can browse stores without anyone asking if we can go to the toy section a million times (but ya know, I always end up in the toy section anyway- Luke or not!? Go figure). I think I'm going to get the dining room painted. And maybe even Luke's room. If Luke's room doesn't get painted, then it's definitely getting a deep clean and a restructuring.

Oh the joys of spending two days kidless. What would you do if you were kidless for two days?

You Like Names that Are Retro and Fashionable

You like names that are from the past but becoming modern again. Names with a strong history are very appealing to you. You're a big believer in giving children very adult sounding names. You're not a fan of nicknames or newfangled spellings. Some female names you might like: Audrey, Emma, Fiona, Georgia, Isabelle, Naomi, Rosemary, and Veronica Some male names you might like: Brendan, Colin, Ethan, Jared, Kenneth, Martin, and Nathaniel

Did you know the Elkhart County fair is the second largest county fair in the United States? Oh yeah! And we were lucky enough to get free passes this year because Joel volunteered Luke and me to wander around the exhibit building for two hours to make sure everyone was following the rules. So Luke & I went from 12-2 to monitor. On the way out, we watched the sea lion show. And let me tell you that Luke is HEAVY. The only way he could see was if he was on my shoulders. And, we all know that Luke usually gets what he wants. Ha ha! Then we went home to chill a bit until Joel got home. Once Joel was home, we headed back out to the fair for elephant ears (Luke and me), fried cheese (Joel), a couple of rides and a walk through the commercial buildings and animal barns. We saw Paris the Pig and her brand new, just born the night before, piglets, some punk rock roosters, and a few evil goats. It's always fun to go to the fair each year, but one night works for me. Ha ha!

I'm not sure exactly how I found her blog, but I'm so glad I did! The Vintage Pearl creates the most adorable hand-stamped jewelry ever! And some day I'm going to own the Dainty Heart Necklace. Every once in awhile I'll read through her blog and browse through her store. So cute.