As a mom, back to school brings to mind little kids with their new book bags and the smell of fresh boxes of crayon. It means endlessly pinning lunch ideas and teacher appreciation gift ideas, scheduling in the PTO and helping with homework.

As a kid, teenager and college student back to school was all about the new clothes. The shopping trip before to get the new uniforms and then the excitement of putting together actual outfits when the uniform was no longer required. Spending time trying to find my style and sadly that did include a year with bangs and a semester with a pixie cut.

What better way to celebrate the back to school wardrobe refresh with some new jewelry?! I am loving my lia sophia business and love that I get to see and collect incredible pieces! I got into this because I was so impressed with the lifetime guarantee and the selection available in the Spring/ Summer catalog and I wanted it all and I wanted to share it with other people.

I hosted an mystery hostess show on my blog last month and the hostess winner walked away with over $450 in free and discounted jewelry.She was excited and I was excited that she was excited (see the circle of excitement there?).

I gave away three rings on my facebook page just a couple of weeks ago and loved the excitement of the ladies who won.

I wanted to share some more excitement with more people so I got to thinking about back to school- back to a fall wardrobe. And what better way to spice up your wardrobe than with new bling? Think of it as your grown up equivalent of a fresh new box of crayons!

I am giving away:

1 (One) Bolt Bracelet (Medium)

1 (One) Treasure Trove Bracelet (Medium)

AND

1 (one) $50 credit to be used on any order from the new Fall/ Winter collection by October 31, 2014. 

The new Fall/Winter collection is out and again I want it all. Almost 50% of the pieces in the line are priced below $50. I couldn't believe it. So the winner of this credit could get a free piece or put it towards a more expensive piece- completely up to them!

Here is how you win- Complete the Rafflecopter entries below. That's it. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway will be open from September 2 until September 10, 201411:59 PM ET. Winners will be posted on the blog within 24 hours of contest closing.

Disclaimer:  This giveaway is not endorsed by lia sophia. The prizes are provided by me and all opinions are my own. I have not been paid to say nice things about the company and I am providing the prizes at my own expense :)

Belated Birthday post (34)

Last Thursday I had my birthday. I had no expectations that it would be a day unlike any other. I make birthdays a big deal for my kids, they are young and it is so exciting for them to get older (they start counting down to their birthdays as soon as we hit the first birthdays in the new year "Mommy, how many sleeps until MY birthday?!") and I really enjoy our little traditions like birthday age pancakes with candles for breakfast, birthday balloons and that kind of thing.  My birthday, however, is just another day. I like to do something fun with the kids but otherwise I'm good.

My day started off with a new purse and a fabulous FREE cup of coffee (yeah birthday rewards!). To me,

that was the best! The day couldn't get much better.

Bag:  Stella and Dot Megan Myles  Coffee Grande Skinny Latte

My coworkers decided that I needed to have a special day. It's been a rough few months and I know I've been a little preoccupied and sad. When I arrived at work I was greeted with a decorated door:

A lovely manicure kit and new ESSIE colours from my boss. Seriously Madison Ave-hue and Mint Candy Apple are my new favorite colours!

 

And then got a delivery from my parents in NL

Seriously yum!!! My kids loved it and so did the coworkers who were lucky enough to get a tast

Wine and Redneck wine glasses! Love that they come with screw on lids...solves the "summer fly in my wine issue"...and one of my coworkers thought I wouldn't like these....I thought she knew me but I guess not...lol

My day wrapped up with a BBQ with my inlaws and an ice cream cake that the kids picked out all by themselves.

I felt so much love on my birthday. I got an enormous amount of love on facebook and I know most of it was probably because of the reminder but still...I felt loved, appreciated and, most importantly, happy..just really, really happy...I found out the next day that I must have sucked the good days from a lot of folks because my day was incredible and others had bad days...but they didn't share that until the next day. They wanted me to have an amazing day.

Thank you for all the birthday love. It was a great day.