Knowing Current Trends In..... The School Yard

When is an elephant not an elephant?  

When is a butterfly not a butterfly?

When it's a silly band...

Have you seen silly bands?  Have you bought any?  Better yet, have you traded any?  Today K and I went to a friend's house after school and traded silly bands.  :)    They had a big bowl of them...

Silly bands come in all shapes, sizes and colors.  We took zoo animals (because we just went to the zoo) and glow in the dark "things" (because we are cool like that).  S and S traded (really cool) fast food and (pretty) fruit silly bands with us. 

You might be wondering what you do with silly bands (other than trade them) ...Just sit back and watch the magic of silly bands...

We're still not sure what the red shaped silly band is.  It came with the fast food silly bands.  (Any guesses?)

The reasoning behind today's post is this...you need to know what kids are doing today.  What's hot and what's not...Find kids that are in your target age group and befriend them, learn from them, observe them...Have fun with them...We had a great time with S and S and the silly bands.  (Thanks girls! They are going to do something special for a post next month.  Cool, huh!)

BTW, I gave several of you extensions on IBKTY week....I'm expecting reports from you.  Did you remember to treat yourself the way you treat others???  I hope so....

We found one other use for silly bands...

How would you use them? 

Be creative!

DON'T BELIEVE THE BAD STUFF!

(St. Paul's Cathedral in Minneapolis, Minnesota.)

It's easier to believe the bad stuff...I don't know where I heard that line, perhaps  it was in a movie or in a book and I believe it's true.  We do it all the time.  We do it to ourselves.  That's why I invented International Be Kind To Yourself Week.  I promise I'll get off my soap box... (for a while) If you'll do this:

1. Give yourself permission to enjoy simple pleasures without feeling guilty.
2. Say kind things to and about yourself.
3. Believe that you are worthy of happiness, love, and success in all areas of your life.

DEAL??????

(One big fishing lure...or art, perhaps...)

I gave a few of you extensions on IBKTY week...so I'll be expecting reports next Friday. 

I have a blogging question for you:  I absolutely love replying to your comments though emails.  Do you like it?  What about those of you who don't have it set up on your blogger profile, do you come back and see if I left a response to your comment? What do you like best as a blog reader?  What do you do as a blog writer?

Don't forget to show yourself some love this week.....

Follow up on I.B.K.T.Y. WEEK

 What did you do for International Be Kind To Yourself Week?  I want a full report...

I went to Minneapolis, Minnesota for three days.  It was lovely!  We did some of my favorite things...We ate at Chevy's Tex-Mex our first night.  (YUM!)  We got up early and went to the Minnesota Zoo.

This is Seymour, their male dolphin. He was born in the wild.  They have a one month old baby, but she was in the back pool and we couldn't get a good picture of her or her Mum.

There were lots of prairie dogs.  The guide said they didn't know how many there are as they can make tunnels up to thirty feet deep  and they have tunnelled all over the zoo.  (My husband reminded me there were other animals in the park, after I took about 25 photographs of them...they are sooo cute!)

This has to be the funniest sight I have EVER seen at any zoo (and I've been to a lot of zoos...)  Just in case you are wondering, those are camels.

After the zoo we went to The Walker Arts Center and saw some art, both modern and traditional.

Then we walked through a sculpture garden.

What trip to Minneapolis would be complete without a trip to the Mall of The Americas?  So we hit the mall for a few hours of shopping.  I don't have photos.  LOL!  But, I now have new dishes.  My hubby has been complaining for ten years about our artsy dishes...so now we have new ones.  (Black on the outside and white on the inside.)

Then we went to a science museum on the bank of the Mississippi River. We saw an awesome exhibit on the Dead Sea Scrolls!

They had a real tugboat in the exhibit.  It was on the roof, but you entered it through the building...

So, What did you do for International Be Kind To Yourself Week?  Do you need an extension?  If you do let me know....I'm the founder of the movement, so I can grant you one.  :)

PS: Marcia Hoehne, ICL instructor, is doing a critique give-away....You might want to hop over and sign up ASAP!

INTERNATIONAL BE KIND TO YOURSELF WEEK BEGINS ON 8/13

I declare it INTERNATIONAL BE KIND TO YOURSELF WEEK!

 For the next SEVEN days...I want you to be kind to yourself.

 

Get a manicure...

Get a pedicure...

Drink some fancy water...

Buy some new shoes...(It's the perfect time. Lots of them are on clearance right now.)

This summer was rather stressful for our family; the hail storm, Stripes died, and the basement flooded twice.  I'm a pretty practical person, but yesterday I did something very luxurious.  I went to Elements and got a therapeutic massage.  

In all honesty, I hope that you WILL do something kind to yourself this week.  I'm taking the entire week away from posting so I can catch up on blog reading and to get ready for SCBWI-KC.  I feel like I've been neglecting some of my blog friends and missing out on a lot of great posts.  

Next Friday, I'll put up a post asking  what you did during INTERNATIONAL BE KIND TO YOURSELF WEEK, so be prepared to report back to me...