Last week I reviewed a fabulous Lands’ End school uniform on behalf of my son Joshua, who is headed off to 2nd grade this fall.  This week I’m showing you some of the cute things they have for the girly crowd, of the junior high variety!  My model is my 13-year-old niece, Murrin, who is heading off to 8th grade this fall!  (This makes me feel EVER so old. I was 20 when she was born, a sophomore in college.  The first time I ever got to see her, she was a couple days old, and Bobby was driving me home from college for the weekend to see her and I pressed him to go faster and he, uhhhh, got a speeding ticket. WHOOPS.  I really wanted to see my first little niece!  But anyhoo.)

Here’s how Murrin is making Lands’ End school uniforms work for her this fall:

School Uniform Girls’ Short-Sleeve Feminine Fit Mesh Polo – the classic, but in a breathable cotton mesh that’s lightweight and with a fit that’s just for girls.

School Uniform Juniors’ Pencil Fit Stretch Chino Pants – did you see that? Juniors Sizing!  Now the junior high and hig h school girls can get the great Lands’ End uniform pant styles in juniors sizing.  The pencil fit cut of these stain-resistant,comfy stretch chinos is very cute and modern.  Murrin cuffed hers (which her school allows her to do) for even more verstatility, don’t they look cute?

Women’s Weatherfield Shoes - while these shoes don’t necessarily have to be “uniform”, they fit with the guidelines for Murrin’s school and they look adorable with her uniform.  At 13 her feet are pretty much fully-grown and it’s great that Lands’ End offers shoes that fit the bill for women and girls alike.  These sturdy shoes, with a water-resistant suede/wool-blend upper, are sure to last her all year long.

Girls’ Plaid ClassMate BigHaul Backpack - one of the fun ways kids at a “uniform school” can express their style is through their backpacks and Murrin chose this cute purple plaid ClassMate BigHaul because of the style and performance.  This is the perfect size bag for the junior high and high schoolers. Did I mention that Murrin has been homeschooled up to now, so her first day of 8th grade will be her first day of SCHOOL? Pretty special, and this is a pretty special backpack for the occasion!  This backpack has two giant compartments, comes with a removable lunch pack that will keep lunch cold (just add an ice pack!),  and has all kind of cool features every teen needs, like additional pockets on the padded shoulder straps!  It is a pretty SWEET backpack!  And it looks even cuter with her initials monogrammed on it!

School Uniform Girls’ Fleece Shawl Collar Cardigan – THIS is my favorite uniform piece that Murrin selected.  When November rolls around, she’ll no doubt be loving this fleece shawl collar cardigan!  The collar is adorable, such a fresh twist on the regular old cardigan, and the fleece is so soft and warm, but lightweight too.  It’s got convenient patch pockets in the front and looks great with her school logo embroidered on it, and I think all her friends are going to want one!

Thanks to Lands’ End for sending Murrin to her first day of school in style! If you still need some uniforms for your kiddos this fall, hop over to LandsEnd.com where you can get everything you need and get it emroidered with your school logo to boot!  Or head over to the Lands’ End shop at Sears!

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Lands’ End provided my model with the school uniform items to facilitate this review.  All opinions on the products are my own.

Saturday I took some special time out to spend just with Joshua. I think it’s safe to say that I haven’t had any alone time with Joshua (except for in the doctor’s office) since well before the baby was born! So, I decided to treat us both to an afternoon at our local children’s museum – the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. (Preceded by lunch and followed  by ice cream – holla!) I hadn’t even seen their new zoo that was unveiled in September (plus the otters are going on exchange program to other zoos so I wanted to see them again, they are so funny!  But don’t worry, new otters will be coming to replace them), and I really wanted to check out their featured exhibit – It’s Electric! – that runs through the first week of May.  The exhibit celebrates 100 years of our local power company, Dayton Power & Light and gives kids the opportunity to explore the history of electricity as well as look at what’s in store for electricity in the future.

The exhibit was really hands-on and fun!  There were tons of “Try It” – cause and effect things for Joshua to do that demonstrate electricity’s origins and effects.  And, I must say, it explained the phenomenon of “static” way better than I could!  He got to make sparks, produce static electricity, and make all kinds of things light up!

He wasn’t as interested in the history as I was but I really enjoyed the period desks with telegraph machines to tap out morse code, photos of electricity used in our area throughout the years, and all kinds of crazy old-fashioned early electric devices (like the “Electrostatic bath” – yikes!).

Joshua tapping out some morse code

He was mostly interested in the magnets, the static, the lights, the cranks, the wheels and the fun of learning about what made it all happen.  It was a lot of really cool science and learning packed into one exhibit.  I was super-impressed and Joshua loved it!

We had a great time at the Boonshoft and especially at the It’s Electric exhibit.  If your kiddos  have spring break coming up this month or you have a few hours on the weekend, I highly recommend checking it out!

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The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery sponsored this post.  I paid our admission to the museum and all opinions about our time there are completely my own.

This past Tuesday, Emily and me and some other fabulous bloggers were invited to attend the grand opening of the Tide dry cleaners in nearby Mason, Ohio.  That’s right, you heard me.  A TIDE Dry Cleaners!  I’ve made no secret about the fact that I love, love, love Tide, and Emily feels the same way, so we were happy to attend. I mean, a Tide Dry Cleaners seemed like the BEST idea in laundry ever to me!

Of course, after we got the grand tour and saw how they did things – we were blown away by how cool the Tide Dry Cleaners is. If it’s from Tide, I expect it to be great and it WAS!  Here’s a few things that “wow’ed” us:

Cortney and me listening intently during the grand tour. It was fascinating!

• There’s a DRIVE-THRU.  You don’t have to get your kids out of the car to drop off or pick up your dry cleaning.  The heavens parted and angels began to sing at this miracle!! Ok, that is a slight exaggeration, but really, EVERYTHING should have a drive-thru and Tide Dry Cleaners does!!
• You can pick up your clothes 24/7.  That’s right, if you want to pick up your suit at 2:22 a.m. cause you are freaky like that, you CAN!  Or on your way into work at 7 a.m.  Twenty-four-flippin’-seven, people!  Now that’s convenience!
• Pricing!  The pricing was very reasonable, and y’all know how cheap I am. ANY SIZE comforter for $20.  Twenty bucks!?? That’s a steal!
• Special services: Tide Dry Cleaners can restore your garments to their former glory. Got faded blacks??  Try the “back to black” service for just $5!! Again, SO worth it to make that key black wardrobe piece look like new again.
• Tech-nol-o-gy.  Tide uses Green Earth dry cleaning process to be the most environmentally-friendly in it’s dry cleaning service AND super high-tech machines to get your clothes done beautifully and quickly.  The efficiency of the conveyor belt and the combination shirt dryer-and-pressing-machine were really impressive!!

The computer-operated conveyor belt moves at lightning speed!

Drying and Pressing your shirt at the SAME TIME!

The Tide Dry Cleaners in Mason (check it out at 8100 Mason-Montgomery Rd.) is the training center and flagship store – but Tide is franchising these fabulous stores SO hopefully there will be one coming near to all of us soon! Emily and I were excited to hear that the Dayton franchise has already been sold, which means we should have a Tide Dry Cleaners in our backyard next year! WOOT!

Thanks to our friends at Tide for inviting us to this great grand opening.  We wish you ALL the success as you bring Tide standards to dry cleaning!

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Tide is compensating Emily and I for our time in both attending the event and posting about it. All opinions in this post are ours, and we were honored to be a part of this event!