I was just in K.D.’s Treehouse this morning dropping off some Columbi-Yeah! cards for the give-away bags that will be handed out tomorrow at the Back to School Bash.  The buzz in the store was great.  Everyone is very excited for tomorrow, and I hope you are, too!  I, sadly, will be out of town, but if I were going to be here, I would so totally be at the Treehouse tomorrow.  Aside from the usual fabulous clothes and toys, the shop is now carrying Laptop Lunchboxes.  You are definitely going to want one of those for the upcoming school year.  I thought they seemed cool, but now that I have seen them, I really want one for my school-age daughter.  There are so many sites that offer up ideas for packing bento box-style lunches for adults and kids alike, but here are two blogs that offer great ideas for kids lunches: For the more adventurous, try Vegan Lunch Box, and for the more traditional, try Maisie Eats Bento.  Happy eating!

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Don’t miss the Back to School Bash at K.D.’s Treehouse this Saturday, August 1.  Events start at 9am and run until 12:30pm. Free!  2900-C Devine Street.

Highlights include the Nature Learning Company (and all their creepy crawlies), Cool Can Sam from Harvest Hope Food Bank, arts, crafts, face painting, giveaways, a live musical performance by The Plowboys, and more!!  Harvest Hope will be accepting school supplies donations.  Anyone making a donation on August 1 will get 20% off all regular price merchandise in K.D.’s Treehouse.

The last event at K.D.’s Treehouse (A Little Earth Day Party) was a blast, with a great turnout.  Please come out and support Columbia’s only children’s boutique specializing in eco-chic clothing, toys, and gifts for kids age 0-8.

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Yard sale this weekend at 3737 Covenant Road.  All proceeds benefit Harmony School.  This is a large, multi-family yard sale with tons of kid items (toys, books, carriers, cribs, etc.), some furniture, books, housewares, and more.  Don’t miss it and spread the word!  8-11 am Saturday only.  No early birds.

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I have just returned from a much needed 7-day beach vacation.  It was awesome!  Not only was the weather unbelievable (80s in July in SC???  someone pinch me!!), but my children were so well behaved, I almost didn’t recognize them!  They were, for the first time, totally content to just hang out at the beach for hours.  I actually got to sit in a beach chair and converse with other adults and enjoy watching my children run, jump, dig, and generally entertain themselves!  Don’t get me wrong, I built plenty of sand castles and jumped waves with my 4-year old, but it was because I wanted to and not because someone was whining and demanding my undivided attention every second of the day! By the 7th day, Old Cranky Mommy was nowhere to be seen and Zen Mommy was on the scene!  I am trying to maintain that same centered, calm attitude and outlook.  So far so good, but it is only my first day back to reality.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

While I was away, I didn’t check email or Internet at all.  I find that when I am home and in my usual routine, I check both all day. But when I am away, after the first day of withdrawals from the connected world, I pretty much don’t care at all. When I finally got the kids to bed and returned from the grocery store last night, I had a few minutes to catch up.  The first sites I checked were The Daily Digress and then The Shop Tart.  I always check them in that order.  Don’t know why, but that is just my routine.  And let me tell you, The Shop Tart gave me a double triple quadruple Zen boost when I found out that Cupcake is opening in the Vista.  I think I went to sleep smiling just thinking about that last night.  I love a cupcake.  Thanks, Shop Tart, for putting the icing on my Zen cake, so to speak.

P.S.  If you don’t read The Daily Digress and The Shop Tart blogs, you should!!

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