The Early Bird Gets Mall Madness

Every year I am TERRIBLE at Early Bird Registration for our Girl Scout troop.  I can never get my life together.. but this year.. Troop 1810 not only did Early Bird Registration, but also took advantage of Mall Madness!

Mall Madness is a yearly event set up by the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas as a perk of participating in Early Bird registration.  Mall Madness is exactly what it sounds like! It is a night where those that register are able to have a giant mall lock in! It is full of open shops, activities, vendors, a movie.. and NO sleeping.

It was our first mall madness to attend, so I had no expectations.. other than I knew I was going to be TIRED the next day (today is the next day.. and I have slept on and off throughout the day)

Check in was at 9pm.. so we met about 8:45pm... the line was long (there had to be over 700 people that were attending this event) but we enjoyed chatting and catching up.  We totally brought way too much stuff! Our girls brought blankets, sleeping bags and I brought games and my chair. We got checked in, got our wristbands for movie time and started the Instagram Scavenger hunt.  During the hunt we also visited several of the stores. Not going to lie.. I REALLY wanted a coffee, but I think every leader/adult had that same plan because the line at Barnes and Noble was SO long... I looked at it and decided it was not for me.

Troop 1810- some of us dressed up in the 80's or 90's garb for the costume contest.  Allie was one of the winners!

I loved that the mall was a contained area so our girls had a chance to be on their own.. but with us close enough to follow along at a distant pace (and as the time got earlier in the morning.. we were moving slow anyway!)

The girls LOVED that Claire's was opened! There were also several stores that stayed open late and various discounts that were available.  Because we completed the scavenger hunt our troop one these super fun glow sticks to use during the dance party happening in the food court.  We did miss the big photo op as we couldn't move!

The moms had more fun at the dance party than the girls

Okay, it is a blurry picture but it was 1 in the morning.. in a dark theater.. and were all tired!

During the night you could also sign up for a movie slot.  We got to see Wreck it Ralph Breaks the Internet at 1:10am in the morning.  Great movie with a great message.

Top 4 of the Night (there are easily more!)
1. Seeing our girls be more independent! This was a great space, enclosed, and set up for success for the girls to be more independent
2. Hanging out with these awesome moms that are a part of Troop 1810!
3. Scavenger Hunt! Anytime I have a chance to take pictures (selfies!) make me super happy!  I even came out of my #digitaldetox on Instagram (you can check out @akbusybee on Instagram for all my stories!)
Okay.. I have one more..
4. The WHOLE GSNETX staff that was there making sure the event ran as smoothly as it could!! I mean.. it is an all night thing.. and people get cranky :)

Not so Top 2
1. It was hot! I know there really isn't much to control about that, but it was pretty warm in lots of places.
2. Some of the adults and girls forgetting that they are representing Girl Scouts.  There were some places that people forgot to be a Sister to Every Girl Scout.. and to Leave a Place Better than they found it.  But, this happens anywhere.. especially when there is little to no sleep involved. I think some adults also forget that girls are watching.. and sometimes it is important to teach girls to be patient. This goes for what people post online too. This was NOT the majority.. but it was still noticeable.

Overall.. the event was super enjoyable, and I know why it is called Mall Madness! I can't wait to register early next year (I mean.. first of all.. I have an awesome troop that wants to hang out and do activities!) but we will be attending Mall Madness again!

I love the opportunity to dress up in costume!

We survived Mall Madness let's take a picture at 4:15am in the morning picture!

Next up for our troop- Lock-In in July and NASA in October!! Some of the troop is also talking about joining the Travel Club!

A Summer full of Selfies!

My official digital detox was going to start today (you can find out about it here).. after I finished school, after I finished Camp Amiga, and after I finished our Camp Amiga Survivor party... BUT.. thank goodness I hadn't started it yet!

I am so glad that I still had social media on my phone, as it is what I used to connect to get our power back up and running.These first 16 days of June have been CRAZY!!!
June 1st- blow out of a tire while on the interstate which resulted in 4 new tires for the Bumblebee (yes, I am fine.. car is fine.. wallet is hurting a little)
If you are in the DFW area you know that the weather has been UBER crazy lately!
June 6th- Storm came through and our transformer blew.  Not only did it take out our power.. it created a small fire.  Yes, we are fine, but didn't have power until almost 3am that next morning.

June 9th- CRAZY weather came through.. took out our patio table.. BUT.. not our power.. until 3 hours after the storm. Same transformer blew again. 
June 11th- Power back on at 6pm- all food in fridge already dead
June 16th- Transformer blew again 3:30am and turned back on at 10:00.  Transformer blew again at 11:15.. back on at 2pm.  Another storm has blown through and another one is coming.  I am crossing my fingers that we are good at least for a few days!
I know that it could have been much worse, but that still doesn't mean it wasn't crazy at our house.

Summer Selfie

I am a member of this awesome Principal Group that talks about different ways to appreciate staff. I LOVE showing people that they are important.  Matthew Arend shared this AWESOME Summer Selfie Bingo card that he does with his staff. It is a great way to get to know the community and the staff.  You can check out his post here.

I talked with my principal and decided to do it as well for our school.  I created a Bingo board in Google docs, sent an email to staff and have been watching the Twitter feed. If you would like your own copy you can use this link- feel free to use my pictures (they are all emojis I found on website.. it is cited at the bottom)

Here is the email I sent to staff (I made sure to also include our new staff coming in)

Hello Fabulous Friends!

I hope that you are already having an AMAZING and much needed break! If you are not on break yet.. it is coming soon!

Welcome to the first annual #lamarsummerselfiebingo

Here is how it works:

Get on Twitter (Those new to Twitter can begin here)

Share how great your summer is using the #lamarsummerselfie bingo hashtag and the @Lamar_MS

Use the Google Doc linked her to access your own game board. (It should open up as a copy!) or use the picture that is attached.  I like to do some appsmsashing so I use picmonkey to add my pictures to my virtual bingo board.. but you can do that through Google too!

Get a Bingo (or two or three) check out our hashtag to see what everyone is up to! (there might be prizes involved.. but also the prize is getting to know our Lamar family even better!)

Don’t want to post on Twitter.. no worries (although we would love to see your adventures!) keep up with your BINGO board so we can share the love when we start school!

Have questions- send me an email!

Have a GREAT summer!! I am actually doing a digital detox this summer will have to do this while on my limited computer, but I can’t wait to like, retweet and share what is going on this summer.

I still plan to participate because I can access social media from my computer.. just taking it off my phone so I am not staring at it 23 hours a day. I have already loved retweeting and sharing what the Lamar Staff is doing.  

But, I am super excited about spending some quality time celebrating our anniversary tomorrow (June 17th), reading lots of books and creating.

See you guys officially at the end of July!